Writing Randomness in Dublin

Minigreen is OUT!

2012-12-30T04:31:00.001-11:00

I don't know where to start. It's been so long since I wrote a post here.

I suppose I'll start with the good news!!

Minigreen is OUT!

My first ever illustrated children e-book was released last month both in French and in English.

The French version was released on channels like E-pagine and Amazon.fr and livresnumeriques.virginmega.fr

And the English version on Amazon.com

You can also buy the story directly from the publishing house. They are Canadian and they are called "Chouetteditions". They sell other Amazing e-books for children.
The only thing is you need to have a paypal account.

So now that I've put down my "Writing Hat", I've started to put on my "Marketing Hat".

I've started to promote my story on Facebook with teasers and cute illustrations and it's been a very exciting experience so far.

I'm hoping to contact next Gardening Clubs for Kids and Mums Blogs and Book reviewers to get some help with the promotion of Minigreen.

Or even get interviewed on blogs. Interviewed. (Daydreaming)That sounds big and a bit intimidating.

It should be interesting.

My journey starts here. Where's your journey at? Which hat are you putting on?

Let me know and share this journey with me.

Interview of a poetess: Sarah Maria Griffin

2012-11-07T00:07:00.000-11:00

When I was writing for Upstart.ie, (For people who don't know what Upstart.ie is, it's a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness in Ireland) I was asked to get the views and thoughts of poets and writers on the Upstart Project.

The project was to put original art and poetry posters on Dublin streets during the Irish General Election Campaign 2011. It engaged the interest of hundreds of artists, writers and volunteers, capturing the imagination of the public and featuring widely in the national and international media.

And so to generate more interest around this collaborative Project, Upstart had started a blog and contacted 8 bloggers (me included) to keep the momentum going.

Their blog was in site maintenance for a while and I thought it would be a shame if all that content was lost. We must have written more than 100 posts in the first 4 or 5 months and generating about 500 comments in that time. Poems, interviews, news, essays and reflections.
And so I promised myself that when and if the site was back online again, I'll put some of my interviews here.
Besides who doesn't like to read a good interview whether it is about a writer or a poet or an engineer? At the end of the day, interviews are about people and people are fascinating creatures.

The first interview I did was with Sarah Maria Griffin On February 22, 2011.

We sat down in a nice coffee shop off Dame Street. I turned on my recorder, put it on the table and proceeded with my questions. It went very well.

(Picture from exchange words the website)

Since then she has gone to live in San Francisco. She was 23 at the time and was writing furiously as her blog states and still does. Through the interview, I learned that she was a diversified writer: poetry, plays, online blogging and storytelling. She has won first prize at 2010's Over the Edge Fiction Slam. She performed at Electric Picnic 2011’s Mindfield in the Arts Council Literary Tent. In September 2011 she won the Literary Death match Dublin.
She is everywhere and does everything.

I didn't know all this about her when I interviewed her. But I did sense the "fury" of getting her words out there. It translated in how lively her eyes became when she spoke and how fast her words flew out when she talked about writing.

Anyway, here is this retrospective interview:

Hi Sarah, glad you could make it today. Will you tell me a litle bit about yourself?
I come from Dublin but I am currently living in Galway where I’m doing an MA in writing. I am a poet, mostly, although I’m working on a few other projects at the moment. My first collection Follies is coming out soon.

How have you heard about UpStart?
I used to go along to Wurm im Apfel which is a spoken words night run by Kit Fryatt, and it was through her I heard about the initiative. They were looking for poets to take part of the poster campaign. I sent one of my poems in andit was accepted. It is up near Jervis Street at the moment. I also performed at a recent UpStart fundraiser — the poetry and wrestling night.

It must feel strange to see your work out there in the street?
Yes, but it also feels great. You have to remember that this might be the first poem that people have read this week, this month, this year and it is fantastic to be part of that.

Do you think it is important to encourage a debate on the role of the arts in Ireland?
Oh absolutely. It is part of our culture and always has been and the current climate has encouraged creativity. Every single month there are so many nights where people put on spoken word shows and storytelling nights in Dublin, it has created a huge revival of that kind of culture. I think with the way things have gone, arts have taken a new place in people’s heart.

What about funding?
Most people I know who run those nights aren’t funded but they still do it any way because it isn’t about that, it is about loving what we do.

How long have you been writing?
Since I could hold a pen, so pretty much all my life.

Is there something in particular that triggered writing for you?
As you change from a teenager into an adult, a lot of things also change in your world, the way you look at the world, at people and the way they look at you. That for me, was really what pushed me into writing. Nothing is ever still, not even for a moment. Ever! There is so much going on all the time, between people and outside, everywhere, I feel I have to track it.

Who are your favorite poets?
e.e. cummings wrote wonderful poetry on nature. Although I wouldn’t be inspired by nature I feel his use of the language pulled something out of me that nobody else has before. I discovered him through the film maker Woody Allen. Th poetry featured in one of my favourite films, Hannah and her Sisters, and that led me to e.e. cummings. On the other end of the scale, I also really like Charles Bukowski. e.e. cummings had an huge influence on Bukowski. He was the complete opposite of him, drinking, smoking, hating women…but what they shared in common was an identical visual style. Those two poets mean an awful lot to me but in terms of Ireland, people like Rita Ann Higgins had a huge influence on me.

What do you write about?
I write about being young. I write about being twenty-three. That’s all I know about. Finishing college, people moving away, having a partner. I write about my life with him and the not-so-fashionable notion of wanting to settle down.

So I believe you are working on other projects as well?
I have written a 1000-word short story which I think could be expanded. It has the potential to become a very long and interesting journey but it is hard to maintain stamina for long things, especially when the longest poem I had ever written was a page and a half long! Then you suddenly find yourself facing into writing 52 000 words, it can be a bit daunting. I’m also working on a screenplay called Sleep Skips my Heart based on a song called “Narcolepsy” by Ben Folds. It is going to be produced this week in NUI (Galway) on two nights as part of the Jerome Hynes one act series.

I wish you good luck with the writing and once again thank you for meeting up with me.
For more details on Sarah Maria Griffin, check out her blog:
http://www.wordfury.blogspot.com/

Did you like it this interview? Share it, like it and let your voice be heard.

Special Moment in Workman's Club

2012-09-26T16:44:00.002-11:00

There are moments that are so perfect that you are aware of them right in the middle of it. Those moments gently nudge at your conscious for a few seconds. Precious seconds that make everything slow down around you. If you have ever experienced one of those, it nearly is like an out of body experience. It makes you appreciate where you are and who you are right in that instance.
And when that moment is gone, it becomes a delicate capsule of time that you can keep and go back to for as long as you want it to.

