Freedom From The Mundane

Back In The Groove

Image: onthesnow.com

A most satisfying weekend. I worked on several projects over the course of Saturday and Sunday, with BACCARA BURNING and SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE VOL.2 bearing the brunt of my manic pencil. Things are moving nicely now; productivity and creativity are running side by side like two Cheetahs tied at the waist.

I never went up town on Saturday morning. The weather was too depressing and I didn’t fancy getting soaked or drinking coffee under a grey sky. I was up before dawn working on Day Job stuff for a couple of hours, then I took care of my homely duties early on and settled down for lunch in time to watch the St. Mirren v Rangers Scottish Cup 5th round match live on the Beeb.

We drew 0-0, and although Rangers weren’t firing on all cylinders one has to remember they are pretty shite at the moment anyway, and don’t actually have a full quote of cylinders from which to fire. We should have taken them; that could be our best chance gone.

I started work on several poems during the afternoon—some kids, some adult—and also did a bit of reading. I watched a film, The Sea Chase with John Wayne, then fell asleep for a couple of hours on he couch, the early morning start finally catching up with me. I was awake in time for dinner though, a Chinese meal of Chicken in Oyster Sauce with Fried Rice, and I wolfed it down while watching a great movie: In Bruges.

Into Sunday then and I finally bagged a long lie. I really needed it, too but I never let it knock me off my stride. With brunch taken care of (pakora and Irn-Bru—the natural way to start a Sunday), I read the paper then sat down to write. I tanned 3,500 words of BACCARA BURNING, but more than that I figured out the holes in the plot that have been bugging me senseless for weeks.

I watched a Sunday film—The Muppet Movie—one of the films I got last week and always a treat. Then it was time to watch Scotland being rigorously humped by a superior French team in our opening Six Nations Championship match. I read some more and let Sunday slip away gently.

Overall it was a damn good week. The highlights would have to be the new issue of SDR published smoothly, good work on some poems, several important submissions made, a freelance gig assigned and expedited, and several thousand words down on BACCARA.

At last I feel I can say it and KNOW that I mean it—I’m back in the groove!

Here’s a Monday Funny for you: the perfect Freudian Slip from a Fox News Anchor:

The Scruffy Dog Review – Winter Issue OUT NOW!!

February 8th, 2010 | Tags: France, rugby, Scotland, Six Nations | Category: Books, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Film & TV, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Freelance, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Sport, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Exciting Times

Image: High Tee

Good day at work yesterday; busy, challenging, and one where some long-term results were finally realised. It’s the biggies that count most. I topped it off with a couple of pints of Guinness in Clark’s afterwards. Sorted.

Not much else done because the results I spoke of didn’t actually happen until between 7.30pm and 9.30pm, so I was pretty tired by that point and needed some rest. It was worth it though.

I posted off my some poetry submissions to an anthology and sent in my entry to the From Festival short story competition. Fingers crossed for both of them.

I’ve got a good weekend planned. Later I’m going to head up town for a coffee and to do some writing, then I’ll be back in time to watch St. Mirren hump Rangers in the 5th round of the Scottish Cup, live on BBC1.

The Six Nations Championship also gets underway today although Scotland don’t play until tomorrow. France at home. Oh dear! It’s all on the BBC again but other than the Scotland game I want to actually get through some serious writing.

I think tonight might be a curry and DVD night with my wife. If she can’t, it will be a curry and DVD night for me instead. She’s very busy with photography just now—weddings and portrait shoots almost every weekend!

Hopefully my new glasses will be available for collection at some point today or tomorrow as well. Exciting times, indeed.

Some music news: If you’re in the States make sure you don’t miss your chance to catch The Specials playing their first U.S. shows in nearly 30 years. Only two dates so far but you won’t be disappointed and tickets are bound to go fast.

April 12: “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” New York, NY
April 16: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Indio, CA
April 21: Terminal 5, New York, NY

Speaking of British ska, here’s a cool video of Mike Barson from Madness putting the new KORG SV-1 keyboard through its paces while on tour in the UK last year.

Good luck to the Buddies for today!!

The Scruffy Dog Review – Winter Issue OUT NOW!!

