Goodbye Marshwah, Hello Write-Club

It's time to pull the pin on this blog.

In Evernote, written eight months ago is something that I return to every now and then, a reminder that looks like this:

What the fuck happened man?

The love is there. The content and results are not. For someone that lives and breathes this stuff I've got a pretty flimsy web-presence. I'm lucky to chalk out an entry a month.

There's a quote from an article at the end of the year that kicked my arse good. It's an article by David Wong called 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. There is a tonne of choice knowledge-bombs in the piece, but there's one paragraph that was coated in rusty tacks, soaked in vinegar, and shoved up my hole in a compromising fashion. It read:

Being in the business I'm in, I know dozens of aspiring writers. They think of themselves as writers, they introduce themselves as writers at parties, they know that deep inside, they have the heart of a writer. The only thing they're missing is that minor final step, where they actually fucking write things.

Headshot

I didn't take the advice lying down, I read it and absorbed it. No really, I did. I even went as far as posting in the forum about my intention to heed the advice, you can find it here, and here's a juicy excerpt.

Great advice, some of it I'm living, and some of it I'm not.

I'm already doing pretty well. I'm a 29 y.o. working in a job I love and after this call-to-action, I'm going to overhaul my blog to impart lessons on what I've learned to a younger me.

My blog is pretty shit currently, but after reading this article I churned out 8 article ideas in under an hour and am feeling really inspired. I'm keen to read the rest of this forum thread to see how other people were inspired, but mainly I just want this to be an embedded post that I can revisit a year from now to see if I was successful.

I'm actually making a note in my calendar to revisit in a year's time to see if I was successful.

So let's see if "Lessons to _____ " takes off!

It hasn't happened. And it's a good thing I'm even writing this as that calendar reminder would have taken a good ol' bite out of nowhere too.

Why build something?

The best people do. I'm a firm believer in the fact that creating things is good for your soul. And I'm not the only one. There's at least two other people that I've read that say similar things.

One of them says it's a really good way to learn, and another says it's a good way to acquire skills for post-advertising life.

Well I like learning and I've been looking at post-advertising life of-late.

So I'm going to disappear and build something. It's not going to be called Lessons to, but it's going to be something I learn from, and it's probably going to involve a hell of a lot more writing.

Which excites me for now.

So Marshwah is retiring, and I'll come back in some other form, and until I do, here's an ancient photo of me doing gosh knows what:

I used to keep my album covers on a wall, including Groove Armada's Goodbye Country, Hello Nightclub (I always liked that title)

In the words of an old friend, my taste is so bad its good.

Ciao for now.

My top 5 DJs (that I haven't seen yet)

I've had this in my 'Creating Things' folder on Evernote for quite some time:

Over six months, I've been meaning to write this

And I've been quite lazy on this topic.

At first, I couldn't think of five DJs that I hadn't seen. I knew I'd seen a lot of acts (particularly in Sydney) and rather arrogantly thought that at the ripe-old age of 30 that I'd ticked them all of our bucket list.  But I wasn't thinking hard enough. And I just realised my big reveal is already buggered by including the names in that above screengrab. But there are other reasons for writing this article too.

For example, I delayed writing this list as it changed over the course of time. There were some late-comers that I got to see in the first half of this year, or artists I remembered seeing and then forgot about, so you could say the fluid nature of the list put me off.

But I'm not seeing that many gigs. 

So after half a year of deliberation, I'm quite excited to share this list with you. Because I'm a good fellow and like Soundcloud, I'm also going to link to a favourite set from each of these artists. Well, because I'm a good fellow and the cross-pollination will see my blog traffic go through the roof.

That's in the 100s people. Seriously, even my YouTube Channel fares better than this blog

So without further ado here's my top 5 DJs that I haven't seen.

1. Adam Beyer
One of the first guys I really started to warm to beyond what I was told to listen to by the likes of Ministry of Sound Annuals and Wild CDs. The man is a genius and I regularly listen to his Drumcode radio show on my phone. Switching effortlessly between deep house, tech house, and techno, Adam really takes you for a ride and specalises in long sets.

I still haven't got a chance to see him over all this time as the amount of times he's been in AU is quite limited. There was a time he played outside of Melbourne at Kryal Castle in 2007, but I couldn't justify the trip there at that stage of my life. And I regret it to this day.

