Why Blog?
Since this is the first entry in my brand new blog, I’d like to say hello. As for ‘Why Blog?’ it’s because I like to write and I like people. Those qualities came together with Facebook where I discovered I have a unique voice (doesn’t everyone?) and I can tell a good story. Before that I hadn’t written anything since I left school 40 years previous. Except letters, to lovers.
I wanted to harness this new world of communication in a creative way so I started telling stories, linked to a theme and posting as I went. Those stories collectively became the book – Kala Bear Wars. I’m now doing KBW Book 2 the same way, writing without a plan and posting before doubt can set in. It’s a great way to practice, to loosen up, because it’s done purely for fun. Friends join in the ongoing Kala Bear Wars story, adding comments and ideas. Some of those friends have become characters themselves in the KBW world.
Writing in this way I learned to trust the muse, using the same disciplines I apply to meditation, by deliberately keeping the KBW space in my head clear until I actually sit down to write. If I catch myself day dreaming story lines I stop and let it go. This may seem counter intuitive. Isn’t it better to encourage the imagination? Well, yes and no. With the KBW project I’m cultivating a different kind of partnership between conscious and subconscious elements of the psyche, allowing the creative process to continue below the surface without the need for top down directives. It’s working. I trust now that each new episode will be ready when I dip into the well. I’ve observed through my meditation practice that thinking is largely tape loops anyway, going over and over ideas that form unconsciously. Using the KBW method, of deliberately keeping out of the way, I find that stories arrive in surprising detail with twists and turns that hadn’t occurred to me until I actually sat down to write. After all, as we can see with our dreams, the subconscious is the real story maker. It cares little for structure though, so that’s the job of the conscious half of the partnership. Once a story is down, then the writer can apply his/her art to make it flow, make it sing. Around 100 episodes into the Kala Bear Wars story I realised I had a book. I added a couple of chapters for back story and development, did some editing, and ipso facto … Book 1.
Turns out though, that was the easy bit. When it comes to publishing I soon realised I didn’t have a clue. Writing is an industry like any other, regulated, with right paths and wrong, doors open and closed. Just as I undertook an apprenticeship, 4 years training to become a Painter and Decorator, so too do writers undertake training at colleges and universities to learn their craft. Sure I can tell a story, I’ve got the hang of basic grammar, structure and development, I made a book. Now what?
The following is lifted from a creative writing course curriculum.
:Techniques for selling your writing – including where and how to find markets and analysis of the markets.
:Presenting your work – including layout, cover sheets, submitting your work electronically and query letters to editors.
:Legal considerations – including libel, copyright, plagiarism.
:Considering whether you need an agent and how to get one.
Gosh. 😮
So I’ve written a book. I think some folks would buy and enjoy it. Now how the heck do I get from my computer to the reader who pays to read? How the heck will anyone even know it exists, let alone buy it?
Then I heard about self publication and self promotion, new ways to take control and bypass the traditional system. Oh great, that’s for me. How do I do that then? Do I build a profile first? Like, with a blog? How do I make a blog? Should I submit stories to magazines? How do I submit stories to magazines? How do I make an ebook? How do I sell an ebook? Do I need a license to be a writer?
Phew. Thank gosh for google. I’m there most days now, learning all this stuff. Though in many ways the overload of information has just added to the confusion. I left school at age 16. Never been to University, or done any sort of writing course. (I’m sure a real writer wouldn’t say “or done any”.) Every writer I know has studied something. If not creative writing directly then at least some higher education where they have learnt how to write an essay, submit a paper, discipline the brain. As a story-teller, my education in the rough and tumble real world is completely valid, and as a story-teller I don’t feel less than an educated writer. But story telling is not enough. If you want to make and sell a book you must progress through the publishing maze, and there’s no escaping the benefits of a higher education in this. I’m struggling to even find the doors let alone open them. Hell, at 64 I can barely use a computer.
A little story about all this. As part of my research into how the world of writing works, I joined my first writing group. I put ‘Creative Writing’ into a Facebook search and clicked on the first suggestion. It was an open public group based in an American university. Hoping some of the knowledge might rub off on me, I joined. Once I’d gained a feel for the group I kicked off a topic: Is a higher education a necessary prerequisite for publishing? I asked, for instance, “could an old house painter living in the Australian bush ever get a foot in the door” and added one of my stories about a dog as an example of this old fellas folksy story telling.
The topic rattled around, with ‘likes’ and comment, but it was all a bit confusing. People were suggesting I take this course or that, or attend this lecture or that reading by such n such. Huh? Why make suggestions relating to an American University when I’ve already said I’m a house painter living in the Australian bush? One person congratulated me on the creative way I’d raised the topic and that’s when the penny dropped. Aha! Evidently I’d been unclear in my original post and these folks, used to talking to each other, had assumed I was either a student or a prospective one.
Then a sharp-eyed administrator stepped in with:“Neil, this is a forum set up for the use of the ….. State University’s Creative Writing Department.” Oh.
OH!
I see, Public Group so you can get attention, but Private Group if a pleb tries to join in. If you want privacy then make it a private group like everyone else does you elitist wanker.
Of course I never said any of that.
I did like the style of one group member, a nice guy, so we friended and I messaged him about my confusion. He confirmed what I’d surmised. He too had assumed that I was new to the uni, and that the “old house painter living in the Australian bush” was a construct, a device I had used to kick off a discussion about publishing.
Oh My Gosh, I’m a character.
Anyway, I accepted the administrators discouragement, took down my post and left the group. I’ve since found other excellent non academic writer groups which are open and helpful. I’ve found a whole world of writers; educated and not, published and not; who understand and support each other as a community.
So, without some kind of training in the system, how does a writer reach an audience? Assuming you want to reach an audience. I certainly do. Here’s three things I’ve distilled from the mass of googled advice. Write a book, get yourself a web site, develop a blog presence. The first bit, writing a book, was the fun part. I now see myself as a writer and I’m working on building up the supports for that. My brother has the computer skills I woefully lack, so he built the excellent Kala Bear Wars web page. And now I’ve added ‘Neil’s Blog’ to that web address.
My aim with this blog is to expand my repertoire of stories, and to share my non fiction themes. I have a deep interest in Buddhism, meditation and the spiritual life in general. I’ve had much experience with addiction and working with other addicts. I take an active interest in women’s and LGBT issues, as with all issues of injustice. I’m a lover of all creative arts, which includes a fascination with science.
If I have a style it is respectful and friendly, but I’m also quite willing to confront issues when there’s a point, and to take on bigots if I think it will help. If it doesn’t help then I’ve got better things to do than argue. All of the above themes will be explored in Neil’s Blog and I invite feedback any time anyone wants to join in.
So that’s my introduction.
I am pleased to meet you, and look forward to seeing where we go from here.
Neil.