February 6th, 2010 | Tags: Clark's Bar, curry, Day Job, DVD, Football, Guinness, KORG SV-1, Mike Barson, movies, Music, Poetry, rugby, Scottish Cup, Short Stories, Six Nations, ska, St Mirren, Submissions, The Specials, Writing | Category: Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Film & TV, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Poetry, Sport, Writing | Leave a comment

Phone Call From America

Image: Seattle Municipal Archives

It’s definitely getting milder. The wearing of my bunnet is now becoming an unnecessary addition to my daily attire, although we’re not quite at the stage I can safely leave the house with it and risk freezing my napper to the bone. Still, it’s a sign that despite the snow two days ago, Spring has turned in its sack and will soon be awakening.

Maybe the birds will start using my bird table then!

Having a great week in the day job. Everything is going smooth, I’m winning at every turn, and the macaroni yesterday was simply sublime.

I got through all my intended work items yesterday. Felt good, too. I was already half way through the article re-write for TLB when my mobile phone rang. Assuming it was my office (I’m on standby this week) I answered it, only to hear an American lady’s voice way off in the distance. It was the editor who had sent me the assignment and she was calling me from Arizona in the States!

Now, this is where being Scottish doesn’t do one any favours. She was checking up on the status of the article because it had become urgent—to which I polished it all off and got it sent away within the hour, no problem—but half of the phone call was spent with the two of us in laughter because she loved, but couldn’t understand, my broad Scottish accent.

All too often I forget about my accent when talking to folk, because it’s not just the intonation but the speed I tend to go at. Even Gail struggles to understand me sometimes, and don’t even bother if you see me in Clark’s one day and I look like I’ve had a few. Alcohol only intensifies the tongue until only those well versed in west coast vernacular can remain in conversation. I have no plans to change, however.

I also got through plenty of submissions (although only half as much as I wanted): 2 short stories to competitions, 4 poems to a competition, and 1 short story to a magazine. More to do today!

Today’s plan: day job, visit Clark’s for a couple of pints after work, a nice dinner, complete submissions, do some writing, then look forward to the weekend – the Six Nations starts tomorrow

The Scruffy Dog Review – Winter Issue OUT NOW!!

February 5th, 2010 | Tags: Arizona, article re-write, Clark's, Day Job, Editor, Fiction, Freelance, Guinness, I.T., mild, nature, phone call, pint, Scottish accent, Short Stories, spring, Submissions, telephone, USA, Weather, writing competitions | Category: Day Job, Freelance, I.T., Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

New Issue of The Scruffy Dog Review

Image: thescruffydogreview.com

I missed Groundhog Day on Tuesday. I only know about it because of the Bill Murray film of the same title. I love that film—think I’ll have to get a copy and watch it soon. As it turns out in real life, Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. I could have seen that one coming!!

The day job is calming down into a more controllable state. There’s still a lot of pressure but it’s eased, for which I’m thankful. A manager involved in the recent trouble handed me an envelope yesterday by way of thanks. I was a little embarrassed but very grateful when I opened it.

I began (albeit a little late) the article re-write for TLB. It’s already written in pretty good English so transforming it into Traditional English is proving to be harder than I thought. I once did a re-write for a Russian client who had written an article in his best, but extremely poor English. It took me ages trying to understand what he was talking about and then turning it into understandable text.

I re-read Luke Wright’s new book, High Performance. It really is a wonderful example of contemporary poetry; humorous, a subtle darkness and with a topical potency to many a young man’s life. There is much I can learn from Luke’s writing. I’ve long admired his stand-up poetry, but now he has turned to the page it really does elevate him into a new level of poet.

The new issue of The Scruffy Dog Review came out the other day. The Winter 2010 issue has lots of fiction and poetry goodies, an interview with Robert Gregory Browne, and Devon Ellington’s regular column, The Literary Athlete (part 2 of 3 in a series on writing workshops, conferences and groups). You will also find my own regular column, Scotland’s Treasure, this month with an exclusive review of the newly released A Sort of Homecoming album from Four Trak Records.

Today I really have to complete that TLB article and there is a tonne of fiction I need to turn around that has come back and not been put back out again. I’ve been kind of slack on that lately. There’s also a number of competitions on the go at the moment to where I’ll send a lot of them, but there are a couple of bigger competitions involving writing in a whole new genre entirely, that have captured my imagination. I’ll know more after this evening.

