www.leecrompton.com

2011-01-05T22:12:00.002Z

Just to let you know, the new website is up and running which includes a new blog. There will be no more posts on this blogspot.

Thanks for reading ... and hopefully you'll continue to read my latest twaddle at www.leecrompton.com

2010-05-31T17:30:00.005Z

What with "Come Dine With Me" (which if you're wondering, I won), ordering mowers and barbeques, tidying the shed and having friends over for the bank holiday, I haven't exactly set the world alight with the cycling.

That said, I managed to put in 3 quick stints last week after work, the last one as follows ...

Time : 26 mins

Distance : 4.7 miles

Av. Speed : 10.9 mph.

Like I said, not exactly Lance Armstrong just yet, but taking it nice and slow ...

2010-05-28T20:47:00.003Z

SPOILER ALERT! Don't read this if you still haven't watched the final episode of LOST.

It's time for another rant I'm afraid as I find myself cheated by the ending of my favourite TV show and the fact that Gemma feels the need to justify it.

Since 2004, like many people, I have been invested in the story of the mysterious island. The 6 series have been brilliantly confusing and left you wanting more. We've had flashbacks, flash forwards and now we discover, at the 11th hour that the the flash sideways were ... wait for it ... purgatory. We'll there's a surprise, if for no other reason that there was a huge belief after series one that the island was purgatory. It's as if the writers have gone, "Oh, that's buggered that up, we've been rumbled ... I know, we'll introduce a flash sideways ... in the very last series ... and make that purgatory. That'll fox 'em". And so it did.

Gemma accuses me of not being to suspend belief, something I happen to think I'm very good at, especially with LOST (the polar bears, time travel, immortality, need i go on) but this flash sideways lark is a complete get out. So they're in purgatory, right? I get that, but they can't remember each other ... OK, bit weird but I'll run with it. Oh no, hang on, Jin and Sun can remember each other, but can't remember anyone else, or little things like, oh i dunno, how to speak English? So they both drowned together, died ... arrived in Purgatoryland, and what were they doing then? Watching TV, wondering why they couldn't speak English any more. It's then explained that they didn't all die at the same time ... but baby Aaron must have done, cus he's still a baby and the others or still the same age as when they were on the island. Imagine Sawyer, dying at 70 only to arrive in purgatory the same age as he was when he was on the island. He might think that was just a little bit odd, but then again, maybe not, and decides just to be a cop instead. Lapidus is on the plane so I guess he won't be in purgatory with the others ... oh, but Miles is? John Locke dies and he can walk but then arrives in purgatory and is in a wheelchair again? Would he not have thought something weird was going on? Juliet falls down a well and dies, wakes up in purgatory to find she's a nurse in the same hospital as Jack ... not only that, married to him??!?! At the limits of my belief suspension I could perhaps con myself into believing all this was going on if they knew they were in purgatory and just getting on with this but that's just it, the whole 6th series is hinged around the fact that they are remembering stuff from when they were alive, remaking connections and wait for it ... don't actually know they're dead. Unbelievable! It's a total farce. I could go on but it's making me mad just writing this stuff. Utter TOSH!

2010-05-27T22:35:00.003Z

After overindulging at Drew's wedding on Sunday, my diet has consisted of (very little) tuna, salmon, lentils, and low fat yoghurt ... and no alcohol. I've been out on my bike twice this week. Only half and hour each time, but as Tesco say, every little helps. Oh, and I've lost half a stone in 3 days. Not particularly healthy but needs must.

Looking forward to the 6th and FINAL (at last), Come Dine With Me on Sunday. No pressure Al but we're expecting you to cook up a storm ... and I'll probably put the half stone back on.

2010-05-16T20:28:00.002Z

The Big Bowel Bike Bonanza
Challenge Ride - 51 Miles - Glasgow to Edinburgh

Following the success of the 3 Peaks Challenge in aid of Bowel Cancer UK last year, I've decided to compete in the Pedal for Scotland event in September 2010.
This time I'll be raising money for "Beating Bowel Cancer" and at the same time supporting Maggie's Cancer Care Centres, to which the entrance fee is donated.

Before we get into the details of the challenge, I should point out I'll be taking part on my old school mountain bike (a few of you might remember the red Diamondback) and I can honestly say my arse has barely touched the saddle since I passed my driving test ... nearly 20 years ago.
So apart from not having done any cycling for 2 decades and taking part on a mountain bike older than the average age of the cast of Glee, pedalling about on cycle paths for the equivalent distance of Bournemouth to Portsmouth should be a doddle.

The challenge is now in it's 12th year. The 51 mile Glasgow to Edinburgh ride is Scotland's biggest bike ride and attracted over 7000 participants last year.

A big thank you to everyone who supported us last year. Together we raised over £6000 for Bowel Cancer UK. Any donations this year for another fantastic cause would be gratefully received.

2010-03-27T15:12:00.002Z

TEST RUN 1 - Aim 10 miles

Conditions - drizzle, mild wind (oh and gears kept jumping from one to another ... v.offputing)

Achieved - 6.35 miles

Time - 37 mins

Av. Speed - 10.3 mph

Comments - Not particually happy with the outcome, but we've all got to start somewhere my ol' muckers and on the plus side, I didn't split my shorts and my cycle helmet fits!

2010-03-25T21:02:00.002Z

Following on from the success of the 3 Peaks Challenge last year, I've started to think about another challenge for the end of May. Not wanting to do any bloody hill climbing, and having finally picked up my bike from Mum's house in Dorset ... and the fact National Cycle route 7 runs through our village, I'm tempted by a cycling challenge.

I'm struggling to know where to pitch it though. Aim for 10 - 20 miles (as many people who know me and my fitness levels seem to be suggesting) and it's hardly a challenge to rank up there with the 3 peaks. Aim for 100km on the other hand and I might kill myself.

Having cycled EVERYWHERE in my teens (well, probably until I was 17 and got a car to be fair) I have this notion in my head (a bit like I did with the 3PC) that I'm much fitter than I actually am. I decided to cast doubt on the doubters and go out for a little jaunt up the cycle path one night after work last week, before it got dark. 4 miles later I was out of breath and back home. In my defence, only 2 of the 18 gears worked, the back brake was goosed, one of the pedals broken and the chain fell off twice. In my bike's defense it's my old school bike and hasn't been ridden for the best part of 20 years. Safe to say both me and the bike were knackered.

Anyway, hence the picture (above). I took my bike to Wheelcraft in Campsie Glen on Saturday and asked them to give it an overhaul, and tonight ladies and gentlefolk, I have it back ... it tip top condition (from what I can tell from the 2 mins I cycled around the car-park in the dark to check that everything worked).

Whilst waiting to have it fixed I have also visited the local Lidl (purveyor of all top quality biking merchandise) and although being £71 worse off, I now have a crash helmet, cycle shorts, 2 cycle tops, a rain jacket, gloves, a mileometer, 2 sets of lights, a mini pump, and a toolkit.

There are now 2 months to go and other than 4 miles up and back on a cycle track and 2 mins around the car-park, I haven't been on a bike since 1991. John, my co-climber last year, thinks we should be aiming for 30-40km for a good challenge. I'm still keen on the 100km but then I always was a bit of a prat. Any suggestions or anyone wishing to join in, bring it on!

I'll keep you posted on any developments.

As for writing ... work has been really busy so I'm still labouring with the planning.

The Edinboro 48 hour film challenge is on at the end of May as well ... so look out for that too!

2010-01-27T19:52:00.003Z

I have entered Digging Deeper into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Firstly, whilst I admit I shop at Amazon ... in fact I'll hold back for now until after the first round of judging in case they're reading this.

They started accepting submissions yesterday and you've only got until the 7th Feb. So if you're interested, this is how it works.

"Now through February 7th, 2010, or until we've received 5,000 entries in each category, you can enter your unpublished or self-published English-language novel into the General Fiction category, or the new Young Adult Fiction category. The contest will then proceed through four phases of judging:

First Round: Amazon editors will review a 300 word Pitch of each entry. The top 1000 entries in each category (2000 total entries) will move on to the second round.

Second Round: The field will be narrowed to 250 entries in each category (500 total entries) by Amazon top customer reviewers from ratings of a 5000 word excerpt.

Quarterfinals: Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript of each quarterfinalist, and based on their review scores, the top 50 in each category (100 total entries) will move on to the Semifinals.

Semifinals: Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and review all accompanying data for each semifinalist and will then select three finalists in each category (six total finalists).

Finals: Amazon customers will vote on the three finalists in each category resulting in two grand prize winners.

Review the Official Contest Rules and watch our video tutorials for instructions on preparing and submitting your entry."

If you fancy giving it a bash, visit https://www.createspace.com/abna?ref=480641&utm_id=5141

I'm not particularly hopeful of winning against 10,000 entries but you gotta give it a go eh?

2009-10-03T17:26:00.002Z

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Fiona Smith ... yes, the Fiona Smith.

Doesn't ring any bells? Well listen here. I'm about to give you the heads up because the aforementioned Fiona is the Editor of Shortbread Stories, a website specifically designed to be a showcase for writers, making their short stories available to a worldwide audience. What's more they're aiming to be the largest website of their kind ... in the world ... ever!

So whether you fancy a read or would like to upload your short stories to the website, why not take a look and see what you've been missing before Shortbread Stories explodes across the globe like some literary custard that's been left in the microwave too long and you turn into one of those sad losers who jumps on the passing band wagon, trying to barge your way to the microwave in the back of the wagon to try and lick up some of ... the, errm, custard. Oh, forget it. Just take a look at the damn site.

2009-10-03T17:09:00.004Z

I was kindly invited along to the Literary Salon at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre on Thursday evening to sit on a publishing panel. All went very well and I met some very interesting people, including Kirsty Lee.

Far be it for me to "big-up" other authors but credit where credit is due. Kirsty is attempting to write a short story a day for (wait for it) 12 whole months.

Lovely woman, totally mad project ... a combination which urges me to ask you (are you still there?) to check out Kirsty's work and support her accordingly before she is forced to slip into unflatterng white overalls and confined to a padded cell for the rest of her days.

The link to Kirsty's site, funnily enough, is in my list of "links". Check it out.

2009-10-02T20:17:00.003Z

Minor rant, but does everyone know what a courgette looks like?

If you do I wouldn't suggest you apply for a job at the Co-op supermarket, at least not at my local store, where it would appear a prerequisite of being awarded the job is that you display a very limited knowledge of common vegetables.

Now, speaking as man who used to work at a supermarket in his student days, I am all too aware that larger supermarkets sometimes stock some unusual vegetables which are difficult to recognise. Two things ... firstly there is nothing in my local Co-op more exotic than a banana (I fully appreciate this isn't a vegetable but you get the idea) and secondly, is a courgette really too difficult to recognise? I can appreciate that a yam might be difficult to distinguish from a sweet potato. My particular failing was more within the fruit kingdom, Kumquats, pomegranates and greengages but we were tested on these by our supervisors so that we wouldn't need to stare blankly at customers with our mouths wide open whilst holding their plums (sorry, couldn't resist).

Anyway, we meandered our way through the remaining contents of my shopping basket ... Red Bull, milk, we even managed to stumble our way through the carrots and broccoli, but then the blank expression descended over Jamie's (I read the name badge) face once more. He looked at me, held up the last remaining bag of vegetables and cocked his head to one side. In my head I was screaming, "For God's sakes, it's a couple of f**king parsnips, Jamie," but I smiled and informed him in a much more polite manner.

I have nothing to say in Jamie's defense. The bag was clear, the parsnips not discoloured or misshapen in any way that might suggest that they were anything else other than ... f**king parsnips.

I'm afraid this entry isn't going anywhere, other than to ask, does anybody else not know what a parsnip (or a courgette) looks like? I'm going now as I appreciate I'm beginning to sound rather pompous.

2009-08-21T20:46:00.002Z

And so probably the last of my reports from the Edinburgh Festival, with the 3 final shows to go.

Something a little more highbrow for Mum. A play called "Orphans". My review? Quite enjoyed it for someone who thought they weren't keen on theatre, ending a bit strange and they used the "c" word more times than the comedy show we'd seen earlier in the week. 8/10

I can't even remember the name of the 2nd show. Gemma wanted to see it and it was ok (at best). Something to do with "Craig still watches Neighbours" and was about a bloke who still watches Neighbours and included him playing clips from Neighbours and making averagely funny remarks about them ... along with some other VERY random bits chucked in 6/10.

And then, we saved the best until last ... Tom Wrigglesworth. It's ultimately a show about a particularly eventful train journey he had from Manchester to London with Virgin but it's a must see, very funny and he seems like a really top bloke (who really likes Vimto ... I know that because I was chatting to him at the bar before the gig ... about Vimto ... although at that stage I didn't have a clue who he was)

So a big fat 9/10 for Tom. A fitting way to end our festival fun for another year!

2009-08-21T20:43:00.003Z

In other news, thought I'd share with you that the Digging Deeper film script has been sent to FluidEye Productions in Edinburgh for their assessment and a copy of all three of my books will be winging their way down to London tomorrow to be scrutinised by an agent I've been lucky enough to have a chat with.

Will keep you posted.

2009-08-21T20:39:00.002Z

Received my certificate from Bowel Cancer UK this morning ... so I'd like to say a big thanks (and an individual hug) to everyone who helped raise the £5,288.90.

Admittedly it was me who did all the bloody training and hill climbing, but at least we managed to raise a massive amount a cash in the process, so thank you.

