Embrace the eccentricity.

Every now and then I read something that makes me long for the familiar sights and smells of home. As a three year ex pat, these generally follow well worn patterns. Watching BBC America tends to make me long for fish and chips and even the slightest drizzle of rain has me scurrying for the kettle to brew some hot tea.

This morning I read an article which reminded me of one of my favorite aspects of home. Plain, honest to God eccentricity. It was announced that tickets are on sale for the fourteenth annual Chap Olympiad, being held in London this July. Billed as a "celebration of athletic ineptitude and immaculate trouser creases"

Events include the pipeathlon, iron board surfing and umbrella jousting. All to demonstrate the importance of being a real Chap. The hundreds of people that flock to this event every year demonstrates that people still embrace the absurd in life. Something that I love to write about.

Naturally, this is not just a European phenomena. The United States is littered with road kill cook offs, snow shoe softball and lawn mower racing. All fantastic signs that the USA is also proudly flying the flag of eccentric behavior.

So in conclusion, I have two suggestions that readers should take away with them. Number one, enjoy the absurd and hunt out some of the uplifting and magical books that positively drip with zany nonsense. Number two, if you find yourself in London this summer, don your finest attire and head down to Bedford Square to enjoy some of the most genteel sporting action this side of the nineteen fifties.



And finally some parting wise words from P.G. Wodehouse, a true master when it came to writing about life's eccentrics:

“There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, 'Do trousers matter?'"
"The mood will pass, sir.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

Are Writers Natural Introverts?

Hello everyone!

I have finally joined the modern age and stepped beyond my Facebook comfort zone to begin a blog. With that in mind, welcome to my maiden post and please forgive me for any unwitting breaches of blog etiquette I will no doubt commit.

Last weekend I took part in a Houston Writers Guild workshop. Primarily designed to banish the fears of pitching to agents, the workshop was incredibly useful (I promise HWG didn't pay me to say that). One phrase I heard in particular really stuck with me.

Shelley K Wall, the presenter, made the very interesting observation that the majority of writers are natural introverts. Something I wholeheartedly agreed with at the time. But what exactly does "introvert" mean?

As a Brit, obviously my first port of call was the Oxford English Dictionary. Not having one of those massive volumes to hand I fell back on the OED's equally excellent and much more convenient Transatlantic cousin Webster. I am going to share the definition I read with you now.

Introspective

"Inspecting within; seeing inwardly; capable of, or exercising inspection; self -conscious."

I think the majority of people would, quite understandably, agree with that.

After some alcohol induced thought, my theory of the natural personality of writers changed a little.  Most writers will sit hunched at their laptop long into the night. Typing with weary fingers, juggling creativity with daily life, imparting the story they need to tell. So what happens when that writer has achieved the goal and gets their work into print? They then work like a pack mule to make sure the their book gets into the hands of as many people as possible, be it via electronic means or good old fashioned paper.

When I look at it like that, I can't help thinking that writing a book is perhaps one of the greatest extrovert acts possible! We strive to create a piece of work that touches our readers in some fashion. In doing so we cannot help but show them a substantial portion of our own personalities and thoughts.

Although writers may appear to adhere to the traditional social role of an introvert, when one of us writes a book, I think we are more extrovert than anyone could possibly believe.