I was part strict teacher, part reprimanded student. It felt good.

I'm convincing myself that not having posted anything on here since the 19th of June is in fact a good thing, because all my efforts must have been going into other areas. And this is true. But: the 19th of June?! That's scary. I knew I hadn't been on here for a while, maybe a week, but not nearly a fortnight. Ugh.

Anyway, things have been really good. Other than the weather. I've written over 10,000 words now, which, having looked back on last night, is in parts good and in parts 'why the hell did you write that?' But it's there to be worked with, I guess. Also, have been in touch with my MA tutor, who was encouraging and positive about the work I sent to him, so that made me feel really motivated.

Other than work, I haven't really been up to much. I've got myself into a routine of going to the gym in the morning every other day, then going back and doing work. Oh, and I've learnt that I work better if I put ear-plugs in, the ones that you use on a plane. But I had a bit of a fright using them on Saturday night. I was sat at my desk, which is right next to the door into the garden and public footpath. Anyway, I heard loud 'bang, bang, bang,' on the door. I thought it must be my housemate having locked herself out. She must have been knocking for a while, I thought as I pulled back the curtain. But, no, it wasn't my housemate, it was a really drunk woman carrying a bottle of vodka who couldn't really string a sentence together. It turned out she was looking for the house on the corner in a row parallel to mine, so I took her down the road. And that was that. Oh, and then I was treated to an impromptu firework display. Literal fireworks, not a blazing row.

Yesterday, I have to admit, I did absolutely nothing until about 10pm. I read the paper from Saturday, I started reading a really good book (Eat, Pray, Love - my favourite line so far is, 'I sounded so surprised, as if I'd seen a camel using a payphone. I just like the image), and I watched about four episodes of The Office. Oh, and I went out for a bit with Devi. Then I decided enough was enough and sat down to re-read my first two chapters and made a point to be as critical as possible. So now about 80% of the text is highlighted yellow where I've inserted comments such as, 'Awkward. What are you trying to say?' and 'Cliche,' or, 'REPETITION.' I was part strict teacher, part reprimanded student. It felt good.

So, that's that for the time being. Now I'm off to the gym. I feel like a regular there now. In fact one of the men who's always in front of the mirrors with the free weights started a conversation with me the other day. But the (awful) music was so loud, I couldn't hear him and so just nodded. I could have been agreeing to anything. Still, nice to be friendly.

xx