Freedom From The Mundane

Curves Of Learning

Image: BGIS

I never got a chance to post yesterday. Shit happens. By the time I got back in from work time was ticking on and I could still have made it to my writer’s group. Other things transpired, however, and it ended up being a late night pour moi. Tired beyond belief, I slept in yesterday morning and was late for work. Not only that, but all the desks were taken and I had to sit in another wing of the building entirely!

On checking the local gig listings over lunch, the next two weeks in Edinburgh are just the same as they have been over the last couple—devoid of anything. It seems that the music scene has more or less shut down around here and most places, unless they are big mega-charting bands, just aren’t doing anything at all. All of which means there is nothing to review!

If you happen to be in a band, are playing anywhere in Edinburgh and want to be reviewed, drop me an email or leave me yours in the Comments box at the end of this post.

My new role in the day job is placing extra demands on me but I’m greatly enjoying what I’m doing. I’m still managing to close off after work and switch to the creative side of my brain, but it’s just with the days being longer I’m finding I need to manage my time more effectively. I feel as though I’m on a bit of a learning curve in several aspects of my life: new day job role, writing time management and then the rest!

I began the process of preparing the next issue of The Scruffy Dog Review, due out in February. The contributions come in bit by bit, which is actually a good thing because I can stagger the workload and not feel pressured into getting it all ready at once.

I pulled out a few fiction competitions that either spurred the imagination or are good local ones to enter. There’s a good few of these on the books now so meeting the deadlines should keep me busy.

The next “Diners” trip is now scheduled for the end of the month. We’re going back to the same place we visited this time next year—York. One of the group never made last year’s trip and we only saw a small part of it ourselves, so we decided it would be good if we all went back and saw the pubs on the other side of town. We’re booked on an early train on the 29th—it should be an interesting trip.