AT LAST

Monday 7th January 2019

Today was strange. Felt quite relaxed with work. Wrote a fictional vignette from a marathon prompt in morning pages. Prepped lesson for tomorrow. Did two run-throughs of Laughter To Split Glass launch set. The books have been printed and we’re good to go. This afternoon I had a visit from Brother Mark. He looked at my Onza Hitman trials bike bought eight years ago, gave me a Bench coat Xmas present. He said he’d never been to my house for nearly a decade. We haven’t ridden bikes together since 2006. Tonight I put the heating to good use and had a nice bath and worked on a poetry submission to The Writers’ Café Magazine. Checked how much National Insurance I owe. Did a STEVE ACHIEVES. House didn’t stay warm long enough to remain hatless. Dressing gown on again. Hope books sell for Sheila. Pleased the set is pretty solid. Just got to stay fit. 11.02 pm.

Tuesday 8th January 2019

First of the year at Waddington Street Centre this afternoon. The seminar room has been redecorated. The big cabinets have been replaced with new ones half the height. A huge TV monitor stands on top of them. New art prints on the walls, flower pots, new green chairs. Lick of paint. Seems much more spacious. Good session. Warm-up exercises, assessments, fun. I stayed back to clear some boxes of papers and shift books into the new cabinet. Found a load of pamphlets that might sell at some point. Slept on the bus home. Overcrowded. Lots of disruption due to Arriva bus drivers strike. Home to a sausage and veg tea then watched the evening news. Did my little STEVE ACHIEVES. Besides meeting work obligations, I don’t really try to do much else. Will have to find things not writing-related. Watched TOYAH – WILD ESSENCE DVD: Live from 2005 plus promo video clips and interview. Would like to see her play Stockton next month. 

10.08 pm.

Wednesday 9th January 2018

Many thanks to all the wonderful people who came out to support me and Edwin Stockdale and Red Squirrel Press at Newcastle Lit & Phil. At least twice as many people as I expected. My book has been well and truly launched. Chuffed with the way it looks. Chuffed with the reading and the response. Great to see so many from the spoken word circuit. And page poets. I signed quite a few books. Was good to see Edwin read and get a copy of his The Glower of the Sun. Was good to see Stephen Clark. Ann Porro was there! Mike Treasure and Karen Sikora. Helen and Claire. Loads of people. Good to chat with Alistair Robinson, Sarah Hammersley and Ian Waugh at The Bridge afterwards. Jenni says it’s the most animated she’s seen me in a pub in ages. Now riding the 45 bus to Consett then a half-hour walk home, twenty copies of the book in polythene in my Samsonite bag. It’s a dry night. I could do with something nice for supper. Tomorrow I will prep Friday’s workshop. After that I must sell some books. 11.35 pm.

Thursday 10th January 2019

Didn’t get to bed till 3.00 am. Only six hours sleep. Did loads of admin and thanks to all the great people who came to the book launch last night. Jen put up a funny captioned picture of my demonstration of how to combat bad weather at a biketrial. Felt a bit dazed but totally chuffed. Last night was mint. Today was a day of recovery day. Went out to Consett for food. Bought some supplies for workshops. Finding ‘Steve Achieves’ hard coz I just want to get on with bookwork. Read a bit of Edwin Stockdale’s ‘The Glower of the Sun’. Put a workshop together. At some point I need fifteen minutes of material from Laughter for next week. I’m watching Question Time and the stupid idiots are still going round in Brexit circles. Peeps vote. General Election. Remain. Fuck’s sake! 11.29 pm.

Friday 11th January 2019

Seven hours unbroken sleep. Quick breakfast then a walk to Consett. Set up my first library writing workshop of the year. Good session. Morning Pages, discussion on progress. Read backs. A bit on ISBN and publication. Afterwards I sold four copies of Laughter and had a drink with the writers in Wetherspoons. This afternoon I was tempted to buy Ronnie O’Sullivan’s novel – really, but have hundreds of books to read and not much time. I updated the Talking Pen website this evening. Was booked for a slot at Born Lippy in February. Made up a package of pamphlets to go out tomorrow. Wanted to do some copy-ups and type-ups and to listen to an Ian MacKaye (Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Evens) interview on DIY punk culture. Tomorrow I aim to get a couple of hardbacks ready for next week. 11.35 pm.

Saturday 12th January 2019

Got up late coz the big sleep was needed after knock-on effect of book launch adrenalin. Got some stuff off to the post office, had all-day breakfast then worked on sets for next Thursday’s gig at The Stanza and Born Lippy in February. Aiming to do different sets at each. Adding those to the initial launch set, that will make over an hour of performance material to play with at gigs throughout 2019. Watched Hubert Selby Jnr’s Requiem for a Dream on DVD. Powerful. 10.53 pm.

Sunday 13th January 2018

Woke at four then did morning pages around five. Honey and lemon to soothe the throat a bit. Then a bacon and mushroom sandwich, bag pack for a ride over to Jen’s place. Showered, lentil and bacon soup then a bit of Columbo on TV. Walk up to Tesco for supplies. Watched Dragon’s Den and Les Miserables. Steve Achieves #13 online. Ate three puff pastry mince pies. Watched a bit of Brexit nonsense on the news. Looked at book stuff online and relaxed. 10.41 pm.

