Considering I've been trying to get my total number of possessions to something that looks like the number six, how come it's taking so long to move house? Granted there are a number of picture frames (along with tubes that contain prints that I've never gotten around to framing) and a lot of books - none of which count towards the six - but there still seems to be an awful lot of junk kicking around. In my defence, 95% of the stuff that needs moving is not mine but I can hardly leave Eleanor to do it herself can I. Not in my defence at all though is the 5% I forgot about - there is much that can still be pared down. Do I really need two desktop phone chargers/speaker type things? Not really. I didn't buy either of them so I'm not even sure why they're here - but I'm the only one with an iPhone so I guess they must be mine. I might keep one on the desk but the other... it's a small one and whenever I go away, I always put it in my bag and never use it. That can be redistributed to the world for sure.
It's the little things like that causing the backlog. I tell you - if you ever consider attempting to do this, you've got to be ruthless, then ruthless again and then even harder on yourself the closer you get to the goal. On the plus side though, I did achieve my original goal of being able to move all of my own stuff in just one car trip. It was a little cramped (that guitar case isn't small) and there's not really any room for anybody else but that's OK. The work continues - I still think it's a worthy task to pursue.
Also, if you ever find yourself moving house in the future, why not try putting up a shed in the dark that a giant rabbit has to live in on that very night?
It's the most fun you'll ever have with a hammer and your fingers I promise you.
••••
What's next on the agenda? One of the things I've been working on this last couple of months is this:
This is the last in the series of pop-culture related tattoo books for 2013 - and if the comparison to the previous final stages are anything to go by, this won't be the final cover but it's close enough. I'm thinking that I'd prefer a purple masthead to the blue but that's a small thing (and not entirely my decision either) but so far, so damn good. That goes on sale November 14th and I'll post up some links of where you can get a hold of it - I guess I had better start making some plans on what to work on through 2014 now too.
Alongside of this, the book on horror tattoos will also go live as a digital book for the iPad at iBooks on the same day. I've seen a couple of pages from it and it looks pretty damn special... whatever you think of tattoos or digital books for that matter, this is the way forward. In the future, I suspect there's going to have to be damn good reason to commit to print runs. The future of physical books in a bookstore is in beautiful books with much thought and effort behind them, otherwise I am quite content - more than happy in fact - to read fiction on a device.
••••
Something else I've come to realise recently - and maybe should have months or even years ago - is that getting published by a publisher does not necessarily make you an 'authentic' writer. This might take a leap of faith amongst some writers/authors but basically, you either write words that people want to read or they don't. How they read your work isn't up to you. Writers need readers and that's the end of the story. Success will propagate itself because it has to. If somebody comes along and offers you a great deal, that's fine and dandy but if not, it doesn't mean you're worthless - it just means that you have either more, or less, work to do than the next man especially if you're the kind of person who likes to compare and benchmark themselves against the careers of others... as I have admittedly done in the past too and it's a bitch of a thing to shake off but from here on in, fuck 'em. I can't play that game anymore.
••••
For the remainder of the year, I need to put some final touches to a few projects of my own too. There's three that I'm working hard on to see the light of day before Christmas - if I can keep my head together and not get too distracted by kids, animals and the autumn TV schedule anyway. Stephen King was right you know... TV is the enemy but it also allows me to stare blindly at it and never asks me to do anything. Sometimes, that's exactly what you need.
But I'd still put a baseball bat through it given half the chance.
••••
Finally, you might have noticed the Big Bear Rescue project that I've started - it's in the tabs up above there. I figured that with so many people passing through my reasonable sphere of influence in the next couple of months, we could get this bear free pretty easily. I called WSPA to see if I could find out what it took. Was it a matter of money? Did somebody need to head out there? What's the story?
Two weeks on, I'm still waiting for a call back from them. Sometimes you have to wonder exactly what it is that charities do all day long. Sit behind a desk, stare out of the window and worry about how they're ever going to make things happen? That's how it appears. I guess I'll call again - stay tuned...