I am Sally Michaels

Hi Libby Fox (anyone who watches EastEnders will know who I mean) here, bringing you this blog.

After smarting and feeling like the Drew Barrymore character in Music and Lyrics whose entire life has been stolen to create a hideous character in a work of fiction, (I swear there is someone working on Eastenders who knew me when I was about 16 and modelled Libby on me. She looks like me, she acts like me, she's a swot and now to top it all, she wants to write fiction - I'm not happy) I got down to starting my screenplay of Summerset. I had no responses from my Gumtree ad and decided to do it myself, and will send it to the Writers Room at the BBC.

It's a difficult task because you have to start using dialogue and body language to describe a character's feelings or actions whereas in a book you can write long paragraphs explaining everything. So far I've only written 7 scenes and it's coming along okay. I think the Writers Room don't want perfection they just want to see potential. I dream of the day when Summerset is on the TV. I could just see it as a two part mini series on BBC on a Sunday night. I wish they'd return to showing those big, glossy Hollywood mini series again. They were so much fun.

I found The Thorn Birds on you tube yesterday and I was so chuffed because I last watched it in 1983. I last read the book in 1995 - the year I wrote Summerset and it's quite alarming to see the parallels to the book - the big Irish family living away from Ireland, the poor relation being given a chance to work for the rich relative, of course the forbidden love, the favoured illegitamate child, even the scene where Meggie goes to the party as a 17 year old and she wears a beautiful rose pink dress. In Summerset when Lou goes to the Christmas Party, wearing grown up clothes for the first time ever, she is wearing a rose pink dress. Just goes to show how you can be influenced by something without really realising it.* My only criticism was that it was made back in the day when America dominated everything and the entire cast (apart from Bryan Brown -swoon) are American and do nothing to hide their accent, except for a few who attempt some sort of hideous fiddileedee Irish accent. If it was made now, they would use Australian actors.

I've also started the research into my new book 'Liverpool'. I have a draft storyline and I'm gathering information about Livepool in the early 20th Century. I'm itching to start writing it but with the Summerset screenplay my main priority, I'm dedicating one evening a week to 'Liverpool' time. I'm also awaiting the first draft of Two Become One to arrive from Lulu so I can start checking that and I just know I'm going to find hundreds of errors wrong with it.

It's all go go go.

Ciao for now

*There's influenced and there's blatant copying and I'm sorry that girl in Eastenders is just a photocopy of me - I wouldn't mind if I got some sort of credit!