Sunday 1st January 2023
Bit of a lie in. Brighter sky but didn’t go outside. Jenni made us an ace full-English brunch. We watched the ‘Hootenanny’ episode of comedy Still Game, then a documentary about the series, followed by the live reunion show from Glasgow Hydro. Really hilarious. Also watched a great Dracula Unearthed programme on Sky Arts, tracing the origins of the character from Vlad the Impaler through Bram Stoker’s novel and Nosferatu to the Hammer films and Coppola. Bake Off and Taskmaster tonight. 10.52pm.
Monday 2nd January 2023
I woke around four to go to the toilet and then lay awake thinking about book projects. I wrote morning pages at half-six then went back to sleep till around ten. I read a few pages from Writing Magazine. Jenni screened Encanto Live from the Hollywood Bowl. Very vibrant, colourful and expansive outdoor gig featuring songs from the film and a cast of eighty or more. We had roasted red pepper and tomato soup with cheese toasties then watched an old Tales of the Unexpected starring Peter Davison who plays someone after a bit of overnight companionship in a swish hotel and gets more than he bargained for. Then we saw a bit of vintage Corrie. Tea was chip butties with curry sauce. This evening we watched Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games. I’ve been taking things easy and just psyching myself up for some writing projects. I won’t get those started till later in the week. Been thinking about guests for next month’s Poetry Jam… Gogglebox was good. New Tricks is on again. Not the same without Jack Halford (James Bolam). Jenni is drinking peanut butter whisky. I’m snacking on peanuts, chocolate, and maple bacon corn rings. 10.45pm.
Tuesday 3rd January 2023
Today’s morning pages gifted me a lot of ideas for upcoming writing sessions. Some days the words flow, and instinct says it’s okay to post them pretty much as they are in a blog or social media post. I’ve been back home since about half-four. Things sometimes take a lot longer than first anticipated. At other times it all just moves at a steady pace. I had a nice mince, veg and giant Yorkshire pudding meal this afternoon. Don’t think I’ve stayed hydrated through. Keen to get off to bed. Later this week I’ll get a set of poetry jam photos uploaded. And by Saturday I’d like the first crack at a pamphlet. Not sure if it will be poems, vignettes or journal pieces, but I’m eager to get things moving. 10.40pm.
Wednesday 4th January 2023
I got out on the bike for an hour this afternoon. Warmer than expected. I still triple-layered up when I got back though. I’ve been looking at a load of poems going back to about 2013, wondering if I can shape some of them into a collection. There’s enough for a chapbook but I’d need to do some more digging and editing to make it a full-length collection. I read an article yesterday warning poets against being too eager to put out follow-up collections. It’s four years since Laughter to Split Glass was published. I put out some poems in my perzine-style Unruly Eyebrow in 2020 but nothing much since. I knocked off about half six and put a chicken Balti in the microwave. Tonight I read the rest of Beatings and the follow-up chapter of journal from ‘Sic’ by Henry Rollins. America is a big and scary place and a different situation to the UK, but I don’t subscribe to his pro mask fixation and ‘anti-science’ tag for the vaccine hesitant. But each to their own. 11.28pm.
Thursday 5th January 2023
Headache coming on tonight. Think I overdid it at the desktop computer. Been sifting through old notes and Facebook posts for interesting snippets to go in a book. I don’t think I will use the computer much tomorrow. I’d like to do an old-school cut and paste kind of book. Wish I had a better manual typewriter. It would be good to make a perzine without relying on a computer. Except maybe to scan a copy of the published pages for archive. It was quite warm out today. I spent more than expected coz I needed razors, a tea towel and some microwave steam bags. It was good to get last month’s Poetry Jam pics uploaded. Enjoyed listening to The Cult, Mary Chain and Lords of the New Church tonight. 10.17pm.
Friday 6th January 2023
Didn’t get to ride the bike, even though the weather was quite nice, coz I’ve got too much work to do. Probably bitten off more than I can chew. Amazed to find that I have amassed fifty writing half/marathon notebooks since 2013. And I started those prompt-based workshops in 2007, so that’s a lot more material. If I didn’t write anything new, I still don’t think I’d clear the editing backlog. I wrote to Durham Students Union to chase a workshop possibility. I made it clear that I am not an academic. It will be good to see the response. I watched a video of Katie Kookaburra riding her bike in Hollywood. Also, trials rider Ali Clarkson talking his way around his garage and video editing suite plus footage of indoor training for the UCI 2023 World Trials Championships. I salvaged a year of notes and saved to the hard drive. Had a sausage sandwich for tea. It’s been a long day. OK. 10.45pm.
