Letters from America: Introduction


Gah. Haven’t posted a thing on the blog for a couple of weeks. This must stop.

Lest Stuart Perry decide that it’s Karma Payback Time and swing by for a drive-by commenting, I have a new plan.

Reprints.

As popularised by Danny Stack, the plan is a simple one. Should I not have anything interesting to write about, or be stuck behind a rapidly approaching deadline, or just be having too much fun elsewhere to write a full blog post, I’ll reprint stuff I’ve written before.

Odds are that it’ll be new to you though.

I spent most of a year living the dream in Los Angeles. I had some redundancy money, enough to support me comfortably for six months, and had decided that it was time to shit or get off the pot and spend some time trying to make it as a writer.

Having done the sums, I calculated the cost-of-living for LA versus London.

They were the same.

So I got a visa, and off I went.

I took with me the following:

  • A backpack half-filled with clothes and half-filled with screenwriting books
  • A toothbrush
  • My wallet
  • Nothing else

And I had a hostel on Hollywood Boulevard booked for the first week after I arrived.

I was in Los Angeles for most of a year. And every few weeks, I’d email how it was going to whoever had asked to be kept updated.

So, that’s the background. Next time I’m feeling lazy or overworked, expect to see a reprint of the emails I sent instead of an introduction.

Because as a way of not having to write a blog entry, this one would have to be counted as a bit of a failure.


7 responses to “Letters from America: Introduction”

  1. I went across on a B1/B2 visa, which wasn’t a problem to get.

    You need to prove the following

    a) ties to your own country which make it likely that you’ll return (eg a family, friends, or a business in the UK)
    b) that you have enough money to support yourself for the entire time that you’ll be over there (eg a bank statement showing enough cash to last your visit)

Leave a Reply to Sal Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *