Tom Clempson's Blog
February 20, 2023
Nothing Beats New York
Etiam placerat velit vitae dui blandit sollicitudin. Vestibulum tincidunt sed dolor sit amet volutpat. Nullam egestas sem at mollis sodales. Nunc eget lacinia eros, ut tincidunt nunc. Quisque volutpat, enim id volutpat interdum, purus odio euismod neque, sit amet faucibus justo dolor tincidunt dui. Nulla facilisi. Phasellus in tincidunt lacus, in gravida ipsum. Cras id vehicula est, tincidunt pellentesque magna. Etiam porttitor nulla urna, quis vulputate justo euismod ac. Nunc viverra sollicitudin fringilla.
Ut a tortor quis nunc mattis placerat vitae sed sapien. Duis vitae enim ac turpis viverra ullamcorper et vitae odio. Pellentesque arcu tortor, aliquam vel semper at, ullamcorper et odio. Nullam aliquet rhoncus quam non iaculis. Pellentesque id enim et nisl ultricies vulputate in a magna. Ut lectus eros, imperdiet at ultricies interdum, ornare sit amet massa. Suspendisse tempus neque ut congue aliquam.
Maecenas felis lacus, mollis eu tellus vitae, tincidunt sodales elit. Fusce placerat ante eget sapien egestas, eu eleifend turpis aliquet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut id quam sed mauris bibendum convallis. Maecenas erat dui, ultricies id sem quis, maximus accumsan enim. Pellentesque porta, purus sit amet imperdiet blandit, quam eros porta orci, eu placerat quam libero a tortor. Cras convallis tellus id sapien congue sollicitudin. Aenean vehicula lacus vel ligula aliquam, sit amet auctor felis pharetra. Maecenas id nisi velit. Pellentesque mattis ligula leo, id bibendum ligula mollis at. Donec ornare hendrerit est at finibus. Phasellus in ante id nulla pharetra ullamcorper.
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Getting What You Want
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Ut a tortor quis nunc mattis placerat vitae sed sapien. Duis vitae enim ac turpis viverra ullamcorper et vitae odio. Pellentesque arcu tortor, aliquam vel semper at, ullamcorper et odio. Nullam aliquet rhoncus quam non iaculis. Pellentesque id enim et nisl ultricies vulputate in a magna. Ut lectus eros, imperdiet at ultricies interdum, ornare sit amet massa. Suspendisse tempus neque ut congue aliquam.
Maecenas felis lacus, mollis eu tellus vitae, tincidunt sodales elit. Fusce placerat ante eget sapien egestas, eu eleifend turpis aliquet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut id quam sed mauris bibendum convallis. Maecenas erat dui, ultricies id sem quis, maximus accumsan enim. Pellentesque porta, purus sit amet imperdiet blandit, quam eros porta orci, eu placerat quam libero a tortor. Cras convallis tellus id sapien congue sollicitudin. Aenean vehicula lacus vel ligula aliquam, sit amet auctor felis pharetra. Maecenas id nisi velit. Pellentesque mattis ligula leo, id bibendum ligula mollis at. Donec ornare hendrerit est at finibus. Phasellus in ante id nulla pharetra ullamcorper.
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Are You Sabotaging Your Creativity
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Ut a tortor quis nunc mattis placerat vitae sed sapien. Duis vitae enim ac turpis viverra ullamcorper et vitae odio. Pellentesque arcu tortor, aliquam vel semper at, ullamcorper et odio. Nullam aliquet rhoncus quam non iaculis. Pellentesque id enim et nisl ultricies vulputate in a magna. Ut lectus eros, imperdiet at ultricies interdum, ornare sit amet massa. Suspendisse tempus neque ut congue aliquam.
