Living the Dream and Fighting the Nightmare

Monday 22nd September 2014

Nice to not have to be anywhere first thing. Started at the computer just after nine. Got the go-ahead from New College Durham for an evening course commencing next Tuesday, which pushes my total sessions a week up to eight. Not much time to focus on anything else Monday to Friday now. Checked out a short story by Adam Marek from his collection ‘The Stone Thrower’ this evening, shaved my head and made up a Home Town Slog book. I will do the all-day writing session in Consett on Friday and hopefully get some raw exercise material for future workshops. Jenni phoned with great news about an upcoming performance opportunity, but more on that nearer the time. Most of work prep is done. Bit of a cold coming on. 10.17 pm.

Tuesday 23rd September 2014

Thanks to all the participants today – Waddy and Newton Aycliffe. Thnaks to Mam and Ernie for tea and lift home. Sat and surfed the net tonight – way too tired to work. Struggle to do six workshops in two days. I’m knackered already and I’ve only done two today. Seriously think the best bet would be to sleep at Waddy. Get a mattress and blanket, sleep in the computer suite. Would save a lot of hassle. Anyway, nice to have the evening off. 10.22 pm.

Wednesday 24th September 2014

Made it though today without getting a migraine. Starting to write more prose in sessions, leaning towards short fiction for inspiration. Two more sessions tomorrow, door for Jibba Jabba then I’m almost done. Just the Slog on Friday. Big thanks to staff at Waddy for securing courses with extra people. Great to meet new writers in Peterlee, particularly the slam enthusiast. Lovely chicken korma for tea. Excellent time with the evening group. Pleased to be home in one piece. Living the dream. 10.34 pm.

Thursday 25th September 2014

Woke at twenty past three this morning and didn’t get back to sleep till around half six. So not exactly buoyant getting ready for the Mind session this morning. One of the poets brought a book of poems by Richard Brautigan, an American author I’m unfamiliar with. Short, surreal verse, very striking. I liked it. Spent the afternoon researching his stuff. Most of the poetry is in the The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster which I have in my bag. His stories and novels are all still in print. Jenni is unwell so Kirsten Luckins is hosting Jibba Jabba tonight. The place is buzzing. I am aiming to do a piece from Sunshine in the second half. 8.15 pm.

Later: Busy night at Jibba Jabba. All the guests were good. Particularly stand-up. Open mic had some strong performances. I did a vignette from Shades. Gig finished late. Thanks to Michelle and hubby Rob for lift back to Central Station. It’s really hot. Knackered. Can’t wait to get home. 11.45 pm.

Friday 26th September 2014

There’s not a lot to say. I’ve already written a hundred pages today. Home Town Slog was quite easy. 11.00 am to 8.15 pm. Got quite a bit of stuff. Only another three of these big monthly exercises to go then I start to edit for a new volume. Tonight I will sleep well knowing that I don’t have to be anywhere in the morning. Got ‘Damage’ by Josephine Hart from the library. Today has been a good day. 11.11 pm.

Saturday 27th September 2014

Good intentions shot to shit. No longboarding. Keyed in some Slog material and checked out National Poetry Day activities and put a little monograph together. At Jen’s this evening. Columbo, pizza and chips and some Edinburgh comedy. 10.33 pm.

Sunday 28th September 2014

Out all day doing social things, meeting new people. Checked out a thing called Sunday Assembly – a kind of church for atheists – which was okay. Singing Oasis and Queen songs. A Sunday lunch in The Bridge with Jenni, John Farthing and Gerry Byrne. Then joined by the poetry crowd for an afternoon of chat then evening karaoke. Not my typical Sunday by a long stretch. Bigly busy tomorrow. Then Fish at Durham Gala. 10.57 pm.

Monday 29th September 2014

Morning pages. Work on the monograph. Prepped sessions for Waddy, Newton Aycliffe and Peterlee. Early finish. Thanks to Fish for mint gig at the Gala and Stanley Taxis for getting me home.

Tuesday 30th September 2014

Today was pretty gruelling to begin with. The knock-on effect from getting back late last night had me pretty frazzled. Afternoon and evening sessions were pretty cool though. The BBC were in Waddington Street all day, filming for an episode of George Gently. Didn’t see Martin Shaw anywhere. Crew in and out of Waddy as one of the offices was used to set up lighting equipment. Made the evening a bit choppy having disruptions but a bit of a novelty. Got three Tesco sandwiches for 60p afterwards. Forgot to make up a morning pages book. Will do a photocopy job of it tomorrow. Beat now. 10.22 pm.

Wednesday 1st October 2014

Great Waddy workshop this morning. A road accident caused all the Durham buses to be late this afternoon. A bit flustered by the time I got to Peterlee. Read a copy of Empire magazine that someone left on the bus coming back. David Cronenberg has a novel out. And Trent Reznor is making film soundtracks again. Thanks to Nicky who runs the Waddy cookery course for leaving the tasty bacon and leek pie in the staff kitchen for my tea. Got me through my third workshop of the day, that did. Lovely! Back home I stitched up my work bag at last and thanks to Asa Maddison found out that Nick Cave is playing Gateshead Sage next year. 11.20 pm.

Thursday 2nd October 2014

Happy National Poetry Day! The Consett writers always get engrossed in discussion about themes and exercises and we overrun. Pretty hectic afternoon. Informal Waddy session after trial and error with my new monograph. Printed a dozen and will do the rest next week. Traffic was bad around Durham tonight, so I started the Poetry Jam at eight to give people a chance to get there. Ran till ten. Great sets from all the guests – Keith Parker, Julie Egdell and headliner Asa J Maddison. Lots of good open floor stuff. Bigly thanks to Fergus for setting up and bringing me and Jenni back to Consett. Quite relieved the only place I need to go tomorrow is somewhere to buy food. Chuffed with my little ‘Milking A Joe Brainard’ monograph. Will put pix up online tomorrow. 11.43 pm.

Friday 3rd October 2014

Only slept about six hours last night. Didn’t get much done today. Posted Poetry Jam and monograph pix. Jenni is having some breathing problems, had to use my inhaler. Would have liked to be out on the board today but a bit windy. Have lots of work to do over the weekend. Want to be done with prep. Craving food. 11.03 pm.

Saturday 4th October 2014

Sore throat, a bit sneezy. And poor Jenni is still suffering, seemingly allergic to my place – coughing, sneezing and finding it hard to breathe. She thinks it may be a chest infection. I went out for more food supplies this afternoon and have been doing publishing stuff, ‘The Changeling’by Toyah Willcox my soundtrack whilst typing this evening. Think it’s time to knock off. 8.35 pm.