I've chosen the set below as it's one of his long ones and has a similar range to what I really enjoy. I also remember listening to it at a friend's BBQ and we all couldn't stop moving, seriously - when Alan Fitzpatrick's Skeksis is dropped you will love your shit. I'm actually jealous of you.
2. Henry Saiz
Going in another direction is this guy. Much deeper, more progressive, and an extremely talented producer. I narrowly missed him in Sydney last year as I was at Subsonic Music Festival and it clashed, and have never lived it down. Especially when a friend who wasn't at the festival said he played some of the form of his life and she attended all three gigs he played in Sydney: boat party, garden party, and after-party - respect.

The set I've chosen doesn't start off well. You might actually wonder what the hell is going on. But trust us on this one - it gets goooood. It's also a set from a boat-party on Brisbane, which I mentioned in a musical capacity, a couple of weeks ago. It would have been some boat.


3. Pan-Pot
I've always been aware of these guys, but haven't found their productions to be mind-blowing and always settled for listening to them if they're on.

Wow - what a year they are having. These guys are cane-ing it on every level. The sets have some of the highest energy for the range they have without tiring us. I seriously dig. The duo are also good at uploading their best sets on Soundcloud - so I encourage you to check out more than what I've posted here.

I've never seen them as I'm not even sure they've come to Australia? I missed them in Barcelona last year which was unfortunate and here I am still hoping I'll get a chance some day. In the interim, give this set below a go - and try not to dance.


4. Gabriel Ananda
Another newcomer to the list after flying under the radar for some time. Everyone's heard Doppelwhipper, but I wasn't convinced I was missing out until coming across his Soulful Techno series.

I'll definitely be catching him next time he's around and in town (or I'll travel). He also just released a great new track this week called Let it in and let it out. Which you should totally do while unwinding to this mellow mix within the list.


5. Joris Voorn
This guy is at the height of his powers as a DJ and producer. It's a travesty I have not seen him.

There's no excuse as I know I've been in Melbourne as the same time as him. And even at the same party (in Barcelona - we left before he started).

I chose this set because I listen to it whenever I need a pick-me-up at work. Short, sustained, and relentless.


Have you got some fave electronic music producers or DJs you haven't seen yet?
Let us know in the comments and thanks for reading!

A reminder: When sticking to your guns pays off

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

-excerpt from Citizenship In A Republic, Theodore Roosevelt  

I like this quote.
It gives me solace when I'm expending my energy on things I believe in.

In spite of this, I still remember virtually every negative comment that was thrown at me during the writing of, and after the delivery my book.

This is common. A very accomplished writer at the Emerging Writer's Festival I attended, someone who had written half a dozen books and for all intents and purposes was a success, said you don't remember the positive reviews. She said you can get 49 great ones and for some reason your head will still cling to that negative one.

I read a very good book over the weekend after seeing it recommended in this G+ discussion. The book was called Quitter and the recommendation was made after seeing a question around:

"I'm quitting my job to chase my dreams!"

The book had some resoundingly good advice, highlighting the importance of seeing the good in what you do, while still actively pursuing what you love and taking steps to ensure that happens. There were two things in particular I'd like to call out.

The first was on time. You don't get to your dreams by watching television. I'm calling it out because it matches the words emblazoned on the poster on the back of my door. Words I live by.

Cheers, Holstee Manifesto

The second was on dreams.

I'm paraphrasing the writer's reference from another book here, but here's what happens when you ask a group of first-grader's "how many artists are in the room?"

They will all put their hand up.
You ask the same question to a group of third-graders and a third put their hand up.
By the time they are twelve you are lucky to get one or two hands.

Group mentality and society condition us not to pursue our dreams.

Which brings us back to negative comments about my dream. It was to write a book. And that's what I've done but like I said those comments can stick sometimes. And that's unfortunate.

Then I remember the man in the arena, who does actually strive to do the deeds, who doesn't heed the words of a critic, and that's pretty inspiring. I also remember all the positive feedback I received for my book, and how I put myself out there and was able to share a story that had been hanging over my head for so long.

Another thing happened recently.

An interstate trip down near Sorrento, with some my old buddies. The book came up and I got some kind words, and I remarked on how it's an extremely humbling experience getting such feedback from your peers on something so intensely personal. The crime, I remarked, was that there's no way you can assemble all that feedback in one place for when things might be a little more gloomy.

I sat on that thought for a while.

As I hinted at yesterday, things are a bit challenging at the moment, and perhaps things seem a bit gloomier than usual.

To combat it I've been keeping busy. I updated my consultancy site, plotted an outline for an upcoming workshop, read aforementioned book, leaned on my network, and decided to address that crime I mentioned earlier.

There is a way you can assemble most of the feedback from a book in one place.

It's called hustle, and I'm a big fan. I grabbed my old phone, extracted all the SMS to my Gmail, combed through email, downloaded my Facebook, and collected every piece of feedback I could find on Being Bi-Bi and mentions of "the book".