Maecenas felis lacus, mollis eu tellus vitae, tincidunt sodales elit. Fusce placerat ante eget sapien egestas, eu eleifend turpis aliquet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut id quam sed mauris bibendum convallis. Maecenas erat dui, ultricies id sem quis, maximus accumsan enim. Pellentesque porta, purus sit amet imperdiet blandit, quam eros porta orci, eu placerat quam libero a tortor. Cras convallis tellus id sapien congue sollicitudin. Aenean vehicula lacus vel ligula aliquam, sit amet auctor felis pharetra. Maecenas id nisi velit. Pellentesque mattis ligula leo, id bibendum ligula mollis at. Donec ornare hendrerit est at finibus. Phasellus in ante id nulla pharetra ullamcorper.
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How to Write 10,000 Words a Week
Etiam placerat velit vitae dui blandit sollicitudin. Vestibulum tincidunt sed dolor sit amet volutpat. Nullam egestas sem at mollis sodales. Nunc eget lacinia eros, ut tincidunt nunc. Quisque volutpat, enim id volutpat interdum, purus odio euismod neque, sit amet faucibus justo dolor tincidunt dui. Nulla facilisi. Phasellus in tincidunt lacus, in gravida ipsum. Cras id vehicula est, tincidunt pellentesque magna. Etiam porttitor nulla urna, quis vulputate justo euismod ac. Nunc viverra sollicitudin fringilla.
Ut a tortor quis nunc mattis placerat vitae sed sapien. Duis vitae enim ac turpis viverra ullamcorper et vitae odio. Pellentesque arcu tortor, aliquam vel semper at, ullamcorper et odio. Nullam aliquet rhoncus quam non iaculis. Pellentesque id enim et nisl ultricies vulputate in a magna. Ut lectus eros, imperdiet at ultricies interdum, ornare sit amet massa. Suspendisse tempus neque ut congue aliquam.
Maecenas felis lacus, mollis eu tellus vitae, tincidunt sodales elit. Fusce placerat ante eget sapien egestas, eu eleifend turpis aliquet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut id quam sed mauris bibendum convallis. Maecenas erat dui, ultricies id sem quis, maximus accumsan enim. Pellentesque porta, purus sit amet imperdiet blandit, quam eros porta orci, eu placerat quam libero a tortor. Cras convallis tellus id sapien congue sollicitudin. Aenean vehicula lacus vel ligula aliquam, sit amet auctor felis pharetra. Maecenas id nisi velit. Pellentesque mattis ligula leo, id bibendum ligula mollis at. Donec ornare hendrerit est at finibus. Phasellus in ante id nulla pharetra ullamcorper.
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What I’ve learned from road trips
Etiam placerat velit vitae dui blandit sollicitudin. Vestibulum tincidunt sed dolor sit amet volutpat. Nullam egestas sem at mollis sodales. Nunc eget lacinia eros, ut tincidunt nunc. Quisque volutpat, enim id volutpat interdum, purus odio euismod neque, sit amet faucibus justo dolor tincidunt dui. Nulla facilisi. Phasellus in tincidunt lacus, in gravida ipsum. Cras id vehicula est, tincidunt pellentesque magna. Etiam porttitor nulla urna, quis vulputate justo euismod ac. Nunc viverra sollicitudin fringilla.
Ut a tortor quis nunc mattis placerat vitae sed sapien. Duis vitae enim ac turpis viverra ullamcorper et vitae odio. Pellentesque arcu tortor, aliquam vel semper at, ullamcorper et odio. Nullam aliquet rhoncus quam non iaculis. Pellentesque id enim et nisl ultricies vulputate in a magna. Ut lectus eros, imperdiet at ultricies interdum, ornare sit amet massa. Suspendisse tempus neque ut congue aliquam.
