Zoo Gun 91

Absurd? Bizarre? Surreal? Avantgarde? I love it when I'm unable to label something. It means it's original.

Yesterday I went to Zoo Gun 91 (normally called Glue Gun 91) hosted by The Young Hanoverians a.k.a. Chris Parkinson/Polymath/Rufus Moonshine & Amy Atkins/Gimley Whipple/Morag (excuse me if I forgot any names).

As I've been to Glue Gun 91 before, I knew it was worth going, even if I only got four hours sleep before, was in a bad mood and was facing a moral dilemma.

Glue Gun 91 is the kind of event that will alter your state of mind. It's impossible to be bored when swans die, bears dance, people have sex with dolphins and when there's a trial because a whale has been bereft of half its body. The housebound house band for the evening was the Land of Pointlessness (see first pic) that performed songs/raps about their cat.

The best moments are not captured in pictures though. I was too busy enjoying myself!

Last week I went to see A Bedroom Farce at Theatre Royal, but the day after I'd already forgotten about it. Glue Gun 91 is a perfect example that you can be thoroughly entertained by (not yet) famous people, and without paying a fortune.

It's inspiring to see how people like Chris & Amy put so much love and creative effort into what they're doing, making props and stage outfits. It's worth coming to Glue Gun 91 just for their original way of announcing breaks and encouraging the audience to clap and cheer.

Currently there's no fixed date for the next Glue Gun 91, but look them up on Facebook and join their group!

Death & The End

Today I woke up feeling a bit like I look in the picture. (The picture is from the morning after a party back in September.) I don't know what brought on this feeling. I've been on a real writing high lately and I really enjoyed last night - went to a Halloween event at the Marlborough Theatre called Fear of the dark hosted by James Burt and Glue Gun91 with special guests Kay Sexton and Bernadette Cremin. I saw a swan and a woman dying on stage. Among other acts there was also a a sinister dog walker, a story about a gang of brutal clowns and a harp player.

Maybe my miserable morning is due too much alcohol. That's not true though - only three pints over the course of four hours.

Maybe my miserable morning is due to spending too much time in my own little bubble writing. That's not true either. I had a great time Saturday with Sue Pearson, walking about in town at the White Night. Sunday I met up with Sue again for our regular "creative meeting" where we encourage each other and exchange ideas. Monday I went to a new event as part of Write Club at the Skiff, hosted by Ellen de Vries and James Burt. Really refreshing! As I'm so serious about my novel work it was nice to do some exercises to get back into play mood. First we wrote for 15 min, then 10, 5 and finally 2 minutes. As inspiration we looked at four different pictures. I found it quite a challenge to write about the abstract ones ...

Maybe my miserable morning is due to that I found out that someone I thought was travelling died before she even left the country ... and that was a year ago. This might be true. I didn't know this person very well, but it still shocked me.

So ... I have to get myself together. The final feedback on Replacing Angel has arrived from my editor (who was one of the people in the show yesterday!). I've worked on the first two thirds, so that leaves me with the third third - the end. I'm happy with the end, but again there are some gaps to be filled in. I need to write about a bittersweet goodbye. And one of the characters who's in the background most of the story now needs to get a lot of space - as she plays an important role in the end ... Apparently I also need to work on my sex scenes ... Tough as my interest in sex is as big as my interest in the life of frogs at the moment.