I then assembled it all on a digital cork-board, below is the result.

Sticking to your guns pays off. And as insidious as negativity is, there's always a way to cobble together a collection of reminders of why you do what you do, and why you'll keep persevering.

Books I'm reading and why reading is f***ing important

Last time, I wrote about a book that changed my life.

It was like a catalyst for spurring on a lot of action: some behind the scenes, a fragment of it you see on this page, and the rest you'll see in the future.

I've only just started getting back into reading, and to be honest I'm glad I didn't leave it any longer. What I've missed in the last decade is an absolute explosion of interesting books to read both for fun and personal development (the two aren't mutually exclusive).

So I've got my Kindle and have been purchasing books faster than I can read them. Nick Hornby wrote:

“All the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. ... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not.” (source) 

Which is all well and good pre-digital. But I can't share that library with anyone, even if they visit my shit-arsed tiny flat, so I've decided to share what I've read, I'm reading and what I intend to read. And maybe that defines me, like Nick Hornby said.

I've read

I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

Before I joined my current employer, a colleague at the time suggested reading this book and I never got around to it. After a while of working there, I was keen to know what my colleague meant. So I gave it a read and it was refreshing to hear a different perspective about the company.

The Start-up of You Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha

LinkedIn is a company I've admired for the way they've gone about establishing themselves. They've carved out a niche and changed the dynamic with which people can get employed (including me). A senior colleague recommended reading this one and so I did. Co-written by the founder of LinkedIn and his friend, the book gives you a methodical approach to improving the most important startup you're involved in: yourself. I took a lot from this book and can't recommend it enough to people looking to develop both professionally and personally.

The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking Oliver Burkeman

I wrote about this last time, needless to say it's pretty awesome (considering I dedicated a blog entry to it).

I'm reading

Outthink the Competition: How a New Generation of Strategists Sees Options Others Ignore Kaihan Krippendorff

I had the pleasure of seeing this guy speak. Work had a business function with some spare tickets and I jumped at the chance. Kalhan was a passionate speaker, and I particularly liked his methodical research of best-practice (and failing) businesses. The book is packed with this kind of information and I'm getting a lot out of it, I particularly like the references to the 36 strategies of ancient Chinese warfare.

A Game of Thrones: The Story Continues: The complete 5 books (A Song of Ice and Fire) George R. R. Martin

I guess this counts as five books. I'm currently plowing through Book Two. It was a bit laborious getting through the first one thanks to seeing the first season of the TV show (which is excellent), but now that I'm on to new stuff (I abstained from watching any more until I got through the books) I'm really enjoying it again. This will take me a while.

Made to Stick Chip Heath, Dan Heath

My last business trip to Tokyo was an inspirational, reinvigorating experience. Another senior colleague recommended reading this book and I insta-purchased on his word. It's early days but I'm loving the style and it's full of practical information on conveying ideas.

I intend to read

Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1) Robin Hobb

I grabbed this one after a drunken conversation with an acquaintance who said it's the best fantasy series he's ever read. The dude works at a library so I grabbed it on his word.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream Harlan Ellison

Many years ago I read a PC Powerplay review of a point-and-click adventure game of the same name. The twist of phrase and story really stuck with me, resulting in an anguished high-school blog entry, and a desire to read the short story one day, I've finally got a copy.

Great Expectations Charles Dickens

A literary classic that comes highly recommended and is free in the Kindle Store. I grabbed it knowing I've always wanted to read it.

The Name Of The Wind: The Kingkiller Chonicle: Book 1 (Kingkiller Chonicles) Patrick Rothfuss

Another fantasy that came highly recommended, but as you can see that doesn't automatically get it read when there's a bulging list.

Cloud Atlas David Mitchell

There's a movie coming soon and the mind-bogglingly ambitious narrative-style sounds like my cup of tea. I just need to make the time.

Life Of Pi Yann Martel

I loved the trailer for this movie, and felt obliged to read it before going to see it.

The Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How to Make Any Change Stick Jeremy Dean

I read a blog entry on making New Year's Resolutions stick and decided I liked it so much that the book being proffered should be purchased. And that I did.

Me and Her: A Memoir Of Madness Karen Tyrrell

This lady offered some advice on publishing my own book over at the site PlanBig. I purchased her book to show my gratitude!

APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book Guy Kawasaki, Shawn Welch

The author has been a mainstay in my Google+ feed. I really enjoyed his free ebook "What the Plus?" and the content in this one would have come in handy while I was publishing my book. I want to get around to reading this to see where I've missed a trick.