Saturday 7th January 2023
Went through some of my 2013 notebooks and am feeling positive about writing projects. I want to ride my bike, but the weather was a bit crap till midday. Then I made dinner and talked to Mam and Ernie on the phone. Got the bus to Jen’s place. A bit of a spluttering magical mystery tour on the X71. Then it broke down opposite Jen’s house. We went shopping, watched Waterloo Road. Now it's Our Flag Means Death. OK. 10.20pm.
Sunday 8th January 2023
Up to the toilet at quarter to eight and to plug the mobile in to charge. Morning pages were more booklet ideas. Me and Jenni listened to some band recommendations: The Mysterines, Starcrawler, At This Moment, and a young punk band whose name I forgot. We watched a Sally Lindsay drama, had spicy bean burgers then Jen went to check out a choir group. I worked on the booklet selection. Christmas pudding and custard when Jen returned. I was home by eleven. 11.10pm.
Monday 9th January 2023
Good to get a few hours of workshop prep done before going out on the bike this morning. I just did the little route through Rowley and up the cycle path into Consett then back down by Genesis Way and over the old slagheaps, down towards the pump house near the Derwent and along the gravel path to Allensford then back through the woods to the edge of Moorside and home. I’m pleased to have the prep sorted this afternoon and have a mince and veg-filled giant Yorkshire pudding for tea. Then a couple of hours pulling more material into the project file. It was nice to be tagged in Mayira T’s post about the Bullion Hall writing sessions and anthology. Pleased the sessions were useful. Enjoyed listening to FURY again tonight. They are my favourite current UK heavy rock band. I hope they play the Northeast again soon. 10.10pm.
Tuesday 10th January 2023
Up early and out for half-nine. Durham bus didn’t turn up. My neighbours ordered a taxi. I returned home, had a drink, checked the website. Short notice cancellation. Should have checked before half-nine. Got to Waddington Street Centre at eleven. Did all the extra photocopying which took ninety minutes, chatted to some of the members, had soup in the kitchen with office staff. Ways with Words session poorly attended due to illness, appointments and accidents. Struggled on and focused mostly on bookmaking. Looked in supermarket afterwards for good bread and fruit cordial but too expensive or shop annoying me. X15 bus to Moorside was okay. Chatted online to Jenni about my workshop and her new drumming venture. Had chicken vindaloo for tea. Then, after a half-hour lie down, I put in a couple of hours on the ‘new’ book project. Pleased I didn’t need to use the desktop computer. My next two workshops require minimal planning. Early night. 10.10pm.
Wednesday 11th January 2023
I got a lot done today. All the evening entries for 2013 that might work have been transferred to the new file. I’ve been through all the writing marathons from the same year, listed available NaPoWriMo poems and spoken to Jenni about my intentions for a pamphlet/chapbook/zine/thing and moved onto morning pages. The entries from ten years ago are a lot more expansive than current scribbled evening notes. I have way, way too much material. And it would be really stupid of me to put a fixed deadline in place. I have ideas for more projects but will keep them under wraps till I finish the first one. I am pretty hammered tonight. OK. 11.35pm.
Thursday 12th January 2023
Woke a bit later so able to write morning pages without the aid of artificial illumination. I keyed in notes and selected half a dozen short poems for King Ink. I made up a manuscript draft for the next book then had mince and veg in a giant Yorkshire pudding again. I got changed and headed out to Consett. It took me a few tries in Boyes to get sewing thread that didn’t snap with the slightest of tugs. Nipped into Wetherspoons for the toilet then hopped on the 78-bus to Sunderland. King Ink was ace. Enjoyed all the readings. I only read two of my prepared six due to time constraints. I loved Alistair Robinson’s set. I listed all the open floor people: Mel McEvoy, Steve May, Kevin, Liz, Sharon Milley, Billy, Joey Avery, Chris Hodgson, Aaron Wright, Pauline, me, Stephen McGowan, Scott – quite some talent and one or two travelled far to be there. The 78-bus back was on time. Was going to do some line-editing for my next book but read Total Rhubarb by Joey Avery instead. Great stuff. 10.53pm.
