Yesterday I wrote an article about why people are still blogging. I have a reason you should be. however I also mentioned how my blog views had slipped and asked for some feedback. I think that turned into the purpose of the blog. The thing is, yes my views have decreased, but I’m not in any danger of like being unemployed. For one I don’t get paid to do this. (Pause for chuckles.)
(Continue) BUT really, I’m All Right, Don’t nobody worry about me.
(Wait for everyone to stop gopher dancing.)
(Continue) I came into Blog World without any views and I can stay in Blog World without any views. Yeah, I like them. And seriously I am good with my number of my views, if not I know how to increase them.
I asked people to give me reasons they might see as to why THEY think I might have fewer views. I was waiting to see who chimed in and what advice I received. You see, I know the reasons.
I have changed a little of what my content is.
Summer is over and school is in session so there is a little less viewing time for a lot of people.
I don’t write depressing, pain riddled poetry much if at all any longer
I don’t put out 3+ articles a day, I do sometimes but it’s rare and only if I really like something.
It’s football season here in the US of A.
I also don’t Tweet and advertise quite like I used to.
Does this mean I don’t have a lot of views? I don’t really know what a lot of views means. I would like to think that I do okay. I mean I know what some sites get as I have been in the background working on them and I am higher and lower depending on the site.
Do I plan to do something to try and raise my numbers up? No. You see if you try to do something to raise your numbers, people know it. I pretty much have had fun my entire blogging except that I did feel a need to put out at least three post per day. Why? I wanted to put out a variety of content for different possible visitors.
Some might point to my new site as being an energy eater. Most of you know I have a limited amount of energy, although I always seem to be around. Pain is pain and if you give in you get no gain. Right? Right. And yes LitWorldInterviews is taking a lot of energy out of me. I actually need an assistant to help format some of my work over there. Formatting is my hard part. My hands don’t work so well. I am working on getting voice to text to work so I can ‘write’ by speaking. Yes, that’s how bad my hands are.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining about how busy LWI is. I mean two author interviews per week, a current series on Author Presence, Book Reviews by four people out in one week, plus Feature Articles. Who even knew that would happen? And I’m still not doing all that I want to do there. Only one of me.
Well, sorry I spoke about LWI, I am trying not to do that so much here on my personal blog but it is part of my life, and there is stuff going on there that I think some of you here on RonovanWrites would like to know about. But I just wanted people to know that I am fine and don’t plan to do anything different. I am happy with my blog and what is happening. I still have more than enough views. And I know the events that cause them to be low at times.
Have you figured out why your blog is important to the universe and you need to keep going with it?
Oh be honest, you really have no idea. None of us do until an aha moment happens. No I do not intend to break into song “Take On Me” and think of the greatest music video ever.
Okay so perhaps I did that last part. Now back to why I am here. Actually literally why I am here.
I’ve noticed in recent times my viewership has started dying away.
Does this worry me? I have to actually sit myself down and step back to think that through. That in itself should tell you if I am worried. Ultimately the answer is no. You see I think I know why it’s happened and it’s a rather sad reason. But I’m okay with that.
But I still serve a purpose. You know as long as you help or inspire one person, your blog is worth it. To be honest if all I had going here was my various Haiku challenges each week and my Sunday Thoughts I suppose I would feel like I was doing something in the world, something more than I ever thought I would do.
That’s what you have to figure out. Is there someone that has commented on your blog that you helped them in some way? If you helped one, don’t you think you’ve helped others? Those others who haven’t spoken?
You might be saying that you’ve never had anyone say that. There is something I’ve discovered while blogging, or maybe two, okay maybe three somethings.
I get things out of me that I need to get out and that is therapeutic. I am mentally and emotionally healthier than I was the day I started blogging.
I have found my writers voice while blogging. I am not afraid to write anything under the sun and I know I can write it. Sure, I may not be an award winning author . . . yet, but I can write an article with the best of them when I want to.
I’ve made friends here that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
I imagine many of you can agree with all three of those, if not then I know you can say yes to at least one of them. So when you feel like you can’t blog or it’s not doing any good and then you remember that you wanted to blog to change things in the world, you have. You just have to realize what part of the world you’ve changed, even it is you that has changed.
As readers of this here thing called a blog, why do YOU think my views are dying off? I do want to hear suggestions.
And believe me, I have a list of reasons, some are even very harsh, and I came up with them all. I just want to see if I am thinking right. So share, please do.
Does this mean I will change anything I am doing? Who knows. My main goal is to be happy.
I wanted to write an article about a Blog Tip today. I thought I would play off of my “How to come up with a book idea” article from the LWI site and do “How to come up with a blog post” but the juices just didn’t flow in that direction and I’ve basically done things like that.
Instead I am going to simply brag a bit.
I am not overly boastful. Yes, I seem to brag about being humble and not seeking attention. I am not sure how to exactly understand the boasting of that but I am sure that it is boasting somehow. Anyway, people may have noticed I haven’t done any announcements about number of followers or views in a while. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I think it’s fine when you do it to sincerely thank followers for achieving those milestones. I have a friend that does that. Most of us never even expected but a handful of people to ever even see what we post. I am still surprised people show up here. Sure some days are slimmer than others, and weeks are slimmer then other weeks.
So what am I going to brag about?
‘B’ the Athlete
My son. My boy ‘B’ is awesome! He recently started basketball, his first try at sports. He’s 10 and was walking into the gym and the high school head football coach saw him, looked him up and down and smiled. “Have you ever thought about playing football?” A humorous conversation followed. ‘B’ is approaching 5 feet tall and is 100 lbs. And he’s not a chubby kid. There was visible droolage on the coaches face.
I am proud of how ‘B’ acted during his first practice. He’s serious about it and wants to learn and do well and he’s a team player.
‘B’ the Scholar
‘B’ is smart. I’ve mentioned that before. How smart is he? I’ve never mentioned that. A package came to the house from his school. Apparently he has been selected by one of the top 100 Universities in the world to take part in their gifted student program.
People don’t know about that at school, as in the other students, but tonight he came home and said he is considered one of the nerds in school. I suppose that’s because he makes good grades and knows answers in classes. So what if he is 10 and blew the Science teacher away by not calling a ‘beneficial relationship’ between animals a beneficial relationship, the dumb down version of the high school answer and instead called it a symbiotic relationship. And what if he did give the example of said relationship as being the warthog and mongoose and so what if the teacher had to look it up and was blown away and made a big deal out of it. And so what if that is not the only time it’s happened.
‘B’ watches educational programs . . . on his own. ‘B’ checks out non-fiction books from the library . . . on his own. Wonder where he likes that knowing facts from? So what if both his parents happened to have been gifted students. One thrived and was a Star Student. The other was told to kick back when transferring schools in the third grade until the rest of the class caught up and the month that took led to that parent checking out of caring about learning and didn’t care again until in their twenties.
What am I proud of?
I am proud that ‘B’ is still moving forward even though he’s misunderstood as teachers don’t know how to handle a gifted child that can do math in his head and does not understand why he has to show work in the way he doesn’t come up with the answer. People think a gifted child has it easy. No, a smart child can have it easy. A gifted child sometimes has to work twice as hard because he has to learn two ways of doing the same thing and he doesn’t get the help and support he needs.
