Introducing... The Friday Update

Welcome to the first ever edition of the Friday update. This is going to be a weekly post in which I update everyone on what I've been up to the preceding week.

My hope is that it's a better way of keeping you all in the loop with how progress on whatever video I'm currently working on is going and that it might also provide you with some other insights into what I'm watching, reading and otherwise thinking about when I'm not working away at my desk.

Essentially, I often find myself weighing up whether certain events or developments are "worth" letting you know about and having a weekly update post gives me an excuse to check-in with you, my wonderful Patrons, without worrying about every update being blisteringly exciting!

What have I been up to this week?

This week, I've been putting the final touches to the script for my next video. The video, as those who check my Patreon page regularly will already know, is going to look at boxing, the stories that are told about boxing in film and the recent borrowing of a set of tropes and conventions from that genre by YouTubers Logan and Jake Paul.

This is the part of the process where things get brutal. In researching this video, I watched a lot of boxing films and read a whole bunch of books. At this stage, however, I have to decide whether a certain anecdote or reference is truly necessary to further the argument I'm making in the video or whether I'm just including it because I want to show everyone how much reading/film-watching I did!

With a filming date booked for Wednesday, I've also been ordering the props and costume needed for the video. I've got a great location lined up and I think these bits and pieces are going to complete the look. (I posted a picture of some parts of the costume to the Patreon feed a few days ago but will add it again below for good measure.) It's been a long time since I first came up with the idea for this video and I can't wait to bring it to life on Wednesday!

And outside of work?

I actually worked through last weekend as I was keen to make a little bit of extra progress with the script. That gave me the opportunity to take Monday off in order to go on a hike across Dartmoor with some friends. It was a long trek (with a particularly long climb at the beginning!) but was very beautiful. We even stopped off for some open water swimming in an old quarry.

Outside of that, I'm currently training for a 10K race in August. So, each morning writing session for the past few weeks has been preceded by a run of varying lengths and speeds. I wasn't entirely sure how it was going but I broke my 5K Personal Best the other day so it must be paying off!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

Like many people, my lunchtimes and evenings this past week have been dominated by the Olympics. I'm always a big fan of the Olympics and the opportunity to watch more obscure sports that don't usually get wide television coverage. The climbing and skateboarding have been favourites. And, of course, given the topic of my upcoming video, I've been trying to watch as much of the boxing as the BBC chooses to show!

I also went to see Six: The Musical on Sunday. I'm very much not in the target demographic for the show but I quite enjoyed being back in the theatre and it had a couple of good tunes!

What have I been thinking about?

I've often got big, political questions circulating around my head when I'm running or doing a few errands. This week, I've been a bit more selfish as I've been thinking a little bit about the future of the channel. In particular, I'm really keen to try and make it possible to hire an editor for my videos. It's the part of the process I'm the least skilled in and so it would help improve the quality of my releases but would also free me up to do the bit which I do tend to think I'm okay at, the research and writing!

That's very much a thought-in-progress at the moment but it would certainly be an exciting moment for the channel!

That brings me to the end of the first edition of the Friday Update. My plan is to answer the same few questions each week (it's nice to have a little prompt!) although I might add one or two other things if there's something that folks particularly want to hear about.

Do feel free to let me know what you think down in the comments—feedback is always much appreciated! And thanks as ever for your generous support!