I'll try to describe for you one of those moments.
It's Wednesday the 19th of September 2012. It's late night in Workman's Club, Dublin's leading live entertainment venue, situated at 10 Wellington Quay. I've been to this venue before. It's not a great venue. The building is 160 years old and you can feel it in the floorboards and in the walls and basically in the decor.
But I'm not feeling any of this at the moment.
I'm a little tipsy from the Guinness I'm drinking but not overly so. I'm right in the middle of the venue. There are not many people in. I can see a few shadows around me. Two girls are standing right in front of me. The lighting of the stage is outlining the contours of their heads. One of the girls has curly hair and the other has long hair. Occasionally the head of the girl with curly hair bobbed as she danced to the song.
She is right to dance to the song because it's good. It's very good. Not only does the singing is top notch quality but so is the performance. There's something about the way the singer Cat Dowling is singing and moving to her songs. It's like watching gentleness and energy fold and unfold simultaneously. One form of expression is diluted in the other like in a painting of David Salle. And you don't know where begins the gentleness and where ends the energy.

It's like her voice, hushed and raw at the same time. She is accompanied by a good male vocalist and Superman himself as a bass guitarist or so it looks like. I mean the man is huge, tall with large shoulders and does his job well ( at playing the guitar not at saving the world although i'm sure he must have saved a few pretty girl's worlds). The guitarist and drummer are excellent too (I'm guessing) but my music ear is not good enough to tell exactly how good they are.

All this description really doesn't matter because as soon as Cat Dowling starts "the well runs dry" everything disappears into that moment of happiness and all I'm aware is this melody, this song, this sultry haze of a voice,the lights on the stage, the beats of the drums which has the effect of an army marching over my heart, the shadows swaying back and forth before me, the red against the black of the walls, and the hand of the person next to me tightening his grasp in mine as he realised how much I'm enjoying this song.
Here's the song:

This was the last of her song. After this came a different band or singer should I say. Laura Sheeran's style wasn't as nice and I felt she was more concerned with her "Cleopatra" effect on the male crowd than her singing performance. Then came Ham Sandwich on stage. For a band name, you would expect a male to sing ( or maybe that's just me) but it wasn't the case. And they were good. This Irish indie rock band from County Cork indeed rocked. The vocals Niamh Farrell and Podge McNamee ( vocals and guitar) made my feet "antsy" with some of their songs. One of their songs " Ants" captured yet again a little capsule of time in me.

Overall it was a special nite and it was pretty cool that this was being broadcast live on the Paul Mcloone Show, on Today Fm. (and blatantly sponsored by Meteor: you couldn't miss the advertising panels behind the bands, even if you tried)

Have you ever felt this type of out of body/unique moment that stays with you long after that moment has expired?

Walking on "Ripper Street"

2012-09-12T12:21:00.002-11:00

A "stranger than fiction" type of moment in Dublin

There are Mondays and there are Mondays. Some Mondays are more interesting than others. Nine weeks ago, I was walking through the Guinness Factory area as part of my “try-to-exercise-after-study” type of duty when I turned left into Rainsford Street and found myself traveling back in time.

I always enjoy walking the cobbled streets of Dublin. And I especially like the Dickensian atmosphere around the Guinness Factory. But this time it felt as if I had actually landed into the nineteenth century.

Props of bales and crates were stacked on the side of Rainsford Street as if waiting to be carried away.

Men dressed in Victorian clothes were casually smoking while others were reading from books. I stopped and looked back wondering if I had taken the wrong turn somewhere.

But apparently I hadn’t.

At least four very twenty first century cars were parked further down the road.

As puzzled as I still was, I gathered my wits and asked one of the authentic Victorian men with worn leather jackets and interesting mustaches what was going on.

Apparently I just ran into the last filming day of a new drama set in the East End of London in 1889 during the aftermath of Jack The Ripper murders. This series will be called "Ripper Street" and is scheduled for an autumn transmission.

The series will feature Matthew Macfadyen, Adam Rothenberg and Jerome Flynn as the main characters of the series. Matthew Macfadyen has been quite busy playing lately in Spooks and Pillars of the earth series and has just finished completing “Anna Karenina” the movie.

In this stranger than fiction moment, I felt lucky to be there and I even took a few pictures.

Have you ever experienced a stranger than fiction moment and if so, how did it make you feel?

More details on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2183641/

Defy The Dark Contest

2012-08-31T01:24:00.001-11:00

I was all excited about a coming competition with Figment.com called "Defy The Dark"
The winner of the Defy the Dark contest could get a chance to be published in a HarperTeen anthology.

I was considering trying to do this context. For the past few days.

I liked the title, the theme. Defy the Dark.

So I read the guidelines:

Submission must be between 2,000 and 4,000 words.

Okay.

Write a story that takes place at night or in the dark.

Okay.

The story can be of any genre: contemporary, paranormal, horror, science fiction, romance, humor, fantasy, etc.

Okay.

Deadline:1 st of September.

Okay.

So I wrote the piece. right. And just when I am considering entering the competition, I re-read the guidelines again and noticed you have to be a resident in Canada and/or the USA.

Damn.

So that's that.

Anyway, I decided that I should put a sample here. The rest is on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/223597
All comments are welcome.

The story is based in the USA, near New York even though I've never been to the USA. Maybe one day.

-------------------

In my many layers of t-shirts and my floating jeans, I walk along graffiti walls for a few blocks. I can’t wait to reach the Wal-Mart parking lot. The streets are well lit but the night is cold and dark with no moon above my head.

There’s not even the sound of wind in the trees, just the sound of car engines further down the street. Around the corner, a bunch of graduates are laughing, punching each other as they speak. Two of them are leaning against a streetlight. They look pretty drunk. I cross the street to avoid them.

They hear my footsteps. One of them sees me and stares.

“Hey, aren’t you in Holman’s class? Com’on. Join us,” he says.

I gulp. I know these guys. Holman hates my guts. I feel the weight of my body as I always do when I want to run and know I can’t.

As one, they recognise me and spin around. They throw their empty beers in the gutter and start walking towards me.

There’s this need in me to turn around and run. But instincts tell me it’ll only make matters worse. I wouldn’t last two minutes anyway.

So I take a deep breath, push my hands hard in my pockets and curl them into fists. Big white puffs of steam come out of their mouth. They are now taunting each other to find out who’ll start with me.

I’m still walking towards them, as calm as a prisoner about to be executed.

I’m cold, numb and terrorized but something else has taken over from me.

I want it to be over with.

Maybe they’ll beat this thing out of me.

It's funny, I think. When I ask anybody around me about supernatural abilities, they immediately think of vampires.

I hate vampires. Twilight madness. These guys could be blood suckers for all I know and nobody would care. They certainly look like suckers. But as long as vampires will make people dream, they’ll keep the dream coming.

Now it’s fifty shades of grey. New phase. New dreams.

I’ve stopped dreaming long ago. But I can’t stop myself from asking people the same question.

“Why would they want supernatural abilities?”

And to anybody I’ve asked, they all answer the same thing. Nobody minds the type of supernatural abilities they’ll have, as long as they can have one. They all want the same thing.

To be a hero. To be different.

If they knew what it takes to be “different”, they wouldn't be so damn wishful about it.

They all want to be powerful: time-travellers, shape shifters, witches, werewolves, ghosts, angels, demons, gods.

The whole thing should make me laugh really. But I’ve also lost my sense of humour. And I’m only eighteen.

Phil thinks I’m a sad case.