2009-08-18T20:31:00.004Z

Now, with Mum up for the festival over the weekend, what better way to play it safe than take her to a couple of safe shows before the even safer banker of the Edinburgh Tattoo.

Friday saw us start our schedule with a nice and safe lunchtime "best of the fest" in which you get a 10 min taste of 4 top comedians from the festival ... only one of which I've heard of. First up was Justin Moorhouse (the guy from Phoenix Nights) who was very good and I'll give a 7/10. He was followed by a not quite as funny Irish fella (is it worth giving him a rating if I can't remember his name? 6/10). Then came a very short "comedian" who wasn't very funny at all (but not as bad as Vladimir McTavish, so a 4/10) and then a very good, but very rude New Zealand comic who used the "c" word 5 times during his 10 minutes, which sent me into regular sideways glances to see how Mum was reacting to her Edinburgh experience. Anyway, this guy was supposed to be New Zealand's top comic ... although having done a google image search, I can't find any trace of him. Anyway, he'd be a 7/10 but downgrading him to a 6.5 for saying the "c" word a lot ... in front of my mum ... at a lunchtime show ... and for being fairly intimidating.

So, with nothing else to see until the Tattoo and the rain beating down, we decided to take shelter in the form of a wild card option ... Early Long Island Iced Tea which is directed by Mel Smith (yes, as in Smith and Jones) and I therefore thought it might be mildly funny. Didn't know if it was a play, musical or whatever, but it was certainly full of people more my Mum's age. It was an hour of caberet singing, and hour of caberet singing by an old queen (with a cracking voice it has to be said) singing old songs in an overly dramatic way. To add insult to injury, there were a few attempts at comical interludes which fell flat on their faces (unless you were of a certain age) which I presume were the inventions of Mr Smith. I was ready to cut my own ears off by the end of the hour. Mum seemed to enjoy it however.

Then onto the Tattoo. What a spectacle, not even dampened by having to sit in the heavy rain with my hood up and a bin liner over my legs. All in the name of "festival" my friends, all in the name of "festival".

2009-08-16T21:04:00.003Z

Next up, Jason Cook with his new show, FEAR.

Nothing unexpected here. Saw him last year, brilliant. Saw him again this year, still brilliant.

You'll notice their are no accolades from the Guardian on his poster.

Top quality. Go see.

2009-08-16T20:37:00.003Z

At this time of year, the papers are full of reviews for various shows at the Edinburgh Festival, and maaaaan, there's a lot of them. You can't walk anywhere in the city without a flyer or 10 being thrust into your path, all seemingly rated as the best show at the fringe by such and such.

But then it's all down to a matter of taste. I will therefore give humble opinion on shows to go and see and those to be avoided ... in order of appearance.

Vladimir McTavish: The Top 50 Scots Of All Time Pt II.

"A 2008 sell-out. Another affectionately scathing critique of one small nation's greatest icons."

‘Gleefully indulgent, highly appealing’ Guardian.

Now, I'm not a Guardian reader, in fact on the basis of their reviews, I don't intend to ever read the Guardian as my take on things would appear to be in direct contrast to this particular newspaper.

Far be it for me to be judgemental, but if I had seen the picture of Vladimir before we'd bought the tickets, I wouldn't have bothered. He doesn't strike me as the type of man who is going to make me laugh ... and he didn't, only in sympathy by the end of an gruellingly uncomforatble hour. I'm not sure how the Guardian could have thought otherwise. I was kind and gave him 5/10. Gemma (who is usually much kinder than me) gave him a 3/10 and said that was being generous. One to be missed in our opinion.

2009-08-13T19:27:00.002Z

Sign up for the FREE FACEBOOK BOOKSHARE.

The idea came from bookcrossing.com where you can "release books into the wild" by registering it on their site (which gives it a unique number) and then leaving it in a random place (say a phone box or restaurant), letting people know on the website where you have left it and then another person finds it, reads it, reviews it on the site and leaves it in a random place for someone else to find (and so on and so forth).

I therefore signed up my own books and released them but they didn't like that very much because they said it was self-publicity (you're supposed to release books you've read and enjoyed, not ones you've written yourself) and not in the spirit of bookcrossing. I said this was a load of nonsense and why should my book be any different to anyone elses and they said ... we have some very top-profile authors on their site and if they self-promoted their own books they would shut down their profile too ... and I said something along the lines of "well I'm sure Stephen King doesn't have too much bother with publicity and wouldn't have to resort to releases his own books for free on bookcrossing in any case."

Needless to say, we fell out (apologies for the ultra-long sentences). So ... (deep breath) what I'm proposing to do is my own book crossing where you say which title you want to read, I send it to the 1st person that signs up, they read it, review it on the fan page, and then send it to the next person on the list, and so on a so forth ... so it's like a book share where all it costs you is the postage to send it to the next person on the list.

Does this make sense? Just leave you're name and the book you would like to read on my Facebook fan page (or send me a message) and I'll contact you with the craic.

Happy reading!

2009-08-09T09:30:00.002Z

Now onto the next project, book 4. If you've been reading the earlier posts you'll know that I'll be returning to this once the film script is submitted far and wide.

Is it an image like this that puts people off the next book or possibly my writing ability? I'd like to thing it's the former. As soon as you mention it has the undead in it, people (especially girls) begin to turn their noses up.

All I wanted to say was ... ok, ok, it's going to be a book with zombie-esque characters in it but it's ultimately a book about survival and human emotions (God, that sounds boring) but a funny take on human emotions and surviving (now it sounds like an happy clappy self-help novel ... with zombies in it).

Look, all I'm saying is keep the faith. I'm writing it for me as I feel it deals with a lot of issues close to my heart but at the same time has a cracking story (I hope, still working on it) and is (as you would come to expect) a quirky, funny (dare I say HILARIOUS? Probably not) roller coaster of a yarn.

So don't be put off if you don't like zombies. It's going to be better written than anything I've done before, more amusing than 12 Months and Worlds Apart combined, have great characters, cracking storyline and leave you wishing the zombies would never end. This is going to be the last book before the snowball topples down the mountain side and really starts to gather momentum. I can feel it. You have been warned.

2009-08-09T09:12:00.004Z

This is great. I'm actually receiving emails badgering me for updates. I never knew you cared.

Well my faithful followers (I don't think we'll need more than a pipe of Pringles for the catering for the first fan club meeting), my apologies for the lack of info. To use the words of my Mother-in-Law, I've had a touch of paralysis by analysis. I am formulating a plan however and it goes a little something like this.

I'm very close to finishing the second draft of the screenplay. I will then be sending it to Fluid Eye Productions (aka Doug who used to take my scriptwriting course - http://www.fluideyeproductions.co.uk/) for his keen fluid eye and valued comments. Then, making the changes and adjustments required to get to a final script I'm happy with.

As far as I see it, it's then a case of submitting it to anyone who will listen. The BBC accept submissions (unlike Channel 4, damn you) and I've also found this website, https://www.withoutabox.com/, which lists just about every film festival going on the planet.

It's something I've never really done ... the being patient and submitting things I mean. None of the books have been touted around the circuit as I just feel it's easier and quicker to do the bloody thing myself. So ... watch this space as they say. Won't be long until I actually start submitting things ... to people ... who know what they're talking about (allegedly).

Fingers crossed pleased, oh faithful handful of blog followers!

2009-07-17T13:26:00.004Z

For those of you worried about the state of my mental health, fear not, for everything happens for a reason.

Take my interrupted sleep last night for example and this is true ... I woke up and wondered "whatever happened to the baby pictured on the front of Nevermind by Nirvana?" The album was released in 1991 so he'd now be 18 years old and I wondered if he boasted through High School about who he was or whether he had kept it a secret.

Well today, I found out who he was/is. His name is Spencer Elden, the son of the photographer's friend Rick Elden. It also transpires that Spencer Elden went onto appear on the cover of a cEvin Key (pronounced "Kevin Key") album in 2003.

And the pseudonym of cEvin Key??? ... Kevin William Crompton.

2009-07-17T12:37:00.005Z

Following my last post I have nothing to report other than the "Making of Pinstripe" out-takes have been posted on YouTube and I'm fit and well after my annual colonoscopy.

Flew down to Bournemouth this morning to see my Mum (and watch Bournemouth v Spurs) and was amazed how much crap Ryanair can peddle in a one hour flight. Maybe I just noticed it more because we were on an early morning flight (not helped with not getting to sleep until 1.30am cus Gemma was finishing her article and then were up at 5.30am to get our flight) but, bloody hell, I was ready to wrestle the intercom off them and rip it out of the wall.

First of all we had the usual safety briefing, which I heard but didn't watch due to the fact I was trying to get some well needed kip. Then once the seatbelt lights had been turned off and I was just nodding nicely off to sleep we get the announcement over the tannoy that the cabin crew will be mincing up and down the aisle with the menu cards and went on to describe the majority of the items on the bloody menu (I recall frothy cappuccino, panninis etc etc). So up and down the aisle they mince asking every 2nd person, "menu cards? menu cards?" Once that was all over I settled my head on my hand once more in order to get some rest only for the tannoy to strike up again to announce that the cabin crew would now be circulating through the cabin with the inflight magazine which had a list of an exciting array of duty free items in the back. So up and down they strode again "In flight magazine? In flight magazine?" You expect these things when you go on a flight to a certain extent but it just went on and on ... and on. We were asked if we wanted to purchase Ryanair scratch cards with the chance to win thousands of fantastic prizes including a car and flight vouchers, Ryanair phone cards which could be used all over Europe or as a top to you mobile with a low call charge of only 6 cents per minute, we then had the tea trolley offering the delights from the menu (twice), and then a selection of perfumes from the duty free ... all announced on the tannoy and all involving the cabin crew mincing up and down the aisle trying to peddle their wares on a captive, albeit half-asleep audience.

I make that 7 times up and down the aisle (10 if you include 1 x collecting the menu cards, 1 x collecting the in-flight magazine and 1 x collecting the rubbish) which when you consider the flight is an hour and it's 15 mins before the seatbelt light goes off and 15mins before landing it comes back on again, that's somebody up and down the aisle ... and a bloody announcement every 3 to 5 minutes.

Further insult to injury is inflicted with the proficiency of the announcements. I'm all for foreigners practising their English but I wish they wouldn't do it (a) on a public address system, (b) when I'm trying to get some sleep and (c) when I have no-where to escape to.

So no Ryanair, I don't want any of your perfume however cheap, or coffee however expensive or any other crap that you might want to try and fob onto me whilst I'm at your mercy.

So I've now arrived in Poole having missed the hourly courtesy bus from the airport by 5 minutes and having to pay £25 for a taxi.

2009-07-07T16:55:00.002Z

Nothing much to report at the mo although I have planned my objectives for the next 6 months.

1) Edit the Digging Deeper film script and submit to film type people. Receive rejections. Repeat process as required.

2) Whilst submitting film and waiting for rejections ... continue to write new novel (which I originally said would be out in the Autumn ... no chance)

3) If I get bored doing (1) or (2), have a go at actually writing the sit-com I've loosely come up with or writing the fighting fantasy book.

Do this whilst selling our current house, looking for a new house somewhere between Bath and Aberdeen (we've narrowed down the search parameters considerably), holding down a full-time job in a volatile construction industry and getting organised for G&H's wedding in France in August.

We also have tickets for the tattoo in Edinburgh next month and I'm looking to get tickets for U2 in Glasgow and A Band Called Quinn (if they're playing in the area any time soon).

Oh ... and I've signed up for twitter (not sure why) as THELEECROMPTON. Lee Crompton was "taken" but when you do a search for Lee Crompton, nothing comes up so I'm not quite sure how that works. They obviously heard I was coming.

Toodle Pip!

2009-06-21T19:16:00.002Z

Just a quick snap shot of me as Mr Murray in the wonderful "Pinstripe".

Please notice that besides wearing John Gallagher's clothes (including his watch although I provided my own socks and undergarments) I'm also wearing my wedding ring. I didn't wear it during the film as I thought Mr Murray was too much of a c%ck to actually have a wife.

Also, if you pay close attention to the film you will see the boom come into shot as I walk along the underpass and that in the first scene I'm holding the cup in my right hand and then later on drop it from my left hand. Also, the furry boom makes a brief appearance in the close up of my feet walking.

In the outtakes Drew noticed that in one scene Ben holds the clapperboard too close to the camera and all you can see is the "tripe" of "Pinstripe". Enough said.

2009-06-21T19:03:00.003Z

You know me, I love boy bands and wearing silly hats so I jumped at the chance to combine my two passions and went to see Take That last night at Hampden Park.

It is with regret that I reluctantly inform you it was actually very good ... well the show was and you kinda knew all the songs although it was an effort to hear Gary and the boys singing at some points over the incessant screeching of the permatanned, 30-something divorcees.

That said, a ruddy good show although I was mildly looking forward to seeing James Morrison in action (who was supporting) and whilst he was ok, he came across as a bit of a c%ck (and had an earring ... not good).

So, if you like large elephants and performing clowns (aka the audience and the Take That boys) then I suggest you get a ticket to the Take That circus.

2009-06-13T09:42:00.002Z

Thought I'd include my response to a guy who is doing an article into whether or not the media is sesationalist when it comes to cancer and the possible causes.

Read your post on facebook and thought I'd drop you a line for what it's worth.

