Small-Scale Practice

One of my aims for next year is to post something online regularly. I don't just mean a tweet or a Facebook status. I mean a video, or a poem (or a piece of poem), a short story, a blog post, an article, an interview - something that adds some sort of value. If I could, I'd do it every day. And so, that's what I'm trying to do from this week on.

Monday saw the first part of a poem go online. Entitled The Winter Folk, it's my run up to Christmas poem. You can read the first part here: http://paragraverse.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/the-winter-folk-part-1/

Tuesday featured a video, uploaded to my YouTube channel. I'm normally adverse to posting my videos on my Facebook page, so if you're reading this you're seeing something I wouldn't have otherwise shared with you.

Wednesday saw part two of The Winter Folk go online, and automatically so. I made the decision from day one that I wouldn't have to worry about when I posted the poem. ParagraVerse would sort it all out for me. I just needed to share the link later in the day. Thankfully, the site has a few subscribers already, so they'll receive it without my having to do anything.

And today, I have a blog post. Friday will see part three of The Winter Folk. Saturday, who knows. It depends on how my time gets divided between now and then. The important thing is, I'm keeping up with my schedule of posting online.

Obviously, it won't be this easy when I'm doing it all the time. I won't always have a twelve-mini-part poem to post online, because it won't always be the run up to Christmas. I can, however, begin sticking to a posting schedule that isn't too difficult to main, by writing regularly. If I wanted to, I could make a proper schedule for when things roll out properly. I already know that I'd like articles up on Saturdays, poems on Tuesdays, and short stories on Fridays. But that doesn't say much about the rest of the week.

Essentially, though, keeping up posting online is relatively easy when you take a page out of Alex Day's book: create a lot of content in one day, and schedule it for release over a number of days and weeks without your having to be there. That's the kind of intention I have, simply because I find that the reason I don't do something is because I couldn't get to my laptop to type it up.

However, I can share from my tablet or my phone. I don't need to worry about typing something like a blog post or an article on them when they're already written and just going live at a particular time. I can still be there to respond to people's comments, or tweet about something else entirely, without having to concern myself with the practicalities of how and when I'll be able to write something on a given day. When I have Drama or work, that challenge becomes ever more difficult to address, and the end result is that I avoid posting anything online at all.

So, I'm starting small. I have The Winter Folk on schedule to publish, and this very blog post will be set up to post, even though I'll probably be at my laptop when it goes live anyway. Why? Because it means I don't have to stop doing what I was doing to write (or even just publish) a blog post that I could have easily written before and just didn't because it wasn't the right day. I plan on writing for an hour or so every day, no matter what, but I already know when that'll become impractical. On days like that, at least I won't have to concern myself with whether or not I'm producing enough regularly. Scheduling might be the key to keeping up regular posting. We'll see how it works out this month - my busiest in the bookshop - before rolling it out officially in January.

How Did FUFDay Go?

On the second time around, Face Up to Fear Day was less successful. However, that said, I forced myself to do a couple of things.

The big one was to record a poem for my YouTube channel that'll serve as an introduction to who I am. I figure that was something I should probably do, even if it meant having to put my face out there again, and try to figure out what to say. Since I plan on putting up a fair bit of poetry on the channel, I figured it was a good idea for a video. You can watch it below.

I still cringe at how up close it is, and how poor the quality of the camera is. One day, I'll be able to replace my set up.

Incidentally, the other bit of work I did today was to write the copy for a couple of gigs for Fiverr (which has just updated its model, so not everything is $5.) I'll be launching both gigs (as they were called the last time I checked) tomorrow, and I'll probably have to create a web-page to support them both on my website, as a way of driving traffic to them in some way.

I've avoided doing it in the past, for all the usual reasons, but I think I'm finally ready to do it. Plus, with my current working situation, I have plenty of time to address this sort of stuff.

While I didn't get to do everything on my list (again), I think the last-minute work I did tonight (after a less-than-exciting day) has paid off towards something. In the spirit of the day, I'll keep on working tomorrow. That's the point, after all. I'm supposed to be doing these things all the time, and for whatever reason, I haven't been able to of late.

Tomorrow's another chance to get things right. I wonder how many super exciting things I can get done in the space of a few hours.

