Alex Laybourne's Blog, page 94

The End of a Year

Well, 2011 is drawing to a close, and in much the same fashion as others, I figured I would post a few things about the year we have just witnessed. Not new or current affairs events, I mean, like we don't see enough of that during the day.

No, I was just planning on going through a few of my top 3′s from 2011.

Reads

Of course I start with books,

Tarranau - by James Tallett – If you were not following my blog earlier this year you would have missed my obsession with this book. It was possibly one of my best reads ever
A Thirty-Something Girl - by L M Stull – I have not technically finished this yet but will do so today. Never have I read a book so quickly or wanted one to last for so long
The Dark Tower Series – by Stephen King – I started the series in 2010 but read more than half of it in 2011. It was so unlike other works I had read in terms of breadth of story, character arcs and surprises. Not to mention an ending that appealed to my dry sense of humor and had me laughing for days afterward.

Movies

I am a fan of movies, and although for a while this year I watched very little, I have been luck enough to watch a few absolute crackers (and more than my fair share of crappers.)

Not all of the movies were made in 2011, but it is when I watched them.

Insidious – Direct by James Wan (Saw, Death Sentence …) – This movie is incredible. It was the first film in a long time to truly creep my out while watching it. Everything about this movie was spot on, and if you are a lover of ghost stories, or just like to be scared, then this is the one for you.
Unthinkable - Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Carrie-Anne Moss – I was not expecting this movie to be what it was. I read the premise very quickly and though … oh nice, an action movie. What I got was possibly the best psychological movie I have ever seen. The twists and turns, the emotions you feel towards the main character(s) is unparalleled to anything I have ever seen before.
Martyrs – Directed by Pascal Laugier – This French horror movie is the oldest of the three and one I wanted to watch for a long time. It is a horrific movie to watch, at times almost impossible. Yet it is this that makes is so incredible. To be honest, I would find it hard to separate the three movies in terms of ranking. Martyrs is a Frankensteins monster of the movie world, a movie people should fear and hate, but once seen, cannot help but love. It raises some serious questions about humanity that will leave your speechless.

Events

This one is easy, my three favorite events this year would be the birthdays of my three children. Seeing their faces as they wake up to find the flat transformed with balloons and banners galore.

1. James – 4

 

 

 

2. Ashleigh – 1

 

 

 

Logan – 3

 

 

 

 

2011 has been a great year, all of my friends and family got 1 year older, 1 year wiser. We survived sickness and health scares and are still smiling. I wrote and published a novel, wrote a second and hope to publish that early in 2012. I have created this site and seen it grow with each passing month. I have made so many new friends, too many to name them on here, and to save from forgetting anybody, I shall simply say that I am immensely thankful for having connected with you all these past 12 months.

 I have learned a lot about myself this year, and personally cannot wait to see 2012 arrive. For it brings with it promises of a great many things, for me, for you… for us.

Thank you all for reading, and all the very best for 2012. Let's make it OUR year!

Long Distance Relationships

I stood in the doorway and stared at the woman who stood by the oven. Her hair was held in a causal pony-tail. They way I always liked it. She wore a light yellow Summer dress. One I had bought her.

She bends over to check the oven. She looks as beautiful as the day we met. I clear my throat and enter the kitchen.

She turns around and gasps. Her face pales and I see her eyes begin to fill with tears.

"Alan," She whispers, "You can't be here." Her voice a little stronger.

"I had to see you." I walk further into the kitchen. She remains standing by the oven, although her attention is no longer on the contents of the pan. It begins to smoke.

"Alan, you can't keep coming round like this, appearing out of nowhere. We're not married anymore, I moved on. It took me a long time, but I did it." The tears fall from her eyes and streak her cheeks with silver.

"I couldn't stay away any longer Jen. I miss you, I miss the kids." I begin. I reach out and place my hand on her shoulder. She flinches at my touch, but doesn't recoil.

"The kids can't see you. It will confuse them. I'm with Tom now. They like him. It's been hard on them Alan. These last five years have been hard on us all." She takes a step to one side and my hand falls from its perch.

"They've been hard on me too Jen."  I struggle to hold back my own tears. The thought of the woman I shared my life with,  sharing hers with another man ripped me apart on the inside. "I never stopped loving you. I can't stop." I reach out and sweep her into my arms. I pull her close and feel her body tremble. "You are my angel."  I whisper, my voice not able to muster up anything more powerful.

"I know Alan, but you need to leave. Tom can't see you here. He will think I've gone mad if he finds you in the house." She pushes me away, but not really. Behind her the pan on the stove spits black smoke into the air, but she doesn't notice.