----

An ambitious list isn't it? But when I see it I remember Nick Hornby's quote and realise it's not the end-of-the-world if I fail to read them all. But I do want to.

I want to because reading is fucking important. It makes you more articulate, improves your personal development, keeps you sharp, and a myriad of other things (like the ability to use the word myriad).

I'm striving to make myself better and I can't impart this on you enough. A new project is being formulated and these pieces of information make up some lessons that I think are important. Another thing I'd like to show you is a piece of software called Evernote, but that's the title of my next entry: Why you should get Evernote.

Pissing Excellence and Backing Up Again for Next Year

The best way you can get back at your enemies is by pissing excellence.

-me, Being Bi-Bi: a memoir on mental health and sexuality, November 2012

It's one of the last sentences in the book, and it works on so many levels. The best way you can get back at your adversaries is by being better. That might be an opponent, a demon, a troll, and probably a lot of other things as well. I won't dwell on them though, because I'm showering them with excellence.

This year, I wrote a book. I mentioned it when this blog started (in its current incarnation) and I finally got there. I got to deliver a heart-felt speech in front of my nearest and dearest at the launch party, and the feeling of seeing my book in print, and on Amazon are some of the proudest moments I've ever experienced.

Me delivering aforementioned speech (right) and hugging my beautiful sister afterwards (left)

I also set out to lose 20kg. I got there too. I learned a lot about myself along the way, including that there's better metrics for getting healthy, but after failed starts I was finally able to shove it to my detractors.

Sticking it back (forgive the toenails, I get in-growns very easy and prefer my feet to be ugly)

I ran a half-marathon. With a time that speaks for itself. That's sweating excellence.

When I'm partying or otherwise having a really good time, I sometimes take stock of the situation and think to myself - how can I have or do more of this?

This year was phenomenal. But how can I be even better? Okay I'll do more of that.

It's a principle to live by, and reminds me of what a poster on the Inthemix forums once said (paraphrasing):
If you're doing something and it's annoying people, do more of it.

Just replace "annoying" with "pissing excellence".
There you go!

So I've created a list of goals I want next year, and that I'll deliver upon:

• Produce another major piece of creative workI have another idea for a project that I'm going to dedicate a future blog post to, but the current idea is to take on a medium different to a book: YouTube. I want to chart the path to one million cumulative views, and document the progress across digital platforms. One million views in a year. Let's see. 
• Travel to New York
  This city has been itching at me forever, I need to scope it out as a potential place to live, and make my mind up on it. I won't know for sure until I see it.
• Run a marathon
  A colleague told me that there's not such thing as an easy one. I've been loving running and I'm going to take this on.
• Take up meditation
  I really enjoy this concept and after doing an introductory course I want to make this a regular habit.
• Kickbox regularly
  A friend and I agreed to take this up in the New Year, I've done bits and bobs in the past and want to make this a habit.
• Yoga regularly
  I'm fortunate enough to get free yoga at work, I'm going to enjoy this and develop it into a habit too.
• Save $X a month
  I'm shit at saving, it's time to fix that.
• Pay off CC debt
  I'm a grown man now and want this iced too.
• Join a sporting competition
  With my newfound fitness, I'd love to have one last stab at Aussie Rules or to resume tennis. It's a bit hard with my affinity for travel, but committing to, and accomplishing a season's worth of sport while I still can would be fucking unreal.
• Kick arse professionally
  This year I was nominated for the B&T 30 Under 30, it was nice to be recognised, but I want to do something even more kick arse this year. I don't really talk about my day-to-day on here, but I would like to achieve a similar milestone or better in 2013.
• Learn to code, a language, or improve my overall design abilities
  I know this one is vague, but improving my language, whether that be digital, verbal, or creatively is something I would like to do in 2013 and will be pursuing this one aggressively.

Ambitious? I'm actually thinking it's not enough. But we've got to start somewhere, and having this list in front of me will go some way. Is it right to plan this far ahead? Is it natural? Do I know what will change between now and six months from now? Are persistent fear-based questions a weak writing device?

Only time will tell.
I've got this.

5 tips on building an audience (what I sort of know)

My number one source of traffic is a Gabriel & Dresden retweet.

Yes, I did favourite this Tweet for future reference

I've looked at the numbers, and I'm not taking the piss here. A disgruntled tweet from myself got picked up, retweeted, and is the cause of the biggest spike in my not-so-humble blog yet.

It was all downhill from there

The retweet linked to an article I wrote stating how hard it was for me to let go of my love for a duo I used to adore. It's essentially a negative piece, yet they (or whoever controls their account) had the humour to retweet my statement, resulting in a large spike the likes of which this blog has never seen before.