I understand that students need to know certain things, but as a teacher I also believe and did this myself, as a teacher you pay attention and recognize how each student learns. Too much? I don’t want to hear it. I know it’s difficult, but if you only became a teacher because you want a couple of months off during the summer and you thought it would be an easy job, then go find something else and let the real teachers who love their subjects and have a desire to have a student understand and learn get the job you don’t deserve.
I don’t want anyone thinking I am talking about my son’s teachers. I am talking about things I have experienced and witnessed. The phone-in teachers who haven’t changed a test they give in 20 years.
Well, there is my brag and a rant. Now you know how to come up with a Blog Post. Start writing your life and see where it leads. You’ll end up finding out a lot about yourself along the way.
But I’m not in Australia. I’m in coldland. Notice I did not say Iceland, which is green nor Greenland which is ice. Yeah, I know, we all know the reason for the names. And they said my ancestors weren’t very bright. Hey, two sets of my ancestors found America before Columbus went island hopping and missed the big land mass to the west of his island disease spreading sexscapade. I’m good with it.
Today I thought I would discuss a little bit about self worth. You know, for a man who is basically unemployed and virtually disabled, I’m a busy thinking man. No, I can’t work hours and hours straight like a lot of people, but I get some things done as I can with writing. And perhaps none of it is pay worthy, but you know what? I don’t care.
You see we have worth. Some people are told they are not worth anything. Abusive spouses say it to their wives or husbands and abusive parents say it to their children. I have had to be held back from saying things in stores or quickly moved along because of something I have said for peoples fear I may have been over heard when I objected to certain words used toward children.
You know, when you’re a big man, you get away with saying things. When you’re a big man with a concussion and no impulse control over what you say, you can say anything and get away with it and back it up. No, I am not a violent man. I’ve never had to be. Look at me. I can get this really menacing look on my face. But I am actually harmless, just don’t tell anyone.
Some of you reading this know what I am talking about today. You’ve experienced it. You’ve been on the end of the abusive ‘you’re not worth a pile of…’ lecture. That can even be from an employer.
Every life has worth. I could go into my Bible and say that if God thought we were so worth arriving here as Jesus to live out a life susceptible to pain and hardships just like us and then die for our sins, then I will believe I am worth something and agree with God, but I’m not going to go into my Bible thing right now and say all of that. No siree uh uh.
I had an early life where if I had not been able to be taken out of it, I would have possibly been led down a life of believing I was not worthy of a good life. Abuse of various kinds early on, divorced parents, poverty, go on and on. But you know I didn’t know any of that until I was an adult. No one told me as a child I was not worthy, and no one has told me as an adult either.
Trolls can come out now and say what they like, I have my earplugs in due to my sound sensitivity so I won’t hear you. And I will just delete your comments if you have an issue with it. Yeah, Ron O Van don’t play that.
I want everyone to read this next series of sentences placing the emphasis on the all capitalized word each time.
I am worthy of good things.
i AM worthy of good things.
i am WORTHY of good things.
i am worthy OF good things.
i am worthy of GOOD things.
i am worthy of good THINGS.
Whenever you are going through a rough time, repeat that. No, it’s not a secret healing thing but it will remind you of something. I don’t think I need to tell you what that is at this point.
I go through this myself several times each day as I look at my situation and what it has caused, the troubles, the hardships. I know I am not really the cause of these things, but you can’t help feeling it sometimes. So you just have to remind yourself at times.
Positive thinking is not some mantra, guru thing. It’s a real thing. You have a defeatist attitude then you have a defeatist life. No matter what you have planned for your life, be positive about it.
You can even believe it’s Spring when it’s really Autumn because it actually is somewhere in the world. But still take a jacket with you when you go out, because it gets a bit chilly, even in Spring.
Sit down and stay awhile. Hungry? Let me grab you something. Poetic Parfait is a delicious treat for the mind.
Read poetry, enter discussions about the poetic word, listen to music, and embrace words that intend to inspire.
I beganPoetic Parfait in 2011, and the amount of support it receives on a daily basis humbles me. I began to write poetry at this site as a way to help myself get through a period of depression. As I typed the lines, I found they helped me work through my feelings and darkness that I felt around me.
In school it was having friends, crushes, grades. Okay, flip those first two. Yeah, that’s the order. I remember Roberta and a song that began with . . .
Down on the corner by the traffic light
Everybody’s lookin’ as she goes by
Since college it’s been family, job, health. No flipping the order there. Not really sure of a song I would put to that. Perhaps something like . . .
I think I’m tired today, driving the same old way
Why can’t I see what’s ahead, only blindly living instead
Now here I am in Blog World. I entered in timid and unsure. I didn’t know really what I wanted to write, well I did but I didn’t know how to write it the way it needed to be.
Approaching 800 articles across Blog World later . . . I still find myself worrying.
Or I did.
Ladies and Gentleman, and unladylike and slovenly, I have discovered that, to paraphrase a famous line from a famous baseball movie;
“There’s no worrying in blogging!”
This is not a joke.
Not some pithy thing to say. I mean it.
I worried at one point about talking about my faith. I do it mostly on Sundays, but I’ve been happily surprised at the reception. If the reception had been bad would I have stopped? Well in the beginning no one was really ‘recepting’ it . . . soooo. . .
I’ve worried about things like writing sensual poetry or even articles about race. Would I offend people? Would people stop following me? Would people not visit and like my work?
Yes, I fell into the blogger Blog World trap. I obviously did not fall in so deep that I didn’t post what I wanted to. But I did struggle and worry and even question myself after publishing.
But do I still worry? Am I still afraid people will abandon RonovanWrites over something Ronovan Writes or how bad Ronovan Writes what he Writes?
Let me paraphrase again, only with a slight difference this time.
“THERE IS NO ROOM FOR WORRYING IN BLOGGING!”
I am not saying intentionally seek to offend people. But do not be afraid to speak your mind. I happen to have a fairly rational and calm way of doing it. It’s just in my personality or something. I can’t write intentionally offensive things. Believe me, I’ve tried to write rants that end up as these think pieces and totally change. I end up calm by the end and have to rewrite everything because my thoughts had turned into this debate thing. And then I didn’t have to change much. Yeah, I sometime wish I could just go off on a subject.
I have a site dedicated to Rants but so far it has one article and that’s basically the here I am article. Yeah, its’ going to be a big mover.
We have enough stress in our lives to worry about blogging which is really meant to be a stress reliever, thing to enjoy, fun, creative.
You are worried about offending?
I have three very simple tips for you today:
Turn off your comments
Do not have contact info or a contact form
Or get out of blogging
I am a super over sensitive person. I will admit it. The smallest thing will make me think for days and become depressed. But here in Blog World I do my best because I know there will be people that, in all honesty are just out to be mean on purpose. Trolls anyone?
Why is this something to think about? Why is worrying something that is something to worry about?
One thing I enjoy about blogs is all the different people with different lives, perspectives, opinions, backgrounds and personalities. I like to learn. If we all are worried about things, then we all sound the same. If I was happy talking to myself I wouldn’t be here. Well, never mind, that’s a whole different article.
