TWENTY-ONE DAYS

Monday 23rd November 2015

Heating on most of the day. Feel a cold sore coming on. Got my lesson plan copy-ups done. Completed an online equality and diversity course. Made up a proof copy of my next Red Squirrel Press book ‘Laughter to Split Glass’. Did a blurb for it. Got feedback from Jenni then okayed by editor Sheila. 11.17 pm.

Tuesday 24th November 2015

Reproofing ‘Laughter’ till twenty to two this morning so had a lie in. Will probably have to do an over the phone edit session or meet up with Sheila for this. Writing Shack session was mainly just college paperwork for the first hour them summarised dialogue and flashback exercises. Looked at Deadeye Dick and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Would like to read one of these next month. Talked a bit about NaNoWriMo. Did a recap on plagiarism. Discussed college paperwork with Ali and new Colour Your Life evening class starting in January. Now on the X20 to Sunderland for Picture the Poet. 5.29 pm.

Picture the Poet was fantastic. Excellent exhibition of photographs. Was a bit disappointed the North East poets pictures weren’t still on display. Great to see the performance work facilitated by Rowan McCabe and Sky Hawkins. Kate Fox was funny. She did some poems I’d never heard before. Alix Alexandra gave us another chance to hear work from her upcoming solo show. Enjoyed Rowan’s supermarket poem and Sky’s metaphor care system piece. Both her groups were good but the second was more dynamic. Lake poets were excellent. Good stories around the songs. Those guys can really play and move people. New piece from Asa Maddison – Not Mining Stock. A rather more formidable stage presence than usual from him enhanced by the lighting. Museum was mint. Good to chat to Ian Horn. Headliner Lemn Sisay’s half hour had just the right balance of passionate discourse, poetry and self-effacing humour. Reckon he could carry it off for ninety minutes easy. Event wonderfully hosted by Kirsten Luckins. A real treat of a night, well programmed. 10.30 pm.

Wednesday 25th November 2015

Didn’t get home from the gig till after midnight so on less than six hours sleep was pleased to make the bus this morning. Had to break the news to Wednesday Waddy people that next week’s session will be the last Ways with Words due to funding cuts. Got the Wishing Tree Writers books stapled this evening. Will take them over to Griffin Print tomorrow for trimming. Chipping away at ideas for final session of the year at Mind. Looking forward to next month working on my own stuff. 10.52 pm.

Thursday 26th November 2015

Tried to buy a ticket for the Cure’s 2016 tour. The presale was a hassle and all the good seats went, but I’m hoping there’s some better released when the general sale opens tomorrow. Don’t want to pay fifty quid to see tiny stick figures in the distance. Session was nice and relaxed at Mind this morning. Collaborative work. Book discussions. Lots of laughs. Jenni is having a sleepy couple of days so isn’t joining me for food in town. I ate too much carvery at the Goose. Read the opening pages of Clive Barker’s ‘Hellbound Heart’. Bus to Byker didn’t turn up but it was a nice mild walk over. Or maybe just the calorific intake keeping me warm. Some amazing performances at JibbaJabba tonight. Arid Fool was pretty good. Aidan Clarke brilliant as ever. Good to hear his revised Nightingale a second time. Enjoyed the penguin comedy from Mark Lund. Top stuff from Jane Burn, Chris Stewart on open mic. Louise Fazackerley was excellent. Bought her cd. Thanks to Jonathan Parker for lift into Newcastle afterwards. Chatted with Marie Lightman on the bus. 11.52 pm.

Friday 27th November 2015

Took me a while to get a ticket ordered for The Cure in December 2016. But this evening I’m wondering if the transaction was legit. Still haven’t had a confirmation from the ticket agency. Feeling a bit anxious. Hoping to hear something by Monday. Thought Jenni would be here today but she is coming tomorrow. Been checking out Clive Barker stuff online. Listened to The Cure and watched a few Robert Smith interviews. Last night’s Jibba Jabba was good but weekly late Thursday returns home are making Fridays a bit of a washout. 11.10 pm.

Saturday 28th November 2015

Freezing cold and pissing rain. Went out to pick up two Kurt Vonnegut books from the library. Read a short story and a couple of chapters of Slaughterhouse Five. Tried to watch Colditz with Jenni but fell asleep. Will sit up a bit longer then off to bed. House very warm. Drinking apple juice and wanting to eat lots. House a bit tidier than before. Aiming to get end of term work done on Monday. 11.05pm.

Sunday 29th November 2015

Back to back Columbo on television. Even Jenni couldn’t stay focused for seven-and-a-half hours. I read a little bit more of Slaughterhouse and some 55-fictions. Chicken Balti for lunch; ham and egg butties for tea then cherry pie with custard. Watched Jekyll and Hyde then Colditz. Did some type-ups but mainly a lazy Sunday. 11.45 pm.

