Confessions of a Creative Writer

So. I’m having an incredibly bad morning, but there have been enough decent things going on that I thought maybe a PROS and CONS list would balance me out. Let us find out!

PROS

Been invited to write reviews for a music blog run by a chap who has a column in a local paper. This is me getting back into music after stopping my radio show on the student station.

Frightened Rabbit tonight, well, a solo acoustic gig by Scott which is all the more special, and then Mogwai on Saturday.

A very good friend of mine is home for a bit which is lovely as I enjoy spending time with her.

Managed to convince a top local photographer to submit for the cover of a literary journal I edit. This, including getting new work by Colette Bryce is a pretty big coup.

My supervisor reckons I’m writing my BEST poetry ever. Read some here.

I don’t pay rent even though I’m 25 and live at home. My contributions to the household include picking up bread/milk/eggs/whatever we run out of during the week.

I’m redecorating my room this weekend.

CONS

IT’S BEEN THREE FUCKING MONTHS AND STILL NO KEY FOR MY OFFICE. It’s an ongoing saga which has involved a massive circle of emails with noone really knowing anything other than ‘it’s still with estates’. I’m worried someone in the office might get annoyed with my bombardment of emails but honestly I don’t care right now, I’m in a shitty mood and I want into my office so I have access to my computer, my books, my desk and somewhere to bloody work.

The break up, and ensuing fallout from said break up.

This included me thinking Wednesday didn’t exist and thereby accidentally standing up my second supervisor.

I have no job, no job prospects, and have £50 in my bank account.

What do you listen to when you write creatively? I can’t listen to anything with lyrics, I think most people would agree with me there. I can write in the quiet, sometimes it is necessary especially with poetry as the rhythms in the music can upset the rhythms of the poem when you read it aloud to make sure it is working they way you want it. Sometimes when you are searching for a rhythm you can find it in what you are listening to. Here is a list of music I listen to when writing:

Peter Broderick - Music For Falling From Trees (album)

Arvo Part - Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten

Philip Glass - Glassworks (album)

Olafur Arnalds - Euology For Evolution & …and they have escaped the weight of darkness (albums)

Max Richter - Infra & Blue Notebooks (albums)

I’m sure most people are not spending their mornings trying to think of adjectives for sheep’s eyes. I do.

This is why I drink.

thetenureitch:

I’m pretty sure I still have too much alcohol in my system to be allowed behind the wheel of a car in an hour and twenty minutes.

 This happened to me once. I had decided to tell the instructor I was feeling dizzy and didn’t feel safe driving, but he called me a half hour before the lesson to cancel. This was good as I was sure the dizzy thing wouldn’t wash when you could smell the booze sweats pouring off me.

powells:

Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin. When made into paper and stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is how divine providence has arranged for secondhand bookstores to smell like good quality vanilla absolute, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us.

Finally, an explanation!

wwiao:

BUT WHO’S YOUR FAV SLOTH IS THE QUESTION!

 SLOTHMIONE SLOTH-JER. OH GOD.