Full-On Fortnight

Monday 17th October 2016

Finally got round to paying a subscription today for the Office Pro full package on my android tablet. It was only a tenner and unlike mobile Word allows me to edit prose without being online. No distractions from the internet.

Much of today was just keying in loads of weekend notes and pulling together a lesson plan and handouts for tomorrow. I watched Andrew Marr’s show on crime fiction this evening. I could never write to a formula in prose, even though I’m supposed to encourage others to do so. But it was good to see modern practitioners McDermid and Rankin being interviewed.

Had a big plate of veg and steak pie tonight. Fancied some real stuff. Looking forward to seeing the new Julia Eff zine. Should be here in the next few days. Via Extortionate airmail. Bed soon. 11.07 pm.

Tuesday 18th October 2016

The new Julia Eff zine "You Better Watch Where You Spit" arrived today. 32 page text heavy, handwritten, mint black and white graphics. Devastating essays on depression, peppered with some shit-hot metaphors and heavy truths. I read it in 40 minutes on the bus, but will give it at least another two reads before responding to it properly. Session at Waddy went ok today. Some ‘what if’ exercises from newspaper stories and a group poem, then the obligatory mid-term paperwork. Slept a bit on the bus back, then fried up some potato slices and a couple of eggs. Did a new PDF poster for the Writing Marathon and emailed it out. Not so much interest this time round unfortunately. Heard the title track from Leonard Cohen’s new album ‘You Want it Darker’ – which is a statement not a question. Have a bit of a headache that I’ve been trying to ignore, but have relented and downed a couple of ibuprofen. It’s fucking freezing at home this evening and I hope I sleep well. 10.25 pm.

Wednesday 19th October 2016

Five-and-a-half-hour round trip for an hour-long workshop. Got to read more 'Nickel and Dimed' on the bus there and back though. Session was another short fiction one with newspaper clippings and various starts to stories – dialogue, narrator, description, generalisation, etc. Home to a lush chicken and sweet chilli pizza then keyed in morning pages and got the Poetry Jam event page up on Facebook. Sent an email for it as well. No more takers for the marathon. Very tempted to cancel it, to be honest. But I’ll give it another week. Really fucking cold in the house. Trying not to put heating on regularly, at least not until November. Want to read Julia Eff again tonight. New zine is mint. A few more reads and I’ll think about writing a piece about it. But reviews aren’t my strong point. Ok. I’m done here. Feet are numb. Gonna switch the machine off and go to bed soon. 10.40 pm.

Thursday 20th October 2016

There’s a gravity to train tracks that unsettles me. The kid is sitting on the floor with her leg beyond the yellow line area of the Metro platform. Another is laughing and falling into a friend. I can hear the rumble of the train getting close. There’s a gravity to railway lines that freaks me the fuck out and I want to strap myself to the platform seat with my back jammed tight up against the wall until the carriage is absolutely static and the doors are open… The commuters are off, the kids are out. A twentysomething says she’ll graduate soon, have a career in a few years, be married with kids by thirty. Got it all worked out. If only life was so fucking straight forward for the rest of us. But it is what it is or what you make it… I get onboard and am pleased I’ll be stepping out at North Shields in about 25 minutes from now. 'Blood from the Quill' is a special early Halloween edition of the Stanza spoken word show and I’m looking forward to it bigly. Hope they still have the open mic. I want to read Written in the Style of Black tonight. I took the opportunity to get a reading on the same bill as Jess Green next month in Sunderland. I’ll squeeze as much fucking life out of my Explorer ticket on 2nd November as I can. First week of the month will be pretty hectic… The train stops at Walkergate. Six stops from my destination. Then a five minute walk to Beldons. Wasn’t going to come outside this evening but now have a good feeling about it. Worth the platform gravity and the pissing rain. Things will soon be good again. 6.57 pm.