I think the coverage in the media is sensationalist ... stark warnings that eating X can cause cancer and eating Y increases your chances of having cancer in later life. While there are some very good guidelines suggesting what is good and bad, the media tends to portray this in a very narrow minded way. And the outcome? Do less people eat X & Y? I'm not sure it has a great effect overall although having said that I have heard some stories to the reverse. When the media come out and say eating X or Y can severely decrease your chances of getting cancer, the shops seems to sell out overnight.

The media want a headline story. Take Jade Goody for example. Whilst I think Jade Goody's sad plight did more for cancer awareness than many campaigns put together, the media, rather than taking this opportunity to help raise awareness with facts and advice or what you should do if you have specific symptoms, channel their energy on seemingly wanting to make Jade the next Princess Diana.

I have a personal interest in Bowel Cancer. My Dad died 12 months ago at the age of 55. Did he die of Bowel Cancer? Technically no. Having been initially diagnosed, had his operation in October 07 and went onto to complete 6 months chemotherapy. He was delighted to have been accepted for a trial drug programme which he had administered for 6 months on his "week off" from the main chemo drug. He battled through the treatment very positively and had booked to fly to Spain to get some sun on his back on the Saturday 31st May 2008. He finished his treatment on the previous Tuesday and had his lines taken out. He got the all clear on the Thursday, technically therefore having beaten cancer for the time being at least, only to drop down dead on the Friday with a massive pulmonary embolism.

I didn't know much about cancer until my Dad was diagnosed. I wish I still lived in ignorance in a way. I wouldn't then have had to be told that he had contracted the disease. I wouldn't have had to see the pain and distress he was in after his operation when the epidural giving him morphine became misplaced in his back and couldn't be repositioned ... or the problems he had with getting a line into his arm which resulted in having to have the chemo tubes stitched through his chest. So did he die from eating too much red meat or excessive amounts of salt? I don't know but I'd be more interested in knowing whether the trial drug had something to do with his death, or more research into whether or not chemotherapy should be combined with blood thinning drugs. I'm no expert but as far as I understand, chemotherapy can increase the risk of blood clots, Deep Vein Thrombosis, Pulmonary Embolus which is exactly what killed my Dad. So whilst I agree prevention is better than cure, instead of scaring people into avoiding eating red meat or too much salt, I'd rather know if blood thinning drugs would be beneficial to chemo patients (they seem to use them more frequently in the States but not so much over here) and what exactly was in the trial drug and did that in some way help or hinder my dad's predicament. Furthermore, should my dad's dose of chemo been reduced on the basis he's lost nearly 3 stone in weight since the beginning of his treatment.

Here's an excerpt from the Cancer Research website (admittedly for lung cancer)

There is a trial to find out if blood thinning drugs can improve treatment for lung cancer. Blood clots are quite common in people who have lung cancer. And cancer treatment can increase the risk of blood clots. Dalteparin is a blood thinning drug (anticoagulant), also called Fragmin. It is used to prevent and treat blood clots. Doctors think that dalteparin may also affect how cancer cells spread through the bloodstream, but they don't know for sure. So this trial is giving dalteparin alongside standard treatment for lung cancer to see if it reduces the number of blood clots people get. And to see if it can help to stop cancer cells spreading through the bloodstream to other parts of the body.

If you search for "blood chemo thinning" in Google there are numerous articles arguing the pros and cons of such drugs and whether they should be used in tandem with chemotherapy treatment.

Anyway, I don't know whether this is what you were after or not (but feel better for getting it off my chest all the same). I guess in summary, would I rather we were told to eat less red meat or given some hard facts about the reality of cancer and the effects it has on people's lives. I don't suppose I need to answer that. Is the media sensationalist? Well, what gets more coverage ... bowel cancer, the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the UK, or the far more sexy breast cancer?

I should make it quite clear I have nothing against Jade Goody or the good that breast cancer charities do. In my opinion though, it's a bit like the red meat issue ... let's get it into proportion and everything in moderation.

2009-06-07T16:13:00.002Z

For this years entry into the Edinburgh 48 hour Film Challenge, we were required to include the following elements.

The prop - A screwdriver

The line of dialogue - "That's the first I've heard of it."

The character - Michael Murray (city worker)

And the genre we pulled out was suspense/thriller (although with the amount of fun we had making, comedy would have been more appropriate).

Usual rules apply, 48 hours to write, shoot and edit it. Special thanks to everyone who got involved, to Sam for organising the event once again and Jason Quinn/A Band Called Quinn for the music.

2009-06-02T20:56:00.002Z

So, the weekend of the 3 peaks challenge. I'm now wondering why I didn't read the initial description more intently from the outset.

"The 3 Peaks Challenge is Britain’s classic hill walking challenge with climbers attempting to climb the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in only 24 hours. Tackling Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, participants will take on this physically and mentally demanding challenge in support of Bowel Cancer UK.

The event will see participants climb over 11,000 feet, travel 500 miles and be exposed to the elements as they aim to beat the clock to complete this incredible challenge – including snow on Ben Nevis."

Reading this after the event, it makes more sense, but still doesn't go any way to describing the magnitude of the challenge. Little did we know, when the mini-bus picked us up from Central Station in Glasgow at 3pm on Friday, what lay ahead.

We arrived at Ben Nevis at around 6.30pm and following a hearty meal and a pint, we headed to the Salvation Army base for a team briefing. Only then did John and I realise how far out of our depth we were. Everyone looked much fitter and "up for it" than us. Appearances can be deceptive but our intuition was confirmed as they asked for a show of hands from the people who had climbed Ben Nevis before. 75% of people raised their arms ... and again for Scafell ... and again for Snowdon. John and I were, I think, the only people who didn't put our hands up for any of them. A handful of the 35 climbers for this Bowel Cancer UK event had even done the 3 peaks challenge before. In my humble opinion this doesn't make them much fitter than us or more "up for it", it just makes them bloody stupid for doing it again.

In hindsight though, it makes more sense hill walkers would sign up for an extreme hill walking challenge. I somehow imagined it would be a mixture of people of varying abilities who wanted to raise money for charity but thinking about it, if there was a charity cycle ride from Lands End to John O'Groats, you would reasonably expect keen cyclists to sign up. John and I whose furthest jaunt prior to 3 months ago had been to the corner shop started to wonder what the bloody hell we were doing there.

The event organisers then drilled home just what we were setting out to do and the perils that lay ahead. I can't remember anything specifically in the briefing that made me uncomfortable but I became increasingly nervous throughout. They finished the meeting by telling us that some people wouldn't make it. These were normally people who had re-occurring knee and ankle injuries. Maybe people who hadn't disclosed such problems from the outset but people who were nonetheless doing both themselves, together with the team-mates who would be majorly disrupted by anyone in their group having an injury and needing to be helicoptered off, a severe disservice. For those of you who know me, you'll know I've had dodgy ankles for years having torn the ligaments in them numerous times. Luckily, I had John with me and any concern I may have had was focussed on him as he's had not one but two cruciate ligament operations on his knee and was advised by his doctor only a couple of weeks ago not to take part in the challenge.

We were then split into teams of 8 or 9 and a team leader assigned by the event organiser for Bowel Cancer UK, Jock Wright. John and I knew who our team leader would be before the words "Lee Crompton" escaped Jock's lips. I was responsible for looking after the mountain packs, issuing the kit to members of the team to carry (2 x emergency shelters, maps, compasses, first aid kits etc) and giving/collecting the GPS equipment, sat phones and walkie talkies to the three individual guides on each peak. There are 3 schools of thought as to why I was picked as team leader. Firstly, it may have been a reward for raising the most money. Bowel Cancer UK's fund raising total for the event was £19,500. They raised circa £22,000 ... of which John and I alone contributed over £5000, just over £6,000 if you include Gift Aid. I'm not sure if the BCUK total included Gift Aid (sometime they seem to, others not) but either way, it's a truck load of money.
I may have equally been earmarked as team leader as punishment for my Mum's complaint letter. She (like an embarrassing parent, although her heart was in the right place) wrote an email outlining her grave disappointment that 3 Peakers were having to spend the night before the challenge in a tent after BCUK failed to put down the deposit on the accommodation in time and that with a week to go, fund-raisers were being asked if they knew anyone who could drive the buses as they didn't have any drivers.
The third reason may have been, in the words of John Gallagher, because I was "bosom email buddies" with Jock Wright. I'd like to think it was the first one.

Either way, having had the shits put right up us, it was time to seek out our aforementioned accommodation for the night. Please refer to pictures 1 & 2. Our tents were allegedly 3 man tents, just about big enough for both John and I to fit into. After sorting out our kit, searching the camp site for somewhere we could buy booze and discovering there wasn't anywhere, we had a wee nip from the hip flask and settled into our new home at around 10.30pm. I tried to get some sleep with my T-shirt up over my nose after John had saved his eggiest fart until we had zipped the tent up although the act of sleep proved very difficult due to the smell, John's general fidgeting and him prodding me every five minutes to ask if I was asleep yet.

The alarm on my mobile phone rang at 5.20am. It was then back to the Salvation Army for a porridge breakfast and collection of our packed lunch at 6am before returning to the base of Ben Nevis for the start of our challenge. The 24 hour clock started at 7.11am.

START CHALLENGE : 7.11am Saturday 30th May 2009

I would now like to draw your attention to picture 5. Yes, I'm fully aware I look like a cock and just in case I wasn't fully aware, John was sure to remind me every 5 minutes. This was however taken later in the day than the pictures would suggest. There is a reason for this, our mountain guide was a bigger knob than me ... if I'm not making much sense, hopefully all will become clear.

Our guide was a former Canadian marine and what started as a gruelling challenge for charity quickly turned into an SAS training morning as the bastard pushed us to the summit in 3.5 hours. Even when we were walking on the flat at the foot of the mountain, I leaned over to John and said "we're setting out on a hell of a pace here aren't we?" to which, surprisingly, John agreed. For anyone who knows Ben Nevis, the first stint is pretty intense and I don't mind holding my hands up and saying I was struggling, so much so that Mr Army Marine threatened to demote me to the group behind unless I got my act together. I plodded on, and with a measly two 5 minute breaks on the total ascent, we reached the top of the highest peak in the land.

I can now explain that the photographs are actually showing out of sequence. Under the former marines (aka Nazis) regime, we didn't have time to take photographs on the way up so yes, whilst I agree I look like an idiot, this was actually taken during the descent and I'd been climbing a mountain for about 6 hours in the blazing sunshine and was concerned my baldy heed would get burnt. Why did I have time on the way down to take pictures I hear you cry? Well, everyone else who has happily keeping up with the horrendous pace on the way up, was knackered by the time they got to the top and we had to keep stopping every 20 to 30 minutes as people were out of puff. Therefore I had plenty of time to snap some shots on the way down (which for the purposes of the photographic montage have arranged to look as though it was on the way up). 6.5 hours we took in total, only half an hour quicker going down the bloody thing than we were going up.

The last stint was a bit of a slog also, ankle deep in snow in places, the final ascent was similar to climbing up a sand dune. Needless to say I cried when I got to the top. John gave me a manly cuddle, then I cried some more. I wasn't particularly physically drained at this point (in comparison with later points in the weekend). The emotions of the day got to me though ... the reasons we were doing it, thoughts that I really wasn't going to make it within the first hour of the climb and how the bloody hell I was going to survive another 2. All of these things played their part but what actually started me off was thinking of Dad whilst listening to Space Oddity by David Bowie on Gemma's iPod Shuffle as we climbed the last bit through the snow. In some freakish way, when all I could hear was the music coupled with the snowy sights around, the lyrics somehow had some weird meaning, some hidden message between me and my Dad and I can't really explain it rationally but if you listen to the lyrics, maybe you'll understand (but maybe not). Anyway, I cried. From here on in it's officially known as the 3 Weeps Challenge. 2 more to come.

I'll finish off Ben Nevis by drawing your attention to photo 30 which inadvertently includes the overweight man in his 50's, with only a skimpy pair of black shorts and a bum bag to cover his modesty, who passed us running up in the snow and in this picture was passing us again as he ran back down. Bonkers!

I should also mention a couple of things that John will be dining out on for months to come. The ex-marine Nazi allegedly said to John shortly after we had set out that he should slow down as he was demoralising the rest of the group with his pace. My particular favourite though is when he looked John up and down when we came off the mountain and said, "you're a lot fitter than you look."

END NEVIS : 1.41pm Saturday 30th May 2009

Finished peak 1, everyone back to the salvation army to pick up our soup and pasta to eat on the bus on the way to Scafell Pike. We also had a bag with our packed lunch in it for the next peak. It then dawned on me that we were supposed to have taken the previous packed lunch up Ben Nevis with us, so I now had 2 ... not that any of us would have been able to eat it anyway as the climbing Nazi wouldn't allow us to stop for any time longer than it takes to scoff a sneaky Mars bar.

Please now refer to pictures 31, 32 and 33. These are photos of a Vauxhall inconveniently exploding on the hard shoulder, the emergency services arriving on the scene literally seconds before we did and shutting the motorway. We were stuck for around forty minutes until it was safe to pass. Factoring in the weird way in which we travelled from Ben Nevis to Scafell (via Norwich from what I could tell) on a mini-bus which was restricted to a maximum of 60 mph and the result was we didn't start the next peak until 8pm, some 6 hours and 20 mins after we'd finished Ben Nevis.

START SCAFELL : 8pm Saturday 30th May 2009

I don't know where to begin with this one. It's a catalogue of disasters. I started in fine spirits and with the recovery time on the bus my muscles were feeling much better, ready to charge at Scafell Pike. The problem was, we were now (somehow) 2 hours behind schedule. We needed to complete Scafell Pike in 3 hours to get back on track, but had 2 hours less daylight to do it in. Rather than getting to the top for dusk, we were now in complete darkness by around 10pm.

