Back from Holidays

So we just got back from a week at our house in Spain. We bought it a few years back; We moved out lock, stock and barrel with the idea of starting a school. However things didn't work out. We gave it six months before lack of income (zero income) forced us to return to Dublin (and the podcasting of One Among the Sleepless).

This time I took my laptop and started writing as soon as we arrived. I find the sunshine and change of environment very stimulating. And then, just to take things to a whole new level of stimulation, we went to Marbella for a few days to a lovely apartment that overlooks the beach... which was nice.

My wife spent most of her days relaxing around the poolside. I spent most of mine slaving over a hot laptop. The above picture was taken after an all-day session that resulted in 4 and a half thousand words. Novel 2 is now almost finished in its first draft. I've taken another week off work to sit in our brown apartment in Dublin and hopefully push it all the way to the end. And then I can go back to the beginning and start the re-writes, of which I know there'll be many... and then some.

Back to Blogger

I've decided to come back to Blogger for my routine life-type blogs, I've been using the blog facility at www.MikeBennettPodcast.com, but it seems inappropriate to have me talking about funfairs and winning singing contests on the front page of my podcast site. Or is it? I don't know. Anyway, my cousin and her boyfriend are visiting at the moment and we have been out and about around Dublin. Here's a picture of my cuz and I on a cliff edge in Howth.

I haven't been writing much lately as I've been on a cliff edge in Howth, amongst other places, but I hope to get back to my normal (erratic) schedule soon. I'm on holiday next week, off to Spain and taking the lap top with me to write in the evenings. Now how's that for devotion to the cause?

Give Me a Hundred

I've been off work this week, 'work' being writing and podcasting. I've been hosting a cousin and a friend who came over to visit. We had a jolly time, but now it's back to the job in hand. The first matter on the business agenda is getting the new Hall of Mirrors episode up.

On the last Sometimes, I mentioned the possibility of doing older stories that weren't horror. People have been very encouraging about my doing so, and so I've recorded the very first story I ever wrote (excluding the things I wrote under duress in school). 'Give Me a Hundred' is that story and I hope to post it inside 24 hours. That may not happen though, as builders are tearing up our apartment tomorrow and for several days to put in a new heating system. It's tough enough recording when a bird is singing or a bus goes by, a pneumatic drill is an altogether different pain in the arse.

In other news, the novel has also been neglected, but I'm getting back into the thought process as we speak. I have a technique: I record loads of songs for the soundtrack of the non-existent movie of the film of the non-existent book, and it psyches me. I've been playing this soundtrack for the last hour and I'm ready to get back in the saddle just as soon as I get Give Me a Hundred online. What is that soundtrack? Here's some of it:

Matt Monroe - I Will Wait for You
Soy Marco - Alberto Iglesias
Killing Joke - Invocation
Second - Segunda Vez
Garbage - Crush
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Carl Orf - O Fortuna
Marilyn Manson - If I was Your Vampire
Nine Inch Nails - The Four of Us are Dying
Leonard Cohen - A Thousand Kisses Deep

It's like a wheatgrass, Red Bull and lighter fluid cocktail for the uninspired mind because it summons the scenes that in turn summon the words that will hopefully fill the book. Aspiring writers - try it: envisage your movie; add your soundtrack; write your book.

Pain in the Ass
This is the chair I sit on all day while I write and waste time on the internet doing things like this. It's uncomfortable. Why don't I get a new chair? Because there's not enough room in the apartment with all the chairs that come with the apartment. I've got five of these things cluttering up the place - and they're all as uncomfortable as each other (I suppose because they're a sinister set). They come with the table I write at. It's round. Things are always falling off it. Damn furniture.

Sometimes 4: The Masque of the Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe's classic story is the latest piece of classic literature to find its way into Mike Bennett Sometimes. If you're not familiar with the show but are a lover of Poe, to download this free audio mp3 file, click here:

Sometimes 4: The Masque of the Red Death

This will take you direct to the mp3 which you can listen to live or download by clicking 'save' in your browser menu. You'll hear the reader, me, wittering on for a bit, then the story starts after about 7 minutes.

If you're not (strictly) a Poe fan, but a person who enjoys my podcasts, the whole process needs no introduction.

Music comes from A Band Called Quinn.

I hope you enjoy it.

Hot Sexy Pics of Jason Andrews' Fridge

Yes, Jason Andrews shares with me - and so with you, the contents of his fridge.
This fridge is in Japan. No mango chutney in there, alas. But that pink stuff on the bottom shelf likes interesting. Any more fridges anyone?

Hot sexy pics of my fridge

Mango chutney, cucumber, half a loaf of bread, lecithin granules. Whoo-hoo, you wouldn't want to get the munchies round at my place tonight.