Sunday 10th February 2013
Pleased to get time on my
chapbook today. Initial thought: this isn’t working – but by slowly starting
with half a dozen key vignettes and gradually selecting more I built up the
contents again. Still a long way to go before everything is sequenced. Queen Days
of Our Lives documentary. Seen it three times now. Jenni went to bed early.
I’ll be there by midnight. 11.23pm.
Monday 11th February 2013
Prepped for workshops. Also
selected more material for my chapbook. This project was meant to be completed
last December. I’m concerned about charging the going rate if it’s not up to
the standard of my previous officially published books. Concerned also that I’m
not getting any reading done. I’m trying to stay off Facebook unless I’ve good
reason to be sat at the screen. The national news is full of some religious
leader resigning; some of Tesco’s meals are horsemeat. Big fucking deal, why is
a horse more sacred than a cow? I only watch television when Jenni is here or
when exceptionally tired. Cabin fever creeping in. Looking forward to getting
out and doing a workshop and reading to a new audience. Tomorrow night a gig in
Whickham. 10.21pm.
Tuesday 12th February 2013
Skull-grinder of a headache
came on this evening on the way to Whickham. Only a couple of performers turned
up. Mark Speeding very disappointed. Grame Fletcher did some snake poems after Mark’s songs. By this
time I was so rough I was unable to do anything. I was
grateful to Tracy
for water and Grame’s wife for the ibuprofen and Mark for the ride home. Felt
okay in the car but felt like shit when I got back in the house. Skull grinder
above the right eye. Think I’ve overworked in the last few days. Might feel
better if I throw up. Gonna hurl in a minute. If I don’t move I’ll be in a
right state. 9.13pm.
Wednesday 13th February 2013
So cold this evening. Wore
two coats just to nip round to the corner shop. Only tiny wee brown loaves
left. Why would anyone want to eat white bread? Got the heating on full whack,
have been at the computer much of the evening, trying to get ahead on
organising April’s Poetry Jam.
I rang Jenni earlier to ask
if she’s coming over but I think it might be a bit too cold for her. Our local
bus service of an evening is utter shit. And taxi’s are expensive. Think she
might just stay tucked up in bed.
I watched some excellent
little videos of Simon Armitage talking about some of his poems for GCSE
syllabus this evening. I need to read some more page poetry, I think. Had a productive
day at Waddy and thankfully no repeat vomit-inducing migraine this evening.
It’s good to be home.
Back at Waddy to assist in
student gig rehearsal tomorrow. Gig itself Friday morning. 9.46pm.
Thursday 14th February 2013
Today has been pretty good.
Despite a few set-backs upon arrival in Durham
this morning I had a productive day, got some new work leads and had an
entertaining little workshop in the Waddy lounge this afternoon. Valentines Day,
I got a bunch of non-writers to come up with a romantic acrostic. Pretty
chuffed with my motivational skills, to be honest.
The kids on the bus home were
pretty loud. I was rather amused by the number of them ringing their parents
and asking for car-rides from Consett coz it’s cold. Quite a warm day considering
the icy blast we had yesterday. I don’t want to go back to the old ‘In my day…’
routine but it was pretty pathetic…
This evening I watched Sinead
O’Connor and Amanda Palmer, read a particularly annoying article on Facebook
about relocating poor families away from London
when the new housing benefit caps come into effect in April.
Jenni has just arrived. She
is very tired. I’m off to make her a cup of tea. 7.36pm.
Friday 15th February 2013
Out just after eight this
morning for Waddy. A bit of a panic. Julie Wilson forgot her glasses so Steve
Wakefield had to drive her back to Brandon
to pick them up. She was in the house quite a while. When she got back in the
car she told us her glasses weren’t at home and must have been lost on the way to
Waddy. Had to quickly re-prep poems in the car for Collaborate Durham launch
event at Gala Studio as Julie was no longer confident about doing a full solo
set. Gig went okay. Julie did well considering it was her first reading since
having a stroke a few months ago. I read a few of her poems and did some of my
own. Then there was an extremely motivational speech by Richard McCann. We met him
afterwards. Had Tai chicken curry for lunch, got some shopping done back in
Consett then home to a bunch of Facebook updates. Me and Jenni have had a lazy
evening. It’s been a pretty busy week. Ok.
10.46pm.
Saturday 16th February 2013
Worked most of the day
editing bits and pieces of last year’s NaPoWriMo stuff. Time consuming,
absorbing and totally un-noteworthy other than in a work-log.
Jenni is
downstairs playing a newly discovered adventure game on her laptop. I’ve read a
few Ash Dickinson poems, eaten an orange, drank some Apple Tango and downed pork
pies, ginger bakes, porridge, crisps, cowboy hash and refreshers.
Tomorrow is another attempt at sequencing the contents of my new
chapbook. I forgot how much goes into making a publication, even a small one.
I’m hoping to have it ready by the end of March. Still needs a lot of work. 9.38pm.
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