Please read the following extract from the wonderful Wikipedia:

"The ascent of the Pike is most often attempted from Wasdale Head. This is at the north end of Wastwater to the west of the Pike, and is at about 80 metres above sea level. On summer weekends, crowds of people can be found attempting this steep but straightforward walk. An alternative ascent from Wasdale approaches up a hanging valley whose head is at Mickledore, which is itself ascended, before following the path from Sca Fell to the Pike.
A more taxing, but scenically far superior, approach begins at Seathwaite Farm at the end of Borrowdale, proceeding via Styhead Tarn, then taking the Corridor Route (formerly known as the Guides Route), a delightful walk along the western flank of the Sca Fell massif with intimate views of the mountain, before joining the route from Wasdale near the summit."

Now, considering the impending darkness, which route do you think we took ... the more leasurley tourist route or the "more taxing but scenically far superior" route from Seathwaite Farm? Yip, you've guessed it. Please pay particular attention to pictures 44 to 48 showing just how scenically far superior it really was.

Here's another snippet on Scafell from mountainwalk.co.uk.

"To walk up Scafell Pike involves clambering over a lot of boulders. Hiking poles are a distinct advantage and can help you avoid getting broken and twisted ankles."

Walking poles are particularly useful when coming down as they take the pressure off your knees. Imagine my delight therefore when one of my walking poles snapped in half just before reaching the summit. Also, unfortunately for me, I'd had a bit of 'rubbing trouble' with my boots on Nevis and so to avoid taking myself out of the running with potential blisters, I opted for my walking trainers. Scafell Pike being very stony and the bottom of my trainers being much less rigid than my boots, the soles of my feet took a bit of a pasting.

Add to that my head torch which, when required, gave out about as much light as ... well I may have well have sellotaped a glow-worm to my forehead for all the good it was. Fumbling around on a mountainside for hours on end when you can't see your feet isn't much fun, let me tell you.
A couple of our group began to complain about the difficulty of the climb. There were sections where we were traversing across rocks, in the dark, no wider than our feet with a sheer rock face one side of us and 150 foot drop the other. One of the last sections to the summit was up 45 degrees of scree which was the equivalent of scrambling through treacle, every foothold giving way, sending stones and shale on the person behind. In all honesty, I probably enjoyed this bit the most as it was a real adventure but I could see their point. For a bunch of amateur walkers it was probably a bit too much to expect us to do this in the dark. With all these things, it's all ok until something goes wrong and I'm sure if anything had happened to any of us, questions would have been asked of the event organisers about what the bloody hell we were doing up there in the dead of night.

On reaching the summit, in a respectable 3.5 hours, we then had to make our way back down. The guide got us lost at one point which meant we had to go back up again for a while to re-find the trail. John took a bad tumble about half way down and jarred his knee and I honestly thought it was curtains for him but he soldiered on like the trooper he is. The descent seemed to take forever. By the time we returned to the farm, some 8 hours after we'd started, we were like a group of zombies staggering off the hillside. It was 4am when we'd finished Scafell, 14.5 hours of hiking and 21 hours after we'd started Ben Nevis on Saturday morning. I was completely done for, nothing left in the tank whatsoever.

The cold take-away dinner we were then served did nothing to perk me up, the chicken curry, peas and carrots having had 4 hours to cool from when it had initially been ready.

I was ready to chuck it in. I looked at John and he shook his head, uttering the words (not for the first time) "f**k you, Crompton" as we hauled ourselves back on the mini-bus.

It was at this point I could utterly relate to Steve Redgrave and his, 'if anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat again, you have my permission to shoot me.' after winning his fourth Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in July 1996. Whilst I'm not suggesting for one minute our achievement was anywhere near the magnitude of Sir Steve's, I can honestly say I could relate to exactly what he meant. It's all relative. His 4 golds was our 2 peaks. I have never hurt so much physically and emotionally as much as I did after finishing Scafell. I felt dizzy, nauseous and ached as if I had the flu. If was awful. So yeah, Steve, I can see exactly where you're coming from on that one but then you went on to win gold for the fifth time at the Australian Olympics in 2000. It's at this point I would like to say, if anyone DOES ever see me with a walking pole in my hand or strapping on my boots ever again, they really DO have my permission to shoot me, preferably one clean shot to the head.

END SCAFELL : 4am Sunday 31st May 2009

We learnt on the bus that one of the other groups had turned back on reaching the scree, considering it too dangerous to continue. John and I discussed chucking it in, both of us completely exhausted and him now suffering with his knee. By the time we got to Snowdon, Gemma and Julie who had travelled to Wales to pick us up when we finished the challenge, were already there.

START SNOWDON : 9.30am Sunday 31st May 2009

Part 2 of the 3 weeps occurred when we reached Snowdon, hobbled off the mini-bus and I saw Gemma's smiling face. If we hadn't raised so much money for Bowel cancer UK I can say without a shadow of a doubt we'd have both thrown our kit in the back of the car and driven back to Scotland. Whereas my legs had recovered a fair bit on the trip from Nevis to Scafell, having completed 2 of the peaks and got very little sleep in the previous 26 hours (not including the crap nights kip in the tent on the Friday night) I was in no better physical condition when I reached Snowdon than when I left Scafell. But between us, we'd raised a staggering amount if money. After all the effort everyone had put in to raise the cash, all the texts of encouragement and messages of support, I couldn't imagine telling people I hadn't done it. Doing it in 24 hours was long gone and BCUK are subsequently re-thinking the event for next year. Even one of the independent groups in their own car didn't make in within allotted time. I somehow felt I'd be cheating people if I didn't at least give it a go, and so ... spurred on by Gemma and Julie, we got our kit ready and made our way up Snowdon.

There's not much to say about Snowdon really. I don't remember too much about it other than it being a slow slog in blazing sunshine and weeping uncontrollably when John and I sat on the grass next to the summit. I couldn't tell you how long we'd taken to complete the 3 peaks, time didn't seem to matter. All we knew was that somehow (and both of us are still not sure quite how) we managed to climb the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in around 28-29 hours.

I hope nobody feels cheated that we didn't complete the challenge in the 24 hours and the fact we caught the train from halfway down Snowdon. The challenge was to climb the 3 peaks in a day, the clock starting at the bottom of Nevis and stopping at the summit of Snowdon and I can say from the bottom of my heart that we both gave it our all. Did I feel a sense of achievement at the top of any of the peaks? Not really. When I've been doing the training walks on my own I did get a sense of satisfaction from conquering what I'd set out to do and I guess the difference is, you get to the top of Nevis and Scafell and know you haven't finished what you started and still have much more to do. By the time we reached the summit of Snowdon I had a mixture of emotions but none of them were what I would call achievement or satisfaction, more disbelief and relief. I thought a lot about Dad, why we had set out to do the challenge and the enormous effort everyone had gone to to help raise money, but by then, I just wanted to go home. We'd somehow made it where others had failed. Adding together the bus load who turned back at Scafell and a couple of other injuries, a dozen or so never made the challenge and only one of the independent car groups actually managed it in the 24 hours. All in all, although the result wasn't exactly what we'd set out to achieve, it wasn't a bad effort.

When we got to the bottom, people were asking if we enjoyed ourselves. "You had a great time though, eh?" And I answered, quite categorically, "NO!"

It was quite possibly the worst weekend of my life. Physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, the kind of extreme discomfort that won't go away no matter which way you twist and turn ... sleep deprivation not to mention having to share a tent with John, is not my idea of fun and I hope I never have to go through anything like it again. I've decided I don't like hill walking. I don't see the point. Why anyone would want to look at a hill and think, "you know what, I fancy walking up that," is beyond me ... unless ... perhaps, you wanted a pleasurable walk on a nice day, at your own pace where you could stop for a drink and a sandwich when you wanted to and take some nice pictures of the views. I could maybe ... just maybe understand that. But there is absolutely nothing pleasurable about climbing 3 mountains in a day (2 in sweltering heat and 1 in the dark) at a frantic pace with a group of strangers who all want to stop at different times, both on the mountain and in a mini-bus that is restricted to 60 mph. Not to mention, because of the scorching weather, thousands of other people decided to have a jaunt up Snowdon and Ben Nevis as well so rather than being a reflective solitude of mountainous wasteland, when you added Joe Public to the other hundreds of people climbing for various charities, the peaks were mobbed.

The only pleasure I gained from it all was from completing the challenge with John on Dad's anniversary and raising so much money for Bowel Cancer UK. I'd like to thank everyone for their support over the last couple of months, their generous donations and messages of encouragement on the day. It meant a great deal and I'm only sorry I didn't have chance to get back to everyone but hope you appreciate after reading this that it was absolute bedlam and chaos.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Together we raised a shed load of money for a very could cause but as for hill walking ever again ... £u*k that!

2009-05-19T19:52:00.004Z

News hot off the press ... last years entry into the Edinburgh 48hour film Frenzy, Roberta Darling's Recipe for Success has been selected to be shown at this years Leith Film Festival.

I've managed to cobble together another merry band of epic film makers for Edinburgh 48hr 2009.

It all happens this weekend so watch this space!

2009-05-17T16:48:00.002Z

Sorry for lack of updates. Been a bit manic of late but with only 2 weeks to go, I've been keeping up the training.

Last weekend I went up the Cobbler and was at the peak (circa 880m) within 2 hours.

Part of what kept me going were a very fit couple of women ahead of me. I tried to keep up but they were out of sight, which was a shame as the one with the long blonde hair had a cracking arse on her, accentuated by her tight walking trousers. I pushed on to try and keep up and eventually got level with them as the blonde took off her fleece. It was then that it occurred to me that she had a very deep voice for a woman and as she took off her fleece and shook her golden locks ... I realised it was a man.

Still, could be worse. I could be James Hughes who made comment on a women they were following in Bournemouth Gardens, cracker she was apparently and was saying what he's like to do to her, only to find out as they got nearer, it was his sister.

2009-05-04T18:41:00.005Z

In other news, last night saw the start of our very own "Come Dine With Me". It's one thing doing it with strangers but I'm not convinced it's a particually good idea unless you're keen to fall out with your friends and partners. Anyway, everyone else was very excited and so I've been over-ruled. First up ... Gemma with a menu as follows (as presented by her on the night).

Fizz & Nibbles

Onion Bisque with Chilli Oil

Crispy & sticky Chicken with New Potatoes & Tomatoes, with a Butternut Squash & Red Onion Salad

White Chocolate & Raspberry Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream

The results were put in a sealed envelope and will be opened on the final night to see who out of the six of us (Gemma, me, Pete, Morag, Heather and Al) will be crowned champion. Unfortunately there's no £1000 to win! Next up, Pete (who allegedly reads this blog)

2009-05-04T18:28:00.003Z

Naughty me has not been walking for a while (other things have got in the way) but I still haven't got around to posting my epic ... so here it is.

"Hardcore walking/climbing. Managed to do 2 munroes in a day with a total ascent of 1550m (compared with a total ascent on Ben Nevis of 1370m).

Now, I've had a bit of stick regarding my previous comments on the hillocks of Dorset but my legs would like the chance to have their say. Firstly, the facts.

"A Munro is a Scottish mountain with a height over 3,000 ft (910 m). They are named after Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919), who produced the first compilation of a catalogue of such hills, known as Munro's Tables, in 1891."

As previously stated, Swyre Head in Dorset is the highest peak in the Purbecks at 203m which
qualifies it as a "Marilyn". A Marilyn is basically a piss take of a Scottish munroe. To qualify, the summit needs to be over 150m.

Now, I'm not being funny, but 150m???? Dorset doesn't know shit from pudding when it comes to peaks. FACT!

So yes, a great day, great views, 1550m ascent, 14km & 7 hours hiking but slightly disconcerting when you're looking DOWN on the mountain rescue helicopter."

2009-04-11T17:48:00.002Z

Dorset is sadly lacking in mountains so we picked a coastal walk from the "hard" section of the book. 8.5 miles/ 13.5km - Trig point 666 feet

"Swyre Head is the highest point of the Purbeck Hills and the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, on the south coast of England. Although not very high, its relative height is such that it qualifies as a Marilyn. The chalk hill is part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation.The hill commands extensive views, including west past the Isle of Portland to Dartmoor, and east to the Isle of Wight, as well as north across the Purbeck Hills to Poole Harbour and the other Purbeck Marilyn, Nine Barrow Down. To the west, the folly of Clavell Tower can also be seen.Set back about 800 metres (half a mile) from the coast, the hill is not on the South West Coast Path, but can be reached easily from the villages of Kingston or Kimmeridge.The hill has a trig point marked as 203 metres on Ordnance Survey maps, but a tumulus, now fully grassed over, forms the highest point, 208 metres above sea level."

Book says walk should take 5 hours. We managed it in just over 3.5. BLAM! Take that, Dorset.

2009-04-05T15:31:00.004Z

Just some of the images from the Ben Lomond Climb ...

2009-04-04T23:35:00.003Z

Latest Headlines Kidderminster Shuttle. I hate to say it, but another piece of publicity which has had absolutely no effect on increasing donations (or book sales).

Lee’s novel idea to boost charity close to his heart

Friday 27th March 2009

By Adam Burling »

AN AUTHOR who grew up in Kidderminster is giving people the chance to be named as a character in his new book.

