Today I have an example of why I have a problem with all those memes that suggest that Team America are to hang together, cheer everything on each other’s behalf and AVOID NEGATIVE PEOPLE.  I have several cliquey groups of low denomination authors who regularly validate each other on every topic from contempt for the poor to ‘authors must write in only one genre.’  I kid you not, the culture of self-congratulation stifles creativity to such an extent that they actually try to tell you what to write to be in with the cool kids.

There is nothing wrong with writing rotten romances, or hackneyed mysteries over and over again, provided you can find an audience, or find a catchy way of engaging your audience.  Two self-published authors that I know of became millionaires simply by adding their email address to their work and requesting that their readers email them when they found any errors.  They simply ploughed the time they should have spent editing into relevant forums, investing in marketing and generally getting their name out.  Personally, I would not recommend this, since at least one science fiction author I know writes books that are effectively unreadable, and then entreats a massive number of other authors to become beta readers, ignoring any attempts at editing and repeatedly requesting positive reviews. (I am afraid that after only one attempt at beta reading, when I discovered that my editing notes were longer than her text, I had to leave this exclusive gang.)

The problem with positivity, or even your closest friend absent-mindedly saying yes to everything and avoiding giving an opinion for fear that you will not like them any more, is that one day, they will let the mask slip and your poor fragile ego, which you have been relying on to get the job done, will temporarily shatter and it is not until you find some way of assuaging your angst that you can get writing again.  This is kind of what happened with the original academic essays I was attempting to talk to Wolfe about.  As it happens, it is probably just as well, since my reconnected synapses are having a lot more fun than they used to, but losing your sense of self, and in my case, my maudlin and cynical seriousness, could be pretty damaging, depending on what you are trying to do.

It is also not a good idea, unless you are in an actual team situation, to go shattering egos on a frequent basis, since the ego you are shattering may be the one that ultimately makes yours fly higher. As a creative chef, I was quite keen on the whole ‘leave your ego at home and rely on mine’ scenario, but now that I am in a situation where I work alone, I am becoming quite phobic about any interruption to the flow at all.  It is simply easier to just avoid people altogether.  The loneliness means that I get more work done, and can employ a lot more stamina since there is no deadline.

The most recent attempted attack by a writer was on the grounds of my work being free, which is hysterical.  Asking a modern author in a market where 400k books are being published every year, to charge for their early work is a bit like telling a singer to make sure everyone knows they can sing, but not to actually prove it unless they have a thousand bucks in their hot little hand.  It just won’t work.  You can choose to pay for marketing, or you can choose to network with yet more people, but the actual problem with an unknown is the number of clicks you are asking the customer to make to get your product.  In my case, the nature of the project being extremely personal, (I really write for an audience of one, in the case of the Best Ever series) I do not feel I would want to charge. Besides which, my stories lead people back to look at my artwork. Interestingly, the artists that I have shared the project with love the idea. The only people who seem to have a problem with it are the very same low denomination authors that club together in miserable cliques, reviewing each other’s work and wondering why the numbers are not improving.

So, I am, ironically, developing a bit of a temperament, in the course of escaping the results of a family-induced state of utter misery.  Most of the time I am happier than I was before, but my temper is probably worse, since I cannot tolerate rocks in the river, so to speak.  I am not entirely happy with this, but perhaps with time I will be less fragile and my love of growth through dissent will return.  In other words, the old adage of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’  which has been something of a central theme in the past, will perhaps be reduced to the size of a mere tributary.

The Art of Persuasion

I have always felt that the art of persuasion was a bit out of my remit.  It comes into the same category as vanity, something to feel guilty about, something to be avoided.  Hence I have operated on a more frictional basis throughout my life.  Although, as my continuing affection for Wolfe demonstrates, I am partial to a bit of elegant persuasion, it is not something I have ever found a use for.  I prefer to be brutally honest and present a rational argument for whatever I want you to do.

