It is indeed blog-day, but due to the impending arrival of my parents I shall not be posting today. This week has been so totally consumed with “house” paraphernalia and the foolish move of using Excel (2007 no less! Useless!) to create architectural style drawings. It has been trying.
So I will spiel and spill all, come Sunday. Watch this space as I’m going to verbal-vomit the distractions that will inevitably take my eyes from the prize over the course of the house build. Perhaps I could turn the experience into a short novella.
Just a “Pause for Thought” moment – if ITV were to merge with the other terrestrial channels and were also to receive a portion of the license fee, would that not ridicule the whole notion of a commercially-independent broadcaster, paid for by the people? I know it is questionable whether the BBC is particularly unbiased (Hutton Report, Palestinian Aid, etc.) but along with ABC, they're the best this planet has.
If you do want something to look at in my absence, check out my motivated and sometimes terrifyingly focused friend’s exploits in Palestine.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Thursday, 19 February 2009
From the "why?" to the "what?"
Last week I was prattling on about trying to find a motivation for writing. After digesting my thoughts, I have come to the pretty obvious conclusion that the ideal solution is a comfortable balance of effort and fulfilment. Revelation, I know. Still, the mind does tend to wander, and now I’m admitting to myself that writing is the way to go, I have now found something new to beat myself up about.
That something is knowing exactly what I want to write. Not the specific content, but something David O’Doherty said last week was particularly poignant. He plays on his self-diagnosed low self-esteem, and at one point he remarked how he felt he had no area of expertise. Why exactly would someone choose you for their phone-a-friend? [Go and see Slumdog by the way, it is as good as the hype.]
So what am I to write? Copy is a good place to start, but I don’t want to get bogged down in the construction industry. Just because this is my experience, it doesn’t have to prevail. Not every supposed historical novel has to be written by a historian (see that bestselling travesty The Da Vinci Code). Science fiction is as the genre suggests - it doesn’t require a scientist. So I’ll stick to my mantra of the challenge/gratification balance and just write.
To this end, I have entered a competition in Writing Magazine (I told you I was a writer). The prize is a copy of Fred White’s The Daily Writer, which I think I’d like to own anyway. All I have to do is describe my kitchen in 200 words. It caused unadulterated satisfaction:
Forty years prior, someone stands here and sees the potential of ultramarine. They see the beauty and energy in modern design. Louver doors are all the rage and polystyrene ceiling tiles really make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
Fast-forward four decades and I stand here and see the vomit-inducing ultramarine. Faded and conspicuously discoloured by years of fried food, the colours hang as heavy as the redecoration apprehension. I see the beauty and energy in modern design. Shaker doors are all the rage and clean white lines really make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
Forty years hence, someone will stand here and see the vomit-inducing white lines and shaker cabinets. They see the beauty in energy and modern design. Who knows what will be all the rage and what might make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
I really must sort out that ultramarine.
It has been pretty quiet on the vocational front this week. That elusive $25 will be mine.
Quick afterthought – The Times Online has just published a story with this title – “Judges award Abu Qatada £2,500 compensation for 'unfair' detention”. May I ask exactly why they have used quotation marks? Are they disputing the ruling of the courts? What is strangley missing from the media dialogue on this issue is that no one is questioning the legitimacy and implementation of the 2006 Terrorism Act. The same act that was used against the poor Icelanders. Come back, our North Atlantic friends! Some of us still love you!
That something is knowing exactly what I want to write. Not the specific content, but something David O’Doherty said last week was particularly poignant. He plays on his self-diagnosed low self-esteem, and at one point he remarked how he felt he had no area of expertise. Why exactly would someone choose you for their phone-a-friend? [Go and see Slumdog by the way, it is as good as the hype.]
So what am I to write? Copy is a good place to start, but I don’t want to get bogged down in the construction industry. Just because this is my experience, it doesn’t have to prevail. Not every supposed historical novel has to be written by a historian (see that bestselling travesty The Da Vinci Code). Science fiction is as the genre suggests - it doesn’t require a scientist. So I’ll stick to my mantra of the challenge/gratification balance and just write.
