under another sun

Working on poems first thing, and one of them beginning to sing a little. Then a story rejection. Boo! Then into a morning spent with a virtual Keith working on the octopus job. This done by lunchtime, I then wasted hours chasing the disorganised agency I did some work with the other week to find out who to send my invoice to - a process which has taken four days and nine emails, during which I learned I should have been sent a timesheet but wasn't etc.  The process finally clarified, I agreed to work with them again, being booked all next week.  Off then to the Brighton Centre for my 3:50 appointment to get my jab. I would have given it in a heartbeat to Lorraine, of course. Earlier, I posted a picture of Jabba the Hutt on my facebook, and only Beth got it.  The whole business felt a bit like voting: important but with no fanfares or trumpets. Luckily I did not collapse in twitching anaphylactic shock. I felt my privilege thinking of folks in greater need all around the ...

This morning I tipped a full mug of coffee over my desk, into my mac keyboard and into my lap. This necessitated much emergency drying of the keyboard, and keeping it upside down and so on, and mopping coffee off the floor and my desk and changing my trousers and having a shower. Had to resurrect my MacBook air, which is doing its best to cross peacefully over to the other side. Once I'd downloaded the updates, and charged its wheezing old battery I had wasted yet another hour. Did laundry instead.  Managed to do a bit of writing, however. The octopus job back out of its tank and needing attention tomorrow morning. While in another job done last week, nobody in the organisation can say to whom I should send my invoice. This month's income will, if everyone pays, be pretty decent.  Spoke to mum, who was cheery because she received the cross stitch embroidery that Lorraine had made and posted to her last week. A couple of walks during the day and just scraped my ten thousand pac...

The job I was doing on Friday and Saturday has turned into an octopus. Every time I thought it has been poked back into its tank, another tentacle got its suckers on me. This necessitating assorted video, phone and text messages during the day, and bits of writing till evening. I will be able to charge a bit for it but not a day's worth. I was quite productive. On Sunday night I made a list of things to be done, and biffed through most of them, including writing to the solicitor, tracking down the name of people to send invoice to, writing blog posts and doing other bits including listening to the first cut of Robin's interview with Kathryn Maris. I wrote to John McCullough on the same matter. Spoke to Mum, who was delighted with having received one of Lorraine's cross stitch designs, which is a late birthday present. Went for an early morning walk today, instead of my usual post lunch saunter, picking up the threads of Bleak House again. Nice to be mooching in the fresh ai...

Up fairly early for a Sunday as Lorraine wanted to make the most of her last day before going back to work.  We had a saunter down by the sea, and sat on the pebbles for a while listening to the waves and breathing in the air, and throwing little pebbles at distant larger pebbles. Quite busy along the seafront with people walking along taking the air. A very mild day that was even sunny this morning. Growing overcast as we walked however. A lazy afternoon. Lorraine playing with her computer games, I was a tired today, and simply dozed on the sofa for an hour.  Spoke to Pat and Maureen on screen today. Maureen was making an owl in a duffel coat with button eyes and webbed feet. Discussion about the necessity for haircuts. I said I was beginning to look like a mad professor, and Maureen said A mad professor? That's what you are isn't it? Pat showed us the bird house he had been painting. It looked very welcoming.   Otherwise I was looking at an old photo taken of ...

A bit of a lie in with Lorraine sipping tea and reading the paper. Then off to Choice Cuts to pick up some sliced chewy brown. Had to queue outside and enjoy the spelling on the chalkboard: Due to current Restrichons we are being careful ... etc. I like the idea that if you are not certain about how to spell a word, simply capitalise it.  Up and took another couple of hours work on the website copy I had been writing yesterday for the new client. Lorraine happily sorting through clothes and also listening to a talk about education.  Eventually sent this off, and Lorraine and I played MarioKarts, and then had a short walk. In the evening we zoomed with Beth and James and played an epic game of Linkee with them in my study. In a lockdown world, this almost felt like a night out. Good to chat to them. They seem happy, which is heartwarming.  Calliope getting involved on my desk in the evening. 

