mostly david ephgrave

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 li...

Right now, I should be going to bed, but instead I find myself staring at a yawningly empty page. Despite keeping my blog up almost daily for over three years now (an anniversary that snuck by without me noticing), there will occasionally be times when I have little to say. To be honest, I’m surprised to have said so much since I began; you can’t always have something of interest to impart. One thing that was personally notable for me last night was finding out that Bobby Vee had passed away. While I don’t know a great deal of his music outside of the obvious big hits, I actually saw him play once. It was in 1995, when I won tickets to a concert celebrating the 20 th Anniversary of the Paul McCartney-organised Buddy Holly Week, at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, through the McCartney fan club. Looking back, it was a pretty incredible line-up, including the original Crickets, Carl Perkins and Bobby Vee, plus a surprise appearance from Macca himself, who ca...

Today is my two-year daily blog-erversary. Celebrate. Since the 17 th September 2013, I’ve written something for every day. Well, that’s not strictly true: every day bar four . I think I can let this discrepancy slide, as missing four out of seven hundred and thirty consecutive days is still an achievement. (I’ll probably post a few extra blogs before the year is through, to quell my OCD.) For someone with a propensity for giving in, I’m proud I’ve seen it through. It hasn’t been easy. Some days, as ridiculous as it may sound, it’s a weight around my neck. If I haven’t written by a certain time, I get very stressed. Occasionally - in fact frequently - I have nothing to say. I’ll stare at a blank page not knowing how to fill it. Then a picture, tweet or a fleeting thought comes to me, I’ll spin it out and another day is done. So, don’t expect every blog to be top quality. Other days, I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been the catalyst fo...

What would you write a blog about, when you’ve already written 223 this year and 695 in total? Okay, I'm not Richard Herring yet - both in terms of my comedy career or blog output - but I’m not doing badly. I’m proud of myself for keeping it up. That said, some days it can be a bind: a brain searching, empty-headed, what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-write-about-today bind. (Like today, for instance.) It often fills me with dread. This probably sounds ridiculous. It’s a self-enforced deadline; no-one’s holding a gun to my head (or at least that’s what my blog-loving captor wants you to think). The world won’t end if I don’t write something, and if it does, it’s unlikely to be my fault; my laptop has no nuclear capability. I'm worried that if I miss one, I’ll miss two...then three, then four and then five. If I put it down, I may never pick it up – and it's proved so useful, for working up ideas and for keeping my mind busy. I wouldn’t have written ‘…and Ephgrave’...

Some days you don’t want to try to be funny. The main reason I started a daily blog was to keep my brain ticking over and force myself to be more productive. Like most writers and performers, I have an in-built laziness; while I could spend my time being creative, I’d often sooner not. It’s much easier to just sit and be quiet (with an optional biscuit). So far the blog has definitely helped. I’ve always worked best with a deadline – and having self-enforced one every day has encouraged more proactivity. That’s not to say that it isn’t sometimes a pain in the arse. I’ve fired up my laptop on a fair few occasions without a clue of what I should write. I’ll flick through my ideas folder on my mobile (or in the couple of notepads I carry with me) – and sometimes draw a blank. Any time I get stuck, though, I remember that Richard Herring has kept a daily blog for the best part of eleven years – and suddenly the blank page in front of me d...