Monday 14th January 2019

Nice lie in at Jen’s this morning. Watched a bit of the Brexit stuff on telly. Listened to May’s speech. It amazes me that a Remainer was installed to deliver Brexit after her predecessor resigned due to voting remain. Jenni agreed with me. We got ready to leave for around half eleven. Jenni went off to her new job. I biked to Consett. The bike was grunting and groaning despite all the money thrown at it. In morning pages I tried to write about the significance of today’s date: 21st anniversary of my being hospitalized and subsequent diagnosis of bi-polar mood disorder – or manic depression, as I then still referred to it. I thought how good it was that I’ve managed to still get books out despite my shit memory – essentially an acquired learning disability. Wrote about it this evening*. Many thanks for all the lovely responses I got. It was only meant to be a paragraph, not a thousand words. Looking forward to tomorrow. 10.53 pm.

* Read STEVE ACHIEVES #14

Tuesday 15th January 2018

Good day. Quick to get ready for work. Packed up and out to Consett for the bus to Durham. Looked at all the poems from Laughter that are a bit more extreme in tone. Did photocopying for the writing session. Three ten-minute pieces in half an hour. Then a Wish List. Character studies. Then a read-through of some short stories. Blown away by the response to my essay last night. Watched Brexit nonsense. Chuffed the deal was voted down. Don’t think vote of no confidence in government will win though. Keyed in some notes but never finished. 11.29 pm

Wednesday 16th January 2018

Front room is a bombsite again. Making up a private hardback. Some pages wouldn’t glue properly. Had to print more. Boards tough to cut. Cloth needed ironing. New glue too runny so I used the old thick gunk instead. Still have to attach book block to case. Always a bit nerve wracking. Only a couple of millimetres margin of error. Today has been a long one. Been listening to my Ministry of Sound eighties electronica triple CD downstairs. Jenni sent me info on a Newcastle Longboarding Facebook group. Will get in touch in due course. Still have Thursday’s gig set to rehearse. And Poetry Jam event page to put together. Had a good sausage and veg evening meal. Drank lots of hot lemon squash and hot chocolate. Ears ringing like a bastard. Back to work till after midnight… 11.05 pm.

Thursday 17th January 2019

Bed just after one. Thought I might get book finished but no. Woke early to make the dust jacket. Hope it’s okay. Today has mainly been geared towards this evening’s gig at The Stanza in The Sandpiper, Cullercoats. I’m here now and it’s really warm. Not used to full-on central heating. My lenses are in but I don’t read for ages yet, a couple of hours. Set has a few F-bombs in it. Not sure how it will go. All different from stuff I did at the launch last week. Not so full-on. Hope it’s okay. 7.35 pm.

LATER: Good night. Lots of great guests. Amazing set from Steve Lancaster. Good stuff too from Ken Brady, Gerry and Lara, Barrie West, Renata and Trev and all the open floor people. Good to hear a song from Bridget Gallagher. Chuffed to sell seven of the eight copies of Laughter. Plus a hardback and ‘My Dark Matter’. Thanks to everyone for being so kind. Me and Jenni made the Metro back okay. She was going to Sainsbury for supplies but I told her she might not have to. I left a few things for her at the house earlier. I’m now on the last bus to Consett… 11.28 pm.

Friday 18th January 2019

Stupid fucking slow internet or slow computer. Both, I bet. Fifteen years of work on a ten-year-old desktop PC. Slow processor. Counting seconds between mouse clicks online. Drives me round the fucking bend. Slow, too slow to get my National Insurance details for payment this morning before the workshop. Session with Consett Writers in the library calmed me down. ‘I Am’ poem warm-up. Consequences. Character sketches. Publishing queries. Worked well. Then an hour with the group in Wetherspoons. Then off to buy food and bike grease. Home to pizza then sausages with fried egg on potato waffle. Slept on the couch a bit then persevered with the ancient PC to do Poetry Jam publicity. Still a few more shares tomorrow. House really cold tonight. Been looking up skate events at DYNAMIX in Gateshead – want to go to the old blokes night. Did a funny Steve Achieves. Soon to bed methinks. 11.42 pm.

Saturday 19th January 2019

Lie in. Checked out some Brexit stuff online. Then upstairs for typing and website updates. Full English fry-up. Greased the bike chain. Chilly ride to Gateshead. Not much traffic. Shower at Jen’s then TV. More Poetry Jam stuff then TV game shows. The Voice then cheese on toast. Enjoying the laughs and lazy time with Jenni. Facebook. Porridge for supper. 10.57 pm.

Sunday 20th January 2019

Big lie in. Surprisingly coherent morning pages became Steve Achieves #20. Spent a good while typing it up on the android tablet. Chilli/curry and rice for dinner. Diagnosis Murder and Columbo then out to Tesco. Saw One Hour Photo on DVD this evening. Checked out Sonnet Reducer poetry chapbook by Jessie Lynn McMains on Issuu. Ate doughnuts, cheese on toast, salted caramel cakes and custard. Good episode of Les Miserables. 10.50 pm.