More FUF?

My Face Up to Fear Day (i.e. FUFDay) has the potential be a weekly affair. But the real question is, will it?

Last week, I had seven ideas for things I could do. I ended up doing two of them, and one other item that wasn't on the list. This week, I have the potential to do up to eight different things. Eight. That's one more!

This includes, of course, a repetition of a YouTube overload. However, I don't plan on doing that five-videos -in-a-day sort of thing again any time soon. Too much work, too little else done. Plus, I don't think my eyes enjoyed it every much. I do, however, have a number of other related videos that could over time, become a new playlist of poetry on my channel. And that's always fun, right?

There still remains, on the list, a few items I haven't even once addressed. One of these is simply to write a short story, to submit to a competition. The real "facing up to fear" aspect of it is the submission of the story. I've been avoiding competitions for a long time, partly for fear of rejection, partly because of the entrance fee. (I canny help being without money a lot of the time...and then I buy comic books.) However, I'm really going to give it a shot, and hope that I can produce something that's up to the standard's expected. Fingers crossed, right?

There are other things I can do more set-up for, as well, though they're more boring now than they have the potential to be, based on their success, and as with a couple of the challenges faced last week, they'll remain unspoken of until such time that they actually result in something happening. Or something. (I've got three this week that are like that, so, you know, don't expect to hear much about those for a while.)

Even now, I can see the potential for the continuance of FUFDay. It can get a great many things done.

However, it can also reduce me to only doing important things on a weekly basis, and that's not ideal. I think, maybe, once I get into the habit of doing two or three things per week that scare the content out of me, I'll double the FUFDay antics. Then double it again. And they I'll have a four-day working week set up for myself in which I make sure I'm always producing and publishing something, and hoping people find some value in that.

And hey, I think I can be okay with working for four days of the week on things I love doing and that I'm just too damned scared in a weird sort of way to not do anything about. FUF fo' life?

Fear Facing Prep

Yesterday, I mentioned the idea of doing a Face Up To Fear Day this Thursday. The basic idea was to do a few different things that I've been putting off for one reason or another that could summarily be called Fear. I've been afraid to put myself and my work on the line, and I've decided to put an end to that.

So, Thursday is going to be my inaugural Face Up To Fear Day. It might be a weekly thing.

Because it's such a personal thing, I'm not going to be listing everything I'll be doing on Thursday as part of this. However, one thing I have no trouble mentioning is that I'll be releasing a series of videos. I've been writing poems every day this month, as I'm sure you know, and a few of these have been about some of my favourite YouTubers.

The idea behind that is that I've been avoiding doing recordings of poems for a while. This is possibly because they've been so personal in a lot of cases, and while I don't plan on keeping those poems a secret forever and ever, I don't think I have the guts to put them out in the world myself just yet.

So, that's my compromise, and it's an example I can work with.

I drew up a list of everything I need to do to actually face up to that fear of putting some work out there, focusing on something that isn't so personal it'll terrify me if people hear me reading it. This list included:

- Write at least one more poem.
- Type up the poems.
- Memorise the poems - or enough of them at a time - for recording.
- Edit the videos.
- Release, and create a playlist.

Since I've been announcing the poems on Twitter as I've been writing them, I can reveal that the YouTubers who have poems written about them are, in order of writing:

- Carrie Hope Fletcher
- The World of Orange (WOTO)
- Charlie McDonnell
- Alex Day
- John and Hank Green (the vlogbrothers)

I consider this Volume 1 of The YouTuber Poems.

I'm not presuming them to be brilliant poems, though I'm happy with what I managed to do with a few of them, and I very much doubt any of the seven people above (two in WOTO) will ever see the videos. However, if they do, and/or if people enjoy them, I'll take that as a positive sign and work on writing poems about some of my other favourites.

I have a few other items on the list for Thursday, which will require putting myself out of my comfort zone. And that's the point. I've been hiding behind this safety net, and I want to get out of it, to get into the world and to start experiencing something new and exciting. I can't do that if I hide behind fear all the time.

On Thursday night, I'll go over how everything went with the day (and I'll embed the videos here). This'll be a fun day, I think, if not a little bit terrifying in parts.

How Can People Know Me?

