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The Saga of the Strange Scam

19/1/2015

Today in the Magic Thermos, absolutely nothing. I left it at work on Friday. I'm heartbroken (not really, just not nearly as spoiled... a good thing, if we all stop to think about it).

Today, I want to share with you a scam that some twit tried to pull on unsuspecting apartment seekers. First, some back story. The Amazing Flatmate has decided that our two bedroom apartment simply will not do. I agree. The Amazing Flatmate is now doing a fair amount of work at home, and the only space available is the living room. This means boxes of fabric, yarn, sewing supplies and other paraphernalia of working in costuming are all over the living room. There is room for one person at a time at the moment, so I tend to retreat to my bedroom a lot. I very rarely use the living room any more, and I can't really remember the last time I actually puttered around in there by myself doing my thing. Though, that will be changing soonish as the television and the Xbox are out there, and hopefully I'll soon be all set up for my SMC Awkwardly Plays segment on the Silver Stag Entertainment YoutTube channel.

So, we've been apartment hunting, hoping to find a reasonably sized and priced three bedroom apartment so that the Amazing Flatmate can have an office to work in. During that search, we stumbled across a Craigslist ad for a whole house being offered at $950.00 per month, utilities included. The house was not far from where we are now, with a beautiful deck and yard, and a garage that could be turned into a workshop... It is beautiful! It came fully furnished, which we were not thrilled about... we have our own stuff. Still, the price seemed too good to be true, so the Amazing Flatmate sent the guy an email:

Hello,

My roommate and I are looking for a bigger place so that we could have some office space and your place looks like it would be pretty perfect. Could we come and look sometime?

Please let me know! Thank you.

The following day, she received a slightly in coherent reply:

Hello,

The house has 3 bedroom and it cost $950p/m so i am willing to rent it out.. Firstly i will like to know how long you want to stay in my house,because I'm not in Ottawa, Ontario now, as i'm in Georgia, USA now because i just secured a new job here in USA and i will be renting it out for a long time now, as long as you want to stay, It cost $950 per month which include the utilities in the house. It is spacious furnished bedroom, hardwood floor plus secured parking, close to schools and major shopping malls. Comes Furnished with: ***Washer & Dryer, fridge and Stove, TV, Internet, AC, Heater, cooker and lot more.

The house is located in a very peaceful and cool environment, it is 3 bedroom with a kitchen,toilet and bathroom and a living room,the whole house cost $950 per month,also the house is located at:- 1248 Collins Ave Ottawa, ON K1V 6E1, Canada.

MY TERMS AND CONDITION ARE:

1. I ALLOW PETS IN MY HOUSE.
2. I WILL NOT ALLOW ARROGANT
3. CLEANINGS AND TIDINESS IS IMPORTANT.

So if you are still interested let me know asap to proceed on the next step...... Feel free to ask any question.

Regards

When she forwarded the email to me, my back immediately went up. We're not taking that house, I thought to myself. No way. This guy is probably the most nightmarish of landlord types, not to mention the nightmarish spelling and grammar mistakes in the email. And he will not allow arrogant... What? Arrogant what? FINISHED THE DAMNED SENTENCE!

Ahem.

I wrote back and told the Amazing Flatmate that I had a really bad feeling about that house and I'm not interested in moving in there, not for any seemingly impossibly good deal. Still, there was the issue of the furnishings that the Amazing Flatmate wanted answered:

Thank you so much for your reply. I am very interested however I'm wondering if there's a possibility of getting it unfurnished? I do have my own things I would prefer to move in with.

Thanks again.

To her credit, all the same red flags were popping up for the Amazing Flatmate, and she commiserated with her mother. As it happens, her mother lives very near the house and knows the couple who are renting it. That couple is not the same person with whom the Amazing Flatmate had been emailing back and forth. Furthermore, the couple were renting it for considerably more - more than double - the price listed in the Craigslist ad. Sure enough, when the Amazing Flatmate checked, the beautiful little house was listed with another site by the right people. They had photos and everything (it's a lovely house, but at $2 000 a month, well out of our price range. I wish I wasn't so poor). The Amazing Flatmate told the story and she and I both were exactly like this:

Image courtesy of Meme Storage. Click for link.

