Category Archives: Writing

The unexpected wonder of reading the greatest bedtime book ever told to the kids

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Each time I finished The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as child and young adult, people would question me why I kept reading the books again and again. One of the things I said to them was the wonder I gained from discovering new ways of thinking of the characters, the prose and the story. And, despite the 10 or 20 times I previously read The Hobbit, as I read 2-3 pages most nights to the girls at the moment, my memory is again delighting in finding new things and recalling parts of the story I had forgotten.

I’ve always believed it’s best to have read any book before you see a big screen treatment, so once I saw the teaser trailer for Peter Jackson’s upcoming movie, I was inspired to read it to them as a bedtime story, before they had their ideas about the characters and the story corrupted by the movie. It had been initially told as a bedtime story by Professor Tolkien to his children, and as a huge fan, I like to think it has always been an ambition of mine to introduce mine to it the same way.

They are moving away from having young childrens books read to them so being introduced to new, interesting and imaginative ideas like those in The Hobbit have to be a good thing. They are also discovering concepts of how fear can be balanced with longing and light with darkness. So much so that my initial fears they would have nightmares after the run-ins with the Trolls in the wood and the Great Goblin in the Misty Mountains have, to date, completely unfounded.

gollum.jpg

And so tonight they met Gollum, who despite Dad’s best efforts to sound cringeworthy and horrible, drew the loudest and longest giggles to date. No pre-conceived notions, no biases to be confirmed, just Mr. Tolkien’s prose brought to life by me.

Praps Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson have more insight than some give them credit for. Praps It likes riddles, praps it does, does it?

I’m keeping the progress of my reading, almost daily, over at my Goodreads profile – a great resource for reminding yourself of the books you have read and would love to read as well as discovering new works and authors. Come and join me, and share your own story about this wonderful piece of fiction.

Less Hay made in 2011: Annual blogging report

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,400 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Is AP forgetting simple rules by restricting retweets?

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Associated Press (AP) thinks their staff shouldn’t be allowed to retweet on twitter due to the high risk of their journalists being perceived as biased. Perhaps rather than issuing unnecessarily strict social media rules to their well educated writers, the AP might consider some other rules common to any journalist.

An article by Caitlin Johnston in the American Journalism Review exploring AP’s instruction to writers not to retweet on twitter was shared into my tweetstream yesterday:

Retweets are an endorsement says Caitlin Johnston in the American Journalism Review

My immediate reaction reading the content of the tweet and the first lines of the article was Ms. Johnston didn’t ‘have a clue’ and I wasn’t afraid to retweet with that as my commentary.

Reading the article in more detail, I know now Johnston was, in fact, going about her job by producing an extremely fair and balanced piece on the entire topic of retweeting and how it is perceived by various sections of the Media Industry.

She explores those retweeting rules recently issued by AP to their Journalists, including quoting AP’s standard’s editor, Tom Kent, as saying: “…by simply retweeting the information the journalist could be suggesting that he or she endorses it.”

Which, if you think about what happens when you retweet on Twitter, is akin to a scenario where I would say to someone: “so and so thinks xyz about abc” and that person then tells another it was I who thinks “xyz about abc”.

One of my favourite bloggers on the topic of Journalism and writing in general, Bill Bennett, also wrote today on Craig Silverman’s eight simple rules for accurate journalism. Bill quotes Mr. Silverman’s first rule as being:

 “Initial, mistaken information will be retweeted more than any subsequent correction”.

At first glance it seems this rule is backing up AP’s banning of retweets by staff, yet his article also teaches us “Failure sucks but instructs”.

Compared with the reaction AP might receive if one of their staff retweeted something controversial, my transgression against Johnston probably disappeared beneath most radars. I am however intending to use my failure to instruct myself  that “Verification before dissemination” is all important. If I can do that, then I’m sure AP could also respond to negative situations caused by a misplaced retweet with some relevant coaching and guidance for their staff.

Silverman’s last rule; “It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup”, needs also to be remembered in the context of any perceived failure. Circling the wagons often presumes further guilt by your the readers. The AP might consider that correcting the record and coaching their staff is a much more efficient response. It’s likely your readers will reward you and your writer will likely be happier too.

I can’t finish without issuing my own correction, despite Silverman’s guidance about them, and apologise to Caitlin Johnston for my reaction on Twitter. I thought her piece was actually excellent and will heartily retweet it as an endorsement.

If storytelling is for Marketers why are so many so bad at it?