I don't know why I keep asking “them” about supernatural abilities. By “them” I mean anyone I know at high school. I guess I’m hoping to understand what I’m supposed to do with this thing.

I shouldn't say “them” as if I wasn't part of them because I am.

In a way. A very distanced way.

I'm no angel, no demon either.

I'm “different” for a lack of a better word and wish I wasn't.

Yeah, suck it up, I know. Everybody is different.

No, I don't mean it like that.

I mean I have one of those supernatural abilities.

But there's nothing "natural" or "cool" about it.

I don't run like the wind. I can't knock down a tree or change into a wolf.

But I've felt like howling and I've been told I smell like a wet dog.

I disgust myself.

It's this thing. It makes me sweat like you wouldn't believe it.

And no amount of body spray can cover it. I've tried.

-------------------

For the dedicated ones, you have til tomorrow to try your hand at this contest. I think it's doable. 2000 words can be done in a day. Here's the link:

http://dailyfig.figment.com/defy-the-dark-official-rules/

Good Luck to All.

Everything that I'm not.

2012-08-28T12:26:00.003-11:00

Big Room, 1948, by Andrew Wyeth

I'm leaving you
and I'll leave you in this room,
because this room you see, is you.

Fixed in time
in sepia tone.
light filtered
washed walls
all nicely composed

It's a tribute to good taste
proper, quiet, balanced
but it screams from within
and it's smothering me with mold

I'm telling you
this room is you
from floor to ceiling
it's stone cleaned
and labelled
And it's everything that I'm not.
everything that I'm not.
that's why you see
I'm leaving you.

magpie #132 - http://magpietales.blogspot.ie/

The e-book distribution rule of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

2012-06-04T12:52:00.005-11:00

Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

The e-book distribution world is at the moment very much like the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.
Goldilocks being you, you would have to face with the 3 giant big bears of the e-book distributors world.
So in respective order, you would have to choose between Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear:

* Amazon’s Kindle
* Barnes & Noble’s Nook
* Apple’s iBookstore

They might look mighty and scary and you would be right.
They are after all giants and you will depend on them for your survival (or should I say the survival of your e-book)
Although they might look the same to you, they do differ when it comes to the royalty rate.

1)Amazon Kindle is tricky.
If You think you gonna get a big royalty from them, think again! Depending of the price you decide to put your book at, you might not get that 70% royalty.
Here is how it works, if like most authors, you're trying to sell your book and you're an emerging author, you'll keep the price down by choosing the minimum price offered by Amazon which 0.99 cts. In that case, you only get 30% royalty.
If you are going for a bigger price per book (let's say 2.30$), then you get to have a 70%. Amazon keeps 30%
This is, in my opinion, unfair and a big corporate company such as Amazon should be less greedy and try to promote/help writers to sell their book. That's why i don't recommend Amazon.

2)Barnes and Noble Nook:
Authors get 65%, Barnes and Noble keeps 35%

3)Apple iBookstore:
Authors get 55%, Apple gets 45%.

If you don't want to individually setup your e-book with those 3 distributors, you can always set it once with Smashwords. Granted that their style guide is lengthy but once you get the hang of it, you will be part of their premium catalog and then, Goldilocks will have tamed the 3 big bears as you will be part of their lists.
Smashwords offers a 60% royalty rate depending of your country.

Personally, I think Smashwords is quite good.
Now about the format and the matter of Piracy, I've read people on blogs who had been wondering the format they should use. PDF? no PDF? People say if you use PDF, it means that more people can easily pirate your e-book.
Yes it is a problem but practically every computer can read a PDF file. So your choice is to have your work safe but no audience or a very small audience or take a risk, possibly trust that people might or might not pirate your work and get your book out there.

It's a personal decision.
I decided to be a risk taker (in this business anyhow ;-)) Are you?

What I've been up to...

2012-05-20T07:51:00.000-11:00

Wow. It's been a month. A MONTH. It feels like years.

One month since I haven't come to this blog.

It feels weird coming back. I couldn't even remember my google password to get in. I had to reset it. That's how long it's been. While I was away, I did
a few other things though. This is the list of things I've done:

A) Writing Arts events.

And for 2 audiences.

1) Been writing for an online magazine called Irishreviewnews.net (on and off)

2) The other audience is a free local newspaper called the Informer.ie. I'm writing for them on a monthly basis. For free. Of course for free. It sucks and it would be nice to be paid to write articles but we can dream.

I did it for the experience and to build a readership. LOL.

But after 7 months, I can tell that nobody is reading it because I am not getting any feedback and it doesn't generate any views on this blog. So much for that. Oh well.

B) Writing Women's Fiction.

The last one I wrote was "When you Dance"

It's about a girl called Lindsay who lives to dance every Saturday night. That is until one weirdo appears and spoil her fun. Or he is really?
I don't know if it's great. But I have enjoyed writing Women's fiction. At least while it lasted. It was like a fever. And it wouldn't go away unless I wrote. And now? Well I'm giving it a break as no inspiration has hit me since. I put that story up on Smashwords for free and hoped for the best...The result was a disaster! It hardly got any downloads. So that's that. Since it's still free, anybody is welcome to read and review it.

C) Revamping my Arts wordpress blog

I started to put up arts articles and events in Dublin. I also started to take pictures of arts events and tried my hand at Photography in general. This has been really fun and I enjoyed it immensely. But while fun is fun, work doesn't get done. And work is piling up.

What have you been up to?

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

2012-04-21T23:00:00.000-11:00

Who knew today was Earth Day?
Come on. Don't be shy. Raise your hands if you did!

I didn't.
Until I went on Google and noticed their doodle.
I clicked on it and there you go.
Today is Earth Day.

I looked it up on Wikipedia to find a little more about this day.
I was surprised to discover that it exists since 1970.

There's a Earth Day Logo/Flag and even a Earth Day Anthem.
I looked for the Official Earth Day International website but didn't find it very useful. Mainly because you have to be in the USA to take action.

They do have a page where you can create a day event or sign a petition but that's no much use if you are based in Ireland.
http://www.earthday.org/what-can-you-do-earth-day

So I looked for a similar Website/Organisation in Ireland.

I found VOICE Ireland, an Irish non-governmental Charity established in 1997.
http://voiceireland.org
They don't even have a petition to sign.
And only 269 followers on Twitter.
Except for a list of actions to follow, I couldn't find a suggestion to let's say use Facebook as a way to spread the word and raise concern.

However I found another website which name was confusing. I mean they chose "friend of earth" acronym for their website and it is turning to FOE.IE
So it feels you need to be a Foe to be a Friend of earth.
http://www.foe.ie/takeaction/
Their website is a little better and they have more followers. 1900 followers. Not a lot for a 4 million inhabitants country. But I guess that's a start.

I guess what I meant to say is give a hug to Earth and wish Everyone you know a Happy Earth Day!

Have you heard about this event? Do you know someone who's doing something for this cause? Do you think a day is enough to raise concern?

5 Things I hate about Adobe Illustrator

2012-04-08T02:56:00.002-11:00

If Blogs were soil, mine would be seriously decaying.
The number of visits hasn't been as low since the time I began to write this blog. Ouch.