Clearly however, the situation in my own country presents a new range of problems.  We now have an opportunity for change, in the form of a political situation pitching a pro-Scottish, pro independence party against the Liberal Democrats, who are largely irrelevant unless you happen to live in a comfortable rural community, and the Tories, who will continue in much the same way that Labour have continued, regardless of what the unimportant Scottish population think.

Some Scots are a bit slow on the uptake.  I myself intended to be a no voter, on the basis of the proportion of sick and unemployed people I dealt with in the course of my work, until I rethought the prospect of independence in terms of national morale, faith in the work ethic of my unemployed warrior nation, and the prospect of rebuilding the economic structure in a way that would make at least part of the UK function better.  There now seems to me to be nothing to be gained from remaining part of the UK.  Labour have opted out of their future in Scotland, even diehard labourites have seen through them, and the Tories (conservatives) have made Scotland’s less than important position abundantly clear. (and we all know how honest they are.)

Let us be quite clear on this.  45% was a very good result in the referendum.  It makes it obvious that independence is an important issue for the Scottish population.  It does not represent a football score, and it does not represent the permanent views of a population that has been repeatedly told that it is a ‘burden’ and ‘unimportant’ to the economy of the UK.  On the contrary, the conning, beseeching and lying that went on at the referendum tells you just how important Scotland is.  They cannot function effectively without us.

Those desperately trying to justify voting for the union are wary.  They believe that they will be somehow compromised by living in a country where other people have new opportunities.  They believe that a changed administrative system will damage their safe economic position, and they believe what they have been told – that Scotland is a puny plant, supported only by a few hedge fund managers in London, and their own taxes.

It is impossible to take seriously the views of Jill Stephenson, Neil Oliver, or Muriel Gray, all of whom have had a safe and tidy life thanks to their support of the UK establishment.  Muriel can bag as many Monroes as she likes, it does not make her any less self-serving.  However, the people voting no, who were brought up to believe that as long as they looked nice, supported the powerful, and climbed up the career ladder whilst minding their own money, believe that these people represent something.  They choose to believe this, because it saves them from actually thinking.  Thinking is hard.

My Tory neighbour is a case in point.  One of the last of the old school, Church of Scotland, Monarchist, military believers in Conservative British pride and empire, his real reason for his staunch refusal to think about independence is that he is an accountant, and does not want to learn a new system of paperwork.  When converting a no voter, it is wise to bear this example in mind.  They do not want to think, they do not like change, and their reasoning for their dismissal of you is that they think they own more than you do, or that they simply have no imagination to consider the opportunities that minding our own business would bring.

Most of us in the SNP are well aware how many rumours have circulated, about people not getting their pensions, about the SNP being everything from Nazis to Communists, about people being threatened with deportation courtesy of Labour.  Whoever pulls the strings in Labour does not believe that Scottish people are terribly bright.  The Conservatives are not much better, and the large landowners are terrified that collectivization will be announced as soon as we achieve independence.  I think we can all agree that we appreciate our land being kept wild, funded by private money, whatever our class delusions, and that Stalin was not a stand up guy.

Voting for the Fracking Party whilst Alberta burns due to oil sand fires is not terribly bright, so bear in mind that no matter how rich your Tory, no-voting friends are, they are not keeping up with current affairs, and they are likely to be rendered thoughtless by their easy wealth, and easy journey through the career or business world.  The fact that other people have less than them is a source of fear and pride.  Fear because the people that do not prioritize money are beyond their understanding and might take something from them, pride because they took something and you cannot have it.  You are not dealing with thoughtful people, so you have to gently approach the subject slowly.

Emotive wrangling about who they vote for, therefore, is not something you should consider in the course of your introduction to the world of actual thought.  They are likely to have been trained out of this in their Machiavellian journey through life.  Open their minds to the possibilities, and simply walk away.  Scotia, like Rome, was not built in a day.