Friday 21st October 2016

Really lethargic this morning. Did some research reading in bed for a beginners novel writing workshop until eleven. Keyed in some work and put together a set for the Heroes and Villains themed night at Newcastle Literary Salon next Wednesday. Took a while coz there were pieces I really wanted to include to balance the tone but it meant pushing the running time five minutes over the fifteen minute max. Tonight I just chipped away at prose and rocked out to various Joan Jett and the Blackhearts tracks on Spotify. Quite a contrast from The Beautiful South stuff I was listening to earlier. House is fucking freezing. Gigantic Tickets just sent me a reminder that The Cure gig is six weeks from tonight at Wembley and included links to hotels. Anything with a roof and a lock on the door will do for me. Going to grab some cheese on toast then into bed. 11.44 pm.

Saturday 22nd October 2016

Got the Writing Marathon prompts sorted for next Saturday. Still some places left. Main soundtrack today was Joan Jett then Marilyn Manson. Keyed in morning pages and wrote a letter to Julia Eff -  said ‘Bye!’ to my battered stage copy of 'Shades of Grey' which I’m sending to Detroit, Michigan, as a gift. Really cold in my place tonight. Hot water bottle on my knees as I typed. Good to hear from Jenni tonight. 11.51 pm.

Sunday 23rd October 2016

Busy putting together a load of craft materials and copies of small press titles for a zine workshop. Didn’t get away to Jen’s till four this afternoon. This evening we read at The Goose in the open floor section of Ira Lightman’s 'Goose' pamphlet launch. An unusual venue, but perfect for my Goose Carvery poem. Jenni did her spilt nail varnish remover poem. Ira Lightman was in fine form. Good to see Sheila Wakefield and some of the Red Squirrel Press poets. Had chips on the way back and watched the milk float episode of Father Ted. OK. 11.10 pm.

Monday 24th October 2016

Forgot to bring my mini journal out with me today. Just as well I was in Newcastle to do a one2one booklet making workshop with door to door poet Rowan McCabe at Alphabetti Theatre. I just made another one. We did about three and a half hours, making mini zines, stapled and stitched pamphlets. Pocket broadsheets. We looked at text layout and image manipulation. Sequencing pages. A good session. I went to eat4less afterwards for baked potato and chicken curry them raided the reduced items crates at Tesco. Mango and melon pots and falafel and couscous for Jenni. I'm at The Goose now, for the second night in a row. No food, though... Just scrolling face book I find via a post from The Mission's Wayne Hussey that Pete Burns is dead at 57 from a heart attack. Didn't know much about him except 'You Spin Me Right Round' and celebrity gossip shows on TV. But 57 is no age.

   My evening will consist of sitting by the window till such time as I think that Jenni will be back from her reading group meeting in Hartlepool. I'm feeling a little wrecked. The workshop went well, but I was kind of speeding through it. Think I wore myself out a bit. Took twenty minutes to set up. Thirty minutes to pack up. Three and a half in between. Folding, gluing stitching stapling. Trimming. Good stuff.

   Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' is on the sound system. This is the song that in 1989 made me see her in a different light. Years earlier, people I worked with raved about her, but I just wasn't interested. Have since seen her live three times - twice at Wembley Stadium and once at Earl's Court. That last time was fifteen years ago. Would like to have seen her in Manchester last December but wouldn't pay the ticket price. Next music gig for me is The Mission in Whitby, then The Cure at Wembley. 7.43 pm.

Tuesday 25th October 2016

Had a bit of a lie in coz me and Jenni were talking till two in the morning. She told me about the reading group meeting and I was on about the workshop with Rowan. Jenni went this afternoon to buy score card for tonight’s poetry slam. I stayed in and keyed loads of notes into the android tablet. Great to be able to have portable word processing facilities with the need for internet. Worked till around five, had cheese on toast from the microwave then headed off to Gateshead for the Metro to South Shields. Of course it was dark by the time I reached the coast and set off in the wrong direction to the venue, but eventually got there. ‘The Word’ is a brilliant new library. Lots of people there. David O’Hanlon, Alix Alixandra, Jeff Price, Aaron Wright, Rose Drew, Tony Gadd, Chris Stewart, amongst others. Some excellent turns from the slammers and high calibre performance from Scott Tyrrell. Good stuff right across the board really. Amy McAllister from Dublin won the slam. Enjoyable Metro ride back with eleven poets. Jenni went off to town for post-gig drinks. I got a pie at Tesco and had beans with it then into bed and wrote this. 11.44 pm.