Immediately followed by a mutual:

Image courtesy of Funny Junk. Click for link.

The Amazing Flatmate asked me if I thought she was a bad person. I told her yes, she was... but for all the right reasons! Time to troll!

The hapless scammer answered the Amazing Flatmate thusly:

Thanks for your mail and also sorry for my late response to your message, I've been busy at the hospital with my wife and I pray I don't loose her.. So please forgive me for that, once again thanks for your full interest in my house. Attached are the pictures. It is available as soon as you want it,also if you're moving in with your furniture's there's no problem with that as there's a storage where you can move my stuffs. Its $950 per month, all bills are included in the cost of the house.. Like i told you that i'm not in Ottawa at the moment, that i just secured a new job in a company here in Georgia, USA, which mean i will be renting it out for a long time, am sorry you will not be able to view the interior at the moment but you can drive by to view the exterior, Because the house is currently locked up and have the keys here with me, So for you to get the keys, it will be posted to you via DHL Express along with the payment receipt and all the necessary papers,You will have to make a payment for the place via a money agent to me here in USA but before the payment, you and i will have to sign a rental agreement form in which i will like you to supply me the following details for me to prepare the form and send to you. You can move in as soon as you want:

APPLICANT INFORMATION:

Name (full name): ____________________
Current Address (full address): ____________________
Date of Birth: ____ / ____ / ____
Home Phone: _______________________
Work Phone: _______________________
Cell Phone:_______________________
Move in: _______________________
Move Out Date: _______________________
How many month rent can you pay upfront to secure the House now ? ___________

You can call me on this number : [number redacted]

Best Regards

I'm going to feel really bad if this is true, but neither the Amazing Flatmate nor myself believed the hospitalised wife story even remotely. Nor were we about to ship off any money whatsoever. Smart people like us (debatable, but let's ignore that for the moment) do not rent properties sight unseen. Can I get a NOPE?

Image courtesy of Meme Kid. Click for link.

So naturally, the Amazing Flatmate got her smart-ass on:

No worries about the late reply, I completely understand. I'm so sorry about your wife, I'm going through a similar thing with my twin sister, she's on life support now, I'm praying to Eir every day for her.

I went by the house the other day and there's an Ottawa Rental Properties sign on the front lawn. Should I get in touch with them to see the inside?

For the record, the Amazing Flatmate does not have a twin sister, and this non-existent person is not on life support. Also, Eir is a Norse deity (Valkerie or goddess, it is currently under debate) associated with helping, healing and medical intervention. I laughed so hard when I read her reply. Oh, but it didn't end there. No, Mr. Scam artist kept it up:

Thanks for your quick response to my message and also thanks for your concerned about my wife, may God be with your and your family as well. Once again thanks for your full interest in my house. God will heal your twin sister as well, I think it will be so foolish for a Man of God to cheat on you or get the money and Keys and Documents won't be send to you... As it was writing in the book of the Lord "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and loss his soul ".

Honestly! The House is currently locked up and i have the keys here with me, which no one had the spares over there, and i tried to email the only trustworthy, Mission friend i have in Ottawa, maybe the keys can be send to him, but he sent me an email back that he wasn't around at the moment, that he had left to Germany for 8 Months job training programme. When i come to think of it and put my legs in your shoes, i see that is too much risk or send money to the person you have not seen. But if you could trust me as i will be honest with you, do get back to me with the first month rent, then immediately i confirmed the payment i will get the Parcel send to you in the next 24hrs...

Meanwhile, you're to get back to me as soon as possible with the Applicant information's

Stay Bless !!!

Of course, now he is a "Man of God" and thus must be incapable of scamming anyone... perish the thought! He might "loss his soul." Also, he'd be willing to trust the keys to his Mission friend, but the bastard decided to up and go to Germany for 8 months. Those German heathens need to word of the Lord and Saviour! Or something.

Needless to say, the Amazing Flatmate did not send the "Applicant's information's." Instead, she sent this:

Thank you [name redacted]! Blessings to you too!