The Scruffy Dog Review – Winter Issue OUT NOW!!

February 4th, 2010 | Tags: article, chapbook, Day Job, e-zine, Freelance, Groundhog Day, I.T., lit-zine, Luke Wright, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, re-writes, Reading, Scruffy Dog Review | Category: Books, Day Job, Freelance, I.T., Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Broken Hearts (Fans)

Image: bbc.co.uk

Being a St. Mirren fan doesn’t usually give one anything much to ever shout about. It sort of comes with the territory. Today, however, all that is different.

Being a west-coaster in the land of mainly Hearts and Hibernian fans is usually a bit of a pain, as they try to justify why they are better than the Old Firm. Frankly, I couldn’t care about any of them, because the Old Firm are warped bigots and the Edinburgh teams never quite as good as they claim. But today, however, it is my turn to shout.

Last night St. Mirren beat Hearts in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup to reach their first final in this particular competition since 1955. It was a single goal that won it—Billy Mehmet’s screaming curler—and it sunk the hearts of a large percentage of the population of this city.

It was beautiful, it was awesome, and Paisley sand and dance late into the night as it celebrated the promise of a huge day out at Hampden against either St. Johnstone or Rangers (who play in the other semi tonight). And there maybe even a glimmer of hope of some silverware at the end of it all.

I took a wee trip with my wife to the spectacle shop yesterday evening. I had my eyes tested—no change in prescription and perfect health—then selected new glasses. There was a 2 for 1 offer on so I selected an every day pair and a “going out” pair. The every day pair are quite cool, metallic in silver and black with half rims; the “going out” pair are quite bold, dark and wide with a leopard skin backing. It sounds totally outrageous but they are actually quite subtle and very sexy if I say so myself. I’ll hopefully get them over the weekend.

Some freelance writing news. It turns out that I’m still on the books for Text Link Brokers. I used to write shed loads for these guys, churning out viral articles and shorts on almost anything, but concentrating on music, drugs (medicinal), sports and occasionally re-writes. I haven’t written anything for over a year for them after they asked me to launch and administer a marketing website, which wasn’t really for me, so I kind of assumed they had nothing more and had dropped me.

I was wrong. On Monday night I got an email from one of their managers asking me to take care of an assignment. It wasn’t a problem—the money is as good as always—but I mentioned that I thought I had been dropped 13 months ago. It turns out that wasn’t the case and that it appears that I had fallen through the cracks during several management shuffles, which was a constant happening during the couple of years I wrote solidly for them. I’m glad they still value my writing, though, and I’ll be happy to deliver.

Time to unveil February’s GDR plan. It has much the same as last month but with the focus on keeping all the good things going from January.

Monthly GDR Plan

Fiction
* Write 20K words on Baccara Burning
* Write one new short/flash story per month
* Re-submit any rejected/recalled short stories
* Submit more fiction/poetry competitions

Poetry
* Write at least one poem per week
* Complete MS for Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2
* Start preparing new chapbook, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2

Editing
* Stay on top of RR submissions
* Start preparing for March 09 issue

Freelance
* Get a few more gigs to review for NotW
* Keep up all websites updated and relevant

Reading & Learning
* The Kenneth William Diaries by Russell Davies
* On Writing by Stephen King
* One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

Non-Writing
* Keep diet going

As promised, here are some pictures from York. Don’t expect to see any of the city, though, as it wasn’t that kind of trip.

February 3rd, 2010 | Tags: articles, cup final. Scottish football, eye test, frames, freelance writing, GDR plan, glasses, League Cup, Paisley, spectacles, St Mirren | Category: Freelance, Scotland, Sport, Writing | Leave a comment

Going Mad For A Bit

Image: bized.co.uk

It’s Monday morning, it’s cold outside, I’m leaving for work and I’m sore from the weekend. But best of all, I’m happy.

The last three days had much of what we have come to love about a Diners’ trip; endless laughter, non-stop slagging, ridiculous behaviour and an aperitif or two to whet our whistles. Our venue was the beautiful city of York, and we made ourselves known within two minutes of boarding the train.