Up a bit later today, but in time to take my 9:30 briefing from a nice new client called Dan, who Keith and I had worked with a couple of weeks ago. I thought this may just be a simple rewrite, but it turned into a technical job with lots to think through. By four I was utterly braindead and feeling very tired. So I negotiated finishing it tomorrow, Saturday. Manacled to my desk most of the day, but had a short walk, and left Lorraine at the post office.  I did an enlarged walk around the block, and when I got home there was a roofer loitering outside, and I showed him the roof of my study to get a quote. Lorraine had called him earlier today. He had done some work on her school. We had another roofer at the beginning of the week in for a quote too. My study is damp and there is a problem that must be fixed, which is likely to hoover up lots of cash. So it goes.  After I could not work a jot more, I sat in the kitchen with Lorraine, watching her cook and simply drinking a can ...

Up early after feeling a bit worried overnight that I had misplayed the politics on the new job. Began work at 7:30 and I  finished that job at noon. A big oui from the new clients in Paris, so all was well.  Planet Poetry upload day today, and I had to send an unfinished edit to Robin to compete this morning. She did and bounced it back, and I uploaded it this afternoon . Nice to be able to feature Rhona, who I first met in the 80s. Did a bit of work for Pat this afternoon too. He had said it would be a half day, but it ended up being a very small job. Chatted to Mum today, otherwise beginning to feel a big brain dead, as it has been quite a high pressure week. Not ideal as it was Lorraine's week off. Still I am making money, so that is good. Not that I have done much of the billing yet. More Wire tonight, and some cards too. We ate wings in woof woof sauce, or rather the original sauce which is slightly less growly than a traditional woof woof. It was good, although I as ha...

A day slogging on a brief for a new client. Lots of mind maps on this job, which always provide evidence that you have actually been thinking about stuff. A 5.00 meeting confirmed I had done okay. Very pleasant people, called Audrey and Zohra both based in Paris. It was a Microsoft Teams call, but I did not see their faces. Felt pretty relaxed this evening till I got an email at 10:30 from someone I had forgot to copy. Managed to squeeze in a bit of podcast editing, and a short canter once around the park and back streets for a bit of brain aeration. Lorraine and I watching The Wire tonight. It is brilliant, and I have a feeling we are going to watch all of it now. 

A day of being wanted. Begun with reading the stories Tess Jolly had proofed for me. She had done such an amazing job on them. Not only made them all consistent, and corrected my aberrant punctuation and so on, but also the few micro-level tweaks were a bit of a writing masterclass. Wonderful. Wrote a paragraph or two to get Lorraine started on her Parish Church article. Lorraine working from School today as she had to allow in men to do scaffolding. A quick walk about the park before work started. Prepped for the recording I then did with Robin for the podcast. Quite fun talking to her as usual about poems. Spoke to Anton, who wanted to talk about boules among other things. Then to Mum, who the solicitor had spoken to. Late in the day I got a lengthy letter from him. Messages from Toby about another, but cheerful, matter entirely. While recording with Robin I received a call from Val in Paris, with a tiny job that needed to be done quickly. Good to talk to her.  I took a briefing ...

Lorraine off on half term. Sadly we are not spiriting off somewhere. Lorraine decompressing generally, and I worked with Robin recording and then did some podcast editing, and filled in another NDA. Lorraine playing computer games wandering in the glittering caverns of Pode or whacking eyeball monsters with swords. I went for a mooch around the misty hilltop. Much warmer this week. And I was surprised to be texted by by Fernanda, an art director turned creative director I have enjoyed working with a few times, about work starting tomorrow. Unfortunately this did not work as I was already booked for tomorrow.  Below a moody hill fort wall, and the other, less murky, side of the hill.

I took the precaution of going for an early morning walk before work, with the wind keening on me and the hardy dog walkers. A surprisingly gruelling day's work, but by the end of the day we had bashed out three workable concepts for the new brief -- and Keith and I had a couple of chats with Pat and the FB. I am sure that lockdown and the grindingness of these days is making everyday work harder. I can't remembering such a slog to meet a brief for a long time -- albeit a slog condensed into a day. We were scorning some work that showed a patient in Michel's words 'sitting on a couch, smiling because they were alive', this made me laugh. I said I felt I had spent the last ten months doing the same. Luckily it was done and dusted before Lorraine came home, and we enjoyed a delivery curry, which Lorraine had ordered before even leaving work. I drank a few beers tonight. Worth not drinking all week, because it made me enjoy them all the more.  

