Brrr! A storm is howling down the street outside but I’m tucked up in bed with the internet, contemplating toddling downstairs to make a coffee. Life’s tough in the decadent west.

I’ve been spending the last week working on edits for my novel. If it seems like I’ve been working on it for ages now, that’s because I have. A few years of work have gone into it. It’s easily the biggest project I’ve ever attempted. I’m pleased with how it’s shaping up. I think you’re going to like it.

The editing’s going to have to go on pause for the next few days, however, as I desperately try to prepare material for my gigs on Wednesday and Thursday. I am dead nervous. I need to come up with poems and everything. Argh. Anyway, here they are:

This week, I have two gigs in London.

On Wednesday the 30th, at 8pm, I’m doing Homework at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Our monthly literary cabaret club is back, and this time the theme is ‘transport’. We have some sweet guests, plus me, Luke Wright and Joe Dunthorne.

On Thursday the 31st, at 8pm, I’m doing Tongue Fu at Rich Mix (just round the corner from Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, as it happens). It’s a death-themed show for Halloween, and I’ll be talking about my experiences visiting poets’ graves this month.

Be lovely to see you at either. Don’t forget, if you’re a good, kind person and you want to support me and make me feel happy in my heart you can sign up to my monthly newsletter. Once a month, a prompt, businesslike email will let you know whether I have a gig in your area, give you links to a bunch of free work by me, and basically thank you for helping out a jobbing writer trying to make his way in the world. Your hair looks nice today, by the way.