The fun began at 07:50 as several bottles of Grolsch (it was on offer at the ‘offie’) were cracked open to the sound of the London-bound train’s wheels squealing out of Central Station into the dim light of a fresh Friday morning.

We arrived in York at 11:33 and after locating the hotel and dumping our bags, found a local pub—The Edinburgh Pub, would you believe—and tucked into some well-earned stodgy meals for lunch. There then followed a monster pub crawl around the bars of York; O’Neill’s, The Windmill, The Nags Head, The Artful Dodger, The Priory and The Parish to name but a few.

It was, as they say, an awesome trail of laughter and frolics, and it was therefore no wonder that by the end of the night I had got lost on the way back to the hotel, and had to locate the train station in order to persuade a taxi willing to take me the few hundred yards to where I knew my hotel was, but simply unable to find.

Saturday was a less lively day with my hangover amongst the worst of the group. That said, we ended up doing pretty much the same thing again —same pubs, same drinks, same people, different jokes. My donner kebab at the end of the night was well-earned!

It wasn’t a cultural trip as you can probably tell, and by late-morning on Sunday we found ourselves on the train back home. When the train switched at Waverly I bid the rest of The Diners farewell and jumped in a cab for home, where I proudly spent the next few hours lying on the couch under a rug and watching crap films and programmes on the telly.

It was that kind of weekend but I needed it. Yes, I feel tired and sore from all the stupidity and all the drinking, but hey, I only see my pals every now and then and I really needed to forget who I was for a few hours and just go mad for a bit. Mission accomplished. I took a few photos of the lads out and about but have still to upload them—tomorrow’s post will hopefully contain.

Time to wrap up January’s GDR:

Monthly GDR Review

Fiction
* Re-start writing Baccara Burning – done; 6 of 6 edited and moving forward once again
* Write one new short/flash story per month – not done
* Re-submit any rejected/recalled short stories – not done
* Submit more fiction/poetry competitions – not done

Poetry
* Write at least one poem per week – done
* Work on Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2 – done

Editing
* Stay on top of RR submissions – not done
* Publish RR issue 9 for December 2009 – done

Freelance
* Create platform for client to sell arty products – not done; client not ready
* Get a few more gigs to review for NotW – advance gigs lined up through record label
* Keep up all websites updated and relevant – done
* Scotland’s Treasure for February – Album Review done; 1 pending
* SDR website for Feb issue – done and will be published today
* Catch up on all outstanding gig and album reviews (1 album; 4 reviews) – done

Reading & Learning
* The Kenneth William Diaries by Russell Davies – IP
* On Writing by Stephen King – IP
* One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson – not started

Non-Writing
* Re-launch diet – IP

Things That Turned Up
* The Bluegate Poets have recommended FF to its members

Submissions Made
None; several shortlisted for immediate submission though

Outstanding
Still a few short stories—need to chase these up this month and turn them around.
I’ve taken SLICK off the list since it has been so long that I have not heard back from the agencies concerned.

Successes
I’ve managed to get things going again, which I should regard as a positive. I’ve not managed to set aside as much time as I would have liked but it has been and extraordinary month in the day job and so I should take it as a success that I managed to get as much time as I did.

It was great to catch up and get renewed vitality and energy for BACCARA BURNING. My priority remains to complete my outstanding works of fiction and move forward with a new chapbook or two. It was equally as pleasurable to find a new location to write outside my home, something I need to take more advantage over if I am to get greater results from shorter spans of writing time.

It’s not a direct thing, but I feel more generally positive about my writing than I have done in the last few months. There’s been a quite a lot of upheaval in my private life and so just putting pen back on paper so regularly has been a great step towards having more writing in my life again.

Overall, and all things considered, it’s been as good a month as I could have hoped and I’m very pleased.

Failures
The only downside would be that I didn’t manage to make any more time but that’s a small one; other priorities took over and they are of the kind of thing that the time went to something more important. It’s been a good month overall and I don’t want to look at anything that could be twisted into a negative if I over-examined it.