Rent in Ottawa Property Management still has their sign up on the lawn so could you send the key to them so I can see the inside? I have to know how much space there is. Or do you have other pictures and measurements of the rooms?

I'm specifically interested in the layout of the garage/workshop area and how I could set up my chicken and rabbit coops.

Thank you and may Eir visit you and your wife with her healing hands!

We don't have chicken or rabbit coops. Nor are we pagan. We are, however, very amused. Alas, our favourite scam artist is less so:

Thanks for your mail and I am very sorry for my late response to your message. In regards to your message I really want you to know that in my previous email I make you understand that the only trustworthy Mission friend i have is out Ottawa and I have no one there to represent or show you round the property. Meanwhile, I am not OK with sending out the Parcel to a Property Management you, if only you can make half payment of first month rent, then I will send out the Parcel to your address or wherever you want me to send it to and if you're not OK with this, I will advice you to look for another place.

Stay Bless !!!

Alas, this is as far as it has gone. The Amazing Flatmate has grown bored with it all, and has yet to answer this twit.

Word to the wise, never send anyone trying to rent a property money ever without first a) having seen the place and thus certain you want to rent it, and b) checking to make sure they're legit. This guy clearly wasn't and isn't. His Craigslist ad has been removed, as the Amazing Flatmate had informed the actual renters of what was going on and they in turn contacted Craigslist.

Unfortunately, they did not offer us the house for a price we can afford and thus we are still looking for a new place to live. Le sigh. That house was really very sweet and absolutely perfect and now it is out of our reach forever. Unless I win the lotto... In which case I would just buy a house. In the country. With horses.

Anyway, that is the Saga of the Strange Scam. It amuses me, mostly because I have no qualms about screwing with people who are trying to screw over other people, and the Amazing Flatmate constantly cracks me up.

I'm off to continue with my Welsh lessons. Have a wonderful day and...

Stay Bless !!!

11 Comments

Oh, There You Are!

15/1/2015

2 Comments

Good morning, Readers!

Today in the Magic Thermos, JenEric Designs butter rum flavoured coffee... Because it's delicious, damn it!

Today is the last day of the first week of training. Usually the classes are more staggered, with one location starting one week, followed by the other location. This time, however, they both started at the same time, which means that instead of easing into it, I've jumped in to a four day 3 hours a day training regime all at once.

At first I thought that my body might be in shock, as I didn't feel any of the usual workout pain I normally do at the start of class. Not even in my arms after doing Tuesday's weight session. Then yesterday happened. It wasn't so much in the morning, but by the afternoon my legs were (and remain) in crippling agony. We did a lot of skipping on Monday, and my calves are simply not having any of it. Tonight will be interesting....

Also absent was my normal appetite. I'm normally hungry when I arrive home from training, and starving when I get up in the morning. Neither of these things were true during this week.

Until this morning, when I felt hungry enough to eat one of the cats. Perhaps both. I didn't. The cats are both perfectly fine and alive and uneaten, but I was hungry! I still am, actually, despite having just finished my usual obscenely large breakfast (on training days, I eat a tonne of food). I feel better about myself now. I was worried I was sick without feeling it. You must understand, I never skip a meal. Never. It was really weird that I wasn't hungry at all during this week. Until today.

Anyway, things are back to normal. The pain will subside and I'll get used to the training schedule. By the end of next week, it'll be old hat and I will be less likely to complain.

Last night I taught my first class as the instructor for Introduction to Self-Defence at Carleton University Athletics. It was quite fun. This week was the try any class free week, and a fair few people showed up to try out the class. I had fun teaching, and I hope they had fun as well. With luck, there will be a couple of new registrations for the class for next week. It was good. It felt very odd introducing myself as the instructor for the class though.

Writing did not happen yesterday, and likely will not happen today, since I'm supposed to be giving myself the day off. I did, however, reread what I had already written of Daughters of Britain, and I quite like what I have down. I did a cursory edit as I went. Not many changes at all. When I hit the end of the story I have thus far, I did fair fair amount of brow furrowing. I have no idea where I meant the story to go from where I left off. I mean, I know the basics - how the story ends and the gist of what happens between the start of the book and the end of the book. It's just that I don't have a clue what the next step I had in mind was.