"I'm not afraid of being seen." I whisper to her. I hold her gaze and see the tears brimming in her eyes, glistening like diamonds beneath the kitchen lights.

"Don't do this to me. Please Alan, I can't go through it again. I need to move on with my life. You do too. You're dead Alan, you can't keep coming back here, appearing to me like this. I have to move on. I need to do it for the children, they need a father in their lives." The tears flow and her body trembles. She falls and I catch her.

I see her eyes widen as the realization of my touch dawns on her. Her body stiffens. "Alan." She exclaims. "You came back?"  She stammers, and it breaks my heart.

"No," I shake my head and kiss her. Her arms wrap around me. She pulls me against her and kisses be deeply.

"I don't understand. How? Your dead." She speaks in between loud kisses.

"I know I am, but Jen, my darling…"  all around us the smoke thickens, it envelops us and when it clear the kitchen is in ruins. The entire house nothing more than a burnt out shell. Water pools on the floor from where the flames had waged their war with the firefighters.

…"So are you."

Write What You Want To Know

When first starting out on my writing journey, I was told to write what I know. At the time this seemed to be not only quite obvious advice, but also something magical. A secret piece of knowledge plucked straight from the tree in the center of Eden. Yet even after a year of thinking of myself as being a writer, I look back at this advice and can't help but think, is it really advice?

To write what I know makes sense, after all, I know it, but what if I don't want to write about that. What if the things I know are boring, like how quickly grass grows, or which wall in a square room is the best to watch the paint dry on.

Personally speaking, I never went to university – and that is a different post in itself – and so have not specialized in anything in particular. In short, I have learned as I have gone, so can say a little bit about a lot, but that it not enough to use as the fuel for a book. Unless you are stranded on an island and in need to make a campfire.

As a result I have decided to take this piece of over offered advice and twist it. Not suit my own needs, but to suit all of our needs. Not at a reader level, or even at an author level, but for our personal needs. Personal growth should always be striven for.

Whatever we are writing, no matter how much we believe we know on the subject, research is always conducted. New discoveries or theories are made every week on topics previously thought to be understood, so why don't we take this opportunity and use to it its full advantage.  Why not take something you want to know, and write about it. You can educate yourself, expand your own personal knowledge base and still write about it. It doesn't have to be a novel, it could be a short story, or a scene for a blog post. You could even just write a few non-fiction pieces on this new information.

I am fascinated by profiling and crime scenes. I have been since childhood and would have loved to have joined the police force – again, that is another blog post entirely – and so I am planning on researching criminal behavior and basic profiling techniques in order to write my next novel which will look at the devolution of character(s) whilst under stress.

I have a long list of subjects I would love to learn more about, and (thankfully) an equally long list of short-story / character bios / novel plots that can be used to accommodate each of these subjects.

So tell me, what do you wish you had

What Do Reviews Really Tell Us?

Image from Google

If you are anything like me, you have a TBR pile that if it were ever officially noted down would take several lifetimes to get through.

Or at least one Dr Reid on staff giving you regular updates on all the juicy bits.

But seriously, when it comes to picking your books, whether to read, or simply to plan to read, what is it that you look at?

As writers we are driven by reviews. We seek them out, we see the notification of a new review and our stomaches twist themselves into knots… is it good, do they like it. Yet as a reader, what do reviews tell us?

You have spent hours browsing through your chosen genre and have narrowed it down to three books. One caught your eye because of the catchy cover, one because of the price, it was reduced, and the third one has been on your radar for a while. They all have good reviews. The catchy cover is rated 4.8 (out of 5) from 6 reviews. The reduced price book is 4.0 after 15 reviews but has 45 likes. The one that's been on your radar is rated at just 3.75, but has 36 reviews. Which book is really the best?

To me, good reviews are one thing, but like judging a book by its cover, they cannot be the sole reason to purchasing it. Personally I would trust a book with more reviews and a lower rating than a book with a near perfect score but only a few reviews. Of course I am talking more in terms of new writers and not writers whose other books you have read and enjoyed because then you already have an opinion formed.

As a writer reviews are the name of the game, because to us, reviews mean sales, and that is true, but if we are to expect our book to get nothing but perfect reviews and five stars, then we are either kidding ourselves or sending our books to people who will review so as not to hurt our feelings rather than with any useful information. How many and I use the terms with a cringe on my face 'mainstream' authors are there whose books have a perfect score? I can't think of one.

