WRITE YOUR HEART OUT

This week I've been making a road map of where it is I'm going right now. It's good to take stock of what you've got going on whatever it is you're doing - sometimes the results of such a meeting with yourself are pretty good and sometimes they can be shitty as hell. Either way, a meeting with yourself is usually pretty short and constructive unless you're careless and can't help but distract yourself with umm... a distraction.

If you're about to enter such a meeting with yourself, don't forget - not every day can be an all-time high. All that matters in the end is the work because one day you'll be dust in the wind and you don't want to leave behind a memory of being a miserable bastard your whole life just because things didn't go your way.

Anyway, to begin, I got grilled last week (or was it the week before?) by the guys at Infected Books for the release of The Family Of Noise and you can find the results of that right here. It's tempting for me to ramble on about what I actually talk about there but I'm learning to simply shut the hell up sometimes. Thanks for your time guys. It was emotional.

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Also before I forget, on my travels, I unearthed this gem from Emil at Old London Road tattoo studio. I've seen a few Bukowski nuggets over the last few years but this is great:

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While I was sticking pins in a map, (it's not a real map obviously, but now I think about it, there might something quite neat about hanging one on the wall. It's almost as cool as having one of those glass walls they use on crime shows for pinning up evidence), I came across some great images of St. Mark's Bookshop from when they moved premises last year. Take a look at these because all bookshops should damn well be like this (or at least variations thereof):

That's a thing of beauty right there. The whole shop was worked on by Clouds Architecture Office - if you hit that link, you'll also find some explanations behind the images along with some other great work - even if architecture is not your bag, you've got to hand it to them, that's one happening store.

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It just dawned on me that it's only a week until we do Publish & Be Damned at Waterstones. I actually have my shit together - or at least enough of it that I'm not concerned it will fall around my ankles like a pair of pants with no belt. I'm sad to say, there will be no pyro. I did ask but health and safety in the coffee shop absolutely forbids pyro of any kind. There are a whole bunch of flyers that look like this in store:

Help yourself to a handful and distribute them amongst your friends and neighbours - probably best if they are planning on writing a book but then again, I'll drink coffee with anybody so it's not a prerequisite.

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Currently reading:

...and it's really damn good.

DIABETIC OWLS

My friends over at Infected Books ran me through a great interview last night to support the release of The Family Of Noise and to help give the Waterstones gig a good shot in the arm. We don’t really do the same kind of thing at all but we certainly have the same ethos about getting books out into the world. As soon as they figure out where and when to post it, I’ll hook it up. There were some great questions and I’m pretty sure I was on the ball. It makes a refreshing change being on the other side of the pen that’s for sure. 

I woke up, took Hector out and got back to find a new delivery of books and a little while later, a whole bunch of flyers for things that are going on over the next week or so. The dining room table started to look as if serious industry was happening. Then, serious industry did happen to get things into the mail, culminating in a trip to Waterstones where I dropped off these:

...and sometimes, when you jump into the fire, it doesn’t burn you but simply makes you feel warm - this is what happened today when I handed over my wares and we placed them on the counter right next to these flyers for the brilliant David Sedaris on his tour of the UK:

It’s no big deal. Nothing but some flyers sitting next to each other, right? That’s what I keep telling myself - except I love what this man writes and that makes the whole world of difference. Zoom in, check out the dates, buy yourself a ticket and go see a professional do what he does best. You won’t be disappointed.

PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED: AN EVENT

A few 'pressing items' (read: taxi driver for small person and cohort on a cat hunt) out of the way and this afternoon I finally carved out some time to wrap this: 

Much like designing book covers before I've hardly got a few hundred words down on a page, now the poster/flyer is finished for this, it seems very real and I spent the remainder of the afternoon stuffing The Notebook with some serious information on things to talk about. Turns out I might know a fair amount of stuff... or at least, I think I do. Hopefully, there will be enough people singing from the same songbook to test me out.

If you live in some kind of reasonable radius, come along. If you don't live in some kind of reasonable radius, come along anyway. It will be fun. There will be coffee, revelations and more coffee. It's a Wednesday. There's not even anything good on TV.