Lyrics, Melody, Printed Matter, Scripted Speech, Etc...

Monday 8th January 2018

The android said three below zero. Outside looked like an ice rink. Itchy Chin hasn’t shaved for five days. Flaky scalp and grease. The heating whirred awhile, but images of fat cats with pound signs in their eyes put a stop to that. A morning on the couch, wrapped in a woolly cardigan and fleecy dressing gown, considering options for informal occupational therapy. National Insurance payment is in the post box. Itchy chin bowled over by generous enthusiasm of fellow scribblers. Sequences of lunchtime parables put into print filled best part of an evening then snapshots of absent friends on Facebook, but only briefly. Cyberspace can suck you in, so thinks Itchy Chin, and goes down to the kitchen for final butter scone of the season. From now one, it’s fresh fruit, veg and chicken breast. Itchy chin set himself the test. But rules of others just turn his air blue. 10.38 pm.

Tuesday 9th January 2018

Pleased it’s a bit warmer. Busy day, up early to prep a bit more for the first Waddy session of the year. It went well. Good to see the staff after Xmas break. Good to see faces old and new in the seminar room. A basic warm-up assessment session and good fun. A friend got in touch to say she’d read my blog and commented on my wanting to slip back from social media for a while. I slept on the bus home. Had another mini chicken dinner. Then read a Jackie Kay story. Most of her prose reads as character monologue. Printed out stuff for Jenni then set to work on selecting poems by Appletree writers for final read back session. 11.19 pm.

Wednesday 10th January 2018

Woke at six but lay in till seven. At the keyboard before eight and cracking away to finish the selection of Appletree work. Three hours last night and three this morning. Good to be done well in time, so I could relax on the bus into Durham for a change. Session went well, dipping into the previous poems and having a bit of a read around and second crack at some of the exercises. Good to get some sleep on bus to Newcastle. Me and Jenni each had an eat4less Panini and fries for tea. Then a look around some shops before returning to Bensham for an hour. Did my shopping in Tesco at Consett. Sheila from Red Squirrel Press messaged receipt of the Laughter To Split Glass files. Home at eleven to send confirmation dates for next private workshops. 11.47 pm.

Thursday 11th January 2018

Bit slow to get out the house, but pleased to spend the day in Consett Library copying up stray drafts from workshops. Chuffed to be getting towards the end of my 2017 notebooks. Nice to have a chat with one of the women who worked in the office of the warehouse where I spent most of the nineties. Got home around half-seven. Another chicken dinner. Read some of Tess Gerritson’s The Mephisto Club. Struggling again with sustained prose fiction. But chuffed with the way my vignettes and poems are coming together. Reckon there could be another ‘So Much for the Sunshine’ type of volume. 11.30 pm.

Friday 12th January 2018

Hey, we’ll bring you 1972. Hack your own hair and just don’t care if you’re he or she. Red spiked androgyny. Growling animals in crazy face paint, chewing guitar pick-ups. Rargghhh! Good to see the Ziggy documentary. Canny day, working on Confessions of an Isolationist. The title may change but it’s been around for twenty-one years and suits the material. Passing of time makes it fiction. A cautionary, fragmented tale about what happens when too much of the mundane pushes you inwards… Got my travel sorted for the Rollins gig in Sheffield. National Express only six quid each way and a 2.00 am return means no hotel required. Concerned my NI Contributions cheque hasn’t reached HMRC yet. Haven’t heard from Jenni in a while. Haven’t been online too much. Listened to a Rachel Cochrane play. Good stuff. 11.23 pm.

Saturday 13th January 2018

NOTE TO SELF: to avoid bemused looks from male cashier, it's probably best to buy 'Woman's Weekly Fiction Series' magazine in town supermarket NOT local convenience store, coz 'Market research, mate, honest!' probably isn't gonna cut it once the neighbourhood speculation kicks in. 1.48 pm.

Revised quarterly projections in light of recent work changes. Book acknowledgements fixed and sent. Did some fiction research on bus to Gateshead. 7.15 pm.

Sunday 14th January 2018

Twenty years ago today I was sectioned under the mental health act and, rightly or wrongly, diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Have come a long way since then but my ability to retain info – lyrics, melody, printed matter, scripted speech, etc – never fully recovered and still hinders me a lot more than people might be aware of. Anyway, good to keep going. Went to Tesco for some food supplies. Checked out some short fiction. Lots of noise from builders next door to Jen’s place till early evening. Watched ‘Ross Noble: Off Road’ trials programme on Dave. Staying in Bensham again tonight. IT Crowd then bed. 10.27 pm.