I was beginning to think I had to get out of town for a while. Many callers. Many faces. Too much life going on. The idea of taking a trip had me sweating a little. Like after a walk. On a rare hot day.
Luckily for me, karma combined with events, which meant cancelling the trip. If only in my head. Turns out those intruders had plans of getting out themselves. For real.
The sun shone in through the attic window for most of the week. It usually appears mid-morning around here. Depending on the cloud cover, it throws the old space new shadows to wear before she sets down again for the night. Even a sunset or two off their in the distance, through those power lines and over the rooftops, I imagine.
Apart from the tapping of keys and the odd hum of a passing car snailing its way through the estate, there wasn't much else to be heard this week, except perhaps for the odd caw from a drifting crow. I was lost in the middle of no-where, in a small Texan town - trying to put a jig-saw together.
'You should get out a bit,' Sonny said, before he left for Italy. Over to his brother for a 'time.' I told him Amanda had called. He'd popped by the day after she had been here. As soon as I said she was worried about him, he was out the door like a thief being shot at, and off into her arms. He popped in again the next day to break the news.
'See if me and her can't sort it out,' he said.
Well, isn't it well for some? Sonny's not going under. He's gone under. Has been for a while. Toast. Any mortgage relief that may be coming people's way ain't coming to Sonny Strange. He must be running away. From his problems. Oooh - the freedom!
'Luke's putting us up for a little bit. Until we can think of something,' he explained. Visions of Don Corleone entered my mind, before departing again.
Sonny had lobbed the keys of his house into a bubble wrapped envelope earlier, addressed it to his provider with a note that said 'Sorry' and sealed the lid on his Irish financial coffin.
'I'll post it on the way to the ferry,' he said, saying they were driving south with what they had left that was of any value, wasn't nailed down - and luggable.
We shook hand and away he went. I usually close the door over pretty quickly when someone leaves - like they might take a subtle hint or something - but I stood there leaning against the frame of the door, light a cigarette, and watched as the sun began to fall. It turned Sonny sepia for a moment. He was a shadow by the time he rounded the corner.
Gone.
The sun began to give me a headache after a few minutes. I was just about to go back inside when around the corner came Gustav's head.
'I leave for home tomorrow. Two weeks,' he said, with another Irish oddity - the smile. 'I come in few minutes. With bottle. I leave instruction for you.'
His head disappeared back around where it had come from.
Instruction. For what?
Turns out it was just three things. Feed the snake next Monday. Feed the dog, Trigger, twice a day. And open the windows every other day.
'To let the breeze through the house. So when I come back - it not smell like feet,' he said, when he came in a few minutes later. It felt like I'd got the bad end of the deal, as I accepted the gift of the bottle from him.
'I leave it with you,' he said. 'I not like flying with hammer pounding on my head.'
Off he floated.
'I'll send you a postcard,' he promised.
Way-hey. The excitement. The anticipation. How am I going to stop myself from jumping out of bed in the mornings?
Now, I could have drank it, and disappeared quickly into another world for a few days, but hell, it was only Monday. Not the best way to be starting the week. Even for a writer.
No, I needed to get out out of town, but I needed to remember where I was going. This called for a more measured approach. Daily doses with tea. It felt right. I didn't even have to hide it from anyone. This is what it must have been like for Leon. Back in the daze.
I went to a small American town in Texas, a place that resided no-where else but in my head.
It's there I've been for the last six days. Locked away from the Irish scene. The one going-on outside my window. Playing with people's lives. Dogging them daily through no fault of their own... mostly.
I missed it all. From Ricky Santorum ending his vile campaign in America to protesters high-jacking Gilmore's party conference in Galway. Did I care? Not a hoot!
It was a while since its been this quiet and I took advantage. Apart from excursions next door to feed Trigger - a friendly beast - and the occasional nap, it's been bum-row. A smelly, gown- wearing, hairy wastage, fixated with words on a screen in front of him, throwing conversations into a silent void searching for voices.
At 6am this morning came the words The End. I highlighted them, made them bold - then decided against it again. Sleep deprivation can do things to the mind. Nope, I'd highlight them later.
I shoved the script into a drawer for a few days. It's smothered in dust and cobwebs. I keep meaning to clean it, but it gives the place a musty edge.
I know the script is finished - for my part anyway. I'll let it breath in mustiness for a few days. Just in case!
I decided to set about cleaning up the Ollie Reed that resides inside me - after I'd slept. I kept that promise to myself 17 hours later. When I woke.
Shavings always the worst part of letting yourself go for a few days. I'm sure that's the case for both sides of the species. Except perhaps for those who see grooming as a lifestyle. I never seen much of a point in that.
'Lord, but you're a dreary fucker in every way,' as Leon used to say. I remember taking offense at the time. I'm not so sure I could anymore.
I think Ireland can do that to people at times. I'd imagine at many times through her history it 's happened. Weary from dreary. Just when people think they have it - that something - whatever that is for individual people - off it goes again, off in yet another wayward direction. Funny how that can happen. How people can go some of the way - and still manage to undo it all again. No. Funny's the wrong word.
Yet, by times it has to be funny - 'for a life without laughter is like a life with drink.' I'm sure there's a point to that - one of Leon's many life philosophies. I might stumble across it someday. We liked our funny in darker measures. The same way as Leon liked his liquor from the top of the shelf.
I re-drafted a script I'd been writing for a few years now. A pretty dark comedy set around murder in a quiet Texan town. A bit of who-dunnit. I had to cut it to pieces first. Hence the abandonment.
Things needed to change. They say it's all about story - so I let that be the guide on this one. As I read, I realised my mistakes. Naming the protagonist a Japanese name for a cheap sushi-joke seemed a little juvenile upon reflection - but that was the point, was it not?
Who'd be a damn writer?
I ploughed through it like a field on a wet day. Digital page after digital page. Cigarette in mouth - window open. A commoner. Turning it in. Then out. Then back in again.
The dialogue was heavy. The plot - 'thick.' The style - 'commerical.'
I questioned it all as the conversations played out - helped on by cheap coffee after the bottle had died - each black mug darkening my teeth a little more. Picturing each scene in my head - in-caffeinated by the cheapest of beans. Laughing at things I shouldn't have been laughing at. Bad boy, Booker. Bad boy!
I sent chunks of cheap talk screaming to dialogue hell and replaced it with some more. The plot tightened - losing none of its absolute ridiculousness - aiming squarely as an off-the-cuff swing at modern contemporary society. And Bruce Campbell, of course. You can't take a swing without Bruce.
The style - to my eternal shame - I left alone. Visions of seedy daytime LA bars, with dimming neon, seen through shades. Deadbeats lining the bar. All with a story to tell. But no-one to listen.
Those swaying effigy's of Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Bruce Campbell. Tequila slammers.
Harvey: This world's not for savin'
Bruce: We gotta try.
Harvey: What you think, Booker?
Booker: I'm with you Harve. All the fuckin' way.
They say entertainment is something that helps get people through recession. That things like bums on cinema seats go up and the such. We've long been fond of our entertainment - us humans. If there is an almighty he has to be saying that we are, at least, an entertaining bunch. Never a dull moment to be had. Stuck in the headlights of capitalism gone skew, blind to
the stark realities of potential eventualities. So consumed are we with the consumption of everything, the possibility of consuming ourselves becomes more the reality with each passing day. I think I'm beginning to under Zombies more these days. Perhaps humankind has peaked - like that oil we obsess over so much. Who knows!?
I've always hated that. That strain on the jaw from a constant yawning that's continually ignored. I guess normal folk just answer that call and sleep. I've known lock-jaw. I think another coma is on the cards.
If the quiet lingers on this week, who knows, the writing mojo might hang around for a while longer. It felt like it was gone there for a while. It's a funny thing. Like thunder in an alley. Perhaps that's just how it goes.
I must open those windows.
Showing posts with label The Writing Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Writing Life. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Democracy prevails in Ireland - for now.
As American Republicans opt for Mitt Romney to contest November's presidential election, thorn in the side of Europe, Ireland, has a pretty big decision to make as well.
Word filtered out late yesterday afternoon that Ireland is to go her people and ask if they are in favour of the new EU fiscal compact treaty. Enda Kenny made the announcement in the Dáil yesterday after taking advise from the Attorney General.
Like the re-run of the Lisbon Treaty, fear will now be struck into the soul of the Irish nation regarding consequence, so I'd expect it to have a similar result as the last time the Irish people were asked their advice on matters of national interest. But then again...
It does give me some much needed pride that we, a little float away island in the North Atlantic, still have the courage to practice democracy in some proper form at times. It certainly doesn't happen across the Superstate where our fellow Europeans are constantly denied a voice on such matters. Ordinary people, pawns in a game of power that's having catastrophic consequence to societies right across the continent.
With Europe on its knees, it's safe to say those protagonists at the top are incapable - but without proper democracy how do people change that fact.
People are a mere commodity in all this - a natural renewable resource that's being leveled in every quarter outside the self interested. That unfortunately is how we are seen. These people are not our saviors. These people are the problem as they try to prevent humanity evolving in any sustainable way. There are exceptions - but they are few.
Mitt Romney has taken the latest round of primaries in Michigan and Arizona. Santorum was second. Ron Paul finished third with Newt Gingrich a distant fourth. Still think Ron Paul might run as an independent.
The GOP are the only losers is this disgusting race for the right to challenge Obama for the White House. Sick and twisted are just two words that spring to mind every time i think of Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. Gingrich is another nasty piece of work. Pro-war and pro-God?
I mean, come-on. People can't be that thick. But yet many buy into it. I've said all along I'd expect Romney to face Obama down in Novembers race.
Even under as much pressure as Obama is at home on the domestic front, it's hard to see the whole of America backing a Republican Party candidate with so many hate-spewers within their ranks. Time will tell.
Next up for the party are the Super Tuesday primaries on March 6. A candidate needs 1,144 delegates to secure the GOP nomination. Romney is leading with 163 delegates followed by Santorum with 83, according to an Associated Press tally. Last chance saloon for Gingrich and if it's a disaster for the hate-spewing and at times, utterly insane, Santorum, it's game over.
*************
Booker's World ebook and blog re-vamp over the coming weeks. Sorry about the many delays, but you know how government red-tape can be. But at least, and at last, there's a foundation to be built from.
After that, in this crazy world, who the feck knows.
Word filtered out late yesterday afternoon that Ireland is to go her people and ask if they are in favour of the new EU fiscal compact treaty. Enda Kenny made the announcement in the Dáil yesterday after taking advise from the Attorney General.
Like the re-run of the Lisbon Treaty, fear will now be struck into the soul of the Irish nation regarding consequence, so I'd expect it to have a similar result as the last time the Irish people were asked their advice on matters of national interest. But then again...
It does give me some much needed pride that we, a little float away island in the North Atlantic, still have the courage to practice democracy in some proper form at times. It certainly doesn't happen across the Superstate where our fellow Europeans are constantly denied a voice on such matters. Ordinary people, pawns in a game of power that's having catastrophic consequence to societies right across the continent.
With Europe on its knees, it's safe to say those protagonists at the top are incapable - but without proper democracy how do people change that fact.
People are a mere commodity in all this - a natural renewable resource that's being leveled in every quarter outside the self interested. That unfortunately is how we are seen. These people are not our saviors. These people are the problem as they try to prevent humanity evolving in any sustainable way. There are exceptions - but they are few.
*************
Mitt Romney has taken the latest round of primaries in Michigan and Arizona. Santorum was second. Ron Paul finished third with Newt Gingrich a distant fourth. Still think Ron Paul might run as an independent.
The GOP are the only losers is this disgusting race for the right to challenge Obama for the White House. Sick and twisted are just two words that spring to mind every time i think of Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. Gingrich is another nasty piece of work. Pro-war and pro-God?
I mean, come-on. People can't be that thick. But yet many buy into it. I've said all along I'd expect Romney to face Obama down in Novembers race.
Even under as much pressure as Obama is at home on the domestic front, it's hard to see the whole of America backing a Republican Party candidate with so many hate-spewers within their ranks. Time will tell.
Next up for the party are the Super Tuesday primaries on March 6. A candidate needs 1,144 delegates to secure the GOP nomination. Romney is leading with 163 delegates followed by Santorum with 83, according to an Associated Press tally. Last chance saloon for Gingrich and if it's a disaster for the hate-spewing and at times, utterly insane, Santorum, it's game over.
*************
Booker's World ebook and blog re-vamp over the coming weeks. Sorry about the many delays, but you know how government red-tape can be. But at least, and at last, there's a foundation to be built from.
After that, in this crazy world, who the feck knows.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Who's The Boson?
There a **** load of work being done behind the scenes - of my mac - as temperatures plummet and oil becomes a luxury of the rich. In olden days we'd head out and fell a tree. Then hunt a stag with only an arrow and if it all worked out it was happy days around the campfire talking nonsense for the evening. I wonder what our ancient ancestors used, or did, to keep warm back when say, Bronze was God. They must have been hardy beggars. Not like them, Jedward! But hey, good luck to them. It's nearly Christmas. Which can only mean one thing.
Torture.
Considering most of my efforts over the past few years have almost ended the character, Booker seems to stick around more of necessity of time and the black fact - there's not much fuckin' choice. Hard times call for more subtle language - don't ya think?
Unemployment at this stage is a (strong expletive). It's not so much the money end of things but more the time end of things. I count myself lucky in that I have ways to keep busy. But I've come across a few caught, twiddling their thumbs, trying to keep things afloat. It is not a pretty sight.
My latest burst of energy is brought on by a '**** all to lose at this stage' point of view. There is ways and means out of every hole. Ask your man the whale swallowed in the Bible. What was his name again. Jonah? Isn't there a book on jobs in there too? Maybe Fr. Harney does has something worthwhile to say at Friday night poker after all.
Most of these bursts get shorter in duration. It's easy to lax back from the world. Not so easy coming back out. I've been revisiting much of the early part of this blog in recent days as part of an idea I've long wanted to do and it paints a sorry enough picture. And I'm only on January, 2010!
'It'll all be worth it someday,' as Leon used to say.
Give it a shot anyway. Nothing to lose. If we're going under, I may as well try and go under with it. Hopefully above in Donegal - during the Summer.
There's a lot of mouthing going on about aspects of the budget right now between the parties. That's all it will mount to. One more week is all they have to get over before the big Christmas getaway. Have to say the 'non' debate about the Household Charge is a fine deflection from the real problems. The total disregard to doing anything about the state guarantee, standing over ex-minister pensions, the loss of our sovereignty and the astounding fact that not one single person has been held to account. But that's Irish politics for you. In some European countries it must be entertainment to watch it all happen.
The dye is cast for Ireland in the new year. I'd say now, it is already cast. As the new treaty is drawn up now, it will go two ways. It will be worded in a way which won't require constitutional change hence avoiding the need to ask the people (heaven forbid) or it will be sold to the people in fearful ways, and let's face it, they won't have to try to hard. Nonner may lose the smile for a while.
In the event of going solo the stark reality is -under present conditions- we'd be pretty screwed. We'd be free, but with our political system it wouldn't be worth a damn.
I must rake out my old Lisbon 2 videos I have somewhere. That was my first fight with the Europeans. I lost. I'm never so non anything that I'm going to rule out another go at them - and New York taboo - but it's early days. Let's weigh up the bull first. After the Christmas and January festivities. How could anyone be honest if controlled by a bias?
€€€€€'ss ?
It's what all this integration will do is what worries me most. To what and to who's end does it serve? There has to be a danger in a superstate where the superstate is formed against the will of the people it is supposed to serve. Never mind the historical elements involved. The thinking is we have to be bigger to compete - to compete with third world countries with first world economies. That also spells a certain finality as the unemployed become societies bums and low paid workers pay higher taxes, charges and levies, just as the cost of services reaches unaffordable rates.
Some in Ireland would say Ireland benefited greatly from being in Europe. But these are new days. Technology is strong. How about we start benefiting ourselves for a damn change instead of waving it all away to be part of something that may go terribly wrong someday. It's new pages in history books Ireland should be writing and not getting lost among the columns in the back pages. You know - like my writing.
It seems to be more editing and developing new ideas at the moment. The two don't mix well most of the time. There is a lot of 'what the fuck is happening' out there, but it seems that voice is being marginalized somewhat. There is not enough being done.
I laugh at way there is talk of an unemployment crisis. There's been one for years now. 1 Year is now called long-term. Wonder what that makes me? Nearly down there with the lifers?
