This is going to be my final post on Ms in the Biz. I’ve been writing here since close to the beginning, and I’ve watched this site and the contributors grow and grow. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of it. So why am I leaving? I’m starting a gender transition from female to male, which unfortunately takes away my qualifications to post here. But we all know that sometimes doing what you need to do means reaching out and grasping that thing, even when you know it’ll cost you something else – because what…
Author: Lee Hulme
Lee Hulme
You’ll mostly find Lee hiding out in whichever fictional world they’re writing about or playing games in. They’ll usually be hopped up on caffeine and talking at twice the normal speed of most humans. When not tied to the computer, they’ll be walking, reading, probably not far from coffee or alcohol, and often chatting to total strangers just because they can. At any given moment they’ll be working on at least one new book and/or short stories, producing fun things with 8 Sided Films, learning about the indie film industry that they somehow fell into entirely by accident, diving headfirst into any other fun projects they get the chance to do and occasionally remembering to have a social life. Their reputation for never sleeping is often well-deserved, but they do need to recharge their energy source every so often by only doing 2 things at once, instead of 5.
We’ve all been there. Loads to do, somehow never enough time to do it. Especially if you’re not naturally an organized person, this can cause chaos, sleepless nights, last-minute rushes…in short: nothing helpful to you or to your career. So what can you do about it? Here are some tips: 1) Be. More. Organized! I have a heck of a time trying to stay organized. I naturally tend to keep everything in a mental list – tasks, appointments, deadlines. Unfortunately that way of doing things means I never actually work out the time I need to take on things. Which…
I think at least 40% of stress I usually feel is me stressing out about the fact that I’m stressed. It’s something we have to deal with, but some ways are better than others. Getting stressed about being stressed is a popular pastime, but completely pointless. Spend some of the time you currently give to fretting over things on finding ways to counteract the stress buildup, and things will get a lot easier to manage. I’ve spent years trying to find reliable ways to deal with the different cycles I go through as part of my mental illness. I push…
Last month I suggested that maybe the best person to produce your project was you: you, the person who believes in it the most. Don’t give the thing you’ve slaved over to somebody who won’t give it 100% of the same love you can. It’s daunting, though. It seems easier to just ask somebody else to do the bits you don’t know how to do – but in doing so, you’re potentially compromising your own work. And why would you do that if there was another option? No, I’m not the writer of the 8 Sided Films scripts, but nor…
I get a fair few inquiries through the 8 Sided Forum – the social and community sector of 8 Sided Films – from people. A lot of them are cold inquiries – somebody we’ve never seen before and will probably never see again. A lot of them are pitching desperately to anyone they can find, hoping to find somebody to produce their script. A lot are people who have paid enough attention to see the hard work and the talent and the relationships we’ve built and see it as a ready-made package. What they’re all asking, in their own way,…
I get bored easily. I’d rather do something that drives me insane than do something that’s constantly the same. It’s why I rarely stay in one place, in one home, in one job for very long – I start to go a little stir-crazy after a while. I know there are people who are content to be still. I am not one of those people. I figured out long ago that the only way to partially tame the constant desire to keep moving is to channel it into things which are never the same: stories. As established many times already,…
All my life I’ve written stories. I don’t know how to not have ideas and try to turn them into tales, or watch the characters in my head and try to write out whatever they’re doing. All my life people have been astounded by the fact that doing so comes so naturally to me. All my life I’ve dismissed this, simply because it’s always been a natural and integral part of who I am and how my mind works. I’ve always just sorta shrugged and gone “I just see the pictures in my head and try to write it as…
I hate letting go of something I’ve made and releasing it into the wild. I hate not being able to hide it and cuddle it and keep it safe while I try to fix every tiny little thing that’s imperfect – which I know is a neverending job. I know if I allowed myself to do that, I’d never let anything out of my sight. But damn, it’s scary. My main background is in fiction, not film or any other type of visual media. I get to live in the little worlds my brain creates, I get to know and…
Is anybody besides me getting tired of all the misogyny, gender stereotyping, [lack of] representation, privilege and picking and choosing who deserves equality and who doesn’t qualify as “normal” enough to fight for? All these arguments that seem to be stuck in a very loud infinite loop? It can’t be just me that sits back and watches in stupefied, and slightly worn out, horror as yet another bout of insanity explodes across the internet. Right? I’ve caused myself no end of trouble recently by refusing to sit down and shut up about things, and I thought, why not go one…
We all know this, right? Long distance relationships – of any sort – are hard. Romantic, friendly, familial, you name it – it’s not easy to be a long way from people you care about and want to be closer to. I live in the UK. 8 Sided Films is based in LA. This is how far apart we are. I tend to avoid talking about it, because doing so always means having to explain how it works, and usually I wind up pretending that there are no issues and everything is perfect. That’s far from the truth, though, and…
Earlier this year I finished 4 years as a mature student at a UK University called Keele. It’s not a famous one, it’s not an ancient one steeped in tradition. It was an experiment, built on the grounds of an old estate, which thrived and became its own entity. It’s the only University in the UK attached to a village and not a city. It rebelled during the 60s and declared itself an independent sovereign state. It’s a big place, sat on top of a hill, with beautiful grounds and old buildings sitting right by more modern structures. Amongst all…
I was writing something completely different for this month, but then I realized I needed to follow up on last month. So, it’s a little shorter than my usual ramblings, but I wanted to share this – as proof, if nothing else, that I do try to practice what I preach. I wrote last time about facing your fears and not letting them stop you. There is, however, one more step to this. Seeing something scary and not turning away is one thing, but I’m talking about seeing something you want stepping forwards to ask for it. In the same…
Of course, if you’re angling for world domination or destruction, I’d rather you didn’t do it anyway, but let’s assume you’re crazy in a good way so we can get into this. It’s been said countless times, in countless different ways, but it all boils down to the same thing: bravery isn’t never being afraid; it’s being afraid and doing it anyway. I’m not the only person guilty of trying to pretend I’m not afraid of doing something, afraid of failing, afraid of stretching too far, afraid of…any number of other things. As if nobody else knows I’m afraid, then…
Returning to my topic of a few months ago, discussing my experience of the lack of LGBT characters in media, let’s talk about privilege and representation, because it affects everything – which means you’re probably guilty of it, and probably unintentionally, but no more so than I am. Privilege and Disadvantage I have privilege in my race because I am white and British. I have privilege within the LGBT community because I’m a lesbian. I am disadvantaged outside of the LGBT community because I’m a lesbian. I am disadvantaged because I’m a woman. I am disadvantaged because I’m genderqueer –…