Paul.E.Bailey’s World – Post Number One Hundred

Posted on by Paul.E.Bailey

Much like the offerings of yesterday and Wednesday this is a break in normal programming. I felt my one hundredth post deserved some recognition as I know it’s rare for bloggers to reach this point. In the seven months and two(ish) weeks I’ve been doing this I’ve seen bloggers come and go. That strikes me as odd because I still feel like a blogging newbie in so many ways. How can one decide within a month or two that blogging isn’t for them?

If I’m honest I try not to latch onto fellow newbies too often. I find myself drawn to the more experienced bloggers out there and especially those with a great talent for writing. I came here to learn as much as increasing my profile as a writer and generating a support base of sorts. While there is, of course, something to learn from newbies there’s a whole wealth of wisdom to be gleaned from those who are stayers in this game that far exceeds what the newbies teach.

Lately I’ve noticed there has been a spate of bloggers going on breaks for one reason or another. It must be something in the air because I too am planning to take a break from posting soon. I’m aiming for when Find Me a Find reaches its conclusion as I don’t want to leave it unfinished. When I return I can hit you with a new regular fiction story rather than picking up where I left off.

Anyway, one hundred posts. Strictly speaking this is my one hundred and seventh post; however, seven of those have been reblogs and I don’t count those as my posts. Funny that I started this whole thing not really knowing in which direction I wanted to take it and here I am now in treble digits. I won’t say inspiration has been easy the whole time. It hasn’t been terribly difficult either. I love to write and while that’s the case I will always find something to write about. That’s where the fly-by-nights fail. They don’t love writing enough for inspiration to strike so they give up.

I’m not going to slate those people. We all have the creative licence to try something out no matter what others say. If I want to try painting a masterpiece when I wake tomorrow morning then who can stop me? I can’t draw for toffee; that doesn’t mean I can’t give it a go.

What I will say is that those of us who have reached the point of posting beyond the one hundred mark can say with conviction that we respect the craft of writing (if writing is indeed what you post). We feel a connection to it. We feel that writing is for life and not just for Christmas. It doesn’t make us better than those who give up after a month. It just means that we had a solid reason for starting to blog and weren’t trying to stave off boredom until something else grabbed our attention. Anybody can write. Only those who are good at it and/or love it will do it long term.

I wanted to share my passion for writing with the world. It may not be my most popular series, but Living the Dream is definitely the most important series of all my posts. It’s my journal of sorts and is what I will look back on if (WHEN) I ever reach the goals I hope to achieve. That series is the explanation of just how much writing means to me and how I don’t see it as just some hobby. I see it as a way of life. I see it as an extension to the person I am. Writing is a part of me. While I may not be the most talented at it I guarantee I have more passion for it than most anybody you’ll meet. My willingness to accept my flaws and learn from others is, I feel, evidence of my love for writing. That has to count for something. If you haven’t read my Living the Dream series and are as passionate about writing as I am then I suggest you check it out to see for yourself what it means to me.

In all honesty I don’t see myself blogging in the long term. I enjoy it and I enjoy the social aspect as well as trying out new styles that I’ve never tried before. The truth is though that I’m a novelist and novels are what I want to write. When the dream is realised and I’m finally published then I can’t deny that blogging will likely slip by the wayside and become something I do very infrequently; likely just an explanation of the discoveries in my novel writing journey.

As I say, that is long term thinking. It’ll be a while until I’m snapped up by a publisher so until that happens I’ll be here using the whole world as my subject and delving into its many subcategories. I’m going nowhere!

There are a certain little group of you who have become my fans over time. I honestly could never see myself amassing “fans”. Fans are what famous people have. Yet there you are. Your (my fans) number is small, but your collective heart is huge. It makes sense that I would amass fans as I’ve certainly become a fan of people on here who, like me, aren’t famous. The idea that only famous people can have fans is now something I realise to be a short-sighted view. One can be a fan of whatever one chooses. If somebody is talented and you appreciate that talent then you support them irrespective of whether they’re Cristiano Ronaldo or Pete who makes a cracking butty at the local deli.

I appreciate my support base so much. The best thing about you all is that none of you are friends from before the time before I started blogging (except for Steve). You all found my blog, decided you liked it and stayed along for the ride. Nobody had a gun to your head. You weren’t obliged to support me. You just did. Sure, I have my regular readers outside the WordPress fraternity though I receive no feedback from any of them so I wouldn’t actually have a clue they were even reading. I only have the stats to go off. My WordPress based supporters are evident and I can see you. You make yourselves seen. You share your thoughts on what I post and that is what I want. I want conversation and to see different viewpoints to my own. You provide me that and I am eternally grateful to you all for it.

What do my next hundred posts hold in store? I guess we’ll wait and see. My journey towards the dream continues…

42 thoughts on “Paul.E.Bailey’s World – Post Number One Hundred”

  1. Hip hip hooray for your 100th post!!! I consider myself to be one of your biggest fans, and yes, I am a fan! Like you, I had little notion that small time bloggers could have fans – I thought ‘fans’ were just for A-list celebs. Oh, how wrong I was. Whether your long-term goals are novel writing or blogging or anything else, consider me a fan for life!