Luckily, I must have had an inkling this would be the case, so I apparently left myself a link to some research I had been doing. The link led to an article about the Batavian Revolt of 70AD. I guess I was going to write about that particular fight that Rome picked.

By the by, Rome in this period was an absolute bastard. Oh, I'm sure there were good, honest, hard-working Romans that really had no idea about nor did they contribute to the actions of the empire as a whole, but holy shit Rome pulled some awful stuff. They really were incredible arseholes.

That's quite an aside. I have Welsh lessons to be getting on with, so here is an image for you to ponder:

The face shield of a high-ranking Batavii cavalryman. Note the torc around his neck. The Batavii settled lands that once belonged to the Euburiates, a Gaulish-speaking people. While there is some debate, no one is quite sure whether the native Gaulish populace of what became Batavia were completely displaced of if they were absorbed, the cultures blending. My guess is that there was a fair amount of cultural blending. Image courtesy of taaldacht.nl. Click for link.

Ciao!

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Random Thoughts

14/1/2015

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Good morning, Readers!

Today in the magic Thermos - Rum Butter... Butter Rum? Buttered Rum? Damn it, I can't remember the proper flavour - flavoured coffee from JenEric Designs. It's called "Spiked Coffee" and it is absolutely delicious. And piping hot! Apparently, you can't buy it from their eStore, but I'm sure if you ask nicely and send along some money, they'll happily send you some.

I have some great news. I have finished the send edit of Human, and have sent it off to Beta Reader number one first thing this morning. Hopefully I'll have it back relatively soon (end of February) and can fix it up again before sending it off to Beta Reader number two. Having had the computer read the story back to me (a fantastic tool, by the by. I cannot recommend it enough), I am now feeling less like I hate the story and more like I kinda quite like it... even if it is a vampire story.

So now I'm quite looking forward to releasing it and no long cringe at the idea or feel like I have to explain that it's a 'vampire story' in an apologetic tone. It's a good little yarn, even if I do say so myself.

That means I can move on to Daughters of Britain again, though I think I might give myself the rest of this week off to get Human out of my brain and bring myself back to a better frame of mind for writing Daughters of Britain. That includes re-reading what I've already written. My style has changed dramatically with Daughters of Britain, and I want to maintain the quasi-archaic style of writing I have adopted for this novel. That means a lot of re-reading, a lot of re-researching (research always makes my writing take on the almost-formal tone of academia) and then a lot of time up in my own mind, reacquainting myself with the characters.

I think I'm also going to research publisher of Historical Fiction this week, to keep in mind for when I feel the manuscript is ready to be shopped around. I will attempt to get this one traditionally published, I think, though I'm not at all opposed to the idea of self-publishing it. I think I will shop it around for a bit first though. Shockingly, despite how horrible and dark the whole story is, it does have a relatively happy ending... Relatively. Enough that it makes me smile thinking about it.

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my six book The Great Man series. I think I can abandon the idea of having it traditionally published. It's been shopped around enough, I think. The question is, do I really want to jump back into the awfulness that was writing that series? I've spoken about this before, but writing that series gave me nightmares, made me irritable, had me crying in the wash rooms at work frequently and other awful side effects of writing an incredibly dark and unhappy story. Maybe I'll serialise it on Wattpad or something first. I don' know. I still have to decide. I keep changing my mind when it comes to this story.

Right, I have a lot of work research ahead of me today, so I'm going to stop bothering you and get to it. Have a great day!

The Snettisham Torc, found in a field near the village of Snettisham on the west coast of Norfolk, England; Iceni territory. Boudica, the famous British warrior queen, was Queen of the Iceni. The torc is thought to have been buried c.75AD. Boudica died c.60/61AD after her revolt against Roman occupation was crushed. Image courtesy of the British Museum. Click for link.

Ciao!

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The Magic Thermos

13/1/2015

4 Comments

Good morning, Readers!

Once upon a time, there was a woman who apparently showers too frequently promised all kinds of details about how sore she was now that training has started once more. Alas, she's not that sore today, and so doesn't feel the need to complain. This woman has a wonderful flatmate who often does little, thoughtful things like set the coffee maker to brew at 7:30 with enough cinnamon coffee for the woman to fill a Thermos and be on her way..

