Catching Up…

Been quiet here… which is probably a function of being very un-quiet elsewhere. So thought I’d mention a few of the things I’ve been doing / working on…

Firstly, I have to mention The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. It’s a big, wonderful novel which basically ate most of my time in the past 10 days. Highly recommended.

I’ve also had a book version of the first draft of the pirate book, which I’ve been reading / editing / correcting. I’ve said it before, but I’m really excited about this. I’m still trying to work out how best to publish it… part of me is very much sold on doing it ‘DIY’ – for really great creative and copyright reasons. But part of me wants it to be read as widely as possible, and that’s exactly what a great publisher gives you. So… watch this space basically.

The working title is Mutiny! – Why We Love Pirates, and How They Can Save Us, and I’m still uncovering fantastic stuff to include in it. The book covers our fascination with piracy, some history of pirate activity and dives deeper into what pirates are actually doing.

My contention is this: pirates rise up from the ranks of the oppressed whenever the commons is under threat. When what should be shared freely, justly and equally is enclosed and taken into private hands, pirates emerge to fight this blocking. I look at this historically and culturally… and then dive deeper to look into the personal and spiritual too. So what’s been great the past week or so is reading quite a lot of Jung… there’s an oblique mention of mutineers in Modern Man in Search of a Soul which has become a rich seam of investigation.

The book wends it way through Star Wars, The Godfather, Peter Pan, the prodigal son, The Odyssey and plenty of other material too… so I think it’s going to be a fascinating read at lots of levels.

I’m going to be looking to speak on it over the next few months, so if you’d be interested in getting me to do a talk, then do get in touch.

I’m also going to be writing more regularly for The Occupied Times, and have pieces coming up in the Times Education Supplement, Third Way and SecEd magazines… plus now I’ve broken the back of pirates, I’m getting back to Martello Beach – the novel about an impoverished beach community in Essex that I’ve been sketching out for a while…. while still working things out with agents etc. to get my first novel published. Odysseus has been a good companion on that (long) quest actually… sometimes it feels like the gods are very playful and care not for merit, and that it’ll still be years of trials before a fair shore will be reached… but you just have to keep plugging away, even when shit happens. Which it does!

Hope, right? Sometimes it’s all you’ve got. Sometimes it’s all you need.

I’m pretty sure I have a full time teaching job too… Not quite sure where the time goes, or comes from, but should be getting some more regular posts up here, so hope you find stuff enriching somehow. Always good to hear from people.

KB x