The Word Cloud

Never written a blog before, so this will be fun.  Little about me, damn, I hate the phone, forgot what I was gonna say!  Oh, yeah, I have no filter, what's in my head ususally will come right on out.  I'm very honest, if you don't like what I say, put on your big girl/guy panties on, it'll be alright luv!  If you don't like what I have to say, then don't read it.  Most people don't like truth, it makes them uncomfortable.  I'm gonna try not to be such a bitch, but this is hard for me....that's all for now!

seems to be the thing to do these days.

http://sophiejonashill.blogspot.com/

If you would like to hear my ramblings, efforts and progress on the way to being published, do stop by!

Last night, from my home in Brighton, I marched through the streets of New York, watching events unfold in real time, from street level, thanks to Tim Pool, his trusty phone and Ustream.  As I watched, the numbers viewing the live stream grew, at first I was in the company of only a few thousand, though I was one of about 30 000 who had viewed the channel. By midnight I was partying with around 27 000 viewers and the number of views had hit way over 50 000.

On several occasions while I watched marchers approached Tim to congratulate him on the immensely valuable job he is doing, and one actually confessed he’d been watching at home in New York until he just couldn’t stay home any longer and had gone out to join the march.

Fox News was reported on the live chat stream as having put the number of protesters in the hundreds, a police scanner apparently put it at 36 000.  Regardless of the numbers, and I’m inclined to believe from what I saw that there were in excess of 25 000 people there, what I did not see was any hatred, any violence coming from the protesters, any rudeness or wilful destruction. As Tim wove his way through the crowd people made way for him, offered him food and drinks (though perhaps not often enough) even donated some cash. In his turn, he responded to questions patiently and politely, gave spare batteries to fellow journalists and generally was a really decent guy.

I think what has impressed me most about the Occupy Movement is that its mere existence provides a dynamic real example of society in action. Not the competitive mob society envisioned by Hobbes and his ilk, requiring the State to paternalistically police it, but a new vision of a society wherein the underlying principle that there must be winners and losers is turned on its head and it becomes blindingly obvious, in the instant of allowing for the possibility, that of course there is enough for everyone to be a winner, there is enough space, enough food, enough energy and enough money.  The time for redistribution cannot be avoided eternally. It is no more infinite than the earth’s resources. 

Mayor Bloomberg, by ordering the eviction of the OWS camp did a marvellous job of promoting the cause.  The new media, so vital and potent in the hands of the youth who do not fear it, has allowed moderate observers to witness the Syria that goes down on the streets of their own cities.  Even fairly mainstream media are beginning to sound alarmed that journalists, who on the one hand are allowed by their government to hang out in Libya while the bombs fall, find themselves kept away from the frontline of protest actions happening on American soil, apparently for their own safety.

Whether Occupy Together continues to grow, or is stamped out by an ever more fearful and less restrained status quo, I believe that the seed that it has planted, the vision of so many human beings working together so respectfully and out of such deep love for this world and all its inhabitants, is one that will flourish. 

Well, I have been shortlisted for the Luke Bitmeand Bursary 2011. But what I really want to do is to explain a little what the award is all about.

Luke Bitmead died after taking his own life in 2006, aged just 34, after a long battle with severe depression. The Luke Bitmead award was founded by Luke's family , in partnership with Legend Press, and gives unpublished authors both a publishing deal and bursary.

The award, designed to remember Luke, is a reminder to us all of the terrible stigma still attached to mental illness and suicide, and the terrible silence that most sufferes endure for fear of ridicule and misunderstanding.

I, like Luke, have suffered from bouts of severe depression, brought on by OCD, for many years. So, yes, this is a happy time, I have been shorlisted, and I may win. But if this novel does make it into print, I hope that its main character, Alistair, who suffers from OCD and Tourettes, is able to show and educate what it's like to live with a form if illness that is still so unacceptable to society.

If you would like to visit Luke's site, here is the address

http://www.lukebitmead.com/page6.htm

Many thanks for reading




 

I've been thinking about this for a while, but have never taken the plunge. I've even got the blog site ready and waiting in the wings... but always managed to put myself off starting it, because I'm a paranoid coward who needs a kick up the backside every now and again if I ever want to have myself taken seriously.

Before I go for it, though, I wonder if those Cloudies who do blog could answer some (possibly very, very stupid) questions for me?

1) I know in order to write a decent blog, you really should write regularly... but how regular is regularly? Once a week? Once a month? Every day?

2) Obviously, I want my blog to be one about writing and my writing journey (with maybe the odd bit of art in it, too), with the ultimate goal of it being something that may help me catch the eye of an agent. However, one of the things that has put me off blogging is I feel that me talking about myself is way too self indulgent and narcissistic, and I'm not sure if I actually have anything of worth to say or add to the already existing plethora of blogs out there. So, uh, how do you get over that?

