Red Pen Marks

Image: Library

Wee bit of a catch-up required today since I’ve been in absentia these last few days:

Thursday Evening
I got some nice goodies for my birthday this year: new clothes, and as well as £50 worth of book vouchers, I was given The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry, Death of a Ladies Man by Alan Bissett, The Sopranos by Alan Warner and my copy of There are Little Kingdoms by Kevin Barry finally arrived in the post. Some great reading there!

I went for a birthday dinner with my wife and daughter at Pizza Express (where else?) down on The Shore at Leith. Despite the restaurant substantially changing its menu, I was still able to order my favourite dish now removed thanks to a very kind and accommodating chef. The Siciliana  pizza has ham, artichoke, anchovies, black olives and a thin layer of cheese, which makes it, in my opinion, the most delicious of pizzas.

Afterwards, due to babysitting problems and Guide commitments, I met up with my mate @TheRealDaveG who accompanied me to the Fun Lovin’ Criminals gig at the Picture House. We sank a few beers in Leith first before heading into the gig. We stayed at the bar all night but since it’s not that big a venue so we still got a great view of the stage. I made a video, cut it together, gave it a title, and loaded it onto YouTube all from my iPhone—how cool is that? Scroll down to the bottom of this post to view.

Friday
I had to take Friday off to look after a sick little girl, but with a tickling of a hangover still mulling around that turned into not a bad thing in the end. By evening she (and me to an extent) were both feeling much better, and with my wife on a work night out we took advantage of the television lying doing nothing to watch a film and order a pizza (yes, two in two days!) I’d recently ordered The Goonies, a film Laura had never seen before and I’d not seen for over 20 years – what a riot we had!

I had a short story published this day! LETTING GO was published by Open Wide Magazine, a paying lit-mag with a massive reputation and that I’d been trying to get into for some time. I’m delighted they chose my story because it’s one of the new breed of short fiction I’ve been writing with a focus on clearer-cut description. It’s also my first short fiction publication in a magazine that charges, so you’ll have to buy a copy at £1 if you want to read it.

Saturday
Most of the day turned into a Daddy-Daughter Day. We headed into town early’ish and went clothes shopping. I wanted to get a new pair of shoes, jeans and a couple of new jackets. I got everything except the jeans; I couldn’t figure out what type of jean to buy—all too complicated so I left that one till later. My daughter’s now at an age that she can actually help me make purchases so I might take her more often to get my clothes.

Once we were done trying on hats in BHS we headed round to the coffee shop and bought coffee, hot chocolate and a couple of delicacies from their cake selection. I had a read of the paper and Laura her new celebrity magazine. She’s turning into a right sleb fanatic.

Later, my wife and I had a rare night out; rare as in it was the first full night out alone we’d had in quite a while other than our anniversary, and rare also in that it was a cracking night out. We went back to The Shore in Leith for a few bevies, our chosen establishment The Ship on the Shore pub. We had a couple of hours to talk and drink, before we headed the few short yards down the road to Fishers Bistro, a top notch seafood establishment.

We shared a delicious meal. Over a bottle of carefully selected white wine (!!) I had the tuna with pesto and pine nuts to start followed by the plaice with a side of vegetables for my main. I couldn’t eat the vegetable side; what with the bread and small bowl of marinated olives I’d nibbled before and in between courses, by the time I walked out I was stuffed fuller than a prime ripe haggis.

The night came to a close at The Waterline pub where a guitarist was playing popular tunes till closing time. We sank a few more drinks before heading home.

Sunday and Monday
Spent working. Most of the time was devoted to working on my manuscript GREENER IS THE GRASS, and I finished the final page late last night. 180-odd pages of red pen marks now need to be entered into the final draft on my computer and it will be good to go.

I’m really proud of the story, the concept and how I’m moulded it. For a novella it’s taken time to get it to this stage but I think it has a lot of potential.

Today: Working the red pen marks!

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Until tomorrow, peeps! Here’s the Fun Lovin’ Criminals to see you out!