Where to start?
In this era where creativity must meet with technology, I decided to do a training on how to use Adobe Illustrator.
After many hours of attempt at using the tool and in order to save you time and money, here is what I retain of the software.
This tool is seriously evil.

In theory, it seems a great concept. Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor allowing to draw, create geometrical shapes, symmetrical curves and even make a vector copy of your photos. Developed and marketed by Adobe Systems you would think that it is bound to be perfected and user-friendly with its latest version (Illustrator CS5) the fifteenth generation in the product line by now. But you would be wrong.
Instead of making a list of what the tool brought me, I began to make a list in my head of what the tool took away from me.

Here is this list:

1) It'll take the creativity out of you.
The tool is so illogical and unintuitive, it's frankly ridiculous.
The guy who created this software must have the artistic mindset of a dinosaur. In fact it has probably killed a lot of artists' spirits over the years. A simple task of creating a shadow on an apple will require you to do 4 or 5 actions. None of them are easy to guess. I have used more often the CTRL+Z (undo task) than I have done "stuff."

2) It'll take the fun out of you.
Those damn Layers.
I can see how one morning that guy who created this software decided to be clever by creating the notion of layers making hundred of us suffer for it.
In his perfectly organised life, where Order made perfect sense, from the inside of his fridge to his shirts neatly ironed, this guy decided that layers were the key to design and without it, well nothing really would work. If by inadvertence, you've just clicked on the wrong layer, you can't edit nothing. Same pb if you forgot to unlock a layer or view a layer. Every layer has to be named. One layer above or below another layer will change the complete outlook of your design. All in all, if you don't have discipline, Adobe Illustrator will grind this quality into you, layer by layer.

3) It'll take forever to open.
About 2 minutes which is crazy and that's because it's a heavy tool. It uses a massive amount of memory from your pc.

4)It'll take money out of your wallet.
That's right. 600 $ ( not cheap) You can use the trial for free for 30 days. But why would you pay that when you can have a similar tool for free? Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor which works similarly to Adobe Illustrator. At least if you get a headache, you'll have a headache for free.
http://inkscape.org/

5) It'll take every ounce of patience you have.
A simple drawing, let's say the drawing of a pig with nice eyes and a nice little curly tail, will take 4 or 5 hours.
If you don't believe me, here's a link to a guy's website who did a humming bird.
In appearance, it seem a very simple design to make. Only it took him 6 hours to do it.
http://www.jackthe7th.com/tech/hatred-adobe-illustrator/

Summary.

So there you go. Adobe Terminator, I mean, Illustrator will l take everything from you and will give you nothing back. Except maybe a headache. Or a few. Depending on how serious you are about learning how to use the tool.

Was it worth it?
Yes.

Would I do it again?
Yes.
Only because there's no escaping from it if you want to know how designing graphics works.

Was the course interesting?
Yes.

Would I design a better tool if I was a genius?
Definitely.

Would I unleash my frustration on the designer of that tool if he was in front of me?
Probably.

Any comments on that tool? Have you ever used it? Do you like it? Dislike it?
Here and now is the time to tell the world about it.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall!

2012-03-22T12:07:00.002-11:00

With the release of the movie "Mirror Mirror on the Wall" directed by Tarsem Singh, Pigsback, an Irish online daily deals website has offered their customer (me) a chance to see a Preview Screening for free in the next week or so.

That is if I get selected by their lottery system.
They used to offer preview screenings for free if you register on time.

They used to offer a preview screening nearly every two months.
But no more.
Now, you get these offers once a year and if you are lucky, you might be picked. Or not.

As much as I tried to deny myself the joy of going to see romantic movies in theaters thinking the likes of "oh this is so anti-feminist" and "Oh this is not realistic!" and "there's no such thing as a knight in shining armour in real life!" I have decided that I shouldn't deny myself the simple pleasure of getting away from it all and being entertained by a feeling good movie. Besides I was wondering how Julia Roberts would pull the role of the Witch. She never usually plays the role of a Baddie.

Yet I still enjoy a good laugh and nothing makes me laugh more than making fun of those stereotypes that we are constantly reminded of in those fairy tales and romantic stories.

In this frame of mind, I wrote a while back a silly little poem. Nothing great. Just an idea to play with and have fun with. Only this one was called "Mirror, Mirror in the Mall"
And yes incidentally, if you turn a "W" upside down, it is a "M", so the Wall becomes a Mall.

Mirror, Mirror in the Mall

Tales come and go

But this story will make you bow.

Listen up.

Unplug yourselves from this reality,

And dive into the hub

Of this unusual story.

Today is your lucky day.

But hey, there's no guarantee you’ll be blown away.

So you see,

there was this chick.

She was pretty,

Some say, she was slick.

She bought and trashed.

And flashed her cash

But to no avail

The Holy Grail:

Tom Patcat

Was as blind as a bat

Mirror, Mirror in the Mall

She asked, tell me who’s the awesomest chick of this Mall?

My Queen, said the Reflection,

You know, you’re my little Onion.

With your plastic boobs and your faked tan

You’d bring any boys to your divan.

But there’s a slight problem with your Patcat:

He’s a fruitcake, my little rat.

Oh my, oh my, said Eli,

How can I make him like me?

You’re in luck, said the Mirror

Cuz I’m a fairy, so come closer.

Let’s switch places

And I’ll make him fall into your graces.

Eli jumped into the mirror.

But the Reflection never came back

And incidentally his name was Jack.

So here's the story's moral:

You should never trust your pal.

Especially if he’s a queen

and he happened to be very good looking.

What about you? Do you get a buzz out off watching Fairytales/romantic stories? Or do those themes turn you off completely?

Oh and yes, I did try my hands at writing a Fairytale for Big and Small Kids. It's a fairytale with a quiet power of imagination and poetry and luckily for you, it is available for FREE.
It's called "Saving Ordenia" and I would love to read your reviews on it.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/125606

The battle with Paypal

2012-03-16T12:17:00.000-11:00

I've neglected this blog.
There were a million things I wanted to write about (maybe 3 or 4) and a million things that I knew was irrelevant to this blog.

Job interviews or the lack of them
Holidays or the lack of them
Money or the lack of it
Writing or the lack of wanting to write.
Socializing or the lack of it ( hard to socialize when your best friend is a toilet roll paper which you keep at all times next to you in case you're going to....sneeze! It is even harder to socialise when you constantly frown trying to concentrate on what the person is trying to say because your head is filled with a gigantic ball of cotton wool and you can't think straight. Or when people are talking to you as if they were in a different room when they are actually next to you but you can't hear a thing because your ears are stuffed.

I could go on like this...
There are things I should have talked about...

Like Paypal gave an ultimatum to Smashwords two weeks ago: Remove all titles containing bestiality, rape or incest, otherwise they threatened to deactivate our PayPal account. I was so annoyed about that. I am not interested in reading or writing about these topics but I believe anyone should be writing about anything they want. And it surely felt like PayPal was asking writers to censor legal fiction. And they were. Regardless of how one views these topics no financial institutions should tell us, authors what we can write and what we can not write.