Friday 13th January 2023
Unlucky for some but we had a good session at Bullion Hall this afternoon. I did a session on journals and morning pages. There was a little bit of resistance, but I think the discussion after the freewrite was an opportunity to focus on overcoming hurdles and maybe a few people will give it a try daily. I’m running low on cash again. I won’t get much money now until the back end of February. There is a possibility of some public speaking opportunities and I hope they lead to more courses. I was lucky to make it home without an accident tonight: walking from Tesco with three bags and a pain in my guts – thankfully I made it to the toilet okay. I read fifty pages of Cows by Matthew Stokoe tonight. It’s quite disgusting really, but not shocking – I’ve read Lydia Lunch, early Rollins, Michael Gira and bits of Crowley. It takes quite a bit to put me off my supper. 10.50pm.
Saturday 14th January 2023
Woke quite early but was still in bed at half-ten. Looking at social media which I said I would try to keep to a minimum. I made up a 120-page blank notebook in prep for the next Waddy session. Walked to Consett. Bought soup and chocolate. Headed to Jen’s. Enjoyed listening in on the Last of the Summer Wine walking crew who took the bus and commentated on numerous landmarks. Me and Jenni had soup and cheese toasties for tea. Watched Michael McIntyre show and Keep Talking, Pal spoken word show by Henry Rollins. I ate two scotch eggs, watched When Comedy Goes Horribly Wrong. 10.18pm.
Sunday 15th January 2023
Thanks to Jenni for the big day of Red Bull TV. Homemade Flying Machines, ‘Rampage’ mountain biking, (Un)credited – The Origins of Nigeria’s Dance Scene, Mount Saint Elias – climbing and vert skiing, The Other Side of Fear – Mark Mathews Surfer and Motivational Speaker, Valley Uprising – counterculture mountain climbing in Yosemite Park, and a good old Soapbox race to round it all off. Cheese and onion toastie for tea. Dancing on Ice and a new episode of Vera. No late bus to Consett so I’m staying an extra night. Rebus is on but not sure I’ll stay awake for all of it. OK. 11.34pm.
Monday 16th January 2023
Stayed at Jen’s last night as there were no late buses back to Consett. 20 to 10 is the last one FFS! I totally forgot even though that’s the reason I’ve been leaving at nine every Sunday evening since the autumn. Anyway, I prepped more ideas on the bus home this morning for tomorrow’s Waddy’s session. Doctor’s query was no big deal: they offered me another routine check-up, but I’d just had blood tests so no hurry. This afternoon I made up more book stuff. Keyed in notes and got prepped for tomorrow. I listened to a Best of Motorhead. Read some political shit although I’m trying to wean myself off it. Chicken jalfrezi for tea. Haven’t been out on the bike for over a week. Snowy terrain at present. It’s going to be Wednesday at the earliest for me. Turning in sharp tonight so I can have a big day at Waddy tomorrow. 9.43pm.
Tuesday 17th January 2023
Last night was two degrees lower than tonight but I felt colder tonight than last night. Everything I touch is icy. The notebook, the cup, the knife. I put my thermal big slipper socks on, but they seem too tight. Seem to be cutting off circulation. My hand is getting cold as it moves across the paper. Today I made up the book block for a paperback downstairs in Waddington Street Centre. Sold two volumes of morning pages and did an afternoon workshop. We played a couple of rounds of Exquisite Corpse and read a Paul Magrs essay on notebooks. I then set the task of three sides of handwritten A4 about anything. They found it quite a challenge. Tonight I had steak and gravy and veg in a giant Yorkshire pudding. Then read fifty pages of COWS. I think the grotesquery has peaked. I can’t see where it will go now the man has killed his third victim. I’m off to bed early coz I’m cold and worn out. I hope to get more typing done tomorrow. 9.59pm.
Wednesday 18th January 2023
Today was pretty good. I made some little booklets for a possible Hometown Slog type day out tomorrow. And then I went to get a lot of food supplies. Barry’s Bargain Store has 1kg tubs of peanut butter for £1.50 and 1.2kg blocks of cheddar for £3.99. Four tins of oxtail soup for a quid. I was out a couple of hours and enjoyed the dusk walk over the little bits of snow. The sun sinking over the horizon. I’ve done the Poetry Jam event page. I’ve had red pepper soup with a smoked cheddar and pickled onion toastie, and numerous chocolate items. Also, got two bags of bananas for 19p each. I’ve spent quite a lot of money but should be stocked up to see me through till the final weekend of January. I looked at some bike stuff online. I paid £800 for my Sonder Frontier in May 2021. It's £1000 now. I should have been answering work queries and listening to Road Warrior by Fury. Great band. 10.43pm.