In return for a £3 donation to Bowel Cancer UK, Lee Crompton is asking people to put their names in forward, with the first four names out of the hat being included in the novel.
The book, due for publication in the autumn, has not been named yet but Lee hopes plenty of people will get involved.

“I’ve met so many people who have said they would love to be in a book, so I thought the idea would be a fun way to raise money for charity,” he said.

Lee’s previous novel was the thriller Digging Deep, released in 2007, a change in direction from the humorous tone of his other books, 12 Months and Worlds Apart.

Born in Bromsgrove, Lee’s family lived in Woodfield Crescent, Kidderminster until he was six, before moving to the south coast.

He made return visits to Wyre Forest in subsequent years during holiday times to visit relatives. Lee was inspired to start raising cash for the charity after his father, Edward Crompton, died of bowel cancer last May, aged 55.

“It was a complete shock to everyone,” explained Lee. “To lose your father is hard enough but especially when he had remained so positive throughout his treatment and was so looking forward to my stag do and wedding day.”

He also faces the “toughest challenge of his life” in May when he will be taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge. He will attempt to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – the highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland – within 24 hours.

“It’s not something I would normally dream of doing,” he said. You can sponsor Lee by visiting www.justgiving.com/leecromp ton or www.justgiving.com/ leecromptonbook

Just for the record, my last book was not called Digging Deep, I left Kidderminster when I was four and I don't remember saying the 3 peaks was going to be the "toughest challenge of my life" but having climbed Ben Lomond, it's probably not too far from the truth.

2009-04-04T22:46:00.003Z

Ben Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laomainn, 'Beacon Peak'), 974 metres (3,200 ft), is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is east of Loch Lomond, and is the most southerly of the Munros.

So this was the first munro we conquered, all 974 metres of it. Weather conditions, together with my fitness levels, weren't ideal. It was a struggle to say the least and being hit in the face with hail for half the descent wasn't much fun either. That said, lots of positives (and negatives) to take from the day. Firstly, and most importantly, I managed to complete it, as there were times I thought it was best to give it up as a bad job. Secondly, with my new 1000 mile socks, my boots didn't rub (well, they did, but I didn't get blisters). We also managed to do it at a reasonable pace, 4 and 3 quarter hours up & down.

On the downside, Ben Lomond is still a couple of metres short of the smallest of the 3 peaks on the challenge, Scafell Pike. Having completed, driven for an hour home, watched the Grand National and fallen asleep for 3 hours, I awoke at 8pm feeling as though I had been hit by a bus. In reality, it would be about this time we would be arriving at the next peak to do it all again. I had a job to climb the stairs let alone another peak (followed by another one).

So whilst I'm encouraged by today's feat, there is still a long way to go. Despite going to the gym and completed 3 hill climbs, there is still no way I am in any physical shape to complete the 3 peaks challenge. That said, whilst I feel as utterly shattered as I did when we did walk one to Place Fell some four weeks ago, we've been up (and down) a further 1000 feet today than we were in Cumbria. Encouraging signs but still plenty of work to do.

2009-03-30T21:11:00.002Z

PS Thank you to the one person who last week agknowledged they read my blog. I salute you!

2009-03-30T20:58:00.006Z

I forgot to mention that on Friday night, The Stirling Castle pub had the pleasure of being graced by myself, Gemma, Miff (the one member of the Jitterbugs who can sing) and Jackie and Angie from work.

I don't remember much of the evening but was reminded I dueted with Miff for "sterling" renditions of "Yellow" by Coldplay and "Baby When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams and Sporty Spice.

I remember drinking copious amounts of Guinness, whisky, ordering a chinese and falling asleep after a couple of mouthfuls. I also recall dreaming about going to the toilet on at least 3 occasions but luckily awoke in Miff's flat to discover I hadn't wet her sofa bed. Phew! Probably staying in with cocoa next Friday.

2009-03-30T20:51:00.005Z

I'd just like to make it QUITE clear, that Gemma watches America's Next Top Model and not me but when I happen to wander through the lounge and catch a glimpse of the TV, I notice this image of Norman Bates, and then realise that Marjorie is actually one of the final few to be a MODEL on the programme?

Amongst her hobbies, Marjorie confesses to assuming her mother's personality and repressing her death as a way to escape the guilt of murdering her. Hmmm!

2009-03-29T18:57:00.002Z

In less inspiring news, this week Digging Deeper was advertised in the national newspaper the Independent on Sunday. With a readership of over 600,000 I am pleased to say that my cynicism has not been overruled as this has led to ... no additional sales.

I can also confirm that I have received confirmation from Rise Films that the film script did not win the Summer Challenge.

Back to work tomorrow I guess. Humph!

2009-03-29T18:50:00.001Z

Just to reiterate our place amongst the Falkirk gliterrati, we were featured in this weeks Falkirk Herald as the "wedding of the week". Our prize for such an accolade? £30 voucher for Behind the Wall in Falkirk. Yum!

2009-03-29T17:44:00.004Z

Following on from our epic adventure up Place Fell a fortnight ago and having had a couple of weeks at the gym, John and I (joined by Gemma) set about the task of climbing Ben Ledi today. What started out as a bright summers day at the bottom turned into an icy cold wind and snow at the top.

Luckily I'd packed my map, compass, waterproof top and bottoms ... then realised I'd forgotten my walking boots so had to do the climb in my trainers (as did Gemma).

We actually reached Meall Odhar which is about 40m short of the summit but it was just too windy to continue. The last section is a very steep scramble and the wind was howling so we decided to turn back. That said, we got around 2750 feet high which is around 600 ft higher than last time but still 450 feet short of the smallest of the 3 peaks, Scafell Pike and a massive 1650 feet shy of the top of Ben Nevis. So, still a lot of work to do bit some encouraging signs.

2009-03-29T17:31:00.005Z

14th March 2009 - Place Fell - 3 peaks training part 1

2009-03-24T23:47:00.003Z

Okay, okay ... so you want more cake! The layers were fruit and carrot. Yum!

In other news, I went to the gym again today and most important of all, my Bowel Cancer UK T-shirt turned up so I'm well chuffed and will be wearing it with pride. If anyone knows where a very nice T-shirt printer might print www.justgiving.com/leecrompton on the back for a very reasonable price, please let me know. Ta!

2009-03-23T20:33:00.007Z

For those of you who haven't seen the one thing that was photographed more than the Bride & Groom on our wedding day last month ... ladies and gentlemen, I give you (drum role if you please), the cake.

It's was a bit of a change in direction from Gemma whose official stance on "cake" at the start of the organisational process was (try and imagine it in the voice of ... well, someone with a deep moany voice) "I can't get very excited about white icing".

BLAM! Then we met Karen (although I have to take the credit for spotting her buns first) and white icing suddenly became a thing of the past. Who knew you could tell the story of your courtship through the medium of sponge? I certainly didn't but there we were ... scuba diving in Turkey, being chased by giant leeches in India and me doing the house up whilst Gemma did her masters. Brilliant.

May I therefore suggest, for a cake for any occasion, you visit http://www.sucrecoeur.co.uk/ ask for Karen and I can guarantee you will seduced by icing!

2009-03-23T20:11:00.003Z

Now, for those of you who thought I was being a soft southern shandy drinking poofter with my moans about last weekends trek, get a load of this ... the cross section of the flipping walk we did. See, doesn't look so bloody easy now, does it?!?!?

"Actual distance once you add in all the lumps and bumps was 11.8km. Before you get too cross with me for walking you beyond the advertised 9km I have to say that most of the additional distance was dropping down to East of Cat Crag to get out of the wind. Total ascent and descent of 738m."

... not my words, the words of proper scouty walker Hugh who, unlike myself and John, knows what the bally hell he's rambling (lame joke, sorry) on about.

OK, OK, so ignoring the fact we were still 250m short of the smallest of the 3 peaks and forgetting that John and I were shagged and Hugh returned looking as if he'd sauntered to the newsagents, for a first attempt (and having squashed the graph inwards to make the slopes look steeper ... I'm joking btw) I don't think we did too badly.

The training continues ... next stop, more hills.

PS This is the ACTUAL route we took as mapped by scouty Hugh (not his official title)

2009-03-17T22:00:00.004Z

Today, John and I have mostly been enrolling at the gym. We are now proud members (week days only) at Glasgow Uni.

Furthermore, we actually used some of the machines. We're planning to go at least twice a week in an attempt to give ourselves half a chance of doing the 3 peaks. We'll be there again Thursday.

Falkirk Herald rang today. Should be an article in the newspaper within the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed it'll help raise some cash.

2009-03-16T22:55:00.003Z

Further to one of my previous entries, people have asked me how recent events have put things into perspective and what I meant by it.

Well, I would try and explain it as a double edged sword. Whilst I have a sense of "freedom" in so much as you realise you have to make the most of what you have whilst you can (which can put the hum-drum of normal everyday life into perspective), I can also (more often than not) find the sense of loss debilitating. Whilst some people find it can "open their eyes", I feel it adds to my anxiety and fear. When something you take for granted (I'm not suggesting I took my Dad for granted, but rather the assumption that he was always going to be there) is suddenly whipped away from you and the world as you know it changes forever in an instant, and there's absolutely nothing you can do to reverse the process, then (for me anyway) it does make me wonder what else could change or be taken away ... and this doesn't make me greatly appreciate what I have but more fearful as to what I could lose. This could be notion in my head or in some cases it goes to the extent that I can even imagine awful things happening whilst I'm in a given situation and can actually see them happening in my head ... a passenger getting out of my car only to be hit by oncoming traffic for example (probably one of the less graphic examples).

And yes, I know this is irrational and if I went to a shrink or councillor they'd probably tell me that I'm worrying about things that will more than likely never happen and there is no evidence to suggest that any of these awful things will occur ... but there was no evidence to suggest Dad was going to drop down dead 2 days after being told he was clear of bowel cancer, but it still happened, and if that can be stripped from my life in a moment, then what's to say anything else can't.

In a nutshell, despite trying to have a positive outlook (as my dad would have had) the flood of donations, the newspaper articles, the training (or planning of training), the conversations I have with people, make me focus on matters a great deal more than I probably would normally and my poor show on Saturday really made me think I wasn't going to be able to even attempt the challenge and my silly notion had let myself down, the charity down, together with the people who have sponsored me and most importantly my Dad.

I still find the situation I'm in a little difficult to get my head around at times.

2009-03-16T22:22:00.002Z

Talking of "no turning back", thank you to the Ayr Advertiser for a lovely article in the newspaper last week. Your support is very much appreciated.

2009-03-16T22:11:00.003Z

My continued upset has been with the realisation that I AM actually old, fat, balding and unfit. "How could a mere walk confirm all these things?" I hear you cry. Well, quite simply ... my limbs were too old and knackered to get me to the top with any amount of respectability (see same for unfit) whilst having to carry too many pounds to the summit (see fat) and I had to wear a hat for the majority of the climb cus my ears were cold (see balding).

So yes, I have been feeling very sorry for myself as I honestly thought, "yes, it's going to be a tough challenge but with the reasonable level of overall fitness I have, not too much of a problem." Reality bites as they say.

Things keep happening to lessen my chances of doing a U-turn though ...

http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/home/media-centre/latest-news/lee-crompton

2009-03-16T21:54:00.002Z

Although I don't feel they do them justice, these are the pictures of my heels following Saturday's outing. Just to put things into perspective, the "fell" we climbed to the top of was circa 650 metres. In comparison, Scafell Pike is the smallest of the 3 peaks at 978 metres.

No pressure then!

2009-03-16T21:01:00.005Z

Seeing as I how the donations for the 3 Peaks Challenge total £1200 to date (thanks to everyone who has sponsored me) I guess I should say a little bit about how the training is going.

In a word, "crap". It started last Monday with a moonlight jaunt before dinner. I opted to wear my boots, to try and bed them in a little bit, together with my normal socks (I was only going out for an hour. How bad can it be?)

Cutting a long story short, I ended up with really bad blisters and hobbled around for the rest of last week. Still, buoyed by my reasonable pace, I decided to take the car out and trace my route to see how much distance I'd burned up in the hour I'd been gone. A lowly 3.3 miles. More practise was needed.

Luckily my blisters had (more or less) healed in time for the weekend just gone when we were down at Centre Parcs in Penrith for the mother-in-law's birthday. (It was a significant one, but I won't reveal the age. Suffice to say it was more than 59 and less than 61). What better place to get some walking miles under our belts than in the Lake District? The brother-in-laws therefore set out on a mini expedition, led by Hugh (cus he's a scout master and knows about this sort of thing). Our route wasn't quite as the map shows above although we set off from Sandwick and followed Ullswater and (through gritted teeth) eventually reached the top of Place Fell. We all had our advantages and disadvantages. Hugh had the advantage of being fit and an experienced hill walker but had the disadvantage of having to carry all the gear. John (who is doing the 3 peaks with me) had the advantage of having the walking poles but the disadvantage of having as much experience of hill walking as me, was suffering from a chest infection and previously undergone 2 operations on his dodgy knee. I didn't really have any advantages, just negatives, which increased as the day wore on. Having started the walk with little experience and as a smoker with a dodgy ankle, I finished some 5 or so hours later with more blisters, wounded pride, blind panic, bruised ego ... oh, and no fags after I drop kicked them off the top of the summit on the pretense that if I was EVER going to make even one of the three peaks, I was going to need as much help as possible (Please note that the country code was adhered to as Hugh went to recover my booted box of Richmond Superkings).