Still at least there is a possible referendum to look forward. Dress up as a Commie and hit Dame St for the conversation. I'm hoping there will be better conversation next year. Gets boring talking to yourself all the time. Does sound different though as the knees bounce off each other with the cold.
I might be asked where the hell I was all Winter by those stronger soldiers of life who reside outside the Central bank up on Dame St. Maybe I'll stay where I am.
It's been a topsy - less curvy year. So many collisions here at home and around the world. New democracies opened up, but to what end. The portrayal of a savage society summed up by the butchering of Gaddafi in Libya. Oil is such a crude thing. Banks heisting away. Government the bitches of gamblers. Old wounds opening again East and West. And Michael Jackson's little one - wanting to be an actor.
Let's hope for the most part the wind down to 2012 starts about now. 2012 could be a bumpy ride. But as Bill Hicks used to say, and quoted many times around here, 'It's all a ride.'
Ain't that right, Mr. Boson.
Torture.
Considering most of my efforts over the past few years have almost ended the character, Booker seems to stick around more of necessity of time and the black fact - there's not much fuckin' choice. Hard times call for more subtle language - don't ya think?
Unemployment at this stage is a (strong expletive). It's not so much the money end of things but more the time end of things. I count myself lucky in that I have ways to keep busy. But I've come across a few caught, twiddling their thumbs, trying to keep things afloat. It is not a pretty sight.
My latest burst of energy is brought on by a '**** all to lose at this stage' point of view. There is ways and means out of every hole. Ask your man the whale swallowed in the Bible. What was his name again. Jonah? Isn't there a book on jobs in there too? Maybe Fr. Harney does has something worthwhile to say at Friday night poker after all.
Most of these bursts get shorter in duration. It's easy to lax back from the world. Not so easy coming back out. I've been revisiting much of the early part of this blog in recent days as part of an idea I've long wanted to do and it paints a sorry enough picture. And I'm only on January, 2010!
'It'll all be worth it someday,' as Leon used to say.
Give it a shot anyway. Nothing to lose. If we're going under, I may as well try and go under with it. Hopefully above in Donegal - during the Summer.
There's a lot of mouthing going on about aspects of the budget right now between the parties. That's all it will mount to. One more week is all they have to get over before the big Christmas getaway. Have to say the 'non' debate about the Household Charge is a fine deflection from the real problems. The total disregard to doing anything about the state guarantee, standing over ex-minister pensions, the loss of our sovereignty and the astounding fact that not one single person has been held to account. But that's Irish politics for you. In some European countries it must be entertainment to watch it all happen.
The dye is cast for Ireland in the new year. I'd say now, it is already cast. As the new treaty is drawn up now, it will go two ways. It will be worded in a way which won't require constitutional change hence avoiding the need to ask the people (heaven forbid) or it will be sold to the people in fearful ways, and let's face it, they won't have to try to hard. Nonner may lose the smile for a while.
In the event of going solo the stark reality is -under present conditions- we'd be pretty screwed. We'd be free, but with our political system it wouldn't be worth a damn.
I must rake out my old Lisbon 2 videos I have somewhere. That was my first fight with the Europeans. I lost. I'm never so non anything that I'm going to rule out another go at them - and New York taboo - but it's early days. Let's weigh up the bull first. After the Christmas and January festivities. How could anyone be honest if controlled by a bias?
€€€€€'ss ?
It's what all this integration will do is what worries me most. To what and to who's end does it serve? There has to be a danger in a superstate where the superstate is formed against the will of the people it is supposed to serve. Never mind the historical elements involved. The thinking is we have to be bigger to compete - to compete with third world countries with first world economies. That also spells a certain finality as the unemployed become societies bums and low paid workers pay higher taxes, charges and levies, just as the cost of services reaches unaffordable rates.
Some in Ireland would say Ireland benefited greatly from being in Europe. But these are new days. Technology is strong. How about we start benefiting ourselves for a damn change instead of waving it all away to be part of something that may go terribly wrong someday. It's new pages in history books Ireland should be writing and not getting lost among the columns in the back pages. You know - like my writing.
It seems to be more editing and developing new ideas at the moment. The two don't mix well most of the time. There is a lot of 'what the fuck is happening' out there, but it seems that voice is being marginalized somewhat. There is not enough being done.
I laugh at way there is talk of an unemployment crisis. There's been one for years now. 1 Year is now called long-term. Wonder what that makes me? Nearly down there with the lifers?
Still at least there is a possible referendum to look forward. Dress up as a Commie and hit Dame St for the conversation. I'm hoping there will be better conversation next year. Gets boring talking to yourself all the time. Does sound different though as the knees bounce off each other with the cold.
I might be asked where the hell I was all Winter by those stronger soldiers of life who reside outside the Central bank up on Dame St. Maybe I'll stay where I am.
It's been a topsy - less curvy year. So many collisions here at home and around the world. New democracies opened up, but to what end. The portrayal of a savage society summed up by the butchering of Gaddafi in Libya. Oil is such a crude thing. Banks heisting away. Government the bitches of gamblers. Old wounds opening again East and West. And Michael Jackson's little one - wanting to be an actor.
Let's hope for the most part the wind down to 2012 starts about now. 2012 could be a bumpy ride. But as Bill Hicks used to say, and quoted many times around here, 'It's all a ride.'
Ain't that right, Mr. Boson.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Strains
I don't know what it is about a forthcoming budget that just chills the bones and makes me want to work. I finally started my second book this week - a world set far off into the future.
I'm beginning to wonder if we'll make it that far at all given the possibility of this baby getting out or a nuclear holocaust over a drop of oil. But I'd say we are safe for a few years yet, hey?
At least long enough to give a few more publishers something to chuck in the bin anyway. But it's time to try again and with deadlines now set and word counts to be met each day, I'd be kind of hoping that the blog will go quite over the next few months (collective sigh of relief) as simply highlighting the way Ireland has been hijacked this past three years by writing about it here has about as much function as a dead tool.
With the sudden spark to write again, came the flood of ideas that always come once delved in. New characters sprung to mind and I've doubled the work I have done on another outline for a book I'm doing in the crime fiction department.
Despite the fact Booker's World is 999,911 short of its first million sales, I'm still hopeful the next one of two have a little more success when it comes to finding a real home as I'm not sure I want to carry the effort of Booker's World through from beginning to end once again.
I don't blame myself of course - that's down to those people looking after the social welfare of us all. But now that the final nail has been driven into the 'your on your own' coffin, it's time to find other ways of trying to get to make a living which doesn't make one a ward of state, as they say.
I need an editor and a damn good proofreader.
I think the reason I did not begin my second book until now was doing all the work on Booker's World myself, a task that really made me appreciate how much the efforts of others can help with the writing, but definitely did not have me running back to the keyboard for long spells.
I find careful concentration that is needed when proofreading is difficult for me, gives unwanted headaches and that horrible tiredness. Writers may know what I mean. But no sense quitting now. Effort counts for nothing in this country unless it comes with ass-kissing lips. Isn't it time we moved on from that now that we are, should we say... fooked?
So that should keep me busy until the Summer of 2012 in between applying for the non-existent jobs in Ireland and those that require visa entry from abroad. I could of course just try my luck in Greece or Italy and perhaps even in Spain. But then again, sometimes your just safer on a little island floating towards that more glorious of islands, Iceland. Took no shit those guys.
In it together for worse or worse r - like all good marriages!.
Good to see races having a strong sense of who they are. I think we Irish let it all go to easily. That's the most gut-wrenching thing of all. The so called 'greater good' serves no real purpose when everything is so heavily weighed against ordinary people. Sometimes that weight can serve some good. Can change a societies direction. It's better to stand for something more than your banking and business buddies, isn't it?
There's at least a hundred things Ireland (the country) could do in the next six months that could help things along - fill gaps created by cuts. But will any of them be implemented. Not fu*kin likely... Without problems, 'government' have no function.
Heaven forbid!
Thursday night. Can only mean one thing. Greg House. If only Booker had heroes...
I'm beginning to wonder if we'll make it that far at all given the possibility of this baby getting out or a nuclear holocaust over a drop of oil. But I'd say we are safe for a few years yet, hey?
At least long enough to give a few more publishers something to chuck in the bin anyway. But it's time to try again and with deadlines now set and word counts to be met each day, I'd be kind of hoping that the blog will go quite over the next few months (collective sigh of relief) as simply highlighting the way Ireland has been hijacked this past three years by writing about it here has about as much function as a dead tool.
With the sudden spark to write again, came the flood of ideas that always come once delved in. New characters sprung to mind and I've doubled the work I have done on another outline for a book I'm doing in the crime fiction department.
Despite the fact Booker's World is 999,911 short of its first million sales, I'm still hopeful the next one of two have a little more success when it comes to finding a real home as I'm not sure I want to carry the effort of Booker's World through from beginning to end once again.
I don't blame myself of course - that's down to those people looking after the social welfare of us all. But now that the final nail has been driven into the 'your on your own' coffin, it's time to find other ways of trying to get to make a living which doesn't make one a ward of state, as they say.
I need an editor and a damn good proofreader.
I think the reason I did not begin my second book until now was doing all the work on Booker's World myself, a task that really made me appreciate how much the efforts of others can help with the writing, but definitely did not have me running back to the keyboard for long spells.
I find careful concentration that is needed when proofreading is difficult for me, gives unwanted headaches and that horrible tiredness. Writers may know what I mean. But no sense quitting now. Effort counts for nothing in this country unless it comes with ass-kissing lips. Isn't it time we moved on from that now that we are, should we say... fooked?
So that should keep me busy until the Summer of 2012 in between applying for the non-existent jobs in Ireland and those that require visa entry from abroad. I could of course just try my luck in Greece or Italy and perhaps even in Spain. But then again, sometimes your just safer on a little island floating towards that more glorious of islands, Iceland. Took no shit those guys.
In it together for worse or worse r - like all good marriages!.
Good to see races having a strong sense of who they are. I think we Irish let it all go to easily. That's the most gut-wrenching thing of all. The so called 'greater good' serves no real purpose when everything is so heavily weighed against ordinary people. Sometimes that weight can serve some good. Can change a societies direction. It's better to stand for something more than your banking and business buddies, isn't it?
There's at least a hundred things Ireland (the country) could do in the next six months that could help things along - fill gaps created by cuts. But will any of them be implemented. Not fu*kin likely... Without problems, 'government' have no function.
Heaven forbid!
Thursday night. Can only mean one thing. Greg House. If only Booker had heroes...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Chocolates.
One or two readers may be waiting for the finish to Don Booker's coverage of the Irish presidential Race. I've decided to sit on it for a little while - research - but will then possibly release it as a free ebook for those who buy the Booker's World ebook should the powers that be show a bit of support for personal endeavor. Until they do or i get a job I can't release it in that format.
I didn't feel much like writing over the past month having become pretty disillusioned about a number of things. But although it didn't really solve a whole lot it did have me doing something other than having to think over stuff which generally is not a good thing - for me anyway.
I've been beginning to seek employment abroad in recent days as there is none here in Ireland. How long that might take is anyone's guess, but at least I've been thinking about the future again which I haven't really been doing this year having placed all my eggs in one basket - that the government would lend some assistance to someone trying to stand on their own two feet. Wasn't asking for grants or a loan - just what I'm getting now after 18 years as a tax-payer for a short period of time and the freedom to give it a go.
I wouldn't particularly regard myself as a stupid person - except perhaps when it comes to gauging people - but I know my own drive and what's behind that drive. Never been motivated much by money and maybe that's the Department's problem with me. But some things are more important that money in a society totally falling apart one way or another.
It seems to have been that sort of year and a clatter of health problems this month didn't help either. I put in a lot of effort, but there has been as many letdowns. Some of the letdowns, especially recent ones had me thinking of just forsaking what it is I've set out to achieve for myself. There are things you can forgive if the cause was at least admitted, other things are going to take a lot more time. But in the absence of truth it's hard to be blameful in certain regards, but at least that truth can eventually be told and there is nothing more anyone can do than that.
I think i have always had faith in people. Far too much as it has turned out. The world's become a cold place in recent times, but there's no doubt having decent warm people in my life helps a lot.
Good thing is the writing and what that offers. Only writers will understand that. There's possibly three books on this blog now, not including Sonny Strange and Cripple. It would not take long to have them edited and released and begin making a living from my scribblings. At least I will have a body of work when I do sort out the present mess.
The Don Booker series I spent months writing has been shelved because actors pulled out. I don't know why people waste other people's time. I think documentaries are the way to go from now. At least it would involve working with real people with real stories. I'm sure I'll find my Don Booker along the way somewhere.
Also working on a film script which I intended to make myself. But I don't think I have the energy anymore for doing productions without a professional producer. I'm sure it will all fall into place eventually.
I've been inspired by some of the Occupation movements taking place around the world. I'd love to get involved with them, but when you read what happened this guy, you just realize what a horrible system of governance we have going on here. It's not the Ireland our own founding fathers wanted. It's a disturbing state of affairs.
I wrote a letter to the head man in my local Welfare Department explaining what happened since I was refused the back to work allowance earlier this year. It's gone nearly a month now. No reply. I'm strongly thinking of publishing it here.
I see many people coming forward with their own stories of woe during this damn recession and it does inspire me that people can be brave enough to do that. It encourages others. It stands for something more than the those who are still desperately trying to keep up appearances in the present climate. They don't serve themselves any good and it certainly ain't going to change anything. People need to come and stick together if change is to happen.
'Life is like a box of ...' as Forrest Gump once said. I hope the next one I get is one I like. It's needed.
*************
If regular readers want to follow the Don Booker character on Facebook click here.
Outing injustice and rounding on neo-cons for some reason, all under the watchful eyes of Homeland Security. Hope a drone don't take him out in his attic.
I didn't feel much like writing over the past month having become pretty disillusioned about a number of things. But although it didn't really solve a whole lot it did have me doing something other than having to think over stuff which generally is not a good thing - for me anyway.
I've been beginning to seek employment abroad in recent days as there is none here in Ireland. How long that might take is anyone's guess, but at least I've been thinking about the future again which I haven't really been doing this year having placed all my eggs in one basket - that the government would lend some assistance to someone trying to stand on their own two feet. Wasn't asking for grants or a loan - just what I'm getting now after 18 years as a tax-payer for a short period of time and the freedom to give it a go.
I wouldn't particularly regard myself as a stupid person - except perhaps when it comes to gauging people - but I know my own drive and what's behind that drive. Never been motivated much by money and maybe that's the Department's problem with me. But some things are more important that money in a society totally falling apart one way or another.
It seems to have been that sort of year and a clatter of health problems this month didn't help either. I put in a lot of effort, but there has been as many letdowns. Some of the letdowns, especially recent ones had me thinking of just forsaking what it is I've set out to achieve for myself. There are things you can forgive if the cause was at least admitted, other things are going to take a lot more time. But in the absence of truth it's hard to be blameful in certain regards, but at least that truth can eventually be told and there is nothing more anyone can do than that.
I think i have always had faith in people. Far too much as it has turned out. The world's become a cold place in recent times, but there's no doubt having decent warm people in my life helps a lot.
Good thing is the writing and what that offers. Only writers will understand that. There's possibly three books on this blog now, not including Sonny Strange and Cripple. It would not take long to have them edited and released and begin making a living from my scribblings. At least I will have a body of work when I do sort out the present mess.
The Don Booker series I spent months writing has been shelved because actors pulled out. I don't know why people waste other people's time. I think documentaries are the way to go from now. At least it would involve working with real people with real stories. I'm sure I'll find my Don Booker along the way somewhere.
Also working on a film script which I intended to make myself. But I don't think I have the energy anymore for doing productions without a professional producer. I'm sure it will all fall into place eventually.
I've been inspired by some of the Occupation movements taking place around the world. I'd love to get involved with them, but when you read what happened this guy, you just realize what a horrible system of governance we have going on here. It's not the Ireland our own founding fathers wanted. It's a disturbing state of affairs.
I wrote a letter to the head man in my local Welfare Department explaining what happened since I was refused the back to work allowance earlier this year. It's gone nearly a month now. No reply. I'm strongly thinking of publishing it here.
I see many people coming forward with their own stories of woe during this damn recession and it does inspire me that people can be brave enough to do that. It encourages others. It stands for something more than the those who are still desperately trying to keep up appearances in the present climate. They don't serve themselves any good and it certainly ain't going to change anything. People need to come and stick together if change is to happen.
