worded.

I spent an interesting Saturday night with fellow writers Steve Finbow, Melissa Mann, David Oprava and Joe Ridgwell. There was much drinking and discussion of the literary urge, although because of the former I recall little of the latter. I think some of it has perhaps sunk in, subconsciously.

My short short, "The rest is harvest" just went up on elimae.

I'm quite chuffed.

You can find it here.

I'm reading "Something Three" at Sparks in Brighton tonight. Venue: Upstairs at the Three and Ten. Starts: 8pm. Price £5 on the door.

Also reading (or being read) are Steve Finbow, Melissa Mann, Sara Crowley, Joel Willans, Jo Horsman and Anna Britten.

A neat twist on the usual reading setup is that a themed image will be projected behind the reader for each story. I think I caught a glimpse of mine on Jo H's Facebook the other day but I can't be sure...

It's National Poetry Day and my poem-of-sorts is up on Ink Sweat & Tears...

http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/10/9/39226...

...a short short short of mine, is online at Six Sentences...

http://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2008/10/six-by-six-issue-1.html

...in a dinky little animated magazine with turning pages.

I've had a revelation.

Namely,

I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to this writing lark.

This comes as no surprise.

I've spent years making excuses for myself, writing very little, then wasting energy being jealous of other writers' successes. Well I suppose it was one way to occupy my mind.

I've been without a dedicated writing space for some time. There's a room to the front of the house that is all but ready for me; it's almost square, two metres wide by two metres-ish long. Painted white (a blank page cubed, if you will), it's in need of a floor and rendered unusable by ten years of accrued junk piled high around its walls.

In the meantime I scratch out corners and surfaces for myself throughout the rest of the house. On the bed, in the living room (only one corner does the job), in the back room.

According to this, AD39 was a common year which started on a Thursday.

According to this, Pier 39 is a shopping centre and tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco. I think I may have seen it in films.

39 is the ANSI and DOS character code used to display an apostrophe.

It is a prominent number of steps in a certain novel.

The piece I read at Tales of the Decongested (Foyles, 27th June) is online here.

Enjoy. Perhaps. If it's your thing.

Otherwise don't.

Until recently, I was a member of an online writing group. I had been for years. But I had to leave. It was driving me quite stupid.