The Journey To A Published Novel

Good Evening! Through my engagement with like minded people. Which by the way is wonderful, inspiring and truly motivational. I'm reviewing both 'medium' and 'Quora'. They both appear to be useful platforms for writing and sharing. I want to get involved more in the community. That can only be a positive thing. The people around you have interesting lives, colourful stories and lush personalities. I'm guilty of this but try to make more time. It's surprising just how much you can dissect from people. Most people give so much. It can be a fabulous source of inspiration. Just listen! In terms of the inner most workings and progression of this novel. My baby, if you will. It is slow. I have to be honest and almost realistic. It is going to take time. Often I feel guilty about writing this blog as it arguably appears to have relatively little or no specific detail as to the narrative. I think it's more the fact, at this stage I remain truly protective....

All too often I witness and hear the fickle authoritative murmurings from people attempting to burden others with negativity. Funny how these opinions of distraction and discouragement are always articulated all so clearly and with confidence. These people continue to project their own inadequacies, insecurities and inconsequential actions, surprised and inconvenienced when the receipt of such expressed feelings land upon their singed paint fading front door. I say that with relative humour. There should be no tangible judgement from myself, you or anyone. My only advice would be and shalt remain. You don't need that. Get rid of such thoughts, such considerations and such acidic personage in your circle of friends or direct vicinity. One use for this, ultimately is to maximize and leverage their utter contempt for happiness and productivity.  Grasp hold of it. Own it and use it to your advantage. Turn it around, flip it. This is your motivation, know in your heart and all that is ...

I'm confident with the idea that I want to be genuine. I'm certain I'm more than sincere. It's difficult I guess to execute against all and everything that you might fear. I too, like anyone have my own concerns of how exactly the words I'm creating will be read, interpreted or even taken seriously. In general terms, I wouldn't describe myself as overly 'serious' in personality traits. I would say that I might well be a joker. I love nothing more than laughter and intelligence. Most situations are full of humour for me. I would never describe myself as cynical but I find the wonder in cynicism. Anything I create has got a sense of desperation to it. I am though not at all desperate. I'm not dark, I'm not depressed. I'm pretty cotton darn happy in fact. Yet I meddle with the darkness. I like to think I've only ever created words for my own expression. I secretly like the attention. Although, annoyingly I want to remain anonymous. I th...

As it's Black Friday today. I wish you all the wonder in the world of worlds. Make it what you want. I'm obviously English. In fact, I'm not entirely sure that is English, I mean obvious. If I had more sense I would have edited that out But I made the mistake so left it in. Some of the spellings you have been made used to may have pointed that out from previous little bloggy blogs. Anytoot, Black Friday it is or Black Friday all week if you're an Amazon fiend. It's grown in popularity over here so get your credit card out and enjoy or something. Still got cyber Monday to go too. "We're just Happy Consumers!" If you're not familiar that is a nod to the genius Bill Hicks. Check him out if you're not for any reason. I find it difficult to express aloud in real life the fact that I write or I'm writing a novel. I honestly don't know why I find it difficult to articulate. I've been searching my mind. I think in a sense it strikes ...

I guess that sounds convoluted and somewhat tedious. I have though clearly considered every single character that will be included. I've decided and completed a full list, literally handwritten out all the names and supported each person with an elaborate back story. When I say elaborate I mean more of an extensive, realistic backstory. Some are longer than others, some simply say where they were born -country, ages & parental situation. I think it has allowed me to really provide context, build as I say the personality traits and allow for or explain motivations. So far, I have made a list of 31 names and back stories. It has helped me differentiate characters. I'm having to be more creative with names too. I was confusing myself with two very similar names. So I've scrapped one and replaced it. Anya and Anna, far too close. Changed it up now. More clear to me. I don't have any other examples of closely sounding or even spelled names as I've made the consciou...

I find it both marvellous, enchanting and scary just how exhausting writing is. Although that may well sound like a negative, perhaps I could have chosen my words slightly better. I mean that sincerely with no other intent but wonder. It still warms me the state of escape I have to visit or that sense of escape that I feel. A challenge I set myself was to write with a pen and notepad in a public place. I was not wearing headphones. I was zoning out. There was no interruption from Tom Waits or anything else. I made no use of a phone. No point of reference. There were voices, noises - people handing out Baklava as a taste test. Discussions of 'going round in circles', queries of 'what Am I losing?'...... Speculations of intent, confirmation and correction. Murmurs, trivial chat and squawks of over excitement. Yet, put your head down and begin to write. I hear nothing but the words I'm writing. I don't think or say them aloud but they escape from me. It's th...

