Me the Hobby Writer

(Picture Credit - Publishing Guru)


(As posted on Triond 3\12\12 and on VoicesNet today12\5\2013)

Why HOBBY writer? Well I think that best describes me right now. I am quite comfortable with that these days. Let me tell you a story...

Do let me tell you a story. After all, telling stories is my forte. Well, one of them.

I write. More accurately I type. With one finger but at a fair speed. Be glad I no longer write: my handwriting is almost indecipherable at best. So, I see myself as a “Writer”. My Dad’s folk came from Staffordshire but no, I am not closely related to my namesake Paul Butters, who wrote a book about Stafford.

Both my parents did work (in Leeds) in an office for a while, before being directed into more practical, more lucrative trades. Dad was a foundry worker. Mum was a woollen mill worker then worked in tailoring before becoming a garden nursery worker (in World War Two). In fact, Mum started on the mill “floor” but was moved into the office to help with the accounts. Unlike me, Mum was great with arithmetic and Dad had beautiful handwriting.

On my Mum’s side (Haresigns and Gledhills) I have a half cousin who is a professional journalist. Just checked with her over the phone: one of my ancestors was a headteacher, and two of them were highly religious. My writing and “philosophical” DNA perhaps came from them.

At school I was a very slow starter to be honest. I was in the bottom band for three out of four primary school years. As a child I was very quiet, sensitive and often isolated. Maybe a touch of Autism there. Almost inevitably I “Failed” the dreaded Eleven Plus and was sent to County Secondary School. But there I was placed in the “G” stream (for GCE) and crammed for academic success! Five “O Levels” saw me qualify for a place at our local Grammar School Sixth Form to study A Level English Literature, History and Geography.

Even at Primary School, however, the teachers lavished me with praise for my “colourful, imaginative Compositions”. At that time my parents bought me a good set of encyclopaedias: so even as a junior I knew all about the solar system and the cosmos. In 1965 I shockingly (being an Agnostic even then) won the “Religious Education” prize at secondary school and bought a collection of the short stories of HG Wells. Science Fiction was my first literary love from a very early age.

At Grammar School we were taught that the “world was our oyster” so long as we applied ourselves to our studies. Their idea of Careers Education was the “Compendium of University Entrance Requirements”. Not encouraging for me: in those days most English courses demanded Latin O Level and top notch A Levels! As I flunked my A Levels I dutifully went to a teacher training college and got a Cert. Ed. Followed by a one year B.Ed.

Grammar School drummed it into us that we could do anything, so for years I believed I could write a novel any time I liked and get it published. I couldn’t have been more wrong of course.

Some of the most famous authors like JK Rowling have been rejected by many agents, let alone publishers, before making that big break. In the 1990s I had some poems and the odd story published by “Forward Press” and other now defunct small publishers, but that’s as far as it went for me.

The truth is that Triond\VoicesNet\Poemhunter and other publishing-platform websites have collectively been a Godsend. I cannot claim to be a “professional writer”, nor would I want to anymore. Even a “Freelancer” has to strictly speaking work for specific clients, under some sort of contract. No, I now see myself as a “Hobby Writer”, a free spirit who writes now and then for some pocket money and a little praise (and discussion with other writers).

My strengths remain the same as ever: a fertile imagination combined with a knack for story-writing, dialogue and using good words.

My old Careers Guidance tutor John Malkin (Trent) said never say “weakness”, always use the word “limitation”. So my main limitation, in hindsight is that I did not and do not Read enough. I am an extremely slow reader, which has its advantages with poetry, but that’s no excuse. My other Achilles heel is the lack of a sustained Work Ethic. When I get interested I’m fine but... Maybe I specialised in Science Fiction too early too.

Triond\VoicesNet suits me: I can indulge in writing as a hobby, and remain unchained. I can blog my stuff too once it’s had a run on such sites. Those old unrealistic expectations have gone. However, I suspect there are many writers about who still carry some unrealistic dreams. There’s a thought.

Paul Butters

More works:      http://authspot.com/poetry/whats-god-got-to-do-with-it/

http://authspot.com/poetry/paradise-road-2/

Update 19\5\13: "Beat the Bullies" has now had 5160 Views on Triond. But "Champion" on VoicesNet has 6221 and "Mirror, Mirror" (my blog) has 7051.

More work:      http://authspot.com/short-stories/marinia-seven/

Update 2\6\13: "Beat Bullies" 6012. "Champion": 6418.

4\6: 101 Views on Triond for my new story "Marinia Seven". That's great going for a story. Happy days.

More work: http://webupon.com/search-engines/google-it-2/

10\6: 66 Views to press for my blog "Google It". Good going. 107 for Marinia Seven. By the way, most of my Triond Views are from the USA these days, and then from TURKEY! Don't know where That came from. UK is in third place now. USSR features too. The USA dominance seems to be from "Bullies".

18.10: 115 V now for "Google It"! 6532 for "Bullies". 6481 for "Champion" on VoicesNet. "Mirror, Mirror" is 7060 on my poetry blogger blog.

11\6\13: 191 Views for "Google It" now. Not listed in "Top Ten" but still good.

14\6: 1078 Views on Triond this month but has now slowed. Maybe time to write again.

24\6: Beat Bullies has hit the top on 7077 Views. Mirror, Mirror has had 7068 Views.

More Work:      http://socyberty.com/issues/how-to-live-3/

http://authspot.com/poetry/no-now/

14\7: OMG! See that all my Triond links here are "403 Forbidden"!!! Anybody know why? Is it possible to ask Blogger or Google? If so, how?

Let's try a link to VoicesNet:

http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=138346

Ah, as I type, that link is okay. So it's TRIOND then. MMM.

Let's try "Poemhunter":

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/swirling-snow/

Yep, that's okay too.

15\7: 63 Views for  "No Now" - that's great for a poem. Am getting good Viewing figures on Triond these days.

More Work (In the hope that it will be unblocked eventually):

http://healthmad.com/mental-health/how-to-be-assertive/

More:      http://socyberty.com/work/live-on-triond-to-stanza-or-not-to-stanza/

(Have explained to Nathan at Triond that this 403 Forbidden thing persists).

26\7: "Beat the Bullies" has now had 7793 Views.

7\8: "Bullies" has reached 8065 Views.