The Book Inside Us

If we were honest with ourselves, I have the feeling that most bloggers would like to think that there is a successful novel within us all just waiting to be unleashed upon a greedy and adoring public. We practice our craft, so to speak every day...chatting about this, sharing a little about that and if we are lucky a few kind souls from across the globe will big us up with a few nice words of encouragement and thanks.
For most of us that is as far as it will go; but for some others, people with some talent, that final goal of a published book may well, some day, materialise into reality.


DiaTom and Maria are three bloggers with such talent


 Dia writes eloquently and passionately about the taboo subject of dying. Hers is not always an easy read,especially as I often prefer a pithy and somewhat wry text, but she has a beautiful and an economical turn of phrase, which often makes me stop dead to read her work again.
Some of her essays are moving beyond belief.


Tom is at his best when affectionately recounting stories of his past, of family and friends.His work has a rhythm and pace about it which is readable and clever , a fact which is helped immeasurably by living a slightly eccentric and interesting life....put the two together and bingo...you have a cracking autobiography!


Maria's work comes from her heart. It is less a story, but more the thoughts,feelings, insecurities and fears of a modern day mother, partner and friend , all jumbled up together into a stream of consciousness. With her you can dip in and dip out when you want and still enjoy some beautifully honest writing whenever you visit. I envy her ability to bare her soul on "paper" so to speak.


Of course there are hundreds more talented people here in the unreal world of blogging...certainly there are too many to mention here.....and I have kind of digressed from my original theme here, as I wanted to flag up a few ideas for bloggers own autobiography title!
what would your's be?
There are some cracking titles out there....
for example


Mel Blanc "That's NOT all folks!"
Boy George "Taking it like a man"
Peter O'Toole "Loitering with Intent"
Christopher Reeve "Still me"
George Saunders "Confessions of a Professional Cad"
Christopher Lee "Tall, Dark and Gruesome"
James Earl Jones "Voices and silences"
James Mason "Before I forget"


Then again.....why did we pick the blog titles we already have? won't they do?....anyhow ideas on a postcard please....


I will never write a book... my spelling is too bad

22 comments:

  1. Well, for me, I couldn't think of anything witty.
    And I can't think of anything more to put here.
    Hope your day is going well, John. :)

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  2. So often the title says so much, and yet at other times it says very little. You made me think of a movie I watched recently which was an adaptation I believe of the novel ' Water for elephants '. Great title but the movie had little to do with water or elephants and presumably neither did the novel.

    My wife has an acquaintance who completed a book last year, I believe the title of which is ' Being Gay is Disgusting '. It's a pro-gay work ridiculing the Old Testament in particular. It has completely backfired on him. Whenever it appears on Amazon it disappears after howls of complaint from those who do not read the blurb. Whenever it appears in bookshops, again there are howls of protest. Sure it brings him publicity but what good is it if he can't sell the book?

    According, no I didn't say according, I said broadly, now I said broadly, I said Rory. Thank God for that.

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  3. Rory
    I guess a good title
    captures the imagination
    as well as summing up an important part of the novel or its message...

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  4. I can't remember the name of the cricketer whose autobiography is, 'Summoned by Balls'. Almosts makes me wish I had been a cricketer! Thanks for your kind words, and I'll look up the other two.

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  5. Does the publisher not have a proof reader to check the spelling!

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  6. If you're talking about the cricketer's biog, Mrs Pigs, then I ought to tell your that it was taken from John Betjeman's one called 'Summoned by Bells'. Thought I would point that out!

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  7. tom
    I think she was referring to my inability to spell!

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  8. You don't need to be able to spell to write a book, in fact you don't need to be able to 'write' - you could just tape it all and get someone else to type it up for you. 'course that would come at a price!
    There's definitely a book in you John, you've such a way with words.

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  9. John, your book, I'm sure would be as delightful as your blog.

    Perhaps a village history(from your personal view) for sale at next year's flower show...you do write very well.

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  10. Anonymous11:45 am

    Get it out of your brain and onto paper John....you've got a built in market right here.

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  11. Strike your last line - you can and I'd hazard to predict will write a novel. Who cares about spelling (well actually it is a major bugbear with me), that is what Spellcheck and editors are for.

    I wonder what Alf Wight (aka James Herriot) would have done if blogging had been a part of the world in his era. I think he might have written a little excerpt each day about his adventures with his animals and pithy little remarks about the characters he met on his daily rounds. Oh wait....this is starting to sound familiar!

    You've already got enough material for the first book, and basically a rough draft in a WORD format.

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  12. there is a successful novel within us all

    Alas, I suspect mine is more of a comic strip LOL

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  13. You're the natural. Woops, that title's already taken. Yours will be better.

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  14. Anonymous4:49 pm

    Thanks John...couldn't figure out why I was getting a stream of hits from your blog until now. You're incredibly generous, as always.
    My secret title is Thoughts From Another Closet but I doubt it would ever fly.
    Did Peter O'Toole really say this at some point? "Loitering With Intent"? That made me laugh!
    Dia

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  15. Spelling? That's what 'editors' are for.
    Now, get cracking with that 'draft'. And, that was a great idea to 'unveil' your new book at next years flower show! No pressure, but get goin!

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  16. jimbo
    my grammer is shite as well!
    x

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  17. When I was younger I thought I had a brilliant book or two inside me, but when I actually tried writing one I realised it was a lot harder than it looks. I envy those people who write book after book with apparently effortless skill.

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  18. I don't think I have a book inside me. I'm much more of a listener than a "talker". And I express myself with sounds better than with words.

    No, I couldn't write a book; even less an autobiography!
    Hugs
    Jon

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  19. Writing a book is one thing, writing a novel is another thing entirely. The latter is something very few people have the skill or the talent to achieve!

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  20. By the way - I think you mean George Sanders...

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  21. My book title was 'Psychic Virgin'! The title came into my head early one morning after having written 30, 000 words which subsequently had to be dumped because they bore no relevance at all to that title! (It's a book about how I got to become psychic and met my soul partner along the way!)

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  22. John,
    I'm sure any number of us would be glad to read what you've written. I read and edit stuff all day and would be only too glad to read pages you've penned.

    megan

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