Getting There...

Monday 1st February 2016

Setbacks with technology. My ‘about.me’ page has been switched to the new profile which no longer features the custom hyperlink function so access to blogs, vids, books, etc now gone. Spent much of the time catching up with retrospective lesson plans. Pleased to get four Poetry Jam guests booked. Jenni asks what Steve Urwin is eating. And I reply four months out of date hazelnut peanut butter on stale bread – living the dream. Surprised by warm air when I stepped outside this afternoon. Just a quick trip to Tesco for a ream of A4. YouTube has been on for a video upload since twenty past two. Nine hours! I'm hoping that is sorted by midnight. Thanks Jenni! Think it's time I had a proper website. Gotham was pretty good tonight. Think I'll buy the first season on DVD. 11.20 pm.

Tuesday 2nd February 2016

Got to Waddy quite early, all the photocopying done by half twelve. Session was 7 plots focus and a little bit of freewriting. Got my morning pages keyed in. Then a fun evening session with New College Durham group doing character sketches. Read some vignettes by Jessie Lynn McMains from Reckless Chants 22 on the bus back. Driver was a jobsworth and made two students wait until he rang the depot to okay a late travel pass even though they had letters stating they'd be late due to Gala Theatre rehearsal. Jenni tried to fix my video uploader but YouTube is blocking me despite a new password. Technology very annoying at present. Don't have to be out until late afternoon tomorrow. 11.30 pm.

Wednesday 3rd February 2016

Jenni was awake and up way before me this morning for her day out in Sunderland and Newcastle for a workshop and to attend the Black Light Engine Room triple pamphlet launch. I did some type-ups and prepped for three workshops.  Tonight's was challenging due varied ability and interest from participants. Did some poetry stuff – linebreaks, contemporary verse, dos and don'ts. We looked at first/last lines of novels. I read the second half of a magazine called Paper and Ink on the bus home. 36 pages of poetry and flash fiction. I liked about a third of it. Most of the names were unfamiliar. I liked the rawness in a lot of the verse and the vignettes didn't follow traditional plots. It was like being back in the nineties – probably where this old duffer belongs. Eating too much of late. Going to be hard to lose weight. Probably not until decent biking weather. Pleased to get an early night. 10.50 pm.

Thursday 4th February 2016

Didn't seem to be asleep long enough before I had to be up again to prep for the day. Session at Mind went well. More excellent writing from the group. I'm hoping they can get published in some literary mags over the coming months. Afternoon was as expected: no one came for the library workshop. I waited half an hour. Then four elderly ladies, introduced to me by staff as the weekly Scrabble club, set up a loud game at the other side of the room. Fewer at Poetry Jam than anticipated. Stellar sets from Will Dixon, Alix Alexandra and Bob Beagrie. Some good open floor stuff as well. Nice of Fergus to give me a lift home. KT Tunstall on his stereo. Her album Eye to the Telescope took me back a decade. Hope things get better in the coming months. 11.13 pm.

Friday 5th February 2016

Just logging another day trying to stay awake and stay on track. Bloody cold at home and I've not crossed the doorstep. Got Poetry Jam pix up on Facebook this afternoon. But lost a few hours looking at web-building videos. I only want a simple home page with maybe a shop on it for PayPal book sales, Red Squirrel Press link and YouTube vids. Nothing too flash. Been keying in words while listening/watching the Guns and Roses documentary on BBC4. I never saw them play live. Always thought they were the poor man's Hanoi Rocks, despite being a bigger band. Oh well. 11.38 pm.

Saturday 6th February 2016

Wrote four lesson plans on the bus to Newcastle. Bought nine Great Northern Slam tickets for the Consett Writers. Was good to catch up with my friend Stephen. He is full of busy with DIY and art plus two books and planning for a new arrival. Me and Jen returned to my place this evening. Walked home from Tesco. Economy food for us this week. TV is on but not really watching. 11.34 pm.

Sunday 7th February 2016

Morning pages about the state of the room. Sick of the house being an absolute tip. Started making space on book shelves by boxing up the VHS cassettes that haven’t been used for years. Thanks to Jen for making the ham and pineapple dinner. Pleased to shift some clutter. So much for the computer creating a paperless office. Lots of typesetting to do. Still lots of paper mess to clear up and clothes to find space for. Watched Ninja Warriors and a bit of Mrs Biggs on TV. But mainly focussing on the de-cluttering. 11.02 pm.