Monday 20th May 2013
Slow day. Two steps forward
and one step back. Eventually got through chores and over to Lamplight for the
open mic. Fantastic turn out. Twelve performers. Good to
see Charles, Jaene, Winston, Graeme, Mark speeding on saxophone with Margaret, some
great stuff from newcomers. Bad luck Jenni couldn’t make it, but she’ll be
there for the end of season megabash next month.
Absolutely bucketing down
outside. Mark Speeding gave me a lift home. The main road by the industrial
estate is a bit flooded. 11.43 pm.
Tuesday 21st May 2013
Felt a bit sick on the bus to
work, busy with mid-term prep for workshop reviews. Session went okay. No-one
likes the paperwork. Ironic for a writers’ group, but there you go. Fell asleep
on the bus home. Bought bread in Consett but had cowboy hash for tea. Caught
the national news headlines, read a tour budget breakdown by Ex Marillion
singer Fish, who is playing Stockton Arc tonight and was at the Sage at the
weekend. If I knew more of his back catalogue I would have been tempted but
only have Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors and a compilation cd. Saw him twice
in eighties/nineties. Too exhausted to do much, I answered some emails and
printed out two pieces of work for critique by Wendy Robertson and Avril Joy –
last session with them tomorrow. Watched the second episode of BBC Crime drama
The Fall on iPlayer. Really hammered now, fearing a migraine. Better get an
early night. 8.56pm.
Wednesday 22nd May 2013
I have times when all is well
with the world and I’m truly grateful for my lot – then a mixture of fatigue,
professional let-down and general observed mundanity just sets me seething and
spitting brass tacks.
Session at Waddy was poor
today. Spent ages doing mid-term review prep only for three people to turn in.
So I bailed the plans and did invented definitions for new compound words and
some fiction exercises.
I've been lying down for
about 45 minutes coz I started to feel a tension headache coming on. Didn't get
home till ten past six as I've been in Bishop Auckland this afternoon for my
final Back to Basics session with Wendy Robertson and Avril Joy and about
eighteen participants. We were given a 12 page short story by some guy – whose name
has vanished from my memory – set in some middleclass family home of yesteryear
involving an adulterous mother, then asked to dissect and highlight for uses of
descriptive relish, evidence of social context, description of setting,
characterisation and mood.
It was suggested we try a
family dinner table piece of fiction ourselves at home - I just happened to
have the one I did at Waddy last week in my notebook. We then very briefly got
an overview of character development. The things characters carry – ten objects
in a list and find reasons for owning them. I suggested the poems What Every
Woman Should Carry by Maura Dooley and About his Person by Simon Armitage, as
these are the two that have made this exercise very successful at Waddy over
the last five years. At the end of the session I handed in my Whitby recollection plus the opening vignette
of Sunshine.
Bus back was okay, as I took
the wise decision to fortify myself with half a Jamaica
ginger cake (two for a pound at the pound shop in Durham) and had plenty Tesco blackcurrant and
grape sparkling water with me. Bought some rice and tomatoes and beans in
Consett and then home to an all-day breakfast for tea before starting in on the
email/facebook checks.
I read the thing about David
R Morgan. Can't believe it made the Gaurdian, he's well and truly blotted his
card now. Doesn't look good for a schoolteacher to pass off another's poem as
their own. Who knows, maybe some of his Moodswing acceptances are shady; I
never checked, as the timeframe for his bad deeds was post-broadsheet demise.
Emailed Waddy a while ago
asking them to forward an apology to Chris, as I've decided not to go in
tomorrow afternoon – the week is already wearing me out and two workshop
sessions plus JibbaJabba is a bit excessive after kick-starting the week with
Lamplight open mic. I am going to do my food shopping after the MIND session
then return home to do Poetry Jam event page and chill a bit before heading
over to Byker for the spoken word.
It's been hailstoning hard this
evening. Has just started again. In half an hour it will be lights out for
sure. 9.54pm.
Thursday 23rd May 2013
Awake at five o’clock this
morning so I did the daily pages. Got up an hour later and have been on the go
since. Lots of prep for Consett MIND workshop then off to deliver it. A nice
session.
V8 to Consett. Are the roads
really as fucking potholed as they seem? Or do these pissy little yellow buses
actually have no suspension whatsofuckingever? Running late. Wolfed down my
pasta and locked up. Tonight is JibbaJabba. I do the door. I won’t be
performing on the Cumberland
stage again until August when hopefully I’ll have a new book available and new
set totally nailed. Some days I think I should give up on memorisation. Other
times I think the material requires it to make it worth presenting to an
audience. Hey, I’m a self-indulgent lock-in. Busload of conversation, movable
feast outside and I ignore all of it. 6.00pm.
Enjoyed all the Jibba guests
– Gentleman Busker, Terry Dobson, Jodi Ann Bickley and the Improvguys. Strong
open mics too. Really cold walk back to Newcastle.
Rainy, icy chill; it’s nearly fucking June. Too late for the chippy. On the bus
now, not looking forward to walk from Consett. 11. 23pm.
Friday 24th May 2013
So fucking cold today. And
tired, so I’ve got bugger all done. Can’t type without my hands hurting. Read
some essays online, watched footage of Fish (ex-Marillion) and
Rollins; listened to The Black Album by The Damned. Been a struggle to get my
head round much. Did some research into Lulu publishing. Could be the way
forward for the next big book. A few messages back and forth between me and
Jenni. We’re going to see ‘Withnail & I’ at the Tyneside Cinema tomorrow
and The Shawshank Redemption on Sunday then Alphabetti Spaghetti Open Stage
night at the Dog and Parrot. It’s getting closer to midnight. Wanted to work on
my own stuff today but needed time out to get my head rewired. Hopefully back
on form tomorrow. 11.42pm.
Saturday 25th May 2013
Sunday 26th May 2013
Did morning pages and talked
to Jenni about sharing workshop content. Thinking about the book; hope it can
be printed this week. No idea if it will sell out the limited edition or even
sell at all, but it looks pretty bloody good.
Jenni is still quoting lines
from Withnail & I: “You’re not leaving me alone in here; those are the sort
of windows faces look in at.” Richard E Grant is tremendous. Richard Griffiths
too. Superb film. Good to see it on the big screen this morning.
Didn’t get up till nearly
twelve as we didn’t get to bed till half three. This afternoon went to see The
Shawshank Redemption. Jenni is amazed that I’d never seen it before. Brilliant
film. BLT sandwich for me and sushi for Jenni afterwards at old Eldon Square.
Went to Alphabetti Spaghetti
tonight upstairs at the Dog and Parrot. Jenni tried out NapoWriMo poems. Good
to see Improvguys as well. Pizza and chips on the way back to Bensham. Hot in
the attic tonight. Really tired. 11.20pm.
Monday 27th May 2013
Back home after a great
weekend with Jenni. Currently listening to The Black Album by the Damned. Was
thinking of going to see them play in Middlesbrough this August but just found
out last night that they are playing the Academy in December – much easier to
get home from Newcastle
than Teesside. Hands hurting today. Pain in knuckles, poor grip strength. Been
thinking about my book. Feel reassured by the prices of various limited
editions online that mine is very reasonably priced. Going to watch BBC crime
drama The Fall at nine this evening then have an early night. 8.44pm.
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