'Life is like a box of ...' as Forrest Gump once said. I hope the next one I get is one I like. It's needed.
*************
If regular readers want to follow the Don Booker character on Facebook click here.
Outing injustice and rounding on neo-cons for some reason, all under the watchful eyes of Homeland Security. Hope a drone don't take him out in his attic.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Steel
With Don Booker away to contemplate his 200th blog muse and all being quiet on the election front over the past 24 hours, it's probably a good time to saying what's happening on the writing front.
I have over the past few months looked for competitions dealing with short stories of around 10,000 words. I had little luck finding any.
Then this morning I got an email from the local Arts Council alerting me to such a competition. It's new, but I liked the web site and the reasons behind its founding. So I'm thinking of sending Cripple forward for the craic, after another draft.
I've been lucky enough in recent weeks to find help from someone who looked into my back-to-enterprise allowance I mentioned months ago. Having wrote to the Department on numerous occasions to find out how to appeal - and being totally ignored - it was great to at last find out some answers.
The bad thing is the Department have no record of the application. I was told it was probably denied at a local level - yes - but Department procedure is a follow up in hard copy with details concerning appeal. That did not happen.
I've gone over the head of the person who refused it to me and wrote a letter out-ling what has happened since that. It's a week in the post now. Still no reply.
I have been told that there is a 9 month waiting time on appeals within the department at present. This is sickening - but only one of many services not up to the task because of private sector cut backs and a moratorium on hiring. Health, education employment, debt, accountability (the lack of ) etc, etc.
Talking to a friend the other day he said at some stage I have to put a value on my writing - and giving it away only sets the tone. Perhaps he's right. If one wants to eventually make a living from it. Maybe the chance to really give it a go will come when Oz says , "Right, Come on...'
It's grand anyway. There's not many reading as it is. SEO has been mentioned to me, but it's not affordable. Times suck at the minute.
All my original plans for a Booker's World web series have halted because of actor availability. I wouldn't mind if I didn't hold up things for nearly three months as it is, but that's the game we are in.
After a total re-think I'm working on a few new scripts. Don Booker's musings through the Race for the Áras is catch up time from the end of the Booker's World book to the present day. How times have changed - but Booker will be a better character for it.
Bad times steel you up sometimes. Makes one more prepared to call it as they see it - particularly after the array of red-tape I've had to endure since I first started writing this blog. It's all here - no point mouthing off if you can't back it up, hey? Which gives me an idea...
I'm also working on a feature script which is turning out well. I really would love to get it filmed before Christmas and edit it in Oz. Not much chance of it happening but it let's a bit of light back into the tunnel which had just about closed.
Definitely feel let down on a number of fronts, but it's cleared my head on a lot of things. Don't know why I bother trying to make films, with all the time it takes and all the shit that goes with it. I think a lot of things that go on help to shape my writing these days. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I'm going to cast actors now with little or no screen experience. The script is offbeat - to say the least - but it's the best I've written to date. 5 actors - 2 locations. 10 days should do it. Good DOP, and I think I have something.
I think every damn hick-up once it's gotten over makes you all the more determined to get there. I just want to make Indie films. Making a step-up every time. Learning as you go is a tough school. I guess life's a tough school for everyone right now.
With Steve Jobs dying today, it sort of makes me think of the possibilities that do exist. Jobs came from nothing - his drive stemming from a knowledge that you know what - we're all screwed at the end of the day. No-one gets out alive.
Technology and science can turn things around - and pretty damn quickly if it were let. Unfortunately the tangle at the top figuring out how best to control people has practically left us now at a precipice. With no leadership it doesn't look great.
There's a movement on the move and the media don't cover it fearing contagion, and when that's where we are at with kids dying by second from starvation and wars raging on a number of fronts, it doesn't bode well. Not sure about here in Ireland, but people are sick to death of it everywhere. I don't know what keeps us so quiet to be honest. Would love to be in Manhattan right now. Saw Naomi Klein, the author of Shock Doctrine interviewed on RT the other day. The buzz about the place was something else. When people of her quality approve it makes it easier to choose a side. Passion and truths like this.
I always felt we had a chance in Ireland until this year. But the more that goes on, you know we're screwed in the set-up - and it is that - we find ourselves existing in.
Life seems to short for that.
I have over the past few months looked for competitions dealing with short stories of around 10,000 words. I had little luck finding any.
Then this morning I got an email from the local Arts Council alerting me to such a competition. It's new, but I liked the web site and the reasons behind its founding. So I'm thinking of sending Cripple forward for the craic, after another draft.
I've been lucky enough in recent weeks to find help from someone who looked into my back-to-enterprise allowance I mentioned months ago. Having wrote to the Department on numerous occasions to find out how to appeal - and being totally ignored - it was great to at last find out some answers.
The bad thing is the Department have no record of the application. I was told it was probably denied at a local level - yes - but Department procedure is a follow up in hard copy with details concerning appeal. That did not happen.
I've gone over the head of the person who refused it to me and wrote a letter out-ling what has happened since that. It's a week in the post now. Still no reply.
I have been told that there is a 9 month waiting time on appeals within the department at present. This is sickening - but only one of many services not up to the task because of private sector cut backs and a moratorium on hiring. Health, education employment, debt, accountability (the lack of ) etc, etc.
Talking to a friend the other day he said at some stage I have to put a value on my writing - and giving it away only sets the tone. Perhaps he's right. If one wants to eventually make a living from it. Maybe the chance to really give it a go will come when Oz says , "Right, Come on...'
It's grand anyway. There's not many reading as it is. SEO has been mentioned to me, but it's not affordable. Times suck at the minute.
All my original plans for a Booker's World web series have halted because of actor availability. I wouldn't mind if I didn't hold up things for nearly three months as it is, but that's the game we are in.
After a total re-think I'm working on a few new scripts. Don Booker's musings through the Race for the Áras is catch up time from the end of the Booker's World book to the present day. How times have changed - but Booker will be a better character for it.
Bad times steel you up sometimes. Makes one more prepared to call it as they see it - particularly after the array of red-tape I've had to endure since I first started writing this blog. It's all here - no point mouthing off if you can't back it up, hey? Which gives me an idea...
I'm also working on a feature script which is turning out well. I really would love to get it filmed before Christmas and edit it in Oz. Not much chance of it happening but it let's a bit of light back into the tunnel which had just about closed.
Definitely feel let down on a number of fronts, but it's cleared my head on a lot of things. Don't know why I bother trying to make films, with all the time it takes and all the shit that goes with it. I think a lot of things that go on help to shape my writing these days. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I'm going to cast actors now with little or no screen experience. The script is offbeat - to say the least - but it's the best I've written to date. 5 actors - 2 locations. 10 days should do it. Good DOP, and I think I have something.
I think every damn hick-up once it's gotten over makes you all the more determined to get there. I just want to make Indie films. Making a step-up every time. Learning as you go is a tough school. I guess life's a tough school for everyone right now.
With Steve Jobs dying today, it sort of makes me think of the possibilities that do exist. Jobs came from nothing - his drive stemming from a knowledge that you know what - we're all screwed at the end of the day. No-one gets out alive.
Technology and science can turn things around - and pretty damn quickly if it were let. Unfortunately the tangle at the top figuring out how best to control people has practically left us now at a precipice. With no leadership it doesn't look great.
There's a movement on the move and the media don't cover it fearing contagion, and when that's where we are at with kids dying by second from starvation and wars raging on a number of fronts, it doesn't bode well. Not sure about here in Ireland, but people are sick to death of it everywhere. I don't know what keeps us so quiet to be honest. Would love to be in Manhattan right now. Saw Naomi Klein, the author of Shock Doctrine interviewed on RT the other day. The buzz about the place was something else. When people of her quality approve it makes it easier to choose a side. Passion and truths like this.
I always felt we had a chance in Ireland until this year. But the more that goes on, you know we're screwed in the set-up - and it is that - we find ourselves existing in.
Life seems to short for that.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Once In A While...
Politicians beware! I'm giving you a rest day. Enda and Eamon, you're safe. I'm still debating whether I should youtube the censorship issue. Was kind of hoping someone would come in late with a nice paid internship running my own magazine dealing with popular culture from an alternative viewpoint. And no, I won't be a paid patsy. No Times or Indo either! Maybe Politico or if The Story goes daily. I'll increase your tax take or go bust doing it. Isn't that what it's all about?
I thought it would be groovy to write about writing again for a change. That weird thing a percentage of the population engage in which keep the rest of society that safe distance, as engagement with them would surely only mean trying hard not to fall asleep. On their side, of course!
Maybe some writers will understand that. It never really bothered me much that I could spend mounds of time on my own. It certainly suits the pursuit somewhat.
In recent times I've been finding it harder and harder to let my writing go. It's not that I doubt what I write about - but small mistakes showing up, does for some reason really annoy me. I've been getting the help of some kind people of late to make the ebook version of Booker's World an error-free zone. I'll disclose the amount of mistakes i get back when they are finished. It shouldn't bother me much, I mean I didn't bankrupt a country or anything, but I guess it matters enough to not want them there.
I'm nearly finished my second novella, Cripple. Originally wrote as a short screenplay, lost to a wet weekend, I've been mulling over it for over six months now. I'm trying to make it fit into about 10,000 words and what I hope to make a customary feature with shorter works - 13 chapters. It probably says more to the type of reader I hope to appeal too as the years go by, as anything more I can offer. We all have our quirks. Quirk is welcome here.
The word on Booker's World by those who gifted me the read has been great. I don't say that easily, but I have been told that once readers get into it - which takes a little time - it's gets harder to put down. That's a good thing, right? Or am I reading it wrong? Anyways, it always sends a little adrenaline flowing through the juices again. Writers will understand.
Some enjoyed the way I didn't chapter it like in the traditional sense. One or two didn't like that approach. I definitely felt it's more of a male book - though a lot of the comment has come by way of lady readers. It's a small group to appeal too - the middle aged working class/unemployed male reader of Ireland - but Booker was never about appealing to anyone in general. I needed to prove to myself that I could go the distance on something that required more effort than 20 minutes spent just wanting the life of Charlie bleedin Harper for a day. Or being taken out by Bernard Dunne in one.
Cripple is based around an incident I witnessed while in school of a cane beating. I saw a few of them back then. The fact that it was a Christian Brother didn't help. The theatrical show he put on also didn't do much to make one understanding of the world any better. And finally, it was who it was dispensed too - a nicer lad, I doubt most people would ever meet. The crime, well let's just say it didn't fit the punishment. That particular school pal done OK as far as I know. But I do know others who didn't do so well. So I went exploring that idea and Cripple will be the result.
As I mature as a writer - I hope - I learn new things as I batter out the pages. Some things about myself. Some things about life. Themes. Things universal to most people whether they admit it or not. In Cripple, I wanted to see how a childhood event like that could send someone sideways for a time. And how and what it would take to make the trek back from there.
It's impossible to draw on something without bringing what life experiences people gather along the way into play. Or maybe it was just the look of a beaten soul, seen somewhere - for whom it seems a saving is beyond. I'm sure we see them on our streets everyday. Those lost - their reasons their own.
I know I really should be writing genre specifics to get those damn sales in, and who knows where writing goes, but for now it's nice not being a whore to a paycheck.
I have a genuine belief anyone can write. Lots of people dabble I'm sure in the quiet at times. To what extent people take their writing will always depend on their effort... and perhaps a higher standard of English also helps. It depends on what your writing. But I don't see writing in ways like standards so much. People should set those for themselves. We get told what to do enough.
Whatever anyone else says really shouldn't ache too much if you write for the right reasons and are comfortable enough with who you are. I guess in many ways that's why I didn't write seriously for the best part of 30 years. Effort will always be made more for the set of the time. Times hard to leave behind. Or maybe not - dependent on the times.
I know it's an old cliche, but we do all write the book of our own lives. Those invisible pages - read differently by all and sunder. Perhaps most are best left unwritten.
Would people change things? You bet they would, but what then would wizards of the word, Hemmingway, S. Thompson, Capote, Bowokski or Twain have had to write about then? Handbags and shoes? Lesbian Zombie's? The End of Days?
Sounds a lot what Leon used to write... back in the day, when the drink flowed like water from a fall down his eager throat. Mad fecker he was!
I want to write a crime novel. Under a pseudonym no one will ever know about called Jack... Did I just write that? It's a short or long story - again dependent on how you look at it. The bore and doubter in me is not sure though. What if it didn't sell like the I-Phone 4?
I guess I may still have some learning to do on the plot end of things too. I'm too young for an autobiography ghost-written by Eamon Dunphy. Though I'm sure Jordan has about a dozen of them out there in multiple languages- everywhere. Damn you, Jordan.
We will see what happens. The need to emigrate is the time filler these days. It gets a little more intense with each day. Back to the real world for a time. With it's many worries and woes. Ups, Downs and disapointments - some harder to bare than others.
'But you have your health,' as Mum Booker used to say. When she could remember...
It should be easier by now. And in many ways it is. Other things which one has no control over are battled easier by the experiences you pick up as you go. There was a saying flying around Facebook the last few days about allowing things live rent-free in your head. That can cost people years. With no years left to lose - I guess those things don't hang around so long anymore. None of us might have control over much, but they don't have to control who you are either. That's probably the best thing writing has given me over the last few years. That sense of freedom. The chance to find out who you are and then what the **c* you're going to do about it. Can't say that is ever easy, but I don't want to live life in a shell or a haze. So one has to find the ground between. 'The Ground Between' - The self help masterpiece by Booker D. Booker! Might even get on Oprah! Or Hannity?
My budget doesn't extend to the top of the bookshelves this weather. But I do get the occasional gift. One swung by my way a few months ago from a friend down under. Barry Simiana. His story, Gone to Mum's is part of a collection in a book called Next Stop Hollywood - Short Stories Bound For The Screen. I read it today. Exquisite. I don't do reviews, because I'd have to do them honestly and sometimes people don't like that, but Baz is my kinda writer.
...and I quote, ''Kelly intrigued me. I've always been a sucker for redheads. They get me everytime.''
Baz and Leon would have been great pals. The story though is more than that. It ticked all the boxes all good stories should. Brilliantly set, defined characters - it drifted between the raw and subtle with ease. I even ate an orange!
It had a letter in it too - readers of Booker will know what I mean. Irony hey! From so far away.
Baz's new book is out now. Touch of Evil. I'll see if I can't nab a credit card from somewhere soon. Mine ran off with half the government Ministers at the last election. They got millions. I got to be a writer.
Life doesn't suck so much when it's 25 outside and when your Ayrton Senna on a mower for an hour. What about those skid marks? Ground will be dead soon - for another year.
The hottest day of the year, they say. It's nearly October!
A strange daze indeed.
*************
If you have 18 minutes
I thought it would be groovy to write about writing again for a change. That weird thing a percentage of the population engage in which keep the rest of society that safe distance, as engagement with them would surely only mean trying hard not to fall asleep. On their side, of course!
Maybe some writers will understand that. It never really bothered me much that I could spend mounds of time on my own. It certainly suits the pursuit somewhat.
In recent times I've been finding it harder and harder to let my writing go. It's not that I doubt what I write about - but small mistakes showing up, does for some reason really annoy me. I've been getting the help of some kind people of late to make the ebook version of Booker's World an error-free zone. I'll disclose the amount of mistakes i get back when they are finished. It shouldn't bother me much, I mean I didn't bankrupt a country or anything, but I guess it matters enough to not want them there.
I'm nearly finished my second novella, Cripple. Originally wrote as a short screenplay, lost to a wet weekend, I've been mulling over it for over six months now. I'm trying to make it fit into about 10,000 words and what I hope to make a customary feature with shorter works - 13 chapters. It probably says more to the type of reader I hope to appeal too as the years go by, as anything more I can offer. We all have our quirks. Quirk is welcome here.
The word on Booker's World by those who gifted me the read has been great. I don't say that easily, but I have been told that once readers get into it - which takes a little time - it's gets harder to put down. That's a good thing, right? Or am I reading it wrong? Anyways, it always sends a little adrenaline flowing through the juices again. Writers will understand.
Some enjoyed the way I didn't chapter it like in the traditional sense. One or two didn't like that approach. I definitely felt it's more of a male book - though a lot of the comment has come by way of lady readers. It's a small group to appeal too - the middle aged working class/unemployed male reader of Ireland - but Booker was never about appealing to anyone in general. I needed to prove to myself that I could go the distance on something that required more effort than 20 minutes spent just wanting the life of Charlie bleedin Harper for a day. Or being taken out by Bernard Dunne in one.
