Moving On

We all move on, metaphorically, physically and mentally.

Here we see a glowing example of how the barge that was featured heavily in Muddy Water (and where some of the hot action took place - say no more, say no more, Rowtree's Breakaway, etc) has now, at obviously great expense, been moved on from its dilapidated state.

I too have moved on mentally to pastures new, with unbound enthusiasm for projects plentiful and so-far untold. More to come in the near future.

Radio Radio

Exciting times are around the corner with the beginning of Colne Radio, our very own local radio station, GOING FM.

Yes, sirree, and yours truly has been signed up for a multi-rupee deal to present a regular daytime show.

I've just got to come up with a title.

"The Neil Watson Show"? No - who the f*ck's Neil Watson?
"The Arts Show"? No, too pretentious, Darling.
"Trump That!" No - who the f*ck's Trump?
"Guitar Masterclass" Could be cool.
"The Book Club" - Hmmm, we're
getting somewhere.

Maybe I could mess them all up and make a combo.

"The 'That's Another Fine Mess' Show" will be coming to a radio near you early next year.

I hope I'll be able to pre-record some of the shows from my old boat. I always wanted to do that.

And maybe from inside Tallulah?

The possibilities are endless.

Remind Me To Smile

It's quite tough, I've discovered, being a novel writer.

Florida Key is a fictional story set in Florida and Illinois, and of course Wivenhoe.

This time I decided to plan out the story in detail before properly getting down and dirty and writing the words. The trouble with that plan is that when you try really hard to come up with the story's intricacies, they simply don't flow as well as this author hoped.

The only thing to do under these circumstances, I decided, was to forget Florida Key for a while and totally immerse myself in someone else's work, thus freeing up my own mind, and letting it be open to subconscious thoughts.

In my particular case, I began reading Martin Downham's wonderful Remind Me To Smile.

Thanks to Martin for his yesterday-story about his love for Gary Numan. He is totally transporting me away to a world so far removed from my story-writing of today.

It's like drinking a tonic.

Phew!

Phew! Depression was beckoning and knocking at the door. My door. "Surely this can't be happening - to me", I thought. "I must rise above this."

I touched the plastic crystal that is supposed to bring me luck, and I thought positive thoughts.

It worked!

My brain began to engage with my fingers, and thoughts turned into words, via my low-tech keyboard. When the words stopped, I wanted them to continue. That was the emotion I had been looking for...the desire to continue.

And then, when I awoke prematurely at 3am, instead of wanting to return to the Land of Slumber, my mind was buzzing to pick up from where I left off, and get at least a few more words out.

At Last

At last, finally, thank goodness.

After days, weeks and months of deliberating, agonising and pontificating, I'm so very relieved to say that whatever was holding me back, has thankfully now gone.

You see, I had been trying to continue the theme of my previous book, Muddy Water, in which all of the chapters are written in the first person, from the characters' viewpoints.

A mistake.

I wasn't feeling inspired. I had been trying to replicate, but I was bored.

Nothing flowed.

I chatted with David, my publisher. He suggested I write the story in the third person.

It was like being given the kiss of life. It was as if I was being given permission to do something different.

Crowd Funding

Florida Key, the novel, is inspired by a true story of the discovery of a key, and will be published Autumn next year.

Yushi Yakamoto, as American as the next guy, was cycling across his own country 35 years ago when he is wrongly accused of killing the woman who seduced him on her water bed. Sounds improbable? 

The murder weapon was on his bike.

Writing in earnest begins soon. 

I think it's called crowd funding - people pay to become a character in the book. The funding enables me to take the time out from my 'normal' job in order to write.


It's a good plan - if it works.

The Old '57 Chevy

Come with me on my journey to find the words that will go into Florida Key.

Where do the words come from?
What is the inspiration?

Well, here is one such inspiration - a beautiful '57 Chevy owned by Joe from Denver. I met him on a mountain pass in Colorado - not Florida, back when I was 21.

His car HAS TO find a place within the pages. I wonder if it's still going, 35 years later.

I bet it is.

Mojo's Return

It's always good to set goals. Deadlines.

They must be achievable though, otherwise they are self-defeating.

My goal is to write Florida Key in time for publication in October 2017.

My bigger goal is to create a situation that affords me the time.

'Crowd-Funding' is what it's called, I think.

And now that my writing Mojo has returned, I can't wait to get started.

Where will this journey take me, I wonder.

Yushi Yakamoto was an American citizen, born in the country to Japanese parents... 
He leant his bike up against the hardware store that doubled as a coffee shop.

We're OFF!!!

Florida Key

It's been a while since I felt inspired to get the old blog up and running again.

I've been waiting until I had something to write.

My Boat For My Potplants is no longer mine, so I can't really write about that.

My Muddy Water book was printed and published, so I can't really write about that either.

But I could write about how Florida Key develops.

It all began in 1981...

Florida Key

It's been so long since I wrote a post on my blog, and it's about jolly time to get back to it.

Especially as people are queuing up to buy their characters in Florida Key, which starts production soon.

Back On Board

It's great to be back on board the old BoatNotForMyPotplantsAnymore. The sun's shining on it, as usual.

It was time to have another 'Book Club' meeting with David, my esteemed publisher and all-round good chap. We met to discuss my next book Florida Key, in between a few glasses of Merlot. 

And thanks to the real life Miss Baudet, she gave her permission to use her boat, now called MISS BAUDET. I must admit, it's looking a whole lot prettier than when I had her (the boat, that is), but SHOCK-HORROR - the HiFi and record player have been de-commissioned. What's Goin' On?