Monday 30th November 2015

Spent much of today copying stuff up. And chasing up the Cure ticket. But ok after a few emails to Gigantic tickets and Wembley Arena. Went to Consett to check bank account and buy steak stottie for lunch. Jenni enjoyed it. Struggled to pull stuff together for the end of term. Think I’ve got it all pretty much ready to go in the wheelie case now though. Tomorrow I’m supposed to be starting a fiction challenge. November is NaNoWriMo but I couldn’t try the novel writing thing this month. The way things are looking not sure I’ll be any good to start tomorrow. Sad to hear about Sinead O’Connor having another breakdown. 11.38 pm.

Tuesday 1st December 2015

Things are looking up. Chuffed to get interest in a new course for January. Sitting here on the couch after a pretty decent final evening class. Did a publishing workshop. Poems, stories, novels. Agents, small press, perzines, mini zines. Enjoyed it. Read some Kurt Vonnegut on the bus. Not really getting into it but I like the fact you can have a fragmentary narrative jumping back and forth in time. Had a cheap pasty for supper and some walnut cake. The Kard Bar in Newcastle went up in flames today. Never shopped there for years. Chuffed to get 1700 words of fiction done today. Aiming to keep it going for the whole month. 11.26 pm.

Wednesday 2nd December 2015

Read a bit more Kurt Vonnegut on the bus to Durham this morning. A few good vignettes but Slaughterhouse 5 isn’t winning me over. Finished group villanelle with Wednesday Writers. Got another student signed up for January. Need another three. Started to get a bit of a headache towards the end of the session. Slept on the bus home. Jenni not too well this afternoon and went back to bed. I watched Dave Grace beat Peter Ebdon in the snooker. Still got the headache. Good to get another thousand words down this evening. I might get a few stories out of the challenge. Almost twice as many votes for airstrikes in Syria than against. Global façade. Bunch of cunting puppets. My workshops are done for 2015. Only Poetry Jam to go. 11.41 pm.

Thursday 3rd December 2015

Jenni was up before me. A midday doctor’s appointment meant she was unable to eat after six o’clock this morning so she had biscuits and cake at half five. I did morning pages then after a lie in went to Consett and bought a pair of 38-inch waist brand new jeans from a charity shop. And guess what? They fit perfectly! That’s bad, right, coz I’m usually a 34-inch. And when training for a fifty-mile bike ride four years ago I could easily get into a 32-inch waist. By January I’m going to be Stevie Two Bellies. Got food supplies then back to the house to key in some ‘fiction’. Then braved the torrential rain to pick up Wishing Tree Writers anthology from the print shop. Now at Waddy. Sky Hawkins unable to do Poetry Jam, so only two guests this evening. I’m very tired. Lost my temper a few times today. Aiming to have a good gig and that’s it for me work-wise in public. A few gigs as an audience member but nothing lined up yet for next year. 6.25 pm.

Friday 4th December 2015

HUGE THANKS to everyone who came out to Poetry Jam. At twenty past seven last night I was having doubts about the gig - cancelled headliner, bad weather and only half a dozen people in the room. By quarter to eight we had a right merry crowd of poetry tasters and sayers. Thanks to our guests Matthew Lewis Miller, Kathleen Kenny and of course Jeff Price who came for open floor but became our closing act. And what a mint set it was too. Great to see the return of Grame Bruce Fletcher. And to hear a poem from Diane Cockburn. Lots of other fantastic open floor readings. Including Wishing Tree Writers and Consett Writers. Thanks as ever to Waddington Street Centre and staff member Fergus - who read a poem! - worked the cafe and gave me and Jenni a lift home. Cracking end of year Jam. We've had some tremendous gigs this year and more to follow in 2016. Keep it going!

Got some books packed up for one of the Wishing Tree Writers. Went to post office to pay fuel bill then sorted clothes for an evening meal with the Waddington Street Centre staff. Going to see TV Smith play in Gateshead later tonight at The Black Bull. Just ten minutes up the road from Jen’s place. Was good that she performed at Poetry Jam last night. Still chipping away at the fiction thing but not much is happening. It’s a bugger giving a character something to do. Have to introduce someone else. Don’t know how people can sit and plot novels. And don’t know how some people manage to complete them without plotting. 4.32 pm.

Saturday 5th December 2015

TV Smith was mint last night but I had to leave before the end to catch the last bus – which turned up twenty minutes late. Nearly lost my glasses walking in a hurricane and soaked into the bargain. Had a lie in this morning and slept a lot this afternoon. Keyed in some fictional prose this evening and listened to Queen’s A Night at the Odeon from 1975. Going to watch a Liam Neeson film with Jenni. Weather is starting to get really fucking tiresome now. 

9.42 pm.

Sunday 6th December 2015

So, the back garden fence has been flattened but the wind has died down. Spent much of the day typing up notes. Watched some tv with Jenni. Jekyll and Hyde and Single White Female. Good to check out some anti novels. Read Toyah’s blog post. Working on 50,000 words thing kind of wipes you out for any other writing. 11.38 pm.

