SLOW RIDE

Monday 17th September 2018

Android tablet being a pain with email attachments but finally got weekend notes transferred to desktop. Glued up a new morning pages notebook. Prepared two lesson plans for Waddington Street Centre and printed handouts. Metal Hammer magazine prompted me to check out Polish extreme metal band ‘Behemoth’ this afternoon; interesting. Watched 45 minutes of original 1978 Dawn of the Dead but kind of lost the will to live. Seems that when you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Going to read a bit of ‘ON WRITING’ by Stephen King in bed. 10.57 pm.

Tuesday 18th September 2018

Analogue, baby! While other passengers tap key pads and scroll, I bounce around the wheel arch with a spiral-bound A5 on my knee and a fast flow gel pen. Got NIGHT SHIFT short stories by Stephen King at Consett library. Enjoyed the workshop at Waddy. Basic warm-up / assessment session to gauge direction course should travel: sentence stems, freewrites, ground rules and big ‘workshop ramble’ poem to open up topics and possibilities. Bought more lights at Poundland in Newcastle. Then onto Rymans to price stock for the ‘MY DARK MATTER’ pamphlet. Looked at some black metal cds in HMV. Took a slow walk to The Cumberland for Babble Gum. Guests were good. Jane Dent did a great futuristic folk set with voice delay pedals. Jane Burn read a poem from each of her five collections on sale. Comedian Ken McGuiness was funny – doing Tolkien with Newcastle references, Facebook wars and dodgy attitudes to sex. Final guest, Kit Rain did some good poems on mental health and transgender issues. And of course, some cool open mic including Tolu Akinyemi, Sandy Chadwin and Olya Bowers. Gig finished before ten. Now on twenty-past bus. Hopefully home by midnight. Right wrist aching big style. 10.33 pm.

Wednesday 19th September 2018

Spoke too soon when I said weather forecast was wrong. Hell broke loose after breakfast. Gale force winds. Got bike lights and bank transactions sorted. Did preliminary print out of MY DARK MATTER reissue; 200gsm for pages may be a bit excessive. Will try again on slightly lighter cartridge paper next week. Evening session was a bit thin at Waddy due to holidays and weather. Did some ice-breaker exercises but saved proper first session for next week which will be busier. Good to be facilitating again. Read a sci-fi story on the bus afterwards – not for me, really. Spent an hour in Tesco checking out magazines and stationery. Looking forward to getting MY DARK MATTER printed in a few weeks. 11.54 pm.

Thursday 20th September 2018

Poetry Jam publicity takes longer and longer each month coz my computer is nearly a decade old, or maybe just because internet is slow. I walked in the rain to Consett Library. Got Patient Zero by Jonathan Mayberry; The Age of Magic by Ben Okri; and From Cradle to Stage by Virginia Hanlon Grohl – about mothers of musicians. But tonight I just wanted to finish the ‘Graveyard Shift’ story by Stephen King. Easy, accessible, page turner prose; the basement rats didn’t put me off my sausage and cheese sandwich supper. 10.33 pm

Friday 21st September 2018

Most of today was spent at the desktop computer scrolling through hundreds of selections for possible inclusion in the revised ANOMALIES 1989-2014 deluxe hardback book. Jenni quipped online that I must be absolutely devastated by the realisation that I could quite possibly be making self-published autobiographical books for the next decade or so. And of course, I’m absolutely gutted at not having to subscribe to the traditional conventions of fiction. I realise that my online sarcasm might be deemed counter-productive, but I tend to tire of long-form prose narratives very quickly. The only novels that held me recently were ‘Widdershins’ by Helen Steadman, ‘The Concrete Grove’ by Gary McMahon and ‘The More You Ignore Me’ by Jo Brand. Mostly, I just prefer shorter stuff. Poetry gives me the best literary nourishment and aids development of my descriptive writing – be it slice of life vignette, flash fiction or free verse, I don’t really care how it’s labelled these days. Tonight was rounded off with a little bit of Public Image Limited and an Active Distribution 96-page indie chapbook study of punk lyrics called ‘We Want Something More’ by Gerfried Ambrosch. 11.23 pm.

Saturday 22nd September 2018

Nice little lie in. Then Facebook comment on political post. Listened to Plastic Box by Public Image Limited. Copied up two weeks of work-log whilst listening to Chas and Dave – RIP Chas Hodges. Pleased the weather is better. Took a lot longer biking to Jen’s place this evening using easy gears on the Beamish route and trying not to get sweated up. Watched X-Factor, Father Ted and short run down of 25 Best Bristish Comedies. Only Fools and Horses was top. 10.47 pm.

Sunday 23rd September 2018

Selected poems for National Poetry Day readings and discussed Jenni’s choices for Great Northern Slam. Watched a canny little animated film called ParaNorman about a young boy who can communicate with the dead. Then a couple of game shows. Slow ride home in the dark via Beamish. Facebook updates then cheese on toast. 11.44 pm.