My post on calling oneself an "aspiring author" received some positive feedback, which got me onto thinking: when an author drops the "aspiring", how do they get everyone else to look at them as an author, to know about them as an author? From experience, I know it's difficult to get noticed, even just to get people to see you as an author.

Thankfully, there are some options out there.

For me, telling someone who would care was an important step. This meant teachers. I think I only ever mentioned it to two of them, both English teachers, and word must have gotten around that I'd written a book. When I was in fifth year, a teacher I didn't have mentioned - to his class, of people in my year - that I had written a book. Suddenly, I was that guy.

That was before Twitter. It was before Facebook Pages. It was before Google+. I think it was even before I started blogging (if I remember when word got around, correctly.)

Now, things are simpler. What can you do to make yourself known as an author?

1. Set up a Twitter account. In your bio, make sure to mention that you are an author/writer. This worked for me in the early days of Twitter to get followers, because people like following users who are like them. I was a young writer, received a lot of encouragement for that fact, and it was impossible to deny that I was a writer. Follow other writers - and not just the famous ones - and get talking to them.

2. Set up a Facebook Page. This will be one of the easiest places for people to express a 'Liking' for you, if you'll excuse the pun. Having 'Likes' demonstrates your AUTHORity, to yourself and others. Invite your friends and family, and be sure to have a link to your Facebook Page somewhere people can see it.

3. Set up a Google+ Account. You can link this to your other Google accounts. Google+ makes it easy to be shared in others' Circles, and Hangouts allow you to talk directly to other writers.

4. Set up a Blog or Website. From here, you can provide valuable information about yourself and your writing, provide free stories and poetry, and keep people up to date with what's happening in your life. I use my blog, largely, to write about my personal life, though sometimes with posts like this that explore writing. My website has articles that have been researched to provide more informative posts, without so much of an insight into my personal life. It also contains stories and poetry, which help diversify what I share. My Friday Flash stories go up here.

If you publish something, or you want to, the next obvious step is:

5. Set up an Author Central Account, if you use Amazon's KDP. This will be where your books will be linked from, and where Amazon users can find out more about you. You can provide a video (the trailer for Balor Reborn in my case, as of writing this), set up a forum, write your bio, and add an author photo. It helps to use the same photo across a number of different sites.

You also have an optional couple of steps, depending on the sort of person you are:

6. Set up a LinkedIn Account. This is more of a "professional" social network, for connecting with people. The idea is to connect with people you know, and help others find people they might need to connect with for career or work opportunities. You should ensure to fill in your Skills, previous work experience, education, and other useful information that LinkedIn provides space for, as these not only allow people to find you, they help create a CV for you online. You can also be endorsed for Skills, and should endorse co-workers, teachers, clients and those you have hired (such as a graphic designer for your cover) in the appropriate areas.

7. Set up a YouTube Channel. If you can talk to a camera or make videos in some other way, and find it interesting and enjoyable, you have the opportunity to reach more people. You could keep a video blog, read poetry or short stories, upload book trailers, or create informative videos (as some examples). This can be linked to your Google+ and Blogger accounts, and provide links to your other Social Networking sites.

While there is no guarantee that any site will make you known as an author, it will help establish your author identity online. Getting involved in forums is also of benefit to you as a writer so long as you keep up with your writing, and make sure people know you are a writer (by having a link to your website in your signature, for example).

When it comes to "real life" (i.e. anything not online), you have the option of trying for events in a book shop, if you've published something and the shop will stock it (and remember, a shop does not have to stock your book just because it's been published), reading at public events, setting up a reading night (which works well for poetry), or seeking publication in magazines and/or newspapers for articles, poetry or short stories.

It's always beneficial to you as a writer to identify as one. If you don't, no one else will see you in that way. That's counter-productive to everything you could do to get your name out there.

But what about getting recognised? Follow this simple advice, and you'll be on your way:

1. Post often. People need to remember who you are.

2. Post something worth reading. If people enjoy it (for its entertainment value or its educational value), then they'll be more likely to (a) come back and (b) share it.

3. Interact with others. This can be difficult to do, especially if you're a busy person (as I tend to be while lectures are on in college), you should make sure to do a couple of things: respond to comments from others, set up something like Paper.li to share others' links, and make an effort to check in on sites at least once per week.