Maecenas felis lacus, mollis eu tellus vitae, tincidunt sodales elit. Fusce placerat ante eget sapien egestas, eu eleifend turpis aliquet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut id quam sed mauris bibendum convallis. Maecenas erat dui, ultricies id sem quis, maximus accumsan enim. Pellentesque porta, purus sit amet imperdiet blandit, quam eros porta orci, eu placerat quam libero a tortor. Cras convallis tellus id sapien congue sollicitudin. Aenean vehicula lacus vel ligula aliquam, sit amet auctor felis pharetra. Maecenas id nisi velit. Pellentesque mattis ligula leo, id bibendum ligula mollis at. Donec ornare hendrerit est at finibus. Phasellus in ante id nulla pharetra ullamcorper.
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February 19, 2023
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
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February 6, 2018
It’s All New to Me
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written on here, but since I have a new book out I thought I should at least make the effort to crawl out from beneath the large, sherbet flavoured rock I’ve been hiding under (I don’t know why sherbet, I HATE sherbet) and say: “HEY! I’ve got a new book out!”
It’s called ‘How to Avoid Certain Death’, it’s my first book for kids, (Middle Grade/8-12) and it was SO MUCH FUN to write! I hope to write more kids’ books and I’d really like to do a series of “How to Avoid”s because there is so much more I could do with these characters and this world, but I’m not turning my back on YA (I have a long-gestating idea for a new Jack Samsonite book that it bursting to get out of my head. along with many other ideas). 
NOTE TO ANY KIDS READING THIS: You will not enjoy my Jack Samsonite books! They are for older kids, so don’t bother trying to read them until your in your mid-teens, or else!
As usual I have gone for ‘funny’. I’ve said this before, but if what I’m writing doesn’t make me laugh then I tend to get a bit bored of writing it, which I suppose throws out any notions of me ever going ‘serious’.
The story follows a pair of ten-year-old twins as they embark on a mission to rescue their grandparents, who have been kidnapped by an evil pirate, and it turns out to be even more perilous, chaotic and downright weird than they ever imagined. Witches, Wizards, Zombie Bunnies, Kings, Queens, and shark infested waters all help to make it an adventure to remember.
I’ve done my usual dumb trick of ignoring the latest trends in “what’s hot now!”, and have just gone and written the exact kind of book I felt like reading, but couldn’t find anywhere (not including The Princess Bride by William Goldman, which was an obvious inspiration, and a real benchmark for me). It’s a mash up of loads of my favourite stuff, all thrown into one whirlwind of a story, with the two main characters influenced by those in stories that my granddad used to make up (which were based on my mum and uncle when they were kids) and a gloriously evil pirate who just popped into my head one day when I was in the bath and instantly had me laughing.
As always I’m extremely eager to hear what you think of the book after you’ve read it – what you liked, what you didn’t like, and why? You could leave your thoughts in the comments below, or send a message via the ‘contact me’ form on this blog, or even write a review on the website of the shop where you purchased the book, or, best of all, kids could write a book report and use it as homework (let me read it too, though, even if it’s, like, ‘this book sucked!’ Not everyone likes everything, and that’s just the way it should be). I hope you do enjoy it though.
Happy reading!
Related posts:
My Favourite Things This Week
Welcome to the Beginning
Where do I disappear to? And where’s Jack 2?
November 13, 2014
Should Writers Really Know How To Do Grammar and Spelling and Stuff?
It has been brought to my attention, on more than one occasion, that, when it comes to my blog, I am a little bit lazy. Not only do I hardly ever update it, but, when I do, my posts are invariably full of errors. The excuse that I tell myself for this is “hey, I’m spontaneous! Creativity can’t flourish when bound by rules and restrictions such as spelling and grammar!’ And I wholeheartedly stand by this, but…
As a published author, is it not my responsibility to showcase the English language as it ought to be written? After all, whenever I see someone else who clearly knows nothing about their profession (i.e. an education minister with no experience in education, or a minister for culture with only a history in finance), then I am up in arms, and asking “how can this happen?!” And if I’m reading a magazine article that’s full of errors, it drives me INSANE!
Yes, it would appear that I am a big fat hypocrite.