Fiction is fantasy. This is why we can write. We write so we can express ourselves. And if Paypal was starting to censure that then what next? Police on our thoughts too?
I was very angry that we keep on having to fight for our basic rights as institutions keep on invading in our private worlds.

Fortunately Smashwords authors, publishers and customers mobilized. They made telephone calls, wrote emails and letters, started and signed petitions, blogged, tweeted, Facebooked and drove the conversation. They made the difference. I didn't. I wanted to. I probably thought to write to Visa and Ebay about 5 or 6 times during those 2 weeks. But thanks to them people paid attention. And thank God for them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) were the first three advocacy groups to stand up for us, authors, publishers and customers. Bloggers and journalists also helped carry the story forward by lending their platforms to get the story out.

This is based from the email I got from CEO Mark Copper 3 days ago, who told us of Paypal's decision to modify their policies to allow legal fiction after all.
Mr Copper also wanted to give his Special thanks to TechCrunch, Slashdot, TechDirt, The Independent (UK), Reuters, Publishers Weekly, Dow Jones, The Digital Reader, CNET, Forbes, GalleyCat & EbookNewser and dozens of others too numerous to mention.

So this is a battle we won. Before we had bloodbath battles. Nowadays we have "inkbath" battles and digital conflicts. Battles of the minds. Battles of the words.
So we have pushed back. For how long? I am not sure. But I am relieved. I will go to sleep a little more peaceful and happy. I sure hope to hell that there will always be people to push back. I didn't fight this battle. But I am thankful for the people who did.

READ AN EBOOK WEEK OFFER with Smashwords this week!

2012-03-09T03:12:00.003-11:00

Exciting times!
Smashwords has kicked off their fourth year of the Smashwords Read an Ebook Week promotion.

A special Read an Ebook Week promotion catalog has appeared on the Smashwords home page.
You, Readers can browse the catalog and search by coupon code levels and categories.
It kicked off last Sunday. At the stoke of midnight Pacific time this coming Sunday (that's the 11th of March), the catalog will disappear again!
The coupon codes only work at Smashwords, not at retailers served by Smashwords.

I've just launched a series of 4 romantic short stories called "Leaving Love Behind"
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/140051

So use and abuse as much as you want of the READ AN EBOOK WEEK offer!
Most of my e-books are on promotion this week at 100% OFF!

Free Creative Writing Workshop in the National Gallery

2012-03-07T22:45:00.001-11:00

Art for All Ages Workshop: Creative Writing Workshop

Day:: Wednesday
Date:: 14th March 2012
Start:: 15:00
End:: 16:00

Event type:: Lifelong Learning & Courses
Location:: Atrium - National Gallery - Merrion Square West, Dublin 2.
Admission:: Free

Free workshop, with Kate Dempsey. Meet in the Atrium.
The Art for All Ages programme of events for adults takes place on the second Wednesday of the month from January to November at 3.00pm.
Art for All Ages events are free of charge, and no booking is necessary. All equipment is provided. Meet in the Atrium.
http://www.nationalgallery.ie/en/whatson/Lifelong_Learning/Art_for_All_Ages/March14.aspx

you've just been unloved

2012-03-01T01:24:00.001-11:00

Getting unfollowed.
Either on blog or on twitter.
Has it happened to you?
I think it has happened to me twice or three times since I created my blog.
On twitter, it hasn't happened yet.
But there's a first for everything.
You can't help wonder if it is because you began to s-lack in writing something interesting or if they found your blog by mistake.
So you started to form probable scenarios:
Maybe they followed you by mistake in the first place? Maybe they got a bad day at the office? Maybe they got dumped?
Or maybe it is just you!

It does feel like they're saying:" Sorry dude, got it wrong. Thought you were good, just taking it back cuz your blog in fact suck!"
In other words, you've just been unloved!
If most of us would feel this way about being unfollowed, what does it really mean?
So we are not perfect? We are making mistakes?
So what?
We're only human.
Of course, it would help to know which mistakes we are making. But in reality, how many of us have ever offered feedback when you unsubscribe from a let's say a website?
The truth this world is a free world.
To follow and unfollow as you please without having to justify yourself is one of the greatest advantages that Internet has been able to offer us.
In a world where everything is asking more and more commitment from us, from setting up your electricity bills online to just providing an ID card to get books to your local library, here is a way to hop around the web without having to think twice about it.

Action without consequence.

Or is it without consequence? Have you heard of a story where people got angry at you? Or people got overly sad because of it?

Happy Belated Valentine's Day.

2012-02-22T11:55:00.000-11:00

A little late but here is a little romantic story for you. Happy Valentine's everyone.

Happy....

...Everyone!

"Miss Benton, you were late again this morning!"

The monster was back. Standing in the middle of her office, her boss, Mr Payton had stormed in just as she was getting ready to bring the file to his office.

"Sorry Mr Payton, it's Mac...I told you about him..."

“Miss Benton, is this file ready or not?” he interrupted icily.

She flicked through the last report she had typed for him and gathered them in a file. If he knew how many times she thought about him while typing reports, minute meetings, correspondence and newsletters for him, it would put to shame the most productive dreamer.

A word for a thought. Since she typed fifty words a minute, on a daily basis that would make her think of him…well…way too many times!

“Mrs Benton, I think those pages are well stacked together now!”

“Sorry, I’m a little distracted lately…I suppose it’s because…”

"I'm not paying you to hear your love life, am I? ..." he barked furious.

She gazed at him shocked. Today the monster was at its worst. In fact in the last few weeks, he’d been as irritable as hell. Looking straight into the blue eyes, she wondered how someone could have such clear blue eyes and a temper as dark as he did.

"Mr Payton, I'd like ..." she began.

"Yes, what would you like? I, for a start would like this file..."

Slightly annoyed, she took a deep breath and handed the heavy file to him.

His long elegant fingers clasped around it. Without a smile, without even a thank you, he glared at her.

"And one piece of advice, leave your personal life where it belongs, outside this office!"

How dare he!

His love life was all the fourth floor could speak about and he dared to give her lectures?

She suddenly pulled the file back.

Now it was his turn to be shocked.

“What…”

"Mr Payton…” she cut him, “I'd like to make something very clear. My love life is my own. And if you were as discreet as I am, I with the rest of the staff wouldn't have to put up with half of the gossip which concerns you!"

Mr Payton smiled. When a minute ago he looked furious, her boss seemed now delighted with her reply.

"Ah jealousy at last! it took you some time!” he said gleefully.

"What? You think I'm jealous of those rumours? Of a tyrant who has nothing to do all day than harass people around him!"

"Not people, Miss Benton, just you!"

"You're deliberately harassing me?" she asked her eyes wide.

For the first time, Mr Payton seemed ill at ease. He ran a hand through his black jet hair and let out a loud breath.

"Anything to bring your attention back onto me..." he said deliberately slow.

She watched with fascination the slow movement of his hand and finally caught herself.

"Selfish...you're a manipulative selfish individual and I've just enough of you...! I quit!" She flattened out the file on her desk.

He gave her a startled look.