If you want, you can also:

4. Set up a newsletter on your website. This means you can have direct access to people's email addresses. You do have to write it, though, and having something to say could be difficult. Right now, I don't use mine as much as I should.

5. Set up auto-tweets if you can always sign in. Be careful about this, though. Many people don't like to see auto-tweets coming in all the time, because they don't get to know the person. I've tested them while I was in work one weekend, sharing quotes from authors about writing and life. The important thing is to check in when you're actually around to talk to people, and remember #3: respond to people's replies. I know I received a couple, because the quotes were amazing. You don't have to tweet quotes, but links aren't favourable. Try poetry or (very) short stories, instead, if you want to provide something interesting for people while you're away. (Social Oomph is useful and free for setting up auto-tweets.)

If/when you become a published author - either by having a book published by someone else, or by publishing yourself - make sure people know where to get it. However, don't saturate social media with links to your book. It's always beneficial to write free material in the same area you publish in, too, if you're trying to get others to notice your book, and to use promotions on whichever site you're using to publish.

In every case - every social network - you should have a bio that tells people who you are. Be informative, semi-formal, but aim to be funny or quirky, too. People like something that will make them smile. It's more difficult to do that on Twitter, but with other sites you have more space to talk about yourself and your writing.

Remember: get to know other writers, other readers, and demonstrate a real interest in what people have to say. Let them know who you are, what you're up to, and what you're feeling, and be consistent about it. Respect the people you connect with online. And never forget to show that you're a writer.

Yay Nerd Stuff!

Inspired by a video by the amazingly lovely Charlie McDonnell, AKA charlieissocoollike, who I once interviewed, I'm going to more or less list all the amazingly nerdy things in my life. Be prepared for nerd-overload.

1. Doctor Who; it comes first on the list of nerdy things because
   a - I write (or at least wrote) a form of literature I dubbed Doctor Haik-Who; they are haiku about Doctor Who.
   b - I have a Doctor Who t-shirt
   c - I have a sonic screwdriver
   d - I have ten figurines based on the show, including the Face of Bo
   e - I dressed up as a Time Lord for my college Halloween party (right)
   f - I have a Doctor Who poster
   g - I have The Writer's Tale
   h - I listen to Trock
2. Books; I know they aren't specifically nerdy... but when you read, mostly, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and children's books... I think you see my point. Very nerdy indeed.
3. Writing; you might not think it's nerdy... but you don't also study it in your spare time. I have over a dozen books on writing - children's books, scripts, fiction, poetry - and on the book industry in general - that includes getting a job in publishing, marketing books, and a few editions of The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Also, I tend to write across genres; I have lots of poetry, a children's book (and ideas for more), a sci-fi novel, mainstream fiction, and books that pose as mainstream fiction with some metaphysics thrown in.
4. I study Religion... and like it. And not for the spiritual side of things either. It's actually just really interesting!
5. Every now and then I pick up a new subject and read about it, ranging from Snark; Business books - marketing and financing; psychology, specifically the science of personality in Rita Carter's Multiplicity. Why? Because I find learning to be an enjoyable experience.
6. I'm on the Internet... a lot! I use it for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, my blog (i.e. this), research (both for college and for a number of different things). Basically, I could spend a day on the Internet and not get bored. (note: I can still get lonely)
7. I don't do well with social interactions; people in college might disagree, saying I'm usually so happy etc etc... except I never know what to say to people and generally I don't make physical or eye contact with other people. And I don't know why!
8. I listen to music from DFTBA Records; don't know what that is? Exactly! They're incredibly indie. Not in the sense of being in that particular genre of music, really just in the sense that they're not mainstream and all their artists are from YouTube.
9. My clothing; I've touched on this already with the Doctor Who t-shirt, but did I mention I also have four Family Guy t-shirts, two Mighty Boosh t-shirts, a Muse t-shirt, a James Morrison t-shirt, a Pink Floyd t-shirt and a Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt? Basically, my wardrobe is filled with essences of pop culture.
10. YouTube; I can spend several hours a day looking through old videos, particularly those of nerds such as the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green; nerimon, Alex Day; charlieissocoollike, Charlie McDonnell and communitychannel, Natalie...something. I always forget her surname.

