Month: July 2021

As I’m sure some of you will have noticed, the regularity of Scruffy Theory has dropped off in recent months as I have found other commitments intruding on my time. Between October & June I was completing the third module of my part-time BA in English Language and Literature, & so that took up an awful lot of my spare time. Sporadic blogposts did appear in those months though, most memorably, perhaps, The Mark E Smith Guide To Writing Guide, of which I am quite proud, and the tail end of the Chaotic Neutral series of my Song of the Day posts. Today I received my results for said module & am pleased to announce that I achieved a Distinction, so the hard work and blog neglect was potentially worth it. The next module begins in October.

In addition to this I have just taken on a freelancing job as a transcriptionist, as well as my manual day job. This takes up a lot of my time.

As a way of dealing with the time constraints faced, I am planning on broadening the scope of this blog to encompass some of my other interests. This broadening of horizons, I hope, will allow me to produce, perhaps fewer, but better, bigger pieces. I may, in the future, write posts about my experiences as a transcriptionist (while careful not to violate the non-disclosure agreement I was required to sign), my new found love of eScooters, & even some poetry & fiction that I am currently writing. I’d love to hear what regular visitors would think about these broadening horizons. Would you be happy to see fiction and poetry here? Or should I keep things like that in my other blog, Slow News City, despite it being a basic account and non-monetised? I simply cannot afford to upgrade a second account to Premium at this time.

Broadening horizons aside, one new series of posts I have been thinking about is one which explores the songs from the genres I love, & love writing about, which could be considered part of the genre’s canon. I’m planning to begin with Indie music, as that has been the main focus of this blog for most of it’s existence, but I am also looking at songs for Hip-Hop and Electronica series too.

Anyway, I’ve rattled on long enough for this post, & like I said I’d love to hear from you in the near future with any suggestions or ideas regarding the future of this blog & perhaps even ways of efficiently managing my time too.

Watch this space.

Tom

P.S. I’d like to take this opportunity to shout out to three of my friends who have sadly passed away this year.

Firstly, the excellent poet & storyteller, Adrian Spendlow (whose great blog can still be found here). A warm, loving human being who my partner & I greatly enjoyed spending time with. I will always remember how he loved to order the Pint of Prawns meal from one of our favourite food pubs, The Masons Arms. Sadly, I didn’t see him in his final year as he’d moved to America around a year before he passed away.

Second, there is my colleague from my day job, Julian Debenham. He was talkative & loved being the centre of attention. He was generous to a fault. You couldn’t enter a pub with him without him buying your drinks. Someone once gifted him My bloody Valentine’s three studio albums on vinyl & he didn’t like them. Knowing that I was a fan, he passed them straight on to me without a second thought. A lover of music, particularly folk & Nick Cave, he is missed greatly at my workplace.

Thirdly, there is Derek Rawnsley. I didn’t know Derek as well as the other two but I liked him a lot, nonetheless. He was married to a friend of mine & his loss is keenly felt. He was an Owl enthusiast & his wife gifted my partner & I one of his Owl statues to remember him by.

Rest in peace all.

Stay safe everyone.