February 1st, 2010 | Tags: alcohol, beano, beer, bevy, friends, GDR's, Glasgow, lad's trip, lager, Writing, Writing Process, York | Category: Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Travel, UK, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a comment

Grand Ol’ Duke

Image: Super Woman

I’ve been right under the cosh this week at work. Boring stuff so I won’t go on about it, needless to say it involved some late night shifts, one which saw me start at 8am and not get to my bed until 4am the following morning. Oh, what fun and japes.

As I type this the weather is quite mild here in Edinburgh, which is just as well because I shaved my head last night in preparation for this coming weekend. I’m heading off to York with the lads, or as we now call ourselves, The Diners – (It’s a long story).

I’m really looking forward to getting away. These past few weeks have been really stressful at work and I need a wee blow out to come back down off it all. Envisioning that first pint of lager on the train tomorrow morning, and then settling into one of the many bars I’ll visit in the City of York these next couple of days, is just about all that’s keeping me upright.

Two things are guaranteed over the next three days: lots of drinking and lots of laughter; my kind of weekend, my kind of therapy.

I wonder if I’ll see the Grand Ol’ Duke?

January 28th, 2010 | Tags: bevvying, Day Job, exhuasted, I.T., Travel, weekend trip, York | Category: Day Job, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Travel | Comments (1)

The Middle Ages

Image: Binny’s Phone

Yesterday saw my little sister move gently from innocent child to middle age in the blink of an eye. Yes, it was her birthday. I spoke to her on the phone a couple of times—she’s taken the WHOLE week off work to spend time chilling, which includes massages, meals and drinks—and then on Thursday evening I’ll be staying over before I get the train to York so will buy her a Chinese meal and give her my present.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!

Also, Scotland said goodbye to one off its most colourful characters yesterday. Bill Mclaren, a.k.a. “The Voice of Rugby” was buried in Hawick after he died last week 86.

It was Bill’s infectious passion for the game and constant humorous ad-libs that made rugby a sport worth watching. I never was completely knowledgeable about the game, it just wasn’t my sport, but with Bill commentating it was understandable as well as entertaining. He was already missed as a commentator of all Scotland’s matches, but even more now he has left us.

Speaking of the middle ages, I’ve yet to pick up my Homey’s because of having to work late a lot at the day job. Gail now has the P.O. card – and tonight could be the night. My excitement knows no bounds as I await the moment I slip into my new slip-ons.

I’ve caught right up with myself on the writing of BACCARA BURNING. I’m up to speed with everything and have a lot of decisions to make to take the story forward—isn’t that what writing is all about?

Sunday was a great writing day actually. Same as last week, but I need to keep it going. The frustrating thing for me at the moment isn’t so much the amount of work I have on that’s getting in the way, it’s having to constantly show people how to do the same things I’ve already shown them a dozen times already, which is a real drain on my time and forcing me into working a little later. Memory loss at will is a disease many people seem to have around these parts.

Today’s to-do’s: day job, Baccara Burning, Silly Poems, submissions list.

January 26th, 2010 | Tags: 30-something, Bill McLaren, birthday, Day Job, Family, middle age, Rugby Union, Voice of Rugby, Writing | Category: Day Job, Family, Poetry, Scotland, Sport, Writing | Comments (5)

Books And Water

Image: Brandi Sims

The further I got into yesterday the worse my headache got. The obvious reason would be sudden decompression from the stress of the week prior, which is fair enough but it hampered me in getting to do the things I wanted.

There’s not much really to talk about today. I did more reading than I planned mostly because of my sore head, but a couple of pain killers later and a few gallons of water, I was able to put pen to paper.

I’ve started reading On Writing by Stephen King as well as continuing with the epic Kenneth Williams Diaries, and Luke Wright’s debut poetry collection, High Performance, which arrived in the post yesterday is a real treat.

So, I didn’t get as much done as I wanted thus I’m going to leaving it there for today—I’m feeling much more in sync so I’m going to get on with things instead of talking about it.

Any Ian Dury fans reading this will already have noted my small tribute in the title of this blog post.

Finally, as it’s the day of the Sabbath here’s a wee video of the main man talking to God himself. Enjoy your Sunday, folks.