The Trouble With Blogging

The trouble with blogging is, you need to have something to say. Ok, there are always things that can be said, but finding those things that need to be said, or have not been said by others ten times a day for the past few months is where the key to success lies.

Personally, I have spells. Periods where every idea I have seems to form some post or another, but then I have other periods; barren spells that leave me floating adrift of everything and everyone like a ship in the middle of the doldrums. Running low on supplies and with nothing but the concept to keep me company.

Blogging is a platform, for some a soapbox, from which they will preach their views and force us to either accept them or to comment in retaliation. I have grown kind of adept at spotting these blogs now. Yet I am constantly surprised at how many I find. Maybe I am just naive in the ways of the web.

People always say write what you know, and for me that applies to any form of writing. My problem is that when I boil it down, I don't really know anything. Not to the extent whereupon I could write about it.

I am not educated or trained in any specific area, I do not read enough to be able to participate in discussions over literature. I may be able to hold my own in a discussion over Stephen King but that it about it.

I watch movies, but know I am to kind with my words to ever make a good reviewer, and am not the sort of person who can reel off a certain directors movies and trivia items with nothing more than a casual 'did you know'.

 I could blog about my children, there I have endless stories to tell, but that doesn't fit the theme I am trying to build with this blog, and certainly doesn't mix with my writing in terms of subject or genre.

Once I have something to talk about I have plenty to say, it is just getting to that point which causes the trouble.

Maybe I could examine myself a bit more, but that would open up a can of insecure and neurotic worms that nobody needs to see.

I am not saying I will give up, or that I am even contemplating such an act, but rather this is something that I feel needed to be said.

I see other people blogging and guest posting, while I can barely keep up with a three times a week posting schedule on my own site. I saw one author whose blog tour was about to begin and had over 250 unique stops scheduled. I got scared just reading about it, let alone contemplating actually doing something of that size myself. Although maybe a blog tour and the posts that comprise it are possibly a different story than the regular posts one puts on their own site. What do you think?

So tell me everybody, what do you struggle with when it comes to your writing? Blogging or novels it doesn't matter, all confessions are welcome.

Thanks for reading

A Few Good Men: Update

 Happy Day After Christmas Day Day everybody!

I will be brief with my post today, because I have only slept for 2 hours 14 minutes thanks to some naughty children, and I seriously doubt my ability to string together coherent sentences.

Following on from my post on the other day about the two charitable activities that were taking place over Christmas, I thought today would be the perfect day for an updated.

The Serious Request DJ's were released from their Glass House at around 20:30 on Christmas Eve. For those who missed the post, you can read it here, or here is a brief recap.

3 famous DJ's one totally glass house (other than bedroom and toilet), 24 hour a day radio making, and importantly NO FOOD.

The cause was War Mothers, a sub collection of the Red Cross helping mothers in war torn countries whose husbands have been murdered or killed in war. The total raised during their 6 day fast was an incredible:

8,610,004

 

The second good deed I mentioned was the Talisker Atlantic Rowing Race. Two employees of a company I am an account manager for. They are still going, and spent their Christmas Day away from their families, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  They are currently in First Place with only 1250 Nautical Miles to go before they cross that finish line. They have raised 29,500 GBP so far and I am sure that number will increase by the end of the race.

They even managed to find time to post a blog update yesterday with this lovely message below.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas Everybody

 

Merry Christmas Everybody,

Image From Google

Christmas is Coming and the Goose is Getting Fat

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,

Please to put a penny in the old man's hat;

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,

If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!

I don't think any other rhyme conveys the spirit of Christmas quite as well as this. The spirit of giving over receiving. Good will to all men.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that just because we are kind one week of the year that we can be miserly the other fifty-one, but that is a different story entirely.

I remember hearing this rhyme, and 'singing' it throughout the Christmas period when I was a child, and even now, come December 1st, it is the first rhyme that I speak or even think of.

That being said, since my trans-continental move 5 years ago, Christmas has taken on a new meaning. Given that the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas and not the jolly red-suited traveller I grew up with, December 25th and 26th are celebrated in somewhat different fashions. There is no roast turkey, no crackers or bad jokes – at least not ones pulled from the innards the exploding tableware – or even hats. There are no gifts, for these are exchanged on the 5th. Instead, Christmas is a time for family.

I know what you are thinking. Christmas is about family, about being together and sharing the holidays. That is true, but even I, a fellow who loves everything Christmas, will freely admit that the commercialization of the season has taken over.