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Marketing is partly about creating interesting content about a brand or product. Social Media includes the ability to create and manage conversations about the same. So why are the blogs of so many Social Media Marketers so boring?

Six degrees of separation is an interesting concept and I often try it while reading my RSS feeds on Feedly. This is achieved by following links under the “You might also like” sidebar.

However, yesterday while I did so with my “Social Networks” feed I quickly started to despair and tweeted:
“ Anyone able to fill me in on why I find the overwhelming majority of Social Media/marketing Blogposts so half arsed and boring?
franksting
September 13, 2011

One of the challenges I set myself when I started to blog is that I would try and relearn the art of writing. It’s a long term project, and I’m pretty sure that I’m nowhere near where I would like to be after about two years of doing this.

But after a twenty year hiatus, and not having to depend on this for food and shelter, I’m happy to take my time.
The greatest course I think I can take is to use services like Instapaper to discover great content through its partnership with Longfrom.org or to read great blogs like those of Bill Bennett, Denis Wright, Jason Kottke, Gavin Heaton et al
Longform.org

The death of the journalist who exposed dark secrets about Islamic extremism in Pakistan’s military. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch makes the case for paying college athletes. An interview with Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone writer Vanessa Grigoriadis on the finer points of celebrity profiling.

So you might say I have no business criticising the blogs I ended up on as I continued my journey through the nether regions of the marketing blogosphere.

But here’s the rub, which I didn’t realise at the time, but it seems that many of them are obligated as part of their contracts to product blogposts
“ @franksting (1) Whole bunch of people writing posts because they feel obliged, rather than inspired, and (2) so much has been said already.
steven_noble
September 13, 2011

Which, I suppose makes sense. But you’d like to think that if they even understood writing, they’d be doing it regularly.

I might then forgive the poor grammar, prose and general pointlessness, for then perhaps they are doing it for the same reasons as I am – in the hope that one day, they’d get better at it.
I hear it’s always important to finish on a positive (no I’m not going to name names of those who gave me a mid-afternoon yawnfest) and share the links I mention above and more.
These people are great and I recommend you read them:
ROSS GITTINS

The unemployment rate has risen by 0.2 percentage points for two months in a row. Taken at face value, that says the economy is rapidly heading into recession. But it’s always a mistake to take economic statistics at face value and, fortunately, the truth is likely to be far more reassuring.

From economics on a global scale applied to Australian conditions to the economics of the Mobile Phone industry – especially the disruptive nature of everything which is happening there

asymco | Curated market intelligence

After processing more than 1500 data points on the performance of thirteen technology companies, patterns are beginning to emerge. The steps so far: The final step is to plot the changes in the relationship between pre- and post-crisis for the set of companies normalized to the same starting point and then classifying them: The chart shows how the “average P/Es” changed after 9/30/2008 vs.
to a broker in honesty, never afraid to say his always enjoyable piece
Stilgherrian · All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris. Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Most of the week was spent in Kuala Lumpur, my first visit. I’ll write more about that anon. Further material from the Kaspersky Lab event is appearing from today.
to another of similar ilk with some great tips for aspiring writers
Bill Bennett | journalist

You may need to discipline a worker who has stepped out of line. The best approach is something a British friend of mine describes as “a one minute bollocking”. Managers often have little experience of good technique when it comes to … deliver a fast and to the point reprimand There comes a time in every employee’s life when a junior oversteps the mark.
and a pair of French Men famous for various reasons, but whose thoughtful posts on the Media and Technology always help me start the week well.
Monday Note

The TechCrunch / Arrington saga is the perfect illustration for the stealthy corruption plaguing digital information. Skip this paragraph if you know the story. In a nutshell: on September 1st, Michael Arrington, founder of the site TechCrunch, announced the launch of a venture fund (Fortune broke the story).

And if you want good “marketing” related blogs, you can do worse than these two. While much of what Brogan says is common sense, it’s the way he picks simple ideas and creates pathways with them which appeals to me.

And Gavin isn’t just in here because he was the one who encouraged me to start writing again in the first place or because we share a first name – its because he varies his content and provides some great insights into a profession he clearly loves and understands.

Servant of Chaos

Having watched Gasland the movie late last year I was astounded to learn that coal seam gas mining was planned in Australia. Surely, I thought, we’d learn from the tragic lessons of others.
chrisbrogan.com — Learn How Human Business Works – Beyond Social Media

My language isn’t safe for work on this post. Save criticism for another post. In this case, I need to use this word. Seth Godin is right to tell you to ship. Get your stuff out. Make something. DO something. It’s important. And waiting until something is perfect isn’t an option.

