Monday 21st May 2018
Bike ride time from Jen’s back to Moorside via the Derwent Walk down ten minutes to one hour forty. Washed clothes in sink. Worked on flyers and type-ups this afternoon. Nice chicken salad. Listened to new ‘Four from Toyah: Birthday Edition EP’ on Spotify. Chuffed to get another thirty pages of ‘Anomalies’ repositioned. Won’t be doing another book as problematic in a hurry. Going to comb the journal sections again. Then I’ll be on zines and pamphlets. 11.20pm.
Tuesday 22nd May 2018
Read a Tomas Moniz chapbook on the bus to Durham. Thirty prose poems in a little A6-ish booklet. Great stuff about spiders, prunes, Black Sabbath, etc. Got Poetry Jam posters and sixty A6 double-sided cards printed at Waddy. Half-marathon went well. Some fine stuff from the group. I got some good starts to narratives and one rant I really liked. Aiming to do a group anthology in the next few weeks. Dropped off posters and cards at Lanchester Library and Community Centre. Had some download hassles this evening so didn’t get much else sorted. Trimmed more cards. 11.49pm.
Wednesday 23rd May 2018
If I’m going to be at home editing for the next few weeks there isn’t going to be much to report. Made an enquiry this morning for room hire to do a writing marathon in Gateshead. Worked on Anomalies page margins. More checks needed then a test print from a PDF. Hoping to get one made on Jen’s computer in the next couple of weeks. Listened to Disturbed’s cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Sound of Silence’ and Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt’. Still loving ‘I Can See You’ by Bad Pollyanna. I am low on food. I have porridge and peanut butter. But no fruit or veg. Got two servings of chocolate spread left but will need to be out tomorrow for fresh supplies. Jenni has aches and pains in neck and shoulder. I’ll be with her tomorrow afternoon to help get ready for The Word poetry slam. Did a run through of my guest set. Looking forward to it. 9.50pm.
Thursday 24th May 2018
Made a load of notes for a big piece of writing after a shopping trip but haven’t had the chance to read through them. Wanted to go to Winlaton and Rowlands Gill libraries with flyers and cards but both are closed this afternoon. Had a nice chicken salad, tidied myself up and packed my bag for tonight’s gig. Slept on the bus to Gateshead. Reached Jen’s place just after four. Chatted awhile, had marmalade on toast for tea, then got a lift with Ken Brady and his brother over to South Shields. Unfortunately, Ken couldn’t manage all the stairs at The Stag’s Head venue so he went home. Slam was mint. Six people I know and six newcomers took part. Cracking turns from all. Jasmine Jade took the title, with Richard Hibbs a very close second. Enjoyed all the different voices. Enjoyed my set. Chatted with Tony Gadd, Ian Waugh and Suzie McComb. Now on the Metro. Not sure if I’m going home or staying in Gateshead. Great night. Well done Jenni for putting it all together. 10.52pm.
Friday 25th May 2018
Woke early after a decent sleep. Jen’s neck is a bit better. Checked emails, responded to book queries then out to Newcastle. Enjoyed looking at zines in Travelling Man. Then off to the bank. Chuffed they’ve changed the overdraft charges from six quid a month to three pence a day. Went to Waterstones coz it was pouring down. Checked out Dougie Lampkin’s autobiography ‘Trials and Error’; Bukowski’s ‘You Get So Alone At Times It Just Makes Sense’; a beautiful handwritten, illustrated hardback anniversary edition of Roger McGough’s ‘Summer with Monika; and Henry Raby’s ‘Nerd Poet’. Went to Ryman’s to check out paperstock and laser printers. Then round to Paperchase to ogle journals and notebooks. Back at Jen’s by quarter to seven with soup for tea. Watched Corrie and Eastenders then Taggart. Keen to make some cool chapbooks. 10.40pm.
Saturday 26th May 2018
Two years since Jibba’s Last Stand at the Cumberland. Wayne Hussey of The Mission turned sixty today. Thirty-two years since I first saw the band play live. Me and Jenni went to a zine workshop at Commercial Union House. Made an A7 mini-zine. Jenni did a good one using one of her poems. We had scotch egg salad for tea then watched Ninja Warrior, BGT and Rebus. Gonna have a big bowl of porridge. Might watch another Taggart but am a bit knackered. 10.36 pm.
Sunday 27th May 2018
Read through this month’s morning pages in bed. Only a few passages worth using in future publications. Decided to make a mini-zine monograph of ‘(This Is Not A) Prose Poem’ after more feedback about my reading of it at the South Shields gig. Did some preliminary handwritten layouts and cover designs this morning. Jen made us a steamed veg dinner with Jersey Royal potatoes. I had a steak pie, Jen had vegetarian fishcakes. Good to see the The London Palladium documentary this evening. Bus back to Consett goes round by Chopwell. 10.35pm.