This Christmas Day, my family will get together at my wife's uncle's house and have a large Gourmet – think a sort indoor barbecue with cooking plates on the table and everyone cooking their own small pieces of meat and vegetables etc. There will be in the region of fifteen people and we will sit, we will talk and we will laugh.

Boxing Day will see us make the 200 meter trek to my in-law's house for a chinese with pretty much the same people, less one branch of the family as they have their own traditions too.

The two days over Christmas are nothing but relaxing and filled with good cheer. Precisely the way it is supposed to be.

So tell me, what are your plans for the coming days?

Merry Christmas to you all, and thank you for your visits this past year, it has been my pleasure getting to know you all.

 

Bank Account Woes…. At Christmas?

You may gasp when you read the title of this piece, but bear with me, it has nothing to do with the time of year or even the contents of my bank account.

No, this is a post about the account itself, the services or I should say lack of services it gives me.

When I moved to The Netherlands just over 5 years ago, my wife still had her old account open, so we added me to it and Bob was my uncle. It was quick and easy. It is a good bank and I will be honest, they are very easy to work with. However, the one flaw is that I cannot use the card for make any payments online.

It sounds stupid, especially in this day and age, but I find myself stranded. I have to limit my online purchases to Dutch sites that accept IDEAL the dutch online transfer system, or Paypal.

Granted, this is a lot of shops, and what I actually buy online is next to nothing. The only place this really hinders me, is on Amazon.

I cannot buy my friends books, I cannot buy anything on Amazon. I cannot review books I have read because I haven't made any purchases. I can't even gift my own book to people. T be honest with you, it's bloody frustrating.

I know that amazon is not the be all and end all point for book sales or publicity but it is a central figure. Especially as my cover art is still giving Smashwords Premium Status checks a problem, and my cover artist is not easily reachable at the moment, amazon is my main source of Sales at this current time.

The solution is simple. We need to change banks, but for all the great things about country, bureaucracy reigns supreme. They have a why fill out one form when thirty-seven do the job just as well. Plus notifying everybody of the change and ensuring it is at a time when no bills are scheduled to come out, make it quite the operation. I guess it comes down to how much I want to be able to use Amazon.

 

A Few Good Men

This post is dedicated to the people it is about. Selfless individuals who are all doing their part for various charities, and doing so in ways I do not think I could do.

The first are two men I know personally. I work with the, or I should say with the company they work for, and have almost daily contact with them. At this point in time these two guys – who are normally based in Singapore and the UK respectively – are in the middle of the Atlantic in a 7 meter long rowing boat. Yep, they are rowing the Atlantic for charity.

The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge

The race is simple. Teams of two, a 7 meter long boat with only a small hut for shelter from storms, and 2,900 miles of Atlantic Ocean. They are undertaking this great effort for the charity Shelterbox. Shelterbox is a company that airdrop food and supplies into areas affected by natural disasters. By doing this race the guys are hoping to raise a grand total of 132,000 Pounds Sterling.

They have been rowing for 17 days and 18 hours now, and have just crossed the halfway point in the journey.

If anybody wants to donate to this great cause they can do so here

The second cause I would like to mention today is again one that is a question of endurance. Granted not on the same scale as an atlantic row, but then again it is endurance of a different nature entirely.

It has become an annual tradition in The Netherlands for three famous Radio DJ´s from a particular station, to lock themselves up in a glass house – only the bedroom and bathroom is covered – in the middle of a city centre and play to conduct a radio show 24 hours a day for those 7 days. The twist is that not only are they locked away but they are not allowed to eat. That's right they do not eat a single morsel of food while working in shifts for 7 days straight. That's nights, early mornings, you name a time of day and at least one, normally two of them are up and working.

Last year they raised just over 7 million Euros and this year they hope to beat it. It just happens to be in the city next to us, about 10 minutes down the road, so my wife has been to see them, and we have donated as much as we could.

The event is called Serious Request Live 

The cause this year is called "This one is for Mama" and it is for the families – namely in the Ivory Coast – who villages were ransacked and men slaughtered. The mothers have been left to raise their families alone and with no possessions at all. A donation of 15 euros will feed a family for a week. It is crazy and heartbreaking to hear their stories, and I am so proud of the DJ's for doing this. Celebrities who actually do something for charity, rather than those that just demand we give and offer nothing even remotely sacrificial by return.

Anybody interested in Donating to this cause can do so via the below link. It is in Dutch, but I believe the directions are fairly standard and should be usable.

 

To both sets of people I say, Well done boys! you have my respect and I wish you all the best in your endeavours.