Does that seem nerdy enough to you? It seems nerdy enough to me... and I didn't even mention the fact that I watch all manners of shows on the SyFy channel, and learned a couple of short phrases in Japanese through the Heroes Magazine! Among other things! So nerdy...

Days off spent in College

...or, how I like to find new and interesting ways to procrastinate!

So I decided that I'd walk into college today, like I did yesterday, and walk home as well. Can I just say now, downhill walking is deceptive when you have to take the same route home! Nice and relaxing one way, torture the other way! It added five minutes to my journey having to trek uphill! That's not fair. I was hungry. On the brightside, I had had a breakfast and a lunch... which is more than I can say for Liam, who had to leave shortly after five to drive back to Meath. All of a sudden, Liam is broke and can't afford to even buy himself a cup of coffee (so I bought one for him...when someone says "I can't even afford a coffee" and you're spending the day in the same room as them studying, then you can't really ignore them if you can afford to buy them said coffee.)

So, ten kilometres... that's not fun. That's the total distance I walked today, excluding the travelling about the college. So I suppose it's not a total for the day, but more a total for the trips to and from college. (It just reminds me of Tommy Tiernan, saying he had to walk fifteen miles to school. Uphill. Both ways!)

On a lighter note... except for the weight in my bag... I had my laptop with me. I felt very happy to be able to save myself some printing money by just looking at documents on my laptop instead. Power Save is a hero. And then I had the IT guy from France set up the Internet for use in the college (which actually caused me problems when I got home...). So I was able to go on Facebook and Twitter in college, without having to go to the computer rooms!

I did do some study, of course. I'm a good little nerd. I got through the Galilean Ministry of Jesus (don't worry, I won't bore you with the details) and I got my notes on the Decalogue written up (the Decalogue, for those who don't know, is just the fancy term for The Ten Commandments).

But then there was more procrastination. Anthony and I traded YouTube knowledge; I showed him John WIlliams is the Man (look it up!), and the entirety of Meet Sam, the Movie, while he showed me things like a Carlow nutcase and a song about Jesus that was very hilarious but made no sense.

And as a closing term word... Paddy Reilly really ought to return to Ballyjamesduff sometime soon...

Back to Vlogging

Well, I've finally gotten up the courage to vlog while my family were in the house. Well, my parents were, but that's the same thing. My twin already knows I vlog, though he hasn't seen any of the videos, but my older brother is still ignorant of this fact and I'd like it stay that way.

Anyway, my new video Welcome to 2010! is now live and available to view. Please enjoy, and if you'd like something to be done in a video, don't be afraid to ask (although painful/stupid things that might get me caught by my family are out of the question.

If my plans go ahead, my Sooper Sekrit project will be announced within the next week or so. Also, I'll be annoying publishers soon to see if I can do something else on my YouTube channel that will certainly help spice things up a bit. (By the way, my YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/writeranonymous )

Now, until next time (like maybe tomorrow), good bye! (Also, sorry this blog increased World Suck)

Slightly addicted

I've found I have a few addictions on the Internet. One of them is obvious - the whole of the Internet. As a writer, I'm constantly looking for ways to distract myself, and being on a laptop with a Wi-Fi connection is the best way to do it.

The second one is Twitter. I'm one of those people who can just refresh a page a hundred times over, even at Christmas when I knew no one was online. I'm just weird that way, I suppose.

The third is the cringe-worthy Cafe World on Facebook. Seriously, I can't get enough of it for some reason. I think it might be a power thing - I've hired my friends, I own them as staff, they have to do what I want them to. (subsequently, no they don't... they're supposed to, but then they walk the entire way around the cafe for no apparent reason, with dirty plates and starving customers everywhere!)

The fourth... this! I've found that since I got into the swing of blogging, I just can't seem to stop. I was almost screaming when I couldn't think of anything to say, then I realised I'd blogged five of the seven days of the year previously, so I may as well go for six of the eight! I actually love doing, even if no one's reading. (you are reading this, though, right?)

Fifth... I think it might be that Bubble Towers game on Kongregate.com. I don't know why... I just like it.