Sum up time
Blog what you want to and don’t sweat it. Or to paraphrase a famous baseball movie line;
“and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
So I didn’t paraphrase. But I liked it. And can you think of a better way to not worry?
I think we need to get a few things straight about blogging. Blogging isn’t what it started out to be. There are very few blogs in the true sense of the word any longer. We have become a world of almost websites. But we are called bloggers because we don’t have a company or whatever.
I’m cool with that. I’m a blogger. I’m a blogger in the 21st Century definition. Why did I explain all of that? Because I want to talk about . . .
How to Survive the Blog Life.
There are some people that don’t realize what goes into a lot of our blogs. The hours of writing, researching, networking, formatting, web layout designs and much more. I don’t really know of anyone that just throws out some words and that’s that.
I’ll make this simple:
Write what you like-If you are trying to write in a style you don’t like or are not comfortable in, then you’re likely to feel that eating at you. Maybe it’s just me, but when I am writing, I will just stop even at the end of a 1000 word article if I am not feeling it and trash it.
Only write when you want to-Don’t force yourself to write just because you feel responsible for it. Or you want to have content because you are afraid people won’t come back if you miss a day or two. If that’s true then they really weren’t into your site in the first place. Not to sound negative there, but it’s the truth.
Be nice to people-There is no reason to be mean to anyone. If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say it. If you don’t want to interact with people, don’t have comment boxes on your posts where people might ask you something. You don’t have to respond to every person, but you can some at least.
Set your boundaries-Make your life easy by setting some rules for yourself about interacting with other bloggers or readers. They are your friends and co-workers of sorts. Keep it that way. Makes for an easier life for you and keeps you a lot happier in the long run.
If you like it you like it-Only click like on things you like, and if you really like it then reblog it. Some don’t like to reblog because it doesn’t look good on their blog or reblogs don’t work that great for views and traffic on average. So what?
There is something that I didn’t mention. It’s the most important thing to remember in order to Survive the Blog Life.
Don’t worry about success.
If you ever start worrying about success go to one of those 5 things and see which one you are missing out on. You see, being you, just being yourself is enough. You don’t have to do gimmicks.
I give tips about how to increase traffic to blog sites, but I don’t use them all. You see, I just like giving the tips because I know that a) some people are after success and b) some people just like to use different types of things, okay and c) I just like to share/teach. Sorry, it’s in the blood thing. Once a teacher always a teacher.
You now I added the star rating to my posts a while back and no one really uses it. But yesterday for some reason someone decided to put a 1 on two of my posts. One was my Autumn post and the other was my Haiku Prompt Challenge post. You see if it had been just the Autumn post then fine, but then when it was the Haiku Prompt as well I realized it was someone just being mean. But I’m good with it. I’ll take down the star rating eventually anyway because it was just for a change and no one was using it anyway and it doesn’t really go with my new theme and layout.
But don’t add things like ratings to your posts if you are sensitive and care what people think. Just sayin’. Oh, and no worries. I know the deal, so I’m good.
So everyone, remember, forget about success, write honest, and take some breaks.
As we are in a new month and a new season it’s time for a change. As you may have noticed, ever so slightly, my content is slowly changing. Moving forward I’ve decided that unless it is something I truly like you will not be seeing it. I always thought I was doing that and maybe I was. But my personal standards are higher now. With that being said, you might visit me and not see a brand new post for that day. I have plenty of posts for you to see, almost 700 now. To make it easier I might put the tag cloud back out so you might find things you could be interested in if you wish.
Sometimes people think they see a theme in my writing, my posts. There isn’t any. I like to write about love. I think that’s kind of cool really. I hear a song, just a few bars and the beat or something then clicks with me and I write a poem. Don’t worry, folks, Ronovan is okay. Until he’s dead, he’s doing fine. I have a firmer grasp on things than a lot of people in this world.
I hope you keep visiting even if the pickings become a little slimmer, but no more fluff. I consider some of what I have put out to be that. And as for my lists on Fridays, some of them have been pretty sad and the results have shown that, but then again, the ones I really felt passionate about got no results. Well, passionate and enjoying is what I am going to be about. So, hope you keep visiting and enjoy my offerings.
Sian Pfudor, our resident Prompt Girl, Young Lady,
actually here as a member of my site. She will hopefully share her Haiku and other things as well without having to go through me first. And yes, there really is a 10 year old girl named Sian that gives me some words to use. You may ask yourself why I am doing this. Well, one thing I enjoy more than anything else is when others are encouraged to do something with their talent. This young lady has talent and who knows what she might do by just by being involved here and getting wonderful encouragement from all of you. And no, she does not look like a unicorn, but she does like purple.
Next I wanted to mention the new Rating I added to my articles.
Those are the little stars you see. I am not saying you need to rate my work, but I wanted to point out the change as you should do whenever you make a change on your site. I think I might regret it, but I would like to know if either my tips are helpful or if my poems are enjoyable and this is a way of letting me know without commenting for those who don’t comment and I can’t see who rates what. (I am still a little apprehensive about it.)
That being said you will notice a new page for my new site at the top ‘Lit World Interviews Site!’.
That is letting you see what my other site is about and letting you know it exists in case you miss this or any other posts I mention it in.
That’s about it for today. I told you it wouldn’t take long.
Blog or not you probably will have a time you need to edit photos or images, be it for getting rid of a pimple or simply to put a ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Birthday, Ronovan’ on a pretty picture to email because it’s cheaper than buying one. And it is cheaper than even mailing it if you are adding in the gas money, and tax and any impulse buying you do, even just that soft drink you just NEED or you will DIE. Why do I hear a 10 year old crying for baseball cards? Hmm.
Both of tools are free to use online with just a bit of difference. I won’t be getting detailed today. I already went into some detail about fotoflexer in another recent article titled ‘How to use fotoflexer to add text and more to your images‘. I will get deeper into not only it but picmonkey as the days go by. Today is a just ‘tell you about them and and what I see as the differences and similarities’ day. Because really the way to learn how to use something like this is to go and play with it. I kid you not. Once you learn where things are, then you might go and see some advanced tutorials, which there are. I used a few on fotoflexer that are really cool. Cool’s not professional to use? Are you serious? Bummer, dude.
Let’s just be straight up here. Try both and see which one you like. Yeah, I know, that sort of tells you not to read the rest of this, right? Not really. But at the end of things that’s what you should do no matter whose article you read, because preference is just an opinion. Each of us will like one over the other.
Pros and Cons
In the world of Pros and Cons there is really only one Con to fotoflexer and one for picmonkey I’ve found so far, but I am still looking in both.
The Fotoflexer Con
It appears you have to allow pop up ads on the site. One pop up will occur and then you are free to go. If you have adblocker and pretty much anything like it you can just allow ads by site. This hasn’t been an annoyance for me so far as it has just been the one ad that pops up, I leave it in the background on another page were it pops, and I’m left alone the rest of the time. And they aren’t offensive ads that I have seen to date.
Con Rating with 5 being Migraine?-1.5 I know it’s free to use and they have to get the money in some way, so I go with, at least it’s not a distraction while working on an image.
