Fresh off the airplane in Manchester, I find myself in a studio at the local BBC HQ, talking with Ian McMillan for The Verb. Presumably the segment will run this Friday. One of Ian’s questions is how do I manage all that I do – write big poems, maintain a family, hold down a job, publish a blog, etc. – and what I wish I’d said (what occurs to me now that I’ve had an hour’s sleep back in the converted warehouse that is the hotel where I & many of the Text Festival participants are staying) is that what I often wonder is why everybody else doesn’t manage just as much as this. Marooned on a planet of slackers, the sporadically industrious fellow gets a lot done. My kids will be the first to tell you I’m capable of vegging out in front of a baseball game on the telly, a behavior they find beneath contempt.