Present the picture of Glenrothes with factories, Rothesay with a tourism industry, Kilmarnock with a carpet industry, etc etc. Tell them to picture the poor with gainful employment and spending money.  Point out just how much our country has been ravished and sent into decline.  Remind them of the hundreds of enterprising Scots who still exist, and could flourish once again, given the opportunity.  Do not discuss oil, romantic visions, and whatever else you do, do not mention that someone other than them might make more money than they do.  That is what scares them more than anything.

Twisty, for the second or third time since I have known him, carefully enunciated the words ‘Poor People’ at me, as if I could not possibly know what this means.

Considering the last twenty years, let alone the ones before that, I have no idea why my friends continue to maintain this assumption of my privilege.  Privilege in Glasgow means that you do not get the help everyone else is entitled to, because someone was stupid enough to work and earn money, that you do not get jobs you are well qualified for, on the grounds that someone else would benefit more from them than you would, and even if you do manage to scrape your way into something just to pay your way, the people working with you make all sorts of assumptions about you based on your ‘posh accent.’ You get tired of explaining yourself, so you end up assuming that most people are going to be assholes no matter what you say to them.  They are very welcome to the imaginary chip on their usually better paid shoulders.

My American, and some of my English readers, on hearing my voice, may not necessarily pick up on my ‘posh accent.’  The accent was acquired via a mother who, having been brought up by an enterprising widow, was determined that her little angels would start in life with a carefully maintained avoidance of the guttural notes that Glasgow is famous for. I also travelled for ten years, so a mangling of regional accents contributed to the current voice. More discerning listeners tend to pick up on these, but most of the time, it is better to just avoid people and their stupid assumptions altogether.

My father liked to circulate conflicting stories about his family.  It was not until tonight that I found out that he had not even told my mother much about them.   When my father fell in love with and bought this house, most of his family told him not to bother them again.  It was just not part of the communist pose or very serious religious ethic to go falling in love with beautiful houses.

I took a look online tonight to see if anything had been added about my famous great grandfather.  As luck would have it, not only was I able to rule out one of the stories dad liked to laughingly tell us, I was able to ascertain why my mother was ‘kept away from the rest of the family.’  My father, a quiet conscientious objector who defended himself in court and spent WW2 working for the forestry commission and taking care of the single women left over from WW1 in his family, was the grandson of Glasgow’s last great revolutionary.

No wonder his family were so embarrassed when dad fell in love with a house, and a woman who was not only Tory, but determined to pop out as many babies as possible.  He was rebelling against a bunch of revolutionaries.  I am now less surprised that he felt the best course of action was just to keep his mouth shut and work like fury.  How embarrassing to be the black sheep of a rather famous politically radical family.  I am more proud of him than ever.

One thing my father gave me, was a healthy disrespect of authority and from an early age I was very much aware, despite his quiet attitude, that everything was to be questioned, and nothing was as it seemed.  My mother and him happily argued for decades, whilst maintaining a shell that protected them from the children from hell that they brought into the world.  They were fortunate to have a house large enough for most problems to simply disappear into another room until it was safely quiet again.

Having spent most of my life shocking people that have known me for years if I bother to explain who my family is, little knowing that even my mother did not know, I have a better attitude than Twisty when people set out to wind me up with their ill conceived nonsense.  I am getting less tolerant of people however, which concerns me.  Lack of tolerance and patience is a sign of aging.  The sooner I get the next project underway the better.

Twisty’s comment on my Conservative blog posts was that I sounded like ‘Thatcher with a dash of Bolshevik.’  That makes perfect genetic, never mind ideological sense.

There is no excuse for putting a cross on a voting slip next to a party which has functioned like a death cult.  Politics is for the service of the people, not for turning a blind eye to the purging of the disabled.  The Conservative administration should be on trial, not sitting in government.  If you agree to what they have done, you are no better than they are.

Please frack Edinburgh Central first, Ruth. I look forward to seeing tanks in Haymarket.

