I need to thank Sandra over at quirkybooks for tagging me in this exercise. As usual, I have a love/hate relationship with these blogging “pats on the back” events that we indulge ourselves in every so often. They are, for the most part, quite fun and it gives us a chance to pass on our admiration for those whose work we admire. The Blog Tour is yet another of these attempts to help bloggers in their battle to stay relevant and I hope my severely truncated answers to the very short, only four, questions posed suffice. I will, as usual, have problems choosing other’s to tag since I have very little interaction with fellow bloggers at the moment. As I feel incredibly guilty for having to turn down two very dear friends who tagged me quite some time before this iteration, I decided to accept this and respond, however quickly, to show my deeply felt gratitude at being chosen, I hope justice will be served by my response.
Firstly there is the matter of the four questions, which I’ll address in the order that I read them:
1. What are you working on?
Not a book, that’s for certain! Although I write around two to five thousand words a day in my attempt to keep getting paid and to improve my ability to put two words together in a sentence and not sound like I’m high, mentally challenged, writing in a language that is not my “mother tongue” or someone who uses a spinner to put my articles together. I’m currently the Deputy Managing Editor/Senior Entertainment Editor for the Guardian Liberty Voice. A position I took up last year near the end of April. For the next several months, I wrote around eight to 15 articles a day which were, at a minimum 500 words long. I pulled rusty editing tricks out of my moth eaten bag and soon became the highest paid writer for the company. My output has slowed down to three to five articles a day while I get acclimatized to living in the American Western Desert area of Las Vegas. I write about the fluff of the world, Miley Cyrus’ sexualization of herself, Kim Kardashian’s wardrobe malfunctions and Justin Bieber’s bad boy behavior. I have written “real” news, but it is the entertainment field I adore.
2.How does my work differ to others of its genre?
Again, as I’m not currently writing a book, manual, tome, novel, or short story, although I will, oh yes indeed, and not too far in the distant future either friends and neighbors; I have a good many tales from working in Her Majesty’s Prison Service just screaming to be told. I have no real genre apart from news. However, if I had to label what I do, it is news versus the more “Perez Hilton” type of “blogging” news. I’ve nothing against the man, he has found his niche and filled it very well. He has also worked very hard to become a brand. He also writes about entertainment, or more accurately celebrity which is not the same thing. Picking upon Lady Gaga until she calls out her “little monsters” on you is not my idea of a good time thank you very much. I’ve dealt with some really talented folks, Marlon Wayans for one, and I didn’t pick on him once. I did, however, make him laugh. It surprised him. It also made us connect and it was a lovely moment. Do I ever see myself as the next P.H.? God, I hope not. I try to write all my articles from my personal curiosity, if it is that type of story, or to just present the facts and a little “history” if possible. I am not, nor do I wish to be a brand. I just want to be the best I can be at what I do and enjoy it in the process. So far? I’m having one hell of a good time.
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
This one is easy, to get paid and to be read by more than 60 to a 100 people. One of the great things about writing for the paper is that some of my articles have passed the million view club. These stories have accumulated over one million views by folks who read what I’ve written. Even if I did not get paid for my toil, I’d keep doing it just for that buzz alone. I started blogging to brush up on long forgotten rules and styles in the hope to get good enough that I could, one day, write the next great American, or at that time, English novel. Once I started writing, I could not stop and still haven’t. Like I said earlier, I write about entertainment because it is my passion and one that I still hope to participate in more than just write about. Anyone needing an older, slightly balding chap with a raspy voice for TV or film projects… I also should say that now, for the first time in my life, when someone asks me what I do for a living, I can proudly say, “I’m a writer.”
4. How does your writing/creating process work? I get up at around 10:30 to 11:00 each morning, after being up till almost three in the morning, and the first thing I do is turn on my laptop. After taking the first of my many heart pills of the day, I read emails, when I can remember, and start cruising the Internet for all things in entertainment that interest me. Quite frankly if it doesn’t irritate, amuse, upset, or surprise me, I won’t write about it. I have to constantly remind myself to present everything in the third person and to avoid writing what I think about the individual I’m writing about. As I am not a “brand-name” no one cares what I think! As a rule, once I’ve written the story and read it aloud to see if I messed anything up, I post it and move on. If the article does well, I am given a boost and rush on to the next story. If it sinks, I get angry and do the exact same thing as when it does well…I rush on to the next story.
And now for the tags. Firstly, I have to tag Marilyn over at Serendipty. A friend whom I lost touch with as I continue to rush through each repatriated day trying to earn enough money to eat and enjoy my “later years.” This lady has been a rock and given me a lot of food for thought when I believed I was on an intellectual and moral diet. Stop by her site and tell I sent ya.
Secondly, John over at Written In Blood. Another who continues to drop by and leave a comment or two on my links. He writes great reviews and has a passion for films of the scary variety.
Thirdly, and lastly, Natasha over at Films and Things. This young lady took a gamble and cast me as the lead in her first professional short film. I am forever in her debt, not only for casting me, but for introducing me to her talented team of friends. She helped an old actor back into the saddle and she is another to whom film is a passion.
I’ll finish for now, I know that for Sandra over in England it is already tomorrow so I am, in essence, late. Thanks matey for thinking of me in this blog tour. Sorry it took me so long to reply properly.
Michael Smith
Las Vegas, Nevada
May 19, 2014
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