I've just finished a late breakfast, well it is Saturday morning, and I'm feeling rather silly for no other reason it takes my mind off the very sore butt I'm now squashing into the office chair. Yes, you read correctly, Toni's vast acreage is suffering from a very naughty attack by an unknown, but large, source of fetish desire.
I dare say you've now got your mind buried deep in some god awful cesspit, containing the leftovers of....no, I refuse to go there...I'm not joining you...I'm staying here, in the chair, feeling sorry for my poor, badly abused bottom. Please have a little sympathy for my bum, after all it's the result of the dickheads, who think it's funny to make me bend over, double up, in some sort of frenzy of ribaldry. God I'm suffering this morning!
My guess, at this point in time, is that you're sitting there, lying there, or whatever position you find yourself in, thinking that I've come out of the closet, some thinking finally, and I'm now mincing around like a born again smoker, high on nicotine for the first time in twenty years; and like all born again wannabees, is making whoopee at discovering freedom from sin makes you a happy, and unconfused, chappie.
Sadly, for those inclined to always think the worst of people, especially me, I started my exercise regime this morning and my bottom is suffering from too much clenching and thrusting. I'm not sure how much more my poor derriere can take. I think I'm going through another mid-life crisis!
An individual stroll through life, often taking an amusing view, or sometimes a little more serious one, depending on the mood.
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
An author's thoughts
Think about all those books sitting on your bookshelves, bookcases, scattered around the home, used as an ornament on the coffee table and so on. Now look at them, the titles, the cover design, the size, the name of the publishing house or group. Now look who wrote each book, look at their name, their photo, their gender, perhaps even their age. Ask yourself if you personally know them.
You see I've mentioned this because it doesn't matter about many of those things, all that really matters is that each individual author started in exactly the same way. All authors have the same motivating forces to complete the book you bought, it starts with an idea. Every author will tell you that they've started many ideas but never seen them through to a final conclusion, the finished book. Many authors will tell you that they will have spent months, perhaps years, writing a book only to abandon it before the end, or having got to the end dump it without much thought because it didn't fit in with their intended thought processes.
Yet for all the work and hours, days, months, and years the author dedicates to the craft of writing, that author needs three things to achieve the finished book. First, the ability to see an idea grow, prosper and blossom over an often long period of time. Second, a form of dedication that few are able to master successfully. Third, that having written the book the courage to stand by the personal belief displayed in their writing, and that often takes a lot of courage. My long departed dad, a magnificent individual, and greatly missed, said that there are two kinds of individuals who do a particular thing, those that do it for love and those that do it for money. In his eyes the former demanded the highest respect, the latter would remain largely unfulfilled and unhappy; who am I to argue with a sentiment that I follow religiously and know that I am likely to enter the next world financially underwhelmed.
Yet the one joy that being a poor struggling author does bring me, is the reaffirmation of the world as I perceive it to be, and then having the means at hand to question, whether through fiction or comedy, and to speak out against the things I personally find troubling. It's no great accident that my female characters tend to be the strong ones and the male species less so. But at the end of the day do my tomes, lovely word, accomplish anything? Well I'd hope, if nothing else, that they stir up either a positive response or a negative one but first you have to read them before you can find out.
I keep being asked why I chose the eBook format and not the 'traditional' publishing route. Yes, I've tried the publishing route but rejected because the books I write aren't going to make any publishing house any profit. So I've opted for eBooks and consequently my books are available throughout the world to an audience I'd never reach by way of publishing houses. Besides, with the continuing growth of the eBook market, I can afford a wry smile at the news that the best selling author, Seth Godwin, is going the way I've gone because of his growing disenchantment at the way publishing houses operate.
I, like many of you, enjoy the feel of paper in the palm of my hand. The paperback book is an individual intimate experience and very hard to replicate with an iPad or Kindle, yet the world is changing and such reading appliances are trying to emulate the reading experience of a paperback, in time they will succeed. Our love of the paper book only goes back a few hundred years to the time of the Gutenberg press, before that the population mass had to entrust their story telling to a minority of individuals; ironically the Gutenberg Project is now trying to save the written word by making eBooks freely available of titles long forgotten or in danger of being lost forever.
As an author I live a fairly isolated life. Returning to the beginning of this blog all those books you have around you, most of those authors have lived, or live, in the same way because that's the nature of the beast. All start with the horrible blank page, all develop their individual stories, characters, plots and sequenced events. All are mightily happy and relieved when the end has been accomplished. A few authors go on to fame and fortune, and perhaps notoriety. The vast majority of authors remain the unsung heroes of total anonymity, yet provide a vast body of work, shaped by love, passion and desire and see very little financial for their efforts. And that is the reason why authors such as I continue to write and publish, their love of books, stories and the never ending quest to protect their right to free speech in a world that tries very hard to control and curtail that right.