Another day at the conceptual coalface with Keith. Began to work through some of the difficulties we had run into yesterday, and then presented them on at lunchtime. Turns out the client had moved the goalposts somewhat and this became a bit of a re-brief, which we worked at without cracking it for a few hours. Last thing another meeting with Pat and Michel and a long discussion from which we all emerged with a new direction, which Keith and I are going to progress tomorrow. Working all day on this, without going out or thinking about much else.  Heard from Katie that she was reading Bleak House too. A short fifteen minute walk in the cold at six, and then cooked and Lorraine came home, and we lounged on the gold sofa for a bit watching Sherlock, a series I had not really watched much the first time around. And so to bed. Reading a bit more of S.T. Joshi in bed. He seems to think being dismissive and savage makes him a good critic. It doesn't.

Working with Keith again. Took a morning brief from my chums the French Bloke and Pat on something that proved to be a bit tricky -- and it felt a bit of a slog and I was left with a feeling we hadn't quite cracked it yet. Told the old FB that my dream version of him had looked approvingly on my dream moped.  Happy to be gainfully employed, however. Talk of another job with Keith next week, and at one point we had been booked in for two days, which was then cancelled an hour later. Cue Keith raging about time wasters. In the evening wrote to the solicitor about Mum's neighbour issue, and crossed his palm with silver. Mum doesn't want to inflame relations with her neighbour so I have just asked for his legal opinion on the matter.  A short evening walk listening to a bit more of Bleak House as Lorraine was having a zoom meeting with governors. Dickens' plotting is amazing, considering he wrote the thing in chapters which were published as he wrote them. He began writing ...

Dreaming about owning some kind of moped last night, and was delighted with the novel idea that it could take me places. The dream was set in London and several years ago. I showed it to a dream Michel, and the French Bloke was surprisingly impressed with it.   Lorraine back to work. But started working on poetry and toying with the idea for a new short story which flowed nicely. The wind slightly taken out of my sails with a rejection of Diabolus in Musica from The Fiction Desk, who I was trying out as they publish ghost stories and wanted fiction about music. I was a bit dubious about them before I sent it, and despite receiving the friendliest of generic rejections, I shan't be submitting to them again. Visited Charlotte's blog again , and she has a link to a wonderful talk by Brené Brown called The Power of Vulnerability .  Vulnerability is not something to be avoided. When I interviewed her she said she was trying to write from a place of honesty. This of course exposes y...

A third day of hibernation, with Lorraine having a day off in lieu of the day she will work at school during half term. I have to go outside eventually, as it makes me feel very antsy not walking. As Lorraine was off, I only worked for a short burst, editing the Rhona interview. I contacted her to re record one of the poems as there was a bit of bippety boppety interference in the original I had not noticed at the time. Also did my first spot of billing for 2021, which was cheering -- and I have another smidgeon of work later in the week -- and even the faint possibility of some the following week. Heard from Tess who is kindly proofing some of my short stories. She queried my use of commas. I have  become increasingly sloppy over punctuation over the years. So it is really useful to be able to access her brain on this. Lorraine playing Nintendo games quite a lot today. I joined her playing Mariocarts, which I enjoy, although the multicoloured landscape you zoom through overloads y...

A bit of non-event snow, pictured below. A beast from the east, as folks like to call it. By the time it reaches Brighton it has grown quite tame.   Lorraine and I hibernated indoors, Lorraine phoning folks and playing Zelda. I did a little reading of a book by S.T. Joshi called Weird Fiction in the Later 20th Century on my kindle. S.T.Joshi writes all kinds of introductions to weird fiction collections (and Horror and dark fiction) from Penguin and so on. He thinks Stephen King is a hack and is not afraid to tell you why. He likes Shirley Jackson though, and so do I.  Did not even venture out of the house today, apart from to put some rubbish out. Hibernation.  Spoke to Mum this evening, all well there.  Pictured: the snowflake from the east.

