One Trolley Case, One Holdall and Two Carrier Bags

Thursday 1st January 2015

Phlegm on chest. Snot in nose. Aches and pains. Happy New Year! Was good to get the rest of the Chris Harland pamphlets folded and stapled today. And a new morning pages book made up. Jenni has a bit of a temperature and sore throat again. Seems we’re passing it back and forth. I phoned Ernie today. He is also under the weather. After a meal out with Mam last night the pair are laid up feeling rotten. Sounded like food poisoning. I left a message on brother Mark’s answer phone. He rang last week and again today to wish me a Happy New Year. I was going to watch a couple of films tonight, but am too wiped out to concentrate on much. So much for the big intro. 2015 will be a catch-up year for me. Clearing the decks by putting out a few books. Wish this cold would fuck off. I’ll be in bed early tonight. Phlegm on my chest. Snot in my nose. Aches and pains. Never mind, things will be better soon. 9.55 pm.

Friday 2nd January 2014

Took Chris Harland’s ‘I Don’t Have a Drinking Problem’ to Griffin Print. Mr Elliot did a brilliant job of the trimming. It’s a fine-looking publication. Chris will get one in the post early next week. My chest is still bad. Well, more throat really. Getting a bit concerned about it, to be honest. Bought three different kinds of cough medicine and let Jenni choose which one she wanted. Posted some pix of the pamphlet production on Facebook this evening. I think it’s going to do pretty well. I’m keen to do more pamphlets myself. Don’t have much to report. Just hoping to be well as soon as possible. Supposed to be doing a photo shoot with Tracy Speeding this weekend. But don’t want to risk passing on the lurgy. I haven’t read much yet this year. Have Ian McMillan pamphlet’s to check out, John Lydon’s ‘Anger is an Energy’ plus a new Megiston Dimension album, ‘Holidays in Gondwanaland’. And a backlist from 2014. Struggling to do stuff at present. Dreading the night time. Still feeling fucking wretched. Oh well, enough. 11.10 pm.

Saturday 3rd January 2015

Still coughing my guts up but have managed to put in a full day of editing on my next book. Jenni has been doing computer work and job searches. I’ve been scanning manuscripts and magazine pages. Fighting a headache this evening but had a good day. Bill Bailey is on telly now. Need a bit of a comedy wind-down, I reckon. And maybe more food. 10.50 pm.

Sunday 4th January 2015

Full-on editing day. Working on a big quarter century book. Me and Jenni made a Sunday dinner late this afternoon. She’s been doing online admin. I’ve been cutting and pasting, scanning and sequencing material – NaPoWriMo, journals and other pieces of prose. Watched a ‘horror’ film tonight. More a thriller, nothing supernatural. Not scary. Not many films are. Cough not so bad this evening. 11.00 pm.

Monday 5th January 2015

First day back on the prep for a new term which begins next Tuesday. Nearly a month since my last session. Lots of options but until I see who I’m working with I don’t want to give too much energy to stuff that might not be suitable. Keyed in some new material today. Jenni showed me how to make word processing documents on my tablet. And strangely, the cold and flu symptoms appear to be lifting now the working year is under way. I read some flash fiction today and poems by Ian McMillan. Found out Nick Cave has a skateboard deck out made by an Australian company. I won’t be on my board for a few months at least. Managed to get some marathon prompts down and some workshop ideas. Need to read a lot more in the coming days. 10.25 pm.

Tuesday 6th January 2015

Tired this evening. To the point that I can’t remember what I’ve done today. It’s all work-related stuff. Even my cabin-fever-relieving trip to town this afternoon was to buy food for this weekend’s writing marathon. But only the half that isn’t perishable. All the savouries can wait until Friday. Good to get Schemes of Learning for new Waddy term off to the college this afternoon. Lesson plans, as ever, will grow organically and be flexible to suit whoever turns up. Too tired to work much this evening. Asleep on the couch. Got the marathon books made up. More prompts tomorrow. Wanted to work on my big book again this evening but wasn’t to be. Hopefully a couple of hours tomorrow. Fuck it. This year I’m going to enjoy putting the books together, but probably not much new material generated. 10.51 pm.

Wednesday 7th January 2014

Spent much of the day preparing prompts for Saturday’s writing marathon. That’s about it, really. Got two books: Very Short Stories by Sean Hill and The World in a Flash by Calum Kerr. I am aiming to do the marathons bi-monthly this year. I want to spend time editing my Home Town Slog notes from last year and putting my Red Squirrel Press book together for October. Got offered a gig at King Ink for next month. Good to hear from Mam and Ernie today. Jenni is watching a film called The Guard. Drug dealing and murder in Ireland. Father Ted meets Tarantino. Hilarious. Phill Jupitus recommended it on Facebook. Anyway, still a few prompts to do. Bit tired now. 10.14 pm.

Thursday 8th January 2014

Sleepy on the 78 to Sunderland. I brought a few books and had plans to work on the way but just too wrecked. 

Outside Greggs now. Park Lane Interchange. Biting cold. I had sausage and chips in Consett; to buy anything now would be gluttony. I’m waiting on Ms Pascoe who is due at twenty to seven. We are going to Pop Recs Ltd for King Ink spoken word night. Alistair Robinson is headlining.

People seem to be sauntering about a lot. All looking lost or looking for someone. Hey, I’m no different. 6.39 pm.

78 to Consett. Crumpled copy of the Star on the seats at the back. Two pissed teenagers discussing kisses from girls at Stand K. Some busker guy slurs his words as we pull out of Park Lane Interchange.

Great night at Pop Recs Ltd. What a cool shop. Owned by Frankie and the Heartstrings. 7 inch singles, new releases, cassettes, vintage vinyl, books and limited edition lyric pamphlets from local heroes. Second hand Queen singles, Pristine Hunky Dory and a neat Lou Read live silver grey cover. Art and photography on the walls.

Good to see Kirsten Luckins perform, to hear some new voices. Jenni showed off her little hardback collection of poems. Pauline Plummer read a story about wanting a baby in a foreign country from her new Red Squirrel Press collection. Mel McEvoy read a few poems. Alistair did a great set similar to the Poetry Jam performance last month. Me and Jenni are doing features sets at King Ink next month. Gig finished around half nine. Sheila, Alistair, Jenni, Josephine and Pauline went to a pub. I pulled up my hood and braved the cold walk back to the station.

A kid is puking up at the back of the bus. I had some bad nights in my teens but puking on a bus is pretty bad. The kid’s mate thinks it’s hilarious. I want to read but will wait till these two get off. 

10.27 pm.

Friday 9th January 2015

Got the stuff for tomorrow’s writing marathon. The prompts, pens and notebooks could fit in my coat pocket, the rest is food. One trolley case, one holdall and two carrier bags. It’s a windy night on the 45 to Gateshead. Me and Jenni will be making up sandwiches then turning in early. It will be good to see the writers in the morning. These marathons are challenging writing sessions, but not as tough as Home Town Slog. Be good to actually write something proper instead of talking shop on the page. 7.34 pm.

Saturday 10th January 2015

Woken at five by a gale force wind battering Jenni’s attic room window. Thought the glass would break. Set up for today’s writing marathon at Broadacre House in Newcastle was one of the easiest yet. Thanks to Jenni - and Joe Price from Northern Creative Solutions - for assistance. The workshop was great. Some excellent writing from the participants. Home by half six. Uploaded pix from the day whilst listening to Meat Loaf. Too tired to do any more. 10.36 pm.