Thursday 19th January 2023
I did a mini hometown slog today. I woke at five and expected to be in the library by half nine but didn’t leave the house till nearly ten. Then I decided to detour so I could take a couple of pictures of the Kate Bush statues near the Hownsgill industrial estate. I didn’t start writing till quarter past eleven and didn’t think it was going too well. Later on, I got some nifty little ideas down and when I got home at seven I felt it had been a worthwhile way to spend the day. It was only when I re-read a bit later tonight that I thought: Hey, this has a similar feel to “So Much for the Sunshine”, maybe I could use it. I feel hammered now. Not from the writing but from being up since five. I think I will sleep in and see how I feel mid-morning. I might need something for supper first though. 9.34pm.
Friday 20th January 2023
Today was cold but good. I keyed in all the stuff that I wrote yesterday. It took eight hours. I’ve been messing around with a cover design. I’d like to use silver ink on dark card but would need to hand-letter the title. The alternative is to go for black ink on a lighter card and that way I can use a distressed typewriter font with a scanned hand drawn graphic. But ideally, I’d like to scratch the graphic directly onto the dark covers. I am going to edit out the passages I don’t think went well and then it’s a case of handwriting the 7,000 words of the chapbook again. I had an ace steak and veg in Yorkshire pudding again. I enjoyed ‘Motorhead at Brixton Academy’ and the extended ‘No Sleep Till Hammersmith’ as I worked. I tried a 2011 gig, but Lemmy sounded tired and frail. He’s very funny between songs on the 2003 Brixton album. Anyway, productive day. Time for bed. 10.44pm.
Saturday 21st January 2023
Bike ride this morning. Minus two degrees. Rowley, Consett, Allensford then home. Keyed in more workshop notes. Got on a really slow 47-bus to Newcastle and went to The Works for coloured card and Rymans for a silver ink pen. Me and Jenni went to a comedy night at the Chillingham in Heaton. Fisa Humpledink made her stand-up debut and went down very well. Enjoyed the whole event. 11.58pm.
Sunday 22nd January 2023
Jenni went to Becky Owen’s pop-up choir at Dance City so I cracked on with my book project. Cover design text in silver ink, readthrough of the text, elimination of the pieces that don’t sit right. A few line edits. Hopefully, I’ll get the masters written up before my birthday midweek. Me and Jenni listened to a load of songs by American band Weezer then watched Dancing on Ice. Journey home was fine. 11.30pm.
Monday 23rd January 2023
Big busy day. Eight and a half hours at the keyboard re-editing all the stuff I did in the library. Chuffed with it. I’m putting it out as a booklet. I reread the full thing twice and will do so again before preparing the pages for reproduction. I could print a typescript but would rather the finished item looked like a legible replica of my original notebook to retain the vibe of the writing session. This evening I replied to a letter from a Bullion Hall writer who appreciated my morning pages book. He gave a lot of feedback and said I’d inspired him to establish a daily writing routine. Whilst working I listened to The Struts. They made me feel old, wanting to be young. Damn, they sound like seventies bands I was too young to see at the time. But I got to see Venom, The Cult, The Mission, Swans, Doctor and the Medics, Rollins Band, Lydia Lunch, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Motorhead, Danzig, Metallica, Nick Cave, REM, etc. 10.50pm.
Tuesday 24th January 2023
Woke about six with musings on the writing life and the world of nine to five work. Prepped my bag for the Waddy session and got some of my own book stuff sorted. Bus to Durham was a bit late so it was a rush to get all the exercises and handouts in place for this afternoon. I'm grateful to get places filled on my course. Should be okay until Easter at least. We did mainly fiction exercises. People worked well. Next week we'll focus on poetry. Including parody poems. Later this afternoon I checked out paper and cardstock in Rymans and Paperchase. I've already found some good stock for endpapers. The bus I wanted didn't turn up so the next one was full. Didn't get home till about six. And had a quick turnaround to get out for the bus ride to Jen's. I felt a bit sick on the way but made it okay. Jenni watched Corrie and I fell asleep for a bit. Bed soon. 10.15pm.
Wednesday 25th January 2023
Big lie in this morning until half ten. After breakfast me and Jenni went for a walk into town and got supplies. Had spicy bean burgers for dinner. Then I opened my birthday presents. Writing magazine. Bicycle bells. Chocolates. The Moth story game prompts kit, and a super warm fleecy base sheet for my bed. Mam and Ernie gave me money towards bike components. Jen's mam gave me much needed bathroom towels. Jenni surprised me with a pizza and chips tea delivery. We watched Cassette documentary. Enjoyed all the retro stuff about the temperamental recording format - mixtapes, home audio. Good to see Rollins, Fugazi's Ian McKaye and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore among the interviewees. Then watched a bit of Corrie. Hustle is on now. Lots of nice birthday messages for me online. I'm going to have a good year 10.30pm.