Apologies, not entirely sure why that last one was published without the words written to support the picture.   So, through no surprise to all and any. The Catcher In The Rye is; and still remains my favourite book. It's inspired me to write a song about it. I was more so inspired by the gift. I've had many copies of it. The one pictured. I purchased a number in the states. I still have most of them. I no longer own the simple white coloured copy of it. I lent that to a girl at Uni by the name of Moira. Along too with a couple of CDs. I think they might have included the Blue Gravy Phase 9 Snuff album. It was pure dub, really great album. I only know that detail because I had to go out and buy it again. I've never seen or heard from Moira since the last time I saw her in The Falcon in High Wycombe town centre. I randomly did see her at Thekla in Bristol at a Knifehandchop live show. That was pretty surreal. I think the copy of the 'Catcher' was gi...

I need to slow down, only slightly. I guess I'm like anyone becoming or growing ever impatient. It's not a case that I want to just finish this. I want it to read the way I intended. Maybe it's the rush of life. Reality takes hold of you and really shakes the shit out of you. I almost compare it to the song 'Black Velvet' - You probably, more than likely know the song. But, if I was to ask you who sang that?  I doubt very much you'd be able to tell me it was Alannah Myles. Sing it to Alexa and she'll surely know. It may share the same or similar drum beat to Michael Jackson's 'Bad' but it exists in it's own entirety. I'm not sure and I'm certainly not promoting it. It may well be the Long Island Iced Tea talking and I'm not even trying to rhyme but I'm almost growing ever more frustrated with being a faceless entity. There's a comfort to me that no one knows me. I can exist in the 'real world' inverted commas a...

Let us face it and be honest when we say it.... there are going to be obstacles every step of the way with this, my endeavour or even your own challenge. Whatever it is you've decided to embark upon you've at least started. Quite possibly the most difficult hurdle. It's made ever more easier if you're doing something that you enjoy and that you're happy to do. Writing really does do it for me. I go somewhere. It is like meditation. I can be sat here and I'm not sure if it's me filling the page ( screen in this case ) or what's happening. I will literally be aware that my mind is exploring, for example a character and their thoughts or even their speech and all of a sudden a whole scene is created. I don't mean to say or have this interpreted as 'free writing' it isn't that...I'm conscious of what I'm writing but not fully 'thinking' about it. It's a strange sensation. I almost allow myself to 'trust' in what...

So, I decided to write this little blog fella by my own human hand today. How wondferfully exicting. I can sense you're as.... if not more excited than me. Now that's OK! Last night was a pain in the bot bot. No internet access. Had Windows updates. My Antivirus decided to get involved and reset my network adaptor. A whole host of pretty boring shit happened. So I was having to fanny about with that. Which really grated on me as you can probably imagine. It meant I was wasting time again doing other tasks that aren't writing. I didn't write the blog, didn't write any pages. Didn't do anything but reboot, uninstall, reboot, install, delete folders, delete reg keys and then download a home version of AV to make sure no bastards hit me up with a nice treat of ransomware or something similar. At no point am I procrastinating. I am really never doing that. I sit down with the intention to continue and well you get the idea. Anyway, based on that today I though...

Welly welly well. I have 20 whole English minutes to update this blog. Now 19! Oh my days. Life certainly does fly by. I haven't updated this of late due to the fact that I have started a new job this week. Similar role that I was doing previously just within a different company. Same, if not maybe a bit longer commute. You can expect 1 hour 15 mins to get there. I think it's a fair sacrifice. It does leave me with a very strict time schedule in order to write, maintain everything and live a little life too. I don't worry too much about how long this ( novel ) will take. I just know that as long as it continues to progress, then that's fine as it won't stall and I'll be further along than if I was to start this two years from now. Work in progress. Best advice, start your story. Write some words and they'll create themselves. I did adapt and add to the narrative with a good sequence ( well in my opinion ). I'm doing more exploring within the char...