For a second she felt liberated and victorious. Her eyes flashed as she defied him to do anything about it. Yet the feeling didn't last as a slow smile began to form on his full lips.

"Yet my hands are still empty! The file, Ms Benton!"

"You!! You'll have to get it yourself!"

He crossed his arms full of arrogance.
"If you want a nice reference letter I suggest you hand me this file right now!

Blackmail? He was going to blackmail her if he didn't do as she was told?

To hell with him!

She flung her coat on her shoulders and walked around her desk.

He was watching her every move. His lips thinned.

"So? Do you really want to take the risk of never finding another job? Because I will make it happen!"

She jerked her head up to look at him. Towering over her, he never looked more menacing.

The rest is available for Free on Smashwords.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/136072

I've heard of a fine irish poet and...

2012-02-16T23:03:00.000-11:00

... found he was already dead.

I found out that Michael Hartnett, (1941-1999) was one of the most unusual voices of late twentieth century Irish poetry.

So sadly, it's a little too late to get to know him now.

But not all is lost.
Anyone can get acquainted with him again either by reading his biography on his website or by writing a poem for him.
The Limerick Writers' Centre in association with Limerick County Arts Office are looking for poetry submissions relating to the poet Michael Hartnett for a special publication to be released later this year.

The Limerick tea-boy who worked in the construction industry in London started his love affair with the Irish Language and never let it go.
The Bio ( 3 page long) says about him:
In 1975 Michael published a collection called "A Farewell to English". In this he proposed to stop writing in English and to "court the language of my people" by writing solely in Irish. Nice expression.
At the time this as a very controversial move, which alienated Michael from many literary circles. (fair play to him)
In the early 1980s, alcoholism started to take hold of Michael his writing (ah the joy of being a real writer!) and personal life suffered immensely. In 1984, Michael’s marriage broke down. (ah the joy of being a real writer!! ;-)))

He wrote both in the Irish and English language and was a prolific translator. He also was the first Irish poet to use the Haiku form, a form that is now very popular. We are looking for poems (in Irish or English) that feature, reference or are dedicated to Michael Hartnett. If you have written such a poem and would be interested in having it considered for inclusion please email it to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com with Hartnett in the subject box, together with your biographical details.
http://www.michael-hartnett.com/ for further information on the poet.

You can check the details on Facebook too.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/limerick-writers-centre/call-for-submissions/349395091755297
Good luck and keep on writing.

I met with the Poetry Bus Master Driver and...

2012-02-14T06:42:00.004-11:00

...I was impressed by his humility.

Oh sorry, yes, I don't think I shared the good news with you, (apart from the fact that I got two new followers: Welcome Adhi Das and Perdita, thanks for joining this blog) one of my poems got selected to be part of the prestigious PB!!!
( No PB doesn't stand for the President Budget or Paddle Board) It's the Poetry Bus issue 3.
And it's rather a privilege.
Even the Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter, Roddy Doyle was in it.
The author of the The Commitments (made into a movie in 1991) didn't illuminate the PB3 book launch by showing up but a few others did.

The Poetry Bus started off as a blog which started off as a thread on the website of the Stinging Fly.

The blog's concept was simple.

Every week a poet would drive the bus by writing up a poem.

Soon the blog got quite popular and a first magazine, PB1 was released on the 17November 2010.

Then PB2 soon hit the road and was launched in the Glor Session (International Bar) in Dublin on 22nd Aug 2011.

Adam Neate did the cover for PB2 and I was very impressed to find out that he was a British painter, conceptual artist and one of the best known street artists in the world. He specialises in painting urban art on recycled cardboard, and has left thousands of works in the street for anyone to collect.

And then PB3 came driving full speed thanks to the brilliant master driver Peadar O'Donoghue who funded, promoted and built the Poetry Bus Magazine and CD for the third time.

The legend said there was much weeping, wailing, swearing and pulling out of hair and teeth as he (they) set to the task in a lonely shed in the Wicklow Hills to put this magazine together.

Even though we exchanged emails before the publication of PB3, I had never seen him in person the Master Driver of the Poetry Bus so on the book launch (In the Monday Echo - International Bar) it was a pleasure to meet him in person.
He sounded as enthusiastic in flesh as in his emails.

The cover this time was done by Sally Diamond which is deadly.

There are again an incredible variety of over 60 poets and for the drawings/sketches: Padhraig Nolan, Una Gildea, Crona Gallagher, Kevin McSherry, David Rooney and Elena Duff.

Poetry and illustration, an incredible CD of poems and music, all packaged in hard backed envelope and posted to anywhere in the world for €10.

If anyone wants to buy one copy, they can contact thepoetrybusmag@gmail.com and they are looking for submissions for issue 4.
For More Details:
http://thepoetrybus.blogspot.com/

I met with the Gruffalo and...

2012-02-10T10:25:00.001-11:00

Two weeks ago, I met with the Gruffalo and....I survived. ;-)

It was a bit of big deal.

I mean, the Gruffalo has big yellow eyes, big teeth and big claws and all...
But I plucked up my courage and decided I should meet with it.

The meeting was in the Royal Irish Academy (yes a grand place for a grand monster!)
It was on Monday the 23rd of January 2012 in Dublin, Ireland.

I meant to write about this "Monstery" event for a while and then life took over...you know how it goes.
Anyhow, I wasn't exactly meeting with the Gruffalo but its maker.
Julia Donaldson, English writer and playwright, best known as author of The Gruffalo and other 157 children's books, has sold over 3.5 million copies in 31 editions worldwide with the Gruffalo alone.
The story has been adapted into a 30 min animation movie, which received both an Academy Award^[1] and a BAFTA nomination and is widely popular amongst kids and parents.
It has also been made into a play in the Lyric Theatre in London for the last 5 years and will be touring around UK this year.
So it is safe to say that Julia Donaldson has been a success hence why she has been appointed UK Children's Laureate for 2011 to 2013.

So Julia Donaldson was coming to Ireland to join in conversation with our local Laureate, Siobhan Parkinson, Laureate of na nOg for 2010 to 2012 (Irish Children Laureate)

Siobhan wrote 20 children books & won national awards. She is also an editor and publisher but I let you read more details on wikipedia link I provided.

So we got to hear Julia and Siobhan talk about their public role as children’s laureates and the importance of libraries in schools. Siobhan discussed about the availability of books in native tongue for non-English kids and in English. She also covered the importance of books for visually impaired kids (because she is herself visually impaired).

Julia on the other end, explained of her love of drama and her eagerness to make it accessible for kids.
She studied Drama at the University of Bristol hence why it came naturally for her to write rhyming children stories.
It was rather enlightening.

Naturally the audience was largely female. After the talk, the audience could buy a book and get it signed.
I had watched the animation of the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo's child and I wanted to read something new so I bought a copy of the "Stick Man".
This is her, there signing my book.
As for Siobhan, she was releasing a book called "Bruised", a gritty novel set in contemporary Ireland, about a boy, 14-year-old Jonathan who runs away with his sister after she's been hit by their alcoholic mother.

