Saturday 14th September 2013
At home this
weekend working on a little Mind anthology for Consett Writers. All the text is
in place. Just need to proof and adjust margins and page numbers. Knocked off
at nine to watch some crime documentaries. Psychopathic religious cult leaders
and serial killers. Fell asleep half way through. Will hopefully get the
booklet pages ready for publication later this month. Miss being at Jen’s
tonight. 11.24pm.
Sunday 15th September 2013
Didn’t go to
bed till half one due to being sucked into an X-Files film on C4, so was
completely surprised to find myself at the computer by nine fifteen this morning
and working till half twelve without breakfast or even a drink. Mind Anthology
chapbook went together easier than anything I’ve made in a long while, up to
second-pair-of-eyes proofing stage. Watched some Chris Akrigg trials riding for
twenty minutes after tidying my desk. Wish I was ten years younger. 10.07pm.
Monday 16th September 2013
Think I
burnt out over the weekend. Have struggled to stay focused on workshop prep. I
have ten years’ worth of lesson plans. The thought of having to dredge up more
doesn’t fill me with enthusiasm. Been unable to read much tonight. I can’t get
into long fiction anymore. Prefer memoir, poetry and factual writing. Doubt
I’ll ever write a novel. Posted the penultimate reserve copy of ‘Sunshine’
today. 9.40pm.
Tuesday 17th September 2013
So many books.
Spoilt for choice. I read a bunch of vignettes from Occupants by Rollins, a few
very visceral shorts by Michael R Gira, ran my finger along the spines of five
books by Lydia Lunch, cast my eye over the contents page of The Street of
Crocodiles by Bruno Shultz; thought about getting to grips with what was once
the most expensive book I’ve bought – Darkness Moves by Henri Michaux. I have a
tallboy full of clothes, papers and twenty books by Charles Bukowski, a number
of slim volumes of contemporary poetry from Bloodaxe Books, stacks of small
press magazines – and more recently, books by Jesse Ventura, Juliana Hatfield
and Rosie Garland. Novels bought decades ago I’ll never read again. Then
there’s half a dozen by Henry Miller, a few by Hubert Selby Junior, Margaret
Atwood, Beckett and Kafka. The only book I’m hankering for is “Today I Wrote
Nothing” by Daniil Kharms. Yet now, all I can do is rest my eyes and wait for
sleep. 8.32pm.
Wednesday 18th September 2013
Impressive
turn out for the first Intermediate Writing session of the new term this
morning. Big discussion on likes/dislikes in poetry and prose before we get
into the big stuff next week. Had a health and safety briefing at Clayport
Library this afternoon then checked out music papers and stationary. The only
display folders I could get that didn’t cost the earth were shocking pink ones
from Wilkinson’s – a quid a piece. I’ll transfer an old term’s papers into them
and use a less arresting colour for my new block of work.
Good to
catch up with Mam and Ernie on the phone tonight. Then I cranked up The Best of
Toyah and printed out eight uncorrected proofs of the as yet untitled Mind
Anthology for tomorrow’s final edit meeting in Consett.
Dark so
early now. And a lot chillier as well. Pleased to have my work done without a
migraine this evening. Good to hear from Jenni, Anne, Sheila and Julie. OK.
10.36pm.
Thursday 19th September 2013
Shelter
under the tree, bi-polar weather getting the better of you again. Dark pools in
damaged pavements, streaks on windscreens. Almost the weekend. Onboard V8 wet-dog-smell
passengers. One reads Catch 22. A young couple smile at their baby. Standing
room okay on short journeys? Chilled bones and aching feet. How many more can
they pack in? French women on the wheel arch. The bus crawls uphill. Full
college car park. Fluorescent council workers discuss a hole. Grey sky and
slick tarmac…
Great Mind
session this morning. Group very enthusiastic, supportive of each other’s
writing, gave me great feedback on the course.
Been home a
couple of hours to check on messages, have proper lunch and pick up Sunshine
books for tonight. Hopefully the last delivery before Ebay auction. On the V8
again. Route choked with parked cars by the school and neighbouring streets. And
stupid Steve has sat on the wheel arch seat, bounced about the bus – but no
matter.
Meeting up
with Jenni at quarter to five in Newcastle.
It’s HOT WORDS AT THE CHILLI tonight. Scott Tyrrell, Chris Harland, AJ McKenna,
Cat Stevens and others. I might read a prose piece in the open mic. Before this
I want to buy a Toyah ticket from Reflex Records.