Lorraine cheery as she has three days off this weekend. She jumped on the scales and found she had also lost a kilo.  An indoor day, with Lorraine absorbed in playing on the Nintendo switch and we had a enjoyable game of Mariocarts, where I enjoyed racing through the elaborate primary coloured landscapes.  I also read the short story Type by Matthew Rees, a signed copy arriving in the post this morning. Quite a comic story in many ways. An amusing note from him too. A zoom meeting this afternoon with Sam and Jade who are coming to live in Kenny Towers at the beginning of April. Looking forward to having different faces around, and non furry people to discuss things with during the day. Otherwise a peaceful day with two episodes of The Wire tonight completing series one again.  I have the DVD of all of it, and it is so well written and acted. Makes me laugh that Dominic West and Idris Elba are both English, but are utterly convincing. 

Sauntered onto the scales to weigh myself, as Lorraine and I had a word with ourselves about snacking earlier in the week and have taken back control. I found, when weighing myself this Monday, that I wasn't as heavy as I thought. And since then I have lost another cheeky kilo. Later looked at an app where I have entered my weights and I find that in the last couple of years I have kept a steady 8kg under what I had been maintaining a couple of years ago. Just nudging down a bit now will stand me in good stead.  Up early and getting on with a bit of copy for the job with Keith, then looking at Keith's wee face in a square on my screen as we worked via GoToMeeting, his favoured way of connecting. We'd done the work by midday, and the clients seemed very pleased, and told us we'd work together again. Something pleasing to the ears of the creatures that live in the dark reaches of the Kenny coffers. Even more pleasingly, I was contacted by Pat today, with a smidge to do ne...

Woke up to a note from Matthew Rees who, as befits a  horror writer and editor, always seems to send his emails at around midnight, accepting my story Flytrap. This is another of my old scraps I reworked. Because I am a lot better with prose these days, I find I can transform old material. It's good to know that that former effort wasn't wasted.  Up early and a quick note to thank Matthew and one to Rhona and then I wrote a follow up letter to the solicitor I'd phoned yesterday. Chatting with Mum over lunch and Toby twice this evening on this matter. Also spoke Anton, still losing weight apparently. Sadly no time for a walk today, but popped around the corner to buy bread. That cooped up feeling comes on me strongly, when I can't get out. A day's work with Keith, on a product vaguely related to pharma. Mostly fine, but feeling a tad distracted, not least by cats playing some species of soccer with a tennis ball. Presented the work to two pleasant and bearded clients...

A welcome sense of purpose today --  writing fluently first thing, chatting to Dan, MD of an agency for which Keith and I will be doing a small job later in the week. Felt weirdly good to be signing a new NDA (non disclosure agreement). Doing recordings with Robin this afternoon, the what we are reading section and so on. I talked about Audrey Lorde 's essay The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House . We, at least, have good a laugh when we record these bits.  Lorraine home and we had dinner and played Pode for some time, it is a cooperative game where a fallen star (Lorraine) and a boulder (me) wander about in a subterranean underworld. I get somewhat sidetracked, however, by gleefully throwing myself into abysses and jumping on Lorraine's character's head which makes her squeak. This is strictly speaking not part of the game.  Two strolls today, to get me to my ten thousand steps. Below a bit of black and white business.  

First of February. No pinches and punches, thankfully. I hate January, and am always pleased to see the back of it. Sent off my biographical note to David Longhorn at Supernatural Tales yesterday, and was feeling cheery about the idea of seeing my story The Grieving  published.  Quite a few conversations today, for me at least. Spoke to Keith this morning, about a job it now seems likely we will be doing later in the week. He was raging about his smart lighting, which has gone wrong. No longer can you simply turn a light on or off, but it all has to be controlled via the wifi, and having plugged an ethernet cable into it, the lighting went haywire. I must admit I am far happier with a simple on off affair, but maybe this is a sign of age. Anton called too, it being a new dawn for him, having come off his extreme diet and is contemplating his first drink in a month. A good chat with First Matie, who is having a challenging time. Ian, however, is being a solid as a rock as usual...