Then half of the audience crossed the street and walked into the very posh "Cafe en Seine" for a drink.
This was more interesting even! I got to talk to with other writers, artists, illustrators and some of the hard little fairies who worked at the CBI, Children Book Ireland.
All and all a very good day.

Retrospectively and since the conversation between both Laureate was moderated by Dr. Amanda Piesse of Trinity College of Dublin. I did a research on Mrs Amanda Piesse.
I discovered that she has a PH.D in English. Amanda Piesse teaches across a wide range of sixteenth-century literature with a special interest in early Tudor drama and protestant polemic prose. She has a special interest with Shakespeare & literature for Renaissance & children.
I found out this way that she is currently supervising research about Shakespeare and conscience, Shakespeare and madness, Irish writing and the school curriculum for children, Irish history in children's literature and film.
You can't get more specialized and educated than that!

As for Siobhan, I did a research on her and found that she had completed her PhD on the poetry of Dylan Thomas.

This made me wonder about how great can a great writer be? and when was the last time you met with a preminent figure and felt intimidated by it?

Sofas I've slept on...

2012-02-07T11:08:00.001-11:00

Do you feel like a lie in or are you up for a challenge?

Well you can try both!

There's a new writing project kicking.

A website called "Sofas I've slept on" is looking to create an anthology and they are calling for submissions.

Your mission if you accept it is Tell them your story.

What brought you to them, as simple as that; It can be a happy, sad, silly, or moving story but it has to be written in first-person and be family friendly;

They are looking for Submissions from writers of all levels of experience and a published book is their end goal.

Deadline: March 20, 2012

1. Essays must be an original story (unpublished)

2. Essays must be 2,000 words or less

3. A captivating writing style and story

4. One sofa per essay please
http://www.sofasiveslepton.com/Guidelines.html

And yes, I believe it's a free entry. No fees!

A series of unfortunate events

2012-02-03T11:21:00.000-11:00

On a crispy sunny morning, I walked out of home and took my bike happy to meet a blue sky.
It wasn't any morning. It was this morning.
And it was my first day to work.
New job. New day.
Was I a little nervous?
Not overly so. I had been told this "office" had a pretty relaxed atmosphere and from visiting the "office", it seemed that way.
So this morning, I woke up, got ready and hoped that I would catch up the right bus.
Previously, 4 days ago, I had tried to get my head around the journey and timetable of that one bus that will get me to work.
Alas.
Information on Buses in Dublin being as they are, I couldn't figure out what time that bus would arrive at "my bus stop", which journey it would take, how long it would take to get there and which side of the road I should wait for it.
That bus, we will call it, "The Yellow Mystery Blur" or for short, the YMB. The YMB was:

A mystery because I never had to take that bus before and therefore knew nothing about it.

yellow because that's the Dublin Buses for you.

and a blur because when you're on the wrong side of the road and no one is getting on them,these buses pass in front of you like a blur.

So I was hoping that with the right amount of luck and timing and waiting (I was prepared to wait), I shall catch that TYB one way or another, and will figure out which way to go.
Unfortunately this morning, the battery of my alarm clock was flat. Consequently I woke up twenty minutes late.
So when I realised this, I started to speed up my action mode. Despite this, I knew I wouldn't make it so I thought: "Better just take the bike instead!"

It was a beautiful morning so I didn't mind. I got my back pack and stuffed my lunch in it. I put my gloves, hat on and off I went.
Within two minutes, I reached the main road and that's where I saw that damn TYB passing me by!!!
I dropped the bike immediately and ran across the road to stop it. This was my only mean to get information: to ask the driver at what time he usually gets here for the 8 am shift. As I knew I would start earlier next week.
But as I reached the other side of the street, I saw no one was at the bus stop and despite my waving, the bus driver didn't care and drove like a maniac in front of me.
So that was my information gone.
So furious, I cycled up the road and swore at my bad luck and that's when I realised something very cold was touching my right hip.

The weather being sunny, I wasn't sure what was happening so I stopped to check.
And noticed it was raining from my back pack.
I didn't know I was wearing a cloud on my bag!
Or more specifically, in my rush, I had forgotten to snap the top of my bottled water close, hence the rain on the specific region of my hip.
And of course, when I opened my back pack, there was my lunch floating in an enclosed puddle.
So as you can imagine, I wasn't very delighted with myself nor did I had the time to wait that the water seeped through the bag so I had to remove my watery lunch ( and one very wet muffin) on the side of the road and turn my bag upside down.
This created a nice waterfall and for a moment, I laughed at the whole ridiculous situation I was in.
Nevertheless, I got rid of the water, put the remaining of my much heavier lunch and bag and set it on the handlebars because it was still very wet.
But that's not all.
Half way through my twenty five minute journey cycling, the chain of my bike jumped as I changed gear.
I then started to laugh out loud. And decided that this was definitely not my day.
I had to turn the bike upside down ( like the bag) to fix the chain and then mounted the bike once more and hope to God it wouldn't jump again.

It didn't.
Surprisingly and despite all this, I arrived right on time.
But of course that wasn't over.
The girl who was to help me with my training had problems logging to my new p.c and later on to get access to some shared network drives.
The password wouldn't work. And it took half an hour for a technical person to fix these problems over the phone.
In the meantime, I asked to be excused since she didn't need me. And I decided to set things right.
I dried my bag, my lunch, threw half the sponge (I mean the wet muffin) in the bin. I looked at the whole lot and then at the new kitchen office and decided that I liked it.
I felt things were right once more, that the balance of my universe had been reset and the rest of my day went more or less fine after that.
But what a day!

A "fill the gap" writing exercise

2012-02-01T12:20:00.001-11:00

I know. I know. I know.
I haven't put a post up in ages.
The truth is I didn't feel too inspired or too motivated.
I am still not.
But as they say, I'll get back on the horse.
Here is a writing exercise I did a couple of months back with a writing group.
We had to start writing, then pass it on to another writer who had to keep the story going until time run out. It is hard to believe that 3 different people wrote this piece but yet it is the truth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The telescope was small, the moon high.
He gazed up, first getting to the magic of it with his bare eyes. He had been waiting for this moment all his young life.
His father next to him proud to see his son's lifelong dream finally about to come true. All the sweat and hard work saving up all that money, to this moment, a moment of a small boy's dreams, but a moment of happiness.
The boy took a step forward into the shadow of the telescope swallowing him whole, feeling smaller than ever before. Glancing slightly back at his father.
He found focusing the telescope far more difficult that he had anticipated. A fear suddenly gripped him.
"What is the moon?" the boy asked.
Unsure of how to answer the question, his father slumped down on his knees and offered a distraction
"was that a shooting star?"
The boy jumped.
"Where?"
"It's gone now. You have to pay more attention to things!"
"But what is the moon?" the boy asked again.
"What is the moon made of, you mean? Because I can tell you straight up! It's made of cheese!!"his father added with a wink. "Have you not seen Wallace and Gromit?
"Dad, it's not funny! What is the moon?"
"Son, you know the answer to this. You've studied it long and hard enough to know. What you mean is:what if the moon is not what you want it to be?"
The boy looked up to his father and nodded.
"Well, son, you know... You'll always have expectations and they might rise to what you had in mind but then again, they might not. But the one thing is that is certain is you'll never know unless you try!"

