HARDBACK

Monday 11th September 2017

Good day at the office. Old joggers, dodgy patterned socks, north by north fleece with grey collar. Toyah Willcox on Spotify. Hour upon hour of clicking the mouse, lining up margins on the file of Anomalies book. Only meant to do a couple of hours then move onto something else from the big To Do list, but thought: Fuck it, if I don’t keep going with this it will never get sorted. Tonight I made a thirteen signature (312 pages) print out, but there’s still around eighty more pages to line up and print later in the week. I won’t use all of it, for sure. Think it’s at least one hundred pages too long. I’ll probably cut quite a bit of the journal stuff.  Then photo sections to sort plus a ‘standard’ version of around 140 pages. 11.55 pm.

Tuesday 12th September 2017

Slower day. Hard to focus on just one thing. Switched from Anomalies to 2015 stuff. Read ten entries from July and was genuinely surprised by the content: pieces on the effects of ‘new romantic’ music in supermarkets, stepping stone narratives, prose poem about late night thunderstorm, childhood friendship, dreams about bike rides, personal musical influences and rants about authority figures. Might have to make this stuff a separate volume. Charlie Bramley posted a link to his new book ‘Under a Floorboard World: The Career of Katie Jane Garside’. I saw Katie play in Queen Adreena a couple of times, but first heard her fronting Daisy Chainsaw in the early nineties. Keen to check out her vocals for Ruby Throat. Would like to read Charlie’s book. Started watching a film with Jenni called ‘The Game’ starring Michael Douglas, but got sleepy. Might get a cheap copy on Amazon at some point. Workshop and final Punk Lecture tomorrow. 11.17 pm.

Wednesday 13th September 2017

Went to Waddy at lunchtime to have my chicken rendang from a can with accidental egg fried rice, drop off a birthday present and get the latest enrolment figures for the autumn course, then off to Appletree for my workshop. Some of the regulars were on home leave so session a bit thin but at least it went ahead – meaning not one single ‘no-show’ from my sessions there over the last sixteen months. Did some journal copy-ups and perzine stuff at Clayport Library then over to Sunderland. Enjoyed final Pop Recs Ltd ‘Punk Lecture’ – this time on fanzines. Pete Dale brought a stack of them for people to peruse. Even an issue of Cometbus. On the way home I re-read my book 'Laughter To Split Glass'. One or two things to change. Watched an episode of Mitchell and Webb’s ‘Back’ with Jenni who intends to sleep downstairs tonight because of the giant spiders. 11.50 pm.

Thursday 14th September 2017

Stayed in all day. Read some ‘DIY Magic’. Not really doing much for me yet. I’ll give it a chance, but I think I’ve encountered most of the creativity tricks I’m gonna use now. I know there’s always something new to learn and I thought this ‘creativity not specifically for writing’ would give me a new angle; it mainly dropped me off to sleep. I read ‘Dark Corners of the Land’ by Adelle Stripe. It’s a poetry collection put out by Blackheath Books. Enjoyed the descriptions of rural landscapes - some brutal farming imagery - as well as northern town vignettes. She’s got a novel out as well. I somehow went from scrolling Aleister Crowley books to watching a Sinead O’Connor (post-hotel video) interview and from there – via Rollins painting the body of a shirtless artist whilst being interviewed – to Adam Ant performing Antmusic recorded just last night at the Beacon Theatre in New York. I tidied up my book corrections list a bit and checked out Tangerine Press deluxe pamphlets. Tomorrow I need to buy food. 11.36 pm.

Friday 15th September 2017

Out to Consett this morning. Good walk but a bit knackered. Bank transactions, tinned soup and curry from Barry’s Bargain Store; fruit and veg at Tesco then walk home. Took a while to get going with book work but now have preliminary printout of four-hundred page ‘ANOMALIES 1989-2014’. Margins still a little iffy here and there. And, as previously stated, the book will be pruned down to around 280 pages. Been selecting photographs for colour inserts this evening. Plenty to choose from. Really feel like I’m starting to get somewhere with this one now. Still lots of edits and dreaded proofreads. Still, feels like a real book project… House is getting chilly. Need some water very soon. 11.45 pm.

Saturday 16th September 2017

Late rise due to not going to bed till two this morning. More photographs sorted, made a morning pages notebook, drank hot chocolate, ate scrambled eggs on toast with potato fritters. Moorside bus didn’t turn up so I walked to Consett tonight. Read bits of ‘Laughter’ on the 45 to Gateshead. Watched some music TV with Jenni. Particularly enjoyed A2Z of Later with Jools Holland as well as chocolate brownie and peanuts. Thanks to Jenni for the free read of Attila the Stockbroker’s UNDAUNTED poetry book and the new ‘As in Judy’ by Rosie Garland. 11.19 pm.

Sunday 17th September 2017

Lazy day at Jenni’s. Mainly watching ‘Diagnosis Murder’ and ‘Columbo’. Nice rendang curry for dinner. Nipped out this afternoon for cherry pie and custard; and to scam a look at music mags in Tesco. Watched recent remake of ‘Annie’. Cameron Diaz is in it. Read more Rosie Garland poems. Disappointing Philip K Dick story on TV. Felt rough today. Mainly dehydration. 11.13 pm.