Cripple is based around an incident I witnessed while in school of a cane beating. I saw a few of them back then. The fact that it was a Christian Brother didn't help. The theatrical show he put on also didn't do much to make one understanding of the world any better. And finally, it was who it was dispensed too - a nicer lad, I doubt most people would ever meet. The crime, well let's just say it didn't fit the punishment. That particular school pal done OK as far as I know. But I do know others who didn't do so well. So I went exploring that idea and Cripple will be the result.
As I mature as a writer - I hope - I learn new things as I batter out the pages. Some things about myself. Some things about life. Themes. Things universal to most people whether they admit it or not. In Cripple, I wanted to see how a childhood event like that could send someone sideways for a time. And how and what it would take to make the trek back from there.
It's impossible to draw on something without bringing what life experiences people gather along the way into play. Or maybe it was just the look of a beaten soul, seen somewhere - for whom it seems a saving is beyond. I'm sure we see them on our streets everyday. Those lost - their reasons their own.
I know I really should be writing genre specifics to get those damn sales in, and who knows where writing goes, but for now it's nice not being a whore to a paycheck.
I have a genuine belief anyone can write. Lots of people dabble I'm sure in the quiet at times. To what extent people take their writing will always depend on their effort... and perhaps a higher standard of English also helps. It depends on what your writing. But I don't see writing in ways like standards so much. People should set those for themselves. We get told what to do enough.
Whatever anyone else says really shouldn't ache too much if you write for the right reasons and are comfortable enough with who you are. I guess in many ways that's why I didn't write seriously for the best part of 30 years. Effort will always be made more for the set of the time. Times hard to leave behind. Or maybe not - dependent on the times.
I know it's an old cliche, but we do all write the book of our own lives. Those invisible pages - read differently by all and sunder. Perhaps most are best left unwritten.
Would people change things? You bet they would, but what then would wizards of the word, Hemmingway, S. Thompson, Capote, Bowokski or Twain have had to write about then? Handbags and shoes? Lesbian Zombie's? The End of Days?
Sounds a lot what Leon used to write... back in the day, when the drink flowed like water from a fall down his eager throat. Mad fecker he was!
I want to write a crime novel. Under a pseudonym no one will ever know about called Jack... Did I just write that? It's a short or long story - again dependent on how you look at it. The bore and doubter in me is not sure though. What if it didn't sell like the I-Phone 4?
I guess I may still have some learning to do on the plot end of things too. I'm too young for an autobiography ghost-written by Eamon Dunphy. Though I'm sure Jordan has about a dozen of them out there in multiple languages- everywhere. Damn you, Jordan.
We will see what happens. The need to emigrate is the time filler these days. It gets a little more intense with each day. Back to the real world for a time. With it's many worries and woes. Ups, Downs and disapointments - some harder to bare than others.
'But you have your health,' as Mum Booker used to say. When she could remember...
It should be easier by now. And in many ways it is. Other things which one has no control over are battled easier by the experiences you pick up as you go. There was a saying flying around Facebook the last few days about allowing things live rent-free in your head. That can cost people years. With no years left to lose - I guess those things don't hang around so long anymore. None of us might have control over much, but they don't have to control who you are either. That's probably the best thing writing has given me over the last few years. That sense of freedom. The chance to find out who you are and then what the **c* you're going to do about it. Can't say that is ever easy, but I don't want to live life in a shell or a haze. So one has to find the ground between. 'The Ground Between' - The self help masterpiece by Booker D. Booker! Might even get on Oprah! Or Hannity?
My budget doesn't extend to the top of the bookshelves this weather. But I do get the occasional gift. One swung by my way a few months ago from a friend down under. Barry Simiana. His story, Gone to Mum's is part of a collection in a book called Next Stop Hollywood - Short Stories Bound For The Screen. I read it today. Exquisite. I don't do reviews, because I'd have to do them honestly and sometimes people don't like that, but Baz is my kinda writer.
...and I quote, ''Kelly intrigued me. I've always been a sucker for redheads. They get me everytime.''
Baz and Leon would have been great pals. The story though is more than that. It ticked all the boxes all good stories should. Brilliantly set, defined characters - it drifted between the raw and subtle with ease. I even ate an orange!
It had a letter in it too - readers of Booker will know what I mean. Irony hey! From so far away.
Baz's new book is out now. Touch of Evil. I'll see if I can't nab a credit card from somewhere soon. Mine ran off with half the government Ministers at the last election. They got millions. I got to be a writer.
Life doesn't suck so much when it's 25 outside and when your Ayrton Senna on a mower for an hour. What about those skid marks? Ground will be dead soon - for another year.
The hottest day of the year, they say. It's nearly October!
A strange daze indeed.
*************
If you have 18 minutes
Monday, September 26, 2011
Social Ravers
When I left the old grog behind a number of years ago, I knew the pursuit of something else would have to be sought pretty quickly to fill the gap left by the squander of many a year.
I find myself very lucky these days that I always had a love for writing.
I began my first book as an 18 year old in Holland - a generational epic spanning Irish lives on three continents. I took it out again at 22 during another grogless stint, but it collapsed again on page 149 of a handwritten notepad. I still have it to this day, along with the small mound of the writings I've gathered to date for the grandchilder to light the fire with. It seems only fair...
When recession came and bit our collective ass - with the exception of those who plunder it for their own gain on scales which impact horrifically on some people's lives - I began to think of writing as more of an opportunity than a mere pass-time. So i researched into it, and given the tech age we live in, it didn't seem beyond the bounds of possibility that perhaps even a working-class begrudger with no degree could someday earn a crust doing what it is they wanted to do.
I tried for Uni twice. The first time in 2007 I was accepted in the UK. I had to give it up after a delay in getting my grant and having no job meant it was impossible to continue. Just one of the many examples of systemic failure I have encountered in now countless dealings within it.
The second time was here at home. I was refused a place on the English & History course as I wasn't deemed fit enough. The three-minute interviewer thought the gap in education might not help with my ability to think critically. I took that one on the chin although at the time it did knock me out. I managed to salvage something from it in the pages of Booker's World.
Back to the drawing board I next had to decide what to write about. The best advice I could get online was to write what one knows about. From that came Booker's World - The slowest selling Irish novel of 2011. Perhaps even the World. I haven't even covered the publishing cost yet! I will let you decide if those are the words of a bitter middle-aged dude or a blatent self-promoting plug. Being an absurdist I can see the value in most opinion, so don't hold back.
I covered the Lisbon Treaty 2 referendum with gusto on this blog when I set out writing regularly. After Ireland allowed it to sail through, I decided that the coward in me should withdraw blog posts concerning that debate of which I was against. From the prospective of someone who would have to engage with authority in order to advance their lowly position in life I felt - at the time - that it would be best. I mean how could authority support an anti-European? They too sit somewhere in the rusty pile.
The cowardice left me soon afterwards and I vowed never again to dodge and that was made easier by the absolute collapse that has unfolded here since 2008. I learned more in those few years than I would expect to learn in a niche subject studied for many years. Not just about how our little island operates, but of her, past and present. I also found out a little about myself along the way too.
It's true, I could apply for an unpaid internship and try further my mummified career of choice. But who do you write for? Who out there was looking for ramblings devoid of all the bullshit. Who'd take on an upstart with an opinion or an angle of their own?
And then I looked and found a large percentage of it is nothing more than paid for opinion in the agenda-setting/spin type world we live in, written by pens for hire.
I'm an oxymoron in many respects. After all, doesn't this blog have a certain agenda of its own? The Social Republicanism, The Social Raver, The Bitter Begrudger, The Capitalist Craicdown. Writing Without Grog. I'm sure it could find many a description out there in the big bad blogosphere.
'But money is money, Booker?'
Indeed it is. But if it was the hunt for handy money that consumed me, I'd have been a politician or went into porn - behind the camera, of course.
I deleted my personal page on Facebook last week. Tired of the same ol' bullshit appearing on it day after day. Prying eyes of digital farmers had a lot to do with it, but when it comes to privacy well, Facebook is losing control.
The oxymoron appears again then because I still intend to use it for Don Booker, as I do believe social media has a role to play in modern society. I doubt it will be Facebook that delivers the cutting edge package at the end of the day. Like MySpace it has lost its way in the hunt for the dollar.
I still find it useful for connecting with people of similar interests and i do enjoy having 'friends' that are adult enough to hold a conversation even when opinions on issues differ wildly at times. It shows a mutual respect. The type of respect perhaps Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness found for each other at the end of the day? But we'll leave the Presidency alone until D-Day, Wednesday, when the ballot paper is completed.
I do know this much from attending Enterprise courses and being through the local system here this year. Ireland has practically no interest in helping you move yourself forward in any productive way. I don't take it personally anymore. It's a fact of life. A fact of life for many. The smart ones are leaving. Next year I'll be among them I'm sure, though my youngest has told me to put such notions out of me head. He's seven.
When you're back is against a wall and the will to keep fighting wanes with each passing day you come to realize it is for the best. If nothing more as a parent I want to be able in part to prepare them for a world so often set up to disappoint, but above all to encourage them and others to express their opinion and encourage them to develop an ability to think for themselves and not buy so easily into all that is fed to them daily from just about everywhere.
That approach works sometimes and sometimes goes against you as times of trial have testified throughout my life. In ways it's all part of life's make-up. But space in my head doesn't come free anymore, and it is a good thing to know about yourself.
There is a great freedom in writing when you are not influenced to much by others. The voices I listen to these days have an eye just a little further than their own reflection in a mirror. Those who call it as it is - without fear of closing off who they are to themselves. So many do it. There is so much false about life and the world in this era.
When you witness the shocking lack of will to change things all around us you begin to wonder how it is ever going to sort itself out. But history reminds us it usually does... eventually. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword - if used well.
I use my pen - or keyboard nowadays - for those kind of purposes. I certainly wouldn't be me if i didn't allow myself to use the occasional f*** or call spin, Bullshit. Then again, I'm not appealing to the upper crust, the self absorbed PC'ers or those who like to control everything. At least not anymore.
Trying to be someone else always failed me. In more ways than I'll ever get to write about I'm sure. I don't intend to fail this time for I know there is a job and a place out there somewhere which might respect where it is I come from and what I want to do with whatever amount of time Absurdity still has to grant me.
'Je pense donc je suis.' - René Desartes
Why would one want to go against that? Well, any self-respecting writer anyway.
I find myself very lucky these days that I always had a love for writing.
I began my first book as an 18 year old in Holland - a generational epic spanning Irish lives on three continents. I took it out again at 22 during another grogless stint, but it collapsed again on page 149 of a handwritten notepad. I still have it to this day, along with the small mound of the writings I've gathered to date for the grandchilder to light the fire with. It seems only fair...
When recession came and bit our collective ass - with the exception of those who plunder it for their own gain on scales which impact horrifically on some people's lives - I began to think of writing as more of an opportunity than a mere pass-time. So i researched into it, and given the tech age we live in, it didn't seem beyond the bounds of possibility that perhaps even a working-class begrudger with no degree could someday earn a crust doing what it is they wanted to do.
I tried for Uni twice. The first time in 2007 I was accepted in the UK. I had to give it up after a delay in getting my grant and having no job meant it was impossible to continue. Just one of the many examples of systemic failure I have encountered in now countless dealings within it.
The second time was here at home. I was refused a place on the English & History course as I wasn't deemed fit enough. The three-minute interviewer thought the gap in education might not help with my ability to think critically. I took that one on the chin although at the time it did knock me out. I managed to salvage something from it in the pages of Booker's World.
Back to the drawing board I next had to decide what to write about. The best advice I could get online was to write what one knows about. From that came Booker's World - The slowest selling Irish novel of 2011. Perhaps even the World. I haven't even covered the publishing cost yet! I will let you decide if those are the words of a bitter middle-aged dude or a blatent self-promoting plug. Being an absurdist I can see the value in most opinion, so don't hold back.
I covered the Lisbon Treaty 2 referendum with gusto on this blog when I set out writing regularly. After Ireland allowed it to sail through, I decided that the coward in me should withdraw blog posts concerning that debate of which I was against. From the prospective of someone who would have to engage with authority in order to advance their lowly position in life I felt - at the time - that it would be best. I mean how could authority support an anti-European? They too sit somewhere in the rusty pile.
The cowardice left me soon afterwards and I vowed never again to dodge and that was made easier by the absolute collapse that has unfolded here since 2008. I learned more in those few years than I would expect to learn in a niche subject studied for many years. Not just about how our little island operates, but of her, past and present. I also found out a little about myself along the way too.
It's true, I could apply for an unpaid internship and try further my mummified career of choice. But who do you write for? Who out there was looking for ramblings devoid of all the bullshit. Who'd take on an upstart with an opinion or an angle of their own?
And then I looked and found a large percentage of it is nothing more than paid for opinion in the agenda-setting/spin type world we live in, written by pens for hire.
I'm an oxymoron in many respects. After all, doesn't this blog have a certain agenda of its own? The Social Republicanism, The Social Raver, The Bitter Begrudger, The Capitalist Craicdown. Writing Without Grog. I'm sure it could find many a description out there in the big bad blogosphere.
'But money is money, Booker?'
Indeed it is. But if it was the hunt for handy money that consumed me, I'd have been a politician or went into porn - behind the camera, of course.
I deleted my personal page on Facebook last week. Tired of the same ol' bullshit appearing on it day after day. Prying eyes of digital farmers had a lot to do with it, but when it comes to privacy well, Facebook is losing control.
The oxymoron appears again then because I still intend to use it for Don Booker, as I do believe social media has a role to play in modern society. I doubt it will be Facebook that delivers the cutting edge package at the end of the day. Like MySpace it has lost its way in the hunt for the dollar.
I still find it useful for connecting with people of similar interests and i do enjoy having 'friends' that are adult enough to hold a conversation even when opinions on issues differ wildly at times. It shows a mutual respect. The type of respect perhaps Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness found for each other at the end of the day? But we'll leave the Presidency alone until D-Day, Wednesday, when the ballot paper is completed.
I do know this much from attending Enterprise courses and being through the local system here this year. Ireland has practically no interest in helping you move yourself forward in any productive way. I don't take it personally anymore. It's a fact of life. A fact of life for many. The smart ones are leaving. Next year I'll be among them I'm sure, though my youngest has told me to put such notions out of me head. He's seven.
When you're back is against a wall and the will to keep fighting wanes with each passing day you come to realize it is for the best. If nothing more as a parent I want to be able in part to prepare them for a world so often set up to disappoint, but above all to encourage them and others to express their opinion and encourage them to develop an ability to think for themselves and not buy so easily into all that is fed to them daily from just about everywhere.
That approach works sometimes and sometimes goes against you as times of trial have testified throughout my life. In ways it's all part of life's make-up. But space in my head doesn't come free anymore, and it is a good thing to know about yourself.
There is a great freedom in writing when you are not influenced to much by others. The voices I listen to these days have an eye just a little further than their own reflection in a mirror. Those who call it as it is - without fear of closing off who they are to themselves. So many do it. There is so much false about life and the world in this era.
When you witness the shocking lack of will to change things all around us you begin to wonder how it is ever going to sort itself out. But history reminds us it usually does... eventually. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword - if used well.
I use my pen - or keyboard nowadays - for those kind of purposes. I certainly wouldn't be me if i didn't allow myself to use the occasional f*** or call spin, Bullshit. Then again, I'm not appealing to the upper crust, the self absorbed PC'ers or those who like to control everything. At least not anymore.
Trying to be someone else always failed me. In more ways than I'll ever get to write about I'm sure. I don't intend to fail this time for I know there is a job and a place out there somewhere which might respect where it is I come from and what I want to do with whatever amount of time Absurdity still has to grant me.
'Je pense donc je suis.' - René Desartes
Why would one want to go against that? Well, any self-respecting writer anyway.
Friday, September 2, 2011
The Door
So Blogger's got a few new swanky features. Sometimes I prefer the old. Take Facebook, it used to be a place where you could hang out for a few hours, have a bit of banter and generally just use it as a new form of selective socializing. It's new, may as well try it, hey? But of course having gathered many business acquaintances along the way and a host of newbie friends, Facebook became a drag and was slowly torpedoing the way of MySpace. Privacy Issues had the hounds out and after Google launched +, forcing Facebook into a reaction, the spread of information may have slowed somewhat, but there are smarter ways of getting it and that can't include alienating your visitors. Facebook can be rather draconian and dry and humorless on days. Recently I lightened the friends list somewhat and see if i couldn't get back to the days where a little banter could be a flowing. I've yet to try out +, not sure i have the patience to be figuring it out and what use it is at the end of the day. There are people better equipped to do that, I'm sure.
