Where do you write?
Rethinking my options
IN BRIEF:
Next Saturday - 16th May, 9am-5pm, Norwich Forum, the Norwich Indie Book Fair. I’ll be there, along with 42 other creatives, so come along and buy some books!
New outlet for short stories. Thanks to Silvano Stagni for this idea, but I’m now starting to put some of my short stories up as downloadable PDFs on my Buy Me A Coffee page. There’s only a couple so far, which for full transparency have previously been posted on here, but there will be more. They are FREE but by using that platform, I have the ability to make them Pay What You Like, so if you feel a tip is appropriate, you can.
And speaking of money, you may notice that I have reactivated the Paid Subs feature on my Substack. I have no intention of making any of my posts Paid-Subs-only, and while I have now turned on the Auto-paywall, I’ve set it at a generous year period, so posts will only disappear behind the paywall after they’ve been available for 12 months. In other words, Paid Subs get you next-to-nothing - it’s not a transactional thing but a supporter thing. If you want to help out with some of the writing plans I’m brewing, this is another way you can do it. But there is absolutely no obligation.
ON WRITING:
I’m a home writer, always have been. In what feels like divine providence, our dining table and chairs, bought years ago on aesthetic grounds, actually fulfill the basic requirements of an ergonomic set-up for myself. I.e. thighs parallel to the floor, feet are flat, back supported, shoulders relaxed, elbows at 90-degrees and monitor at my eyeline. It’s like we somehow knew that, years down the line, I’d end up writing ten books sat at it.
I’ve never been a coffee shop writer; the idea never appealed. Even once you get past the mortifying, performative self-aggrandisement of advertising your chosen hobby in public…
…there’s all manner of practicalities that put me off. Things like power and internet connectivity, yes, but also things like not being able to control the background noise, and having to pay for your coffee.
Yet, if I’m honest, and as you may have noticed, I’m a delicious paradox when it comes to things like others’ perception of me. The extroverted introvert; the king of “Look at me! Don’t look at me! But look at me!”. While I’m mortified at the idea of doing something as pretentious as writing in public, I’m also secretly thrilled by it.
I’ve partaken of the NCW’s Writers’ Room a couple of times, which has been interesting. Facilities are good but… I was going to say “but basic”, then it struck me that, of course, basic is good. It’s a distraction free environment, which is precisely the point. A desk, a water cooler and quiet. What more do you need? The only reason I don’t use it more is because it’s only available Thursdays and Fridays, which are working days for me. But if you need a quiet space to get some focused writing done, it’s perfect.
Last weekend, though, a writer friend of mine1 and I met up for coffee and some writer-chat, and she suggested we bring our laptops and actually do some writing. And while I had all the afore-mentioned doubts, I also had that frisson of excitement at the thought of being one of those writers. The coffee shop writer, the public intellectual. I mean, bleurgh. But also, Mmhmm.
And I have to say, it surpassed my expectations in terms of productivity. Even with the Gaming activities in the Forum’s Atrium, including during our time the drawing of a raffle and announcement of some manner of prizes, and the general kerfuffle of a busy coffee shop, we got our heads down and put in a good hour and a half of solid writing. I managed not only my daily two hundred words (currently up to 14k), but also a prologue for the Ray Adams novel I’m proof-reading at the end of the month and the first draft of a new short story set in the same world as Greyskin…2 Not a bad session’s output, I’d say.
I don’t think I’m ready to fully embrace the world of the coffee shop writer just yet, but it was notable how enjoyable the experience was sharing it with someone else. There was a feeling of mutual productivity, a shared joy in just writing that fuelled the creativity. I may not be heading out with my laptop every chance I get now, but I do hope Jax and I can turn it into a semi-regular thing. Maybe it’s good to mix things up once in a while.
I also had an opportunity recently to attend the launch event for Waterland Books’ The Sea, The Sea, the anthology of Norfolk & Suffolk coastal writing that Waterland Head Honcho Cam Self kindly invited me to be part of. Held at Norwich’s wonderful Slice + Dice, it was a great opportunity to hear some of the contributors read some of their pieces and to chat to some of them. Delighted to catch up with Jess Streeting, author of the remarkable Sea-Change, and to finally meet graphic designer & photographer Nick Stone, who I’ve followed on socials for years. Nick was photographing the event, so vanity dictates that I share this picture he took of me as I watched one of the poets.
Good lookin’ fella, ain’t he. I’m very much hoping that this isn’t the end of my involvement with Waterland; we’re already talking about a contribution I might make to a forthcoming title. Keep your fingers crossed for that one.
I have enjoyed:
Indiscretion of an American Wife - The American wife in question being the delightfully charming Jennifer Jones, who’s indiscretion comes in the form of Montgomery Clift, playing Italian. Clift hated the movie, the filming was marred by disputes between the American and Italian producers, reviews aren’t kind, and yes, admittedly not much happens. Yet I was charmed by the way it was put together. Jones is fleeing a brief affair to go back to her mundane life, complete with husband and child. Clift pursues her to the train station, and the entire film plays out, in real time, the gap between her not bringing herself to get on one train and deciding whether or not to take the next. It’s rather beautifully shot, and the IRT conceit is well-handled.
She’s not wearing her gloves! Shameless hussy. Se7en - Parking the ethical dilemma of watching movies starring alleged abusers3, there’s no denying that Fincher’s sophomore directorial effort is a masterclass in atmosphere. Everything from the soundtrack to the constant rain feels perfectly judged, and Freeman, Pitt and Paltrow all deliver. Fincher manages to create a feeling of an utterly broken city with just a few lines of dialogue and that relentless rain more efficiently than most big screen Gotham portrayals and there are, of course, some unforgettable set pieces. All together now…
“What’s in the box??” Final Destination - In which Simon from The Inbetweeners, played here by Devon Sawa, has a premonition on a plane right before take-off that it’s going to explode, causes a right old kerfuffle that sees him and six others removed from the flight, only for the plane to then explode as they argue in the terminal. From there, you know the drill; plans thwarted, the characters find themselves being bumped off in increasingly bizarre/hilarious ways as Death seeks to re-instigate His/its/the natural order. Stiffler’s in it and isn’t even the most charmless obnoxious high school kid on screen, Ali Larter is still hawt and the film, in its early stages at least, manages to truthfully portray the seven as experiencing genuine trauma, not just horror-movie-style wisecracking terror.
“Get out of my way, Neil, I think I just saw Carly get on the plane! Dhaba at Fifteen - local curry house I visited for the first time recently. I’m no expert, but the curry veterans I was with all mentioned how different and interesting the menu was, and the food was sensational.
You can buy It’s Hard to Tell You This, Parallels, and Greyskin directly from Deixis Press. Playtime’s Over is published by Propolis. All should also be available from all the usual places, online and off.
Ray Adams’ self-published books are available from Amazon, until I get around to finding a more ethical alternative, or out of my garage.
I also review books on my website, most of which are available through my affiliate book shop on uk.bookshop.org - it’s a great alternative to certain online leviathans owned by Trump-supporting billionaires, and supports independent bookshops. Affiliates also get a % of books sold through them, so if you buy something from them, I gets paid...
The remarkable JM Burgoyne, whose novel Writer is utterly superb.
After marking the three year anniversary of its publication on Facebook, I had more than one person suggest they were interested in me revisiting the world so, um, watch this space.
Interesting how Spacey’s become the poster-boy for unproven creepiness, yet Pitt can allegedly throttle his own kid on a plane and nobody seems to be interested…
Am enjoying picturing a Final Destination - Inbetweeners film mashup!
Well done on conquering the awkward and embracing the variety, they say it's the spice of life.