The Process

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Remit

Writing for me, admittedly, is a guilty pleasure, and invariably a form of cathartic exorcism. Due to my hectic schedule these days I don’t have quite the same luxury of time to invest in my little diversions as I once had. Which has actually made be rather pragmatic as to how I use the limited time I can commit to writing. (I usually try and squeeze about an hour out of my morning routine every day before I go to work and half an hour on my lunch if I’m lucky)

Today (fortunately), I spend far more time proof reading (thank god for spell check) and editing my recreational diversions then I do writing material- hence the very sporadic posts!

I started my blog(s) about a year or so ago after a friend of mine, who I met on a creative writing course back at Uni called Lynsey who started her own (http://ladygogo84.blogspot.com/) Back then when we met, she didn’t even give me the chance to introduce myself before talking my ear off. She has an infectiously positive outlook on life, which at the time I so desperately needed. We clicked on the same wavelength almost immediately; and since then we have been closest of friends. She’s now the editor of a local events website on and around Southend (http://mytownsouthend.com/#) which highlights, among other things, the local health and the disabled community.

The original blog started out as a mini project of mine, I wanted a break from my dabbling’s in fiction and felt the need to write something a little more… non fictional/ journalistic(though it has somewhat mushroomed in a horrible personal blog thing, I’m currently splitting off the posts into different blogs to make them more manageable and streamline).

Writing wise, I’m currently about the 90k word mark (approx. 396 pages) which loosely chronicles part of my stint as a self-styled Gonzo-Echo-Journalist(I read Hunter S. and thought- I can do this) during my time in/on/around and after university. It’s something along the vein of ‘Fear and Loathing’ meets ‘Hells Angels’- but with a group of mostly Gay Male Pagan Witches/ Shaman’s/ cunning men etc. instead- yes you did read that correctly), but somewhat more self-deprecating, retrospective/ introspective, account dealing with loss, addiction, grief, and ultimately hope, reconciliation and redemption- and so on and so forth. Add a little string theory, the holographic multi-verse, temporal schizophrenia, and what I like to call ‘subjective loopholes in time paradoxes’, if you get the gist...

Fortunately I’ve joined ‘the cult’, it’s a writing workshop started by Chuck back in 1999, submissions and feedback work on a points system which you accumulate by reading and giving feedback on other peoples submissions-  after a certain amount of points you can submit a piece yourself. It’s been a humbling experience, but ultimately encouraged me to be a better writer.