While Fianna Fail go to war with one another over their decision not to run a Presidential Candidate and Bertie weighing in with believe it or not, a plausible argument that he could have won it - given the list to date being offered a life of luxury while the nation drowns in a sea of debt.
Could they split? There's no doubt there's a handsome re-branding contract there for someone for he who can figure the Irish - Rules! So I guess it's an achievement of sorts on a certain degree.
The argument for debt forgiveness is not exactly raging, but it's causing whispers behind the backs. Why not cancel it all for a few years until we figure some things out? I mean we own the banks who want the debt, so in times of economic stress shouldn't Nooner be more radical in his thinking in search of a populous census based on the common good at a time of crisis? He's cutting a Euro swagger in a lean time. Good tutoring going on in the corridors of Brussels I'm sure. Top tutors too. Listen to me talking like Don Booker.
The Autumn is here - I think - which means darker evenings, fires, and a garden full of leaves. I can't wait. I wonder what elements I might have to encounter in Western Australia if i can find a way in. They used to say 'There's opportunity out West,' back in my Granddaddy's day. Now it's, 'There's opportunity down South.'
I wonder how the Irish cope with the constant sun. I'm hearing little complaints from the growing number of people I know living over there. I'd be an easy sell if I was hired to get folk over there by selling them what they have as opposed to what they could have. In a time of mass migration, wherever or whatever the causes, it may be places getting a shot at a sustainable future that cop us up here West on a little bit. If you can give people a certain security they'll want better things. But when the future is tail end up here in Ireland it's hard to see anything surfacing anytime soon.
Year 1 - The Letdown
Year 2 - The Fightback
Year 3 - The Letdown II
Year 4 - The Door???
Of course it could all work out fine - in both places. Nothing that a nice big Euromillions win wouldn't sort out, or a few budgets. Stranger things happens in Larryland. Speaking of which, I better get back to it. I found two good new friends on my travels who are going to help me shape the Booker's World novel. Big credit due because without the help putting it out as an ebook was always a concern. It's been difficult to get the help needed and when it came it came from afar. That's the good thing about modern forms of technology and human communication. You meet people who don't just buy into the illusion played out around us which deflects from living life the way people would like too. If that sort of technology and savvy is directed correctly who knows what can be achieved - But if it is by-passed continually for more corporate ends, I feel it like raw capitalism, it is doomed to failure. I think people are tired of the BS, the Corpo of tomorrow will be based on what they stand for, driven by their stakeholder. If that stops at the $, their probably are better forms of gambling to be taking. Well, more fun ones anyway. As Penelope Stoppit once said, 'World's Changing, Baby!'
It sure is - every single day.
While Fianna Fail go to war with one another over their decision not to run a Presidential Candidate and Bertie weighing in with believe it or not, a plausible argument that he could have won it - given the list to date being offered a life of luxury while the nation drowns in a sea of debt.
Could they split? There's no doubt there's a handsome re-branding contract there for someone for he who can figure the Irish - Rules! So I guess it's an achievement of sorts on a certain degree.
The argument for debt forgiveness is not exactly raging, but it's causing whispers behind the backs. Why not cancel it all for a few years until we figure some things out? I mean we own the banks who want the debt, so in times of economic stress shouldn't Nooner be more radical in his thinking in search of a populous census based on the common good at a time of crisis? He's cutting a Euro swagger in a lean time. Good tutoring going on in the corridors of Brussels I'm sure. Top tutors too. Listen to me talking like Don Booker.
The Autumn is here - I think - which means darker evenings, fires, and a garden full of leaves. I can't wait. I wonder what elements I might have to encounter in Western Australia if i can find a way in. They used to say 'There's opportunity out West,' back in my Granddaddy's day. Now it's, 'There's opportunity down South.'
I wonder how the Irish cope with the constant sun. I'm hearing little complaints from the growing number of people I know living over there. I'd be an easy sell if I was hired to get folk over there by selling them what they have as opposed to what they could have. In a time of mass migration, wherever or whatever the causes, it may be places getting a shot at a sustainable future that cop us up here West on a little bit. If you can give people a certain security they'll want better things. But when the future is tail end up here in Ireland it's hard to see anything surfacing anytime soon.
Year 1 - The Letdown
Year 2 - The Fightback
Year 3 - The Letdown II
Year 4 - The Door???
Of course it could all work out fine - in both places. Nothing that a nice big Euromillions win wouldn't sort out, or a few budgets. Stranger things happens in Larryland. Speaking of which, I better get back to it. I found two good new friends on my travels who are going to help me shape the Booker's World novel. Big credit due because without the help putting it out as an ebook was always a concern. It's been difficult to get the help needed and when it came it came from afar. That's the good thing about modern forms of technology and human communication. You meet people who don't just buy into the illusion played out around us which deflects from living life the way people would like too. If that sort of technology and savvy is directed correctly who knows what can be achieved - But if it is by-passed continually for more corporate ends, I feel it like raw capitalism, it is doomed to failure. I think people are tired of the BS, the Corpo of tomorrow will be based on what they stand for, driven by their stakeholder. If that stops at the $, their probably are better forms of gambling to be taking. Well, more fun ones anyway. As Penelope Stoppit once said, 'World's Changing, Baby!'
It sure is - every single day.
Monday, August 22, 2011
An Intro To Larry K
So with the world in chaos, it's time to get back to dumbing myself down for profit. Here's a short intro to a character I'm forming in the visual sense and which will be released through an amateur outfit sometime soon. The Lives of Larry.
*************
Picture the scene - We're in a modest music studio come hangout parlor in downtown LA. Larry Kenny, an self-styled A&R man, pitch's an upcoming music producer of Simeon decent on two new projects. One is an Axl Rose Ballad, commissioned by NATO. The other a rap record commissioned by Col. MD Gaddafi. The Simeon accepts.
A few weeks of partying ensue. The A&R man has some guests over to his dwelling for some poolside shenanigans as Axl and MC Hammer head for the solitude of the studio before the masses purchase them en-masse. Cards are exchanged and meetings set up to kill the daze.
One week later, Knock-in' in Tripoli's Door, with backing from the Scorpions outsells MC's rendition of Gaddafi Time, 13 to 1 in digital dowloads. Gaddafi Time peaks at Number 17 in Tripoli.
As Axl wanders off into the clouds with a bottle of vodka to discuss existence with his Anger and It's Consequence coach, MC receives solace from Kobe Bryant and Robbie Keane at David Beckhams House, where they have gathered to BBQ a Bison, 'D' recently downed while out hunting in Oregon. As the Bison and Bud Party hits full flow they discuss the state of the music industry with Larry. MC cuts a worried figure as he looks around and wonders just how long more he can survive. 20 years without a hit is a long time. He'll lose his respect. He may even be asked to leave... The Partay!
'If some debt consolidation package is not forthcoming soon I screwed. I could lose my home,' he laments to a tone deaf usher hired for the night from a new start-up to keep the pool at a certain temperature.
'Have you ever heard of Jedward?' Robbie asks, sending the ring of ching going into Beckam's ears. 'It's the only thing that matters,' Beckham thinks silently to himself, before cautiously moving his eyes upward to make sure no-one has heard.
'I sometimes wonder how I did it,' he says to the Bison before putting it down on the gold paving slabs that dressed the pool in exchange for a leaf of lettuce.
The hours pass as Snoop Dogg and Christy Moore bang out hit after hit to the gathered gang. In The Ghetto, Black Is The Color, Passing Time in Dublin, Nothing Compares to You, Her Name was Annie...
'Do you think this Jedward can save me?' MC asks, the sense of pity in his voice there for all to hear.
'Jedward?' Robbie says. 'They'll save the world. You're talking about the Irish here, pal.'
'How much do they cost?' MC asks.
'You'll have to speak to Louie about that,' Robbie answers, waving to Claudine that it's time to vacate the premise. He had an hour's training tomorrow followed by meetings... and shit. He rises from his pool side Lazy-Boy.
'Not bad for a Tallaght boy,' he smiles, as he takes in the orange glow of cheap lighting off in the hills. 'See ya around, bad boy.'
MC shakes his head. 'Who's Louis?' he ponders. 'And who's Tallaght?'
Larry looks at MC. Perhaps Sonny could help? Perhaps not. His phone rings. It's Jetford Buick, his new writing prospect. He answers.
'I've spent the day working on my novel's first few lines, Larry,' Jetford says.
'Lines?' Larry asks.
'Art takes time,' Jetford says.
'And time is money,' Larry says. 'Read them to me.'
Jetford clears his throat.
Forty two years and it had come to this. Hunted by his own, alone. Armed with his madness he faced them down, those invisible Operatives that smelled of the CIA.
He. Hunted through the Tripoli sewers like a Mad Dog.
The stench perforated the nose he had always refused to fix. He missed his tent. He missed Skype chats with Gordon and Nicolas in the evenings. He missed chamomile.
'You're no Tom Clancy?' Larry said, before ushering Jetford back to his thoughts. He needed to talk to MC. As he walked to the lazy-boy so recently vacated, Larry pondered why he left the sanity of his Irish home, deep in the valleys of obscurity which offered the spectacular three times a year when the sun chose to shine. As Victoria told everyone it was time to leave, it did not take him long to realize why he had followed the hundred million before him from his native shores. Though Larry had never seen those shores. He was from inland.
Here though was the real LA LA Land. There was no going back now. As Larry woke to the sound of a cuckoo clock, he knew. He had to go there. It's where he belonged.
"I'll bring Dan Boyle with me,' he thought to himself as the evening sun set. It was time to get up and start plotting his day. Randy better have breakfast served.
*************
The Lives of Larry
*************
Picture the scene - We're in a modest music studio come hangout parlor in downtown LA. Larry Kenny, an self-styled A&R man, pitch's an upcoming music producer of Simeon decent on two new projects. One is an Axl Rose Ballad, commissioned by NATO. The other a rap record commissioned by Col. MD Gaddafi. The Simeon accepts.
A few weeks of partying ensue. The A&R man has some guests over to his dwelling for some poolside shenanigans as Axl and MC Hammer head for the solitude of the studio before the masses purchase them en-masse. Cards are exchanged and meetings set up to kill the daze.
One week later, Knock-in' in Tripoli's Door, with backing from the Scorpions outsells MC's rendition of Gaddafi Time, 13 to 1 in digital dowloads. Gaddafi Time peaks at Number 17 in Tripoli.
As Axl wanders off into the clouds with a bottle of vodka to discuss existence with his Anger and It's Consequence coach, MC receives solace from Kobe Bryant and Robbie Keane at David Beckhams House, where they have gathered to BBQ a Bison, 'D' recently downed while out hunting in Oregon. As the Bison and Bud Party hits full flow they discuss the state of the music industry with Larry. MC cuts a worried figure as he looks around and wonders just how long more he can survive. 20 years without a hit is a long time. He'll lose his respect. He may even be asked to leave... The Partay!
'If some debt consolidation package is not forthcoming soon I screwed. I could lose my home,' he laments to a tone deaf usher hired for the night from a new start-up to keep the pool at a certain temperature.
'Have you ever heard of Jedward?' Robbie asks, sending the ring of ching going into Beckam's ears. 'It's the only thing that matters,' Beckham thinks silently to himself, before cautiously moving his eyes upward to make sure no-one has heard.
'I sometimes wonder how I did it,' he says to the Bison before putting it down on the gold paving slabs that dressed the pool in exchange for a leaf of lettuce.
The hours pass as Snoop Dogg and Christy Moore bang out hit after hit to the gathered gang. In The Ghetto, Black Is The Color, Passing Time in Dublin, Nothing Compares to You, Her Name was Annie...
'Do you think this Jedward can save me?' MC asks, the sense of pity in his voice there for all to hear.
'Jedward?' Robbie says. 'They'll save the world. You're talking about the Irish here, pal.'
'How much do they cost?' MC asks.
'You'll have to speak to Louie about that,' Robbie answers, waving to Claudine that it's time to vacate the premise. He had an hour's training tomorrow followed by meetings... and shit. He rises from his pool side Lazy-Boy.
'Not bad for a Tallaght boy,' he smiles, as he takes in the orange glow of cheap lighting off in the hills. 'See ya around, bad boy.'
MC shakes his head. 'Who's Louis?' he ponders. 'And who's Tallaght?'
Larry looks at MC. Perhaps Sonny could help? Perhaps not. His phone rings. It's Jetford Buick, his new writing prospect. He answers.
'I've spent the day working on my novel's first few lines, Larry,' Jetford says.
'Lines?' Larry asks.
'Art takes time,' Jetford says.
'And time is money,' Larry says. 'Read them to me.'
Jetford clears his throat.
Forty two years and it had come to this. Hunted by his own, alone. Armed with his madness he faced them down, those invisible Operatives that smelled of the CIA.
He. Hunted through the Tripoli sewers like a Mad Dog.
The stench perforated the nose he had always refused to fix. He missed his tent. He missed Skype chats with Gordon and Nicolas in the evenings. He missed chamomile.
'You're no Tom Clancy?' Larry said, before ushering Jetford back to his thoughts. He needed to talk to MC. As he walked to the lazy-boy so recently vacated, Larry pondered why he left the sanity of his Irish home, deep in the valleys of obscurity which offered the spectacular three times a year when the sun chose to shine. As Victoria told everyone it was time to leave, it did not take him long to realize why he had followed the hundred million before him from his native shores. Though Larry had never seen those shores. He was from inland.
Here though was the real LA LA Land. There was no going back now. As Larry woke to the sound of a cuckoo clock, he knew. He had to go there. It's where he belonged.
"I'll bring Dan Boyle with me,' he thought to himself as the evening sun set. It was time to get up and start plotting his day. Randy better have breakfast served.
*************
The Lives of Larry
Saturday, August 20, 2011
They Came From West Memphis
It's nice to just close over the blinds and get on with it when the Summer has been such a dreary affair. Cold and damp. Very typically Irish, at least my little corner of it anyway.
I spent the week proofing my second novella and hope to release it in the coming weeks. Like Sonny Strange, it will consist of close to 10,000 words and 13 chapters. Unlike Sonny though, there will be no pick-up.
Cripple tells the story of a man who, blighted by a childhood memory, goes off the beaten path before someone less fortunate attempts to make him see the error of his ways. I wrote it as a film a few years back. I spent about 6 weeks in pre-production only to see the damn thing succumb too, yes you've guessed it, a downpour. That is the nature of that beast. Having struggled to get it all together and then for that to happen. It was at a time when it was all systems go, there was money to pay crew and get things done faster. That was before the wallop. If it's all about timing, well mine sucked.
To be honest I haven't been tuning in much to what's happening this week. I know the stock markets are all over the place and Europe wants more power but can't agree on much else. Almost feels like our faith is sealed. I'm just not even going to think about that.
Cross water the fallout from the riots continues and it is the harshness of the sentencing in some of the cases that have some human rights groups up-in-arms.
Two men who incited a riot over Facebook were jailed for four years each even though the riot never took place. I'm sure a community order and the public humiliation that went with that might have sufficed. It's a tough Justice system in the UK. Plenty of failings over the years. And with the hacking scandal leeking out slowly the behind the scenes, containment of that particular hive of wasps must have the spinnies in overdrive.
During the week I viewed a few documentaries online. One was a 4 hour epic called The Century of Self. Extremely thought provoking and definitely in many respects cements long held views on just what a sorry way humankind has been manipulated for the best part of history and to no extent as well as in the modern day.
If any random readers have a few hours to spare it's well worth watching. Makes an absurdest approach to life that little bit more, shall we say, satisfying.
Years back a friend and I came across a documentary floating around one of the channels on the TV. Paradise Lost tells the story of a horrific triple child killing and the subsequent jailing of three young men who became known as The West Memphis 3. A second documentary, Paradise Lost 2 questioned the guilt of the three men jailed for the horror. One of the three, Damien Echols was actually sentenced to death and has spent the last 18 years on death Row.
This week the trio pleaded guilty to murder and were released on time served. With the third part of the documentary due for release in just over a month the timing of the release could not have come at a better time for Director, Joe Berlinger who together with Bruce Sinofsky have documented the story for the past 18 years.