Well, fill that Thermos the woman did, then set off for work during a beautiful clear -25 degree day. When she arrived to work, the woman pulled the Thermos, which had sat snugly in her coat pocket (they're very big pockets) the hour walk it took to get to work. The steel Thermos was cold, and the woman lost hope of a hot cup of cinnamony coffee to begin her day.

But little did the woman know that this Thermos was a magic thing, and though it felt cold and frozen, the contents of the Thermos were still piping hot and steaming. So it was, the woman sat down to her ridiculously large now that she's training again breakfast with a hot cup of delicious coffee writing a silly story about how surprised she was that the coffee was still so hot.

*snicker*

Ahem.

In all seriousness though, I think the Thermos is magic. It's cold out... like... really cold out and the coffee, despite being in a Thermos in an outside coat pocket (not inside where body heat would help) and feeling frozen to the touch, is still hot. Makes for a really, really pleasant morning. It's really good coffee.

Also equally seriously, I'm not all the sore from training last night, which makes me suspicious. I am, however, struggling with the realisation that I am wildly out of shape. You see, I trained kick boxing for an hour last night, followed by 45 minutes of Kung Fu, and then I went and got ready to run. I ran for roughly 25 minutes. I say I ran, I jogged some, walked some, jogged some, walked some. I swear while I was jogging that I was lapped three times by this one guy who was running before I got to the track and continued to run after I stopped, got dressed and wandered out. He was just running along, even strides, not giving a fuck.

Ugh! I want to be able to run like that guy! He was faster than I was, had way more stamina and just looked so comfortable running on the track.

I felt like such a lump of lard watching him.

It's the same sinking feeling I get watching the other lifters in the small weight lifting crew that has grown within the ranks of my Kung Fu school. They're all so strong and good at it, and here I am struggling with the baby weights. It's really quite disheartening. Mind you though, I've spent my life not being good enough, so I'm used to that particular bitterness, and can now harness it for good... and by good I mean berating myself enough that I resolve to do the thing just to spite myself.

I'm charming like that.

In far happier news, I am almost finished editing Human. It's down to the last few chapters now. I hope to be finished this week, actually. Then it's back to writing Daughters of Britain, hopefully with enough time left over to start editing together the story that is currently the Your Very Own Adventure project. I think I have come up with a good title. Sky Road Walker. What do you think?

Right, I really ought to get to work, so here is a random picture to put a smile on your face:

Hilarity courtesy of explosm.net. Click for link.

Ciao!

4 Comments

Things Are About to Get Rough

12/1/2015

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Good morning, Readers!

Brace yourselves... training is starting today. I was running around like a mad thing this morning getting everything ready for tonight, the first day back to training in waaaaaay too long. Naturally, I forgot one of the most important things. Sigh. I'm such a dolt. Hopefully it'll work out, though.

I am forewarning you of the commencement of training so that you will be all prepared for the two weeks when I feel like I've been hit by a bus. I am not shy about it. There will be much sharing of the experience. Read here: I will be complaining You have been warned.

Much has happened since I last blogged. Last time I blogged, it was a heartfelt thank you to the lovely people who liked my page and made me feel a little better after bad writing news arrived in my inbox. Well, several good friends of mine took it upon themselves to campaign to get me 300 likes. In the space of a day they managed to get me 300 likes. I was all kinds of confused and touched ans a bit shell-shocked. If you've been reading a while, you may recall my New Year's post where I said that I'd be hoping for 300 likes this year (and if I hit 400 I shall celebrate!). Well, thanks to awesome friends, and their awesome friends I managed it. So, again and no less genuinely, thank you all so much. It made me feel really good.

In other really exciting news, the Your Very Own Adventure Project is finally coming to a close. The last ever opportunity to vote for the story was written and published as scheduled on Friday. You can vote by going HERE and leaving your choice in the comments. Next Friday I wrap everything up, and then I have to go through and edit it all so that it makes a coherent story to sell for charity.