I chose to open with this example for an article on 5 tips on building on an audience as a somewhat comic indicator of the fact I still don't really know what I'm doing.

Looking at the graph above you can see a cumulative growth in page-views. So I guess you could say I sort of know what I'm doing. But there's a metric shit-tonne of stuff I don't know (and for that matter, don't care to know sometimes).

But given that I haven't updated in a month or so, I'm going to bestow upon you my 5 tips on building on an audience.

1. Cross-promote

What my Facebook friends have to put up with at irregular intervals

The fact of the matter is that for most people, blog traffic is not going to come from having a "polarising point of view" or a "USP". It's going to come from charity clicks you get from Facebook, Twitter, and one or two from the others if you're lucky.

I quit Facebook a while ago. For a craven, attention-seeking digital whore like me, this was somewhat akin to dropping my smartphone in the toilet. This was a mistake. Subsequently trying to blog to my friends was an unpleasant, dirty, and ultimately unfulfilling experience. And that's not just because the phone didn't work.

It's a quick-win, so just chuck it out there and enjoy the flak you'll get from your friends for pimping yo'self.

2. The rules change

Two comments back in 2001? That was practically half-the-Internet then

I started this shit a long time ago. And as evident from this blog post, I still don't know very much about building an audience. But what I do know is that the rules change in the online landscape, and a lack of readiness to adapt to these shifting conditions can see your e-cred plummet like mine.

I started OpenDiary ten years ago as a stream of consciousness download of my thoughts, feelings and poor future, present, and ex-girlfriend. Ten years later I still treat it as a stream of consciousness download of my thoughts, feelings, and as an active deterrent for future boyfriends and girlfriends.

The lesson I have consistently failed to learn is that you need to adapt to the changing landscape, and as online matures, refine your voice in a way that's authentic and still resonates with your audience.

A readiness to adapt quickly can have huge implications for building your audience. Robert Scoble's G+ adoption has lead to minor-celebrity status in tech-circles, and Guy Kawasaki enjoys a cult-following for his efforts on the same platform.

I'm not saying always change what you do for the latest trends, but at least be aware of them instead of doggedly sticking to the same formula. Although that works sometimes too.

3. Read up

Did I mention I have a book coming out?

If you're reading up to this point you must have some, vague interest in the topic, and I'm here to tell you I'm no authority. What I can tell you is that there's a shipload of content out there where you can read up on things like building an audience, and here's my quick-and-dirty take on the good, the bland, and the ugly.

The Good

• The Oatmeal just released a comic on what it's like to be a writer. If you're one of the few people that hasn't shared this, then I urge you to stop reading this entry and read his article instead. It's much more entertaining and an example of what you should be doing (instead of what I do).
• Mark Pollard is a digital strategist in New York that I only know via following various digital tweets from industry folk, the article I've linked isn't specifically geared towards building an audience (it's more stuff), but his articulate life lessons and approach are things that I enjoy.

The Bland

• I have no doubt of it's efficacy, and it's a great resource, but ProBlogger fits within this category for me. It does a great job at blogging about blogging, but just typing that caves my head in and I think it's best to think of this sort of advice as the supplement rather than the main course.
• For a while there I read a similar guy called GoinsWriter - he has some solid advice on writing and some simple tips. In the end I stopped tuning in because it seemed like pretty basic stuff.

The Ugly

• People in glass stones should not throw houses, but JeffBullas approach is fucking ugly. It's methodic, process-driven link bait. Try and read some advice for nuggets of wisdom longer than half an hour and you'll end up stabbing yourself. There's no denying he is good at driving traffic, but this entry is about building an audience. And I think there's a difference.

4. Make the content interesting

Don't do what I continually do if you're interested in building an audience. Focus on interesting things. This may sound counter-intuitive, but the most interesting things are usually far-removed from your day-to-day.

It might sound paradoxical not writing about what you know, but humour me for a second.

Take someone you meet on a plane. It's a relatively unique experience where you can share as much, or as little as you wish. Now, if I meet someone that's on the plane that's into the internet, electronic dance music, and has a new gadget in front of them - we are going to get along like a house on fire.

Is what we discuss worthy of sharing with someone I incidentally meet later (say, someone who visits this blog?)

What if I sit next to an elderly hat professor who does most of the talking and regales me with stories about the war, how she met her husband of 50 years, and how she is a leading world-authority on hats worn in the last 200 years.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I only sort of know what I'm doing), but I felt 10x more comfortable sharing the information about the hat professor I met than the guy that's similar to me. It was interesting to share, rather than interesting to me.