Gavin and Chris will probably tell you no matter what you write, you should always be telling a story. Denis Wright does that as he intersperses stories of his battle with the “Unwelcome Stranger” in his brain with some rollicking tales from his lifetime

My Unwelcome Stranger

home | WHAT’S NEW!  | stories from my past I haven’t forgotten about tackling God in my continuing journey through my mini-series on personal philosophy . The mood will strike and it will come oozing out of the remainder of my brain.   Maybe that’s not the best analogy, but you get what you paid for today.
Who are your favourite writers in the “blogosphere”? Who should I add to my reading list?

Being Australian is being less than 42

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Just over 12 and a half years ago I first stepped on Australian Soil. Well tarmac or concrete or whatever they used as the paving out front of the pre-MacBank owned Sydney Airport of 1998. In 42 days, an almost final step will take place in an unforeseen journey.

So in order to celebrate the “why” and also to fulfil a promise I made to myself back in February when I first applied for Aussie Citizenship, I hope to do an “almost” daily series of posts recalling some memorable – and perhaps not so memorable – moments since I arrived.

It was probably destined, for example, when the first pub I entered in Australia (the Paragon, I’ll have you know!) was showing the 1998 AFL Grand Final.

I ended up staying in order to adapt my arm to the tiny glasses they serve their beers in over here.

For the record, the Crows won and my first Swans game was the next year at the SCG on a Hot Sunday in August, burning my still Irish skin at the top of the Dally Messenger stand, versus said Crows.

6 years later I know where I was when Leo Marked. Do you? I was at the Warren View watching people run across Stanmore Road to put a blow up Cyggy on top of the statue and lesbians “cracking on” to my heavily pregnant wife.

You might say in Sydney, I should be following the local sports, but as those who know my sporting team predilections will tell you, I can’t abide blue on a football team. And, aside from the accident of birth, it’s red all the way.

Though that doesn’t extend to “Mar-on” (or however those Queenslanders pronounce it). And I can proudly say that while being soaked like a rat in the now disappeared North Stand at the Olympic Stadium at Homebush, I was cheering for NSW in the one and only League match I’ve ever attended. The first State of Origin at said stadium, more than a year before the Olympics were run there.

My only other experiences of Queenslanders at Rugby have, I’m sad to say, been negative. Both the shoddy organisation at Ballymore for the Ireland v Australia game there just three days after my state of origin experience in June 1999 and the overly aggressive attitude in the stands at the Sydney Football Stadium when their lot were towelling “our lot” sometime before Queensland Rugby players realised that dollars paid better than blood in the modern game.

Yes for a while there I got into the Waratahs, despite the blue jumpers. In the first few years here, I craved connection, and my love of sport was where it was at. And yet, despite my love of football, never for the local football teams. Perhaps now it is too late, but back then it was too fractured. And while I tried “Northern Spirit” for a few months, their tight ties to the Hun of Glasgow became too much for me in the end and I moved on.

And in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup, Rugby was good to be involved in. There was interest, I lived close to the ground, we had bought tickets to almost all the games we could get to. Roadtrips to Gosford involved a sea of green, to Adelaide involved a try fest and bone breaks and to Melbourne aching disappointment with empty stadia and poor performance by the Irish 15. All heavily dulled with Alcohol.

The Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2003 also had another fortuitous moment, but of that anon.

I’m reminded last week that while I was at the Melbourne Formula 1 GP when an Irishman took the chequered flag,  I haven’t been back for one since. Also that I’ve never been to a footy match in Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth – so that will need to be fixed.

Starting reminisces on Sport is probably easy, and I could talk about some of this all day, but I really want to talk about the country. How despite it’s depressingly long periods without rain, it’s somewhere worth being going out to. Getting in the car or a bus or a train or a plane and just seeing it. There’ll be plenty of that in the next 40 days.

Come back to read some more as my journey continues.

The afterlife or more lies from religion – a journal

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I spend far too long rationalising mortality to myself. So often, that I consider it a failing on my behalf. Just accept it already is my self-denigrating way of dealing with the fear of death. It was interesting today then, while reading Christopher Hitchens Memoir – Hitch-22, that he appeared to clearly describe almost in full my way of thinking on the matter. Continue reading →