Shouts From Down Under

Stop doin' it all wrong! Wake up to yoursefs, unner sand?

When you are wondering what to post on your Facebook status, or other social media places (I guess), aren't you so glad, and feel so warm and fuzzy, when it provides such an easy suggestion, and prompts you with the words, "What's on your mind?"

Someone I know once posted a reply to this that read, "Oh, dust...bits of fluff-- nothing much really".

Sparky Einstein says "You've been doing it all WRONG!"

So when we sit wondering what to write for NaNoWriMo, or just ordinary unfancy stories / poems / other, wouldn't it be great to have such a fitting suggestion already pencilled in the background like a grey-scale watermark that disappears when we start typing the real stuff, stuff that we own into that dialogue box.

Of course, there's always many, many suggestions in the back of our mind of what NOT to write about; yes, there are all those things that we are told won't work, even before we start scribing them, or typing them. They are negative things to say / express. They are incorrect, silly, manic, half hearted, far fetched, risky, dodgy, odd, ill conceived and worst of all, we are nagged, they are just plain WRONG.

Yes. We've been doing it all wrong. The whole time. Ever since we began. For the last complete era and time-lapse of our lives we've not known the right way to do it.

Well, do you ever see the way some people do stuff, whether it's videos, or stories-- whatever it is, and they have done it far less than perfect. If you read people's comments or reviews, the poor author or creator of this stuff is copping a huge amount of flack. These people want to kill him / her! Death threats! (Even if it is with laughing - perhaps that makes it even worse, bordering on creepy).

All violent promises aside, you have to admit that their product, or their effort at producing that piece, could have been done far better, could have been researched better, could have had better filming, could have used a decent this or that, could have been scrapped and redone. Even then it would be very average.
I've read comments about JK Rowling's Harry Potter stories that were far from praiseworthy.

But, hang on a second. How much money did she earn, again? How many books sold? How many queues worldwide for every release? How many tears shed when the series ended? So her stuff was that bad eh? Her writing and the whole THING was just...terrible??

And what about this man? The Crazy Russian Hacker? Is he really Russian? Is he crazy? Is he entertaining? Is he funny? Is his accent real? Are all these life hacks he shows us, are they all that great / all such news to us? Isn't most of it not only common sense, but glowing-with-radiation obvious?

Yes. But here's the thing. Look at how many views he's got on every video he has made. Check out those SEVEN DIGIT numbers of views! He must be earning quite a few quid a week out of his YouTube partnership. So it's plain to see that people flock to watch his stuff. People love his funny accent, his mannerisms, his quaint ways, his over explaining, his pedantic nuances, his sad humour and his Dad Jokes.
People LOVE it. Yes, there are many many nasty comments, but I bet they've all watched every single video he has made. And I'm betting they learned at least ONE thing, something new they never heard of before. I know I did.

Even my wife, who rarely watches anything on YouTube, especially like this, and more especially with me, she said she learned something she didn't know before.
It was the easy way to peel Kiwi Fruit. She said "I'm going to try that!"

And how many of us were...well, you'd better see for yourself. Just remember how many views this guy has pulled in, in spite of the amateur, bachelor, man-cave, LAD BIBLE style of the whole concept.



Then, there is perfectionism. We cannot argue with someone's magnificent talent, skill and charm, and their sheer passion and love for their craft.



And another breathtaking, seamless, faultless PERFORMANCE.



We are not all like that. Perhaps most of us are like the Crazy Russian Hacker. Or like JK Rowling?
We are just mere humans with our faults intact, average skill, a pinch of talent, and a bucket of slackness, issues, problems, life dramas and other intrusive interference.
We are writers of the human RACE.

We will be just like JK Rowling and that crazy Russian.

We'll have a go, and just do it, we'll do our utmost, put our best effort in, and then put it out there with the faults that remain.
People will still love it.

Remember this when you attempt the coming NaNo. Surge ahead! Rush into it with a slapping good run-up! Plough into those sentences! Push along with those chapters. Before you know it, your characters will be heading up the last hill towards the show stopping finish line, and you'll wonder how you thought it could be so hard.

Those people you got to know in your story, those folks that you named, that you held onto and didn't want to kill, those darlings as they say, those scenes, towns, farms, homes, families, situations, conflicts, romances; they'll all come together in an amazing fabric and after you've typed the last few satisfying paragraphs, you'll sit back in disbelief at what you've done.

Sparky