For Christmas 2008 I was in a hotel and I was bouncing about news concerning my novel Binaries.
In August, I'd sent copies of three chapters of my novel to 10 agencies.
You only need one to show interest though. And one did. They wanted the whole novel to read though before making a final decision (I knew that was par for the course). They'd get back to me after four weeks.
They never did.
It was 2009. Publishing agencies were collapsing. The development of ebooks via Kindle, Kobo etc meant that many agencies were uncertain as to their future.
Were book publishing groups going to go the same way record companies have gone?
More in 2009:
I asked one of my PhD supervisors about the fact that interviewing someone is one of the most powerful things that can happen to that person. I wondered if I should talk about that in my PhD.
He said I don't need to worry about that.
Privately I felt I should. Four years later finishing my PhD I was right. It's now essential. No more academic ivory tower.
But some still want to stay in that protective tower. I'll talk more about that later. Like what happened in Vancouver, Canada
More in 2009:
From the 4th April 2009 I had my first art exhibition. 17 of the pieces I created since late 2007 were there.
But then Liz got a call from the Royal Exchange Theatre. They had a gap in their art exhibitions.
So from the 1st Sept. 2009 I had my second exhibition at that theatre. Their marketing of that department was amazing.
Radio and television interviews...
I got the impression that their workman sorting out the exhibition pieces wasn't too impressed with my artwork. But then, looking back some of them weren't perfect I know. Some I redid/repainted. Some can't get better. They're almost perfect as they stand.
'The Raven Steals the Light' is one. That's an art piece where I felt I'd got everything right.
That picture is taken from a very surreal Native American fictional story.
And that story was in a book I read over the shoulder of a woman on a train in Vancouver. She either didn't know I was reading what she was reading or she didn't care!
If you do an internet search for the story you'll find it.
I'm waiting. Go on. Search for it.
Yeah? Found it?
You see how surreal that story is?
I had another art exhibition in March 2010. I developed new art pieces including my first using a Pop Art style of painting combined with fragments of CDs. This piece was called 'The Dolphin' and was shaped around a poem I'd written of the same name. You can actually see the painting and read the poem on my Life Cycle Media art website.
In 2010 I also created a new art piece called 'We Are Temporary' using fragments of CDs and DVDs. You can see photographs showing the development of 'We Are Temporary' on the Life Cycle Media Facebook page.
In 2010 I also began creating the art work 'Endless Repetition i' - Now the 'i' in the title is quite obvious considering that the CD fragments are arranged to make an image of an eye but...
Anyone know what the title 'Endless Repetition' comes from? I've done three art pieces using that name.
I'll give you one clue. It's related to the general shape I've created using the CD fragments. I'm sure you didn't expect I'd be giving you a crossword puzzle at this point.
Something else I started intensely doing at this time.
No, it wasn't about getting involved with UK politics. You can't blame me for that.
The rest of my PhD of course! I started actively interviewing people. You've probably read some of the articles I've posted on this website that show that I'm very skilled at interviewing.
Largely because I like people.
Most of them anyway...
In August, I'd sent copies of three chapters of my novel to 10 agencies.
You only need one to show interest though. And one did. They wanted the whole novel to read though before making a final decision (I knew that was par for the course). They'd get back to me after four weeks.
They never did.
It was 2009. Publishing agencies were collapsing. The development of ebooks via Kindle, Kobo etc meant that many agencies were uncertain as to their future.
Were book publishing groups going to go the same way record companies have gone?
More in 2009:
I asked one of my PhD supervisors about the fact that interviewing someone is one of the most powerful things that can happen to that person. I wondered if I should talk about that in my PhD.
He said I don't need to worry about that.
Privately I felt I should. Four years later finishing my PhD I was right. It's now essential. No more academic ivory tower.
But some still want to stay in that protective tower. I'll talk more about that later. Like what happened in Vancouver, Canada
More in 2009:
From the 4th April 2009 I had my first art exhibition. 17 of the pieces I created since late 2007 were there.
But then Liz got a call from the Royal Exchange Theatre. They had a gap in their art exhibitions.
So from the 1st Sept. 2009 I had my second exhibition at that theatre. Their marketing of that department was amazing.
Radio and television interviews...
I got the impression that their workman sorting out the exhibition pieces wasn't too impressed with my artwork. But then, looking back some of them weren't perfect I know. Some I redid/repainted. Some can't get better. They're almost perfect as they stand.
'The Raven Steals the Light' is one. That's an art piece where I felt I'd got everything right.
That picture is taken from a very surreal Native American fictional story.
And that story was in a book I read over the shoulder of a woman on a train in Vancouver. She either didn't know I was reading what she was reading or she didn't care!
If you do an internet search for the story you'll find it.
I'm waiting. Go on. Search for it.
Yeah? Found it?
You see how surreal that story is?
I had another art exhibition in March 2010. I developed new art pieces including my first using a Pop Art style of painting combined with fragments of CDs. This piece was called 'The Dolphin' and was shaped around a poem I'd written of the same name. You can actually see the painting and read the poem on my Life Cycle Media art website.
In 2010 I also created a new art piece called 'We Are Temporary' using fragments of CDs and DVDs. You can see photographs showing the development of 'We Are Temporary' on the Life Cycle Media Facebook page.
In 2010 I also began creating the art work 'Endless Repetition i' - Now the 'i' in the title is quite obvious considering that the CD fragments are arranged to make an image of an eye but...
Anyone know what the title 'Endless Repetition' comes from? I've done three art pieces using that name.
I'll give you one clue. It's related to the general shape I've created using the CD fragments. I'm sure you didn't expect I'd be giving you a crossword puzzle at this point.
Something else I started intensely doing at this time.
No, it wasn't about getting involved with UK politics. You can't blame me for that.
The rest of my PhD of course! I started actively interviewing people. You've probably read some of the articles I've posted on this website that show that I'm very skilled at interviewing.
Largely because I like people.
Most of them anyway...