Finally, thank you to Mark Coker, CEO of my publishing company Smashwords, for giving me the opportunity to publish around the world. Thank you to all of you who are actively supporting my love of writing by buying my published books. Thank you to those who downloaded the sample copies for your interest and I'd hope that would stimulate your further interest in buying the books available. Any comments you may wish to share with me, please write in the comments section below. I'd like to interact with my readers so the opportunity is there, please use it.
You see I've mentioned this because it doesn't matter about many of those things, all that really matters is that each individual author started in exactly the same way. All authors have the same motivating forces to complete the book you bought, it starts with an idea. Every author will tell you that they've started many ideas but never seen them through to a final conclusion, the finished book. Many authors will tell you that they will have spent months, perhaps years, writing a book only to abandon it before the end, or having got to the end dump it without much thought because it didn't fit in with their intended thought processes.
Yet for all the work and hours, days, months, and years the author dedicates to the craft of writing, that author needs three things to achieve the finished book. First, the ability to see an idea grow, prosper and blossom over an often long period of time. Second, a form of dedication that few are able to master successfully. Third, that having written the book the courage to stand by the personal belief displayed in their writing, and that often takes a lot of courage. My long departed dad, a magnificent individual, and greatly missed, said that there are two kinds of individuals who do a particular thing, those that do it for love and those that do it for money. In his eyes the former demanded the highest respect, the latter would remain largely unfulfilled and unhappy; who am I to argue with a sentiment that I follow religiously and know that I am likely to enter the next world financially underwhelmed.
Yet the one joy that being a poor struggling author does bring me, is the reaffirmation of the world as I perceive it to be, and then having the means at hand to question, whether through fiction or comedy, and to speak out against the things I personally find troubling. It's no great accident that my female characters tend to be the strong ones and the male species less so. But at the end of the day do my tomes, lovely word, accomplish anything? Well I'd hope, if nothing else, that they stir up either a positive response or a negative one but first you have to read them before you can find out.
I keep being asked why I chose the eBook format and not the 'traditional' publishing route. Yes, I've tried the publishing route but rejected because the books I write aren't going to make any publishing house any profit. So I've opted for eBooks and consequently my books are available throughout the world to an audience I'd never reach by way of publishing houses. Besides, with the continuing growth of the eBook market, I can afford a wry smile at the news that the best selling author, Seth Godwin, is going the way I've gone because of his growing disenchantment at the way publishing houses operate.
I, like many of you, enjoy the feel of paper in the palm of my hand. The paperback book is an individual intimate experience and very hard to replicate with an iPad or Kindle, yet the world is changing and such reading appliances are trying to emulate the reading experience of a paperback, in time they will succeed. Our love of the paper book only goes back a few hundred years to the time of the Gutenberg press, before that the population mass had to entrust their story telling to a minority of individuals; ironically the Gutenberg Project is now trying to save the written word by making eBooks freely available of titles long forgotten or in danger of being lost forever.
As an author I live a fairly isolated life. Returning to the beginning of this blog all those books you have around you, most of those authors have lived, or live, in the same way because that's the nature of the beast. All start with the horrible blank page, all develop their individual stories, characters, plots and sequenced events. All are mightily happy and relieved when the end has been accomplished. A few authors go on to fame and fortune, and perhaps notoriety. The vast majority of authors remain the unsung heroes of total anonymity, yet provide a vast body of work, shaped by love, passion and desire and see very little financial for their efforts. And that is the reason why authors such as I continue to write and publish, their love of books, stories and the never ending quest to protect their right to free speech in a world that tries very hard to control and curtail that right.
Finally, thank you to Mark Coker, CEO of my publishing company Smashwords, for giving me the opportunity to publish around the world. Thank you to all of you who are actively supporting my love of writing by buying my published books. Thank you to those who downloaded the sample copies for your interest and I'd hope that would stimulate your further interest in buying the books available. Any comments you may wish to share with me, please write in the comments section below. I'd like to interact with my readers so the opportunity is there, please use it.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Freedom of speech
I'm in a more serious mood today, for no other reason than the world around me seems hostile. I refer to the British press and their subjective reporting, tainted by their political bias, and need to see who can be either the most controversial, or the more vitriolic in their comments. It seems that the storm of condemnation, towards Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, and the Daily Mail colunmist, Jan Moir, has reached the point of hysteria, whereby calls for restraints on the freedom of speech should be brought into effect.
This I find worrisome, in particular because both Griffin & Moir are exercising their right to free speech, an ideal which underpins the very foundations of a democracy. Without free speech there is no democracy, there is only a totalitarian nightmare, something George Orwell expressed all too well in '1984'. I personally find both Griffin's political ideology, and Moir's condemnation of Stephan Gately, offensive for the very reason they offend my own personal views of the world. Yet, whilst I would heartily disagree with them, nevertheless I would never presume that my own 'world view' is any more less offensive to either them, or to many others that live in the world.