January 24th, 2010 | Tags: Books, Headache, Kenneth Williams, Luke Wright, Reading, Stephen King, water, Writing | Category: Books, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Poetry, Reading, Writing | Leave a comment

Had Enough Of Computers

Image: How Stuff Works.com

The writing and posting of this blog entry will be my only foray to my PC today. I need to get away from the screen for a few hours after a week doing nothing else but watching cursors and thinking technology. One needs to step away.

I forwent my usual Saturday morning gander to take a long lie in my bed. Boy, I needed it. By 9:30pm last night my body felt like it was 3am. I lasted another hour and put out the light and that was me until 10:30 this morning.

As a result I never made it to the gig I was going to cover. When I checked with the venue they confirmed the band wouldn’t be on until 10:30pm, and I knew right then I wouldn’t be going. I was just too exhausted to go trooping up town to stand in a club, on my own, with loads of folk on a night out. Call it age if you like; c’est la vie.

After a long hot shower a short while ago and some coffee, I’m feeling much better but really cannot face sitting in front of the screen today. I’m feeling a bit run down, as though a cold is imminent, but I’ve taken some multi-vitamin pills and am enjoying a glass of tomato juice, which I normally only do as part of a Bloody Mary so I’m using all of my concentration to remind myself no vodka exists in the glass.

I intend to listen to the rest of the football (St. Mirren are drawing 0-0 at Fir Park against Motherwell), do some reading, and write something worthwhile into my moleskin notebook. Then I’ll think about dinner—anything can happen with that the mood I’m in!

January 23rd, 2010 | Tags: Blogging, computers, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, getting old, gig, Music, PC, review, sleeping, technology | Category: Books, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, I.T., Writing | Comments (1)

Eye Of The Storm

Image: mm

The penultimate line of my last blog entry on Tuesday read: “I should be able to get some writing work done tonight as I’ll have the house to myself. That all depends on getting away from the office at a reasonable time, though.”

How wrong I was. Oh, how drastically my day changed within a couple of hours of that line being published. Tuesday was perhaps the single most stressful day I’ve ever experienced in the workplace. It was a real test of my metal, my patience, my technical skills, and perhaps more than anything else, my endurance.

My day started quietly enough at around 8am, but by 10am the day was already turning when one of the high priority systems my team supports went down. By 11am it was critical; senior managers were barking in one ear and technicians were asking a million awkward questions in the other. It was the day that we had dreaded happening since we took handover of this particular system and it was pressure all the way.

Most of my time over the next 72 hours was spent working with technicians in my office, 2nd and 3rd level support teams in Europe and America, and making sure all senior managers’ questions had an answer they liked. It was 9pm on Tuesday before we stood down with a full system back, and I had survived on little more than coffee throughout it all.

By 8:45am the following day and having slept little, the problem resurfaced. We knew it might happen because the previous day’s problems hadn’t been fixed, only recovered, and here we were facing it all again. We recovered better this time but for the remainder of Wednesday and then into Thursday, all my time was spent working with our vendors and technicians to try and find a permanent solution to a systems architecture that is quite frankly flawed at the root.

Last night I ate properly for the first time in three days. Didn’t sleep quite so well, though—I think I’m overtired—and this morning I’m feeling physically and mentally drained after a really testing week.

Naturally I got nothing else done on anything other than the day job all week. It was all I could think about and my new role at work meant I had to be in the thick of it.

And while at the time it was a pressure pot it was actually very exciting stuff to be involved in. As a member of the I.T. community it was the kind of day you do want to be involved in when they happen, although you hope they never do. As I write all is quiet—but we work closer to a permanent solution every hour.

I’m hoping to make amends to my GDR this weekend and get some well deserved relaxation. I’m covering a gig tonight in Edinburgh, which I’ll hopefully be able to make in time for this weekend’s News of the World edition. It’ll be a smash and grab, though; into the gig, out the gig, write and send it then off to bed. The earlier the better!

January 22nd, 2010 | Tags: Day Job, downtime, I.T. computers, incident management, working | Category: Day Job, I.T., Writing | Leave a comment

The Other Side Of The Fence

Image: Ian Colston

One would have hoped after a weekend of creative indulgence and some quality me time, that the start of the week would have been an easier slide back into my day job in I.T. But no, it was as though the weekend never happened. From 8am I was back into it 100% with no questions asked; limits pushed, lessons learned, questions asked; and technical understanding stretched.