I am uploading the blog, section by section to youtube at the moment.  I doubt it will help any, but I became distracted for long enough to have a run through the David Wolfe search.

He is very unpopular with some sections of the community, and even I agree with some of what they say, although overall, I would rather he made sufficient impact to get to more people.

I do think he would have been wise to drop the vegan BS a lot earlier.  Even I knew he wasn’t a vegan the minute I saw him, and I have avoided vegans all my life, as the first ones I met were throwing nails under horses to protect foxes.  What is vegan about that?  That is a class war, that isn’t veganism.  I quickly drew the conclusion from the vegans I knew, that judging other people was way more important to them than animals.

It struck me, as I searched, how much I dislike the sales style, the boiler room conventions, the vacant hippy sitting next to him, the shirts, the pithy approach.  I have avoided actually listening for years.  I think he got maybe 4 months of actual attention before I stopped looking or listening.  This is a short timespan in which to get people to buy into your ethos.  I realise, from my correspondents that most people last longer, and certainly spend a lot more than I did.  I knew what the deal with David was pretty early on, so I determined that no matter what else I did, he was not going to be getting any actual money.

I see he has made it into a movie, as a particularly annoying character.  It is a shame that Andy Samberg was insufficiently popular to name him as the inspiration for Cuckoo, also, as it might have done him some good in the UK.

It is all quite depressing.  I am less surprised now at the strong element of feeling sorry for him.  My life is a disaster, but at least I have some privacy and time.  At least I can accept the gifts that life offers now and again, and refrain from this obsession with taking that he has.  I frequently mistake this for oblique acknowledgement, but really it is just lack of imagination.  It makes me very sad, that nothing that I do will ever be good enough, and yet he still feels quite free to check in and see if there is anything worth taking.

I will never be rich, but I will always be original.

Living like a superhero

I dipped back into my mail, and a long term correspondent indicated that Wolfe has successfully infiltrated some more TV with some superfood, superhero stuff.  This is a bit of a stretch for those outside the USA.  It seems to work reasonably well for him in terms of gaining followers there however.

It seems a bit of a tough ask, living like a superhero.  Surely it is much easier just to live at speed, not engaging in any complicated interactions, working hard, and having fun with people you are used to, so that you know their limitations and agree to them. Nobody too challenging, so that you don’t have to change anything about yourself.

When is Ina being naughty, I wonder? Is it when she comes right out and says it, or questions the thinking behind it?

All joking aside, the superhero marketing, which I seem to remember started after the diabolical ‘Amazing Grace,’ leaves me cold, personally.  I guess it is aimed at the sort of audience I would personally avoid, but then I don’t do money, golfers or people who spend their lives blocking out actual thought.

It is not something I plan to make use of in the development of the game, so I am sorry if this does not suit.  The computer game will be a lot closer to the bone in terms of breaking down reality, rather than the marketing sub-reality.

On a more encouraging note, alternative health benefits enormously from this more imaginative approach to marketing.  Wolfe has managed to take a fairly mundane, and in some cases, extremely grim topic, and turn it into a circus event, attracting a sector of the wider community who like to spend lots of disposable income.  This is very smart marketing, and anyone in the alternative health movement would benefit enormously from allowing some of this pzazz to rub off.

Retaining this passing crowd after they have moved on to bigger responsibilities is more difficult.  People only fall in love with Peter Pan for so long.  It is a difficulty I have sought to address with the books, although my readership are far wider spread, slightly older and more appreciative of depth than Wolfe is interested in.  I always think of him as a colander.  It does not matter how much you pour in, it slowly trickles back out and only a proportion of it is retained for the wider alternative health market.

Solving this problem is something that will only happen when Wolfe himself accepts that there is more to it than drive.  He may never accept this, and it certainly isn’t in my remit to change policies which continue to work moderately well for him.  It is really better not to look or know anything about it.

Virgin was successful because the company matured with Richard Branson.  He has successfully harnessed a lifelong market because he has moved his marketing position from trendy but scruffy to a bland, all encompassing consistency which now attracts people investing in pensions and financial products.