The very basis of free speech, will always mean that there will views we find personally offensive. Such views may cause us to rise in anger, to express our own views forcefully, and in the extreme cause us to break the law in some way. Yet we cannot have a muted version of free speech. You can only have a freedom of speech, which allows for every view, however reprehensible you find that view.
I fully understand the distaste individuals find in the views held by Griffin & Moir. Such views are against what I, and many others, would consider fair, just, and plain sensible. Yet, paradoxically, their views, unpleasant though they are, strengthen the very fragility of a freedom of speech in a democracy. Divergent views are a necessary framework to ensure that freedom of speech survives, unmolested by those who wish to be rid of that freedom. There is no halfway house. If there is to be the freedom of speech, then we must accept all have the right to say what they truly believe, even if we find ourselves angered and deeply divided by those beliefs.
We would do well to remember that once you begin to deny the individual the right to a freedom of speech, then you begin to deny the right to belief, the right to association. You begin to impose censorship, you curtail the right to freely read, write, watch, listen and enjoy a diversity of life. In other words, deny the right to free speech and you allow those in positions of power to carry out the worst excesses of human behaviour.
A belief is to be protected, and providing such a belief does no harm, other than annoy the hell out of us, then we should argue against it through discussion. And if the majority uphold that belief, then the minority must be able to freely oppose it without fear. Beliefs that are wholly intent on causing pain and injury against children, have no place in a democracy, no fair minded individual would ever condone abuses against children. But healthy passionate debate does, because this is the only way we can protect ourselves, and those we disagree with, from something far more horrific, totalitarianism.
Finally, it seems to me that life has become about extremes of one kind or another. Perhaps the human species has become lost, disjointed, and disempowered. Maybe the only explanation to life is to express views, which are the result of disenfranchisement from society and politics. Perhaps life has become an unachievable dream, and this is immensely frustrating, leading to conflict. I have no great answers to the pain of conflict, which seems to surround me; except one.
If everyone managed to make someone smile every day, then the world would be a better place to live in. Try it :-)
This I find worrisome, in particular because both Griffin & Moir are exercising their right to free speech, an ideal which underpins the very foundations of a democracy. Without free speech there is no democracy, there is only a totalitarian nightmare, something George Orwell expressed all too well in '1984'. I personally find both Griffin's political ideology, and Moir's condemnation of Stephan Gately, offensive for the very reason they offend my own personal views of the world. Yet, whilst I would heartily disagree with them, nevertheless I would never presume that my own 'world view' is any more less offensive to either them, or to many others that live in the world.
The very basis of free speech, will always mean that there will views we find personally offensive. Such views may cause us to rise in anger, to express our own views forcefully, and in the extreme cause us to break the law in some way. Yet we cannot have a muted version of free speech. You can only have a freedom of speech, which allows for every view, however reprehensible you find that view.
I fully understand the distaste individuals find in the views held by Griffin & Moir. Such views are against what I, and many others, would consider fair, just, and plain sensible. Yet, paradoxically, their views, unpleasant though they are, strengthen the very fragility of a freedom of speech in a democracy. Divergent views are a necessary framework to ensure that freedom of speech survives, unmolested by those who wish to be rid of that freedom. There is no halfway house. If there is to be the freedom of speech, then we must accept all have the right to say what they truly believe, even if we find ourselves angered and deeply divided by those beliefs.
We would do well to remember that once you begin to deny the individual the right to a freedom of speech, then you begin to deny the right to belief, the right to association. You begin to impose censorship, you curtail the right to freely read, write, watch, listen and enjoy a diversity of life. In other words, deny the right to free speech and you allow those in positions of power to carry out the worst excesses of human behaviour.
A belief is to be protected, and providing such a belief does no harm, other than annoy the hell out of us, then we should argue against it through discussion. And if the majority uphold that belief, then the minority must be able to freely oppose it without fear. Beliefs that are wholly intent on causing pain and injury against children, have no place in a democracy, no fair minded individual would ever condone abuses against children. But healthy passionate debate does, because this is the only way we can protect ourselves, and those we disagree with, from something far more horrific, totalitarianism.
Finally, it seems to me that life has become about extremes of one kind or another. Perhaps the human species has become lost, disjointed, and disempowered. Maybe the only explanation to life is to express views, which are the result of disenfranchisement from society and politics. Perhaps life has become an unachievable dream, and this is immensely frustrating, leading to conflict. I have no great answers to the pain of conflict, which seems to surround me; except one.
If everyone managed to make someone smile every day, then the world would be a better place to live in. Try it :-)
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