Picmonkey Con
It is possible I am in error but I haven’t found the animated feature yet. By animated I mean you can make added images or text to your images blink or twinkle. It’s not a must but it is fun at times.
Con Rating with 5 being Migraine?-1 Maybe. I only give it a 1 because maybe I want the animation and I haven’t seen it yet. But no tool is perfect, no free tool anyway.
Neither of the Cons for either is a killer for me, a knock out not going to use either punch. Both have features I like that the other doesn’t.
Fotoflexer Pros
It has the animated Text and added images feature. Just a bit of a cool thing. But what I really like is the tool feature bar itself as it is located at the top and is very clean looking, while picmonkey is just a little more difficult for me to go through at the moment, but with usage either with do just fine.
Picmonkey Pros
Picmonkey has some nice fonts and is more of a classic design for images. It has more in the way borders/frames.
I think you could combine the two at times and come up with some fantastic creations. If you like playing around with things, then go for it. If not, stick with one and learn it well.
My pick? I am not a overly image needy person as far as what I need to use, so I go with the layout and toolbar of fotoflexer. It is just more appealing to me and I can have fun with the animation pieces.
Classic pick? Go with Picmonkey. Yes you can get classic with fotoflexer. I just wanted to say that before anyone jumps in. In fact I used it for a recent Haiku where I blurred the edges of old paper and the like to get the right look. But if you don’t care about the bling, then picmonkey might be your thing, especially if you don’t want the pop ad.
I’ll do a more detailed article on picmonkey as soon as I explore it more. And I will also post some results from each site to show you want can be done.
Two sites, are much the same inside, just different ways to work the features. It’s all a matter of taste.
You know you’ve all been there, that first day and you go through the same old same old routine. You talk about the people you both know, about the movie you are about to see, maybe a couple of other things. You try not to embarrass yourself while eating the chips and salsa as the chips break apart and fly everywhere. The night comes to a close and it’s time for that end of date routine; kiss or not, call me or not. Meanwhile things have been left out of the evening that are so so important that would help everyone make some good decisions.
Things We Wish We Asked On A First Date
Do you have an arrest record?
You ever been months into a relationship and discovered that special person in your life has a court date coming up that might send them away for a few years? Not that I would know anything about this one.
Do you have any STDs?
What? If you are on a date then you should consider the possible outcomes short term or long term. Sex happens, even not the all the way kind that can still make you regret later on. I mean seriously, a crab dinner should be at the restaurant, not left overs you discover the next day. I just thought never thought about why she went to ‘that’ doctor every month.
How much do you make a year?
Your date is looking nice. Oh yeeeaaaahhhh. Who did they borrow the clothes from and the car? They living over the parent’s garage? You want to know what the real deal is now not after the wedding. Oh and don’t get hooked up because of earning potential, because let me tell you, that one never works out. Not that I have ever done that, just that I know the earning thing doesn’t always pan out.
Do you have kids?
There’s nothing wrong with having kids, just tell the person up front. In my much much younger days I dated a woman with kids. Not a big deal. Just need to know is all. Especially would have been nice to know about the older one . . . by the first husband. We’ll get into that more later.
Do you snore when you sleep?
This is one that is difficult to find out normally. Sure, you may even be having sex with someone but there is a good chance they head home afterwards, even if it is the apartment next door, leaving you and your roommate to make up the bed. And ladies, don’t be lookin’ at the men alone on this one. There’s a major drag strip near my house that is on national TV often and can be felt and heard miles and miles away. Just sayin’ some things can drown it out.
What’s your father/mother look like?
Your date is hot, but what will they look like down the line? I know that’s not a question anyone should ever even think of because it’s a bit shallow but I had to come up with something, and I tell you there are some that look one way now and in 20 years will look totally different. Again not a big deal, but for some it might be a thing.
Do you shave everything?
Yeah, I said it. Men if you are reading this, it’s not just a question we might want to ask. You think you like things a certain way, well perhaps the ladies like things to be a little neater as well. Just sayin’. Yeah, I know. they like their men to be men but men can . . . well, ladies comment on this if you like.
What’s your top three favorite sexual positions you would like to try?
This might seem like a bad question but it’s not. One of you may be more into sex than the other. This could legitimately cause some issues down the line, and quickly once the sexual aspect of the relationship begins. At first I put this one down as a joke but then as I thought about it, it’s a lot more serious than one might think.
What are you like pre-mentrual?
First of all, I was given this question. I never even thought of it. And it was given to me by a woman. I won’t even go into the whys the need to know but I think on the flip side men might should be asked what they are like after their sport team loses.
Did your mother/father cheat on your father/mother?
A serious question. There can be a pattern in families. My own bio-father was not a good man. I have done everything I could through my life to be as opposite of him as I could. But things can always sneak up on you without notice. So this isn’t a bad question. If you were afraid of this question you could also ask . . . well y’all get to comment with your own questions later, so I’ll the options open.
Are you married or hooked up already?
Duh, right? This should never have to be an issue but it is. Okay, I know situations can be different in each relationship, but regardless of what kind of marriage, be it a platonic or traditional one, the date would like to know because that’s some serious junk to deal with. The date has to determine if it’s a deal breaker or not. Just imagine you are at the dates apartment, it’s quiet and dark, and then lights hit the windows from a car pulling up. The date jumps up and yells “My spouse is home.” Your first reaction is well I don’t say those words any longer, I mean I can imagine what a date might say. But the sad part is, what if that was the first date? Put it this way, that would be the last date. Just sayin’.
That’s it for my part of this list of questions, now it’s up to y’all.
What questions can you come up with? Share them in the comments below, and if we have enough, I’ll put out a reader list early next week of your contributions.
at Dandelion Fuzz and her Virtual Blog Tour where she has tagged me as one of the next participants. Also Follow her BLOG!!! I swear I had and I go there and it showed I hadn’t. Once again Ronovan is ticked and might have to Rant. And yes, I do have a blog for that I haven’t posted on. I just don’t rant that much. And yes, it is called RonovanRants. Gotta love me, right?
Much Respect
Ronovan
I would like to start by thanking Adrienne at greatsnaps, goodtimes and me for inviting me to take part in this tour. My participation was delayed by jury duty, life…..but I’m happy to be participating now.
Here are my answers to the Virtual Blog Tour questions:
What am I working on?
Since I began this blog, I have struggled with finding focus. That remains an issue for me. While my blog generally centers on my family’s journey with my transgender son, I try not to make that the only topic. We are so much more than that. I am working on the right balance and developing variety in my posts by trying out different things.
I am in the first week of Writing 101- Round 2! 2 days, 2 assignments completed. This time I WILL finish!
In addition to working on Writing 101, I have been brainstorming possible new features…
I had a lovely and sweet lady ask how to put text on an image. Sometimes, even when you are just not at your best you can’t say no to a wonderful woman. So here I am.
You can do it with your various photo editing things. I used to use ‘Paint’ that comes with windows to do it sometimes but now I use an online site called fotoflexer.com. I know of this because Colleen of Silver Threading used it on a Haiku Challenge of mine and I went nuts for it. Collen is another sweet and beautiful lady and friend. She shared the site with me and now here we are.
