Free ebook

My poetry ebook Compliance is Futile is free up until Jan 1 2012. Just enter this code: QY92Y

See if you can navigate the confusing Smashwords page to download a copy free at the following site:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73333

'It's not about the money'

The Pen and the Sword

Back in 2009 I was reading through the media jobs section of The Guardian on a Monday and I came across this job ad. It was headed 'The Pen is Mightier than the Sword'. Reading the advert it became obvious that the job was to be a speechwriter for the Ministry of Defence.

The non-ironic tagline was 'A Force for Good'. I was so angry at the time. I cut out the job advert and stuck it in my diary with a few choice words of what I thought of it. It wasn't just that the Ministry of Defence were paying £66,389 (plus bonus and benefits) to the successful applicant, it was that they had appropriated the phrase: 'The Pen is Mightier than the Sword'.

I got over it of course. In this life you tend to do that - things will make you angry for a little while, but sometimes we are powerless to do anything about it and the anger goes away (and anyway, anger is such a bullying emotion).

The problem is, naive as I am (and believe me, I have my naive moments), I still can't get my head around the way that the pen and the sword work together. It seems to me that they are diametrically opposed to each other. The pen should promote peace. The whole point of having a principle like 'the pen is mightier than the sword' is to fight for peace using the written word.

I keep reading articles in newspapers or hearing news reports on TV which are so uncritical of war that I find the old anger coming back again and again. And what right have I? I'm naive - we live in a world where reports in newspapers about subjects like the arms trade or the latest war are completely uncritical. That's the way it is.

What is the point of writing? What is the point of journalism? Is it to work with the status quo? Is it to re-enforce the latest political agenda? Is it to write propaganda? Or is it to try to ensure peace - to question, to criticize wars so that lives aren't lost on both sides? What is the point of using a pen or keyboard? Is it to make things better or worse?

I hope the person who eventually got the job has job satisfaction. The job does stipulate that such a person should be 'imaginative', so maybe they could imagine their way out of the cognitive dissonance that doing such a job should cause? Personally I think it would have been a Faustian moment for him (or her).

Marketing Mania

I've been spending time working on my first novel and trying to market my poetry anthology 'Compliance is Futile'.

It's a frustrating business. I've managed to get a couple of press releases into local papers:

This is a story from a press release I sent to the local free paper 'The Chase Post'.

And this is the story written for The Sentinel, for which I was interviewed over the phone following a press release.

The rest has been internet marketing. I've learned a few things. The main lesson is that marketing is a frustrating business and every writer really could do with an agent to do it for him or her.

The novel is coming on very slowly. I've got the basic plot, theme and characters. It is simply a matter of writing it all out now. And that may take some time.

In the meantime I have to consider everything else as research.

Voices

Finally my book is available as a paperback from Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Compliance-Futile-Nick-White/dp/1463721811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312460968&sr=1-1

I was interviewed by a newspaper from my home town, The Sentinel.
You can read the story online at:
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Poetry-helps-heal-Nick-s-pain/story-13062298-detail/story.html

It was strange being on the other end of the interviewing. The interviewer got my age wrong and knocked off six years (better that way round). During the phone interview I said:

"I once came into the Sentinel on work experience."
"That's what I'm doing here now," admitted the budding reporter. I imagine that she will do well because she was thorough and direct in her questioning. All through the interview I wanted to say: "Just make everyone a cup of tea or coffee - they like that."

The recent phone hacking scandal has had the usual effect on the perception of journalists. Any trust gained has been set back years because of the invasion of privacy of a few. Almost every rule from the NUJ code of conduct was broken. And the whole profession is about as popular as when Princess Diana died.

It is all about the way in which writers and broadcasters treat their readers and contacts. If readers and contacts are treated in a condescending and uncaring way then there is something wrong with the journalist. The writer has to listen.

So, over the past few months I've been thinking about the way I treat my readers (yes, that's you faithful reader!). I've realised that, even though I've never been involved in phone hacking or anything unlawful, I've not always had my readers' best interests at heart. Even if I don't have that many readers, I still think I could be more considerate. So, I'm sorry.

I draw the line at offering compensation.

Compliance is Futile

We live in an instant world and suddenly the world of publishing seems to be relatively instant too. I made my first venture into the world of self-publishing yesterday. Determined to get my first book published I opted for Smashwords as a publishing platform and I now have an ebook.

