Back from Holidays

So we just got back from a week at our house in Spain. We bought it a few years back; We moved out lock, stock and barrel with the idea of starting a school. However things didn't work out. We gave it six months before lack of income (zero income) forced us to return to Dublin (and the podcasting of One Among the Sleepless).

This time I took my laptop and started writing as soon as we arrived. I find the sunshine and change of environment very stimulating. And then, just to take things to a whole new level of stimulation, we went to Marbella for a few days to a lovely apartment that overlooks the beach... which was nice.

My wife spent most of her days relaxing around the poolside. I spent most of mine slaving over a hot laptop. The above picture was taken after an all-day session that resulted in 4 and a half thousand words. Novel 2 is now almost finished in its first draft. I've taken another week off work to sit in our brown apartment in Dublin and hopefully push it all the way to the end. And then I can go back to the beginning and start the re-writes, of which I know there'll be many... and then some.

Back to Blogger

I've decided to come back to Blogger for my routine life-type blogs, I've been using the blog facility at www.MikeBennettPodcast.com, but it seems inappropriate to have me talking about funfairs and winning singing contests on the front page of my podcast site. Or is it? I don't know. Anyway, my cousin and her boyfriend are visiting at the moment and we have been out and about around Dublin. Here's a picture of my cuz and I on a cliff edge in Howth.

I haven't been writing much lately as I've been on a cliff edge in Howth, amongst other places, but I hope to get back to my normal (erratic) schedule soon. I'm on holiday next week, off to Spain and taking the lap top with me to write in the evenings. Now how's that for devotion to the cause?

Give Me a Hundred

I've been off work this week, 'work' being writing and podcasting. I've been hosting a cousin and a friend who came over to visit. We had a jolly time, but now it's back to the job in hand. The first matter on the business agenda is getting the new Hall of Mirrors episode up.

On the last Sometimes, I mentioned the possibility of doing older stories that weren't horror. People have been very encouraging about my doing so, and so I've recorded the very first story I ever wrote (excluding the things I wrote under duress in school). 'Give Me a Hundred' is that story and I hope to post it inside 24 hours. That may not happen though, as builders are tearing up our apartment tomorrow and for several days to put in a new heating system. It's tough enough recording when a bird is singing or a bus goes by, a pneumatic drill is an altogether different pain in the arse.

In other news, the novel has also been neglected, but I'm getting back into the thought process as we speak. I have a technique: I record loads of songs for the soundtrack of the non-existent movie of the film of the non-existent book, and it psyches me. I've been playing this soundtrack for the last hour and I'm ready to get back in the saddle just as soon as I get Give Me a Hundred online. What is that soundtrack? Here's some of it:

Matt Monroe - I Will Wait for You
Soy Marco - Alberto Iglesias
Killing Joke - Invocation
Second - Segunda Vez
Garbage - Crush
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Carl Orf - O Fortuna
Marilyn Manson - If I was Your Vampire
Nine Inch Nails - The Four of Us are Dying
Leonard Cohen - A Thousand Kisses Deep

It's like a wheatgrass, Red Bull and lighter fluid cocktail for the uninspired mind because it summons the scenes that in turn summon the words that will hopefully fill the book. Aspiring writers - try it: envisage your movie; add your soundtrack; write your book.

Pain in the Ass
This is the chair I sit on all day while I write and waste time on the internet doing things like this. It's uncomfortable. Why don't I get a new chair? Because there's not enough room in the apartment with all the chairs that come with the apartment. I've got five of these things cluttering up the place - and they're all as uncomfortable as each other (I suppose because they're a sinister set). They come with the table I write at. It's round. Things are always falling off it. Damn furniture.

Sometimes 4: The Masque of the Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe's classic story is the latest piece of classic literature to find its way into Mike Bennett Sometimes. If you're not familiar with the show but are a lover of Poe, to download this free audio mp3 file, click here:

Sometimes 4: The Masque of the Red Death

This will take you direct to the mp3 which you can listen to live or download by clicking 'save' in your browser menu. You'll hear the reader, me, wittering on for a bit, then the story starts after about 7 minutes.

If you're not (strictly) a Poe fan, but a person who enjoys my podcasts, the whole process needs no introduction.

Music comes from A Band Called Quinn.