The reason I use it now:
They have some cool features you can use to make things look awesome.
The text looks sharp and professional.
Why should you add text or other things to your images:
You don’t have to but it makes for variety and if you are using Twitter it’s a way to get something said in a visual way that jumps out at people. I get more clicks when I include images than when not.
The step by step looks long below, but if any of you have read my Tips before you know they really aren’t that Long, they are just detailed.
First thing to remember is? Take your time this first time out. Give yourself plenty of time to play around with it and have fun with it, because it can be very fun to play with adding things. So if you are in a hurry to get an image done . . . either forget it this time or plan for it another day. Sure you can do this in a matter of a few minutes once you know it, but right now . . . you don’t know it.
Once you get to fotoflexer you can sign up for a free account, like I did, or just use it. But either way you need to allow pop up ads. It’s not for the ads themselves but I think it’s for what works on the actual site itself. You can allow pop up ads just for a particular site. Most likely you have ‘Adblock Plus’ or something of that nature. That’s not what I have but it is a popular one. Just click it and click the option that probably says allow for this page.
Now we’re good to go. I am not going to bullet point these. Each piece is a step, each paragraph or whatever you want to call it.
I simply click on ‘upload photo’ and then ‘upload’. Now you find the image on your computer you want to use and load it.
Once loaded you get a lot of ‘tabs’ for features you can use. Play around with them. You can add picture frame borders or little decoration things. It’s lots of fun. But we are looking at just doing text right now.
To add text to your photo, click on the tab that says ‘Decorate’. You will see the big ‘T’ for text here and you can do plain text or glitter text. Both are added the same way, it’s just glitter can be animated so it sparkles.
So click the T of choice. I am using the Glitter one for fun here.
You will get a little ‘Enter Text Here’ box come up as well as a big white box on the photo where the text shows up. Go ahead and type your text. You can resize the actual text box on the picture by clicking and dragging the sides, top and bottom and also dragging the box to the location of your choice. I like to do that early so I see what it looks like as I do it. But it really doesn’t matter when.
In the Text Options box above you can see some options that appear on the right of the screen at this point. I have the glittery one here, and can actually uncheck the ‘Glittery’ if I like. Let’s run through the options quickly.
Background allows you to do the shape of your text box that will appear on your photo. You might want a heart or something, this is where you choose it.
Transparent will get rid of the background of the text box and the words will appear on the photo itself.
Font-Here it’s glittery or not but if you notice the box below as Cretino in it. That’s a font style. Simply click here and choose your font.
You can align your text left, center, or right with the option below the text options
Choose your Font Size-Auto will automatically adjust the text size as you change the height or width of you text box on the photo.
Text Color-Change the Text color
Background Color-Change the background color if not using Transparent.
Then you Apply the changes, Cancel, or Delete.
Once you hit apply and you see your results and maybe you don’t like them, if you look to the far left of the screen you will see the ‘undo’ button. Click that and the text disappears and you start over.
But you’re happy with the results so what next. At the very top you will see ‘Save’. Click ‘Save’
Once the save is finished you then get the ‘click here to continue button’. Click it.
Now the ‘Save To My Computer’ button comes up. You guessed it, click it.
You can name the file now in the pop up window, just make sure to keep that ‘.gif’ at the end. I advise you to name it now, like the one below I named something like ‘Ron_Hoodie_Glitter’. I really don’t know how to spell hoodie for sure but there you go. Why do I name my images with the undescore (_) between words? Because that’s the way SEO likes to read them, so why not do it now?
Now you get the ‘Save Complete’ button. Yep, click OK.
Now you’re done.
Things you need to know:
You can sign up for a free account for the site or just do the images. I signed up, why not, right?
The other thing, you need to allow pop up ads for the page. For some reason it won’t always allow you to load images unless you do this. But it’s only for the one page so no big deal.
Why do I suggest you use fotoflexer and not paint?
Paint can make your text look very bad and unprofessional. fotoflexer makes it look clean and crisp.
Everyone, please visit my very first ever Guest Blog. Amanda of insidethelifeofmoi was kind enough to let me share something from my heart. Please go and check it out and follow her blog if you are not already doing so. She is very engaging with those who comment and is a very sweet young lady.
Much Respect,
Ronovan
Cyber Bullying, Internet Bullying, Cyber Bullies, Trolls. You know where this is going. Did you know that if you share your thoughts on the internet that you might get attacked or that people like to use those things to try and make you feel weak and bad? No? It happens, even to the nicest people, INCLUDING adults. Cyber Bullying isn’t just about teenagers or younger any longer or in truth has never just been about those ages. Some call it discussing, commenting or debating. To me once you cross a line it becomes something else. This isn’t about something that’s happened to me. It’s happened to my FRIENDS.
Internet Cyber Bullies: Not just for the young.
by: Ronovan
Why do bloggers blog? Is it because we want attention? For some that may be the case, but I would say for most it is to share their thoughts and their creations. There are those who do it as a hobby of sorts or even as a way to make money. I need to look into how to do that last one. I’m not sure anyone would pay me to write what I write. I’m just too random.
If you are a paid columnist for a major publication I am sure you expect some attacks or fallout from certain pieces published. For those who simply share personal experiences in order for others to find a person to connect with and heal with, I expect an attack comes as a shock. It’s a sucker punch, a low blow, basically a jerk thing to do.
Have I been personally attacked? No, but I have seen my friends attacked. I hold my tongue and bite my fingers while I’m at it. Sure, I may write something in response either on their blog or even in an article myself but it is always more toward the support of the friend than against the attacker. I like to support the positive and not encourage the negative.
I’m a peacemaker. It’s what some call a spiritual gift. When I see strife it tears at me. When it involves one of my friends, especially a woman, I become . . . not happy. Society needs to realize that Cyber Bullying is not just limited to school aged kids. It happens to adults too. Sometimes it’s even by another blogger who is just so self centered they can’t see past their ego bubble to notice they have a problem.
And if what is called a ‘troll’ can find you and your weakness they are going to pick at that weakness until it bleeds and you crack. Yes, ‘troll’ is just another word for cyber bully. But people apply it to adult on adult bullying because we as adults are supposed to be able to handle ourselves.
Really? Give a try sometime and see how you like it. Not everyone is the same. Not everyone’s history is the same. I wrote an interview recently that showed me how different people really can be. That in part sparked this article. That, and a few other incidents.
‘Troll’ alert: I’m good. I’m better adjusted than my site content may suggest. I’ve been mentally attacked by the best and I’m still standing.
No matter what a blogger says the ‘troll’ will take the opposite view or spin words to create chaos, even if the blogger agrees at some point, the ‘troll’ will just change their words to keep an argument going.
‘Trolls’ want to argue and hurt people. Some ‘trolls’ don’t even know they’re ‘trolls’. However, they do know what they are doing. They find that person they think is weak, discover things about them, and then when the opportunity arises they strike. Or perhaps they don’t realize that’s what they are doing, I mean some of them. They just ended up mentally conditioned to prey upon others. I’m not giving them a free pass for it. Big boy, put on the big boy panties and act like a big boy or girl.