Sixth, though this isn't really in any order, is YouTube. I love watching videos, especially new and interesting ones, and listening to music over and over again on it (like my friend Luke's original piano piece!). Then there's the making of videos! I know I'm not really that good at it, but I still like it, especially when people leave comments (and when they subscribe!) I'm just hoping that my Sooper Sekrit project goes ahead (I've contacted a well known YouTuber about it to see if she wants to do it with me - I've emailed her a few times before, but we're not friends as yet; we might be if she says yes and we communicate over the project).

Seventh... I don't know that there is one. Emails I suppose. I love emails. I love checking emails. And then receiving them from actual people, not just spam mail or Twitter updates. Actual email, even if it's just from my cousin Rachel (she's a legend, by the way). And actually, I like receiving actual mail too. Like when I used to be on Twitter for hours on end hunting down free books from publishers in the summer. I've got loads of them now! I loved getting the envelopes in the post and opening it up to see what book it was. I was like a kid on Christmas morning, only it happened again and again and again, and each time it was something different, something I could say, "Oh yeah!" to because I'd forgotten I was going to receive it.

So there you have it, my seven Internet addictions. Some are clearly more substantial than others, but they can't all be good, can they?

Journey of a Thousand Miles

The ancient Chinese (or is it Japanese.. sorry, I'm confused now) proverb says The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As far as I'm concerned, this is utter nonsense. Yes, it's stating the truth, the obvious truth that you have to begin before you get anywhere, but come on! A thousand miles - a single step won't do you much good unless it's onto a rocket that will fly you a thousand miles.

In my case, my journey begins rather boringly with not a step, but a chair, a laptop and a pre-registration form. My journey begins for real after that, I suppose. This is more like packing. And where am I going, I hear you ask? College!

Yes, this wee little blogger is on his way to the wider world where he gets to become scared of things like six year olds and paste until finally he escapes all that for fourteen years olds and clay. Admittedly, I won't be going near the clay, but teenage boys in art rooms like to throw clay about the place. It's annoying. I haven't even begun studying to become a teacher and I find it annoying.

Teacher, you ask? Yes, teacher. My course is one part Religion (well, really two parts Religion), one part English (proof there is a God, justifying the second part Religion) and one part Education. We'll do all sorts of fun stuff like discuss good and evil in Star Wars, watch the Simpsons, read loads of books and partake in four areas of work experience, one each year. How cool is that going to be?

This is the biggest thing that's happened to me since... ever! I'm actually going to doing something that counts towards my future (unlike the Leaving Cert, which is also like packing for this journey). And by the end of the course, I'll be qualified to teacher people Religion and English in secondary school. Yay!

Don't worry though. This isn't the end of my blog. Not by a long shot. If anything, it's actually helping my blog! You're probably wondering now how a college course will help my blog. Scroll up a wee bit there. See where I mention "read loads of books"? Yeah, that's what's going to change. Yes, I read books, but I've been writing a lot lately, instead of reading the books I want to read. College will broaden my selection of books reviewed on this blog, and maybe get me into reading a lot more than I already am. Fun fun fun!

The only downside to college, and this is both big and small; none of my friends are going to be there. They're all going to a different school so I'm stuck with, wait for it, my twin! Agh! I thought I was rid of him when I left secondary school, but obviously not. Still, it could be worse... Not a lot worse, mind you, just worse.

More fun things happening though; the college has two socities I'm currently interested in. A magazine and a film society! Hurray! I was already on a magazine and I vlog weekly (sometimes more than once) so they're perfect for me. Next in line - Niamh's birthday party! I love nights out like this. I'm not really a night life sort of person, and I don't drink, so my times out are always for something special like a birthday. And it's Niamh's birthday! And two days later, my Debs! Yay again! Niamh is going with me to that too. She'll be in turquoise, I'll be in a black tux with a silver waistcoat and silver cravat. In a limo. With a kareoke machine. Fun fun fun!