Since I was so close to finishing, I went online and started browsing pre-made cover designs to see if there was anything out there already I might be able to snap up for cheap. This is a book I'm doing for charity, with all profits going towards the charity of my choice (THIS one) and I wanted to keep costs down to a minimum. As it happens, I found something that really worked. It's beautiful. Not thinking that I'd be answered so promptly nor helped so fully, I emailed the artist and enquired about it. Well, the long and short of it is that she has agreed to place the cover on reserve for when I'm ready to publish the book and I will be getting both the print and eBook cover for a very reasonable price. I'm so touched that she was so willing to help me out and so thrilled. People can really be wonderful sometimes. Do keep an eye out for that beautiful cover. Hopefully I'll be able to do a cover reveal by the middle of the year.

Now that the Your Very Own Adventure Project is coming to a close, I was feeling lost as to what to do with my Fridays now. I think I've solved that problem neatly. I will attempt to begin recording audio books. It might not work out, depending on the quality of audio I get, but in case it does, I will be releasing my first ever audio book this year. So yay!

In other spectacular news, I got in touch with a Sami singer, whose song I heard and found intriguing. And then I read the translation of the words in the song and it was absolutely perfect for The Seraphimé Saga. On a whim I emailed Berit Margrethe Oskal and asked if I might be able to use the song for a book trailer. And she said yes! I'm really quite excited by this, actually. The song is beautiful, and I'm really excited to share it with you once the trailer is all cut together. In exchange for the use of the song, Berit has only asked that I send her copies of the books. I'm so thrilled!

Also, my quest for a second job has been answered. My Kung Fu brother, who teaches Introduction to Self Defence with out school is going for surgery to fix his knee. I am therefore taking over the class, and getting paid for it. Yay! I highly recommend getting involved in martial arts. It has helped me so much. You can check out the class I'll be teaching HERE, though I cannot recommend Kickboxing and Kung Fu enough.

Things have been really rather good this weekend and I'm feeling very happy about it all. Things seem to be flowing much easier then they have been in the past, and it gives me hope that maybe it might mean I'm on the right path after all.

Right, I must get on with my day and so must you. See you all around this time tomorrow!

In the meantime, here is a photo taken some time in the 1900s of a group of Sami. Enjoy learning more about them HERE.

Those dwellings in the background are called Lavvu, and are similar to teepees in North America, but are designed to be more stable in high winds. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Click for link.

Ciao!

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Thank you. No. Seriously. Thanks.

8/1/2015

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Good morning, Readers!

I just want to send out a giant thank you to everyone who tried their best to cheer me up yesterday. The most incredibly flatmate in the world bought me wine and made me awesome hot chocolate with whipped cream. That helped. Then there were my personal friends who gave solid advice and many hugs.

And then there were all the random people who liked my Facebook page. It took me quite by surprise to have nine people - nine! - like my page in a single afternoon. What the?

I know it seems so silly and narcissistic, but numbers on a social platform matter a lot. It's not just the need to feel recognised or loved (it plays a part, I'm not going to lie), but having a large following can land you contracts that pure talent and hard work would not have. After all, how many people do we see getting book deals, though they are not writers at all? Why do they get these deals (and leave every struggling author tearing their hair out and wailing in despair)? Because they have the numbers behind them. Publishing houses know they can make money from them. It's a lower risk, therefore easier for houses to say yes.

So genuinely, everyone, thank you. I'm still sad, but your support has really meant a great deal and it helps so much. I am really very touched.

Image courtesy of carloweducatetogether.ie. Click for link.

And the news that came in from Paris didn't help anyone's mood. What a tragic, horrible waste of life. I am still trying to process it, so I won't write about it yet. I need to get my thoughts in order.

Yesterday was a shit day all 'round, wasn't it? Let's move on to lighter things.

This week, I posted on my Facebook page a short video about the funding platform Patreon. It is a great place for people who would like to show their support for their favourite artists and content creators. It's essentially a place where you can offer a small monthly stipend to your favourite creator in exchange for awesome (or not so awesome) perks. It has worked wonders for many YouTubers, amongst them Peter Hollens (who has a great YouTube channel and an awesome amount of talent). Many of them are able to do the work they love full time thanks to their supporters.