Wednesday 26th October 2016

Long day. Morning pages around six. Bags packed up and out to Askew Road for the bus back home to drop off the wheelie case full of book making equipment from the workshop. Had a shave then formatted Cambian Appletree Writers work from android tablet to desktop. Printouts, clothes ironed. Sandwiches made,water Bootle filled. Repack then out the door. Woman in the bank really slow so I left without doing my bank transactions. Bought a granola bar from Home Bargains and hit the bus station. Did a couple of lesson plan options on the 15 to Durham. Sat in at Waddy for lunch. Their internet is down so I couldn't message Jenni about tonight. Session at Appletree went well. Eight people in. We did A2Z exercises, Acrostics and, as it's almost Halloween, Blessings and Curses. Most people preferred Curses. But everyone had a good crack at both. Now on the 21 from Durham. Just another read through of my set for the Literary Salon tonight. The theme is heroes and villains. Mine is pretty tenuous - from superheroes to rock musicians - Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins and some fictional nasties. Hope it's okay. Gonna go to Jen's first coz I didn't leave her a message today. Hope she can make it tonight. OK. 4.27 pm.

Thursday 27th October 2016

Stressful time in town getting all the food for Saturday’s writing marathon. Was like doing Christmas shopping. Way too many people. Kids in crowded aisles – with their fucking scooters! People shoving past without saying excuse me. Bags banging into people, knocking stuff off shelves and not picking it up. Took two trips and still have to go back tomorrow for bread buns. Knee still playing up. Will have to see the doctor about it, I reckon. Jenni is out at Mostly Spoken. I’ve been keying in morning pages and sorting stuff for the marathon. Great to hear from Ian Waugh who is joining us on Saturday for bigly writing and eating at Broadacre House. Been listening to The Pale Emperor by Marilyn Manson this evening. Had a lush chicken rendang and rice for tea. Had to put heating on a while. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow I might get the grass cut a final time this year. 11.53 pm.

Friday 28th October 2016

Bag pack for tomorrow’s marathon was the easiest yet. Most of the stuff went in two cardboard boxes that fit snug in the wheelie case. With enough room on top for the savouries straight from the fridge. 7.22 pm bus from Moorside connects ace with X70 from Consett, meaning I hit Gateshead around an hour later. Just sandwiches to make then I am done for the day. Did a nineteen hour day on Wednesday into Thursday and the knock on effect has kind of wiped me out. But good to get more typing done. Marathon booklets were easy. I printed a note on the first page about acknowledging borrowed material. Wheelie case stands upright on the X70, no rocking back and forth. Might read the end of 'Nickel and Dimed'. OK. 7.50 pm.

Saturday 29th October 2016

Jenni made us bigly chip butties for breakfast and I ate mine in bed. It was very good. Busy day at Broadacre. Writing Marathon went well, no hitches. Some stunning writing across the board. Got through fourteen prompts and read back every round. Ate a few sandwiches and some fruit, pie, etc. Went to Head of Steam with Jenni, James Oates and Ian Waugh afterwards for a couple of hours. Watched Dad’s Army, Strictly and Rebus back in Bensham. Ate more food. Writing this in bed. Really knackered. 10.35 pm.

Sunday 30th October 2016

Twelve hours in bed. Carrot cake and banana for breakfast. A bit of shouting and cursing at the Sunday Politics. Watched Columbo, Corpse Bride and One Chance. Keyed in some work, ate lots of chocolate. Good lazy Sunday. Uploaded writing marathon pix to Facebook back home. Another busy week ahead. 11.47 pm.