Charles Christian's Words & Vision

Where did the time go?

Charles Christian — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Today is the 40th anniversary of the publication of my first piece of serious journalism. It was the first of a three-part photo-journalism series I did for Leeds Student newspaper on the changing face of Leeds, which was then calling itself “the Motorway City of the Seventies” – another way of saying a large part of the city was being bulldozed flat to create a 4-lane inner ring road. (Ralph Berman, a medical student I shared a house with in Chapeltown area of Leeds was my photographer. Chapeltown itself would later become associated with the Yorkshire Ripper murders and race riots but that was outside my timeline.)

Looking at the back of my newspaper clippings for 23rd April 1971 (where I see I also came second, with 42% of the vote, in the poll for the student union vice-presidency) there’s an ad for that week’s gig at the university. The Kinks and Roy Harper were playing and the price of an admission ticket was 45 pence.

By coincidence, the 23rd April 1971 issue of Leeds Student was also the issue when the newspaper won its first Student Newspaper of the Year Award (it won the award for the seventh time in 2009) which was good going as the rag only began life five months earlier in November 1970.

The Times journalist Damian Whitworth (and a former Leeds Student editor) once said “Leeds Student alumni in the media are like rats in London, you’re never more than 20 yards away from one.” I’m not sure whether that makes me feel better or worse.

This blog is moving on…

Charles Christian — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:50:00 +0000

It has been fun running this blog on this Blogharbor platform but it is starting to creak, so I am moving it to the newer Posterous platform. Words & Vision will remain here pretty much indefinitely on this site as an archive but from now on, all the new stuff will appear here… www.charles-christian.com

Thank you for visiting this site and please visit my new site.

…Charles Christian
7th February 2011

Diary of a Novel #17

Charles Christian — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:50:28 +0000

Panic – 5pm last night my agent – well not exactly my agent but the man I'd like to be my agent – emails to say can he see the first 3 chapters by first thing the following morning (ie earlier today). Of course I deliver the m/s on time though it meant a bit of late night editing and proof-reading. Now I have to sit back and wait. Actually no, now I need to crack on and finish the novel. More later.

Time to reinvent myself ?

Charles Christian — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:49:00 +0000

Been having a bit of an interesting couple of weeks with an almost satori-like moment of enlightenment whilst walking around the Marine Drive at Scarborough the other weekend and then, at about 4:00am last Friday morning (after a day-job black tie 'do') while eating a sausage sandwich and drinking a mug of mocha in a Russian owned all-night cafe in the Smithfield Market area of London, a similar reinforcing flash of inspiration.

It's that sudden realisation that time is moving relentlessly onwards and in danger of leaving me behind. It's also that realisation – gleaned while watching other people of a certain age walking along the seafront and talking to acquaintances of mine about their plans – that it's very easy to slip into a situation where you are doing stuff (hobbies, activities, D-I-Y projects, whatever) purely for the sake of filling in the time before you die. I'm starting to think Neil Young was right when he sang that its better to burn out than fade away.

I suppose the most important realisation is that you have to have a passion about whatever it is you are doing in your life – work, writing, relationships, everything – if you are to be living and not just existing. Candles, it occurred to me, do have have two ends that can be simultaneously burned. OK, it can be messy but that's life. It is what makes life interesting and worth living. It's what makes life exciting!

Anyway, I think it is about time I reinvented myself. I've been the technology journalist who does a bit of poetry publishing and his own creative on the side for too long. Before my brain stagnates, I need to give myself some fresh challenges. So I'm looking at some new opportunities on the day-job front – I'll keep you posted. I'm looking at a totally off-the-wall new idea on the creative writing front – possibly using an alias so I may be unable to say more. And I'm planning to do a lot more travelling. Carpe Diem and all that.

New short story published in Inkspill magazine

Charles Christian — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:53:00 +0000

The latest issue of Sophie Playle's gorgeous magazine Inkspill is out now and contains my story Granny Smith – an everyday tale of rural horror and jam making.

You can download a PDF of the publication here: www.inkspillmagazine.com/freedownload/ – Inkspill is also available in print.

Can a book save your life?

Charles Christian — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:43:04 +0000

Here's a link to video-clip doing the rounds that asks whether a thick book might stop a bullet. The answer is 'no' – and an Amazon Kindle is not much use either. (Although apparently – well at least I hope so as I have this episode in a scene in my novel – a laptop can stop a bullet IF the bullet hits the battery!)

Postcards from the edge

Charles Christian — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:50:00 +0000

Here's a couple of pictures I've found this week while trawling (sorry, that should read conducting research) the internet. The USB typewriter is a real product that costs around $800 – I know, that's more than a PC or a laptop in the first place.

Oh no, someone killed the Christmas Fairy!

Charles Christian — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:54:10 +0000

For you Tinkerbell, the holidays are over

Charles Christian — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:51:00 +0000

Diary of a Novel #16

Charles Christian — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:31:50 +0000

New Year's Day 2011: woke up early (well early for me) and lying in bed waiting for Jane (Mrs C) to wake up and make some tea (I know but I belong to a a shameless, idle race) when the thought crosses my mind: the end of my novel sucks. It just peters out. I know my original idea was to write a trilogy – well actually my original idea was to write a novella but like Topsy it just growed – but now I'm concerned that I've probably only got sufficient material for one-and-a-half books.

So… Plan B: I continue with my edit of the current manuscript then I'll decide what to do with it. However my thinking is that rather than leave it hanging as a cliffhanger for a sequel, it may be more satisfying for the reader if I complete the story arc. In fact I'm currently thinking some of the current story arc is a little less than satisfactory and that I can make the whole thing more compelling if I kill off some of my darlings and generally tighten up some plot lines which are not going anywhere.