The View From Drew

So, with everything going on, school, podcasts, writing, audio dramas, the new dog, the boys, the after school activities - something had to give.

That was me.

I was fine during the day yesterday.  Tired, but fine.  The evening proved to be another matter.  I started burning with a fever of 102.  I felt chills running up and down my body.  I went to bed at five and woke up at eight this morning.

I am exhausted.  There is not enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do.

At the moment.

I need to work things out.

So, I'm going to stop getting up so early in the morning.  I like my morning time to focus on the day, but I do have a first period free now, which is when I get my act together anyway.  I can sleep in a little.

I'm going to the principal tomorrow and asking him to cover my classes for one day this week.  I'm still going in, but I need the time to log in and catalog all the video footage the kids have recorded so far.  I need to also get comfortable with the video editing suite I purchased so I can teach it to the kids so they can handle all the editing chores.  I need to get into the school newspaper office and see what cameras and layout software is available to me.  I simply can't do this after school as I have the actual club meetings or have to pick up Mikey from daycare.

I can do this, but I need to set some priorities.  Like I said, I'm going to not think about the Rift for a week, except to see what, if any, reviews the first show gets on our boards.  I've set up a Google alert in case it's written about anywhere on the web.  The alert is pretty sensitive as my post yesterday was noted by Google.

( Five more to listen to... )

( You get seven today... )

I mentioned a few days back about how Wendy's was offering The Magic Tree House audiobooks as part of their kid's meal.  Well, our local Wendy's has run out and Eddie is missing two.  He needs numbers three and four.  I don't know the titles.  I was wondering if there were any families on my list who go to Wendy's and may have doubles, we might be able to work out a swap of some kind.

So, I took the boys to Wendy's for lunch after our weekly trip to the library.  I was very surprised when I got the boys' kids meal and found a CD inside each one.  The CDs are audiobook readings of two of the Magic Tree House series of books.  What a great idea for an item inside the kids meal.  But then, Wendy's has always been a little more imaginative with what they put inside their meals.  They were the first to offer more healthy side dishes for the kids meals.  Anyway, we listened to the first two chapters of one of them on the ride home.  Now I want to track down the other two or four in the series.  I'm not sure how many there are, but I think it's just great that Wendy's did it.  Kudos.

I don't want to go into it, but as far as I'm concerned, however the events of this email exchange goes, I'm flattered that I was thought of by this person for their business concerns.  More shortly.

If everything works out, there'll be a new Justin Case audio drama in the near future!

We've been discussing this reviewer of the DWADs over at the forum.  He goes into great detail with his reviews, moreso than any review I've ever seen before.  When it comes to my own stories, I think he is mostly fair, but I also have to take what he says with the understanding that he has an axe to grind with the DWAD group overall.  In particular, I love how he compares me to Eric Saward to the point where I'm as lost with my writing of the characters as he alleges Saward was.

You can see them for yourself at - http://benchathamsux.blogspot.com/search?q=John+S.+drew

He hasn't done reviews of my Chronic Rift, Christmas Conspiracy, or Doomsday Signal yet.

As many here know, I've written a number of Doctor Who audios for the fan group, DWAD.  They are putting their library on iTunes for free download.  Currently, there are only four stories from the most recent Doctor, but this includes my "The Christmas Conspiracy."  So, if you never downloaded it, or don't care for the Real Media format the website uses, you can now download it to listen on your iPod.

Here's the link.

Bill Merlock posted this review of my Doctor Who Audio Drama Christmas special, "The Christmas Conspiracy."  If you haven't heard it yet, the DWAD homepage now has it available for download.

My journey through Big Finish's Doctor Who audio line continues.  I'm currently listening to "Scaredy Cat" in the Paul McGann line and "Spare Parts" in the past Doctors line.  I've been very disappointed with the Paul McGann stories starting with "Zagreus".  None of them worked for me and I really hated the alternate universe storyline.  I'll keep trying them though as I'm hoping that things might revert back to the early days of "Storm Warnings".  Meanwhile, I'm really loving "Spare Parts".  The Doctor and Nyssa wind up on Mondas as the cyber technology of the Cybermen is being developed.  Nyssa wants to stop the development of the Cybermen, knowing how much of a threat to the universe they become, but the Doctor knows this is one of those times you have to let history follow its course.  I especially love that they have managed to use the original voices from "The Tenth Planet" without them sounding especially grating.  I also love how they've managed to create incidental music that is part Cyberman 60's and part Cyberman 80's.  Not an easy feat.

For a number of years, I cut my teeth writing audio dramas for the Doctor Who Audio Dramas group, the oldest continuously running Doctor Who fan production in the world, I believe.  I wrote a total of six stories for them, most of which were well received.  Well, I've returned to the fold to write the first of what I hope will be a yearly event for them, their own audio Christmas special.  It's a one shot deal of about 46 minutes in length featuring their current incarnation of the Doctor played by James Flynn.  It's called "The Christmas Conspiracy" and deals with an Earth of the future where Christmas is only for the rich and the rich are planning to take advantage of that fact.  The preview trailer is up at the moment and the episode itself will be available for one day only, Christmas Day, at www.dwad.net.  I'm also working on a pitch to bring back the Sontarans, something the producers of this series were thinking of long before the new series producers announced their plans.