So how do you handle a ‘troll’? If you are a blogger you can block them from posting. Or better is just to ignore them and ask your reader Friends to not reply to their comments. ‘Trolls’ want attention. Don’t give it to them and some day they will go away.
But that isn’t the answer for some bloggers. There are some situations that can’t be ignored. That’s when you do have to block them or even report them to whoever you have your blog with. I would just make sure to reply to a comment telling the ‘troll’ not to comment on any more of your blog posts or any other social network or media you are involved with. Copy it, screenshot it, keep it, and if it continues, it’s harassment.
Will this article bring the ‘trolls’ my way? Perhaps, but if they disrupt my Friends enjoyment of my creations they will be blocked. And in truth, they would just give me more things to write about. Perhaps my next article would be Cyber Bully Booger Blues. So sad.
“It is the end of fall in the kingdom of Alymphia. Princess Aria and Prince Hob are readying themselves for yet another Fall Passing Festival. But unbeknownst to them, change is coming to the kingdom. Change brought on by dark forces and events that occurred generations prior. And those changes will unfold over their lives like a flood that nothing can stop.
In another place and another time, a mysterious prince walks the world, trusted steel at his belt and a mystical stone imbued with magic at his neck. He is looking for a word that has never been said; a word that would save his love from the grip of an ancient beast.
The WorldMight is a fantasy imbued with romance and mysticism. It is a classic tale of love truer than time, a spiritual journey in a world heavy with secrets and magic. Despite spanning generations and more, it is also a very personal story of devotion, jealousy, and redemption.”
Interview with Cyril Bussiere Author of The WorldMight
One of the very talented people I have come to know since starting up this site is Cyril Bussiere a Poet, Musician, Intellectual, and Author of The WorldMight, all of which I am jealous of. Renaissance man perhaps? We’ll go with that. Oh, and did I happen to mention Photographer as one of his gifts as well?
Yes, I hate on him sometimes, because he’s just so good at everything. It doesn’t help that he is also French and so does that cool French accent thing. If I didn’t like the guy so much I might just throw myself under a bus, but then I would miss out on what next creation he came up with.
I asked Cyril if he would be willing to do an interview and he kindly and generously said yes. I won’t waste much more of your time now. I’m just glad this isn’t in sound so I don’t have to hear the cool accent compared with my slow Southern accent, y’all.
RW: Okay, Cyril, first thing first, where do we get a copy of your book, The WorldMight?
CYRIL: At this moment it’s available at Amazon for Kindle.
RW: Now that everyone has left the interview to buy your book I will ask a few questions. You were born and raised in France (yes he speaks French-for real, I was not just saying that earlier) and then came to the United States to continue your University studies, why? Why Utah and then Texas? Those are three very different environments I would think.
CYRIL: This is a good question and worthy of a long answer. Right after high school I joined the University of Medicine in my home town.
During Christmas that year I read On the Heights of Despair by Emile Cioran and it sent me into a rather deep spiritual and existential crisis in the light of which life, let alone school, became irrelevant.
RW: I think we all get like that sometimes. But you came out of it, obviously.
CYRIL: After a few difficult months, I gathered the tools to fend off the dark doubts and uncertainties that plagued me. My mother nonetheless decided a change of scenery was in order for me. One of my best friends from high school was already studying in upstate NY and so at the end of that year I joined him and enrolled in the small community college there.
RW: That is seriously a loving Mom there. But that is New York, where does the Utah stop come in?
CYRIL: What was supposed to be a one year stay turned into more. I transferred to Alabama where I attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, a proper university but still not too expensive -my family was already making great financial sacrifices for me to be in the US, (it’s crazy expensive here compared to France where it’s almost free -Med school was $300 a year.)
A year later, it was decided that if I was to graduate, it might as well be from as good a school as possible. That’s when I moved to Salk Lake City, Utah, where I finished my B.S. in Biology at the University of Utah. After that I worked for a year at UC Davis as a lab tech (my old lab from U of U had moved there right before I graduated).
In the meantime, I applied to grad school, mostly randomly, to places that had good funding for research. At the end of my year in California, I took a 4 months break and traveled South East Asia solo. I was in Bangkok when I got the news that I was accepted at UT Austin. I spent the next seven years there, getting my Ph.D. in microbiology.
So to sum it up, it was mostly through chance that got me where I am. I knew almost nothing about all the places I moved to throughout the years and it’s all been great.
RW: I’ll have to talk to you about South East Asia another time. That must have been amazing. But for not in regards to your writing, coming from more of a biological/medical background to now writing novels, are there medical aspects in your work, your literary creations?
CYRIL: Not at all. My research was not medical, it was more basic science, how-does-this-work type of stuff. Although I’ve done a lot of scientific writing in my time, science has not influenced my creative writing. I do have a few ideas for potential novels that involve scientific aspects, but that’s in the ‘if and maybe’ realm.
RW: Your parents were obviously great encouragers and supporters in your education, did they encourage your writing as well or perhaps a teacher saw something? Where does the writing influence come from?
CYRIL: I’m not sure where it comes from. As far as I can remember I always wrote, though mostly short form and poetry. My parents always read a lot and I guess they passed it on to me, and that in turn inspired me to write. I think it comes down to a need for creative expression.
RW: How would you describe your style of writing? You write poetry and have most of your writing life, now you write a novel, how different and challenging did you find it?
CYRIL: My writing can change drastically from day to day, and that makes it difficult to assign it a style. For example my first novel, The WorldMight is a very poetic work, while the book I’m currently working on has a very crude and raw style.
Going from poetry to novel was a daunting prospect I had shied away from all my life. The WorldMight was not planned as a novel. Initially, it just wrote the prologue one morning, it came to be on its own, and could have been just a longish fiction blog post. It came from a ‘free his love’ idea that I had almost two years prior and mostly everything else in these paragraphs was improvised. Somehow I kept on writing after it, and everything I created past that point, the world, its magical rules and the overarching plot flowed from these first words and ideas.
RW: With the ‘daunting prospect’ and the ‘plot flowed’ comments being a bit at odds, how long did it take you to finish The WorldMight? I know the idea was probably daunting but apparently you flowed well once starting.
CYRIL: It took about 14 months to write the first draft. A couple of months after I finished it, my wife and I took a nine months break to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail and do volunteer work in Nepal, so I didn’t touch it during that time. When we got back home at the end of last year, I got started on the editing process and that took another four months.
RW: That is great to know. A lot of the ‘experts’ say you need to walk away from your manuscript for a period of time to then come back to it fresh.
You mentioned a new project that is very different form The WorldMight. What is it that you are working on now and when can we expect it in our hands?
CYRIL: Right now, I am working on a novel, BLUR. The story takes place in Austin, TX, and follows Barrett, a scientist and wannabe writer, and, Pete, the protagonist of Barrett’s first novel. In it I explore love, lust, and the effect childhood experiences have on intimate relationships. It’s a raw, sometimes graphic work, that’s very different from my first novel. I’m six chapters short of being done, so I hope to have it out by beginning 2015.
