Keeping It Going

Monday 13th November 2017

Random gaps in home diary. Haven’t missed a day for years, but fallen behind on transfers from transit notebooks. Two workshops prepped. ‘Laughter to Split Glass’ looks almost good to go, but I’m going to live with it a week or two longer. Fingers crossed it will be out early next year. Been listening to a few Eurythmics albums tonight. Never got to see them back in the eighties or reformed in the late nineties. Maybe they’ll take one more trip round the world sometime. REVENGE album doing it for me, but like WE TOO ARE ONE a lot as well. Had some dark chocolate, steak pie with veg dinner, umpteen hot blackcurrant drinks and managed another day without putting central heating on. OK. 11.38 pm.

Tuesday 14th December 2017

Computer being really pissing awkward: running slow, jamming then scrolling as it likes even if I take my hand off the mouse. That said, I was allowed forty minutes of Queen footage and some Alison Moyet tracks on YouTube. Group poem is typed for tomorrow. Put on a writing half-marathon at Waddy this afternoon. Then went to Consett library to copy up my pieces. Have filled a 140 page near A4-size notebook with 2017 workshop drafts, stray journal entries and other stuff written in transit. Chuffed to pick up Gary McMahon’s novel ‘The Concrete Grove’ while I was there. Tired this evening. Spoke to Mam and Ernie on the phone. Festive enquiries. Don’t usually give much thought till December. Neighbours already have their tree up. 11.35 pm.

Wednesday 15th November 2017

Another cake haul from Barry’s Bargain Superstore then down to Waddy. Read a couple of chapters of ‘The Concrete Grove’. Enjoying it. Good character interaction, like the atmosphere, interested to see how tension increases and the nasty underbelly of the housing estate is revealed. Session at Appletree was dialogue prompts and a November acrostic. Got the rest of my food at Durham Tesco then back to Waddy to set up for the evening. Had a chicken rendang with rice and read more Gary McMahon. Great evening session: read back some story intros, did automatic writing, Definitions game and The Heart Grew a Table exercise. Home to grilled cheese crustie, ready salted crisps and hot Ribena. Made up a morning pages booklet. 11.22 pm.

Thursday 16th November 2017

After three days focused on prep and workshops I didn’t feel like writing anything today. Tired of scrolling Facebook in hopes of a kickstarter to personal creativity or fresh job opportunities. Read seven or eight Gary McMahon interviews. Enjoying his novel this evening, but as always when extended reading sessions are devoted to prose fiction, I start to fear I’ll lose the ability to produce poetry and want to switch to slim volumes of free verse. Also read some stuff about Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison. I don’t find horror books scary. Still hoping for something with a strong flow of lyrical intensity; I’m possibly looking in the wrong places. Poetry and autobiographical vignettes are my true calling, but feel obliged to devote some time to novels for workshops. Twenty- eight years scribbling and never produced a piece of sustained prose fiction to my liking. Autobiographical to the grave. 11.22 pm.

Friday 17th November 2017

Phone call from Jen’s work enquiring about her wellbeing. Turns out she has a chest infection and is at home in bed for the day. Her email bounced back. Hope she’s better soon… Keyed in notes this morning and worked on 'Anomalies 1989-2014' this afternoon. Made a printout of standard version. 144 pages plus colour picture inserts. Just need to bind one and trim opening edge to gauge margin adjustments. Hardest part of the project will be accessing a good selection of coloured/textured paperstock. Currently quite excited about the way the book is coming together. Watched a YouTube vid of Ramsey Campbell being interviewed by Andrew McMillan this evening. Thought I’d lost my copy of ‘Ghosts and Grisly Things’ but half an hour ago I spotted it on one of my over-stacked shelves next door. In bed now, aiming to read a bit. 10.54 pm.

Saturday 18th November 2017

Book still being a bit tricky. Just when it seems okay, I find punctuation issues I thought had been dealt with. Stayed at home this evening and worked towards a chilly midnight. Aim to be over to Jen’s tomorrow. But for now I’ll carry on chipping away. Only a few more pages to go on this session. 11.41 pm.

Sunday 19th November 2017

Bright blue speck in the pale November sky. A paraglider moving high above the buildings and fields of Consett, towards Shotley Bridge then turning round and coming back again. Better to be out and wrapped up in three layers – but no hat – than shivering indoors in five layers whilst agonizing over stubborn text; better to be out in the bracing fresh air, watching someone glide through the sky… Man in black lycra on black mountain bike powers along the cycle lane then stops, checks his watch, grins, turns and rides back the way he came. Wish right now I was like him, instead of finding excuses for lack of physical exercise. Sometimes I crave a new adventure. I think of bikers, skaters, climbers, explorers… I think of me and brother Mark at Weardale or Addingham Moorside on our trials bikes over a decade ago. And I think about the person in the sky, flying free on a bright November day… 3.46 pm.

Later: Bit of time at Jen’s place. She is rather poorly with suspected chest infection, maybe bronchitis. She was up for a good few hours when I was there. Had some food. Watched an episode of New Tricks and Ken Dodd documentary. Half-ten bus to Consett, then a walk in the rain. 10.50 pm.