I've been pretty forlorn ever since, unsure I would even make it up one peak, let alone three. Yesterday I hobbled and ached. Today I hobbled and ached some more but walked to the shops at lunchtime, albeit only a 1.5 mile round trip) to get my healthy fruit and yoghurt for lunch, I've had salmon and lentils for dinner and am going to enrol at the gym tomorrow in an attempt to get fit and give myself half a chance.

Just for the record, I was 15 stone 7 when I weighed myself this morning. I have somehow put on 6 pounds since I left for Centre Parcs on Friday. It must be my time of the month.

2009-03-03T21:34:00.004Z

I've just realised the last time I wrote my blog was on 26th May 2008, four days before my father (aged 55) suddenly passed away, which I why I haven't felt the inclination to write anything since.

I should start by saying this entry, and probably the next few, are likely to be rambling and disjointed. I have a lot to say in my head and not sure at the moment how it is going to come out.

The reason for writing an entry now is because of my decision to take part in the 3 peaks challenge in May to try to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK. I had received the information a while back and hadn't really given it much thought as it's the kind of thing you do if you're really fit, which I'm not. It involves climbing Ben Nevis (Scotland), Scafell Pike (England) and Snowdon (Wales), the highest peaks in their respective countries within 24 hours. Now, I've been quizzed on this and can confirm that the challenge is to complete the peaks in the same 24 hours. We start at the base of Ben Nevis at dawn on the 30th May 2009 and aim to be at the summit of Snowdon by dawn on the 31st May. This will include coming down Scafell Pike and climbing up Snowdon in the dark. Quite a challenge and not something I would normally dream of doing, but when I realised the date of the challenge, exactly 12 months after my Dad died, I signed up.

It's utter madness for someone who usually spends his spare time smoking Richmonds and playing xbox live ... and I only have 3 months to get into shape, but I think it's a fitting way to commemorate the anniversary, do something positive and try to raise some cash for Bowel Cancer UK.

People obviously assume my father died of bowel cancer. This isn't the case. He was diagnosed with the disease in the autumn of 2007, had his operation shortly after and then completed 6 months chemotherapy. He stayed positive throughout his treatment and was made up to be accepted onto a programme for a trial drug which he had fortnightly, inbetween his chemo. He was determined to beat it, and that's exactly what he did. Having completed his treatment on the Tuesday I spoke to him on the Wednesday and he was over the moon with having got through this difficult time. I can honestly say his outlook had changed since initially being diagnosed. He was looking forward to flying to Spain on the Saturday to get some sun on his back and was busy making plans to live for the moment and do all the things he'd put off in life. Gemma & I had got engaged in December 07 and he had been up to Scotland during his treatment and visited the venue and was really excited about being involved in the wedding (and the stag do ... he was looking forward to doing the cooking and already planning the menus for me and the lads).

On the Thursday we had even better news. His results had come back and he was clear of the disease. My Dad, and the treatment, had beaten the cancer. He said he'd ring me on the Friday before he and my Mum left for a week in Spain.

I got the call on Friday but it hadn't been the one I was expecting. It was my Mum to say my father had passed away. Without wanting to go into too much detail, chemotherapy increases the chances of blood clots forming. This is exactly what happened with my Dad and having gone through all his treatment and beaten the cancer, he died suddenly of a massive pulmonary embolism. Words can not explain what a shock it was to everyone and how much he is sorely missed. I not only lost my Dad that day but a good mate.

Grief is a disorientating thing. I've felt every emotion going over the last few months from anger to sadness to guilt. In some ways, and I realise this might sound odd, but I somehow feel that I've had to step into his shoes. He was always the one who was up for a challenge, and nothing seemed to ever phase him and I was always the son who looked up to and admired him. I still do of course but his death puts certain things into perspective. There's things I've done since last May that I would never have dreamed I would have to do and some things I would never have dreamed I was capable of doing. Just reading my last blog entry for example. I remember him laughing down the phone, listening to me as I wandered drunkenly around Edinburgh explaining to him on the mobile that our film had won the awards. Since then I've had to sign his death certificate at the registrars, stand up at his funeral and say a few words, get through our first Christmas without him and do something I never imagined possible during my groom's speech at our wedding, raise a toast to my late father. Like I said, it changes your perspective on things and as I tried to explain earlier, it somehow feels I've had to step up to the plate. I don't mean replace him but do things in a manner in which he would approach and deal with them. I somehow find great comfort in that.

So yes, whilst he didn't technically die of bowel cancer, I'm positive that if he hadn't have had the disease, he'd still be here today. Hence I've signed up for the 3 peaks challenge. I have also started to write again and have started a competition whereby for a £3 donation, supporters have the chance to have their name used as a character in the book and receive a signed copy.

If you would like to find out more, please visit the following links and if you have any spare cash, I would be grateful for any donations. Thank you

www.justgiving.com/leecrompton
www.justgiving.com/leecromptonbook

I should mention that I also have a vested interest in all of this. Having been diagnosed, my Dad was extremely keen for me to get checked out myself. It just so happened that my colonoscopy came within weeks of him passing away. I came out of the hospital in tears, just knowing that this had where it had all started for my Dad. My results have shown that I have a tendency to develop hyperplastic polyps which in turn have a small chance of turning cancerous. I therefore now have to get checked out every 12 months and have them removed before they have chance to develop into anything else.

Bowel cancer is the 2nd biggest cause of death by cancer in the country. To find out more, please visit http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/

2008-05-26T13:20:00.002Z

I suppose I should mention that our film won 3 awards on Friday night ...

Best Costumes
Best Music
Best Cinematography

I don't think I would produce another. You end up doing a lot of the upfront work and form filling and are then left rather marginalised whilst the actual exciting stuff of making the film is taking place over the weekend. That said I got involved in the script writing and the acting, so it wasn't all bad.

Copy of comment I wasn't able to post on the Film Project website ...

Firstly, I'd like to echo some of the others and thank Sam for organising a great competition. I think everyone had their trials and tribulations but the overall experience made it worth it (?!?!)

I can't help feeling there were some strange questions at our screening. One guy seemed to think the entries were planned in advance. From our point of view, "yes" we had ideas and "yes" we had certain things lined up ... for example,

1. I'd got permission from "A Band Called Quinn", a Scottish band I really like on Myspace to allow us to use their music on our film. I checked with Sam if this was okay, got the green light from him, and was looking forward to using their electro/indie/pop tracks on our film. We then picked out Historical Fiction. A Band Called Quinn suddenly didn't quite fit the bill.

2. Another team member had got permission from a swanky modern hotel to film on their premises. We then picked out Historical Fiction (see point 1)
3. We had 2 "proper" actors (yes, people who had actually acted before) lined up for our production. Both of them (possibly seeing the iceberg) pulled out the week before.
Other than the above mentioned military like planning, we pretty much started with a blank piece of paper on the Friday night.

Keith (our music man) sat in on the brain storming session on the Friday night, got (what he thought was) the general idea of what we were doing and was told to come back on Saturday night with some atmospheric music. He did a cracking job (even though when he eventually saw the film said "hmm, that wasn't quite how I'd imagined it")

So yeah, we came up with a historical fiction story, plonked a CD into it, found out some old looking hats, grabbed a spade (and a pie) and went for it.

Highlights would have to be filming outside the Burke and Hare lap dancing emporium on Saturday lunchtime and pretending to rob graves in an Edinburgh cemetery at 1.30am on Sunday.

Good times. See you all next year.

PS Yes Kenny, I am reading, and cheers. Much appreciated and back at ya. Do you want me to wait for you before handing ours in next year?

2008-05-19T09:36:00.002Z

So that's the end of a frantic 48 hours of film making. We were lucky enough (?!?!?!?) to pull out "historical fiction" for our genre which was always going to be a challenge, especially considering the other things we were required to include.

Prop: A compact disk.

Line of Dialogue: Is that the best you've got?

Character: Robert or Roberta Darling (a restaurateur)

Having received all these details at 7pm on Friday night, we finished the script around 2.30am on the Saturday. After a wee kip, we were back up at 6.45am to begin filming at the Edinburgh Farmer's market where I played the meat stall owner. When then filmed in a pub in the Grassmarket, the Burke and Hare lap dancing club and in the Royal Mile before going for an afternoon snooze. Between 10.30pm and Sunday 1am, we were filming in ye olde streets of Edinburgh and in a cemetery where I was a ye olde policeman chasing Burke and Hare the grave robbers ... it's an interesting short film.

If you'd like to see it, it's being shown at the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh tomorrow night.

2008-05-14T08:35:00.002Z

Checked into Authonomy this morning and am chuffed to bits that someone has left this comment regarding Worlds Apart ...

"I've read a few books on this site now and this one is the best I've seen. It's presented professionally, it reads very well, and although it's humourous it doesn't really want to be a Nick Hornby/ Douglas Adams novel. My word, an original voice! HarperCollins, are you taking note?"

Thanks Mum.

2008-05-13T13:00:00.003Z

For those creative writers out there, you may be interested to know that Haper Collins have launched a website (AUTHONOMY) to "flush out writing talent" and then when a piece of work becomes popular they will be able to pounce on it and suck it dry. I have therefore stripped off naked and uploaded extracts from my novels (shouting "suck me, suck me dry"). I've already had a couple of positive comments which is refreshing following my cousin's demolition of Digging Deeper (Are we supposed to like Will, he's an asshole ... bad mix of omniscient narrator ... confused metaphors ... it's not quite ready for publication yet. I could go on. He was on the phone for an hour and twenty minutes). Anyway, that aside, authonomy might be the place to go if you fancy showcasing your work, as is www.ABCtales.com

It's not been a great week for the film either. We had two pro actors who were going to star in it and a cameraman with his own top notch equipment. All of them have pulled out but apart from not having any actors, cameras, camera operators or locations, I think we've got a good chance of winning.

At least my pickled onions haven't let me down. Deeeee-licious!

2008-05-12T12:34:00.004Z

Last Thursday, I didn't drive a Vauxhall Vectra in my bare feet whilst gorging on Toblerones. I did however go to Dundee to give a talk on self-publishing to a creative writing class at the college.

Thanks to everyone in the class for making me feel so welcome.

2008-05-06T10:21:00.001Z

Yesterday was a special day in Scotland. The sun came out. So special, Gemma decided to take leave from studying and venture outside. Being bank holiday, the rest of Scotland came out for the day too. Gemma decided we should go to St Andrews.

Firstly we got caught Bank Holiday traffic. Having a touch of man-flu, I'm running a slight temperature in any case. Sitting in traffic for an hour on a hot day in a black car was doing nothing to help. We decided to take a detour. Gem, armed with the map, navigated us to a picnic spot which happened to be 200 yards from Methil power station in Leven. Our picnic consisted of a rug (which we'd bought ourselves), a hotdog (for Gemma) and a strawberry Cornetto (for me) which we purchased from the nearby burger van. Having finished my ice-cream, we pushed on in search of more fun and went to the penny arcade across the road. We eventually waved the power station goodbye and headed to St Andrews.

The place was heaving but we had a great time, walking along the beach, watching rich Americans come up the 18th and visiting a local watering hole for some light refreshments ...then the mist rolled in (as you will see from the pictures) and everyone decided to leave the beach. It took us an hour to get out of the car-park.

We then took the coast road home and called in at Anstruther for a portion of their award winning fish and chips (best in Scotland, 2nd best in UK). The queue was about 75 yards out of the front doors but we decided they'd be worth the wait. Having queued and queued we finally reached the front doors to be confronted with a Disney style zig-zag roped walkway affair. We were only about half way to the counter. By then we'd reached the point of no return. It was a military style operation. Uniformed girls came around and took our orders well in advance. A young boy in front had been waiting so long with his Dad that he needed an emergency trip to the toilet to save himself from peeing all over the floor. Having climbed the steps to the counter and received my fish supper I felt like I'd won the FA Cup. I wanted to hold my chips aloft and blow raspberries at all the other suckers in the queue behind us. I went crazy and thought I might actually want some mushy peas but there was going to be an additional five minute wait for them so I decided against it. One hour and fifteen minutes after joining the queue, we left the "plaice" (get it?) with our dinner, exhausted. We'd earnt it. It has to be said, the grub was excellent.

2008-05-04T14:17:00.004Z

Flight of the Conchords follows the trials and tribulations of a two man, digi-folk band from New Zealand as they try to make a name for themselves in their adopted home of New York City. The band is made up of Bret McKenzie on guitar and vocals, and Jemaine Clement on guitar and vocals. Bret and Jemaine have moved to New York in the hope of forging a successful music career. So far they've managed to find a manager (whose "other" job is at the New Zealand Consulate), one fan (a married obsessive) and one friend (who owns the local pawn shop) -- but not much else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjrbmj0CUc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtfQg4KkR88&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5hrUGFhsXo&NR=1

2008-05-04T13:46:00.003Z

I've entered 2 short film scripts for the Bongo Reef "Losing the Plot" (www.bongoreefpictures.co.uk) project. The parameters were they could be no longer than 3 mins, had to be based on an allotment, and had to be dialogue driven. This goes against everything we've been taught at uni (show, don't tell ... dialogue is one of the 2 main evils in cinema, the other being flashbacks) but not really having a clue what I'm doing anyway, I decided to give it a go.

