14th & 15th April

The Obsessive Diary

Yesterday in a conversation with

Erica Drayton

I said nobody notices if I don’t write this diary except Jacobi who dm’d me yesterday saying, wot no diary but as I spoke, up popped messages from people watching the LIVE feed saying, I do! I do! Which came as a surprise. Because here I am just rambling on, saying any old thing that comes to mind. That’s the practice. To pour out the mind onto the page; a diary made public, sort of public, half for those who invest in my world, a paywall that says, You don’t have to read this unless you really want to. It is for me and my friends, my way of keeping up with them even though it’s them keeping up with me. But when we speak on the phone there’s a shortcut. They know what I’ve been doing. I get to hear about them instead.

Before we get to that, a little housekeeping. I’ve just read a proof copy of The Two Roberts by my friend Damian Barr. I’m claiming him as my friend though we hardly know each other really, but in the realm of the world wide writing community, he is a champion of the arts. He has supported me and though he’s a pretty big deal and super successful and I don’t feel he needs my support in the same way, we all need recognition for the work we put in and he has put in some mighty work. The novel is great. You can read about it here and preorder your copy. It’s a love letter to Bobby MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, two artists of the Glasgow School who fell in love and charged their worlds with the torrent of each other, their talent, the forces they were up against. I’m hoping to interview him here, though as yet he’s not on Substack and it may be a platform too far. He’s already active in a million other places. We’ll see.

Also, my chat with Erica is available now recorded if you missed it yesterday. She has a brain the size of Jupiter and a heart to match. As usual, I pull some stupid faces.

Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve been doing.