RW: Very different idea from The WorldMight. But I’ve read some on your site, especially the short story series you have going called Vamp, which I have to say is very unique take on the Vampire idea, so I know there is a different side of your writing and that you like to break out and expose your different ideas.
Now, Cyril, You wrote a novel for 14 months, what did you learn about yourself while writing The WorldMight?
CYRIL: First thing would be that I can write a novel. That was not something I was sure of until the epilogue was finished.
Second, that I don’t have much control over the writing process. It happens more than I make it happen. It’s both engrossing when it flows and utterly frustrating when it doesn’t.
Third, that I pour a lot of who I am in my characters. They might be very different from me, but there’s always a crucial aspect about them that is a reflection of an aspect of my own persona. Sometimes, I don’t see it right away and it’s only on the umpteenth reread that it jumps at me, but it’s always there.
RW: I share the same opinion. No matter how much you want to go in one direction it just goes where it wants to. Now, what did you learn about the writing while working on The WorldMight?
CYRIL: That it’s hard. It’s like the blank page is my foe and we’re doing some kind of dance of seduction of the to-the-death kind and half the time I win and she bends to my will, and the rest of the time, I try and try but end up deleting hours of bad writing.
But in the end, you just have to keep on going at it, keep the floodgates open, until something decent comes out. I find that often the good stuff is inspired by the crap that came before it.
RW: Ah, when the floodgates don’t open what is your escape from writing when you are waiting for them to open again?
CYRIL: Something mindless. Right now I’m getting back into classical guitar after a five year hiatus, so I do a lot of that. I’m also involved with Big Brother Big Sister and my little lent me Grand Theft Auto V so I’m playing that too.
RW: Obviously the floodgates opened, you revised, what was the most challenging part of getting your book to the public?
CYRIL: The editing process was tough, especially cutting down 10% of it. It took me a while to come to term with the fact that I just had to, that great phrases that bog down the flow of a paragraph have to be axed without remorse, however beautiful they might be.
RW: What advice would you give a first time novelist venturing into publishing a book?
CYRIL: If in the writing stages, just do it. The confidence you’ll get from having written a book, whatever the quality, is utterly satisfying.
If you have written the book, do your research and figure out who your public is, how to reach it and what your options are.
RW: For me when I write I find lighting in my room influences how I write. You write songs, do you listen to certain kinds of music to help you write various scenes?
CYRIL: I don’t usually listen to music while I write. I find it distracts more than anything else. However, I do listen in my head to the sounds and music, if there is some playing, of the scene. It helps me soak up the atmosphere of the moment and write the character’s reactions more naturally in the given context.
RW: Writing does take time away from other aspects of life. What did your wife think of the time you had to spend writing The WorldMight?
CYRIL: I’m a morning person and my wife is not. I wrote in the mornings, 5-7am, while she was still asleep, so it didn’t really impact her.
RW: That works out great. Finally, what is your go to beverage while writing?
CYRIL: A light beer like a Shiner or a Blue Moon. But they don’t last long.
RW: I know you are currently unsigned by a literary agency, if you could hand pick one what qualities in an agent would you want?
CYRIL: Since I enjoy writing in various styles and in different genres, flexibility would be important in an agent. Also, given my attachment to well written sentences, one who is ruthless when it comes to editing would be a definite plus. And of course someone who would know how to get my work in the right hands both publisher-wise and to reader-wise.
I thank Cyril for agreeing to this interview. I must say he really agreed to help me out by doing so. My Friends here at RonovanWrites deserve to see the inside workings of getting to a goal and that real people write their dreams into reality.
If you are a fan of Cyril’s poetry then you MUST get this book. Just read the reviews at Amazon and the excerpts as well and you will see mention of his poetic style.
I ask everyone to make sure to visit Cyril at his site, cyrilbussiere.wordpress.com . You can also reach him by email at cyril.buissiere@gmail.com and of course as the whole of the world has a Twitter account, you can find Cyril there as well at @cyrilbussiere. Of course he and I are Twitter friends, and I also Follow his blog, so I’m not asking you to do anything that I don’t.
“It is the end of fall in the kingdom of Alymphia. Princess Aria and Prince Hob are readying themselves for yet another Fall Passing Festival. But unbeknownst to them, change is coming to the kingdom. Change brought on by dark forces and events that occurred generations prior. And those changes will unfold over their lives like a flood that nothing can stop.
In another place and another time, a mysterious prince walks the world, trusted steel at his belt and a mystical stone imbued with magic at his neck. He is looking for a word that has never been said; a word that would save his love from the grip of an ancient beast.
The WorldMight is a fantasy imbued with romance and mysticism. It is a classic tale of love truer than time, a spiritual journey in a world heavy with secrets and magic. Despite spanning generations and more, it is also a very personal story of devotion, jealousy, and redemption.”
Interview with Cyril Bussiere Author of The WorldMight
One of the very talented people I have come to know since starting up this site is Cyril Bussiere a Poet, Musician, Intellectual, and Author of The WorldMight, all of which I am jealous of. Renaissance man perhaps? We’ll go with that. Oh, and did I happen to mention Photographer as one of his gifts as well?
Yes, I hate on him sometimes, because he’s just so good at everything. It doesn’t help that he is also French and so does that cool French accent thing. If I didn’t like the guy so much I might just throw myself under a bus, but then I would miss out on what next creation he came up with.
I asked Cyril if he would be willing to do an interview and he kindly and generously said yes. I won’t waste much more of your time now. I’m just glad this isn’t in sound so I don’t have to hear the cool accent compared with my slow Southern accent, y’all.
RW: Okay, Cyril, first thing first, where do we get a copy of your book, The WorldMight?
CYRIL: At this moment it’s available at Amazon for Kindle.
RW: Now that everyone has left the interview to buy your book I will ask a few questions. You were born and raised in France (yes he speaks French-for real, I was not just saying that earlier) and then came to the United States to continue your University studies, why? Why Utah and then Texas? Those are three very different environments I would think.
CYRIL: This is a good question and worthy of a long answer. Right after high school I joined the University of Medicine in my home town.
During Christmas that year I read On the Heights of Despair by Emile Cioran and it sent me into a rather deep spiritual and existential crisis in the light of which life, let alone school, became irrelevant.
RW: I think we all get like that sometimes. But you came out of it, obviously.
CYRIL: After a few difficult months, I gathered the tools to fend off the dark doubts and uncertainties that plagued me. My mother nonetheless decided a change of scenery was in order for me. One of my best friends from high school was already studying in upstate NY and so at the end of that year I joined him and enrolled in the small community college there.
RW: That is seriously a loving Mom there. But that is New York, where does the Utah stop come in?
CYRIL: What was supposed to be a one year stay turned into more. I transferred to Alabama where I attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, a proper university but still not too expensive -my family was already making great financial sacrifices for me to be in the US, (it’s crazy expensive here compared to France where it’s almost free -Med school was $300 a year.)
A year later, it was decided that if I was to graduate, it might as well be from as good a school as possible. That’s when I moved to Salk Lake City, Utah, where I finished my B.S. in Biology at the University of Utah. After that I worked for a year at UC Davis as a lab tech (my old lab from U of U had moved there right before I graduated).
