I never brought a show to Edinburgh Fringe as a producer and, having discovered the stresses it can bring in even an uninvested capacity over the last few years as a reviewer, I count my lucky stars for that, as it could quite possibly have put me off for good.

This year though, I have been producing in a different manner. I was approached at the start of the year by my friend and erstwhile colleague Laura Kressly with the idea of setting up a subsidised housing scheme for independent arts writers at the Fringe. From there, the Network of Independent Critics was born to facilitate the coverage of performance areas that often slip under the radar of mainstream publications.

This was the perfect vehicle through which to launch a talent development programme that I’ve been fostering ideas for over the last couple of years - a residency to explore critical languages around circus arts, based on the Unpack The Arts model but, rather than introducing circus to existing journalists, finding ways to engage people from the circus world in a culture of critical discourse. With additional support towards accommodation from the Roundhouse, and some PR and ticketing assistance from Crying Out Loud, I ran #CircusVoices during the first week of the festival.

During the festival period, I was also seeing shows as an Assessor for the Total Theatre Awards, and writing about work focusing on body, health and science issues for The Sick Of The Fringe, as well as producing my own Circus Diaries reviews.

The longest I’ve ever spent at the Fringe before was nine days so, this year, having accommodation booked for virtually the whole month, I expected things to be far less frantic than usual. Funny how things work out isn’t it. With a few days out to visit Green Man Festival in Wales, who launched a new performing arts programme this year, and a couple of days down South for a family funeral, I spent a total of 18 days in Edinburgh all together.

With double the days I had last year, I was somewhat disappointed with myself when, totting up the coloured squares on my schedule spreadsheet, I discovered I had only seen 13 more shows than in 2015. Then why was I so tired, I thought? So I took a closer look, and turns out this is how I spent my 2016 festival:

Time in shows = 53 hours

Time travelling between shows = 26.5 hours

Time on Total Theatre Award meetings = 30 hours

Time leading #CircusVoices activity = 30 hours

Time administering the NIC scheme = 15 hours

Time at other industry events = 6 hours

During the remaining hours, I created 18 of my own reviews, formatted and published 16 others, administered 4 separate Twitter accounts, 3 Facebook accounts and 2 email addresses, ate and, eventually, slept...

Perhaps next year I should just bring a show after all! Or, at least, find a way to pay myself. Valuable as I believe this support and talent development work is, I can’t keep doing it for free. Guess that means it’s time to crack on with the evaluations so I can rustle up some financial backers for 2017... If you have any suggestions, do get in touch!