Not just a Cardboard Cut-out Writer
It seems to me that with the internet being the beast that it is, it’s very easy for people to only show the parts of them that they want to. People I’ve met on Twitter give their 140 character bio, and that’s all you see. People on Facebook only post photos of themselves having a massively good time, drinking and holidaying, so that we think they’re fun people to be around. But are we giving the internet community a true vision of ourselves? Is that even important? Well, to me it is, yes. I think that I want people to get a real feel for who I am, rather than just a Cardboard Cut-out Writer who hits all the artistic marks but has no real depth.
This post started off with me trying to think of something interesting and non-writing related to post so that my regulars (you know who you are! Thanks Guys and Gals!) don;t get bored of listening to me bash on about Greaveburn or the next writing project. And so I thought, “what else can I do?”. That led me in a round about way to the philosophical debate you see above. Let me know what you all think about internet personas and how realistic they are/need to be.
But anyway, in order to show you that I DO HAVE another facet to my personality (or what there is of it 
), let’s talk music.
Recently, I was bought a new guitar by my lovely girlfriend (Yes, geeks and Fuglies do get them sometimes, you know) and I have to say that it’s been hard to put down since. Now let’s not give any false illusions here, I’m no fantastic guitar player. Eric Clapton doesn’t come round my house asking for tips on how to play, neither does Joe Satriani ask me to get him out of a sticky situation with any of his compositions. I can’t read music, and I definitely can’t sing. What I do is find a song I like the sound of and then simplify it to the point that I can play along and it still sounds vaguelly recognisable. See? Honesty on the internet! It can happen! 
Ain't she purdy?
But what kind of things do I like to play? Well, I’m a serious rock music fan. I don’t mean scream-at-your-mic-with-unintelligable-syllables rock. I mean rock that makes you tap your feet, sing along and play air giutar like a mental.
Foo Fighters are my epitome of awesome. Dave Grohl and the boys have managed to win God-like Genius Award, 5 grammys and the Brit Award’s Best International Band in the last year. Say no more. But I love the old-style rock, too. Give me some Boston (see the vid above), Styx, KISS, Kansas, Whitesnake….dear lord, I could go on forever…and I’d be forever happy. Let’s have another vid to emphasise the point:
So, you see, I don’t just write. I Rock, too 
Thanks for reading.
Kreativ Blogger Award!
A nomination for a blog award?
Yes please!
Thanks go to Conrad at A Side of Writing for nominating me for this lovely, shiny award. The rules are simple: Nominate six other blogs to pass the torch to. And share ten things with your readers that they don’t already know about you. Let’s do the easy part first. People who I think deserve some serious Bloggage Recognition:
1. Shea MacLeod’s Everything’s Better With Dragons - For her multimedia giggle-fest of a blog.
2. Pete Denton’s Pete Denton – Writer - For Blogging about the trials of writers better than I do.
3. Laura’s Cyborg Seamstress - For her awesome costuming skills (For all you Cosplayers, Larpers and Steampunks out there).
4. Stacey’s Redwater Ramblings - For her excellent examples of poetry and prose.
5. Lindsey Sterling’s Music - For making me like the violin with her videos (Geeks, go find the Zelda themes vid. Incredible).
6. Constance Wallace’s Legends of Greenisle - For leaving great little stories lying around for me to read.
And now, the hard part. Ten things you don’t know about me…
1. I play guitar. Badly. So don’t ask me to post any videos/soundbytes of me playing.
2. My drawing (see some older posts for examples) was once used by a short-lived band, ironically named Misplaced Hopes for their Album cover.
3. The first story I ever tried to write (at age 13 or 14) was about a bumbling jester and his talking puppet. It was very similar to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels which I was reading at the time. I never finished it.
4. I’m constantly amazed when people like my writing. I actually think it’s pretty lousy, but I’m also very impressionable and fold under peer pressure so I continue to send things out. Only recently, with the acceptance of Greaveburn, have I gained any confidence in myself.
5. Despite my outward appearance, I’m a serious Rock fan. Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Foo Fighters (especially them), Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS…I could go on forever.
6. Although I love writing Steampunk, I worry that with the release of Greaveburn (and with The Alan Shaw Chronicles in the pipeline) will get me typecast. I need to work on other things, too.
7. I’d love to write a movie, and have an idea called LARP: The Movie which I think has real potential. However, I find script writing incredibly hard.
8. I’m a major Geek (note the capital letter). Sci-Fi, Fantasy, anything wierd on tv or film. But my real geekness comes whenever I’m in the vacinity of a Comic Book shop. One of the only things I actually wanted to do when we went to New York City recently was visit a proper comic book store. How sad is that?
9. I don’t mind cheating…
10. I’m glad this list is over
I know, I know, those last two were terrible and, if I think of something else, I’ll come back to you. Promise (crossed fingers).
But thanks for reading everyone, and thanks for the nomination, Conrad!