In the meantime, I applied to grad school, mostly randomly, to places that had good funding for research. At the end of my year in California, I took a 4 months break and traveled South East Asia solo. I was in Bangkok when I got the news that I was accepted at UT Austin. I spent the next seven years there, getting my Ph.D. in microbiology.
So to sum it up, it was mostly through chance that got me where I am. I knew almost nothing about all the places I moved to throughout the years and it’s all been great.
RW: I’ll have to talk to you about South East Asia another time. That must have been amazing. But for not in regards to your writing, coming from more of a biological/medical background to now writing novels, are there medical aspects in your work, your literary creations?
CYRIL: Not at all. My research was not medical, it was more basic science, how-does-this-work type of stuff. Although I’ve done a lot of scientific writing in my time, science has not influenced my creative writing. I do have a few ideas for potential novels that involve scientific aspects, but that’s in the ‘if and maybe’ realm.
RW: Your parents were obviously great encouragers and supporters in your education, did they encourage your writing as well or perhaps a teacher saw something? Where does the writing influence come from?
CYRIL: I’m not sure where it comes from. As far as I can remember I always wrote, though mostly short form and poetry. My parents always read a lot and I guess they passed it on to me, and that in turn inspired me to write. I think it comes down to a need for creative expression.
RW: How would you describe your style of writing? You write poetry and have most of your writing life, now you write a novel, how different and challenging did you find it?
CYRIL: My writing can change drastically from day to day, and that makes it difficult to assign it a style. For example my first novel, The WorldMight is a very poetic work, while the book I’m currently working on has a very crude and raw style.
Going from poetry to novel was a daunting prospect I had shied away from all my life. The WorldMight was not planned as a novel. Initially, it just wrote the prologue one morning, it came to be on its own, and could have been just a longish fiction blog post. It came from a ‘free his love’ idea that I had almost two years prior and mostly everything else in these paragraphs was improvised. Somehow I kept on writing after it, and everything I created past that point, the world, its magical rules and the overarching plot flowed from these first words and ideas.
RW: With the ‘daunting prospect’ and the ‘plot flowed’ comments being a bit at odds, how long did it take you to finish The WorldMight? I know the idea was probably daunting but apparently you flowed well once starting.
CYRIL: It took about 14 months to write the first draft. A couple of months after I finished it, my wife and I took a nine months break to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail and do volunteer work in Nepal, so I didn’t touch it during that time. When we got back home at the end of last year, I got started on the editing process and that took another four months.
RW: That is great to know. A lot of the ‘experts’ say you need to walk away from your manuscript for a period of time to then come back to it fresh.
You mentioned a new project that is very different form The WorldMight. What is it that you are working on now and when can we expect it in our hands?
CYRIL: Right now, I am working on a novel, BLUR. The story takes place in Austin, TX, and follows Barrett, a scientist and wannabe writer, and, Pete, the protagonist of Barrett’s first novel. In it I explore love, lust, and the effect childhood experiences have on intimate relationships. It’s a raw, sometimes graphic work, that’s very different from my first novel. I’m six chapters short of being done, so I hope to have it out by beginning 2015.
RW: Very different idea from The WorldMight. But I’ve read some on your site, especially the short story series you have going called Vamp, which I have to say is very unique take on the Vampire idea, so I know there is a different side of your writing and that you like to break out and expose your different ideas.
Now, Cyril, You wrote a novel for 14 months, what did you learn about yourself while writing The WorldMight?
CYRIL: First thing would be that I can write a novel. That was not something I was sure of until the epilogue was finished.
Second, that I don’t have much control over the writing process. It happens more than I make it happen. It’s both engrossing when it flows and utterly frustrating when it doesn’t.
Third, that I pour a lot of who I am in my characters. They might be very different from me, but there’s always a crucial aspect about them that is a reflection of an aspect of my own persona. Sometimes, I don’t see it right away and it’s only on the umpteenth reread that it jumps at me, but it’s always there.
RW: I share the same opinion. No matter how much you want to go in one direction it just goes where it wants to. Now, what did you learn about the writing while working on The WorldMight?
CYRIL: That it’s hard. It’s like the blank page is my foe and we’re doing some kind of dance of seduction of the to-the-death kind and half the time I win and she bends to my will, and the rest of the time, I try and try but end up deleting hours of bad writing.
But in the end, you just have to keep on going at it, keep the floodgates open, until something decent comes out. I find that often the good stuff is inspired by the crap that came before it.
RW: Ah, when the floodgates don’t open what is your escape from writing when you are waiting for them to open again?
CYRIL: Something mindless. Right now I’m getting back into classical guitar after a five year hiatus, so I do a lot of that. I’m also involved with Big Brother Big Sister and my little lent me Grand Theft Auto V so I’m playing that too.
RW: Obviously the floodgates opened, you revised, what was the most challenging part of getting your book to the public?
CYRIL: The editing process was tough, especially cutting down 10% of it. It took me a while to come to term with the fact that I just had to, that great phrases that bog down the flow of a paragraph have to be axed without remorse, however beautiful they might be.
RW: What advice would you give a first time novelist venturing into publishing a book?
CYRIL: If in the writing stages, just do it. The confidence you’ll get from having written a book, whatever the quality, is utterly satisfying.
If you have written the book, do your research and figure out who your public is, how to reach it and what your options are.
RW: For me when I write I find lighting in my room influences how I write. You write songs, do you listen to certain kinds of music to help you write various scenes?
CYRIL: I don’t usually listen to music while I write. I find it distracts more than anything else. However, I do listen in my head to the sounds and music, if there is some playing, of the scene. It helps me soak up the atmosphere of the moment and write the character’s reactions more naturally in the given context.
RW: Writing does take time away from other aspects of life. What did your wife think of the time you had to spend writing The WorldMight?
CYRIL: I’m a morning person and my wife is not. I wrote in the mornings, 5-7am, while she was still asleep, so it didn’t really impact her.
RW: That works out great. Finally, what is your go to beverage while writing?
CYRIL: A light beer like a Shiner or a Blue Moon. But they don’t last long.
RW: I know you are currently unsigned by a literary agency, if you could hand pick one what qualities in an agent would you want?
CYRIL: Since I enjoy writing in various styles and in different genres, flexibility would be important in an agent. Also, given my attachment to well written sentences, one who is ruthless when it comes to editing would be a definite plus. And of course someone who would know how to get my work in the right hands both publisher-wise and to reader-wise.
I thank Cyril for agreeing to this interview. I must say he really agreed to help me out by doing so. My Friends here at RonovanWrites deserve to see the inside workings of getting to a goal and that real people write their dreams into reality.
If you are a fan of Cyril’s poetry then you MUST get this book. Just read the reviews at Amazon and the excerpts as well and you will see mention of his poetic style.
I ask everyone to make sure to visit Cyril at his site, cyrilbussiere.wordpress.com . You can also reach him by email at cyril.buissiere@gmail.com and of course as the whole of the world has a Twitter account, you can find Cyril there as well at @cyrilbussiere. Of course he and I are Twitter friends, and I also Follow his blog, so I’m not asking you to do anything that I don’t.
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