3 posts tagged “bitchbuzz”
Did I tell you that I’m going to see Chicago next week for The London Word?
Or that later this month I’ll finally be meeting Cathi Unsworth in the flesh, at an event she’s doing at the Barbican?
I know I’ve mentioned Berlin on here already, but I can’t wait, so I’ll just say once more how excited I am. Fancy black and white photobooth pictures, cocktails at King Kong Club and Vietnamese noodles at Monsieur Vuong’s ahoy. Oh, it’ll be good to be back.
It’s a shaping up to be a busy month. And that’s without all the demands of the day job. But it’s all positive and exciting things that I’ll be up to. Maybe it’s because we’re now we’re almost two weeks into 2009; I can stop being such a scrooge about New Year and get cracking on the good stuff.
I haven’t mentioned yet that Poppycockney has closed. This is sad, and Sian has explained it better than I can over at Sianyland. But I’m not too upset, because during its short life I made some cool and fascinating new friends, and achieved a lot that I’ll be proud to link back to. And it’s closure does mean I’ll have more time to devote to other projects Some of which you’ll find out about soon.
I probably haven’t told you lately how much I loved Francesca Lia Block when I was younger. You can read about that over at BitchBuzz. And I haven’t told you yet what the ideal soundtrack to my life would be, like I promised Sian I would. At some point I will, promise. But not right this second, because I can’t stop listening to my latest obsession: Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen. So, for now, you’ll have to wait. Instead, here's some photos of me posing like an idiot in Berlin. Don't say I don't spoil you.
Welcome to 2009, dear little blog. I hope you enjoyed your first NYE. Personally, I’m not yet convinced by this 2009 lark. It’s still so cold that all I want to do is stay burrowed in many layers of blankets and knitwear. And that term-starts-tomorrow, end-of-school-holidays feeling does not provoke in me one iota of eagerness to return to the office. If someone could please provide me with a paid full-time writing position, I’d take it in a heartbeat. At the moment, however that seems to be unforthcoming. The stuff that dreams are made of. So tomorrow I’ll be battling the grumpy hordes in the morning rush hour to renew my travel card and traipse back into work.
I know I’m being a bit of a scrooge about this. And I am excited about what 2009 might bring. Especially Berlin at the end of this month. 2008 was the first time in four years that I didn’t go to Berlin, so I’m long overdue another visit to my favourite city. My ever-talented housemates have an exhibition opening here in February, and you didn’t expect me to forgo a chance to get in on the action, did you?
But other than that, 2009 is mainly going to be about battening down the hatches, writing, saving, and planning. 2008 was my first full year in London, and I accomplished a lot, but there’s still much to be done. So on that note, I’ll be finishing this here to go and get on with it.
My latest BitchBuzz post, on Virginie Despentes, can be found here. And very soon I should be able to share with you my latest project. But for now, hope you’ve not eaten too many Quality Street, and if you’re back in work tomorrow, you have my utmost sympathy.
So, I haven’t posted for a while. Mainly because I’ve been scuttling around the country and haven’t had much time online to assemble my thoughts into any kind of coherent order. I went to York and Leeds and crunched through the snow with frozen toes. There was a vat of mulled wine, strawberry daiquiris and Sainsburys basics-range brandy. And a lot of dancing, at the awful club we used to go to on at least a weekly basis whilst at university. It’s still the same; sticky-floored, drab and selling fizzy vimto and gin for only £1.50. And for once I managed to keep my heels on until almost two. And I realised I really am lucky to have such passionate and creative friends.
All of my friends living in Yorkshire at the moment are older than me. And I haven’t finished a fanzine since I was sixteen years old. But the idea that my friends still make fanzines, and are still crazily passionate and sincere about music, writing, art and each other is so romantic and idealistic that it makes me dizzy. So I’m glad that the tenuous threads connecting us all haven’t unravelled yet. Sometimes maintaining those relationships seems unrewarding. But the nattering away about nothing in the middle of the night this weekend made it all worthwhile. Even if it was fucking freezing wrapped in sleeping bags with the heating not working.
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In other news and reviews, the latest instalments to my BitchBuzz series Literary Heroines to Love are Anna Kavan and Emma Forrest. Emma was kind enough to field my interrogative questioning with eloquence and grace, so it’s the least you can do to head over there and read all about it.
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A plethora of exciting new ideas are bubbling under the surface of everything I’m scribbling at the moment. To the extent that it’s hard to order my words in a logical fashion. So if I’m not making much sense at the moment, I’m sorry. Bear with me, and all will be revealed. I just need to sit on these eggs for a little while longer. But when they hatch, well. You’d better just watch out.