But, on the other hand, (here I come, gallantly racing to my own defence), nobody’s perfect, right? I mean, it’s only a blog, not a professional publication that goes through proof-readers and copy editors. It’s just me, as I am, laid bare, and in real life. And, even though we should all strive to be the best we can possibly be, if we all thought that every single thing we did had to be 100% perfect, would any of us even bother, or would we be too afraid to try?
Maybe the world needs incompetent professionals in order to inspire others who might otherwise be scared off by the sheer brilliance of the top dogs? I mean, if it weren’t for taxi drivers all over the world, I never would have thought it possible to ever pass my driving test! And if it weren’t for politicians, the morally corrupt might think there was only a career for them in scams, fraud, and theft! And if it wasn’t for lawyers…
OK, maybe I should stop before I paint myself into a rather ugly corner here. The question is (or questions are) - Is it inspirational to see other’s shortcomings, or is it merely unprofessional, and irresponsible? Or does it not really make much difference either way – it’s only a blog?
Related posts:
Writing Stuff
August 20, 2014
Clarity on Depression
Wow. That last post was seen by quite a lot of people. I don’t know how many because I purposely avoid figures and statistics as I find stuff like that stifles my struggling creativity, but it was enough to crash the servers of my blog providers.
(If you haven’t read my last post you can see it here, because this one won’t make much sense without it).
Of course, I’m glad that so many people read it, as the message of that post was something I wanted as many people as possible to understand. Unfortunately, no doubt due to my ineptitude as a writer, many, many people appeared NOT to understand that message. I received a lot of angry, hate-filled messages arguing other subjects inspired by the text – Is suicide a choice? Can we compare Depression to Cancer? Do I know what the f**k I’m talking about? Etc. And, of all of these angry messages, none of them were discussing what the post was actually about.
In my defence, my blog isn’t usually a hive of activity, and I really only expected a handful of people to read it, so it was really just a quick note that I wrote between my usual daily tasks. Nonetheless, I feel, for once and for all, I really ought to spell out, plainly and clearly, exactly what I was trying to say. So here it is – my opinion:
Depression is a widely misunderstood illness that it is not suffered by choice.
It’s quite simple.
The sheer number of contradictory comments I found on my blog, Facebook and Twitter, from people with conflicting opinions on Depression, stand as proof that the illness is widely misunderstood. Even those who have or do suffer from it can’t seem to agree!
And the idea that people suffer Depression by choice, or as a result of their own refusal to try to cheer up, is surely a no-brainer. It’s an illness – how can you choose an illness? But this is where the real divide seems to lie. This is where opinions really clash. And this is where the real problem in general lack of understanding Depression really arises.
It seems that any of us who have ever suffered Depression, or have ever known anyone with Depression, or known someone who took their own life as a result of depression, automatically become experts on the subject. We are not. I am not. How can one person ever claim to understand what is going on inside the brain of another? I have had a headache once, but that does not qualify me to claim to know what it feels like to die from head trauma. Our minds are all different and unique to us, and since Depression is an illness that affects our minds, we can assume that each and every case of Depression is different and unique too.
Another clashing point seems to be as to whether you can choose to get better from Depression. If this were possible there would be no such thing as Depression. It’s as simple as that. You can choose to fight depression, and I personally cannot imagine a single living human being with Depression that is not fighting it every single day of their lives. But, as I mentioned in my previous post, so few people seem to understand that just because Depression affects the mind, that doesn’t mean the sufferer is able to change their mind about whether to have depression or not. Some therapies can help train the mind into ignoring some of the effects of Depression, but that is a million miles away from someone having the ability to wake up one morning and say “Ah, screw it, I can’t be bothered having Depression any more,” and being miraculously cured (though I’m sure
I’ll get some messages about cases where this exact thing happened!)
Depression is an illness that effects the mind, just as heart disease is an illness that effects the heart, but you don’t expect a mere “change of heart” to cure that disease do you?