Monday 28th May 2018
Didn’t go to bed till one this morning, so a bit late getting to the computer today. Made twenty copies of the (This is Not a) Prose Poem monograph. Sent a photo of the finished item to Jen. She says fifty pence a copy is okay. Did a post for it on Facebook which is getting a good response. I’m taking the rest of the week off to work on Anomalies. Hope it comes out okay. Only two months left to get it done. Good to hear from Mam and Ernie. They enjoyed their holiday. Might be paying me a visit on Wednesday. House is a tip. 10.39 pm.
Tuesday 29th May 2018
Was just about to start on Anomalies when I got a request from Jane Burn for twenty copies of her pamphlet ‘Fat Around the Middle’. Got some 90 gsm paper from Tesco to print a batch for her. Took Nick Cave book The Sickbag Song back to the library. Good to walk about. Weather picked up this evening. House still a tip. Need it sorted. Need the rest of Jane’s pamphlets made, then back to Anomalies. Hands aching a bit. Going to read some perzines in my free time. Eager to get my own stuff out. 11.37pm.
Wednesday 30th May 2018
Been trying to get on with Anomalies edits for three days. Had to tidy the house a bit this morning. Mam and Ernie arrived at half ten, a mere three minutes after I put the hoover away. Talked about family health; people on the telly me and Jenni know; cost of living; Barry’s Bargain Superstore. I started the remaining book builds for Jane Burn after dinner. Finished about half-five. Came out very good. So satisfying to take sheets of card and paper, a stapler and a Stanley knife, and turn out a small stack of saleable published matter. Jane is picking up stock when we meet in Consett library next week. I edited some of the vignettes in Anomalies tonight. Only about sixty pages to go on standard version. Knocked off at quarter to ten. Listened to Henry Rollins talk about Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister for half an hour. 10.55pm.
Thursday 31st May 2018
Listened to Crowded House’s debut album on the Sanyo portable mono cassette player at the drop-leaf table whilst copying up notes in between editing sessions upstairs and sorting book orders. Anomalies standard is almost ready for another test print. Reduced typeface size on two sections to free up four pages in order to add a few things for a stronger ending. The deluxe version will be a lot more taxing. Out to Tesco for foodstuff. Gave me time to mull over the book. Looking forward to getting final pages in place and some dust jackets mocked up. Money doesn’t seem so bad at present. Hope things work out. 11.27pm.
Friday 1st June 2018
Another hot one. Stayed up late last night to listen to a Simon Armitage interview from the Hay-on-Wye book festival but fell asleep. Got to bed at half-one but still woke before seven. Checked emails, made a new morning pages notebook, did first scribbles of the month. Got an invite to visit Tyneside Mind and discuss writing workshops – so that will be good. No further work done on the books. Have a feeling there'll be plenty of time over the summer. Got on the bike about twenty to three and shaved a couple of minutes off my previous time to Gateshead. Would have been even quicker but the traffic at Swalwell was pretty full-on and I had to wait a while before crossing to reconnect with the cycle path. Bike bottom bracket is grunting. Probably going to cost a bit to fix. Me and Jen talked about projects and some people not being what they seem. I'm out this evening to see Bad Pollyanna at the Head of Steam. I'm writing this on the back of my ticket email printout with a blue Biro borrowed from the bar. I think the middle band is called Novacrow, but I can't remember the name of the headliner. Told Jen I'll probably get back before their set ends. Just here for Bad Pollyanna. Don't usually sit in pubs but door time is put back half an hour. Earplugs in my shirt pocket. Going to need them. 7.13 pm.
Saturday 2nd June 2018
Second day of my attempt on last year’s GloPoWriMo prompts. Not posting them online and no hurry to edit. Just using them to give morning pages a bit of focus. Went to Newcastle. Looked at lots of paperstock and linocut products at Details art supplies; read bits of Leanord Cohen’s ‘Book of Longing’ and Bukowski’s ‘You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense’ in Waterstones; chatted with Donna-Lisa Healey in City Library; looked at music books, t-shirts and records in HMV. Took soups and bread back to Jen’s for tea. Watched a repeat episode of The Cube. Checked out replacement bicycle parts for the Rockhopper and art materials online.
Sunday 3rd June 2018
Probably uncool to say I enjoyed the two-and-a-half hour Coronation Street omnibus this morning, but chuffed to see Phelan get his comeuppance. Went out with Jen for supplies. Had chilli and baked potato for dinner. Did some typing, Jen likewise, then watched game shows on tv. Overcast day with threats of rain, but managed to get home on the bike. Lee Ridley won Britain’s Got Talent. Nice one! 11.29pm.
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