3) I have read lots of other writing blogs, and they all seem to have something to offer their readers, either in terms of insight to the writing process, advice on how to improve or help with finding agents etc. As a complete noob, I really don't feel I can offer anything apart from rambling nonsense. My blogs here are different because this is a community I feel comfortable in (and therefore don't mind asking stupid questions or talking about things that affect us as writers), but out there in the cold wide yonder, it's completely different. I do not feel confident enough to offer any form of advice or insight (especially when I am still learning so much myself), and so I'm a bit stuck on what to actually write about.

Anyone have any ideas / opinons on this?

I am undergoing a complete revamp of my inner self and in the process I have been asking and pondering the most abstract, deep and uncomfortable questions. More notably, I have come to question the meaning of love in our lives. I am speaking about romantic love. Why is it that we need it, want it or even seek for it? And if you do neither of the above, don't you have others look at you like you are definitely from another planet? Seems to be that life, here, right now--as we know it while in this "human-being gig" requires that completion of two becoming one. For lately when I ask my self what is it that I truly want and need to be happy I say:

I want mind blowing, exclusive, passionate, out of this world explosive love making with someone who when they are in my presence they make me want to mate them.

Another thought has been that I just want no-strings attach sex, just exploring what is out there, innocently meeting new people, welcoming new experiences, all in the name of fun, because like the saying goes, "we only live once," but evn that is debatable in my mind, the living once part, that is.

Then I come across this motivational type of thinking that claims that once I leanr to love my own company, my freedom, to honor myself and to be intentional as to what I seek to attract in my life that I will be happy. This hapiness will not come from the one otside myself but primarily from within, secondarily from the bond that being with someone else would bring--it wold compliment me, not fulfill me. For only I can do that. But even this realization seems as if it is rigid, at times non-realistic, or just too true for me to want to admit that I have inner work to do?

So which scenerio sounds more like you, and if you even care about the topic, what different theories or ideas do you have about that fire, called love, that we all seem to be attracted to, like a moth to the flame...

I'm thinking of taking a 3 month sabbatical from here to reflect. To be honest, I have zero confidence in my writing ability since I received a damning critique of my Darkness novel from a WC pro.

I hadn't intended to share my feelings with you guys, but I feel it is important. I am gutted. Full stop. 

To be fair, the report highlighted areas which needed attention and improvement. No problem. What concerned me most of all was a lack of empathy and encouragement on ANY aspect. 

Instead of being galvanised to greater endeavours,  I was left with a novel that should be scrapped and dumped in the slush pile.   

QED


 

Some famous person years ago said  something like 'I don't agree with what you said, but I will defend your right to free speech with my own life'. Noble words indeed, but are they relevant to today's world. Values change through the ages and maybe now we should declare in the name of Freedom Of Speech, 'I don't agree with what you said, but I will defend your right to freedom of speech if it all fits in appropriately with where I live and the ruling classes of the country I live in, but I will defend my own values on freedom of speech when someone else disagrees with me if I can get away with it as much as possible with as little detrimental affect to me'. You see, we all now live in a complicated world, which is what you might expect from extended freedom of speech to more and more people. Any new noble message heard or read will be dissected subjectively, like this one will. And this examination of words said or written will bring about a variety of opinions to suit different groups in society. And thus we will encourage conflict and conflict is always ruled by power. But which type of 'power' will we choose ourselves and how will we be supported in our trials of righteousness?

I am not a car diver and do not have access to a car driver either.  Over the last week  I have been  using my leave taking buses into Kent.  One  journey involved taking six buses in one day -  another three trains and  a bus.
The buses turned up on time and were well used.  The majority of people used some form of card to pay.   
     All the bus drivers - quite a few of them were female - were all pleasant and dealt  with wheelchair access etc - with patience.  They provide a valuable social service.    Public transport has  not been abandoned in  Northern Europe to the extent that it has been in England.   
     Some months ago I blogged  about a breach of promise case that occurred in the middle of the nineteenth  century  and have been looking at the areas where the events occurred.  Everything happened in picture book  Kent, and in  places where the National  Trust has made it's presence felt.   One great, great  grandfather, and his parents, are even buried in a church owned by the National Trust and other properties are  now listed buildings.
     The information turned up though the landlady of a public house - now a tourist  destination - sending letters to a relation in Australia.  These letters,inadvertently, turned up on  the Internet.  Surely there is a film here without doing anything?   Many farmers etc from Kent emigrated to Australia in the nineteenth century and their descendants come to Kent to look up their origins.    Trials are stories in themselves.    

       


 

I am slowly working through a list of possible agents to send my opus too - and I have been reading up on the website of one of them.
They speak of wanting to see that an aspiring author has already made efforts at self publicity (Not publication) because they're looking for someone they can market and can represent themselves well in an interview etc. Well, no issue with stage fright there as I'm always getting on TV and have done a tone of interviews, though most not broadcast as yet - but should I think about having a website/blog about me as an aspiring writer also?
Has anyone else done such a thing, and has it worked?
I imagine one would not publish extracts of great length or the work it's self, but presumably a few snippets and a sort of back cover blurb, and sort of 'this is how I do it' kind of articles?
What about a Facebook page?