¦ dialling in from Jesus Mound ¦
18:40 GMT, Sunday 24th Feb 2008. Sitting at the wide expanse of oak table in the cavernous lounge / kitchen; absolute darkness beyond the square lattice panes of the french doors to my left; mum and Jo reclined in chairs by the large cast iron wood-burning stone ahead of me; shadows, candlelight, several small occaisional lamps... all very cosy. The KLF, "Six Hours to Louisiana, Black Coffee Going Cold" is playing on random selection.
Drove up to Newcastle with Jo on Saturday morning. Can't really say why, but... there's a potential dark cloud on the sun-kissed horizon of my world, closer than I ever imagined possible. A phone call last week. Me fighting back tears, stunned, having to bottle it all up, get on with work... running the show whilst my boss is away for the week... then my boss pops in at the end of the day... I can tell him what I'm going through.... we hit a bar... drinks flow... I flux between being upset and angry. But I deal with it. I have too.
It's been a crazy week, even without this. I really noticed the absence of my boss... the workload became insane, but amazingly satisfying and even enjoyable at the same time.
I got an email a few days ago from the organiser of a sci-fi literary and RPG convention, "...would like to invite you as a guest of honour..." My first reaction was utter terror. I've spent so many years as a solitary figure, hunched over a type-writer, then word-processor, PC and now laptop... the idea of having to step into a public arena is initially totally anathemic to me...
But now I'm looking forward to it; hopefully a few friends will come along (ahem!) and give me moral support.
Slow progress with writing last week. Grrrr. However, I sense I could finish next weekend... or certainly by the weekend after. Then a couple weeks of tidying up the formatting - trying to get hold of Amy Armstrong so she can do her thing with images...
...I'm thinking about releasing a beta-version of Shadows of Quantinex, with a significant discount on the proviso that people understand it comes with typos and possible plot flaws...hoping that they'll feedback to me what needs fixing so I can put together a more polished version. Or maybe I'll just hold it back until I've gone through a full play-test with the guys. *shrugs* I'll see how I feel after I've finished.
Zero 7, "When it Falls", just came on via random. Ahh, blisto, what a divine track. Time to refill my glass of wine and go spend some time with mum and Jo by the fire...watching flames flickering in the low light of the room.
Over & Out.
Djr