Last night I took the bus home and it was full of people dressed up to go clubbing, shouting and drinking cider. This morning I woke to grey skies and rain. I walked to work along the promenade and found a lonely remnant of someone's Sunday night.
Wordia word of the day: wound
Today I am on the wordia site, defining the word of the day, wound: ‘the past tense and past participle of wind’.
The wordia project is a ‘visual dictionary’ which features short films defining particular words. Last week I went to the Jubilee Library with Rosy Carrick and Kay Sexton to be recorded for the site. Being filmed was a strange experience. I was very conscious of the stumbles and pauses in my speech, but Rob seems to have produced an edit which makes me sound more fluent than I did at the time. Watching myself on video is a strange experience and I’m more comfortable with it than I expected (although I definitely need a haircut!)
Kay blogs about the afternoon here. Kay defined row (to propel a boat by using oars) and Rosy defined note (a brief summary or record in writing, esp a jotting for future reference). Thanks to Rob Harper for filming and editing, and to Kay for inviting me to take part.
Rosy will be giving a talk on Thursday October 8th on ‘Cannibalism and Love Poetry in Performance’ at David Bramwell’s Catalyst Club.
I’m reading at Short Fuse tomorrow (Sunday 4th October)
In a late addition to the bill, I'm reading at Short Fuse tomorrow. The theme for the night is Tainted Love, and I'll be reading my story 'LIBRARYS'. It's probably my favourite of all the stories I've written, and describes a relationship with a woman who has too many books. 'LIBRARYS' is also very critical about books and the place they have in our lives. It was published in Penumbra a few years back and I read it live for the first time in June. I'm quite pleased with how it worked and I'm looking forward to reading it again.
I'm not sure who else is reading, but the night is headlined by Bridget O'Connor. The night takes place tomorrow at the Brighton Komedia Studio Bar and starts at 8pm. Entry is £8. It would be lovely to see you there!
I'm also reading at Sparks in the Three and Ten this Tuesday – I will add more details about that soon.
Upcoming readings
I've got three readings coming up in the next two months:
23rd September: Glue Velvet I'm reading at Glue Gun 91's David Lynch-themed special. My story (which doesn't have a name) is inspired by Twin Peaks and features a musical soundtrack. I'm very excited about this piece and can't wait to see how it works live. The event starts at 8:30pm in the Victory and is absolutely free.
6th October: Sparks V I'll be reading my short story about vegetarian bondage, 'Meat' at the next Sparks event. I'll publish full details of the night nearer the time.
29th October: Telling Lies – Fear of the Dark. I'm helping organise a Halloween spoken word night at the Marlborough next month. There are some exciting acts lined up, and the night be far more than just another spoken word night. I'll do a full post on this once I have the flyer but, meanwhile, put a note in your diary.
A day-trip to Dungeness
On Sunday, following in the footsteps of the Lost promenade, Joh, Sophy and I made an epic journey to Dungeness. The drive there was fantastic, through some beautiful villages, and Dungeness itself was as flat, desolate, beautiful and as windswept as I'd hoped.
The scenery reminded me a little of a western in places, and the atmosphere was heightened by the people dressed up for a wedding at the lighthouse. Our group might have been a little over-dressed for Dungeness – Joh was asked if she was attending the wedding since she was "all dressed up", and my black jacket apparently made me look like some rock-star.
Here are some photos:
I’m reading at Sparks on October 6th
As the Sparks Blog has just announced, I will be reading at the next Sparks night on October 6th. I assume this will be happening at the 3-and-10 again, but I'll post again when I know all the details. Sparks is a night of flash fiction, with each story illustrated by a specially commissioned photograph. It's a lovely night and well worth a visit. Also reading on October 6th are Tim Wells, Wendy Greenhalgh, Sarah Charsley, Nik Perring and Jon Heath.
New post on literaturenetwork.org: Ideaspace!
I'm a little late posting this, as I've had a very busy couple of weeks. (I'm writing a post about some of the things I've done, but who knows when that will appear?). During the whirlwind my new post was published on literaturenetwork.org. This one touches on ideas, mathematics, plagiarism and magic:
Writers are often asked where they get their ideas. Their answers are sometimes glib – Harlan Ellison once replied “Poughkeepsie” and Neil Gaiman used to suggest ‘from the Idea-of-the-Month Club,’ or ‘a little ideas shop in Bognor Regis’. My favourite reply is one I’ve heard attributed to Arthur Miller: “If I knew, I would go there more often.” Wouldn’t it be something to visit the place ideas come from?
Please click through and read the full thing. I'd be very interested in knowing what people make of this one as it took in some strange topics.
I’m reading at Glue Gun ’91 on September 23rd
I'm very excited that I've been asked to read at the next Glue Gun '91. The theme for the night is 'Glue Velvet' and it will be themed around the films of David Lynch. The night contains 'strobe lighting and scenes of violence'! 'It begins with a clown and ends with a spider'.
I will be reading a new story, set in Brighton, that will unsettle and disturb. You must come along! The night starts at 8:30pm and is completely and utterly free.
Photographs of Brighton
Some photographs from the past week:
The 2009 Morecambe Cross-Bay Run
On Sunday I ran in the 2009 Morecambe Cross-Bay half-marathon. Last year’s race was turned back half-way due to poor weather so I signed up soon afterwards for this year’s race, determined to complete the crossing. The race goes from Flookburgh to Hess Bank directly across Morecambe Bay at low tide. It’s an amazing location for a race, although the lack of scenery means there is nothing to stop the wind.
The race itself was hard work. The first few miles went well as the wind was behind me and I put on a good pace. We forded the river Kent, which was up to my thighs, about 4-5 miles in I think. This slowed the pace down to 2 mph, but allowed me to catch my breath. After that came several miles running into the wind.
While the wind wasn’t as bad as last year, it was still hard and unrelenting. I had to force myself to slow down, giving up the good time I’d made at the start of the race. By the time we reached the 8-mile stage I was exhausted and felt strangely sad – probably because I knew I had another 45-60 minutes left.
My spirits lifted at the final water station, when the route went with the wind for a bit. I stopped for a drink then set off on the final stage. The final couple of miles were into the wind again and I ended up going as fast as I could near the end, just wanting to get the race over with. I was shattered by the time I reached the finish line.
I’m not sure I enjoyed the race, as such, but it was an amazing experience. I was pleased with the pace I set, just over 9 minutes a mile despite wind and water. I came in 111th out of 239 with an offical time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 57 seconds (note that my GPS had the race distance as 12.15 miles)
Below are a couple of photos of the race. In the one taken at the finish line I’m smiling because I’m so happy it’s almost over.