To this end, I have entered a competition in Writing Magazine (I told you I was a writer). The prize is a copy of Fred White’s The Daily Writer, which I think I’d like to own anyway. All I have to do is describe my kitchen in 200 words. It caused unadulterated satisfaction:
Forty years prior, someone stands here and sees the potential of ultramarine. They see the beauty and energy in modern design. Louver doors are all the rage and polystyrene ceiling tiles really make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
Fast-forward four decades and I stand here and see the vomit-inducing ultramarine. Faded and conspicuously discoloured by years of fried food, the colours hang as heavy as the redecoration apprehension. I see the beauty and energy in modern design. Shaker doors are all the rage and clean white lines really make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
Forty years hence, someone will stand here and see the vomit-inducing white lines and shaker cabinets. They see the beauty in energy and modern design. Who knows what will be all the rage and what might make a statement about the owner. The kitchen is the hub of the home and that hub is ready to receive a family.
I really must sort out that ultramarine.
It has been pretty quiet on the vocational front this week. That elusive $25 will be mine.
Quick afterthought – The Times Online has just published a story with this title – “Judges award Abu Qatada £2,500 compensation for 'unfair' detention”. May I ask exactly why they have used quotation marks? Are they disputing the ruling of the courts? What is strangley missing from the media dialogue on this issue is that no one is questioning the legitimacy and implementation of the 2006 Terrorism Act. The same act that was used against the poor Icelanders. Come back, our North Atlantic friends! Some of us still love you!
Friday, 13 February 2009
Peace or Predetermination?
Firstly, I have to apologise. I wax lyrical about the importance of determination and belief and there I go, missing out on my self-imposed weekly deadline for the blog. Bear with me though, as I think it was completely reasonable that at the last minute I decided to go to see David O’Doherty at the Gulbenkian Theatre. This is why:
There we are. Justified.
Also, when he picked me from the audience to question my profession, I responded with “writer”. My heart was thumping, but I made my public confession.
I have made some genuine progress on the first week of my grand and scary adventure. I reached a psychological milestone by completing my very first paid assignment. I will admit that it was only for two automated e-mails provided by the good people at Dinner Select, however I am now the proud recipient of $25 for my troubles. I timed myself and I have renewed confidence that this ambition is a real possibility, nay a potential reality.
This led me on to question my reasoning for pursuing this venture. I want greater clarity on what motivates an individual to become successful in their chosen field and I'm unsure as to whether I’m pursuing this writing career to challenge or pacify my hyperactive mind. I certainly know that when I’m writing it’s my true focus. There is nothing in life that I have found that engages and satisfies as much as seeing the prose take shape. My mind works hard, but I feel relaxed.
You might see Wayne Rooney play football and it seems effortless, yet the synapses are undoubtedly in overload. But does that mean that Wayne Rooney has any less motivation than say, Brian Haw? Initially I believed that I should be bitter at people that had natural talent, why else would F1 drivers chose dull, pedestrian cars in their “normal” lives? Those that didn’t posses this mystical super-ability could only really become triumphant by intense, old—fashioned determinism. But then even this can have its undoing.
Gordon Ramsey and Anthony Worrell Thompson’s latest misadventures seemed to help me come to a conclusion that for my atonement I wished to achieve equilibrium between an easy life and the pleasure of a challenge. It now seems pretty obvious to say that the joy in life is in both the process and the result of the pursuit of ones desires.
My wife has recently observed that it seemed that the most excessive individuals had a bad childhood. Perhaps this is their undoing – Michael Jackson, Gordon Ramsey, Tom Cruise, Paul Gadd, etc. They all just seem to take life that little bit too far. I think I’ll be happy with equanimity (thank you Mum and Dad).
Right, I’m going to spend the next couple of hours trawling for another $25.
There we are. Justified.
Also, when he picked me from the audience to question my profession, I responded with “writer”. My heart was thumping, but I made my public confession.
I have made some genuine progress on the first week of my grand and scary adventure. I reached a psychological milestone by completing my very first paid assignment. I will admit that it was only for two automated e-mails provided by the good people at Dinner Select, however I am now the proud recipient of $25 for my troubles. I timed myself and I have renewed confidence that this ambition is a real possibility, nay a potential reality.