The whole process took me about a day (the poetry collection itself took place over years). By midnight I had clicked the 'publish' button. Strangely my upload was in a queue of about 400 other works (it was day-time in America where Smashwords are based).

I wrote the blurb and picked a cover image (a sculpture of Joan of Arc at the Louvre in Paris 'listening to her voices'). I played around with the picture a little and uploaded the finished result. Then I got my free ISBN number.

The whole process was free and that was what I liked about it. Sometimes it seems as if the entire world of writing and publishing is there to make money from writers. There are so many scams out there for writers that it is necessary to be very careful.

But now I have an ebook of poetry published (finally) and I am ridiculously pleased with the whole thing. The finished product is available as an ebook in different formats for devices ranging from the Kindle to the PC. It is poetry rich in metaphor and simile and it is written for everyone.

If you want to see a sample of the book or even buy it (for $0.99), then you can see my Smashwords page at:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73333.

The paper airplane test

During my ongoing quest for a church to attend I have devised a genius test. I’m calling it: 'The paper airplane test'.
The criteria are simple:

• If I’m sitting in a new church, listening to a sermon, do I feel free enough to make a paper airplane and throw it?
• If ‘no’ - avoid church in future.
• If ‘yes’ – consider attending church.

It sounds childish, but this is a test for people of all ages and it does have some rationale.
I’m not suggesting I should throw the airplane at the preacher during his sermon (although I like to think that if one of the disciples did that during a parable, Jesus would find it highly amusing and not look at them as if they had just performed their own mini 9/11).

The next time I’m in a church I shall see if I feel free enough to do it. If there is a stifling, constrained atmosphere then maybe the church has failed the test. Of course the church in question may say that it is my fault that I feel that way and they can’t be held responsible for my feelings. Talk about shirking responsibilities! I’m having none of this! If I have stomach ache in church whose fault is it? Hmm? Hmm? That’s right – it’s God’s fault – and by sheer spiritual delegation the church’s fault (never mind what I ate beforehand!).

The serious point I'm trying to make is that in a church, a person should feel a degree of freedom of thought and expression. A person shouldn’t feel worse at the end of a church service than when they went in. The bible explicitly states: 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom'. So I think it is a reasonable test to see just how present the Holy Ghost is within a church service.

I think I may be able to extend the paper airplane test to any situation or place. A surgery waiting room, a train, pub or restaurant. The possibilities are endless...

Stories make the world go round

Stories make the world go round. Not money. Not love. It's true - look around you, there are stories everywhere. On TV there are soap stories, films, news stories. There are newspapers full of stories, there are countless novels and short stories in bookshops and magazines full of true life stories. The internet is full of all kinds of stories, videos and blogs. People relate to each other through story, 'I went into town today and you'll never guess what happened...'.

Your life is a story. History is a story. We are the heroes and heroines in our own stories, our own protagonists, kings and queens in miniature eclectic kingdoms.

There are a million and one diaries out there with the hidden thoughts, feelings and records of individuals who have the patience to see their life in terms of a story, a sequence of significant events. Some of the stories are honest, some are lies, some are true, some are exaggerated. Some are more believable than others.

If life is a story, it isn't too strange that no chapter can be repeated in exactly the same way. Past chapters can be romanticized.
'It was better back then.'
How?
'Those were my glory days'.
Can't they happen again?
'There was less fear in the past'.
Honestly?
'It was safer'.
The past is always safe.

Sometimes characters in the stories leave us. New characters appear. Sometimes there are antagonists. There are challenges and themes and ironies. There has to be a plot. It has to be something - even history is a plot full of particular events.

How are we supposed to enjoy the present scene and characters when we are still thinking about the past or wrapped up in the future? Or if the present is intolerable, how are we supposed to be proactive enough to give ourselves our happily ever afters?

By acknowledging that the fear will always be there. By acting even when there is fear. By not romanticising a past which was never as good as it seemed.

After the second world war there were two kinds of people who came through it. There were those who looked back on the war-days with a kind of rose-tinted nostalgia.
They would say: 'People got together, communities worked together, everyone was in the same boat, we had good friends and we were united.'
Then there were others who said: 'It was a scary time and we were afraid'.
Who was being more honest?

Stories make the world go round.

Write yours well.