Facing Friday – Back to Work

Hello there, and welcome to a brand new year! Hopes all shiny and fresh, the smell of new pencils and good intentions heavy in the air… Horrible, isn’t it?

As part of a new year’s resolution to blog more/generally pull my thumb out of my arse and become a Big Deal Writer I am cataloguing the weeks with a Friday round up this year. Until at least Feburary 3rd, probably!

Let’s begin –

I read

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel BLOODY HELL this book is amazing. It’s a post-apocalyptic narrative (my favourite) revolving around a group of traveling shakespearean actors (YES) as they wander around the husk of America, getting aggressed by villians and creepy cult dudes (perfect). This is a very clever book – lots of things to get your teeth into and discuss, lots to spot and point out and talk about over wine. My favourite thing about it was that, rather than charting the collapse of society and making you feel all hollowed out and hopeless (looking at you, The Road), Station Eleven tells the story of a society starting to rebuild itself. It’s hopeful, brutal, gripping and beautiful.

Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown A romp through various Derrenish things, like memory improvement, card tricks and how easy cold reading is and how it definitely doesn’t make you pychic. Lovely strong voice, interesting facts, a few really helpful looking techniques I’m going to go back to (relaxation help, phobia reduction and memory improvement, notably). Impressive, not the normal TV show cash in at all.

I watched

Oliver Twist at the East Riding Theatre Just over a year ago my Mum and some other Beverley eccentrics opened a theatre and now it sells out EVERY TICKET for the Christmas shows, bloody hell. Fun and evocative. I was not even momentarily bored, and this was the second time I’d seen it. It’s over now, so you can’t watch it, but if you’re a Yorkshire reader, do book early for Christmas next year, it’s well worth it.

Tattoo Fixers, Channel 4 The new First Dates, for sure. Idiots with penises inked on them come to Shoreditch so some real tattoo artists can roll their eyes at them for hours, then draw a massive rose over the top. Genuinely lovely. <3 <3 <3 Paisley.

I wrote

Not a lot! I tweaked and rehearsed some group poems to be performed at a slam at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow (ooooh!). And I submitted my litte baby novel to five agents – a big and terrifying step. I sent them off on Wednesday but confusingly I haven’t won a Booker Prize yet? So maybe the emails got lost somehow, I don’t know.

I did

A shitload of admin 🙁 this was meant to be the third post this week…

Paul and I went back up to Yorkshire last weekend to see our friend’s baby get christened, which was just lovely! I’d never met him before, as the family live in Vietnam – and by the time I next see him he’ll be two! Time goes FAST.

I have been doing Jillian Micheal’s 30 Day Shred this week – I’m currently on day 6. The jury’s out. Obviously getting out of bed half an hour early and doing sit ups is extremely annoying at the time. But when you’re done, it makes you feel VERY smug. Almost worth it smug. The jury’s still out a bit.

Also, I am back on healthy eating with a vengeance, so it has been all ryvita and warming vegetable stews around here. Obviously not as good as eating papa johns so much you have in-jokes with he delivery man, but definitely makes you feel better.

My Face

 That’s it! How was your week, guys?