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Sunday 7 January 2018

Happy New Year!



Monday 1st January 2018

Jenni was up and about the house around seven this morning, but I just closed the bedroom door to stop all the landing light getting in and went back undercover. Every time I start a new year – or notebook or project – I try to prepare my words to make an impactful opening, but on this occasion I don’t think its necessary. I can always go back and revise the start.

And who says the new beginning has to be 1st January anyway? I’m still snotty-nosed, I ate a sweet mince pie at five past midnight; I haven’t really turned over a new leaf. I haven’t even assembled a new notebook. I used the two biggest expletives within seconds of saying Happy New Year! Jenni went to bed straight after the countdown, not a drop of alcohol passing her lips. Today we’re having the big dinner then I’m aiming to stick to healthy stuff such as chicken breast and steamed vegetables, fruit and regular physical exercise.

I’m going to try not to look at Facebook so much this year. I want to get some writing edited and submitted to magazines. I’m not writing much new material. I want to slow down the process and just enjoy putting stuff together. I might have another look at ‘Confessions of an Isolationist’ from 1997, initially scrawled into spiral-bound A5 notebooks then bashed out on a manual typewriter. I’ll be tweaking my ‘in transit’ notebooks – as well as getting 'Anomalies 1989-2014' good to go. If I can exist for the first part of the year with fewer distractions than usual I’ll get more done. It was good to use the old tape-player and cassettes last Saturday afternoon instead of Spotify or CDs in the TV’s DVD player. If I could go old school with the manual typewriter I’d do that too – for some of my stuff anyway. Maybe the more laborious method will help cement some of the material in my long-term memory.

Will I do a big Wish List to kick off the new term at Waddington Street Centre? Whenever I do wish lists I always get annoyed with myself because they’re always so narrow in scope: I wish I was more productive. I wish I had more clients – paid workshops. I wish I could lose the belly flab. I wish I could do proper controlled slides and stops on my longboard. I wish I could complete the C2C bicycle ride. I wish I could get Anomalies finished. I wish I could get an international reach ‘perzine’ out. I wish I could complete a decent conventional short story. I wish I could put together some new performance pieces. I wish I could get more feature sets outside of the North East…

See, ten totally self-indulgent wishes. All relating to work except belly flab, bikes and boards. Self-absorbed when it comes to writing at home: that’s why I fare better in cafes and libraries and on buses; at home it just becomes dictation from the interior monologue. Outside the distractions become the material. I want to read a lot more away from the computer as well. But my main aim is to put together a good volume of journal and essays in the style of a perzine. Need to write more welcoming prose for that though.

I think we will do wish lists next week – universal and personal. Maybe funny too. 10.10 am.

Despite a lie in I managed abdominal exercise then a few laps through the housing estate on the bike before twelve. Me and Jenni did a repeat of Xmas dinner minus turnip and stuffing. I’ve been avoiding the internet today. Hoping to cut down on social media and spend more time reading through works in progress. I did a wish list, but it was all self-indulgence. Watching Queen on BBC4 with Jenni later tonight. Particularly looking forward to the News of the World 1977 tour documentary. 8.28 pm.


Tuesday 2nd January 2018

Didn’t get out on the bike. Wet day. And it’s going to get worse. Chuffed to get my first workshop of the year prepped for tomorrow. Sat downstairs most of the day. Watched some TV, read a good article from the Guardian about literary fiction losing the plot. Quote from Martin Amis stating story and plot are secondary to good prose. The guy who wrote the article said whilst teaching at UEA he was surprised to find talented young writers with no clue about plot. Julia Eff has a new zine out tomorrow. I ordered a copy today. Still waiting on three parcels... 11.03 pm.


Wednesday 3rd January 2018

Kept awake by the storm. Always think the roof will blow off. Wrote about holiday weather in a workshop this afternoon. Good to be back out there. Only one session this week. New course at Waddington Street Centre begins next Tuesday. Not enough people yet to start a Wednesday evening course. Might have to delay for a few weeks. Read some short story theory on the bus back to Consett. Got a lush veggie pizza for me and Jenni for tea. Watched grim soaps and cop shows. Jenni proofed Laughter to Split Glass for me again. Only a couple of queries, so that’s good. Zine from Julia Eff is on its way. Will chase up some other stuff tomorrow. 11.09 pm.


Thursday 4th January 2018

Good news: the remainder of my order from Antiquated Future zine distro arrived this morning. Also the Wayne Hussey live DVD ordered on Friday. Bad news: one of my weekly workshop residencies is coming to an end next week. Hopefully a regular gig elsewhere will take its place. One door closes, another opens and all that. Pleased to sign off the revised manuscript of Laughter to Split Glass and sent it to Red Squirrel Press. Looking forward to reading all the new zines and getting another project completed. Enjoyed the time off but feel ready to get things moving again.11.37 pm


Friday 5th January 2018

Up quite early but can’t remember much of the morning. Had a curry then walked up to Consett. First time for Jenni in the new Barry’s Bargain Superstore. Looked in all the charity shops: lots of tempting cds and DVDs. Bought a pair of black trousers for 99p. Jenni got a purple hoodie and an alarm clock. Spent some time in the computer shop in Morrisons before getting all the food goodies at Tesco for our final mega feast. Basically another Xmas dinner, give or take a vegetable or three… Finished my tax return. Watched psychopath in soap opera and a couple of TOTP. Jenni declared her undying love for Ah Ha’s Morten Harket then belted out some early Bon Jovi lyrics. I fell asleep on the couch after The Cure. Woke up to Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears. Still knackered. 11.25 pm.


Saturday 6th January 2018

Ate pizza and watched quiz shows. Had chicken and applesauce sandwiches, looked at Writing Magazine, watched bits of The Voice. Then The Feud – the Bette Davis and Joan Crawford biopic. Pretty tragic ending: vain, narcissistic, depleted, career over. Made me wonder how long is left here before the slide… Jenni stayed an extra day. 11.17 pm.


Sunday 7th January 2018

Jenni smoked the last cigarette of her festive visit outside my front door at three o’clock this afternoon whilst waiting for the No 16 bus to go up Derby Drive, signalling her departure in order to catch it on the return from Castleside. Bigly hugs and kisses and thanks for all the presents and the laughs and mealtimes. I stand in the chilly doorway, watching her pull the new purple wheelie case over the frosty ground towards the junction; burgundy woolly hat, white weatherproof jacket, blue jeans and black boots striding towards Derby Drive. When she turns the corner I step back inside and lock the door. Always takes a while to adjust after Jenni goes away again. We’ll meet up on Wednesday. Hope her new job goes well tomorrow. I’ll be here as usual, spitting brass tacks at a slow computer and wrestling schemes of learning for people I've never met before. Back to basics. 3.22 pm.

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