One feels the story has not fully reached its conclusion, but having weighed up the evidence subject to the documentaries, one would feel though justice seems to have finally been done, other injustices in the case have still to be addressed. But it sort of weighs up my little weekend weather let-down those few years ago and sends it into insignificance. 18 years of any life is a long time to give, be it at the mercy of a state's justice system or the art of filmmaking. Both are worth an endorsement any day of the week.
I spent the week proofing my second novella and hope to release it in the coming weeks. Like Sonny Strange, it will consist of close to 10,000 words and 13 chapters. Unlike Sonny though, there will be no pick-up.
Cripple tells the story of a man who, blighted by a childhood memory, goes off the beaten path before someone less fortunate attempts to make him see the error of his ways. I wrote it as a film a few years back. I spent about 6 weeks in pre-production only to see the damn thing succumb too, yes you've guessed it, a downpour. That is the nature of that beast. Having struggled to get it all together and then for that to happen. It was at a time when it was all systems go, there was money to pay crew and get things done faster. That was before the wallop. If it's all about timing, well mine sucked.
To be honest I haven't been tuning in much to what's happening this week. I know the stock markets are all over the place and Europe wants more power but can't agree on much else. Almost feels like our faith is sealed. I'm just not even going to think about that.
Cross water the fallout from the riots continues and it is the harshness of the sentencing in some of the cases that have some human rights groups up-in-arms.
Two men who incited a riot over Facebook were jailed for four years each even though the riot never took place. I'm sure a community order and the public humiliation that went with that might have sufficed. It's a tough Justice system in the UK. Plenty of failings over the years. And with the hacking scandal leeking out slowly the behind the scenes, containment of that particular hive of wasps must have the spinnies in overdrive.
During the week I viewed a few documentaries online. One was a 4 hour epic called The Century of Self. Extremely thought provoking and definitely in many respects cements long held views on just what a sorry way humankind has been manipulated for the best part of history and to no extent as well as in the modern day.
If any random readers have a few hours to spare it's well worth watching. Makes an absurdest approach to life that little bit more, shall we say, satisfying.
Years back a friend and I came across a documentary floating around one of the channels on the TV. Paradise Lost tells the story of a horrific triple child killing and the subsequent jailing of three young men who became known as The West Memphis 3. A second documentary, Paradise Lost 2 questioned the guilt of the three men jailed for the horror. One of the three, Damien Echols was actually sentenced to death and has spent the last 18 years on death Row.
This week the trio pleaded guilty to murder and were released on time served. With the third part of the documentary due for release in just over a month the timing of the release could not have come at a better time for Director, Joe Berlinger who together with Bruce Sinofsky have documented the story for the past 18 years.
One feels the story has not fully reached its conclusion, but having weighed up the evidence subject to the documentaries, one would feel though justice seems to have finally been done, other injustices in the case have still to be addressed. But it sort of weighs up my little weekend weather let-down those few years ago and sends it into insignificance. 18 years of any life is a long time to give, be it at the mercy of a state's justice system or the art of filmmaking. Both are worth an endorsement any day of the week.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Facebooking Writers
When I began writing Booker's World, I understood that the chances of getting published were stacked heavily against the new writer. I tested with submissions to all the major Irish publishers and agents and a few in the UK. It wasn't accepted, so I took the decision to go it alone. I felt when a book set in Ireland, set against the backdrop of recession and in a working class setting, while dealing with social issues wasn't accepted in my own country, the chances of it being accepted elsewhere were probably less.
I ran a series last year called Authors in the Zone where I offered writers the chance to speak about their work and writing and publishing in general. I felt it was important, as a writer, to offer other writers a chance to promote their work. It's admirable the work writers do to get their material read.
I set up a Facebook page for the Don Booker charachter on the day I began writing the book. I decided to concentrate on writers when friending people. I felt it made sense as they would have a lot to offer in terms of what they post and might boost readership somewhat. In terms of content posted it was worthwhile. Readership was another issue.
The week before last I decided to conduct a little research into Facebook and just see how effective it was as a platform for writers. I asked via a wall post for people who read the post to click the like button, an action that probably would take about a second out of very busy lives.
I wanted to use it as an indication into how many of my 'friends' actually got to see anything that I have been posting, and it seemed the best way to do it. I ran the post for seven days, re-posting on five and asking people who did 'like' the post not to do so again. At the time of writing there were 2772 people friending the Don Booker page. Here's how it panned out -
Day 1 - 34 people liked the post.
Day 2 - 4 people
Day 3 - No post.
Day 4 - 16 people
Day 5 - No post
Day 6 - 14 people
Day 7 - 7 people
-------------
Grand total - 75 people.
I'm not going to breakdown or go into what this means as I'm sure people have and can draw their own conclusions from this simple experiment. But it does suggest to me two things -
That poor old Don has no place in decent society. (sigh)
That Facebook, as an effective tool for writers is not even in the game.
*************
The Writing Life & Other Absurdities was not paid by Google or Amazon for this undertaking. Onwards and upward.
I ran a series last year called Authors in the Zone where I offered writers the chance to speak about their work and writing and publishing in general. I felt it was important, as a writer, to offer other writers a chance to promote their work. It's admirable the work writers do to get their material read.
I set up a Facebook page for the Don Booker charachter on the day I began writing the book. I decided to concentrate on writers when friending people. I felt it made sense as they would have a lot to offer in terms of what they post and might boost readership somewhat. In terms of content posted it was worthwhile. Readership was another issue.
The week before last I decided to conduct a little research into Facebook and just see how effective it was as a platform for writers. I asked via a wall post for people who read the post to click the like button, an action that probably would take about a second out of very busy lives.
I wanted to use it as an indication into how many of my 'friends' actually got to see anything that I have been posting, and it seemed the best way to do it. I ran the post for seven days, re-posting on five and asking people who did 'like' the post not to do so again. At the time of writing there were 2772 people friending the Don Booker page. Here's how it panned out -
Day 1 - 34 people liked the post.
Day 2 - 4 people
Day 3 - No post.
Day 4 - 16 people
Day 5 - No post
Day 6 - 14 people
Day 7 - 7 people
-------------
Grand total - 75 people.
I'm not going to breakdown or go into what this means as I'm sure people have and can draw their own conclusions from this simple experiment. But it does suggest to me two things -
That poor old Don has no place in decent society. (sigh)
That Facebook, as an effective tool for writers is not even in the game.
*************
The Writing Life & Other Absurdities was not paid by Google or Amazon for this undertaking. Onwards and upward.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Black & White
I'm sure writers among us tend to draw from personal experiences or the tales of others to help shape their writing, especially when it comes to fiction. Some commentators have said that truth is stranger than fiction and perhaps it is when it comes to the stories flashed at us daily of a world in a terrible state with no apparent direction that is going to solve its mounting problems.
I drew strongly from experiences in Booker's World in many ways, one inclusion being the months I spent working in London back in the 90's. Sure it's masked with a touch of Booker eccentricity - for who likes a bore rambling on about the state of affairs in a country drifting towards Iceland every single day. Ahem...
I think disturbed and then shocked were my two main emotions over the past three days as I watched an area in Croydon I used to live in being burned to the ground by an element of society hell bent on nothing but mindless violence and destruction and providing the world with a first hand view of nihilism at work.
I also worked in Brixton. Imagine a naive Paddy, walking the early morning streets of Brixton going to work, his only knowledge of the place the images he saw on a TV screen back in 1981 when this area of London was subject to something similar Londoners have been suffering through these past four days.
As it turned out Brixton was and still is one of the nicest and friendliest places I have ever been. Not without problems, but problems faced and dealt with daily by a legion of youth workers who's buzz from life came from keeping the whole thing together. How deflated so many will feel over the past few days, as years upon years of hard, thankless and soul destroying work may have become undone by the violent reaction of youths hell bent on destruction at any cost. But to watch London on fire last night and Anarchy on the streets one suspects this runs a little deeper as Police were unable to manage a situation that stinks of some form of criminal minded organization using the times to snare vulnerable kids into a lair that only ends up in a body bag or a prison if they are lucky. .
Much will be written over the next weeks and months on this. It will be interesting to see who takes what view points. I do think Britain has an effective press once the tabloid is taken out of the equation. Watching Bill O' Reilly point his finger at America last night and tell them Fox, and he, were a spin free zone made me glad I reside on this side of the Atlantic.
Has David Cameron, once this melee has died down, the metal to address the fact and figures and research available, mostly assembled at the cost of his tax-payer, and come to the pretty straight forward conclusion, self interests aside, that Austerity at the behest of corruption is morally and socially wrong and address the question and go some way toward some form of equalization in the form of the social structure which is falling apart with each passing generation not just in his country but in many countries. One would hope that at some stage some is capable of standing up and saying things need addressing. But will it happen?
I think a lot of people would have respect for Martin Luther King. I personally am a fan of anyone who pursues some form of civil and social justice. I couldn't care less about their make-up if their viewpoint is one of equality and justice.
King once said, '' When you cut facilities, slash jobs, abuse power, discriminate, drive people into deeper poverty and shoot people dead whilst refusing to provide answers or justice, the people will rise up and express their anger and frustration if you refuse to hear their cries. A riot is the language of the unheard.''
That's 40 years ago. That's insight from the past by a man who many historians would agree had his hand on the pulse of society as it was at the time. Except 40 years on, it's not about black and white anymore, its about people the world over. Britain will recover because they have that about them. I'm not sure America will though with their 4-advertisement breaks every half hour with the bullshit of Bill O Reilly in between. Charlie Sheen has better things to be saying than that €20 mill a year Capitalist junkie.
I'm all for protecting yourself, but when you live in an age of growing apathy and disillusionment and guns can be bought like sweets, where kids are knowingly mining for the materials we use in our everyday lives and slaughter and slavery stain diamonds the world over, well, in my opionion this world is not protecting it's most precious commodity.
How people buy into every media driven consensus with the amount of untainted information available today shows the power of propaganda in the modern world. In most cities of the world 'the rogue element' have historically been squashed together like sardines in pressure cookers no human being should have to endure. It's a breeding ground for wayward ideologies perfected by the disillusioned. No form of life likes containment. You'd still hope for a day when the realities of Huxley's and Orwell's World and V- For Vendetta weren't beginning to have a sense of reality about them.
There are a few dozen things that will have to be sized up when things settle again. Each as important as the next. The push for your thinking will be delivered through the media, but don't be so easily bought. These areas of these cities are ghetto's, no-go areas and they will remain a threat to what is in this age viewed as decent civil society. So what do we do? Label them and fire on until next time comes around. Or tackle the deep rooted issue, that when justice be it in any form it takes, is not equal and fair then this unacceptable way of living will only get worse as we 'evolve.'
The guys who wrote our constitution in Ireland set standards for the Irish to follow once free to dabble in world affairs. Being irish it is hard to escape that those words came from people who accepted their fates so that perhaps the world they yearned for was something to strive for as we matured as a country. I'd never rule out hope it will come about. And I'd never rule out the irish either. You would think a country with nowt to lose might step up and lead the way a little, but once married to a system that conditions the direst of human behaviour we won't be chairing any agenda setting council anytime soon. One can but hope we'll all see a little sense sometime in the future, but with the weight of a tragic human history on your back of the hope, even a little sense seems insurmountable at times.
I drew strongly from experiences in Booker's World in many ways, one inclusion being the months I spent working in London back in the 90's. Sure it's masked with a touch of Booker eccentricity - for who likes a bore rambling on about the state of affairs in a country drifting towards Iceland every single day. Ahem...
I think disturbed and then shocked were my two main emotions over the past three days as I watched an area in Croydon I used to live in being burned to the ground by an element of society hell bent on nothing but mindless violence and destruction and providing the world with a first hand view of nihilism at work.
I also worked in Brixton. Imagine a naive Paddy, walking the early morning streets of Brixton going to work, his only knowledge of the place the images he saw on a TV screen back in 1981 when this area of London was subject to something similar Londoners have been suffering through these past four days.
As it turned out Brixton was and still is one of the nicest and friendliest places I have ever been. Not without problems, but problems faced and dealt with daily by a legion of youth workers who's buzz from life came from keeping the whole thing together. How deflated so many will feel over the past few days, as years upon years of hard, thankless and soul destroying work may have become undone by the violent reaction of youths hell bent on destruction at any cost. But to watch London on fire last night and Anarchy on the streets one suspects this runs a little deeper as Police were unable to manage a situation that stinks of some form of criminal minded organization using the times to snare vulnerable kids into a lair that only ends up in a body bag or a prison if they are lucky. .
Much will be written over the next weeks and months on this. It will be interesting to see who takes what view points. I do think Britain has an effective press once the tabloid is taken out of the equation. Watching Bill O' Reilly point his finger at America last night and tell them Fox, and he, were a spin free zone made me glad I reside on this side of the Atlantic.
Has David Cameron, once this melee has died down, the metal to address the fact and figures and research available, mostly assembled at the cost of his tax-payer, and come to the pretty straight forward conclusion, self interests aside, that Austerity at the behest of corruption is morally and socially wrong and address the question and go some way toward some form of equalization in the form of the social structure which is falling apart with each passing generation not just in his country but in many countries. One would hope that at some stage some is capable of standing up and saying things need addressing. But will it happen?
I think a lot of people would have respect for Martin Luther King. I personally am a fan of anyone who pursues some form of civil and social justice. I couldn't care less about their make-up if their viewpoint is one of equality and justice.
King once said, '' When you cut facilities, slash jobs, abuse power, discriminate, drive people into deeper poverty and shoot people dead whilst refusing to provide answers or justice, the people will rise up and express their anger and frustration if you refuse to hear their cries. A riot is the language of the unheard.''
That's 40 years ago. That's insight from the past by a man who many historians would agree had his hand on the pulse of society as it was at the time. Except 40 years on, it's not about black and white anymore, its about people the world over. Britain will recover because they have that about them. I'm not sure America will though with their 4-advertisement breaks every half hour with the bullshit of Bill O Reilly in between. Charlie Sheen has better things to be saying than that €20 mill a year Capitalist junkie.
I'm all for protecting yourself, but when you live in an age of growing apathy and disillusionment and guns can be bought like sweets, where kids are knowingly mining for the materials we use in our everyday lives and slaughter and slavery stain diamonds the world over, well, in my opionion this world is not protecting it's most precious commodity.
How people buy into every media driven consensus with the amount of untainted information available today shows the power of propaganda in the modern world. In most cities of the world 'the rogue element' have historically been squashed together like sardines in pressure cookers no human being should have to endure. It's a breeding ground for wayward ideologies perfected by the disillusioned. No form of life likes containment. You'd still hope for a day when the realities of Huxley's and Orwell's World and V- For Vendetta weren't beginning to have a sense of reality about them.
There are a few dozen things that will have to be sized up when things settle again. Each as important as the next. The push for your thinking will be delivered through the media, but don't be so easily bought. These areas of these cities are ghetto's, no-go areas and they will remain a threat to what is in this age viewed as decent civil society. So what do we do? Label them and fire on until next time comes around. Or tackle the deep rooted issue, that when justice be it in any form it takes, is not equal and fair then this unacceptable way of living will only get worse as we 'evolve.'
The guys who wrote our constitution in Ireland set standards for the Irish to follow once free to dabble in world affairs. Being irish it is hard to escape that those words came from people who accepted their fates so that perhaps the world they yearned for was something to strive for as we matured as a country. I'd never rule out hope it will come about. And I'd never rule out the irish either. You would think a country with nowt to lose might step up and lead the way a little, but once married to a system that conditions the direst of human behaviour we won't be chairing any agenda setting council anytime soon. One can but hope we'll all see a little sense sometime in the future, but with the weight of a tragic human history on your back of the hope, even a little sense seems insurmountable at times.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
It's All In The Wording.
Everyone reads the wording on everything, right? The terms and conditions of every website that requires you do so in order to gain access to it? The ones where you part with some personal information? The little writing at the bottom of contracts? The tiny print on the back of contractual obligations when you sign up for debt?
I'm a bit of a reprobate when it comes to things like that I'm afraid. I'd much prefer to dedicate my reading time to something that doesn't a) put me to sleep or b) takes up hours of my time trying to figure out that particular branding of the English language. I guess I'm just not cut out for it.
Yet, in the great scheme of things, when one factors in how things are actually run in the world of business, many people, myself included, have found themselves tripped up at some stage by accepting those hidden little charges, those can and can not do's, those damn terms and conditions squeezed down to letters the size of a couple of mating atoms, when it comes to signing up for someone elses party. OK, a slight exaggeration. My apologies.
