28th January 2009 (p4381)

So here is the final entry in the island man scans. Yes, I gave up. I felt I didn't need to do it anymore, that I had achieved what I wanted to achieve. Or I felt I COULDN'T do it anymore, because it was sapping my life, the whole ten-pages-a-day self-flagellation thing.

I continued to write the book though. I even continued the page count in a word document for a while. Not sure how far I got, somewhere in the 4000s. And then I spent a long time typing it all up, sitting on the sofa alone in my flat after the dissolution of the relationship. 

It's in a semi-readable form now and though I have written quite a lot since, I think it's probably the best thing I have written.

Saturday 20th December 2008 (pp4379-80)

Brief written reflections as to whether I wanted to be with her, the day before she was to return.

Thursday 18th December - Friday 19th December 2008 (no pages written)

Snooker still on. She still away. Still happy to not write.

Wednesday 17th December 2008 (p4378)

I went to London for an Esio Trot gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London. Wrote the below entry in a café before the gig.

Tuesday 9th - Tuesday 16th December 2008 (no pages written)

All but given up here but wasn't really giving up because I felt I had written what I wanted to write. She went back to Iceland for a little while. I watched snooker, enjoyed the freedom.

Monday 8th December 2008 (pp4376-7)

I do vaguely remember writing this poem late at night on the sofa on which I was to sleep. It's meant to be about the girl with whom the island man is embroiled.

Sunday 7th December 2008 (no pages written)

I sit and try and remember these times, what I would have been doing on the 7th December 2008. It's an impossible task most of the time, so I try to remember something about that general time and it can be like staring into a dark house.

I used to do cryptic crosswords. I used to stare at them for hours rarely solving any clues, whilst she watched TV.