So, as a man of my word and with it being Friday, today is the day I put myself out there and unleash what I hope will be the start of something beautiful.
For some time now I have been trying to accompany my working life in an office with trying to stay sane... and with the faint hope of succeeding I decided that writing a book would be the answer.
All started with great gusto and I was soon well away writing page after page. But then time passed and when I came back to find the time to start writing again I wouldn't like my previous efforts and found that my new best friend was my very trusty delete button!
So I found myself with writers block before I could even consider myself to be a writer, essentially all I was having was some kind of "sympathy block"!
Then I heard about the comedienne Katy Brand, who has managed to fund her book through a process called "Crowd Funding". This is where investors are called upon to stake money into a project for a return of some kind. In Katy Brands' case these returns were based on the value of investment and ranged from a "Thank you" in the notes to a full on character in the story.
Do not worry though, I am not here to ask for investment, this story of Katy Brand just merely gave me the idea to get feedback from the only people that count...you, the reader!
Anyway, all this brings me to now and my decision that it is either time to make a go of this book or just leave it in my equally trusty Recycle Bin.
So, here goes nothing, the first few pages... guess I'll see you on the other side...
..................................................................................................................................................................
Memoirs of a Random Guy
By Andy Brown
Copyright (2012) JustDrewOnIt Publishing
Chapter 1
And there it is, a feeling of
pure elation. A feeling only 1 in 100,000 of us feel from time to time.
A feeling so gut wrenchingly
unfamiliar that I felt the need to write about it.
Ok, so before the hello, I’d like to make two apologies.
Firstly to any English teachers reading this book and any
that have ever taught me for breaking rule number one and starting a sentence,
neh, this book with the word “And”. I hope you can see past that grammatical
error and continue to read this book for what it truly is…
One big grammatical error!
Secondly I’d like to apologise for the title of this book. I
was torn on a number of variations, each one as poor an excuse for a book title
as the next, but eventually I had it down to just two. Obviously “Memoirs of a
random guy” won my little “reality show” for rubbish book titles but only
because the alternative was “Memoirs of an average guy” which, I think you will
agree is nowhere near as sexy and probably would have put you off even picking
this book up. It’s safe to say that by reading this you weren’t put off picking
this book up and would agree that putting people off picking this book up is
the exact opposite reason for me writing it.
Although in the end it didn’t come down to sexiness of title
or even a rigged phone vote. “Average” may describe my looks and certain
aspects of my life (I’m not talking about my anatomical parts before you insert
your own jokes!) but as I write this I guess the word “random” best describes
my mind and all the other aspects of my life (again no jokes here please).
So I guess this is where I introduce myself. As the rest of
the book title suggests my name is Charlie Drumann. I am 23 years old and was
born and grew up in a small town on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. I
think you’ll agree nothing random or out of the ordinary about those facts, in
fact they are distinctly average but I also think you’ll be wondering how a 23
year old guy can even consider writing his memoirs? You’ll probably be thinking
“he’s not famous or special, in fact I’ve never heard of him” but that’s where
the sexiness of a title comes into it again. Far be it from me to put you off
picking this book up by boring you with the title, oh no dear reader, I’d
rather bore you with the content!
So by saying “memoirs” it attracts people more than
“thoughts” and sounds slightly better than “Randomness of a random guy” which,
in case you’re wondering, made it into third place of my little “x-factor for
rubbish book titles” but was subsequently ruled out because I thought it was a
bit too…well…random.
If you’re still with me then thank you. I can assure you of
a distinct lack of boredom from now on. Think of that opening section as my
audition stage to get rid of the riff-raff and save the better things for those
of you clever enough to see past that and to you I say “welcome to the boot
camp stage”.
This book is actually an excuse for me to let out and
attempt to explain to you my thoughts on a number of subjects, intertwine some
of them with some of the experiences I actually have had in my life so far and
sprinkle on a few of random wonderments for good measure. Don’t worry, I’m not
going all Nigella on you, I’m just “sexying” things up again.
Oh and before I go any further, I think it is only right and
fair that I explain the opening line in the book and make you aware of why I am
writing this in a slight state of elation. No not the kind of elation favoured
by rock stars or kids tv presenters but the kind of elation one can only get by
winning £10 on the lottery on two consecutive Saturdays! Oh yes my friend, that
sort of event on one Saturday causes a slight buzz, but two consecutive
Saturdays, my goodness I thought I was walking on the moon. Like I was looking
down on the world through eyes only gods could see through!
OK so maybe I’m forgetting about all the other Saturdays and
indeed Wednesdays I haven’t won anything and all the money I’ve lost through
that as well as the fact that despite my winning streak, or Midas touch as I
like to call it, my grand total of winnings was only £20. However, like all of
us Lottery players I choose to forget those minor indifference's and instead
focus on the fact that I, Charlie Drumann, am indeed a winner!! It was
literally like winning the lottery!
Page End.
..................................................................................................................................................................Well...that feels somewhat...liberating! I guess I better start again by thanking you for taking the time to read not just another of my blog posts but the start, or indeed end, of the future of my sanity.
The book will tell the story of Charlie Drumann, our lead character, who finds himself in a state of flux whilst trying to work out which path his life should take. Until one day, Charlie makes a decision that will change his life and the lives of those around him for good.
And for anyone wanting to pass this as there own, think again! I'll leave the details of that there as the last intention of this blog is to be negative...needless to say, shame on you!
So please feel free to comment, let me know your thoughts and ideas and who knows, if this is just the start of things then from time to time you may get sneak peaks of his adventures and could possibly help shape a literary creation.
Until next time, this is me...thanking you!
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