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    1. Having you as one of my little army is definitely a plus point to blogging. It’s great having a fantastic writer to feed off. You’ve certainly helped me progress over the months. That (and your almost unfair level of talent) is the reason why you’re one of my top dawgs in this game. Your influence makes me a better writer. I hope that the same works in reverse 🙂

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      4. Fuck! I struggle with one every other day. It’s partly thanks to that I’m falling behind on reading the posts of others. In fact once I’ve been on the hiatus I plan on having I’m likely going to revert to one every three days again.

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  4. I love this post! Congrats on reaching the 100 mark. I got there about a two months ago, and I was so surprised that I expected to wake up the next morning only to see that I had been dreaming. The reason it was such a “shock” was because I never thought I’d be able to keep it up. Yet, I’m still here and not planning on going anywhere.

    I’m glad you’re so passionate about writing, and positive as well. It shines through your posts. I have no doubt that you’ll get to realize your dream. 🙂

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    1. I, for one, am glad you’ve kept it up. I don’t catch all your posts (annoyingly – I really try my best to catch everyone’s, but it’s impossible), but when I do I always enjoy what I read. You’re extremely candid in what you tell and I advocate that so much. You’ve lasted so long because you actually have something to write about. That’s where others give up and disappear. They have nothing of any merit to say. Boredom isn’t something that can be blogged about.

      I will definitely keep on fighting to achieve my dream. What’s the point in quitting? Even if I fail I think there’s something to be said about never giving up. At least people can say of me that I died trying. I’d rather that than giving up because it’s too hard. Been there and done that with past endeavours.

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    1. 😂😂😂 It’s a sandwich up in the north of England. I do like to drop some local lingo to confuse my dear American cousins. Haha. Thank you for reading. You’re a valued member of my fan club and one of my favourite bloggers with it 😁

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  6. I really enjoyed reading this post Paul 😊 I’m a fan for sure…I felt your warmth and gratitude come through so much in this post. It’s brilliant that you, in many ways, are like an excitable teenager who has just been given his driving license or something…you love writing and you feel free here…which is lovely to see. People connect with each other for all sorts of reasons. I think I connect with you because of your mind which is as sharp as a pin. Also your ability to make me find fiction interesting. The reason I love your fiction is how “real” it is! (Which may sound bonkers)…but you are not a lofty writer who litters their writing with elaborate abstractions. Do you know what’s weird? When I write to you I feel more intelligent 😂😂 It’s like your intelligence rubs off on me and I become a writing scholar 😂😂 I genuinely think you’re fab 😊 A brilliant writer and a lovely person to boot 😊 Many congrats Paul 👊👏👐

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    1. I like the excitable teenager analogy. Haha. You’re quite right. Writing is my toy and I love to play with it and make it do different things. Starting this blog has afforded me that opportunity as before this it was always very uniform. I wrote novels and nothing but. While I still prefer novel writing to flash fiction, short stories, poetry, non-fiction, etc. I have at least sort of built my war-chest and showed to myself as well as everyone else that I at least have the balls to try new things where writing is concerned

      Keeping my fiction “real” has never been a purposeful intention, but in my novel writing I’ve always seen character and scene building as the most important part, perhaps even more so than the story itself. I like to paint them as real and alive. I’ve got pages of side material about the characters alone for my WIP. I think that says it all about how seriously I take my characters. I profile them to death. I think that has spilled over into my blog fiction. The fact you’ve noticed that in my writing makes me feel triumphant. If you’ve noticed then so have others. As for elaborate abstractions…a spade is a spade! Why describe the spade and what it does in five droning paragraphs? We all know what a spade does. I’m actually trying to rid my WIP of too much elaboration, though in some cases it is necessary.

      Your support has been absolutely crucial in the growth of this blog. Our interactions have caused a number of people to follow me over the months so you have had a huge part to play. I won’t forget that. There are certain people I’ve met here who have altered my perception of the world even if only slightly. You are of that number. I like influential people. Knowing you have my back gives me a sense of empowerment. I wouldn’t swap you for a hundred followers.

