Start!


It’s with some small degree of relief that I can say I managed to get some writing done today.

There was a point when I thought I might not get started. I find if I haven’t got things going by mid-afternoon, I may as well not bother. Strangely for me, creativity works best early in the day, when ideas feel fresh. It doesn’t take long for my brain to get tired and for sluggishness to creep in, plus if I’m edging close to the point when my wife comes home, a self-imposed countdown goes off in my head, and I feel I haven’t got time to make much of a dent on things before she gets back; it’s nice to have the evening free, and not be thinking about work.

I knew all I really needed was some time to sift through my blog for kicking-off points for material, and today I was proved right. I still wound up starting later that I would have liked, but despite this, I managed to make a dent on a couple of things that feel worthy of pursuing, which also scope for linking to some other little ideas. It was nice to approach them without a sense of rush, which never seems to be the case of late; the set I performed at Touching Cloth on Wednesday, for example, was mostly put together that day, with little time for me to learn or polish it. The gig was still useful and I’m glad I persisted with what I’d written, but it would be nice to not waste nervous energy on whether I’ll remember the content and give it my best; all it needed was a tiny bit more time for things to settle and be seen through a little further.

My afternoon was also nice for the fact most of the work was done with my cat sat on my lap. I decided to work from home today as the Wi-Fi connection hasn’t been working at the office of late, and while I don’t always find being at home conducive to good results, it was good to spend the day in comfort and not feel rushed. Hopefully, I can continue in this way next week and get some more stuff sketched out; it’s exciting when you have some sense of the route ahead.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane ...
Read more