More stuff happening too! (I know, this list of great things happening is unfairly long, isn't it?) The Literary Den, with our fabulous new blog ( http://literaryden.wordpress.com ) all set up, are releasing a couple of things in the near future. One is our soon to be annual fiction anthology in aid of The Laura Crane Trust, and the other is a couple of t-shirts that will raise money towards funding the administrative stuff for the Den (like the website, and removing ads from the forum) so that we can give more back to the public. So excited about showing them all off on my YouTube channel too! ( http://www.youtube.com/writeranonymous )

I think that's it for now. I know, long blog post compared to some of my others ones. And this is only what i know right now! In the future, I'll be trying to add blog posts about NaNoWriMo and some music I'm listening to, and obviously more reviews of books and stuff like that. Until next time, though, take care!

Writing Marathon!

Well, I've gone on a mad one, but not in quite the same as I thought I might have gone a few days ago. See, my idea from a few days ago didn't come to pass. Quite quickly, I got bored with it. Thankfully my boredom died yesterday, with a new project.

I know what you're thinking. "This guy keep coming up with new ways not to finish/start writing." This time, you'd be wrong. See, I did write. I wrote a lot. And I wrote a lot more in these past two days than I ever wrote in that space of time.

10,009 words, according to my word count.

Yes, you read that right. 10,009 words of fiction in two days. I honestly don't know how I did it, but I loved every minute of it! It's been exciting, and thankfully the story's not over. I just had to take a break. Tomorrow there will be more writing and tea (there's always tea) and I'll have beaten another record - the most I've written in three days. Yes, I know it's cheating. Sue me. (please don't though; I only work six hours a week and I don't get paid to write!)

I could go on to describe what the new book is about. I really want to, but I'd just be repeating myself. You see, I read an extract and explained the story a bit on YouTube. So for the next ten minutes, you get to listen to me talk and hear a YT exclusive reading from yours truly. Peace and Love, and see you next time.

Flash Fiction

Hello, good people on the Internet, readers, writers, bloggers, vloggers, retail workers, office drones, party people, anti-socialites, and mermaids; I'm back after a much too long absense (*gasp* six whole days!). The reason for this absense is that I have news for you all that I only want to spread in Vlog form. Or at least, start in Vlog form and write the matching blog here too. My family have been against me on this agenda... By that I mean I can't make the video because they're never all out of the house when I'm still here!

Until such time I might be able to Vlog again, I have more news better suited to this blog. As you might guess from the title, I now write Flash Fiction. It's a rip-roaring barrel of fun and I highly recommend it. So far I've written four stories and submitted each one to a different magazine that my delightful followers on Twitter recommended to me.

Now it's your turn to recommend something: music. I know, it doesn't seem connected, but I'm going to attempt something mad that encompasses songs by a particularly fantastic band, and I'd like to know I have the creativity in me before I go forth. So, songs (they must have lyrics please) that I might be able to make a story out of. The only ones that are excempt otherwise are songs that are already stories (for example, Journey's End by Chameleon Circuit, or A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash).

By September 22nd latest, I will have heard from the first magazine. At that stage, if I'm successful, I'll leave a link to the story. Until then, music, music, music!!

Leave the song and artist in the comments below, or a direct link to the song on YouTube (which is where I will be going to listen to these wonderful songs). If you prefer to reply on Twitter, use the hashtag #musicpaul and I'll get all the recommendations. Thanks!

No One

Poor ill-fated blog. I'm sorry!

*ahem* I apologise for that. I had to comfort my blog after my absense.

A lot has happened these past few days that I haven't had the good grace to write about. There has been good things, and bad things. Since I hate ending on a bad note (happened before at mass "singing" and I came off the alter laughing and red-faced), I'll start with the bad point. My head is melted. Not literally of course, but my writing brain is dead for the time being.

To compensate (people like compensating) I've begun a YouTube vlogging session! That's the first of the good news-y bits! I get to chat a lot about nothing in particular... yet. People say vloggers are vain and that they just want to record themselves so they can watch/listen. I think that's a bit... stupid? I'm certainly not doing it for that reason. I hate how I sound and I don't like the camera pointing at me. I do, however, enjoy talking. Communicating, rather. It's easier to do on YouTube because no one will interrupt. Plus, I like seeing the viewing numbers go up.

And that, oddly enough, brings me onto more good news. I have a new TV show to watch! It's the forecasted topic of my next video - Doctor Who!! I have to blame Charlie McDonnell for that. See, at the Den we blame people for good things. It's Claire's fault, for example, that we released an anthology last year. And when I blame people like that, I'm really thanking them and giving them credit. So yes, I love Doctor Who. Just wait 'till you see what I can pronounce! (I can't spell it though...)

