Bouncing happy with my foot in the door

I have finally got my proverbial foot in the door of the publishing industry.

In the way of the door that is, as I progress on through. Not stuck in the door in an attempt to kick it down as many dreams had inspired me to do, those ones soon gave way to higher aspirations of world domination, but that'll come later. Below is my Paul Klee-style impression of how hard I was grinning when i got the call:

Manically it seems. This profound and joyous news came a week after passing my driving test - I was in WHSmith at the time and I was bouncing happy.

It took 9 months, and has come in the shape of a year long internship with Wiley and, I was not previously aware but, it's paid. Only thing is it starts in September so I'm looking for season jobs until then, ideally trying to scope out a few publishing related ones in the mean time but depends what turns up.

Very excited. This by no means gets me in, employed, for good. I know the struggle begins with getting the first job thereafter but it's a very valuable first step; could possibly even end up staying on there, who knows? I couldn't ask for more and I'm looking forward to it.

I've changed my name

Too many people have the same name as me. This is quite vexing. It's also why the URL you'll see up there on your address bar is stevewilliams1 and not the original which continues to be used really well.

So I've changed the name of the blog, it's now going to be known as

One More Glass of Crazy

and already I hate it.

On the up side it's more interesting than "My Blog" or "Steve's Blog" or something just as bland including the word "blog", an ugly word half way between "bog" and "bleurrrgh".

It will do for now, I may grow to like it.

i want to go here

Found the newest addition to things I must see/do before I die (click to enlarge):

No photoshopping going on there, those colours are caused by surrounding volcanic bacteria in the earth around it. It's called the "Grand Prismatic Spring" and is found in Yellowstone National Park, N.America. It's the largest natural hot spring in the US and possibly the maddest sexiest alien thing I've ever seen. Wherever I first found it someone had described it as an excess blob that fell off of god's paintbrush, nice way to put it. I'd see it as a portal to another dimension full of orcs or chocolate. Amazing.

tiger

More arty junk. I found a piece from ages ago, a copy of a favourite artist of mine Franz Marc who was was an "expressionist". It's the bold striking use of vivid colour which gets me every time; I feel most artists use bright and contrasting colours with some restraint, he lets it go wild on the canvas and speak for itself. He did things like this below which is possibly my favourite painting (I am now giving you an art lesson):

"Fighting Forms"

Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/marc/fighting-forms.jpg

Saw it in a museum in Germany and it's amazing up close.

Also this, called "Tiger":

Source: http://www.siu.edu/~dfll/German/ArtImages/FM-tiger.jpg

which has inspired so many ideas for stories over the years. Here's my pale-looking immitation in pastels below.

Drawing

random things I drew once, I scanned them and here they are. I am no artist but there's other outlets for imagination. Click to enlarge if you like.

Glowy orb thingy


I want a world where signs are always up-to-date


Spaceshroom



Tanktank


yes i know it's creased

rejections, rejections...

I'm beginning to become aware of just how bad I must look to the employers I'm sending CVs to. The lack of reply is no surprise, that's just how failed applications with no relevant experience go. I wouldn't consider waiting for a second, so I keep searching...'though unemployed for 2 months now this is starting to get very annoying..

An image has been building in my head of publishing bosses looking at my cover letter and CV and rejecting it. I can see them sat in an office, leaning back in a chair made from the skin and bones of something rare animal, window blinds almost closed, light struggles to tear through the slits and there he or she sits, manically laughing with a cigar in the mouth so hard that it falls out onto my carefully edited documents and ignites them, laughing even harder as it burns in front of them, they hold it in their hand aflame because they have no feeling in their fingers...nor their soul...he/she scrunches the burning material into a compact ball of fire and hurls it at a kitten who happens to be there in the corner - the kitten bursts into flames. He/She stares at it until it explodes, futher laughter ensues....

or something similar

I want to believe

I don't give a damn about the X-files.

I believe that the second X-files film is going to be terrible; despite a cameo from the one and only Billy Connely the trailer looked miserably boring and I never paid that much attention to the show so I can't say I'll be investing any money. I was on a writing forum and saw this pic and it has me convinced we're being watched by things other than British CCTV:

Source: http://www.cabiz.net/zolaric/ccposter.jpg

I thought that was pretty special..

...but look at this:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/uk_enl_1092327199/html/1.stm

Now if that isn't a sign I don't know what is.

I do want to believe, but I believe and fear we are merely being used as an art canvas.

In short: say hello properly and stop being mystical or don't bother..or just eradicate big brother from my tv's screen. God I hate big brother.

Dangerously Clever

Eyes bleeding over journals, sleeping in the LRC, 44-hour marathons, and more literary theories than I dare to recall to mind have been the last few memories of university life; three years finally nailed down at Uni of Hertfordshire my English Literature and Creative Writing degree is done and I got the 2:1 I wanted so it's smiles and self-righteous gloating all round.

More importantly for me personally I got the same grade for all my final year creative writing, including the final project: a parodic metaphorical short story surrounding the lifepath and inner turmoil of a clown experiencing an identity crisis. I'm sure worthy pieces will be making appearances here in the near future for anyone who wants to read.

I am now applying and pushing for jobs in the real world.

My newly updated CV is looking dangerously clever and geek-worthy; I'm actually having to put effort into the 'personal statement' and 'interests' sections and prove I have a life, which horrifies me.