So have you done this type of writing exercises before and did you find them fun? successful to your liking?

Visits from the Unknown

2012-01-24T09:51:00.002-11:00

As amazed as I am by the humongous, giant, massive, mammoth-like, colossal, not to mention, gargantuan, pharaonic, stupenduous numbers of replies and marks of interests from people to read my children e-book called "4 Gotthem Place" which no doubt, all children will come to love one day, *coughs*, I must end the incredible one of chance life time opportunity offer to read it for free and move on to another topic on the subject of having been visited by unknown forces.

Still I can hear people crying and having a fit for missing on that great chance, so here just for you, at a bargain price of 0.99cts, the link again to the children e-book which would revolutionize the planet if there was no other children book available. lol.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/124814

So where was I?
Ah yes, I was visited quite a number of times last week.
Well I don't mean "me" exactly, and I don't want to alarm anyone, i haven't been visited by Alien, E.T, predators or any forms of paranormal activities, I mean people visiting my almighty all fantastic-o-quaintilly whimsical blog
Well I don't mean "me" exactly, and I don't want to alarm anyone, i haven't been visited by Alien, E.T or predators either or any paranormal activities, I mean i got visits on my almighty all fantastic-o-quaintilly whimsical blog.

Yet I must say the visits have been weird.
Last week I got visited by laughters, lots of it, or should I say, a website called "justforlaughsgags.tv"
150 laughter's apparently.
I know I can be funny at times but not that funny.

Then I got visited by "googlecorrection". 134 times.
I know my blog is not perfect but hey come on, give me a break!

And last but not least, I was landed with 120 visits from "777seo".
7 is supposed to be my lucky number. So maybe I got lucky...

Unless...
I have another theory.
7 being a heaven number and seo, meaning " Search engine optimization", the only thing that makes sense is that I got searched optimized by GOD!
God came to visit me.
How cool.
Well not that cool, cuz he didn't even leave me a comment.
I think I will write a complaint to God for intentionally ignoring me.

Anyway, enough randomness for one post, do you get a high amount of viewpages out of random sites?
Usually I get what 60 page views a day and in one day I got 415!

I'm looking for reviewers on my children ebook

2012-01-18T04:18:00.000-11:00

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for reviewers on my children' story called "4 Gotthem Place".
Itbe for 8-9 years, girls most likely.
But everyone, big or small is welcome to read it.
The story is quite short. 40 pages. (about 9400 words)

The first TEN persons who come forth on my blog and offer to review it, will be able to read it for FREE!

So anybody OUT THERE, I'd really appreciate if you could read it and give me your opinion on it.

This Cover illustration is temporary as I've been told by Smashwords that it doesn't fit their requirements for their premium catalog.
So I need to find another one soon. Hopefully something or someone will turn up with a great cover for this book. As Some say : "The Universe will provide!"

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/124814
This offer is valid until Sunday the 22nd of January 2012 midnight UK TIME!!
I look forward to your feedback and in the meantime happy reading and writing everyone! Whatever you read. Whoever you read.
L.A Speedwing

Part One - The Art of Building Character

2012-01-15T05:39:00.000-11:00

Based on a two-day "writing for kids" workshop I did with writer Oisin McGann, I thought I should share what I learned with you.
I must apologize if this post sounds a bit messy or broken up but since we receive no handouts, i had to write everything down and my pen had difficulties following up with his speed of speech.

Because it was a quite dense two day course, filled with information, I decided to divide it into three posts.
The first part can be summed up to the Art of Building Character. The next part I will write in the next 2 weeks or so, so Keep Tuned!

Oisin started his course by mentioning to us the rule of the 3 P’s :
People,
Place,
Problem.

Place and people are always intertwined and those 2 often lead to the problem in the story.

A Person outside his or her element would act and have to think differently.

Ex: an English speaker in the middle of China.

Ex:: an alcoholic in the desert.

How would your character deal with this situation?

That’s how a story becomes interesting.

When it comes to write for children, it’s the same idea.

A problem (much simpler) arises and the character needs to solve it.

Ex: the Owl babies by Martin Waddell

Mummy Owl goes away.

Any child can relate to their mother having to go away. The key is to keep in mind the needs of your audience: what you are trying to achieve and the questions you want them to answer.

For example children or babies do not have the notion of the passage of time and this is something you need to be aware of, in order to make your story relevant to them.

Where is Mummy? When will she be back?

Empathy is very important.

You need to make your audience care for your character.

The question you must ask yourself as a writer is:

What happens next?

To make a story work, you must make the reader want to keep on reading so he or she wants to answer this question.

A)How to find a character?

Often writers have difficulties to find a character and to come up with one can be a daunting task.

So the best way to do this is to demonstrate who they are and how they think.

Exercise1 : describe the character out of a film without telling the name of the hero/film/actor’s name.

Ex: He has a hat that he never parts with. A whip he carries around. He’s brave but not recklessly brave. He teaches archaeology part time and he often seems absent minded because he often thinks of an artefact.

Try this yourself.

This exercise should also be applied in writing.

A character should be like an actor, well defined and easy to describe.

When or if you do this exercise with kids, kids usually are much better at it because their description are simpler and to the point.

Ex: He’s yellow, has a belly and drinks beer.

Homer Simpsons.

Ex: He’s yellow, square and lives under the sea.
SpongeBob SquarePants.

Often the purpose of the character will dictate what they are.

Like a detective: A detective will usually be clever, educated, inquisitive, not very well dressed, ect…

B)How to make a character interesting?

1)Give him or her an edge.

Ex: a policeman who has a drinking problem

Ex: a pianist with a broken finger.
Ex: a dog with no sense of smell.

2) choose negative qualities for your character that turns out to have a positive effect on others.

Stephen King did this a lot.

He would make his audience care for a murderer and you would feel sympathetic because he cared for his wife and child.

3) Or pick a positive quality which is in fact annoying.

Like a humorous man who always say sexist jokes, or an honest person who’s a goody two -shoes.

C)How to give depth to your character?

To give a character real depth, the quality of a writer is to let the reader see how good or bad he is by showing how he acts rather than how he thinks.

When writing about a hero, don't tell us that John don’t know whether he should save Sally or Marie from the fire ; show us that he runs to Marie and drags her out with him then goes to Sally to wake her up .

Anyone who’s ever written a short story or taken a writing course has heard the words “show, don’t tell.”

While “telling” can be useful, even necessary, most people don’t realize how effective the “showing” part is. It allows the reader to really put himself or herself in the shoes of the hero/heroine. Basically it makes your character believable and sympathetic to your audience.

How to do so:

1)Use dialogue rather than plain description

2)Use sensory language

3)Use verbs instead of adverbs.

4)Describe their interests, hobbies,ect…

5)Be specific instead of vague:

Details of people’s lives make a story real.

Ex: Instead of saying: “he dislikes when his mash potato is mixed with peas on his plate”

Say: he started to pick the peas individually out of his mash potato.

As usual I don't bite so feel free to leave a comment....