Now, to celebrate my return to my blog, I'm leaving you with a poem. It's called No One, hence the title of the blog. It's not much of a poem, but I liked the idea a bit. Here we go then..!

No One

No one heard me scream.
No one came to help.
No one watched me die.
No one was a witness.
No one came forward.
No one...

Rubbish, innit?

Anyway... le link for the channel if you want to watch my videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/writeranonymous

You can subscribe if you want, but it's not mandatory. feedback, however, would be nice.

Well, until next time - Cheerio!

Taking a risk / freedom!

Hi Universe,

Well, it's been way too long. However, I have an excuse (don't I always?) My dear old (young, actually, but you get the picture) laptop decided it was going to stop charging at all. So I can't use it. It's been taken off by Dell to be repaired, thanks be to God, but I haven't heard from them since and it's been a while.

The desktop I'm sitting at, meanwhile, is the worst thing in the world, ever. Up until this morning, it refused to work with Blogger at all. It's just shut down the Internet Explorer and told me to deal with things myself. Evidently, I'm back, and taking a risk with this before it decides to explode.

Lots has happened in the few weeks I've been forced away from my precious blog. For one, I've finished all of my exams! I'm officially free from the stress! Can I get a Hallelujah?! (moving on...) I've also begun work on the book I mentioned earlier in the blog: How to Survive (etc) which is being renamed simply as Survive The Net (subtitle: How to Survive and Thrive on the Internet).

This project is changing everything already. I've written interviews for a few parties, and I have many more in mind. So far, the delightful girls from Lipstick Royalty graced my e-self with an interview, and YouTube's own Charlie McDonnell (AKA charlieissocoollike!!) has agreed to an interview and has been sent the questions! Hazzah! Also on my interview list, in the middle of confirming the details, are Lessthan7, a YouTube collab. channel from several countries, and Lucas Cruikshank, also from YouTube, who makes the Fred videos. He's been the most difficult to contact, and I'm yet to get a reply.

Others I'd like to interview are Wil Wheaton (yes, the Star Trek guy) for his success selling books via Lulu.com, as well as the doctor who wrote My Stroke of Insight, for her success in not only overcoming her health problem, but in getting accepted by a mainstream publisher! I'd also like to arrange a Q&A with staff from Twitter and AudioBoo, as they've become fascinatingly popular since their arrivals, though not always with the younger crowd.

Added to that will be surveys (mass participation appreciated). I'll be exploring the sites people use, the reasons they use them, and the reasons they don't. Busy stuff, lots of work involved, can't wait.

Moving on swiftly now, to item number three in this ridiculously long blog post (can't you just feel my deprivation?) Yesterday, as I walking to the cinema, I thought about a work friend, Sandra, and a recent phonecall I had with her over a post on this blog concerning Lauren Keech and the story I wrote. Well, I've decided that I'd very much like to expand on the story, but make it more fictional. I'd also like to introduce lots of other issues, but too many in one tale would essentially kill the characters over and over again. The solution? I'm thinking a series of short stories, one every two weeks (that's the plan, anyway), each sold on Lulu.com individually at a low price (revenue of €1) with all the money going to charity. The charities will be chosen based on the theme of the story. Take a cancer-story, for example. The money from that will be going to my favourite cancer charity, The Laura Crane Trust.

For the series, I'd like to also help promote lesser known charities, which is why I said LCT rather than a larger organisation. I want these smaller charities to get noticed, because they deserve it to. So I'm asking you, please, to submit ideas for charities. I want to know about them, what they do, who they benefit, so that I might be able to work a story around that idea. The more personal the charity is to you, the better.

I'm going to begin work on these stories ASAP, working on Survive The Net at the same time, as well as edits of Meet Sam. When I have about five-six written and the charities' logos and permission, I'll begin posting them online for the low fee. Any and all support would be appreciated.

So, I think I've bored you all enough. However, if you want to keep getting annoyed by me, just look for my Twitter and follow. Also, keep an eye out for the official Survive The Net blog, which will be arriving shortly. Baifornow.