Freedom From The Mundane

Image: Colin Galbraith

I’m shattered. My eyes hurt, my head is sore, I have that run down snivelly thing going on and I want to sleep for hours while at the same time go out and let my hair down. Maybe I can do both. Scotland are playing England at rugby in the Six Nations Championship [...]

March 12th, 2010 | Tags: chapbook, Day Job, I.T, Philistine Press, Poetry, Poetry Super Highway, rugby, Rugby Union, run-down, salary, Scotland versus England, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2, Six Nations, stress, tired | Category: Day Job, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Interviews, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Scotland, Sport | Leave a comment

Image: Macbitz

After much tinkering with the email client on my PC I can formally announce I am now 100% back in action. But I’m still not happy; not happy with the fact I have to go through this every time I have to reinstall the O/S, which quite frankly shouldn’t need done at all in [...]

March 8th, 2010 | Tags: Apple, Baccara Burning, Books, desktop, Fiction, Indian curry, Mac Mini, PC, PC World, Poetry, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2, software, Submissions, Writing | Category: Books, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (5)

Image: PC Repair

My family loves pizza. It’s official. When Gail was given the choice of where she wanted to go for her birthday meal she chose Pizza Express on Leith’s Shore. She made her decision shortly before we left, and so I wasn’t surprised to see it was full when we got there. Wednesday’s are [...]

March 4th, 2010 | Tags: birthday, computer, Domino's pizza, Excel, ezine, Family, lit-mag, Microsoft, PC, pizza, Pizza Express, Ranfurly Review, software, Vista, Word | Category: Day Job, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Publishing and Marketing, Reading | Comments (1)

Image: Online Casino

Dear Lord, I thank myself for my blessed foresight when I purchased a Netbook last year, for it has gotten me out of quite a few scrapes already. I bought it to support my writing in a mobile environment, but it has also given me the ability to access vital day job facilities [...]

March 3rd, 2010 | Tags: 30-something, backups, birthday, computers, Day Job, dinner, Family, hardware, I.T. Microsoft, Ranfurly Review, software, Vista, Writing | Category: Day Job, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Publishing and Marketing | Comments (2)

Image: MS Vista

Thanks for all your birthday wishes posted on the blog yesterday—I passed them all on. Perhaps the most scary comment left was: “A teenage female in the house, good luck mate.” Cheers Stevie—just when I needed a laugh!
I got the feeling all day that yesterday was a public/local holiday of some [...]

March 2nd, 2010 | Tags: 30th Anniversary Tour, birthday, computers, Dominos, DVD, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, I.T, Microsoft Vista, MS Windows, Music, Netbook, PC, pizza, public holiday, Ranfurly Review, ska, teenagers, The Specials | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Music, Publishing and Marketing, Video | Comments (1)

Image: Les Chatfield

I finished work around 6:30am yesterday but was so tired opted to go back to bed for 90-minutes. It paid off. I felt much better after the extra nap. When I got up for the second time it was still raining but I felt like a ray of sunshine. *barf*
One thing I forgot [...]

February 28th, 2010 | Tags: e-zine, GDR, lit-mag, Photography, projects, Publishing and Marketing, rain, Ranfurly Review, rugby, Scotland, Six Nations, sleepover, Weather, Website | Category: Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, I.T., Publishing and Marketing, Scotland, Sport, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a comment

Image: J Greig

As I write this you are sleeping. The sun is far beyond the horizon, the birds are asleep, and not a house light is on as far as the eye can see. Except, that is, for the one in my office. The smell of coffee being made in my automatic coffee machine is [...]

February 27th, 2010 | Tags: coffee shop, Day Job, Editing, flood warning, GDR, overtime, Publishing and Marketing, rain, Sleep, Water of Leith, Weather, Writing | Category: Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, I.T., Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: Cessna 206

It’s been a fine week. I’ve managed some good writing, made lots of progress and had a few successes at the day job, my DVD box set of The West Wing and The Bourne Trilogy arrived, and I got some free CDs in for review from some producers. All I need now [...]

February 26th, 2010 | Tags: 30th Anniversary Tour DVD, Bourne Trilogy, Day Job, DVDs. CDs, front cover, I.T. computing, John Steinbeck, Publishing and Marketing, Ranfurly Review, seasons, The Specials, Weather, weekend, West Wing, Writing | Category: Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, I.T., Music, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Leave a comment

Image: The Hay Wain, John Constable (1821)

Lately I’ve been re-ordering albums I used to listen to when I was younger but only ever had on cassette tape. Vinyl is covered since I got my USB Turntable, which I use to convert singles and LPs into MP3 so I can listen on the iPod, but cassette [...]

February 17th, 2010 | Tags: 3 Feet High and Rising, Art, artist, beans on toast, chapbook, Day Job, De La Soul, dinner, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, GDR's, I.T., John Constable, landscape painting, marriage, Music, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2, Writing | Category: Art, Day Job, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (3)

Image: net_efekt

Pay day yesterday—lovely jubbly! I celebrated by getting a pizza for dinner. I’m such a big spender. I had a decent day overall but it wasn’t without incident.
I’ve had a right palaver getting all my pairs of glasses delivered and collected. The opticians rang yesterday morning to say my second pair had arrived. So [...]

February 16th, 2010 | Tags: Australian Shooter Magazine, Day Job, design, Edinburgh Castle, glasses, kids' books, Leith Walk, optometry, pay day, pizza, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2, spectacles, US gun laws, Valentine's Day, Vision | Category: Art, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editorial Comment, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: mangpage

Scotland’s last minute loss to Wales at rugby on Saturday was a huge blow. For the first time in a long time Scotland played like a team that knew what they were doing. With no fear and renewed determination, they seemed to have picked up their game under the stewardship of Andy Robinson, and [...]

February 15th, 2010 | Tags: artist, Cardiff, Coffee, coffee shop, curry, Dundee Utd, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Football, GDR, glasses, Ian Rankin, Poetry, Rabbits, Rose Street, rugby, Ruth Nicol, Scotland, script writing, Short Stories, Six Nations, soccer, spectacles, Sport, St Mirren, Stage Play, The Damned, Twitter, Valentine's Day, Wales, Writing | Category: Animals, Art, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Scotland, Sport, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: AHI

Suddenly, I am back up to full speed without even noticing. After my recent lay off I decided to concentrate on one project at a time and to clearing my outstanding GDRs from last year. Now, I find I have several projects all running at once—they kind of crept up on me—all these plates [...]

February 11th, 2010 | Tags: chapbooks, Day Job, Editing, Eternal Press, Fiction, GDR's, poems, Poetry, projects, Publishing and Marketing, royalties, sitcom, stageplay, Stella, Writing, writing competitions | Category: Books, Day Job, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (3)

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 [...]

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)