Seeing as I like Tarantino films (dialogue) and one of my favourite films is Usual Suspects (flashbacks) I'm not really sure I'm cut out for this scriptwriting lark. If film scripts weren't confusing enough, we've now moved onto TV scripts at uni which have a completely different format again. The script should be "action not movement" and "The trick of turning movement into action is to make it active and tie it into character." All very well, but I've not got a clue what all these things mean. Going back to the books, I haven't sold a single one in weeks. Full time writing isn't working out. I'm becoming quite disillusioned if the truth be told. Maybe I should just stick with surveying.

Gemma says that I should write because I enjoy writing and I've now shifted a million miles from where I started and have completely different aspirations. I disagree. Yes it would be nice to have the trimmings that come with being a successful author/screenwriter but my goal hasn't changed from doing things that people enjoy reading (or now watching). Whilst Gemma would argue that you should gain enjoyment from making the film or writing the book, I agree with my tutor. What is the point in making a film (or writing a book) that nobody is going to watch (or read)?

Ignore me, I'm having an off day ... if anyone's reading anyway :-(

2008-05-04T11:17:00.003Z

Not one for celebrity nonsense, you have to give credit where it's due.

Enter ... Barry Norman's pickled onions, recommended to be by my Mum. I was sceptical, until I tried one. Bloody lovely, a recipe that has been in the Norman household for generations and it was only when a mate of Barry's popped round for tea (and an onion, like you do) and told him they were so good he ought to sell them that Barry cashed in. You can picture it now, Barry with a napkin tucked in his collar as he has one of his onions, vinegar dribbling down his chin, maybe a scotch egg chaser, when his mate pipes up, "F**KING HELL BAZZA! These onions are the dog's b*ll*cks. You ought to sell them me ol' son." I'm sure that's exactly how the conversation went.

Anyway, I like them so much I've eaten a jar already ... and been down to the local co-op to buy some more onions to dunk in Barry's vinegar. Nic nac noo!

2008-04-03T12:19:00.002Z

Tomorrow sees the start of my two-day course "The Language of Film" at The Engine Shed in Edinburgh. It's a "lively and interactive course on visual storytelling and film technique" and is supported by 4Talent Scotland. I'm hoping the talent comes after you've done it rather than needing to talent to be on it ...

2008-04-03T12:11:00.002Z

On the back of my experiences in New Zealand, I've signed up for the Edinburgh 48 Hour Film Project. It starts on Friday 16th May and the premise is the same as before ... genre, character, line of dialogue and a prop, oh, and 2 days to make a short film from scratch.

On the basis I haven't enough time/equipment to formulate my own team (and my leading lady is still doing her Masters), I've entered myself on the database in the hope that some other desperados will require my (limited) services. May God have mercy on their souls!

2008-04-03T12:03:00.002Z

So that's it then! Part 2 of the scriptwriting course is over and it's time to hand in the assignment. Being the swotty brown-nose that I am (if only my school tutors could see me now) I'm hoping to hand mine in tomorrow. It hasn't got to be in until next Tuesday. Get me!

I'm still to think of a title for my 17 minute long script but it's roughly an adaption from the beginning of Digging Deeper (full length version up to 85 minutes to date ... but will need some cutting when I'm finished).

So yes, after a twist in the story and an added character, I finally got there. Hollywood, here I come (is it west from Falkirk? I think I should have taken the first left!)

2008-02-24T13:59:00.003Z

Thought a few of you might be interested to find out about Word Power Books (http://www.word-power.co.uk/), an independent bookshop opened formally by Booker Prize-Winner James Kelman on 1 December 1994.

Instead of me waffling on, I'll let them do the talking ...

"Our world-wide online service is an alternative to corporate bookshops that refuse to allow their workers to join trade unions. Unlike Amazon, recipient of £1.6 million taxpayers' money from the Scottish Executive (The Bookseller, 28 May 2004), we receive no state funding.
While our site offers you access to all books in print in the UK we remain committed to promoting literature outwith the mainstream thereby making it more accessible and helping to support small presses and new writers. We also provide Platform, a regular column for groups, campaigns or individuals to post articles and foster debate, and a Noticeboard where you can post information and details of events."

I think my previous blogs have made my views fairly clear on the subject of corporate bookshops. I don't think I need to add any more, suffice to say if you're going to buy a book, check out http://www.word-power.co.uk/

2008-01-25T21:44:00.000Z

So this is Burns Night in Scotland then? I spent it sat on my own with a plate and fish and chips ... or a fish supper as it's known up here. Going to the chippy tonight was an education though, haggis suppers available (well they're always available to be fair) but I've never seen wee Jimmy fritters advertised before, complete with broon sauce.

Week 2 of the script writing last Wednesday. Interesting stuff although I can't help feeling a tinge of stupidity having revealed last week that I thought I'd give script writing a go because people had always commented how good the dialogue in my books was. This week the tutor revealed that film scripts was nothing to do with dialogue and everything to do with what you saw, not what people said. So then I came home and continued reading my book containing a series of interviews with Alfred Hitchcock who had this to say about the end of the silent film era (before going on to talk about his first "talkie", Blackmail).

"The silent pictures were the purest form of cinema ... since all that was missing was natural sound, there was no need to go to the other extreme and completely abandon the technique of the pure motion picture, the way they did when sound came in.

In many of the films now being made there is very little cinema: they are mostly what I call 'photographs of people talking.' When we tell a story in cinema, we should resort to dialogue only when it's impossible to do otherwise. In writing a screenplay it's essential to separate clearly the dialogue from the visual elements and, whenever possible, to rely more on the visual then the dialogue."

So there you have it ... so much for my "brilliant" dialogue. Humph!

Oh, and to find out what I should have been doing instead of eating fish and chips on me tod ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_supper

2008-01-20T22:56:00.000Z

I should probably also mention an amazing thing that happened over Christmas ... I got engaged, but that's not the amazing thing, the amazing thing how a new pair of glasses and haircut has transformed my fiancee into Mel Perkins (the gay one from Mel & Sue).

I also recorded 2 pages of notes during the build up to the engagement of things people did or said to (unbeknown to them) put spanners in the works of my plans. Good idea for a book. You have funny wedding stories so why not engagement ones? So if you have any, get in touch because I think we could be onto something.

2008-01-20T22:41:00.000Z

A belated Happy New Year to one and all. The break went all too quickly ... and now it's back to earth with a bump. I've started the script writing course at Edinburgh Uni and the class appears to boast a wide spectrum of students. Enjoyed the first week although we've already been given homework to read up about Aristotle's Poetics. Might sound complicated but then I was already three quarters through a book on the subject before I started the course, so no drama (or as Aristotle might say, "tradegy")

I should explain that this picture has been added to the blog because I keep getting badgered to do so.

I have the pleasure of working with these people (in my normal day job) and they wanted to show their support by having their pictures taken with the books.

In reality, whilst Iain has read the first 2, Laurette has been on about page 13 of Digging Deeper since last November which is not quite the advert for the "real page turner" I'd hoped, but there you have it.

2007-11-27T22:05:00.000Z

Not much to report except that the Digging Deeper film script is now 40 mins long and for fans of Worlds Apart (or just plain old generally nosey people) the first leg of the world tour video is now available on myspacetv ...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=22826932

2007-11-12T19:44:00.000Z

Not really a picture to go with this, so one of me looking slightly menacing was the best I can come up with. suffice to say the film adaptation of Digging Deeper is coming along nicely. The first 25 mins are now written and I'm very pleased with it so far.

Although I have all the images in my head regarding what the scenes look like, the main problem is linking the scenes, when to cut from one to another and how to write the script so that narrative in the text or the background story can be portrayed in pictures.

All interesting stuff though. Anyone for the part of Charlotte?

2007-11-12T19:19:00.000Z

KIDERMINSTER SHUTTLE : Thursday 8th November 2007

Novelist keen to help other budding authors
By Cadisha Brown

A KIDDERMINSTER-born author has set up a publishing firm to help other budding writers get their work in print.
Lee Crompton, who lived in Woodfield Crescent until he was six, created Positive Publishing in the hope of removing the barriers he encountered while trying to get into print.
He said: "As a self-published author, I know how hard it is to get a manuscript from a Word document to a finished paperback. I also know how much of a buzz it is to finally hold your novel in your hand.
"The idea came about when a friend wanted advice about producing a book. He asked me a series of questions about formatting, designing covers, obtaining barcodes, listing books on Amazon and getting books printed and my response was yes, I can do all that.

"I'd like to assist people in getting their books out without the extortionate costs. If I can help give someone that buzz of excitement from being in print then that's fantastic."

Lee has also released his latest novel, a thriller titled Digging Deep, which is a change in direction from his previous novels, 12 Months and Worlds Apart, which were recognised for their humorous storylines.

He added: "Humour is certainly thin on the ground when it comes to Digging Deeper and while it has its moments, it definitely has some very dark elements."

Lee already has plans for his next project. While in Wellington in 2004, he was involved in the writing and production of a short film for the New Zealand 48-hour film festival and now plans to write his first feature-length script.

"Writing has always been a visual thing for me. I know how every one of my books would look on the silver screen because of the images in my head when I'm scribbling down the text.

"People always comment on the fast-paced dialogue in my books and how they enjoy it and so writing a script seemed to be the next step."

2007-10-23T18:51:00.000Z

Only 3 days to go until "wear it pink" day. For those of you who don't know it's a Breast Cancer Campaign asking everyone in the UK to wear it pink on Friday 26 October and donate £2 each, so the Charity can continue researching the cure for breast cancer.

They're holding a raffle in the office and so I've donated a signed book for one of the lucky winners. Digging Deeper might not be entirely appropriate charity reading material but I considered it close enough to Halloween to be considered as a prize.

To find out more regarding "wear it pink" visit http://www.wearitpink.co.uk/

2007-10-13T16:29:00.000Z

The best holiday read this year? Possibly, but I guess it depends on your constitution. I'm not saying it's not a good holiday book but I'm sure reading it in the blazing sun around the pool doesn't quite have the same effect as reading it in a cold and dark environment ... like Scotland for example. Here is an extract from a message I had regarding Digging Deeper. I have had to censor it on the basis of foul language and giving away the ending ...

"You should take this as a compliment - as I definitely invested in the characters - but Jesus, you are a sick weirdo. I spent two hours last night reading Digging Deeper because i couldn't put it down, therefore i didn't finish it till twenty five to one this morning and haven't slept since ... I have never actually felt physically sick whilst reading a book. Lee, where the hell did you get this stuff from? I'm totally traumatised, I can't stop thinking about it. p.s I'm also now slightly scared of you!

Another satisfied customer.

2007-10-05T09:49:00.000Z

In preparation for my next venture I have enrolled in a screenwriting course at Edinburgh University. It doesn't start until Jan 08 which will give me plenty of time to do some of my own research and develop my proposed story.

I've changed the working title of the "film" but am going to keep that under wraps for now although I'm not sure knowing the title will give too much of the story away, unless you're aware of the previous working title and then some bright spark might put 2 & 2 together and hey presto! No one likes a smart arse ... says he who is going back to university ... for the first time in over 15 years (gulp!)

2007-09-27T19:30:00.000Z

Falkirk Herald - 27th Sept 07

2007-09-25T18:20:00.000Z

Let's have a big "awwwwh" from the crowd (squints in the darkness to see if there's more than a couple of you out there to warrant using the word "crowd") at the sight of my godson, Luke, just finishing reading Digging Deeper.

"It's right blooming good,' said Luke, 'Not wanting to give too much away ... but I especially liked the grizzly murders and stuff!"

Not my words folks, the words of possibly my youngest fan. Politicians kiss babies to boost their popularity so if you haven't bought a copy already, here's hoping that the sight of Luke will urge you to do so. I defy you to ignore his cuteness ...

2007-09-24T17:56:00.000Z

I would like to thank Mel who went into her local Waterstone's to try and buy a copy of 12 Months (which is listed on Waterstone's in-store system and website) only to be told that there was something "abnormal" with the publisher (that's me that is! How very dare they). The upshot of this is that Waterstone's - despite having the name and contact details of the publisher (ME!), my website address and having me listed on their system - were unable to get Mel a copy of 12 Months because it is not possible to obtain a copy through their supplier. (Not that I'm moaning about obstacles in my way again you understand). However, another friend of mine called Claire pointed out to me that Borders (in Glasgow at least) have an "independent author section". I rang the branch and asked how an idiot like me might take advantage of this. They are currently not taking on any more stock due to an impending stock-take but may be interested in October. In the meantime, I have taken the opportunity to pen a little email to Borders head office in London. It goes a little something like this ...

Hi. I am a self-published author with 3 books to my name which are all listed on websites such as Amazon, Watersone's, WHSmiths etc. The problem I have is getting them into the High Street. I used to have a good relationship with Ottackers who stocked my books in various stores on a sale or return basis which worked very well until Waterstone's got involved and now there is no policy/facility to stock books written by local/independent authors. I was able to stock my 1st book through Borders in Bournemouth who were local to me at the time. My question is ... is it possible for me to sell my books through Borders and if so, how do I do it? Is is a central thing through yourselves (which is where I have the problem with Waterstone's because everything has to come through Gardeners/Bertrums who aren't interested in small fry like me) or can I trudge from store to store in the hope that some of your stores may take pity on me and try a few of my books? I'd be grateful if you could let me know.
Regards
Lee Crompton

I'll keep you posted.

2007-09-21T11:39:00.000Z

I'm pleased to announce that The Linlithgow Bookshop (funnily enough, in Linlithgow) have agreed to stock all three of my titles. Their address is ...

The Linlithgow Bookshop

48 High Street

Linlithgow

EH49 7AE

http://www.thelinlithgowbookshop.com/

It's a lovely shop so if you're in the area why not pop in and have a browse.

