Me without you

"What if now, after all, what if everything you've got made you want more?" What if? by The Lightning Seeds

So the song goes.

My readership is dwindling - perceivably to the outsider, and in my own inner sense. I think I am now talking to thin air - not that this is something unexpected. I felt, some time ago, that I was losing the curl of tongue. Recently, I've gone dark for a week and more, with few updates. I guess, also, the promises have not been kept. My excursion into the world of internet dating bored me so much I abandoned it with not so much as a whimper. My letter to Pandora remains unwritten - primarily owing to my loss of voice, and my inability to find the grounds for word.

It seems as though I'm failing miserably to account for any kind of excitement or development. The truth is, however, that I am actually going through one of the most exciting periods for a long time. It's just that this excitement is nothing to do with my personal life - events at work have accumulated into something of great pregnancy, and that most rare of opportunities: the underdog moment.

It's a long story, but basically, the research/analysis project I've been fighting to promote went and scored a big win last week. We met with a major UK broadcaster, and came out having secured primetime TV & radio airtime slots to promote the public consultation that's a key component of the wider project. They want to make programmes about our project. Our project? Our project!! This means, simply, that we're no longer selling a simple research project but what those in the media call an "event". What the research and analysis will uncover is going to be made accessible and available to millions across the land (and maybe beyond).

The stakes have upped considerably. What was an underdog project from a tiny organisation now has a realistic shot at being top dog for a while; and what I took on as a near no-hope project could become a contender.

There is, however, as always, a hitch.

Whilst these splendid multimedia sweetmeats turn our dogmeat into haute cuisine, success is now conditional on us being able to find the c. £900,000 needed to run the project at sufficient scale from May 2005 - November 2006. Time is tight - we have until the end of April to get the money, which is no small challenge. But it could happen - primetime sells, and sponsorship loves TV/radio. We could become players!!

My next four weeks look like being a rollercoaster of hope, disappointment, aspiration... and maybe, just maybe... success. It could happen, I keep telling myself... it could happen!