This is a good rule-of-thumb. You can have that one. And if you don't get it here's a fucking list of content ideas for your next entry. But think of the hat professors out there first please.

5. Get your hands dirty

A somewhat impromptu shot of my hands

Above is an on-the-spot shot of me showing my hands. They are relatively clean. This wouldn't have happened if I didn't "get them dirty".

By that I mean, I knew uploading a picture of my hands is better than no pictures in the blog at all, and then I knew how to do that extremely quickly with Cameroid and Blogger's upload feature.

If I didn't get them dirty in the first place I would have never known these things. It's called experience and it's something you need just before you get it. If you accumulate enough of these things you'll need it less and less as time goes on.

Go out there and fucking do it.

When I went to the Emerging Writer's Festival, I asked the question in the Crowdfunding workshop: how do you know when to flick the switch?

Just like a break-up, there's never going to be a perfect time to do it. So just do it. You can do all the preparation, reading and research and you like - but there's no substitute for doing.

I've made a metric shit-tonne (I love that term) of mistakes jumping around in the digital space but ultimately I know a lot more from doing shit than holding back and wondering what the consequences would be.

Playing in the digital space is a wonderful thing, and you only learn that by doing. 

...Then when you claim to lay some semblance of knowledge to what you're doing, Gabriel & Dresden will come along and blow all your supposed "approaches" out of the water. Sort of.

I'll book some time to write this

I just cued up Jaytech Music Podcast Feb '08. For the ridiculously astute or bored, it opens with the same tune I play in my epic running YouTube. I'll have to get the name of the track one day. As it's one of the few sets I've bothered to download onto my work computer, it gets a lot of action. But why am I ambling around with text such as this? When I can start a much sexier paragraph.

Last week, I effectively raised $3,000+ to publish my book. That's right folks. After botched starts, and some missed deadlines, the book is getting published in 2012.

While I'm a bit lean on entries this year, it's been fun tracing back the journey. I hit the ground with an objective in returning to Sydney, and had booked a trip to the Emerging Writer's Festival the second weekend I was back. The experience was invaluable. Meeting like-minded people, hearing the same sorts of questions, and getting a sense of what others were doing and how it applied to me.

If you're one of the six people reading this and thinking of going - I urge you to next time it rolls out. It can be expensive to get there if you're not based in Melbourne, but in my opinion it was worth every cent.

You could chart the journey a bit further. I commented on the rise-and-rise of crowdfunding and how my book will get published. Pointing to the sites Pozible and Blurb, I pointed out that in combining the two I could cut out publishers altogether and do my own thing. I think it's around here that I mentioned something about putting what I know into practice, and decided to run with it.

But there were distractions. One day, I'd love to be doing my own thing and making an impact on my own terms. I expressed as much to a friend-of-a-friend who runs her own business. It was the wake-up call I needed, what the hell have I been doing with my book for all this time? It was time to apply the blowtorch.

And apply the blowtorch I did. Not everything came off. I had some ambitious ideas that may never see the light of day. One of my favourites was taking over the banner space of Inthemix Lifestyle forum with a banner and a call-to-action to buy my book. I smirk as I type and appreciate the irony.

But a lot of things did, and more importantly, people like yourself came through. I mean you, the reader. I put myself out there and started broadcasting my potential story to the world, and a lot of people placed faith in me and financed it.

I can only hope you enjoy the tale as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Even that time I was coming back from a train in Kiama and had written 3,000 words and at the exact time the battery decided to fuck out as I typed "n(o)" to the Microsoft Word save prompt. Yes, even then.

I deliberately used the term "broadcast" when talking about my potential story though, it's what drives me. The more I talk about dealing with the issues I've faced the more it can normalise it for others. I've got a very deliberate strategy in my approach and it's starting to come to fruition.

I spoke to an old boss about the potential implications of broadcasting this story. There's foreseeable outcomes and ones that will be harder to predict. I don't claim to have all the answers when it comes to running with this, but whatever's driving me shows no signs of stopping, slowing, or anything but accelerating.

You don't go to crazy and back without returning with some crazy ideas of your own.
Let's see where we end up?

Putting your money where my mouth is

I think I'm averaging an update every two weeks or so on this blog lately. And every time I look back on two weeks ago, I shake my head and reflect on what a fortnight it's been. This fortnight has probably been even bigger than usual in terms of personal milestones for me.

On Sunday, I flicked the switch on self-publishing the book. As I had mentioned in an earlier entry, my intention was to crowdfund the publication costs of the book via a site called Pozible, and then use those funds to self-publish on a site called Blurb.

I love that both these sites exist today, and that with some verve and a bit of a digital flair I can finally make a dream happen.