I've worked hard at my writing over the past two years, in what ever form it is I write. I turned away from being the defensive person who didn't like criticism to becoming more open to it, especially when I gauge any critique weighed up against the person who gives it. Cursed mistakes creep in now and again but that's a minefield too explosive for one mind to navigate to perfection. That's the world of a writer working alone. It's not an excuse, it's a plain old fact.
This year I decided to engage in some article websites in an attempt to expand my reading base.
I went on to Elance, where I discovered writers bid for writing jobs, but if you're a critic of minimum wage then you really ain't going to like it over there.
The competition for jobs is fierce, it's a marketeers dream place, but it's mostly at the expense of the provider and it doesn't help that Elance cash in a percentage, as well as charging providers to enter the bidding war. I haven't been back there in months.
The second one I tested was Ezine. Membership is free at the basic level, they provide good free advice to writers on how to write articles which will improve your writing and it's not a free-for-all. Each article has to pass through their approval desk. The turnaround can be anything up to ten days. Once accepted content managers can upload the article to any website once they link back to the writer. Sounded fair enough to me.
Problem was I noticed people had taken some articles but 'forgot' to link back. I sent a few emails to these people, but ignorance seems to be the word of the day on that front.
Then I received an email from EZine where they said they didn't like my use of language - Gaddafi continues to slaughter his citizens - in a certain article I wrote. I saw it more of a freedom of speech issue, but i accept its their rules. After all, no-one has a gun to the head forcing people to contribute. I will continue to write there now and again.
The third website I tried was Hub Pages. No problems for a dozen articles or so, then bam, they checked me for using content that was already on another site. Except the content was my own. From this blog! Seems it didn't matter. It was a violation of the terms and conditions which I had read over with dead eyes. Again, fair enough. It's their show.
I think the writer is a little cheated by that particular one, given the contribution made when providing open source content. HubPages do have a way for writers to make a little cash through Ad's, but few writers make much by all accounts.
As you know from this blog, I'm not much of a fan of Ad's by Google or whoever it may be. Though I do see a major opportunity for webmasters to make good money from advertisement revenue given the ease of access to create and maintain a blog or website these days. And with the going rate of content mainly free to content managers, the risk is pretty minimal. It just wouldn't drive me.
Writers, particularly newer ones, are subjected to a practical witch hunt of promise when they engage online. Fed to them daily in sidebars everywhere. If you want it, it's there. But I would urge writers to see past the ranking. The ones making the promises. Do a little more research before you give your work away. Everyone's opinion matters at the end of the day. If people can profit from that while restricting and placing conditions on your work then perhaps there are better ways to advance your goals.
Forums and blogs that are critical of things in publishing are the best asset to a new writer or indeed any writer for that matter. The age of the agent maybe coming to an end as writers question why it has been the one way for so long while they struggle to establish themselves and advance their careers. Writers are better informed in this new age of technology. There is currently a seismic shift in the world of publishing happening that is rocking the foundations of the old publishing. It's a technological revolution out there in an age of information. Usually when something threatens the established order in anything, ways are found around it. But that can be the upside of the human race. Some people are just pesky, they never go away. That alone makes it worth the pursuit, in whatever form your writing takes.
While there are opinions and various ways companies and people conduct themselves in any business, there are those among us focused on something more than the exploitation of others. I've been looking into a few more websites and what sort of impact they can have if writers seek readership for their work on different platforms. I'll blog about them in the coming weeks and hopefully years ahead. When more writers learn to include their own thoughts and theories on things then maybe the writers together can help even the playing surface a little bit more for everyone. The primary focus of any successful business is nearly always profit. Once that's the goal people will always be exploited to a large degree. Writers are not benign to that either.
*************
All content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
I'm a bit of a reprobate when it comes to things like that I'm afraid. I'd much prefer to dedicate my reading time to something that doesn't a) put me to sleep or b) takes up hours of my time trying to figure out that particular branding of the English language. I guess I'm just not cut out for it.
Yet, in the great scheme of things, when one factors in how things are actually run in the world of business, many people, myself included, have found themselves tripped up at some stage by accepting those hidden little charges, those can and can not do's, those damn terms and conditions squeezed down to letters the size of a couple of mating atoms, when it comes to signing up for someone elses party. OK, a slight exaggeration. My apologies.
I've worked hard at my writing over the past two years, in what ever form it is I write. I turned away from being the defensive person who didn't like criticism to becoming more open to it, especially when I gauge any critique weighed up against the person who gives it. Cursed mistakes creep in now and again but that's a minefield too explosive for one mind to navigate to perfection. That's the world of a writer working alone. It's not an excuse, it's a plain old fact.
This year I decided to engage in some article websites in an attempt to expand my reading base.
I went on to Elance, where I discovered writers bid for writing jobs, but if you're a critic of minimum wage then you really ain't going to like it over there.
The competition for jobs is fierce, it's a marketeers dream place, but it's mostly at the expense of the provider and it doesn't help that Elance cash in a percentage, as well as charging providers to enter the bidding war. I haven't been back there in months.
The second one I tested was Ezine. Membership is free at the basic level, they provide good free advice to writers on how to write articles which will improve your writing and it's not a free-for-all. Each article has to pass through their approval desk. The turnaround can be anything up to ten days. Once accepted content managers can upload the article to any website once they link back to the writer. Sounded fair enough to me.
Problem was I noticed people had taken some articles but 'forgot' to link back. I sent a few emails to these people, but ignorance seems to be the word of the day on that front.
Then I received an email from EZine where they said they didn't like my use of language - Gaddafi continues to slaughter his citizens - in a certain article I wrote. I saw it more of a freedom of speech issue, but i accept its their rules. After all, no-one has a gun to the head forcing people to contribute. I will continue to write there now and again.
The third website I tried was Hub Pages. No problems for a dozen articles or so, then bam, they checked me for using content that was already on another site. Except the content was my own. From this blog! Seems it didn't matter. It was a violation of the terms and conditions which I had read over with dead eyes. Again, fair enough. It's their show.
I think the writer is a little cheated by that particular one, given the contribution made when providing open source content. HubPages do have a way for writers to make a little cash through Ad's, but few writers make much by all accounts.
As you know from this blog, I'm not much of a fan of Ad's by Google or whoever it may be. Though I do see a major opportunity for webmasters to make good money from advertisement revenue given the ease of access to create and maintain a blog or website these days. And with the going rate of content mainly free to content managers, the risk is pretty minimal. It just wouldn't drive me.
Writers, particularly newer ones, are subjected to a practical witch hunt of promise when they engage online. Fed to them daily in sidebars everywhere. If you want it, it's there. But I would urge writers to see past the ranking. The ones making the promises. Do a little more research before you give your work away. Everyone's opinion matters at the end of the day. If people can profit from that while restricting and placing conditions on your work then perhaps there are better ways to advance your goals.
Forums and blogs that are critical of things in publishing are the best asset to a new writer or indeed any writer for that matter. The age of the agent maybe coming to an end as writers question why it has been the one way for so long while they struggle to establish themselves and advance their careers. Writers are better informed in this new age of technology. There is currently a seismic shift in the world of publishing happening that is rocking the foundations of the old publishing. It's a technological revolution out there in an age of information. Usually when something threatens the established order in anything, ways are found around it. But that can be the upside of the human race. Some people are just pesky, they never go away. That alone makes it worth the pursuit, in whatever form your writing takes.
While there are opinions and various ways companies and people conduct themselves in any business, there are those among us focused on something more than the exploitation of others. I've been looking into a few more websites and what sort of impact they can have if writers seek readership for their work on different platforms. I'll blog about them in the coming weeks and hopefully years ahead. When more writers learn to include their own thoughts and theories on things then maybe the writers together can help even the playing surface a little bit more for everyone. The primary focus of any successful business is nearly always profit. Once that's the goal people will always be exploited to a large degree. Writers are not benign to that either.
*************
All content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Established Propaganda
I spent most of the week filming a short comedy in preparation for the delayed Booker's World web-series. I also managed to squeeze in a re-write of my second novella, Cripple, which I hope will be out in about a month. My online book sales have doubled to two.
Luckily I have managed to shift most of the print run through more mainstream means. Work on the ebook is continuing and it's launch will coincide with the web series. A digital download appeals to more people these days and I'm looking forward to diving into the digital world.
I had hoped to grab the attention of an ebook publisher in Ireland, but after emails 'went missing,' as well as a print copy of the book I travelled miles to place in hands, and a series of bluntish emails, I decided to go across the water, as let's face it, you want a good relationship with a publisher, especially when they are the ones that profit from much of a writers hard work. I should not be overly surprised as I won a book on their website over a month ago and it still has not arrived. Considering it is only up the road, there is little excuse, so in the long term, one feels they are well rid if that's the way people carry their business.
I follow a few agenting blogs and the sense I'm getting in the publishing world is the savvy agents are now becoming publishers and taking advantage of the ebook explosion. Those in the field of writer representation who don't dabble in the publishing end of things seem a little perturbed of late though. Broad writings of the advantages of having an agent are turning a little desperate in some quarters. I think writers are more savvy these days. An agent can be a great asset to some writers, but again it goes down to relationship. The trouble in some cases is some agents - and indeed publishers - are well capable of talking, but when it comes to walking, legs begin to disappear.
I've always felt that if you do something primarily for money, then the pursuit of that may be counterproductive in other quarters. A lot of business worldwide have sham customer services.
The worst I ever came across was Sky TV, where the customer PAYS for the privilege of making Sky aware of problems with their services. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps now large stakeholder, Rupert Murdoch will put more of a focus on the people who are his bread and butter. But I doubt it. I'm sure Rupe has more things to worry about with the hacking scandal in the UK firing up more each day, and rumours of the hacking of 9-11 victim families phones threatening to implode the Fox News' capitalist war-mongering Propaganda machine.
The arrest today of former News Corp chief executive Rebekah Brooks adds even more intrigue to a scandal, that despite mass efforts at diffusion, refuses to go away.
With British Prime Minister David Cameron having a cosy relationship with Brooks, as well as the Murdochs and Andy Coulson, there is an air of scandal not seen since the days of Profumo in the air. Even the British Police service is subject to much ridicule for officers accepting payments and perks for stories from Journalists who stain the profession.
The Established order is under more scrutiny than ever before. The danger in all this is a suspression of freedom of speech in some quarters. The day of Internet regulation may not be far away, because with the number of devices carrying it these days and connecting people everywhere, it is the greatest threat the established order have ever faced. Usually when a threat exists to that, it is quelled pretty quickly.
Isn't that right, Bashar al-Assad?
Right, I'm off to watch the end of the Golf. There's a fairytale story in the making, one even the most brilliant of writers wouldn't dream up. It could be the end of a very good week.
Luckily I have managed to shift most of the print run through more mainstream means. Work on the ebook is continuing and it's launch will coincide with the web series. A digital download appeals to more people these days and I'm looking forward to diving into the digital world.
I had hoped to grab the attention of an ebook publisher in Ireland, but after emails 'went missing,' as well as a print copy of the book I travelled miles to place in hands, and a series of bluntish emails, I decided to go across the water, as let's face it, you want a good relationship with a publisher, especially when they are the ones that profit from much of a writers hard work. I should not be overly surprised as I won a book on their website over a month ago and it still has not arrived. Considering it is only up the road, there is little excuse, so in the long term, one feels they are well rid if that's the way people carry their business.
I follow a few agenting blogs and the sense I'm getting in the publishing world is the savvy agents are now becoming publishers and taking advantage of the ebook explosion. Those in the field of writer representation who don't dabble in the publishing end of things seem a little perturbed of late though. Broad writings of the advantages of having an agent are turning a little desperate in some quarters. I think writers are more savvy these days. An agent can be a great asset to some writers, but again it goes down to relationship. The trouble in some cases is some agents - and indeed publishers - are well capable of talking, but when it comes to walking, legs begin to disappear.
I've always felt that if you do something primarily for money, then the pursuit of that may be counterproductive in other quarters. A lot of business worldwide have sham customer services.
The worst I ever came across was Sky TV, where the customer PAYS for the privilege of making Sky aware of problems with their services. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps now large stakeholder, Rupert Murdoch will put more of a focus on the people who are his bread and butter. But I doubt it. I'm sure Rupe has more things to worry about with the hacking scandal in the UK firing up more each day, and rumours of the hacking of 9-11 victim families phones threatening to implode the Fox News' capitalist war-mongering Propaganda machine.
The arrest today of former News Corp chief executive Rebekah Brooks adds even more intrigue to a scandal, that despite mass efforts at diffusion, refuses to go away.
With British Prime Minister David Cameron having a cosy relationship with Brooks, as well as the Murdochs and Andy Coulson, there is an air of scandal not seen since the days of Profumo in the air. Even the British Police service is subject to much ridicule for officers accepting payments and perks for stories from Journalists who stain the profession.
The Established order is under more scrutiny than ever before. The danger in all this is a suspression of freedom of speech in some quarters. The day of Internet regulation may not be far away, because with the number of devices carrying it these days and connecting people everywhere, it is the greatest threat the established order have ever faced. Usually when a threat exists to that, it is quelled pretty quickly.
Isn't that right, Bashar al-Assad?
Right, I'm off to watch the end of the Golf. There's a fairytale story in the making, one even the most brilliant of writers wouldn't dream up. It could be the end of a very good week.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Invisible Aspects
There are probably not a lot of worse things in life than waking up to bad news. Today was one of those days. They are strange sort of days in many ways and certainly not describable in a blog written mostly off the bat.
The death of ex-Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was sad at the age of just 52. He hadn't looked well for a while and he wasn't in attendance in the Dáil in the past few weeks. It's just 18 short months since TV3 broke the news that he was battling pancreatic cancer. Those words still send shivers down my spine.
I lost a good friend to the same thing when I was 21. There's little doubt about it, it threw me sideways for a while. I'd lived with him in The Netherlands in 1991 when I worked over there for a year at the tail end of the last big recession. He offered me a room in his house he shared with his wife and two cats. It was one of the best years of my life. With things on the up in Ireland i returned after a year.
Just a few short months later I received a call from him to say he'd Cancer in his stomach. They did everything they could. He did everything he could...and a whole lot more. He faced it all with the mentality that he could beat it. Four weeks before he passed they told him there was no more they could do. In a way it broke his spirit, but he never uttered a bitter word and lived life even more from the day he was told he had it, almost up to the end.
I visited him weeks before he died. He had accepted it. We took a trip to an amusement park where he ushered me on to a roller coaster. Number 1, I'm afraid of heights and number 2, I'm a coward.
'What if it comes off?' I remember asking.
'Like I care,' he replied. Scariest 90 seconds of my life. He went for seconds. I went to get sick.
He was 33 when he died.
There's been a bit of venom flying around the place today on the Internet concerning the passing of Brian Lenihan. Personally I found that disturbing and vile.
His political legacy will be for another generation to write about. I genuinely felt sorry for the guy when I heard the news of his illness 18 months back. I had a little knowledge on the road that lay ahead for him.
I'm astonished how in the face of such personal adversity he managed to carry on doing his job and at the most crucial time in recent Irish history. I don't have to say I disagreed with him every step of the way.
But like my friend, the way he carried himself as he battled is something that any decent person can surely admire. It's courage not many of us may ever know thankfully. But it definitely courage to aspire too.
Cancer is one of societies big ills. 1 in 3 will get it at some time in life. There are hundreds if not thousands of stories out there which I'm sure can speak about the courage displayed when faced with battling all its nastiness throws at not just the sufferer, but in many cases those around them too. Hopefully science will provide the answers some day.
There's so many branches that spring off the tree of any given life. Little side roads that lead to crossroads and often down cul-de-sac's. Politics was one such branch for Brian Lenihan, but I'm sure his family will say there were many more too.
His passing today put a lot of things once again in perspective, the trigger for sadness being the memory of my friend. I started writing my first book in his home way back then. I know he'll be glad to know I got there in the end.
Life should never be summed up by one aspect of it. I'm sure Brian Lenihan's won't, and I know by the way people talk about my friend still, he did Ok too.
R.I.P
The death of ex-Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was sad at the age of just 52. He hadn't looked well for a while and he wasn't in attendance in the Dáil in the past few weeks. It's just 18 short months since TV3 broke the news that he was battling pancreatic cancer. Those words still send shivers down my spine.
