The Baillie Bugle

As I lie here in bed, my laptop whirring away happily on my knees, I survey my life, my room and my todo list…

Back to back I watch film biographies of artists I admire – men who really made a mark or a difference to the world through their work: Wilde (Oscar), Man On The Moon (Andy Kaufman) and Lenny (Bruce). These guys have been an inspiration to me. And I hope that absorbing these dramatised versions of their lives in such a concentrated fashion will spur me on to aim for similar greatness.

My bedroom is a mess. I know this usually means that I’m beginning to lose the plot– working too hard or not hard enough. I wasn’t sure how much of a break to take between my last IT contract and putting my nose to the wheel on my writing projects. I think my hand is being forced and it has to begin this week.

I have three Future Shock scripts on my hard disk waiting to be finished, printed and posted. Twenty one Finale files to be PDFd and sent to the printer, and three covers to be resized and sent to the publisher. Around five hundred comics to be folded and stapled for Comics 2004 in Bristol this weekend. And a ninety page graphic novel waiting to be illustrated.

I have trips to Ireland, Scotland and Cyprus to organise, and three sets of washing to do.
I have to replace the inner tube in the front wheel of my bicycle and shave my head.
I have to phone my mum.
And sort out that credit card that promised me a free flight.
And read Cerebus.

I’m sorry if none of this is of any interest to you whatsoever – but it’s been a great help for me. When things are committed to paper (or in this case used stored on magnetic media thousands of miles away, on the other side of the globe) they become more real. And when these things are part of a todo list that means they really must be done.

Anyway – I have another hour or so left of writing in me and then I can get some sleep. Maybe Lenny, Oscar and Andy will speak to me in my dreams tonight and help me out with some motivation.