Save St John’s

Reading this reminded me that I really ought to have mentioned this on here before now. It should go without saying that I do not support the closing of schools. Without going into things too much, I’ve worked with both and they are both Very Good. And I would hope that these council bods would care about (or at least consider) the safety of the children as they journey to and from school.

(And I would be extremely disappointed if the school was closed so its land could be sold.)

Congratulations!

Huge congrats to my writewords pal Oonah V Joslin for winning the MicroHorror Drabble competition, for her piece Autumn Fruit which I loved. Well deserved. And I’ll tell you what else is cool – she got a trophy for it. In the shape of a gravestone. Bloomin’ brilliant. Well done Oonah and well done MicroHorror.


You can see Oonah’s work, including her winning piece, here (adults only please).

Us Jealous Writers

I felt I should post something on this after reading Welshcake’s blog earlier. I don’t know the ins and outs of the situation she’s referring to (and don’t want to either) but here are the basics:

Writer gets fab deal. Fellow writer from one writers’ website or another gets jealous and makes snide comments about said success.

Which is silly really.

Why?

Allow me to put forward my answer.

Writers get jealous. They are naturally envious creatures. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. It is natural. Totally.

I’ve been doing this long enough to be familiar with envy (sometimes called admiration, other times not). I’ve thought, often, they write so much better than I do, I’ll never be that good, wow I wish I was getting that deal, selling that many books, getting my book reviewed there, jetting off here, giving a talk there. Etc. And I’ve thought how come they’ve got a deal etc etc, they’re no better than me! I have.

But I wouldn’t begrudge anyone success. It is an incredibly difficult industry to break in to and to stay in. It’s extremely difficult to earn a decent living from.

So the fact that someone’s good enough and has worked hard enough to get somewhere, I reckon, should be met with professional decency, admiration and respect. Even if what they write, or have written, isn’t your cup of tea. We’re all in similar boats. And if we want to get better or bigger or whatever we just need to work harder and stick at it. That’s a better course of action than looking (and/or being) bitter, is it not?

***

And the other point that’s come out of this is the record of what you’ve said. What you put on the web could stay there for years. And it would, naturally, have the potential to come back and bite you on the bottom. So, thinking about what you write, what you’ll put your name to and potentially be associated with for a long, long time, is important I think.

This speech (it’s in PDF doc.) by screenwriter John August is marvellous reading on the subject.

As Promised …

a picture of Leading The Dance’s cover (as mentioned below and here).


***
And I’m still with my head down, writing, writing, writing. Trying not to think about having to go for a blood test tomorrow and not eating for twelve hours before.
Writers shouldn’t have to have blood tests. They should have to take spelling tests or something more suited to their disposition.

Being Funny

I don’t think I’m a particularly funny person. I’m certainly not very good at writing comedy. But I keep laughing to myself when I remember what I said in a conversation a couple of weeks ago. It, I think, is funny; it was not my intention.

Person: Hi, Nik. Happy new year.
Me: Happy new year. Did you have a good Christmas?
Person: Not that great. I had that stomach bug that’s been going round. What about you?
Me: No, I’ve not had it. I’ve been fine.
Person (smiling sympathetically) : Your Christmas?

***

(I should add that I thought my little joke to Doc over the weekend about not banking on the circus to finish on time because it was run by a bunch of clowns was a good one. For me at least. Hmm. Probably just me.)