Hmmm... This is awkward.

Ooh dear -- Look what I forgot to mention...

Before I went to the London Comedy Writers' Festival I placed in the top 6 of a competition running in conjunction with the fest called 'Laugh a Minute'. Sadly I didn't win. But as my mother one said after I came second one year in the easter bonnet parade, it's always nice to be noticed. She cried for weeks after, but I think that was just because the daffodil she had crafted from tissue paper needed using up and she never was a wasteful person.

Now you might notice someone called Christiana Brocklebank in that list of runners up... That is me. Frankly, as an alias it doesn't really cut the mustard. Especially when your name is down correctly in the first batch of finalists.

And, just in case you were wondering, it's pronounced Brock-le-bonk (Yah, French you know).

ANYWAY... Back on topic. Watch as I clunkily try to validate my bragging by insisting that there's purpose to this post...

This was a pretty good opportunity. The script could only be one page. Any more and you would be (quite rightly) decapitated. Your head would (quite rightly) be displayed on spikes at the entrance to Regents College, London as an example to others during the festival and (quite rightly) remain there until it had fully decomposed.

As well as being something that (compared to most competitions) didn't require too much time and commitment, it emphasised the importance of brevity. It forced you to really look at every single word in your script and question its right to be on the page. That is a great lesson for any writer to learn and improve on. Particularly in the rather pernickety world of comedy writing, where one misplaced word or jumbled syntax can make or break a gag.

How was that? Yeah?! Convinced?!

Suckaaas!