Which brings me to why I gave this entry this particular title. In my day job, I'm paid to come up with digital strategies and ideas that will work for very large advertisers. There's a backlog of experience, knowledge and things learned along my short career that I can apply, and the fluid nature of digital means I have to be ready to adapt and learn new technologies that I can integrate into potential solutions.

I am good at what I do. I work for a fantastic company, and am very appreciative of the opportunities that present themselves as a consequence of my employment. Over time, I've encouraged, coerced, and dragged large advertisers into the digital space with a fair degree of success.

But hold up, if I know so much about digital, how come I can't seem to get my shit together with this blog? How come the traffic it does is a pittance? And why can't I write compelling enough content to make people want to read?

These are hard questions to answer, and all I could say is that I write in my blog more for me, than an audience (although having an audience is nice).

Let's apply a critical filter to these questions I've posed. If I know so much about digital that I get paid to come up with strategies for large advertisers... why I aren't applying that knowledge to me and what I want to do?

Well the penny dropped a month or so ago. I think I mentioned feeling inspired, wanting to apply myself to something, and realising I had all the tools and capabilities to do what I wanted already. Get the fucking book done, I thought. And with my new found realisation - there were really no more excuses.

I had dropped the ball. And if it wasn't apparent when I was languishing, it was definitely apparent when I picked the ball back up. I announced my reinvigorated fervour to my friends on email, explaining my intention and how I'm working to a deadline. The question that bounced back could have cut me to shreds if it wasn't so true: "Is this the book you've been working on for ages?" Ouch.

So I have been putting my money where my mouth is, and in turn yours. I'll come back to how that works.

I am very, very impressed with this number

I've been busy. I've sought advice from my mentor, visited a life coach, had a photo shoot done, and filmed a pitch video. I've sourced more diligent feedback from the book and have a new deadline that I'm working to.

It's all been built around a singular destination - http://pozible.com/beingbibi - a site that is simultaneously drawing attention, capturing pre-orders, and raising funds for my book Being Bi-Bi: a memoir on mental health and sexuality.

One of the trickier things was pricing the book, as it depends on volumes I publish, and demand. There were a lot of variables at play, and wanted to be sure I wasn't put too far out of pocket, but at the same time didn't profit from the experience as that didn't feel right.

Enter an organisation called Soften the Fck Up. A group whose objective is to drop the male bravado when it comes to talking about not feeling okay, and bring down the rate of suicide - its the leading cause of death for adult males under 44 in Australia.

As can be read in Being Bi-Bi, it's an issue close to my heart, and any extra funds I raise from publishing the book will be going to this group.

Results have been very promising, and within the last week, we've managed to raise over $1,300 to help the book along and help this organisation. And that's something this writer can be proud about.

Being Bi-Bi: A call-to-arms

A lot changes in two weeks.

I blogged about new intentions then. I wanted to reframe my endeavours, but I think even then, I was still a little lost.

That changed last Thursday on the 26th July this year.
I'd been exploring options, looking at where I could apply myself outside work, and the answer was staring me in the face.

The meeting was by chance, I'd mentioned on Facebook that I was looking at an MBA and whether people had any experiences with this kind of degree. A friend-of-a-friend shared a few thoughts, and I decided I should pick their brains over coffee.

So the night came along, the coffee turned into an after-work soda water, and I put it on the table.

I said I want to do something entrepreneurial. I said I've got business ideas that I want to execute on. I said I want to make a difference.

They probed, did I really? What's driving me? Don't I have a book I'm trying to publish?

Things snowballed. There was a twinkle in their eye that suggested I could do this. What was holding me back? I threw up a list of pathetic excuses. All of which were shot down. It's the time for action. This is the business I've been looking at.

We brainstormed.
And to be honest, since then the ideas have not stopped flowing.

I have registered Being Bi-Bi - the site with which I will promote my book. I started talking about it with people. I got in touch with a photographer friend for visuals. I started writing out a plan for finishing the book, building out the site, and for marketing the shit out of it.

There'll be more to it than this page when I'm done with this

This will work. I've effectively been a digital marketer for four years and it's time to practice what I preach. I'm throwing everything at this. There will be no kitchen sink left.

And I'll be blogging about the experience (naturally).

Check out this site I have for planning and sourcing help, I'm currently after a mentor/coach but there will be lots of other things.

And what do I hope to achieve? Any money from the proceeds will go to Soften The Fck Up - an organisation I believe in, and if you don't you should watch this video and try not to be moved.

It's coming. And no stone will be left unturned.