I lost a good friend to the same thing when I was 21. There's little doubt about it, it threw me sideways for a while. I'd lived with him in The Netherlands in 1991 when I worked over there for a year at the tail end of the last big recession. He offered me a room in his house he shared with his wife and two cats. It was one of the best years of my life. With things on the up in Ireland i returned after a year.
Just a few short months later I received a call from him to say he'd Cancer in his stomach. They did everything they could. He did everything he could...and a whole lot more. He faced it all with the mentality that he could beat it. Four weeks before he passed they told him there was no more they could do. In a way it broke his spirit, but he never uttered a bitter word and lived life even more from the day he was told he had it, almost up to the end.
I visited him weeks before he died. He had accepted it. We took a trip to an amusement park where he ushered me on to a roller coaster. Number 1, I'm afraid of heights and number 2, I'm a coward.
'What if it comes off?' I remember asking.
'Like I care,' he replied. Scariest 90 seconds of my life. He went for seconds. I went to get sick.
He was 33 when he died.
There's been a bit of venom flying around the place today on the Internet concerning the passing of Brian Lenihan. Personally I found that disturbing and vile.
His political legacy will be for another generation to write about. I genuinely felt sorry for the guy when I heard the news of his illness 18 months back. I had a little knowledge on the road that lay ahead for him.
I'm astonished how in the face of such personal adversity he managed to carry on doing his job and at the most crucial time in recent Irish history. I don't have to say I disagreed with him every step of the way.
But like my friend, the way he carried himself as he battled is something that any decent person can surely admire. It's courage not many of us may ever know thankfully. But it definitely courage to aspire too.
Cancer is one of societies big ills. 1 in 3 will get it at some time in life. There are hundreds if not thousands of stories out there which I'm sure can speak about the courage displayed when faced with battling all its nastiness throws at not just the sufferer, but in many cases those around them too. Hopefully science will provide the answers some day.
There's so many branches that spring off the tree of any given life. Little side roads that lead to crossroads and often down cul-de-sac's. Politics was one such branch for Brian Lenihan, but I'm sure his family will say there were many more too.
His passing today put a lot of things once again in perspective, the trigger for sadness being the memory of my friend. I started writing my first book in his home way back then. I know he'll be glad to know I got there in the end.
Life should never be summed up by one aspect of it. I'm sure Brian Lenihan's won't, and I know by the way people talk about my friend still, he did Ok too.
R.I.P
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Lethargy
I was outside just a few minutes ago polluting the atmosphere with cigarette smoke. Nasty things! A half-moon levitated in a sky sprinkled with stars and it was bluer than it has been all damn day. There's a chance of a slight ground frost they reckon. I'm hoping it doesn't get down to choke the roots of the plants I put in the garden last weekend. It's almost the middle of June, but when it comes to the weather these days, like everything else, who knows anymore?
There's been a lot of writing lately but mainly of the re-writing type. Writers will understand. With each one that comes and goes, I find niggling doubts regarding quality and if I didn't like doing it so much, it would certainly test the will at times.
I've never been great when it came to judgement calls, but advice is often to varied to make sense of and in any case, it's in short supply from people who dabble themselves in any area that brings a book together. Trust me I've tried, and if I ever get around to writing that sorry tale someday it throws a dark shadow over how Ireland is letting down its people who want to stay here and make a difference not only for themselves, but maybe around the place as well.
There's considerable strain when one tries to get projects off the ground against the backdrop of unemployment. There's no budgets for film projects and I'm not exactly encouraged when I see quality Irish filmmakers have to scrap the barrel just to get a shot at making a film.
With those constraints in mind, I've had to simplify the Booker's World web series somewhat, but i think it serves it's original goal a little better now. There's a few loose ends to be tied up, but all going to plan, we shoot in early July. The cast is great so it is something to look forward too. Maybe a flood of book sales will come my way. To date its been catastrophic and I don't use that word lightly. Good job I went for a small run. Then again, I really didn't have much of a choice.
There's work to be done on the ebook version which is going to take another little time, but perhaps with a visual and digital presence more people will get to read it eventually. Outside of the expected praise from family and friends I have managed to get a few more views from other sources who's opinions I know I can count on to be critical, but in the best meaning terms.
Some found the book dark and the humour dry. That put a smile on my face. Typos were found and there can be no excuse for that. There's not many, but enough to cause a sigh. They will be corrected pre-ebook launch.
With so many eyes helping with the proofread that was a disappointment, but then again, I've seen them in more 'professional' circles. All who offered their critique felt satisfied by the end, though some admitted the early pages were difficult, but I expected that.
For me it was important to to take my reader into Don Booker's mindset as it was in August 2009, just as things began to go belly up in Ireland. Against the backdrop of his social woes it was never going to be easy to take Booker through to where the book ended up. There were other nice comments but the ones that mean the most are those mentioned above. There the ones I'll learn from so thanks to those who deemed my book worthy of some of their time.
There's many an article written by writers for writers dealing with the importance of getting your reader in the first five pages. It's not something that swayed me when I was writing Booker's World. Though fiction, it had to be honest and that meant not attempting to blow readers away with an awesome opening only to put them asleep by the end.
The one thing I'd dearly love would be the viewpoint of a professional editor. I think there would be much to be learned from that. I'll definitely seek someone in that field when I have the first draft of my second book finished in 2027. The thicker skin will surely have grown and matured enough by then.
I get my reasons for the need to keep plugging away from the endeavor of others who are involved in writing or filmmaking these days. It must be tough to know you have the talent and yet it is still being denied. I'm not even at that stage yet. I'm not sure what the draw is for us all. It's definitely a PhD area for someone.
The one thing it seems we all have in common is we have something to say. Some say it louder than others. And there lies my heroes of the day, because I am of the opinion that if these people got half a break, the Ireland of tomorrow would be better than the land of today. Perhaps the person undertaking that PhD someday can equate that into their writing while trying to figure out how it is not that way.
Time to go out and pollute the air a little more. Sorry Planet. And for those of political sway, I'm sure Fine Gael's spin doctor of the evening on Vincent Browne, Peter what's his face, might have made a boo-boo tonight. Watch out for a contraction in the economy soon... could be mini-budget time... i'm just saying!
Oh yeah... blue skies...
There's been a lot of writing lately but mainly of the re-writing type. Writers will understand. With each one that comes and goes, I find niggling doubts regarding quality and if I didn't like doing it so much, it would certainly test the will at times.
I've never been great when it came to judgement calls, but advice is often to varied to make sense of and in any case, it's in short supply from people who dabble themselves in any area that brings a book together. Trust me I've tried, and if I ever get around to writing that sorry tale someday it throws a dark shadow over how Ireland is letting down its people who want to stay here and make a difference not only for themselves, but maybe around the place as well.
There's considerable strain when one tries to get projects off the ground against the backdrop of unemployment. There's no budgets for film projects and I'm not exactly encouraged when I see quality Irish filmmakers have to scrap the barrel just to get a shot at making a film.
With those constraints in mind, I've had to simplify the Booker's World web series somewhat, but i think it serves it's original goal a little better now. There's a few loose ends to be tied up, but all going to plan, we shoot in early July. The cast is great so it is something to look forward too. Maybe a flood of book sales will come my way. To date its been catastrophic and I don't use that word lightly. Good job I went for a small run. Then again, I really didn't have much of a choice.
There's work to be done on the ebook version which is going to take another little time, but perhaps with a visual and digital presence more people will get to read it eventually. Outside of the expected praise from family and friends I have managed to get a few more views from other sources who's opinions I know I can count on to be critical, but in the best meaning terms.
Some found the book dark and the humour dry. That put a smile on my face. Typos were found and there can be no excuse for that. There's not many, but enough to cause a sigh. They will be corrected pre-ebook launch.
With so many eyes helping with the proofread that was a disappointment, but then again, I've seen them in more 'professional' circles. All who offered their critique felt satisfied by the end, though some admitted the early pages were difficult, but I expected that.
For me it was important to to take my reader into Don Booker's mindset as it was in August 2009, just as things began to go belly up in Ireland. Against the backdrop of his social woes it was never going to be easy to take Booker through to where the book ended up. There were other nice comments but the ones that mean the most are those mentioned above. There the ones I'll learn from so thanks to those who deemed my book worthy of some of their time.
There's many an article written by writers for writers dealing with the importance of getting your reader in the first five pages. It's not something that swayed me when I was writing Booker's World. Though fiction, it had to be honest and that meant not attempting to blow readers away with an awesome opening only to put them asleep by the end.
The one thing I'd dearly love would be the viewpoint of a professional editor. I think there would be much to be learned from that. I'll definitely seek someone in that field when I have the first draft of my second book finished in 2027. The thicker skin will surely have grown and matured enough by then.
I get my reasons for the need to keep plugging away from the endeavor of others who are involved in writing or filmmaking these days. It must be tough to know you have the talent and yet it is still being denied. I'm not even at that stage yet. I'm not sure what the draw is for us all. It's definitely a PhD area for someone.
The one thing it seems we all have in common is we have something to say. Some say it louder than others. And there lies my heroes of the day, because I am of the opinion that if these people got half a break, the Ireland of tomorrow would be better than the land of today. Perhaps the person undertaking that PhD someday can equate that into their writing while trying to figure out how it is not that way.
Time to go out and pollute the air a little more. Sorry Planet. And for those of political sway, I'm sure Fine Gael's spin doctor of the evening on Vincent Browne, Peter what's his face, might have made a boo-boo tonight. Watch out for a contraction in the economy soon... could be mini-budget time... i'm just saying!
Oh yeah... blue skies...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Republic
I'd love to be able to say I don't get the time to do as much writing these days due to the workload involved in stuffing padded envelopes with copies of Booker's World and sending them to obscure corners of the globe. But the time for writing has not been eroded due to that fact, it continues at a pace as I'm assuming other writers don't want to be envelope stuffer's either, though a few now and again never go astray.
I attend a writer's seminar laid on by an imprint of Maverick House publishers late last week at the Irish Writers Center in Ireland called Book Republic. They are open to new writers and seem to want to be on the fore-front of ebook publishing not only in Ireland but in markets as far flung as Asia.
I managed to slip a copy of my book to someone. Although I now have a full appreciation of all it takes to take a book from idea to cover, publishing is never going to be my thing. I think to do things with passion and if you love them. From the day I had to do proofing-editing and formatting, none of which I had any sort of experience in, I was drained day after day.
So over the next two months I want to find the right publisher, one up on all the technology available and work getting Booker's World ready for the ebook version.
I have a strong marketing plan to go with it, but when you don't get that face-to-face fifteen minutes with people, no matter how well you sell yourself over email, you are really not going to be able to convince people to take a small risk.
The unfortunate thing here in Ireland, and it was stressed on the night, is we seem to be very slow on the uptake when it comes jumping on the technology advances in many respects. Apart from housing the likes of Google, Facebook and EBay here on low corporate tax , there is little or no support for new start-ups which, who knows, may have the potential to one-day mix it among the technological heavyweights.
Ireland unfortunaletly seems to want to lag behind, happy and content to play fiddle to other heavyweights and probably the reason why a hundred thousand of our young and highly educated have scattered across the globe again, with no attempt what so ever really being made to entice them to stay. It's one thing not being able to see a bigger picture, but to have no picture to view at all, well, I guess they are the smart ones to go. I might not be long after them the way things are going on this little isle of yours. Bigger world might mean bigger opportunity, who know?
*************
Book marketing article that I had recently hosted on the blog of Kate Evangelista can be read here.
I attend a writer's seminar laid on by an imprint of Maverick House publishers late last week at the Irish Writers Center in Ireland called Book Republic. They are open to new writers and seem to want to be on the fore-front of ebook publishing not only in Ireland but in markets as far flung as Asia.
I managed to slip a copy of my book to someone. Although I now have a full appreciation of all it takes to take a book from idea to cover, publishing is never going to be my thing. I think to do things with passion and if you love them. From the day I had to do proofing-editing and formatting, none of which I had any sort of experience in, I was drained day after day.
So over the next two months I want to find the right publisher, one up on all the technology available and work getting Booker's World ready for the ebook version.
I have a strong marketing plan to go with it, but when you don't get that face-to-face fifteen minutes with people, no matter how well you sell yourself over email, you are really not going to be able to convince people to take a small risk.
The unfortunate thing here in Ireland, and it was stressed on the night, is we seem to be very slow on the uptake when it comes jumping on the technology advances in many respects. Apart from housing the likes of Google, Facebook and EBay here on low corporate tax , there is little or no support for new start-ups which, who knows, may have the potential to one-day mix it among the technological heavyweights.
Ireland unfortunaletly seems to want to lag behind, happy and content to play fiddle to other heavyweights and probably the reason why a hundred thousand of our young and highly educated have scattered across the globe again, with no attempt what so ever really being made to entice them to stay. It's one thing not being able to see a bigger picture, but to have no picture to view at all, well, I guess they are the smart ones to go. I might not be long after them the way things are going on this little isle of yours. Bigger world might mean bigger opportunity, who know?
*************
Book marketing article that I had recently hosted on the blog of Kate Evangelista can be read here.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Does Fortune Favour The Brave?
I never thought I'd be saying this. Bush fires in Ireland. After the driest April in memory, parts of the island succumbed to Mother Nature's warmer side, adding another element to the topsy- turvy world of climate change. Cynic or believer, these are strange times.
Once again my ignorance of national affairs has been good of late, but i managed to hear something about a jobs initiative being launched next week. The positive side of me is hoping that it offers something of a stimulus to those unemployed who are just itching to get going on something. You know, the ones who would gladly work day and night just to be given a small chance to prove their worth to the Ireland of tomorrow.
The negative side of me says there will be little by way of change when it is announced. We have 450,000 people unemployed in this country right now. A conservative estimate by me would say about 70% of those would sooner be working. Many of those have ideas. Ideas that could be fostered through a package of innovation and enterprise aimed specifically at getting the unemployed back to work. The cost? Not much more than the cost of social welfare. The benefits? Priceless. It's all a matter of will by those charged with taking us forward. The leaders will rise to the top, we hope!
There is a link below to a blog post which contains links to some of the great talent i have managed to secure for the Booker's World web series. Included is information on Brian Fortune, who will play the character of Don Booker in the series. So if you finally want a face to the character check it out.
Also included is information on Johnny Elliott who will play my other book fictional character Sonny Strange. Gerry Shanahan and ray Reilly has also come aboard and we expect to shoot the no-budget series over two weekends at the start of June.
With the book finished and a web series shot, one hopes it will be enough to make the powers that be convinced of some drive, and maybe they will accept my application for that Enterprise Allowance I sought before. It's like a kick in the gut when you're work counts for little and they would sooner pay you to do nothing than try get something off the ground. If it remains like that, the steady stream of people out of here will continue. That would be a tough day, if it came to that.
'The only way up, is out,' as Leon used to say. Sure hope he was wrong.
*************
Meet the principal characters for the Booker's World web series here.
Once again my ignorance of national affairs has been good of late, but i managed to hear something about a jobs initiative being launched next week. The positive side of me is hoping that it offers something of a stimulus to those unemployed who are just itching to get going on something. You know, the ones who would gladly work day and night just to be given a small chance to prove their worth to the Ireland of tomorrow.
The negative side of me says there will be little by way of change when it is announced. We have 450,000 people unemployed in this country right now. A conservative estimate by me would say about 70% of those would sooner be working. Many of those have ideas. Ideas that could be fostered through a package of innovation and enterprise aimed specifically at getting the unemployed back to work. The cost? Not much more than the cost of social welfare. The benefits? Priceless. It's all a matter of will by those charged with taking us forward. The leaders will rise to the top, we hope!
There is a link below to a blog post which contains links to some of the great talent i have managed to secure for the Booker's World web series. Included is information on Brian Fortune, who will play the character of Don Booker in the series. So if you finally want a face to the character check it out.
Also included is information on Johnny Elliott who will play my other book fictional character Sonny Strange. Gerry Shanahan and ray Reilly has also come aboard and we expect to shoot the no-budget series over two weekends at the start of June.
With the book finished and a web series shot, one hopes it will be enough to make the powers that be convinced of some drive, and maybe they will accept my application for that Enterprise Allowance I sought before. It's like a kick in the gut when you're work counts for little and they would sooner pay you to do nothing than try get something off the ground. If it remains like that, the steady stream of people out of here will continue. That would be a tough day, if it came to that.
'The only way up, is out,' as Leon used to say. Sure hope he was wrong.
*************
Meet the principal characters for the Booker's World web series here.
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