At The Finish Line

Monday 25th December 2017

Merry Christmas! Jenni was up before me just before nine. Warm morning, so no heating on. Lots of presents to open. We got each other Queen t-shirts with Frank the robot from News of the World on. I got two performance poetry books, a big fleecy black and burgundy dressing gown and some fleece-lined cargo pants, chocolates, a heavy metal DVD and Black Mountain Poets DVD. Got money and toiletries from Mam and Ernie. More toiletries from Jenni’s folks. Jenni got some in a great wheelie case from Mam and Ernie. I gave her money, DVD, cake, rum and cola, hat and gloves, books… Dinner went well. Jen’s roast was vegetarian meat substitute, mine was chicken breast from Morrisons cooked counter. Fourteen food items on my plate. Fell asleep this afternoon. Watched various TV things. Avoided the news and The Queen’s speech but saw all the misery in Soapland. Jen has had a couple of rum and cokes and I’m hitting the chocolates. Probably be up till around midnight. Just had a chicken sandwich. 10.50 pm.

Tuesday 26th December 2017

Bit longer lie in. Read a number of poems from Burning Eye’s ‘The Best Slam / Stand Up Performance / Spoken Word Poetry Book In The World’ – a lot of people in there that me and Jenni know. Good to speak to Mam and Ernie on the phone. Christmas and Birthday presents well received. Stayed on the couch most of the day. Had the new dressing gown over my legs instead of the slanket. Ate some of yesterday’s leftovers. Downed pigs in blankets and pork pies. Watched quite a bit of television. Enjoyed The Miniaturist. Jenni put up Xmas album from yesterday on Facebook. I’m trying to get up to date with blog and stray journal entries by tomorrow evening while Jenni is away for the day. Ears ringing loud as usual. But no chest pain. 11.33 pm.

Wednesday 27th December 2017

Colder day. Upstairs for a while this afternoon keying in the last three weeks. Still haven’t edited it all. Jenni was due to be out today but plans changed. I wrote the beginning of a story this morning. Will try to develop it. Been downing pork pies, Christmas cake and crisps. Watched a bit more TV; The Miniaturist was pretty good but I didn’t like the ending. Now watching the Oasis documentary. Chuffed to get a request for more writing workshops. 10.55 pm.

Thursday 28th December 2017

Another lazy day. Good to see Mam and Ernie again. Three American zines arrived this morning. Antiquated Future distro sent my order in two envelopes, but only half so far. ‘Isle Content #14’ by Alexis Wolf is a collection of poetic fragments written in transit. Danny Noonan’s ‘Clock Tower 9 #13’ contains various autobiographical pieces, articles and letters. Then there’s Martha Grover’s ‘Somnambulist #27’ which is a split zine featuring correspondence with a friend about life in Amsterdam and Portland, Oregon. Good looking stuff; keen to get into it. This afternoon I did a back-up of the desktop computer hard drive. Three quarters of a terabyte. So much stuff I’ll probably never see again. So much stuff I’d be gutted to lose. 11.45 pm.

Friday 29th December 2017

Used Jenni’s Explorer ticket to go for supplies in Consett. Buses were slow because of snow. Few people about. Never seen Barry’s Bargains Superstore so quiet. Even the grocers was hassle-free. Tesco almost empty too… Jenni left for South Shields this afternoon to check venue possibilities for a future event; I keyed in notes, bits of admin. Might have to advertise widely in coming weeks to fill the private writing evening course; 2018 might be a tough one financially. Listened to some Motorhead then Alison Moyet this evening. Read ‘Isle Content #14’ by Alexis Wolf. Very compact prose-poems requiring repeat reading in order to retain details. Early night. Jenni has a key. 10.51 pm.

Saturday 30th December 2017

Big part of the day copying up stray entries by hand into the journal. Six hours of it. Fancied going a bit retro for soundtrack, so I selected a bunch of pre-recorded cassettes and the old mono player. Original ‘Kate Bush: Hounds of Love’ was a bit warped with dropouts – but Hanoi Rocks, Annie Lennox, Tori Amos and REM played fine... Jenni is at her house till tomorrow. I watched an amazingly inspirational TED Talk by paralyzed mountain bike trials legend Martyn Ashton this evening, then read a few pages of ‘Somnambulist #27’. 10.30 pm.

Sunday 31st December 2017

Well, here we are at the finish line once again. 2017 has been a bit of a mixed bag for me. Some disappointments, but some glorious moments too.

I hosted over 140 creative writing workshops for Appletree, Breathing Space, Colour your Life, East Durham Arts Network, New College Durham, Pioneer Care Partnership, St Cuthbert’s Hospice, Streetwise and Waddington Street Centre. Huge thanks to all of the above for employment – and the individuals who took part in the sessions.

Numerous book projects are still to reach fruition, but I did manage to put out a little ‘Free To Be Me’ monograph for National Poetry Day.

I only managed 29 gigs in terms of personal spoken word appearances – including feature sets and open mic spots at Babble Gum, Centre of Britain Slam, King Ink, Mostly Spoken, Newcastle Literary Salon, North Tyneside Writers’ Circle, Poetry Jam, Redefest, Speakers’ Corner, The Stanza, Streetwise, The Word Pro Demo Slam and The Writers’ Cafe. Many thanks to all who booked me.

Special thanks to all who contributed to Poetry Jam at Waddington Street Centre – fantastic guests and eclectic open floor. More of the same in 2018.

I failed to live up to my aspirations regarding physical fitness; hardly any biking and only one session on the longboard. Much improvement required on both to keep my weight under control.

A good year for music gigs: TV Smith at The Soundroom in Gateshead; the mighty Einsturzende Neubauten at Newcastle Boiler Shop; The Misson at Newcastle Academy; Toyah Willcox at Longlands Club in Middlesbrough; Renata and Trev at The Turf in Consett; Jarboe at The Musician Pub in Leicester – great to finally meet her; Alison Moyet at The Sage Gateshead – she was magnificent; Queen and Adam Lambert – truly phenomenal at Newcastle Metro Arena.

Thanks to all who have brightened and lightened the load along the way, in particular a certain purple-loving poet called Jenni Pascoe.

All the best for 2018.

Keep it going!