Monday, May 09, 2005
Coming Out
Life is full of pleasant little surprises.
Out of the 88 poetry e-books available during the 24 hour giveaway at the PoetrySuperHighway website, mine came in as the 6th top downloaded e-book!
74 downloads in 24 hours beating some familiar names at the same time.
I'm a little humbled actually.
One of the blokes I work with went off on a rant because the search engine on the work intranet in a pile of crap. He put his name in to prove it and it came up with something totally irrelevant. Then he put his name into Google and it found something on him from years ago proving how good it should be.
Then he started to put other people's names in and of course, he came to mine. He started slagging Google off about "maybe not being quite so good after all" because it kept coming up with links to the "author and poet Colin Galbraith". There he was at his desk giving it, "That's not you - see? That's not you either! The internet is a pile of crap!" (he's a mainframe guru you see).
Then he clicked on one of the links and was astonished to discover it WAS me. His astonishment turned to jaw hanging when he realised almost the entire front page of listings were links to my own site and other sites where I have been published. Within seconds I was talk of the immediate area of my office and my literary secret was out. Not that this is bad, but I had not been making it widely known so as not to attract any negative attention in work. Too bad - 'cos it's here now. I know I shouldn't be so shy about it all but it's a big step when your peers find out especially like that. I suppose it's a bit like coming out; admitting to people there is a whole side top you that you have kept hidden takes a bit of getting used to.
It's D-day for my local football team back home in Paisley. St. Mirren needs to sell their stadium to a supermarket developer to be able to pay off their debt and finance a new stadium. If they don't the club it will fold and it would be a tragedy. It is all coming down to a meeting with the Council today. Fingers crossed.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/38847.html
I got home to find a nice surprise on the doorstep. I ordered one of the chapbooks written by Californian poet, Rick Lupert - also the man behind PoetrySuperHighway.com and the e-book free for all that I prepared Brick by Brick for.
Stolen Mummies is his latest book although a couple of years old now. It was written during a 2 week holiday in London and comes with an accompanying audio companion; a CD of poetry, sounds and commentary during the same trip.
Rick's is poetry I have not come across before, and so naturally, I find it very fresh. But it's more than that; it's funny, observant and parallel. It shows what can be achieved with poetry by making it accessible, understandable and totally unpatronising.
Check it out: http://www.poetrysuperhighway.com
My evening get together with a couple of my friends got cancelled so I got the laptop out instead. I wrote a poem called More or Less and also received news of two of my readers resubscribing for another month. I also made a start on Hunting Jack - the final month. The first draft of issue 73 was written but I don't like it. It sill needs work done but nevertheless, that's 1 down, 8 to go.
Out of the 88 poetry e-books available during the 24 hour giveaway at the PoetrySuperHighway website, mine came in as the 6th top downloaded e-book!
74 downloads in 24 hours beating some familiar names at the same time.
I'm a little humbled actually.
One of the blokes I work with went off on a rant because the search engine on the work intranet in a pile of crap. He put his name in to prove it and it came up with something totally irrelevant. Then he put his name into Google and it found something on him from years ago proving how good it should be.
Then he started to put other people's names in and of course, he came to mine. He started slagging Google off about "maybe not being quite so good after all" because it kept coming up with links to the "author and poet Colin Galbraith". There he was at his desk giving it, "That's not you - see? That's not you either! The internet is a pile of crap!" (he's a mainframe guru you see).
Then he clicked on one of the links and was astonished to discover it WAS me. His astonishment turned to jaw hanging when he realised almost the entire front page of listings were links to my own site and other sites where I have been published. Within seconds I was talk of the immediate area of my office and my literary secret was out. Not that this is bad, but I had not been making it widely known so as not to attract any negative attention in work. Too bad - 'cos it's here now. I know I shouldn't be so shy about it all but it's a big step when your peers find out especially like that. I suppose it's a bit like coming out; admitting to people there is a whole side top you that you have kept hidden takes a bit of getting used to.
It's D-day for my local football team back home in Paisley. St. Mirren needs to sell their stadium to a supermarket developer to be able to pay off their debt and finance a new stadium. If they don't the club it will fold and it would be a tragedy. It is all coming down to a meeting with the Council today. Fingers crossed.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/38847.html
I got home to find a nice surprise on the doorstep. I ordered one of the chapbooks written by Californian poet, Rick Lupert - also the man behind PoetrySuperHighway.com and the e-book free for all that I prepared Brick by Brick for.
Stolen Mummies is his latest book although a couple of years old now. It was written during a 2 week holiday in London and comes with an accompanying audio companion; a CD of poetry, sounds and commentary during the same trip.
Rick's is poetry I have not come across before, and so naturally, I find it very fresh. But it's more than that; it's funny, observant and parallel. It shows what can be achieved with poetry by making it accessible, understandable and totally unpatronising.
Check it out: http://www.poetrysuperhighway.com
My evening get together with a couple of my friends got cancelled so I got the laptop out instead. I wrote a poem called More or Less and also received news of two of my readers resubscribing for another month. I also made a start on Hunting Jack - the final month. The first draft of issue 73 was written but I don't like it. It sill needs work done but nevertheless, that's 1 down, 8 to go.
Colin 10:28 am
4 Comments:
Colin, congrats on your ebook! That is wonderful news. :)
Congrats on the ebook Colin! And here I was thinking you were "Coming Out." *wink*
(sorry, couldn't resist!)
(sorry, couldn't resist!)
Congratulations!
Congrats on your e-book and its popularity! :)
I'm here via "Ink in My Coffee."
I'm a visual artist who loves to write, especially poetry. I've often thought of self-publishing to put them into print, rather than being stored on my computer or slips of paper, in the margins of notebooks from boredom....
Currently, I'm working in several visual arts areas, but the drive to write is a passion I also cannot deny. I don't want a child-care provider, so I do have to let some desires wait until my kids are older. One is going off to college soon, though.
On another break, I'll check out your poetry. I'm elated to have found your blog.
Please stop by mine and take a gander. My current post is of a painting I will not sell, but I did produce repros of it.
Warm wishes again! :)
I'm here via "Ink in My Coffee."
I'm a visual artist who loves to write, especially poetry. I've often thought of self-publishing to put them into print, rather than being stored on my computer or slips of paper, in the margins of notebooks from boredom....
Currently, I'm working in several visual arts areas, but the drive to write is a passion I also cannot deny. I don't want a child-care provider, so I do have to let some desires wait until my kids are older. One is going off to college soon, though.
On another break, I'll check out your poetry. I'm elated to have found your blog.
Please stop by mine and take a gander. My current post is of a painting I will not sell, but I did produce repros of it.
Warm wishes again! :)