Thursday 26th January 2023
Me and Jenni had chip butties for breakfast. Then watched I Am Victoria starring Suranne Jones as a successful working mother who has a breakdown. I found myself thinking about it at various points during the day. The bus ride back to Consett was fine. I’d just scoffed yet more of the pizza Jenni ordered us for tea last night. In town I picked up a few things. Didn’t get back till two. Unpacked, sorted finances, and attached one of the bells to my Sonder Frontier bike. I’ll put the other one on the Rockhopper next time it’s out of the back room. I got the pages marked out for my new booklet. It took me till nine o’clock. Then I did a test run of the twelve-page opener. It’s trimmed back to eleven now and needs some layout adjustments to fill the space. Apart from six single-page pieces edited smaller than the originals, the rest of the contents shouldn’t be a bother. I reckon no more than twelve hours to do it all tomorrow – unless my writing hand seizes up, of course. Cold by lamplight in the living room. Keen to get to bed. 11.55pm.
Friday 27th January 2023
The first prose piece in “A Warm Space” took an hour to write last week, an hour to edit, and three hours to copy out again by hand from a typescript. Thankfully, the shorter pieces hit the master pages pretty quickly. I got the final piece done by nine o’clock then mucked about for an hour trying to get the title page and back page acknowledgements centred. Ruler, eye, pencil trial run, and then just go for it. My wrist is aching now from rubbing out pencil markings on twenty pages. Still another thirty to go. I didn’t think I’d get this far, but fingers crossed… So long as I can get into the Waddy office tomorrow and the copier is working okay, I should have a run of booklets ready by next Tuesday. Right now, I’m pretty hammered. Hope I sleep okay. 11.57pm.
Saturday 28th January 2023
Up at six. Out to Waddy at half eight. Got supplies in Durham then over to the Centre. Took three hours to prepare the pages – erasing guidelines, etc. Books printed. Pretty heavy-duty stock. I ran off a couple of morning pages books as well, coz I’ve almost run out of the stock I made last year. Home by half-four. But felt knackered after the big day yesterday. I made up a test copy of the book on rough paper tonight, but otherwise just lying down. 9.05pm.
Sunday 29th January 2023
52 pages of 120gsm, plus endpaper and card is too much for the booklet stapler. Each set of pages takes seventeen minutes to put holes in and sew up. At one point today it took half an hour to sew up one set of pages coz the needle kept splitting the single strand of thread. Six times in a row. But by Monday evening I should have a little batch of books to distribute. My back is killing and I just want to get back into bed for nine hours. 10.30pm.
Monday 30th January 2023
I got half the print run of “A Warm Space” bound, trimmed, and covers inked today. I wanted copies to be available before February and they will be. I sent Jenni a photograph of the inked-up cover. She likes it. The content is basically a seven-hour solo writing marathon freewrite in the Hometown Slog ‘go out with a notebook and don’t return home till it’s full’ format. There’s a long opening piece documenting a walk, a few memoir passages, some references to the current economic situation, mental health, and some fictional sketches. I’m chuffed to have pulled off another little book. 10.10pm.
Tuesday 31st January 2023
Hands numb. Caught a 49-bus from Bensham to Metro Centre and stood nearly forty minutes waiting for the eight minutes to eleven X45 from Newcastle (coz it doesn’t pick up near Jen’s place anymore despite still passing the bus stop). By nearly quarter past eleven I thought it wasn’t going to turn up, so I jumped on the X45 going into Newcastle to stay warm rather than wait till after ten to midnight for it to return from Eldon Square. I just got seated upstairs when the bus I was originally waiting for came into view. Sod’s law. Now I won’t get home till one o’clock… Today was good. I dropped off a copy of “A Warm Space” at Consett Library and read an extract to staff. Went to Waddy and did lots of prep for the next two sessions. I showed the writers a copy of the new book, sold one, and inspired two people to make mini-zines of their new handwritten short poems. Had a good time at Jen’s place afterwards. We watched a great independent film set in Ireland called Redemption of a Rogue – funny and very bizarre with brief elements of Hellraiser and Beckett. Then out for the bus. I wanted supplies from Consett Tesco around half-eleven, but that plan has been well and truly scuppered. 11.24pm.
"A Warm Space" is available here.