I hope you enjoy it.

Hot Sexy Pics of Jason Andrews' Fridge

Yes, Jason Andrews shares with me - and so with you, the contents of his fridge.
This fridge is in Japan. No mango chutney in there, alas. But that pink stuff on the bottom shelf likes interesting. Any more fridges anyone?

Hot sexy pics of my fridge

Mango chutney, cucumber, half a loaf of bread, lecithin granules. Whoo-hoo, you wouldn't want to get the munchies round at my place tonight.

Salvation Concludes / New Web Site is Launched

Yes indeed, Salvation is concluded. You can find a link to that not here but at my new website, mikebennettpodcast.com

This site is the coolest thing since biscuits. It's so much better than my old site, I mean, I like my old site, but, well, it's kind of static, you know?. You can't actually do anything with it other than look at it and leave.

The new site is interactive and ever-changing. I already changed the front page once today, which in terms of front-page-changing-type activity, is unheard of in my world. And the other great thing about it is, you can interact with it too - you can sign in and leave messages on forums and post stuff and look at stuff and listen to stuff and, well, who needs a TV and a social life when you've got MikeBennettpodcast.Com? Actually, don't answer that. I have a feeling the overwhelming answer will be: 'You do, geek boy!'

I am not a geek boy, I'm a free man!

Salvation Finale Delayed

Due to problems with re-recording edits (people moving out upstairs and banging doors like their lives depended on it), Salvation finale won't be up until tomorrow. Needless to say, I'll Twitter it, blog it, send smoke signals from the hill tops, whatever it takes to let you know... other than come around to your house and tell you in person. That'd be too impractical... unless you're prepared to toast crumpets for me all afternoon. Then maybe, maybe I could try and sort something out.

Web Developments, Book Developments, Podcast Developments.

Hello.
A very, very excellent fellow (who shall remain hidden behind the curtain along with his magnificent work for the moment) has been chipping quietly away at the granite lump that is slowly becoming my new website. Yes, I am soon to be moving on from the digital compost heap that OneAmongTheSleepless.com has become over the years. Don't get me wrong, I have a certain affection for its scrambled egg logic and 'two dogs fought, shagged and slept in me' appearance, but it's not exactly state of the Internet art is it? (Don't answer that, I can knock it, though if you will, I'll cry all night).

What I'm saying is that something new, slick, logical and interactive is coming. It's still, as I mentioned earlier, waiting in the wings behind the curtain. But the designer and I hope to unveil it within the week. Isn't it exciting??? Well, for me at least.

I spent the morning wrangling with different domain-selling companies and trying to get past the fact that global websites can't get their heads around the fact that a country doesn't have post/zip codes. Ireland doesn't, at least outside of Dublin and Cork. Try telling that to a machine though, or even a customer service operative who really wants to pass you on to someone else in case the call is 'being monitored for training purposes' but can't because you won't let them get away that easily after being in a phone queue for 15 minutes. The upshot was, after three hours or so, I got my domain. Yay! And no, it's not MikeBennett.Com or .net or anything like that as they've all been taken by other Mike Bennetts. This is the problem with having a fairly common name. I should have used my initials or other interesting variations on them when I started out, like M. Stephen Bennett, or M.S. Bennett (looks like Ms Bennett). Or maybe used a pseudonym (many's the time I wish I had) J. Fentonwick, V.C. Cumberpatch, Chester Creosote. Ahh well, what's in a name? (Besides an available dot com?)

Other news.

I'm now up to chapter four of my novel. It's not perfect by any means. I kind of write my first drafts mainly consisting of dialogue and action. Then when I'm done, I go back and tidy up all the logic and chaos I made along the way and make sure that everything logically leads to where it ultimately ends up. Then back again, to tighten the dialogue and action and colour in some description, and then again to try and get a bit of craft into the syntax. And then, when I podcast it and start reading it aloud. I do all of the above again. So when I say I'm on chapter 4, I'm actually kidding myself, I'm technically 4 inches past the starting line. Still, that's 4 inches further than I was last week.