The Rise and Rise of Crowdfunding (and How My Book Will be Published)

A while ago I visited the Emerging Writer's Festival in Melbourne. I blogged about my experience here and took copious notes about the experience here. I revisited my notes about the festival the other day after a friend said they saw me on television, and sure enough there I was:

Asking the tough questions, with Marshwah (Source: ABC)

But that wasn't the only experience that piqued my interest, in fact, there was a session even more critical to the book than addressing Tough Topics. And this was to do with something I hadn't heard before, it was to do with crowdfunding.

What is crowdfunding? I hear you ask. At its essence, it's sourcing funds for a project from the public. But more importantly, it's democratising projects that deserve to be realised.

There are sites out there such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, that are international. But at the Festival I heard about an Australian site, Pozible that's doing really, really well and going toe-to-toe with these big names. 

Rather than just support large-scale commercial projects, the site is doing its bit to support those in the arts as well. At the conference I heard about Kate Toon, and how she raised funds for her book of poems. The story was inspiring, and I jotted down an idea, but I'll come back to that.

Some of the other projects that Pozible's helped that have caught my attention include:

1. Patient 0 - an IRL zombie first-person shooter concept that is going to get off the ground and be realised.
2. reallybigroadtrip - lady that works in the digital arts who wanted to travel around Australia in a bus and spread digital culture - she was halfway with 40 hours to go and then romped it in - she even received a tweet from Hugh Jackman supporting the cause!
3. Soften The F*** Up - a campaign that's now 80% there and that I contributed to, looking to help prevent suicide in young males.

Pretty inspirational stuff right?

What's my idea then?

Well, it's no secret that I want to see my book published. How about crowd-funding production of the book? I'd get manuscript appraisal, an editor, and anyone contributing would receive a book... what's that? How would I publish the book? With Blurb of course.

Blurb is another site I heard about at the Festival, essentially it lets you self-publish for a nominal fee and no minimum on the amount of books published.

I'm still wrapping my head around the finer details and logistics of the thing, but rather than rely on gatekeepers, agents, and publishers, I can empower myself and get this thing done. That's what I love about the crowd-funding concept, it really is helping realise dreams.

You don't think it's possible? I dipped my toes in the water on that forum I frequent and mentioned I'm looking to get into crowd-funding, the thread transformed into a proposition that if I could lose 20kg in six months, $800 would go to the book fund. I am well on the way to achieving that.

You call down the thunder, now reap the whirlwhind.

Next steps are to develop the Pozible proposal and send it live, if you've got any tips let us know in the comments. 

Life, Writing, Travel, Digital (+Business)

Almost five months ago to the day, I mentioned in my blog that I was looking at repositioning the blog to have a bit more relevance within certain segments. These segments would be related to what I enjoy writing about, and divided up by tags to denote subject topics and make certain areas of my writing more digestible.

So I've divided it up into five segments: life, writing, travel, digital, and business.
I've taken the liberty of trawling through all of my old posts and re-tagging them appropriately.

Here's what each segment is about for the past, present and future.

• Life - without a doubt, and without shame, my favourite topic to write about is myself. I've been writing since 2001  and oddly enough, most of it has been about me (and probably in the early years, my poor ex-girlfriend). I love to share, and at times overshare, and this propensity to has seen me adopt a policy whereby I don't name or include other people. It's not you, it's me.
  
  While I love to think that most people would love to read what I e-spew via keyboard, I think it's safe to say that anything with this tag will be written for love (of myself).

• Writing - almost an extension of myself yet not, my eagerness to get my book published has seen many an entry written conveying my progress (or lack thereof). Needless to say it's a subject close to my heart and will continue to be, and I'll be documenting it's progress here.

• Travel - so anyone following this for a length of time would have realised that I've become a full-blown travel wanker. I love it so much. I hasten to extol the virtues of travel to passers by on the street and happily show off my ink-splattered passport pages to complete strangers. Maybe it's not quite this bad. But it will be within these electronic pages. You've been warned.

• Digital - for the foreseeable future in my career, I will eat, shit, live, and breathe digital. I do it for work and I do it for play. It's more entertaining than television for me and I fail to see television getting more innovative at anywhere near the same rate. This excites me immensely. Have you seen this? Or do you follow this? This be the shit that interests me the most and I intend to blog about it a bit more under this label.

• Business - what's this one doing here? Well, I've recently started laying the foundations for a side-project with a partner in relation to starting our own venture. I really want to document the experience from a broad perspective and share information and findings of my own. There are a tonne of resources out there and I'll cover off some of the ones that have helped me in these infant stages in a future entry.

I'll make some changes to the layout of the blog (hopefully faster than this tagging initiative) and these little blogging adventures will continue rolling along.