So I thought I would try out Save The Cat, and hope I could glean something for my writing. The Save the Cat! movement started a book by Blake Snyder: Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. The basic premise is that the hero of the story must make viewers like him and root for him.

The software is based on the structure discussed in the Save the Cat! Books and has the boards, beat sheets, and loglines sections. With over 3.25 hours of exclusive, original video production, this brand new Save the Cat! Online Storytelling Course teaches you how to plot a hero’s transformation.

Sadly I’m not a video learner, and the videos average at about 30-45 minutes long. I confess I skipped through the videos to get to the worksheets where the same information is laid out in print.

All of the examples were big Hollywood blockbusters rather than independent films, which I would have liked to have seen more of

The layout, structure and stages of the course were well set out and presented. The pace at which it was presented was steady and clear. I’m sure screen writers and video learners will get a lot from it.

And I’ve learned how important is to plot, and not be such a pantser.

Thanks to Justin Brown for his help with this one.

Atmospheric prose and vivid descriptions captivate throughout, even though at times the characters and plot gets a bit saggy. But the language and writing hooks you in and makes you imagine the blue skies and bluer seas that we all want to be near. It is a classic coming-of-age story, beautifully executed.

It’s perfect summer reading, transporting us far away whilst we’re all trying to remember what holidays look like.

The band are hitting these shores in October.

Connelly writes with detail and perception, painting a vivid picture of both the English countryside and the people who live within it. Her research and attention to history is impeccable, and the novel explores an element of the events of the past  that we often forget – real people were involved. The movements we loathe were not all made up of evil people, but ordinary individuals. Phyllis Forrester was just one.

Described as having both citrus and spicy notes, with a chocolatey aftertaste, the gin lends itself to something special. Sweet, classic and sophisticated, it’s a refreshing drink for the summer that makes you smile just looking at it, as well as drinking it.

First launched in 2011 and distilled in London, Edgerton Pink Gin gets its hue from the  pomegranate seeds, that are combined with a further fourteen unique botanicals. It always amazes me just what goes into a spirit of quality, and alongside juniper berries, here we find damiana, used in some places as an aphrodisiac, spicy coriander and ‘grains of paradise, alongside citrus peel, lemon and the raspberry tasting orris root. As well as tasting great, you could even argue that sipping it is good for you. Liquorice has anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties, almond powder is a great source of vitamin B, E and calcium sweet orange plays a role in reducing blood pressure as a result of its high potassium levels, and cassia bark considered a fundamental herb in Chinese medicine.

Colour plays a huge role in our perception of taste, which is something that Martin Edgerton Gill,  formerly owner of the London Gin Company, knows. In 2010 he sold the world’s first blue gin London No 1 Blue to Gonzalez Byass of Spain, and it’s been a huge success. His passion for pink gin was inspired by his father’s years in the Royal Navy during World War II, and his discovery of the spirit. A traditional nautical tipple, consisting of gin and Angostura bitters, was launched in 1824 initially as a cure for seasickness.

Its popularity grew, and it became a favourite in fashionable civilian bars. Martin is credited with pioneering the use of herbal teas with spirits, and combined his knowledge and experience to create the enticing Edgerton Pink Gin. Expertise not only comes in the creation of a spirit, but knowing how to mix it. The company have created a collection of spring cocktails, using some of the seasonal flavours to add a new twist on the classics Mojito, Martini and Gin & Tonic.

My favourite was certainly the Gin Fig Martini. Crafting this one involves a little more work, but no less taste. Including brewed tea, a homemade fig syrup, and plenty of ice (shaken, not stirred), it’s an endeavour that’s well worth the effort.

Gin & Tonic is my go to summer afternoon beverage, but  I’ve learned that it works equally as well as an aperitif before a Sunday meal when you try this take. Simply by combining gin and tonic, with three sliced strawberries, ice, and a twist of black pepper the well-known drink is given a whole new angle.

And for something more fun, why not a martini? Combining blueberries with the mint, lime and sugar for a Blueberry Mojito Royale, finished off with a cinnamon stick, this variation is sweet, sharp and spicy, all in one go.

At £25 a bottle, this isn’t the kind of thing that you just pick up on a Friday night to let of steam in a stupor. It’s worth taking the effort with. Taking the time to savour it, enjoying the taste, delighting in the aroma – and of course smiling at the colour.

It’s why the diet industry, entrepreneurial get rich quick schemes and self help happiness field is so saturated with ‘solutions’ – that don’t work. You’d think that we would have figured by now that there’s something that the elusive ‘top 5 steps’ approach can’t be readily taught, or perhaps even achieved.

Derren Brown’s new book Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine is about stepping back from that. Finding a place of ‘good enough.’ Not the catchy title that usually grabs you in the book shop, but one that might help us to find, if not blissful nirvana, a state of contentment.

Because, most stuff is alright. And even when it’s not, those negative events themselves rarely hurt us; it is usually our beliefs, feelings, or judgments concerning those events which do. Instead, it’s the gap between our expectation and reality that is the source of unhappiness. If you lower your expectation, your contentment tends to increase. Does this mean giving up and not striving to be all that we can?