I think that is fabulous, a sort of democratic extension of a very old system where the arts used to be supported by the very wealthy. Painters, poets and musicians would often be financially supported by the wealthy - their patrons (and patronesses) - in order to do what they do full time. It used to be something the wealthy did in order to increase their prestige.

Because the arts used to be valued.

Now the wealthy turn their noses up at the arts, refusing to fund it even in the smallest amount (by paying their share of taxes). It is a sad turn of events, really.

Only now, those who care about the arts can do something about it - sponsor their favourite artist!

I have considered doing something similar, but I cannot fathom a way to get any supporters the perks they deserve for helping me out. Writing novels is a slow process. Publishing them is slower still, and quite expensive, all things considered. I can't find a way to thank patrons properly for a monthly stipend. I can't churn something out every month for them, though that would be some talent! As for the 'per creation' option, well... that's why I sell my books!

So, though I can't think of a way to make use for this platform, it might be something one of you could make use of. I highly recommend you check it out.

Before I sign off and head off to my Welsh lessons, I was wondering... do any of you have a folk guitar you're not using you might be willing to give away or sell for cheap? How about two of them? Just asking... for reasons.

The video has nothing to do with my seeking a folk guitar or two. Nothing at all....

Right, I have work to be getting on with. Thanks again, and I'll be back Monday, hopefully in a better mood....

Ciao!

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Feeling Blue

7/1/2015

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Good Morning, Readers.

I'm feeling a little like this this morning:

Sad. I'm feeling sad. Image courtesy of hdw.eweb4.com. Click for link.

If you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook (hint, hint), you'll probably not know why. I'll give you a clue. I'm no longer fretting about Skylark.

That's a lie. I still am. I sent it to another agent as soon as I got the reply. Yay, more fret.

Once again, I am faced with the decision. Do I pursue a traditional contract, or do I self-publish? It's really easy to get discouraged pursuing the traditional route... which makes it seem I self-publish because I'm not good enough for the traditional scene. For the record, I don't think that's the case.

It may well be the case, but I am happy in my delusion, alright? Don't wreck it for me.

The thing is, even though I really enjoy self-publishing, I still crave the that untasted thrill of of signing a publishing contract, with awesome people who know a good story when they read one. I crave validation from people who aren't my friends (and won't therefore always be under suspicion for 'just being nice'), from people who don't know me and have absolutely no stake in my dreams (until that contract is signed, then they do. MWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! Ahem... sorry).

It's so hard sometimes to push on when it feels like you're being blocked everywhere you turn. Of course if there is an easier way (self-publishing), people are going to leap for it. I am thinking that I might. If I exhaust the list of agents - which is a real possibility - on the awesome site querytracker.net, then in all likelihood, I will end up throwing my hands in the air and self-publishing the manuscript.

The story is good. I really like it. I really want to share it with the world. I also really want to be traditionally published. However, my desire to share my stories is greater than my desire for validation, and it will eventually win any stand-off. Whether it gets picked up or not, you will be able to read Skylark. Eventually.

With every rejection come those thoughts; those awful thoughts that plague even traditionally published writers:

I really am rubbish.
Of course no one wants to take me on, I'm shit. My writing is shit. Everything about me reeks of shit.
I'm never going to be successful.
I write worse novels than That Book I Will Not Name That Sold Millions Of Copies Despite Being Drivel.

On and on these awful thoughts go, until you feel like a puddle of failure not fit for existence. Seems melodramatic, I know, but I honestly get in these moods, and they're exceedingly hard to shake. I'm probably going to spend all day trying not to cry.

It never gets easier, even though I know I have a viable other option. It never gets easier accepting the 'no.'

And the thing is, that 'no' could be for a variety of reasons that are completely unrelated to the quality of the work being submitted. It's hard, however, to keep to that belief.

Maybe I am utter shit? Maybe I write complete drivel?

Anyway, you must excuse me for writing such a depressing post. I'm not really feeling chipper this morning. I'll be back to my usual silly self by tomorrow. I hope.

For now, I'm going to forget I'm a writer and start my Welsh lessons.

Ciao.

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