mentalist (performed live at the Hammer and Tongue slam Oxford 2012 grand final)

My poem about the effects of the government's workfare scheme on those with mental health disabilities, performed at the Oxford Hammer and Tongue final on June 12th where I was lucky enough for it to be the 2nd highest scoring of the 16 poems in the first round. Any shares or pointing campaigners or politicians to it would be hugely appreciated - the URL is here I hope you enjoy it :)
 

What Do you Stand For

(I'm delighted to be guest posting over at teh Alliance of Independent Authors' Self-publishing advice blog)
 
I get why writers resent the question: “What do you stand for?” You can understand it in two ways. First, it sounds like a segue into a discussion of branding and marketing, and both of those are somewhat distasteful topics. And in a way it is about this. In a way.
Second, many of us feel that what we write and who we are are two fundamentally

different things, and asking a writing “what do you stand for?” feels like it’s eroding that essential boundary between the private and the public.
I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable (ah, well, I think we know that’s a lie – a lot of us *need* to be made to feel uncomfortable, especially when it comes to art. But not in a bad way!) but I want to throw some things out there to go away and think about. I will be talking about all of them in some detail over the coming weeks either here or at my new blog The Cynical Self-publisher. For now, I’ll leave it at concrete suggestions and hinted reasons and hope to get you thinking:
 ...
(read the complete article here)

Hungerford Bridge at the Hammer and Tongue Final (video)

Performing Hungerford Bridge at the Hammer and Tongue Oxford grand Final. Really really pleased with how it went - huge thanks to James Webster for some very helpful tips.

Finals

(yeah, the whole I'm on Facebook thing)

No, not the exam kind - I'm WAY too decrepit for that. Rather, the poetry slam kind. All the info on the poster. The Facebook event is here. And tix here. I have a feeling I'll need all the support I can get so if you'd like to come and see me reading some utterly new stuff written specially because I don't have a hope of winning but want to enjoy myself do come!!

1000 true fans part 2

The 1000 true fan approach essentially affects two things about your creative life – the things you do and the things you sell. OK, put together, that’s just about everything. Let me put it simply and then get on with some suggestions.

1. Know what it is you want to do
2. Do it the very best you can
3. Know for whom you are doing it and what it is they are looking for
4. Find as many ways as you can to find them, make them fall in love with your work, and make the love affair last by giving them what they want whilst never compromising number 2....

You can read the rest over at my new blog about which I'm very excited because I've been getting round to starting it for years! It's called The Cynical Self-publisher, and it's a self-publishing advice site for people who aren't interested in hard selling or bestselling but who want to do what they love and make great art. Click anywhere on this para...