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: Eye Make Art

I chanced my arm on a whim and logged into my account at the St. Mirren ticket office over lunch yesterday. Lo-and-behold the cup final tickets were available early for non-season ticket holders!!
I got two briefs for the League cup final against Rangers on March 21st, Block G, right behind the goals [...]

March 10th, 2010 | Tags: Cup Final, Hampden Park, James Bulger, Luke Wright, Poetry, poetry process, Saturday Live, St Mirren, Stiff Little Fingers, tickets, Writing | Category: Animals, Music, Poetry, Sport, Writing, Writing Process | 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)

Fiction
* Write 20K words on BACCARA BURNING – part-done; 5k
* Write one new short/flash story per month – done
* Re-submit any rejected/recalled short stories – done
* Submit more fiction/poetry competitions – done
Poetry
* Write at least one poem per week – done (plus lots more)
* Complete MS for SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE VOL.2 – done
* [...]

February 28th, 2010 | Tags: Books, Dreams and Resolutions, Editing, Fiction, Freelance, GDR's, Goals, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Writing | Category: Books, Fiction, Freelance, Poetry, Reading, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: John Byford

Would you believe that after all the trials and tribulations of getting my new pair of glasses sorted they STILL aren’t ready? Yesterday morning when I went to collect them, although they did manage to get the lenses made with no errors, the manufacturers sent them back in the WRONG frames!
Just my luck [...]

February 21st, 2010 | Tags: anti-racism, British Monarchy, cappuccino, coffee shop, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, free speech, glasses, Great Britain, Music, opticians, poems, Poetry, political rally, Politics, Scottish Defence League, SDL, Short Stories, spectacles, Writing | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editorial Comment, Fiction, Poetry, Politics, Scotland, Writing, Writing Process | 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: Macnolete

I sent off the rest of my submissions on my pending list. Stories that have come back from publications, have been turned around and were ready to go back out. I just never got around to it. I seem to get do this in phases but it’s something I should keep on top of [...]

February 9th, 2010 | Tags: characters, Devon Ellington, method acting, Poetry, Submissions, Writing | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editorial Comment, Fiction, Poetry, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a comment

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

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)

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. [...]

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)