It's important to remember, the reason you're doing this is because its your passion. As I continue to say you shouldn't really be doing this for anybody else but for yourself. It is not going to be an overnight wonder. Nothing ever  is. You have to put the work in and more importantly the love for the craft. The minute you begin to 'work' for anyone else or fit their expectations. In my opinion you will have lost. This entire journey is not about followers, likes or throwaway comments. It's about the process and the love for the craft. Writing for anyone but yourself is only going to bring a tainted taste to the whole thing. Stay true to yourself and your credibility will be intact. I feel that is often times more important. I think I posted a shot of a  word count of over 60K. It's not a bad achievement thus far but it is realistically only about half way. Well that's where the story feels to me. It may be longer, it could be shorter. It's goin...

I'm doing my best to not only document what I'm doing in terms of writing this novel. But, also to hopefully provide some form of value to anyone thinking of doing the same thing. Which as I've said continually, I would certainly encourage without hesitation.   Things happen by divine accident. I'm through with over thinking things all too much. Never should or will writer's block get in the way of my creativity. Nor should it yours. Am I even sure it exists? Not so much. Even if it means taking a short break from the piece of work you're feeling the dreaded 'block'. Then, I would simply suggest to continue to write even if that means, writing or continuing another project, exploring another thought. Write something in a genre you're not comfortable with, have never encountered. Perhaps you've never even been exposed to it. Write a poem, write a song. You don't have to do anything with it but at least you're maintaining that moment...

Who remembers this!?!  I literally just found this book from 2003. I remember constantly receiving mail from the this company, branding itself as 'The International Library Of Poetry'  I must have signed up for something online. This was back in the day when there was only really ICQ and Myspace. It was a simpler time! So, the above book was a product of constant snail mail. I eventually - being an aspiring poet and writer ( even back then ) I wrote a poem and submitted it. I forget much of the details but I honestly remember having to pay for the privilege to have my poem published. As you can imagine, I was oh so excited to receive it. All the way from the states. It arrived and to my complete surprise my poem was on the 1st page, after all the introductions etc. I thought that was weird, that was the first flag. Some of the poems contained within were good but others were not at all thought through. In my opinion it seemed far too easy to 'get published'...

It could be a menial task or something slightly more involved. Yesterday, I had the intention to get some solid writing completed. Looked forward to it, sit down head in it for as long as possible. Then.... 'Bam! bitch went down'. Decided it was necessary to fix a dripping tap in the kitchen. It was becoming slightly irritating. The fixing of said dripping tap turned into an all day job. Purchasing limescale remover, two trips to Toolstation. Firstly, to buy a new mixer tap by 'Franke' which wasn't cheap either. Needed to get the necessary and appropriate tools for the job too. The Halfords tool set I purchased about fifteen years ago just wasn't cutting it. I still have the claw hammer in it with the bent end because I removed my car battery from 'Sarah'. My white VW Polo, 1992 - K Reg I'll have you know. Ripped out the battery, sheer brute force and still have the memories to prove it in the bending of this hammer. Second visit, had to purch...

So, this is ultimately a test. I've made the switch from an Apple Iphone 6S to the Samsung Note 9. For what ever reason I couldn't make use of the Iphone to post blogs. It's probably possible but I couldn't do it. I'm writing this with the pen thing that came with the phone. Thus far very impressed. I can select exact letters instead of entire sentences and words. So good! It has Microsoft Word on it, seems good. I had the iPhone equivalent which is shit to be honest.  The phone is massive. The thing that sold it to me was the fact,  you can make handwritten notes on the home screen when the phone is locked! I make notes everywhere so at least this should be consolidated in one place.  Bit of Bristol at the weekend. Saturday in Clifton. Love the place. Had a really great time! Cabot's etc. Tomorrow, being Tuesday is a long writing session. Missed Saturday so I need to get some real work done. Looking forward to it!  Let's see what this looks lik...

So, if you were in two minds about getting Alexa. Allow me to add another reason why you should defo get involved. Only this morning. I bid the little treat a merry morn and she came back with something along the lines of Nano Nano. That's what I heard anyway. Luckily she provided a helpful description of what she was talking about. I had to google it, but turns out she was referring to 'Nano Wrimo'. I may be in the dark or slightly sheltered but if you're not aware it's a site that encourages you to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  nanowrimo . It's a fine fine idea for anyone to get involved with. It could provide you with the motivation you need to start your own book or story.  I'm in two minds whether I get involved in this one, because either I commit to this for the month of November or I simply continue and concentrate on my current goal. I could realistically write 50K words but that also means it's the same amount of words I cou...