Blog vs BBQ

I was intending on blogging properly about my launch night, honestly, but fate has intervened in the form of a surprise invite to a barbecue with some good friends, namely James and Louise, and their two little ones.

As an aside, the topic of my musical background came up in conversation with David Torrans of No Alibis the other night, so I thought I might share a piece here. It's an acoustic fingerstyle tune that I named after my friends' first born:

Baby Asa (mp3)

Coming to New York!

As time marches on I'm trying to tick off some of those things on my "to do before I die" list. Today, in a fit of madness, I booked myself a trip to New York. This is something I've wanted to do since I was a kid and I finally found an excuse to squander this amount of money.

And what was the excuse, you ask? Was it that New York is the literary capital of the world? Is it for the art and museums? The parks? The bustle of Manhattan? The Statue of Liberty? No, it was none of those. It was...

The Mighty VAN HALEN!!!

Ahem.

So, David Lee Roth has rejoined the Van Halen brothers for an American tour. I had always thought I would make the trip over to Noo Yoik if that happened, but this isn't a complete reunion. Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang, is playing bass instead of original member Michael Anthony. That was enough to put me off. Until, that is, some rehearsal footage of the band made it onto YouTube. So today tickets went on sale for the Madison Square Garden show. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough, and they sold out while I was dithering about hotels and whether or not I could afford or justify spending this much money. The New Jersey show still had decent seats left, however, and I duly purchased one. Several hours of searching turned up a decent looking hotel in Queens and really cheap flights (£350!). Manhattan hotels are either too expensive or dumps, so Queens it is.

I can justify the expense of paying so much money just to see a concert by pointing out this is a once in a lifetime trip, and like writing a novel, something I've wanted to do as long as I can remember. I haven't had a proper get-away-from-it-all holiday for a few years now. It'll be a chance to recharge myself.

Which brings me to my last point - I'm taking a hiatus from writing and blogging for a while. I've just begun the query process for the last novel, and that will continue, but I need to take a step back into the real world for at least two or three weeks. I spent a large part of last weekend spending quality time with my friends, getting out and about and doing stuff with them. Real world stuff. That's the sacrifice you make when dedicating all your spare time to writing. You sentence yourself to months of solitary confinement. Your life becomes your keyboard and your monitor and your imagination. The blogosphere feeds into that, giving you social interaction by proxy, as a kind of friendship patch you can stick on your shoulder while you stare at your screen and tap your keys. I need a break from that, just for a while.

A large part of the reason is the new Work In Progress. It's only a couple of chapters at present, but it's the strongest premise I've ever had, and possibly ever will have. It needs to be written. But, as I look at it from the shallow end of the process, I find myself wondering if I can face that mountain again. I've proven I can do it twice over, so that isn't the question. The question is if I have the will and the belief to do it again. Without a break the answer is an almost certain 'No'. With a couple of weeks away from the keyboard, and plenty of thought applied to the plot, I think I can come back and start the climb.

In the meantime, here's some Van Halen. I know how much you folks love 'em. First is a compilation clip of them in rehearsal. DLR was described as looking like a gay matador, which I can't argue too hard with, but I only wish I was in as good a shape as these guys are, and the original members have all got twenty years on me...



And here's the Mighty Van Halen in the full flush of youth in 1981...



I just hope to Christ they can make it to November without imploding again...

Mac's Armagh Cider!

I've been having a great weekend, the best I've had for a while. Nina Armstrong and I played two gigs this weekend, one kind of strange, the other fabulous.

On Friday night we played at an upmarket restaurant. This gig was organised by a local promoter and I really don't know what they were thinking. I know if I was having a meal with friends, the last thing I'd want is someone crooning in the corner while we try to talk, no matter how good they were. An unfortunate quartet of geriatrics were seated right under our noses, and Nina and I did our best not to annoy them while they shovelled potatoes between their dentures. Nevertheless, they asked to be moved to another table. I don't blame them.

The gig wasn't a total loss, though, 'cause afterwards I got to hang out with an ex-girlfriend I haven't seen in a while. She's still good company and she still looks hot enough to fry eggs on.

Ahem.

Anyway, yesterday was a much better gig. One of the most fun we've ever done, in fact. It was at a green living festival in Castlewellan Forest Park on a bright and sunny day, and it was great to be in the outdoors, getting sunburned for the first time this year. There were lots of organic food stalls, with all sorts of delicious things. The highlight was Mac's Armagh Cider. I've never come across this brew before, and to be honest, I think Mac (whoever he is) cooks it up in a big bucket, or a bathtub, or a paddling pool, or something like that. It's naturally made from Armagh grown Bramley apples, and by God, it's lethal stuff. Nina's partner James and I had a half litre bottle each, and we were both pissed as farts before we finished them. Later in the day we went back to the stall and bought the little that was left of the stock.

And today has been equally good because I just finished the third draft (and I think final before submissions) of the WIP. Betsy, if you're reading, this is probably winging its way through the ether to you right now. So, it's back to the horrific trials of synopsis writing. Sigh.

Challenge: a 5000 word weekend - Word Count 49,388 (wp) 61,000 (pr)

I started this blog last November when my previous novel was at about 38,000 words (word processor count). By the end of that month I was at 66,000 words. That's fast writing, and my current novel isn't progressing at anything like that pace. During the last novel, when I was at 44,000 words, I set myself a challenge in honour of NaNoWriMo: to write 5000 words in a weekend. It was hard, but I did it. In fact, I managed to write 6000 words.

So, because this weekend will be a long one with the May bank holiday, I'm going to attempt this challenge again. If the current splendid weather continues, I may not be able to avoid some gardening (ugh), but other than that, this weekend will be all about writing. I'm looking forward to it, because a major action sequence is coming up, and after that, it's Act Three - in other words, the shit will hit the fan.

I'm making my announcement a little early 'cos tomorrow night I've got a gig in Belfast, so won't be able to post then. Talking of gigs and music, one of these days I will post something of my other creative pursuit - a piece of music. I'll have to think about which one...