And talking of editing. I recorded the audio of Salvation part 4 today. I re-edited the text of the final version again before reading it, and then throughout the recording as I read aloud (great editing tool, reading aloud). I also did multiple takes on the recording, especially character speech. There's a guy, I can't say who, who I must have about 6 or 7 takes of. I highlighted his lines in the text and read him in-character, over and over again. Tomorrow, I'll start sewing it all together. And then hopefully, by Sunday, I'll have it done. This is why it takes me so long to get stuff finished: I'm obsessive - constantly editing and changing stuff and doing more versions than are necessary... until I run out of time... or sanity... or both.

The upshot of this, I sincerely hope, will be a great episode. I've finished the last 6 seconds, and if that's anything to go by. It rocks!

And no, I'm not going to edit this. It's a blog. I'm just going to click publish and walk away from it.

No, I really am.

Oh hell, where's the edit button? (4 minutes later) There, I edited it :-)

Second Novel Now Officially Underway

I thought I'd write a blog post as I haven't done so for ages and now no-one bothers to read my blog anymore (logically). So, here's my news. Most importantly, I quit my job last Friday to concentrate on the writing of my second novel. Rash? Perhaps. This means no money since I'm not on benefit or receiving any grants or anything, however, I know that there's no other way for me to do it. I need to write in the morning first thing after coffee. Then I go for a walk and write again. So far so good: I'm doing a thousand words at every sitting. So since Monday, I've done 4,000 words.

The novel itself is a very complex piece of work. I have copious notes and character sketches and I have to work on an historical timeline that goes back hundreds of years. These opening chapters have been quite hard to write as they cover events in a family history (from very different perspectives) for the last fifty years. But thanks to my rash leaving my job decision, I'm now able to work with a brain that's fresh and uncluttered by anything else. Consequently, I'm now into chapter three.

If I can keep this up, I hope to be looking at a finished first draft in three months or so. Then with re-writes and edits, hopefully I can start podcasting it before Christmas. Maybe even by October or November.

If you used to read this but drifted away, come back, I'm going to be posting updates much more regularly than I did before. Which isn't promising a lot ;-) No, no, I jest.

Woo-hoo! Go Ireland!
Took this today on the Irish iTunes lit chart. Delighted to see such a healthy glow here in the old adopted home country. Many thanks to all the Irish listeners for giving me three in a vertical row.

New Hall of Mirrors Promo

I'm finally overcoming my reluctance to go anywhere near the computer. I couldn't blog this problem because I wasn't going anywhere near the computer. Anyway, I'm writing again and I've made a promo for the thing I'm working on: 'Hall of Mirrors: Salvation' a story that will begin mid-late April. If you'd like to hear or distribute the promo, you can get it here:

Hall of Mirrors: Salvation Promo

Many thanks, see you soon in the Hall of Mirrors.

Poacher's Cottage 2 - That's a Wrap, People

OK, ladies and gentlemen. Hall of Mirrors is now concluded with the posting of Poacher's Cottage 2. I could have gone on, but I'd rather stop for a bit now and focus on writing new material. However, I'm not hanging up the mic completely, I'll still podcast occasionally with a new show in the Bonus Track feed called 'Sometimes', because that's when you'll get it, sometimes.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy Poacher's Cottage. Here's a link to the show page at Podshow

Seth Gets Huge
I just wanted to embed this for my podcasting chum, Seth Harwood. He's finally got his name up in lights.



Congratulations to the Sethster!

Hall of Mirrors #11: Poacher's Cottage

After two months of silence, the door to the Hall of Mirrors once again creeps open. This is most likely going to be the last story in the collection; a two-parter called Poacher's Cottage. It's the one I was going to release before Christmas but I couldn't do so coz my mum fell and fractured her pelvis so I had to go over to England and be a helpful son type person. Then when I got back I made the damn fool mistake of buying 'Bioshock' for the X-Box and that ate two weeks up - along with being back at work. So when I finally sat down to work on Poacher's Cottage it was to realise that it needed a fair bit of re-writing. When that was finally done, I had to record it - but this was hampered by weird inexplicable crackling sounds on the recording which meant I had to record it two or three times before it was done. And then when it was done I listened to it on an iPod and thought, 'F****, it's hissier than a bunch of snakes in a frying pan'. So I had to arse about for ages getting rid of the hiss. And so now, after all that, Poacher's Cottage part one is live at Podshow. Here's a link:

Hall of Mirrors: Poacher's Cottage #1