Every other week for about a year now, I’ve been meeting up with my friend T, another poet, and we read each other’s stuff and offer criticism. I have found this colossally helpful. I can lie to myself forever, but I find very difficult to explain to T that I’m rubbish and I haven’t written anything for a fortnight because I was really busy watching Tool Academy. So difficult, in fact, that actually sitting down and doing the bloody writing becomes the path of least resistance, so I do it. Then we go to a cafe and have a nice chat and create rewarding associations to reinforce the work we’ve done, creating some sort of massive positive feedback loop of joy. Or something. Whatever. Writing can be very lonely sometimes. Everyone needs a team mate.
The meeting is treat enough in itself, but today was also the day I got my free drink at the end of the loyalty card. You know the rules. I got the most expensive thing they had. Behold the Holy Cow – Hot chocolate where half of it is milk, and the other half is STEAMED ICE CREAM.
Looking at that picture again made me sad I am not still drinking it.