The main crux of my problem is a bloke from an important vendor who is coming up from London today to do some work in the development environment for one of our systems. Only that environment won’t start, and despite the absence of any error, log entries and all required boxes being ticked, it just won’t work. More importantly, I can’t get it to work.

Cue the fun and games for today when I tell them.

I got home late and after a nice pasta dinner set about creating a backup and synchronisation schedule for my PC. I’ve got it programmed for weekly synchronisations of everything to my external hard drive, and daily syncs of the important, more regularly used data such as my “Writing Folder” which is set to run each time I close down. It’s a good way to ensure I’ll never lose work.

The lovely Tania Hershman has listed my Ranfurly Review in her newly published Non-Complete List of UK and Ireland Lit-Mags. Thanks Tania!

That’s all for today really. I should be able to get some writing work done tonight as I’ll have the house to myself. That all depends on getting away from the office at a reasonable time, though.

I’m still waiting for my Homey slippers to arrive. They were posted yesterday.

January 19th, 2010 | Tags: computers, data backup, Day Job, e-zines, Homeys, I.T., PC backup, Publishing and Marketing, Ranfurly Review, slippers, Tania Hershman | Category: Day Job, I.T., Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (1)

Another Belter

Image: MIT

I noticed out of my office window yesterday that I’d still to pick up the bird table that got blown over on Friday night. It’s still to attract the attention of any little feathered friends, so I repositioned it nearer the garage where I can see it and restocked it with seed and bread. I await some attention with baited breath.

After such a lovely Saturday I knew Sunday would be hard to match. But it did its best and came up trumps. Up and ready before anyone else in the house, I settled down to work with a fresh pot of Italian blend and wrote my blog post early doors.

During my morning email check I became aware that my invite to join an online poetry group was not just a normal piece of spam. I was checking the Bluegate Poets website and discovered that my book, POOLSIDE POETRY, had been listed for the group’s members! What a lovely compliment so I joined up forthwith in order to leave a message of thanks.

I also came across a review of STELLA I was unaware of and it’s not a bad one either. It’s by Ghost Writer Reviews and you can read it here. Maybe you might like to buy a copy? You can do so here: Click here to purchase STELLA.

I’m delighted to say that my entire afternoon was spent in the company of a certain Stella and her sidekick Randolph. I can’t tell you how great it was to finally open up the manuscript again and begin renewing myself properly with the story and my characters. There are many, many mistakes with this book, and as I worked my way through the first three chapters (14 pages) I came to realise that this was one of the reasons it had all come to a halt. It’s a sign I will need to recognise in the future.

The layoff of attention to BACCARA BURNING—the sequel to STELLA—has given me a new position on how I look at the story. I don’t feel quite so confined within it for some reason, and the characters are more consistent with the first book. I think I was going mad writing it first time round so I suppose I should be glad I stopped when I did. There’s a momentum and energy gathering within me that I’ve not felt for quite some time.

I’ve written poetry, fiction, an article or two and have got totally organised this weekend, just the way I like to be. I’m very content at the moment and I went to bed with a glow last night. To be honest, yesterday afternoon alone was the crown jewel because uninterrupted writing time is a treasured commodity these days and I made it count, which is what matters most.

I feel at this back I should say something like, “I’m back!” but it feels more intense than that. I feel reborn.

Also gathering momentum is a muted plan to get a group together and join Madness on part of their European tour next year. It’s slightly possible I’ll be heading to Paris and Amsterdam to see the lads perform, and a Facebook site has been set up to coordinate it at: Check it out here.

Back to the day job today, but something tells me this is going to be a productive week on both sides of the rat race fence.

January 18th, 2010 | Tags: Amsterdam, bird table, birds, Bluegate Poets, chapbooks, creative energy, Day Job, European tour, Facebook, Fiction, Fringe Fantastic, live gigs, Madness, Music, nature, novella, paranormal, Paris, Poetry, Poolside Poetry, Stella, Writing | Category: Animals, Books, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, I.T., Music, Poetry, Reading, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

A Day With Moi

Image: Dennis Wong

Yesterday was the kind of Saturday I’ve needed for quite some time. If I could have wished for a better feeling come the twilight of the afternoon, then I got what I desired. It was a nice day but not all that exciting. It was low level boring stuff to most, but for me it was just good to get away from the world and spend the day with me. Sometimes that’s all that’s needed.