Monday 7th December 2015

Out to Waddy first thing this morning to hook up with staff and service users. Went to Newton Hall Library to see Caroline Jess Cooke give a talk about her novel The Boy Who Could See Demons. Interesting to hear how the book came about. And how she came to write her previous novel The Gaurdian Angel’s Journal in just eleven days. I still haven’t finished reading Slaughterhouse 5 yet. Jenni has been watching murder mysteries on tv. She is still experiencing some internal physical pains and hasn’t had word back from the doctor yet. I listened to The Richie Allen Show on false flag events and political involvement in child abuse whilst keying in another 1000 words. Struggled today. Need to get lots of admin out the way before I have a clear headspace. If it amounts to anything it will probably be an antinovel. 10.00 pm.

Tuesday 8th December 2015

Got another couple of passages/vignettes added to my 30-day challenge then went off to Waddington Street for Ruth Crofton’s book launch. A good reading and interesting Q&A. Hung around chatting for an hour afterwards then read more Kurt Vonnegut on the bus to Gateshead. Had an eat4less cajan chicken and bacon baguette then onto Lit and Phil for the Pictoral History of Dracula – a power-point lecture by Gail Nina Anderson – brilliant overview of the modern representation of the character. Lots on Lee and Lugosi. Well delivered, entertaining, some humorous images alongside classic movie shots and posters. Then into the adjoining room for the launch of Kathleen Kenny’s novel ‘The Satellites of Jupiter’ and a novella ‘Elephantine’ by Sadhana Naithana. Was asked to film the event and happy to do so. The multi-voice delivery of Kath’s work with Tom Kelly and Joan Johnston plus music from Nevil Clay was excellent. Read up on antinovels on the bus back to Consett. 11.11 pm.

Wednesday 9th December 2015

Quite tired today. Strange, coz I’ve not done much. Managed to get paperwork for a writing course completed. Watched a few tv shows. Wrote 1677 words of so-called fiction. Focused on peripheral characters. It’s a bit of a hotchpotch of viewpoints. Got a mix of monologues, standard descriptive narrative and dialogue. No real plot though… I’m putting on a bit of weight. Could do with living on tuna for a couple of weeks. Haven’t done any Xmas shopping yet. 11.30 pm.

Thursday 10th December 2015

The Cure have added another night at Wembley Arena. One is good enough for me. Was feeling good all day until I got an email asking about registers and student papers. Tried reading Vonnegut on the bus but fell asleep. Read a chapter of Sexus by Henry Miller this morning. The book has been on the shelf at the foot of the bed for nearly twenty five years. Now it speaks to me. Much more than a conventional novel. Got more food in this afternoon. Checked out Kurt Vonnegut books at Waterstones and some tv box sets at HMV this evening. Now at The Stanza. Jenni is doing a headline set. Am I doing open mic. No, I’m done for 2015. 7.25 pm.

Friday 11th December 2015

Didn’t got to bed till twenty to three this morning so had a bit of a lie in. Wrote a prose piece towards my fifty thousand words. Still no plot though. Spent much of this afternoon on college paperwork. Got half of it sent off but will be Monday before I get it all cleared. Been trying not to eat too much. Keyed in prose this evening. Sat downstairs with Jenni and made up a morning pages booklet then watched Crackanory. Going to watch Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train at eleven. Be good to see if it’s anywhere near the quality of Hellraiser. 10.47 pm.

Saturday 12th December 2015

Falling asleep a lot today. Got my 1677 words done. Meeting the target each day. Computer being a pain and won’t upload videos to YouTube. Me and Jenni watched Crackanory tonight. One story borrowed heavily from Stephen King’s Misery and Roald Dahl’s The Landlady. Rather knackered. Still haven’t finished Slaughterhouse Five. Good to speak to Mam and Ernie this afternoon. 11.41 pm.

Sunday 13th December 2015.

Enjoyed The Richie Allen Show this morning. Nothing like a bit of alternative news straight after breakfast. He talked about the falsity of climate change and about population control. At the end he said: Well, that’s it folks – Welcome to World Dystopia. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Me and Jenni had a huge chicken jalfrezi for dinner and fried ham steak sandwiches for tea. Watched a rather laughable but enjoyable horror film called Housebound. I fell asleep during Jekyll and Hyde. Still chipping away at the 50,000 words of fiction in thirty days. It’s coming in random bits and pieces, lots of characters but not much dialogue. Some of it is blue collar, some of it is supernatural, some of it is existential. But I doubt it’s a novel. No matter, just a bit of fun to wind down the year. Currently listening to Children of God, the best Swans album ever in my humble opinion. Can’t believe it’s been nearly three weeks since I last got round to putting up a blog post. Thanks for reading. 

9.35 pm.