2007-09-16T17:08:00.000Z

Happened to discover the American version of Strictly Come Dancing earlier today (Gemma actually discovered it, not me). Two words ... absolute rubbish. Whilst Bruno and Len are on it, there were no Bruce or (I hate to say it) Aileen. The judging panel are therefore sickly sweet, so much so that the 2 dances I saw, everyone gave both couples 10's. Now I'm no expert, but seeing as how I didn't know which one was the celebrity and which one was the professional before they shook their booty, it was fairly obvious within seconds of them hitting the floor. I'm just saying, I don't think you'd see the 10 boards so liberally used in the British version.

2007-09-16T16:34:00.000Z

Also forgot to mention that Prince ... as expected ... was AMAZING! I was rung by Mills as we were waiting to go into the gig to say that their 2nd nipper had been born. BRILLIANT! I even managed to get rid of my spare ticket to gay man after hearing his gay friend in the lobby on the phone to him saying there was no way he could get him a ticket. Bish bash wallop, I produce my spare one. We of course later met the man because he was sat with us. He was chuffed. One downside to the evening however was Dave (aka Alan) attempting to add humour to the evening by clapping out of time to the majority of his hits (Prince's hits, not Dave's, who to my knowledge doesn't have any). The gay man sat/stood next to Dave (aka Alan) had disappeared before the end of the gig. Now, this could just be a coincidence ... then again?!?!?!

I don't really want to say too much regarding the after-show party. My expectations were low anyway. The thought of actually seeing Prince up close and personal in an intimate gig would have been a dream come true and even the chance of seeing him play the guitar for a couple of minutes would have been worth it. The problem came when I met the rest of the people there who clearly knew more about this type of thing than me. He'd done a 2 hour after-show set on the night before and even crowd surfed. There had only previously been one occasion when he'd not shown at all ... and even then his band came out for a bit and that was a midweeker anyway. So my expectations went through the roof. I nearly wet myself, only to be told whilst were in the queue by the arena staff that Prince had released a statement to say that he was categorically not turning up tonight (Saturday 11th Aug) and neither were his band. This had never happened before apparently, so much so that people were allowed to change their tickets to another night which was f**k all use to us of course because we were flying to India the following day, so we went in anyway ... secretly hoping it might have been a double/triple bluff. It wasn't, and seeing the intimacy of the venue made it all the more harder to swallow. So why Prince was in a strop I don't know, he even finished on a strange song ... Love Bizarre was from a Shiela E album of the mid 80's. Whilst Prince also sang on the record and I think he wrote it, it's certainly not what you would call one of his hits and not meaning to sound snobby, I doubt half the audience would ever have heard of. That said, other than Dave's absurd clapping, Prince's after-show strop and me nearly crying when he opened the show with Purple Rain ... it was a belter of an evening.

2007-09-16T16:22:00.000Z

Forgot to mention my celebrity spot. I say "my" spot, it was really Gemma's when we were sat in a taxi at Edinburgh airport having arrived back in India.

"Ooh look, it's that bloke off the telly you don't like," she said. Whether it was hearing this remark or seeing Gemma pointing at him that forced him to turn his back on us I don't know, but he turned it nonetheless.

Before you ask, no I didn't leap out and thrust a copy of one of my books into his hand (although I probably would have done if I had any on me) and furthermore Gemma is right, I never liked him on the telly because he always appeared so dramatic about everything. (Hark at me not liking drama queens!) Anyway, I happened to see an edition of Coast on the BBC a few weeks back based in the Channel Islands. I wouldn't normally watch this kind of programme but "it" and "he"were both actually very good but I clearly hadn't updated Gemma with this information ... not like me to be judgemental either!

2007-09-14T14:38:00.000Z

No, your eyes don't deceive you, this is indeed a picture of the one and only Bill Bryson thumbing through a copy of Worlds Apart by yours truly.

It's been handed to him by Ash (who features in the book ... in the Cook Islands ... yes, Cook Islands Ash ... that's him on the left) at his graduation (that's Ash's graduation, not Bill's)

As to whether or not he's read it, I don't know. Maybe I should drop him a line and try and find out ...

2007-09-14T14:31:00.000Z

So Digging Deeper is officially OUT!

Big thank you to all those who have ordered it already. Some of you have even read it!!! The feedback so far has been excellent, so thanks.

The website has been overhauled to welcome this new arrival and the Falkirk Herald have just been round to interview me regarding my latest offering.

I'd like to thank Mark Radcliffe, Suzanne Carlsson, Jenny Prowse for reviewing the book and a special thanks to actress Philippa Marshall who not only reviewed the book but recorded a podcast of the opening chapters which is now available for download from the website.

2007-09-14T14:19:00.000Z

The "news" has been slack, granted, but let me try and explain. I'm now back from holiday in India and only managed to come down with a "bug" when I got back. So I've been ill, but other than that had a fantastic time.

The South was not nearly as harsh on the senses as the North, but it was still very much India where everything is done to an extreme. Visited tea plantations, many temples, an orphanage, did jungle treks, had leeches on me and on a whim, had a suit made 3 hours before leaving to return to the UK, delivered to our hotel room in person by the nice man in the shop.

When I got back, Digging Deeper was waiting for me ...

2007-08-05T18:11:00.000Z

You'd have thought Connor had learnt from his last expedition to India, but clearly not ... having just spent nearly £100 in Boots on just about everything the store had to offer ... including about 18 litres of hair frizz reducer for Gemma (the days of me needing it are long gone).

We fly out a week today. May the force be with us!

2007-08-05T18:05:00.000Z

That's it then. The final version of Digging Deeper is finished and away to the printers. They are due to be printed whilst I'm away in India and will be on sale in September.

However, for those of you who check the website and keep up to date, I'm making limited edition copies available for pre-order at £1 off the RRP ... and chucking in P&P for free. It's just a small way of saying thanks to those people who have supported me in the past and keep tabs on what I'm up to.

To pre-order a copy, go to www.leecrompton.com

2007-08-05T17:54:00.000Z

Prince is less than a week away. I repeat, Prince is less than a week away. Knowing I'm seeing him next Saturday at the o2 arena has meant I've managed to recapture the childlike excitement of Christmas.

I was frenzied with anticipation anyway but then Gemma emailed me some of the reviews from the shows so far and I nearly wet my pants.

What's more, I'm having to sell 2 of my tickets on Ebay because Matt and his Mrs can't make it. Terrible shame really because my first visit to see the purple one was with Matt some 17 years ago. So there I was, looking at the o2 website to suss the arena layout so I could include it within my description, and suddenly, the words "AFTER SHOW PARTY" leapt out at me. Long story short, I've managed to get tickets. Doors open at 11.30pm after the gig and it shuts at 4am. The excitement dial has just gone off the radar.

2007-08-05T17:35:00.000Z

I suffer from acid reflex which is a result of my hiatus hernia. A lot of people apparently suffer from this and taking a tablet every day solves the problem. However, being the stubborn git that I am, at 33, I'm not prepared to have to take medication for the rest of my life just yet. I therefore altered my diet to help myself. I now maybe have to take one a week. Giving up the fags last Sept was beneficial but caffeine still gives me a lot of jip. This in turn makes people at work think I'm gay (for wanting decaf coffee or herbal teas). I've also struggled to find a substitute for my favourite all time drink, Vodka Redbull (which I was possibly the first person in Dorset to discover when it was only sold in a few exclusive London clubs, what now seems like 25 years ago).

But, dear friends, I know may well have the answer ... FRIJJ CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIE MILK. The idea came from a holiday in Spain many years ago when I used to drink La Mumbas which were basically Rum and chocolate milkshakes. "Why not add vodka to chocolate fudge brownie milk" I thought. Chocolate & milk? Might sound gross but I defy you to like it. Give it a go. Yum!

2007-07-09T09:57:00.000Z

PS Should any of you wish to make an official complaint as to why the book release date is dragging on, please direct your wrath at Milton Stilton and Dave (of the big, evil variety).

2007-07-09T09:43:00.000Z

They said it would never happen, he vowed never to return, but in August, Connor (sorry, I mean me. I often get the two confused) will be returning to India. This time, I'm off to the South, starting in Mumbai.

With respect to the previous entry, I plan to get "Digging Deeper" to the printers before I leave so that the limited edition copies will be available on my return. The idea will to be make them available for pre-order on the website whilst I'm away.

For those of you who have read Worlds Apart, you'll be pleased to know that the trip will involve some very long stints on Indian trains. Completion of the Connor trilogy to come?

2007-07-09T09:31:00.000Z

Before we go any further, I apologise for lack of updates and news on the latest book release. I can report I'm not merely spending my time watching rugby, doing the garden, going to concerts and playing on the xbox (honest). With certain events - which will be revealed later - Digging Deeper is now set to be available in early September. For the lucky couple of people who keep up to date with the website, I'm proposing to make limited edition copies available for pre-order on the website in August, so keep your eyes peeled.

As for Genesis, they were superb, although the audience was mainly made up of men my Dad's age wearing sensible shoes with faux leather jackets slung over their shoulders (some even wore dark shades). Next stop, Prince at the O2 arena (millenium dome) in August.

2007-06-08T13:57:00.000Z

This weekend I'm off to the Debut Authors Festival at the Treverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Friday at 7pm is the "jam session" where budding young hopefuls get 4 minutes to read their work in front of a distinguished panel. I guess it's a bit like X-factor for writers (just without crap singing and a man who wears his trousers to close to his armpits)

Sunday, there's a discussion on the pros and cons of creative writing courses. I hope there' a lot of cons ... cus I haven't been on one (does it show?)

2007-06-08T13:39:00.000Z

Last weekend I went to Murrayfield for the last round of the rugby 7's.

England were rubbish and got booed by the locals (and the Welsh, the Aussies & everybody else).

The cheerleaders were nice though ...

2007-05-27T22:25:00.000Z

Picture the scene, an Englishman abroad ... the wrong side of thirty coming out of retirement and dusting off his boots for a special game of footy in Drumchapel, Glasgow. With the opposition including professional footballers including a Motherwell striker (yes, I'm making excuses already) and me at centre-half alongside a man with a dodgy knee and bad back, we were always going to be on a hiding to nothing. The end result was a fairly respectable 7-0 beating. I'm pleased to say I lasted 90 mins without turning my ankle and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.

2007-05-25T17:10:00.000Z

EXCLUSIVE - The Positive Publishing website has now been launched.

I've basically set it up to help people try and avoid the barriers I've encountered over the last 3 years and brought everything under one roof.

Your one-stop publishing stop.

http://www.positive-publishing.co.uk

2007-05-23T17:00:00.000Z

Digging Deeper has now officially been assigned an ISBN ... 978-0-9556090-0-8. You heard it here first.

It's been an interesting day all told ...
1) For those of you who knew I had an "appointment" today, the verdict is, I'll live. The nurse asked me what I did. I said I was an author. She said her cousin was Iain Banks. I felt 2 feet tall.

2) I had an email from Nielsen BookData who informed me that I'm able to use a sooper dooper service they offer whereby book shops and distributors will be able to order Digging Deeper through them ... NBD will then inform me ... and I will do the necessary. Brilliant! Theoretically this is great because it gets around the problem of having to have a distributor who generally don't appear to be interested unless you have 100's of 1000's of books to sell. The thriller's good, but we're not quite in that bracket yet.

3) Following my email from NBD, I rang them, to confirm that this sooper dooper "thing" was indeed sooper dooper. I'm pleased to report it sounds like it is. I therefore asked if I could have 12 months and Worlds Apart ordered through them on the same basis ... even better, they said yes. I asked what was currently on the system for the first two books, and she informed me that anyone wanting to order them would have to go through Gazelle book services. I've never heard of them ... and subsequently (although not surprisingly) found out when I rang them that they'd never heard of me. Having sent an email to NBD, this has hopefully been sorted through Positive Publishing (watch this space for further news)

4) It also may appear that I've found a printer ... again, watch this space

So yes, the book is finished ... reviewers, editors, proof-readers, cover contributors, ISBN's and the like are all being done/sorted and I'm hoping the book will be released in the next 3-4 weeks.

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch Liverpool lift the European Cup for the 2nd time in 3 years. Come on the Reds!

2007-05-10T18:03:00.000Z

The news in brief? Well, Last weekend was spent seeing the folks down south and a good time was had by all ... I've bought a polaroid camera ... bought tickets to see Prince in August ... and had some success with editing the book and receiving contributions for the cover.

I'd like to thank the following people for their help to date

David Markoff - http://markoff.pl/

Meghan Colson

Clara Goodger

Laura Gregory

carmendevos http://www.polanoir.com/carmendevos

2007-04-28T14:43:00.000Z

www.philippamarshall.co.uk

Currently in discussions with actor Philippa Marshall with regards to releasing some sample chapters of my books as podcasts. This is for the lazy gits who never get around to reading any of the chapters on the website.

As well as her acting, Philippa has done loads of voice over work so I'm looking forward to working with her.

2007-04-10T12:36:00.000Z

I've come up with a new idea for the front cover of Digging Deeper, which I'll keep under wraps for now as I am working with a few people to come up with some proposals.

Suffice to say I'm very pleased with the response, glad with both the concept, the potential eye-catching appeal and the fact that Enrique won't be on the cover for a 3rd time.

If you'll excuse me, I must get back to some editing ...

Image details:

magdalena #04 by carmendevos

people.polanoid.net/carmendevos

http://www.polanoir.com/carmendevos