Far from it. He is scathing of books like The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, the 28 million copy bestseller that preaches the premise that the law of attraction is the key, and by thinking positive thoughts we will get all we need. The message that if you work and wish hard enough you’ll get what you want, and if you don’t, it’s your own fault, is one that he says is ‘toxic.’ And I agree.

One danger is the constant goal setting and planning that stops us being present. It’s very difficult to appreciate what you have, when you’re not really there, but ‘consistently orientated toward something that’s always on the horizon.’ Life just passes you by – and so of course you’re not satisfied with it.

But Brown isn’t coming up with anything particularly groundbreaking and radical here. He is heavily influenced by the Stoics, and quotes Seneca –‘ A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is’ – and Epictetus – ‘Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them’ – amongst others. There’s echoes of Stephen Covey’s sphere of influence idea from his classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and I’m reminded of The Serenity Prayer by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) and it’s plea to God to ‘grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.’

The book is long, and there’s a rather lengthy few chapters on dying that could be trimmed down. But it’s a compelling and important message that deserves being repeated.The words we tell ourselves matter. Stories are powerful and create our worlds. Tell a better story, and accept that ‘The route to real happiness is about realising what you have now, rather than focusing on what could be.’ says Brown. It’s nothing new, but continues to be very true. When will we realise it?

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown is published by Random House. Available on Audible, narrated by Jot Davies.

Shakespeare Refashioned, Selfridges’ conflation of culture and consumerism (although have the two ever really been separate?) have added Much Ado About Nothing to their innovative programme of events that aim to both celebrate the Bard, and make him accessible to everyone in a riotous production crafted by theatre company The Faction.

Director Mark Lepacher and his cast of nine promise a ‘contemporary aesthetic’ that both remains true to the original and notes the continued relevance of appearance, image, rumour, and social standing to the society we live in. Via a television screen with Meera Syal as a Messina News reporter (also the CCTV to show Simon Callow and Rufus Hound as bumbling Dogberry and Verges), bright lights and chart hits, Leonato, played by Caroline Langrishe, becoming a feisty matriarch in a pacey performance, they’ve managed to daub the play in a modern flourish.

And, this being Selfridges, the contemporary twist is primarily portrayed through the clothing, with Beatrice’s shoes proving particularly distracting. With no scenery but a stage more evocative of a runway, there’s certainly a sense of glamour.

As always it’s the banter between Beatrice and Benedick that really makes this play infectious. The smart and sassy Beatrice is played by the excellent Alison O’Donnell, caught in the merry war with Benedick, Daniel Boyd revelling in a flamboyant performance that perfectly portrayed the linguistic wit of Shakespeare’s words. They’re a very different couple to the innocent Claudio and Hero (Harry Lister Smith and Lowri Izzard) also well performed, but as characters never as endearing to the audience.

The speed of the production (coming in at just over 100 minutes) makes it even more painfully apparent the lack of character, depth, and opportunity afforded Hero. Admired for her beauty, with no opportunity to express personality, bartered like a possession, this is not feminist power at its best. It’s unsettling that her mother and father are prepared to pretend that she has died, that Claudio is happy to replace the girl he was dizzingly in love with for one who looks just like her, especially if she now has twice the inheritance on offer too, and that a woman’s word can be so easily dismissed for the sake of honour.

But that’s a criticism of the play itself, or the play’s criticism of society itself, or whatever other complex layer that Shakespeare was trying to achieve, rather than of the Faction’s production. There’s something that feels slightly uncomfortable about criticising Shakespeare — and I feel uncomfortable even admitting that, even as this paragraph starts to get meta.

As in all of Shakespeare’s comedies, the duping and tricks are foolish, the masquerade unconvincing, and the crimes easily uncovered, exacerbated in part by the fast pace of the production. But when crackling dialogue is delivered with nimble eloquence and timing like tonight, realism is a small price to play. Swift paced and bold, with an innovative gaze, this is retail therapy at its best.

As always the tunes are revealing and cathartic for Taylor, and somehow as their style has become more potent and rocky and less whimsical indie folk, they’ve also become more personal to Taylor, but no less powerful to an audience. It’s been twelve years since they started out, and in that time they’ve grown up in the limelight but not lost any of the vivacity of their early days. Just as energetic and radiant, but with more grit and steel, the new songs have notes of heartbreak, depression, and tension, and in this stripped back setting there’s something very intimate about hearing them.

Confident in their identity, at least as a musical duo, the show is compelling. They eschew perfection in favour of personality, and bring the audience along with them. Witty asides never detract from brilliant songs, and the new ones are just as captivating as those more well known. As one of my favourite bands ever I always slightly fear that they might let me down – play a shit show or come across as arrogant twits. They do neither. They continue to win me over. Finally, a trio of old favourites is ushered in with a sing-a-long Tears of Joy, almost heart melting, before closing with a vibrant Two Cousins. Slow Club are back, and at the top of their game.