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      1. Aw hun! You star! You’re so kind…I feel all happily emotional with what you’ve just said 😊 I love writing, and am not only out for myself. When I find writers I like I like to tell other people about them too. To be honest I much prefer to write than to read what others write…I’m not much of a reader. Therefore if a blog captures my attention I usually think it’s because it’s well written. I don’t read bilge. I know that sounds really black and white and probably arrogant too…but I have a healthy love for writing and too many people ruin it by writing crap. 😲😨😩 You make my brain snap awake. I just love your blogging and your commenting too. Your boyish enthusiasm is something to be encouraged not dampened down 😊

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      2. If it’s arrogant then I must be arrogant too. I’ve given numerous bloggers the benefit of the doubt and read their stuff. I’d say it’s about 60-40 in favour of the poor writers. I’m not going to start singing the praises of poor writers because they’re “trying” or whatever. Poor writers give writing in general a bad name. I can forgive those with poor grammar and/or spelling if what they’ve written is at least entertaining, but the general consensus is that those with really poor spelling and grammar can’t write worth a shit. I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but if you’re going to write then you have to respect the craft of writing. I know my grammar isn’t up to scratch so I went to the library the other week and took out a book on grammar to re-teach myself. Even stuff already in my command I’m reading and taking notes on. If you can’t, as a writer, accept your flaws and try to fix them then you don’t deserve to write. I don’t want an editor to pick apart my grammar when I submit my WIP. I want it to be as close to infallible as can be.

        Anyway, I think that covers my enthusiasm. Haha. People like you draw it out of me. While talking about my writing has always been something rather taboo in the past I’m no longer tethered to the idea that it’s something I should hide from people. The layman may see it as a fantasy, but we’ll see who’s living the dream when I’m published!

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      4. You guys are making me blush 😊 Starting this blog was such a good idea because receiving feedback from fellow writers is definitely worth more than feedback from laymen. You have no idea how much it fills me with confidence where in the past I might well have already quit.

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      6. I have no intention of quitting. If I stopped blogging for a while then you can guarantee I’d still be working on my writing. I love it too much to give up. I’m trying to branch out into the ebook market now to see how I get on there.

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      9. Come on.. Paul…

        One person review doesn’t mean a thing..,
        Don’t make one negative 👎🏼 comment or a one ☝️ star ⭐️ discouraged you and make you loose your confidence…

        The stories I put on WP has gotten some really negative reviews by friends and others before…

        But I didn’t care…
        I thought they were good stories..
        I enjoy them…

        And WP viewers and audience like you boost me up.. with comments about likes..
        it’s only a few but those few is what I care about ..

        Just do it..
        and keep an open mind that not everyone is going to like your work..
        But whoopee to those that do..,

        Liked by 1 person

      10. The one star review didn’t discourage me. The fact that the story didn’t make sense to the reader says more about that person as everybody else who read it had no problem understanding. My only qualm about the review is that less stars means less people are likely to want to read.

        I definitely care more about those who follow my stories and give them proper critique. But my writing has gotten sloppy lately. I can feel it it in myself without even reading back over everything. I need the break to get my sharpness back.

        Thank you for your support. You’ve been awesome. I’ll be back posting again in a few weeks 🙂

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  7. Well said Paul…

    And congrats 🎈 on your hundredth post…

    Some are not very consistent with blogging..
    Some blog everyday …
    Some inbetween work and life..

    Some come and go..

    And some like me.. love to read and places comments whenever necessary..

    Please don’t stay away too long..
    and keep on blogging…

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    1. I don’t get to read enough of other people’s stuff which is why I want to take a break. It would be nice to just read stuff I’ve missed and it’s much easier to do while I’m not under pressure to get my next post sorted. It’s got increasingly difficult since I started posted every other day rather than every three so I think after this break I’ll return to posting every three again. It gives me a fighting chance of keeping up that way.

      I like the diversity of the blogosphere. The only thing that concerns me about it is how much fiction is shunned in favour of real life stuff, but then that’s not really a surprise given the way the world works nowadays. In general people are more taken by the amazing journeys people take through life rather than made up journeys. Nonetheless I shall continue to fiction it up until the people come a-flockin’ or I’ll die trying to make it happen!

      Thank you for your support. You’ve been awesome over the months 🙂

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      1. Paul.. I love a fictional story.. because it has takes talent with some really great imagination to write one..

        I do true stories because the storyline is already in place.. just for me to tell it interestingly…

        I tried fictional.. but I can never come up a good story to follow through on..
        so I have a great admiration for those who can..

        So please continue with your fictions..
        and maybe you will inspire me..

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      2. The thing I like about your stories is that they COULD be fictional. The way you tell the story of your experiences is as though it could be someone else going through them. So I disagree; I think you really could write fiction if you tried. Don’t be so quick to dismiss your abilities. If you don’t try then you’ll never know 😉

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      3. Smiling huge..

        I can always start one..
        But after the first introduction and first chapters.
        I tend to get stuck with a body and an ending…

        But thanks for your vote of confidence.. and thanks for liking my stories…
        my imagination is limited..
        but I’m going to try again.. just because of your encouragement

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      4. Best thing to do is not to start writing the story. Plan it out first. Beginning, middle and end. It’s always easier with a synopsis if freestyle is difficult for you. I think you’ll do great. You just need to believe in yourself 😊

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      6. Yes, definitely. I think if you write a few stories that are planned out that way then you’ll gain the confidence to write freestyle. That’s how I’ve done it and I can now write stories with no synopsis and no physical direction. It’s not easy, but it’s also a refreshing way of writing.

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