I was up early, and over some fresh coffee wrote and posted yesterday’s blog entry. Then, despite the howling winds and rain I boarded a bus to town. My first stop was PC World in Corstorphine. The bus journey takes around 40 minutes, but I quite enjoy the trip right through the heart of Edinburgh, and with the right music on my iPod it makes for a sometimes inspiring route. My choice of music was Ten Years of Tears by Arab Strap. If you know the album, you’ll know what I mean.

I had recently spotted a decent External Hard Drive (EHD) in PC World but wanted my salary in before I made the purchase, hence the extra trip. It’s a Seagate Expansion Drive, and at 1TB for under £90 a very good buy indeed. I also got a proper carrier bag for my Netbook; the one it came with is totally inadequate but this one is fully protective and easy to carry.

I nipped into Tesco across the road to buy my paper and as soon as I walked through the main doors the alarm bells rang out. The security guard checked me walking in and as I wandered around looking for the paper stand, I became aware of the same grim face at the end of a couple of aisles. I purchased my Guardian and on the way out set the alarms off again. This time he stopped me.

“Mind if I check your bags?” he says to me in a drawling east coast accent.

Aware the time for my return bus was approaching, I showed him my receipt and proved my purchases. It was just my magnetically sealed EHD that was setting off the alarms.

Back on the bus and into the town centre where I nipped into M&S to change some Euros I found in my office back into pounds. That’ll save me using the ATM for a few weeks. Then I decided on a new stop for my Saturday morning coffee—Starbucks on Princes Street.

After the steep climb up the stairs I was surprised how large it was inside. Quite welcoming, too, although the music was a little odd. I ordered my cappuccino and a muffin and took a seat near the back where I could see the castle out of the window but be unbothered by the coming and going of customers. There were at least three other people in my corner either with notepads or laptops being used to write into. Nice corner, I thought, and took my seat for a read of the paper.

It was while sitting there that I wrote three poems. I’d brought my new moleskin notebook with me and took the opportunity of a mediocre coffee (I much prefer independent coffee shops) and pleasant ambience to do some writing. I must say moleskin is such a pleasurable experience to write on! Then the music switched to mixed ska and Ghost Town by The Specials came on over the speakers. They were toying with me as you can tell.

I finished up and decided to head home. With a few minutes to spare I nipped into Boots and yet again the alarms sounded. The store was too busy for my liking so I decided to get my deodorant another day, preferring not to mingle with the hundreds of women shopping for make-up and accessories. Just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid.

Back home and after a cheesy lunch settled down to do some work. Email: check; install EHD: check; backup files and run weekly PC maintenance schedule: check!

I also completed the editing for the first part of my Scotland’s Treasure column for next month’s Scruffy Dog Review and got stuck into my work on volume 2 of Silly Poems for Wee People. I’m aiming to have the new chapbook out for the start of May.

Into the evening and after three games of Scrabble with my wife (I won 2-1!!) I ordered dinner—pizza all round. Daughter had a pal staying overnight and I promised them I would get them a pizza, but when it came to it I quite fancied one myself. Lovely jubbly and really my only downfall as far as my healthy eating plan has gone this week.

My wife’s pal came up and I played with her wee dog, Gracie, for a while before leaving them to it and heading to bed to watch a film—The Cleaner with Samuel L Jackson. A right good thriller it was too, though not particularly hard to work out what the twist was in advance so from the plotting angle pretty lame. As a film, though, I’d recommend it.

January 17th, 2010 | Tags: alarms, Arab Strap, Boots, chapbook, Coffee, computers, DVD, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editing, External Hard Drive, Freelance, iPod, Me Time, moleskin notepad, movie, PC World, pizza, poems, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Samuel L Jackson, Saturday, Scotland's Treasure, scrabble, security, Starbucks, Ten Years of Tears, Tesco, The Cleaner, writers, Writing | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Film & TV, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Music, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Travel, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (2)