In the
meantime, the bus is overrun with boisterous little boys who’ve just escaped school.
Mothers with pink and purple hair do their best but the kids have too much
energy to be contained. We chug up the hill towards Consett – or Tombstone, as Mr Speeding
calls it. The summer behind us, we have the sniffles; the rain has stopped but
it’s chilly enough to cover the scalp with a thermal beanie. “I’ll kick you off
the bus!” says one little red-hatted lad with a toothless grin. His friend, a
pale-faced blondie says, “I’ll kick you ALL in the balls!” – Oh, so young. And
so much more mischief ahead of them. 3.40pm.
Had an enormous carvery at
The Goose with Jenni before Hot Words. The idea being not to eat again until
tomorrow, but I’m pre-programmed to want food at suppertime.
Gig was great. Powerful set
by AJ, hitting all the political notes and pushing buttons of the prejudiced.
Great stand-in set for Mandy Maxwell by Harry Gallagher. Scott was on form –
loved the Running poem and Greatest Story Never Written. Some cracking stuff on
the open mic, particularly enjoyed Ian Williams’ piece about indecision. And
Jeff Price did a cracker about the pitfalls of ageing. Chuffed to see Chris
Harland do a headline poetry set. And singer Cat Stevens – not that one,
obviously –had some great murder ballads and a song about burlesque. Aidan
Clarke treated us to a poem from River Runs and one from a show about Edith
Piaf. Annie did one about artist Peter Blake. And I got to do Laughing in the
Face of Apathy. Thanks to everyone at HOT WORDS for a superb evening of spoken
word and acoustic music. Thanks to Julie Egdell, Scott Tyrrell and Ken Creen
for buying copies of So Much for the Sunshine. Only Joan Johnston’s to deliver
– which Jenni will pass on to her in due course. We got the Metro back to Newcastle with AJ. I’m on
the 45 back to Consett. A good day almost done. 11.29pm.
Friday 20th September 2013
Nice to have the whole day at
home. Haven’t even unlocked the front door. Good to get my printer working
again and get Poetry Jam event in place. 17 people going and 7 maybes in seven
hours. Good to correct the Mind Anthology proofs today. Just waiting on a j-peg
so I can get on with the cover.
Watched a compelling 9/11
documentary this evening. No new revelation for me, but I liked the rational
scientific approach, and interviews with psychologists at the end. There’s a Facebook
group worth checking out: ReThink9/11.
Some of my acquaintances are
posting guilty pleasure music vids on Facebook: Bucks Fizz, Duran Duran, Men
Without Hats – where will it end?
A crane toppled into the roof
of McDonalds in Consett this afternoon. No-one was hurt. Really cold today. Resisted
central heating ok. Think I’ll read some David Gaffney before sleep. 10.40pm
Saturday 21st September 2013
On this day in 1999: I got a
letter from Jarboe (ex-Swans) and rehearsed I Know You by Henry Rollins
for a theatre-course party. On 21st September 2000: I got a letter from the
editor of Psychotrope magazine saying my Hot Jesus and two Shades of Grey
pieces were well-conceived and relentless – but rejected them anyway. On this
day in 2001: I completed all fifty handmade copies of the first issue of
“Moodswing” pocket broadsheet. On 21st September 2002: I contemplated the
validity of an artform that has little commercial value and asked questions of
myself about materialism. Fast forward to this day in 2007: I ran my first WEA
creative writing workshop at Broadgate Farm Co-Operative in Esh Winning. On
21st September 2008: I tried to write a short story about a £40,000 cheque – and
failed miserably. On this day in 2009: I became the new host for Lamplight Open
Mic Night and reflected on the ‘spiritual journey’ from warehouse worker to
workshop facilitator/performer-charlatan. On 21st September 2010: I wrote a
warm-up piece in a Waddy session about playing with the grocery box as an infant on
Saturday mornings rather than my good toys and wrote a list of reasons why I
write. On this day in 2011: I was asked to write a 30th Anniversary poem for
Waddington Street Centre just minutes after doubting my position there due to initial
low course enrolments – then got absolutely soaked riding my mountain bike back
home from Durham,
only for the sun to come out as I reached Moorside. On 21st September last year
I was pining for eighties Goth gigs and started selecting material for a
handmade book. Today I had some nice messages from a theatre friend that I
first met in 1999, and am hoping to scan in some test pages for an autumn
publication of the standard version of my handwritten book So Much for the
Sunshine. 4.02pm.
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