I could make quite a lengthy post about the evolution of Virgin, but I know from experience that followers of Virgin, Americans and people who think that money trumps knowledge would become angry that they had not noticed the cunning behind the money machine.  People do not like it when you point out what they haven’t noticed, and they assume that you are envious of something which is rooted in fact.  No successful person is altogether nice.  The two simply do not go together.

Anyway, demanding that you live like a superhero is a pretty big demand, appreciated only by airheads and the easily entertained.  It is not something that appeals to people on a lifelong basis, so perhaps it is I that should accept that Peter Pan likes variety, and imagines that everyone will have their somewhat embarrassing Wolfe phase. I was supposed to let this go years ago, but I refuse to give up on his development, which I regard as somewhat neglected in favour of the transitory public.

It is a shame, because there is a sterling person in there, who deserves so much more than he asks from life.

I discovered everipedia yesterday, and duly created my entry.  Little did I know, how seriously weird I am.

I naturally assumed that everyone thought like I did about new services such as this.  I immediately used my entry to publicize everipedia and myself at the same time, with the idea that the more people who put their entries up, the more useful the service becomes. This is what I had assumed the Better Person Project and Better Fashion Project people would do. I had visions of students and businesses adding themselves and their research to it, forming a community, networking etc.

I was a bit disappointed that visitors seemed to assume that I was going to sit and fill the website.  Either of these research tasks are pretty mighty to do on your own.  I imagined that providing the resource was sufficient, and that people would create a resource for themselves as intended.

All the recent trends in social media point to specialist fragmentation.  Whether that pans out for you or not depends on a number of factors;  whether your web format is simple enough (mine isn’t); whether you are marketing sufficiently (I don’t); whether you have an online network of enthusiastic bloggers punting the idea for you (I don’t) etc.

What I did not know, was that I am an unusually collaborative and cooperative person, and that I am pretty unusual in my ideas about sharing good ideas and information.  I assumed that everybody used their flushes of enthusiasm to benefit other people as well as themselves.  They don’t.

I think that this is very sad.  The internet has brought people together, and what do they do with it?  They misunderstand, they misinterpret, they argue, they discuss, they self express but do they cooperate?  Not really. They just assume that someone else will be doing it.

I wonder how people expect things to go if they continue to go only with what some giant PR agency or marketing monolith has told them is cool?  How do you think the world will develop, if we are socially isolated, badly educated and easily convinced that a label determines what is fashionable?  What happened to spontaneous group formations and diverse interest groups, promoting interesting creative and social action in collaboration or opposition to others?  Are we really turning into thoughtless consumers, who imagine that someone somewhere is throwing money at something for no apparent reason?

From an era of free speech, freedom of action and reaction, in my lifetime, we have ‘progressed’ to being a nation of inactive, demanding and thoughtless zombies, waiting to be told what to want next.  It is not healthy already, and this is only the beginning.

Officially I am now rather popular on everipedia, when I look at the entries of even well known people. In about 24 hours, I have spread the word to a million or so people (by facebook count) and have some hits not only on my profile, but raised awareness that people can put themselves on the site.  Now imagine if everybody did the same thing.  The site would become useful.  A rather more realistic and less snobby version of wikipedia, with more imaginative responses.  What on earth could be wrong with that?

Instead, I imagine that it will become another tsu, which is far better for you than facebook.  Still relatively small, tsu shares revenue with users, and everyone is ignoring it.  They will sit on facebook, having their data plundered, looking at ads and having their posts ignored unless they pay for them, but they cannot manage to find the energy to click on a new website, far less switch the computer off and do something else.

All hail Candy Crush Saga, and the tedious posts of some housewife that has a thousand likers on her list.  That is what the world boils down to apparently.  The spirit of the people is candy crushed.

That could get very expensive for you, if you are a small business or trying to get your ideas out.