I know people who quite clearly have Depression but refuse to seek help because they are emb arrassed or ashamed or simply don’t want to accept that something might be “wrong” with them. I know people who have been diagnosed with Depression, yet still believe that it is their fault that they feel this way. And I have witnessed a young lady, who believed she was suffering from Depression, approach her own mum for advice, who, at the time, also suffered Depression, only to be told “Don’t be so stupid! What have you got to be depressed about?” This, to me, is so wrong, and is proof that we, the general public, need a far better understanding of what Depression is.
We need to understand that it is not someone’s fault if they suffer Depression. We need to understand that suffering Depression is not the same as feeling depressed. We need to understand that you don’t necessarily have to have something to be depressed about to suffer Depression. And we need to understand that there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about in suffering Depression. And this last point is where I will unapologetically compare Depression to Cancer, Heart Disease, Appendicitis or any other illness under the sun that isn’t a result of having sex with animals – there is nothing, NOTHING to be ashamed about. And it is this shame, which is a result of our lack of understanding, which is stopping people from speaking out about their Depression, which only leaves more room for people to fill that void with comments fuelled by ignorance and short-sightedness.
So, to all of you who don’t only have negative, hurtful aspersions to share – Start talking about Depression. End the stigma. Start educating the ignorant. And, in the words of Johnny Mercer, “Accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative.”
Related posts:
Robin Williams Did Not Die From Suicide
The Final Chapter
Is It Just Me…? Part 2
August 12, 2014
Robin Williams Did Not Die From Suicide
Robin Williams didn’t die form suicide. I only just heard the sad, sad news of Robin Williams’s death. My wife sent me a message to tell me he had died, and, when I asked her what he died from, she told me something that nobody in the news seems to be talking about.
When people die from cancer, their cause of death can be various horrible things – seizure, stroke, pneumonia – and when someone dies after battling cancer, and people ask “How did they die?”, you never hear anyone say “pulmonary embolism”, the answer is always “cancer”. A Pulmonary Embolism can be the final cause of death with some cancers, but when a friend of mine died from cancer, he died from cancer. That was it. And when I asked my wife what Robin Williams died from, she, very wisely, replied “Depression”.
The word “suicide” gives many people the impression that “it was his own decision,” or “he chose to die, whereas most people with cancer fight to live.” And, because Depression is still such a misunderstood condition, you can hardly blame people for not really understanding. Just a quick search on Twitter will show how many people have little sympathy for those who commit suicide…
@TateLovett thank u for being right. I love robin Williams but I think the way he died was his own stupidity. It’s sad but his own fault. — Kara Seymour (@kara_michelle01) August 12, 2014
Idk why everyone is so sympathetic towards Robin Williams. Yea he was a good actor and all but the dude killed himself. His own damn fault — Darnell (@Thathigga) August 12, 2014
Robin Williams dieing is sad but it was his choice What about the 1000′s of children dieing in Palestine that dont want to die thats sad too — TerryCrosbie (@Terry_Crosbie) August 12, 2014
But, just as a Pulmonary Embolism is a fatal symptom of cancer, suicide is a fatal symptom of Depression. Depression is an illness, not a choice of lifestyle. You can’t just “cheer up” with depression, just as you can’t choose not to have cancer. When someone commits suicide as a result of Depression, they die from Depression – an illness that kills millions each year. It is hard to know exactly how many people actually die from Depression each year because the figures and statistics only seem to show how many people die from “suicide” each year (and you don’t necessarily have to suffer Depression to commit suicide, it’s usually just implied). But considering that one person commits suicide every 14 minutes in the US alone, we clearly need to do more to battle this illness, and the stigmas that continue to surround it. Perhaps Depression might lose some its “it was his own fault” stigma, if we start focussing on the illness, rather than the symptom. Robin Williams didn’t die from suicide. He died from Depression*. It wasn’t his choice to suffer that. 
*Please note that, at this point in time, the cause of Robin Williams’s death is officially a “suspected suicide” and no official cause of death has been published yet.
Related posts:
The Final Chapter
