Frazzled!

Monday 27th February 2017

Didn’t get to bed till two o’clock this morning after editing and posting my long blog from half-term. Woke early with blurred vision in right eye. Did some work until lunchtime, but had to go back to bed this afternoon. This evening pretty much spent catching up on prep for the week. Legal papers, session handouts, clearing away equipment from last Sunday’s bookmaking workshop. Pretty chuffed people took time to read my long blog. Listened to The Slits this evening. Watched a bit of Venom and Classic Albums: Never Mind the Bollocks documentary. Haven’t sorted my finances yet. I’ll not be able to focus on my own stuff until Thursday afternoon. Won’t be writing much this week. 10.47 pm.

Tuesday 28th February 2017

Problems with new book this morning, so no work on Cambian Appletree group poems. Stressed all day. Session okay at Waddy. New people in the room, not enrolled on course. Evening class fine, but I’ve not been on top form today. Envisage some challenging days ahead. Workshop in Newcastle tomorrow. 

10.37 pm.

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Started a bit stressed and harassed. Four hours sleep. Printed a load of mini-zines at home for tonight, but when I began to fold them the toner came off on my hands. Seems those two for twenty-one quid cartridges are only good for white 80gsm – use coloured paper or heavier stock and toner doesn’t ‘fix’ well at all. Wasted half an hour and a fair bit of paper. Made more on Waddy printer. Proper office industrial drum toner – the good stuff. Session at Cambian was fine. Good to be back. Gentle warm-ups after the half-term break. Then a delayed bus from Meadowfield to Durham Bus Station made early arrival for relaxed set-up of Newcastle workshop impossible. Still a great little gig and enjoyable workshop. Enjoyed meeting the young people and encouraging them to write and read. Some great ‘I am’ poems at the end. Then met Jenni and went to The Goose for a carvery. Enjoyed the bigly eats and the post-food laughs. Got offered a paid slam gig. Three months to rehearse. Tempted. OK, homeward. 10.45 pm.

Thursday 2nd March 2017

Canny session at Newton Aycliffe. Great night at Poetry Jam. All the guests were spot on. Lots of great open floor. Was good to do some old NapoWriMo stuff I’ve never read before. Good to be home by half ten. Thanks Fergus. I’ve done a lot this week. Looking forward to a few days at home working on the book. 11.37 pm.

Friday 3rd March 2017

MASSIVE THANKS to all who came down to Poetry Jam last night. Sensational sets from our three fabulous guests: David Roe's The Zulu Poet is extraordinary, Amy Wardley's debut feature set was a real gem; and James Oates was dipping in and out of the back catalogue alongside unpublished work for a cracking twenty-plus minutes. Loads of top open floor readings: slam poems tested; poignant stuff, powerful messages; and some silliness just for fun. New pieces, new voices: eclectic, engaging, entertaining. We get all sorts of greatness. Thanks as ever to Waddington Street Centre for the lovely venue, and staff member Fergus for setting up the room, working the café (and lift home). Next month’s event will be an extra special one-off. If you were at Waddy last night you already know. Full details to be officially announced by Talking Pen in the next week or so. Thanks again. See you all soon. 12.27 pm.

Go ages without gigs then onstage three nights in a row. Thoroughly enjoyed Writers’ Café Fifth Birthday Party. Some brilliant turns. Loved James Wilkinson’s opening comedy song about online stalking. Good to see Asa J Maddison and Lou Driver onstage. And some people I’d never met before – serial killer for God was pretty freaky. Tony Gadd did Chunky Chips and gets stronger each time. Alix Alixandra was outstanding – love her singing. And David O'Hanlon always does well. Diane Cockburn was getting celestial in a seventies disco. Chris Stewart’s Uncle Bukowski was off the wall. Sarah Hammersley did an hilarious personal grooming poem. Jenni praised organiser and host Marie Lightman from the stage then did a revised ‘We Are Not Silent Poets’. There were numerous others: Ian Waugh with his dodgy Limericks, Mandy Maxwell on Brexit war path, Juli Watson; I did a rather sketchy version of Hypomaniac, which was probably a mistake. And of course there was the full-on surreal assault that is Jeff Potts and his chicken philosophy – what a way to end the show. Well done everyone involved. 11.42 pm.

Saturday 4th March 2017

Re-proofed all the ‘Laughter to Split Glass’ poems. The worst person, of course, to proof a book is the author – coz they see what they think is there, not what actually is. Could use a fresh pair of eyes. Been working for thirteen and a half hours. Still have acknowledgements and contents pages to check. Then all the changes to type up as a list for Gerry the typesetter to amend on PDF. How people do all this solo for novels is beyond me. 

11.39 pm.

Sunday 5th March 2017

Okay, so another full-on day of book corrections. Took about ten hours to key in nineteen pages of instructional notes. But less than ninety minutes to implement most of them on a check through a Word document copy of the manuscript on screen, ticking off as I go. Will still be going after midnight. Okay, suppertime. 11.50 pm.