Monday afternoon waffle!

A few weeks ago I had a rant against the world, largely due to what I thought was an injustice, someone who was likely to be denied the opportunity to improve their English because of the horrifically low level of salary they were getting. In the end the individual and I agree to my solution to the problem, which was happily accepted by the individual in question. Yet here we are three weeks later, only one lesson taken and appointments continually missed by the said individual. I've done what I hate doing and withdrawn my offer of help.

Of course it saddens me that no matter how hard you personally try to make a tiny part of life more accessible and enlightening for others, you still get your butt kicked for the effort. Not particularly thinking about this particular story, I wrote yesterday '...it's very peculiar that humans love to be around success, but only the rare one helps someone actually achieve it.' I've taken this out of context, but it remains all too true regardless of the context. Such a thought makes you question your own particular responses to other events in your life, and think about the times you've been a cussing SOB when someone has offered their hand out in friendship and you've refused because of a stubborn streak of pride. I suppose it all comes down to swings and roundabouts, and history having a very uncanny knack for repeating itself. But I remain sad because I wasn't able to help someone, even though I have the knowledge and passion to open the door a little further.


I was talking to my son this morning, waffling as we do in our normally relaxed manner, bouncing ideas off each other with regard to his business and my own future plans. At the moment I've come up with an idea that has some 'legs' to it, and in time will enable me to move in a direction that I'm excited about. At this stage it's just an idea, although most of the things needed are already to hand and in place; that is apart from a particular piece of technology, the 'right camera'. Now I realise that minds will be going ten to the dozen and no doubt full of smutty innuendo when I say 'camera'; shame on you! Nothing could be further from the truth, but needless to say the 'right camera' is a must for the idea to come to fruition.


I've spent hours doing the necessary research on the Internet and I'm no further forward than when I started out, well that's not strictly true because one of the things I have discovered, and please feel free to correct me, is that it is virtually impossible to hook up an HD camcorder to either a pc or mac, and use it as a webcam. Use a webcam, no problem, well apart from the poor colour, the awful streamed picture, the lack of autofocus or variable focus, the lack of a wideangle lens, no aperture control, poor mic, and so on; all of which is easily accomplished with an HD camcorder. I'd be grateful if anyone reading this, who is technically superior to my poor self, can leave a comment on how to achieve the impossible. Sadly it seems, based on this particular experience, there is a massive gap in camcorder technology that needs to be filled, post haste! As always, my books can be found to the right hand side of this blog, along with my very first short film, which has recieved a few comments already. When watching the film, you can find it on the right hand side, just remember that it's an experiment and wonderfully reflects my own surreal thinking, which according to a couple of comments lost them in what I was trying to say; another comment wondered if the film was about a pink sky. How true it is you have to suffer for your art!


Finally, thank you to 'Almost Precious' for adding her comments, always nice to hear from fellow bloggers. If you've got a few minutes go to her blog and check out her handmade jewellery, scrumptious might be an apt word to describe her wares.

A mixture of a week

Monday is such a boring day, not really helped by a mind that's gone on strike and is now being stubborn, won't negotiate and is heading for another 'winter of discontent'.

Yesterday was a sad day, one of the greatest literary influences of my younger days, Alan Sillitoe, passed away.  It seems that most of the people that I grew up admiring in one way or another, are disappearing and moving on to the after life.  Such events, perfectly natural ones in the great scheme of things, simply bring home the nature of human mortality and time to do all the things you want, growing evermore limited as the days pass by.  It makes you think.

Of course life wouldn't be life without its little episodes, such as my bed collapsing at 2.30am last Thursday.  Needless to say I awoke with a brutal start, on top of the mattress which had imploded into the centre of the bed frame.  Such times are very trying, particularly when you're full of cold and the last thing you need is to be strangled by the continental quilt.  Being English, and having recovered my composure, along with making a very drowsy note never to buy another bed from MOMA, you should never trust MOMA, the best solution to a sudden crisis is go and make a cup of tea.  An hour later I'm back in the land of nod, comfortably lay on the IKEA sofa, happily dreaming of making....the bed.

I've no real desire to keep moaning on about my dose of the flu, but having started repairing the bed on Friday, and managing to finish yesterday, Sunday, progress was drearily slow and tedious due to copious amounts of perspiration cascading from the body beautiful.  I have to begrudgingly agree that causing the bod to sweat was no bad thing at the end of the day.  This morning I awoke feeling much better, at least the coughing has stopped for the moment, which is always preferable in the cold light of day.  Despite this the sleep was a bit haphazard last night, mostly waking every hour to check that the bed hadn't collapsed again, and I hadn't disappeared up my own bottom.  I'm happy to report that my repair job was magnificently done and eventually I had a better night's sleep than I first anticipated.  It was somehow pleasurable to get up at 6am, listening to the birds outside chirping away; I'm pretty sure that they were complaining at the falling rain, which was preventing them from making love to their partners in crime.  It was surprising how much noise male German birds make at 6am, and even more surprising how masculine their chirps sounded.

As you're all well aware by now, unless you're a first time visitor to this blog and then you won't know but welcome anyway, it's always to good to have new fans, my novel 'Nick & Jenny' has been published and even though I say it myself, a damn fine read.  Ok, I know that might sound a tad on the biased side, but what do you expect when I'm head of marketing and publicity, and also the author to boot.  Anyway, the point is that it's come to my attention that people are waiting for the paperback version, before buying.  Now I know that's a nice thought, and I thank those in question for thinking in such a wonderful way, but the news is that there are no immediate plans to publish in paperback form.  Yes, it will happen in the future, but for now it will only remain on sale in e-book form.  I know to some of you this is a bit annoying, and it's not my intention to annoy my small but growing readership, but there's not enough time in the day to do everything I want to. 

At the moment my time is taken up with trying to publicise the e-book, trying to put together an audiobook, setting up a small company and numerous other things; so I simply don't have time to search for a publisher to print the paperback and offer it at a reasonable price.  In addition to this, I'm also aiming to publish my second novel, 'Danny's navel adventure', in June or July time, again in e-book form.  One of the reasons for concentrating on the e-book form is because it's a growing market and growing much faster than the paperbook market, which according to reports is beginning to decline.  As a first time novelist, who's responsible for their own publicity and marketing I need to concentrate on one particular segment of the market.  I will admit that I'm on a very steep learning curve, and I feel like a whale out of water, thrashing around trying to get back on course, but one of the things I can do is ask you to let people know the book is out there.  I'm not asking people to buy the book immediately, although thanks if you do, but download the free sample so you can get a 'taste' of the book.


I know that I've gone on a bit, but sadly that's part of being a salesman, something which is utterly foreign to me; how I suffer for my art!  Having got that out of the way there's more good news.  I've been asked to be a guest blogger and write about a subject close to my heart, you'll find out more by visiting http://completelymentalblog.blogspot
and I would ask you to take a little time out to read it and even subscribe to it.  As blogs go you can also visit my new occasional blog  http://tonibryan.wordpress.com which is going to become more focused on my creative side.  As with both of my blogs please subscribe to them if you're a regular reader, or even a new one!

Finally, congratulations go out to that dear, lovable rogue of an Austrian, sorry German, friend of mine and others, dearly missed but who remains nameless, I didn't want to name you Stefan just in case you became embarrassed but that's between us, don't worry only you and I read my blog so it's not an issue, he's become a permanent US resident and got his 'Green card', brilliant news it has to be said, whichever way you want to view it....just joking matey!