This led me on to question my reasoning for pursuing this venture. I want greater clarity on what motivates an individual to become successful in their chosen field and I'm unsure as to whether I’m pursuing this writing career to challenge or pacify my hyperactive mind. I certainly know that when I’m writing it’s my true focus. There is nothing in life that I have found that engages and satisfies as much as seeing the prose take shape. My mind works hard, but I feel relaxed.
You might see Wayne Rooney play football and it seems effortless, yet the synapses are undoubtedly in overload. But does that mean that Wayne Rooney has any less motivation than say, Brian Haw? Initially I believed that I should be bitter at people that had natural talent, why else would F1 drivers chose dull, pedestrian cars in their “normal” lives? Those that didn’t posses this mystical super-ability could only really become triumphant by intense, old—fashioned determinism. But then even this can have its undoing.
Gordon Ramsey and Anthony Worrell Thompson’s latest misadventures seemed to help me come to a conclusion that for my atonement I wished to achieve equilibrium between an easy life and the pleasure of a challenge. It now seems pretty obvious to say that the joy in life is in both the process and the result of the pursuit of ones desires.
My wife has recently observed that it seemed that the most excessive individuals had a bad childhood. Perhaps this is their undoing – Michael Jackson, Gordon Ramsey, Tom Cruise, Paul Gadd, etc. They all just seem to take life that little bit too far. I think I’ll be happy with equanimity (thank you Mum and Dad).
Right, I’m going to spend the next couple of hours trawling for another $25.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
New Beginnings
Hello World.
By typing these two words I have taken the first monumental step toward the pursuit of passion in my life. Lord Byron once said: “Passion is the element in which we live; without it, we hardly vegetate.” I must ask this question, albeit rhetorically – could you find joy in the promotion of products for a construction materials corporation?
No. Me neither. Firstly I have a house to build. Next, it’s the question as to whether we can afford to shake off my accidental security blanket and continue to live in this astonishing and inspirational place, or if it’s back to the bottom rung to try and begin to steer life in a more fulfilling direction. Either way I intend to document it right here. This is my self-flagellation, the whip in which to lash some sense of motivation out of this otherwise apathetic being.
It seems like everyone is able to push their life in some sort of reasonable direction by either having known from an early age exactly what they wanted, or simply having the confidence to not only pursue their dreams, but to know that they are genuinely good at what they do. I am slowly willing myself toward changing my mindset. When someone asks me what I do, I’m no longer a marketing manager for construction materials, I am a writer. I am a writer.
So if it interests or pleases anyone to witness how I attempt to release myself from this unintentional detritus, please join me on this journey to launch myself as a freelance copywriter. I will document new works as well as my learning along the way. Top this off with a light dusting of fun and brain-sick and you get me. I’m currently terrified, but I am a writer. I’m going to get there.
By typing these two words I have taken the first monumental step toward the pursuit of passion in my life. Lord Byron once said: “Passion is the element in which we live; without it, we hardly vegetate.” I must ask this question, albeit rhetorically – could you find joy in the promotion of products for a construction materials corporation?
No. Me neither. Firstly I have a house to build. Next, it’s the question as to whether we can afford to shake off my accidental security blanket and continue to live in this astonishing and inspirational place, or if it’s back to the bottom rung to try and begin to steer life in a more fulfilling direction. Either way I intend to document it right here. This is my self-flagellation, the whip in which to lash some sense of motivation out of this otherwise apathetic being.
It seems like everyone is able to push their life in some sort of reasonable direction by either having known from an early age exactly what they wanted, or simply having the confidence to not only pursue their dreams, but to know that they are genuinely good at what they do. I am slowly willing myself toward changing my mindset. When someone asks me what I do, I’m no longer a marketing manager for construction materials, I am a writer. I am a writer.
So if it interests or pleases anyone to witness how I attempt to release myself from this unintentional detritus, please join me on this journey to launch myself as a freelance copywriter. I will document new works as well as my learning along the way. Top this off with a light dusting of fun and brain-sick and you get me. I’m currently terrified, but I am a writer. I’m going to get there.
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