Catching up.

I'm not entirely sure where the last two weeks have gone. It's been just over a fortnight since my last post and to be honest I haven't been that productive. I've applied for some jobs I am interested in and received a handful of replies saying they don't want me in return.

One project that I've put some energy into that is paying back is the online magazine. A couple of weeks ago I suggested to some of my friends that we begin one and the response seems to have been good. I've slacked with the progression of it the last few days because I feel like I've been at work non-stop but I think it has got direction now and is going the right way.

We've decided that our magazine will be 'Red Leaf Literary Magazine'. I think the target is new and adventurous authors that want to grab a foothold in the world of published literature, hopefully we can provide that foothold. I'll talk more about the magazine once everything is about to go live.

I've been reviewing my dissertation (I got my marks back from that by the way and it was all hunky dory), a mark of 65, my highest mark this year, so can't complain. I've been deciding where to take it. I would have liked to finish it before christmas but I don't want to sacrifice the quality of the plot (it is after all a genre fiction, and thus plot-driven).

I'll try and update again later this week. My friend Aisya from Malaysia is visiting this weekend however, so it's doubtful it will be over the weekend. Monday, perhaps.

On The Roll

Today has above all else been a day for productivity. I woke up in the mood for getting things done; going out and ensuring that life continues smoothly. Usually days like this have a tendency to get you down because it is never entirely practical to complete all the missions you set yourself to a high standard, yet nothing I did today required my usual perfectionist attitude.

I began with the boring bit; finances. I have a financial ineptitude and I rarely hide it. I know I'm bad with money. Today was about exerting a little bit of effort to try and set things in order once and for all. I've finally left my old bank who were messing me around in favour for having all my accounts managed by the same bank. This has all gone relatively smoothly.

Second up I enquired about further education - something I might reveal more about soon. Thirdly I have begun the chase towards work. The last couple of days have proven that getting work in the creative industries is going to be a job in itself and is something I must persist with and keep on top of. It won't be easy, but for me there has always been a thrill-of-the-chase element to my life. Even if the destination isn't what I thought it would be, it has always been about the journey.

Finally I've begun tidying the flat. It has been a state since I started work on my dissertation and I couldn't stand working in it any longer, so I've begun what will hopefully continue to be the start of a new and better life in Portsmouth.

I will update more soon, so long for now.

New Projects.

So I've been searching for volunteer work in journalism, columnist writing and so forth. The search began when I realised that every real job in journalism requires people with experience. My friend pointed out that the experience didn't need to be paid so I spent some time looking for magazines that needed free writers. This is apparently harder than it sounds.

After my search returned only one response for a woman's lifestyle magazine that requested I submitted the exact same information I already had done to another page I confess, I lost faith in that idea.

This brought about the idea of creating my own online magazine, so with this new idea in mind I approached my fellow group of writers from the Masters and we began brain storming ideas. We're still in the process of figuring out what kind of magazine it will be, but hopefully it will be an opportunity for us and other writers of a similar disadvantage to promote ourselves. Who knows.

On top of that I've been working on some music for my new project. A couple of ideas are sounding quite promising and I might reveal snippits soon. I've also asked a couple of friends from my newly acquainted Crossfade Amateur Dramatics group if they'd be interested in singing on it and we seem to have come to an agreement.

All in all things are moving smoothly, keep an eye on this, more to come soon!

Beginning.

It has occurred to me that I spend too much of my time thinking about the things that I want and things that I don't have rather than enjoying what I do have. I've spent a great deal of my year thinking about what I want to achieve rather than actually achieving them. I've spent time trying to create an image for myself rather than accepting who I am already.

What have I achieved this year? Well, I've celebrated my engagement, self-published a poetry book, completed a masters degree in creative writing, returned to the stage and written a fair portion of my first novel. I think I could do more, but I should be happy with what I have achieved so far.

This brings me to wonder what drives people. I read stories about other people's accomplishments, and that is what drives me. I want to be the person people are reading about. I want people to think 'He's a busy, creative guy.' But I don't know why I want people to think that. There is no benefit in that for me other than a sense of achievement. I guess that must be it. I just enjoy feeling like I've accomplished something.

As you can see, I've decided to start blogging again. As much for me as anyone else. It's a good release and it keeps me writing. This time it won't be filled with things I want to do, but things that I am doing. I've spent too much of my life wanting things and not enough time going out and achieving them.