One Honest Indie

“Reject the tyranny of picked. Pick yourself.” ― Seth Godin, Poke the Box

Where I’m At Now

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Hey, hi. How you doing? I guess you could call this a life update. There were auditions this weekend for the short film that I’m making called “Surprise,” and it’s just amazing how much talent there is in this area. Acting talent, writing talent, filming talent, you name it, it’s there. Anyway, I posed a question at some point on Substack, I guess. I did it on Patreon, too, I think. About what is it that you would like me to provide?

What are you looking for? What sort of things do you feel you need to know more about in general? Do you want more bonus content for my podcast? Do you want me to provide advice? I’ve got decades of experience at this point with writing and with dealing with the whole publishing world and dealing now with the filmmaking world, which are very interesting and different. But anyway, be that as it may.

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My Book Review of ‘Why I Write’

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Hello. Today I’m reviewing George Orwell’s Why I Write. Did I do this before? I don’t think so. I think I talked about it a little bit, but I didn’t actually review the book. Well, my review will consist of reading a few passages to convince you why you should read this book. Here’s one. You’ve probably heard of the novel Animal Farm? If you haven’t read it, you really should. He says here, “Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried with full consciousness of what I was doing to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole. I have not written a novel for seven years, but I hope to write another fairly soon. It is bound to be a failure. Every book is a failure, but I know with some clarity what kind of book I want to write.” I really like that kind of assertiveness there in his writing, what he says, what he intends to say. Let us see.

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More Readings from ‘Range’

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Hey, I told you this is a great book, right? Well, I got to read you these passages because they’re just fantastic and very inspiring. Let’s see.

Told in retrospect for popular media, stories of innovation and self-discovery can look like orderly journeys from A to B. Sort of like how inspirational snippet accounts of the journeys of elite athletes appear straightforward, but the stories usually get murkier when examined in depth or over time. The popular notion of the Tiger path (specialization early) minimizes the role of detours, breadth, and experimentation. It is attractive because it is a tidy prescription, low on uncertainty and high on efficiency. After all, who doesn’t like a head start? Experimentation is not a tidy prescription, but it is common and it has advantages, and it requires more than the typical motivational poster lip service to a tolerance for failure. Breakthroughs are high variance.

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My Book Preview of ‘Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’

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Hi. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish this book. I have to return it to the library, and I didn’t have time to finish it and I really, really want to. So I’ll probably end up returning it and then asking for it right back, because this book, and I will show you the title here, is one of the best, most brilliant books about a celebrity I’ve read in a long time, and I’ve read some good ones and I’ve read some that I go, yeah, okay, that’s nice. But John Lyden’s book here called Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. It’s just absolutely the most brilliant bloody book I’ve read in a while. I mean, seriously wonderful. He just speaks his mind and tells you straight out stuff that happened to him and it really reached me. I really felt that we have certain things in common and we have great differences as well.


His childhood was just wreckage in so many ways. Medically, family-wise, situation-wise. Oh goodness. But I do love that he started off the book with one of my favorite lines. “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” I didn’t do that right, but that’s the idea. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?Yes, I have now and then gotten the feeling definitely that I have been cheated for sure. I don’t know what accent I’m doing, so don’t mind me. I can’t do his accent to save my life, but what a great book. Just freaking brilliant. Honest to God. I love this book and I’ve only just gotten up to … what chapter, I’m not even sure. I’ve only just reached, is that the sixth chapter?

“I Want You to Know that I Hate You, Baby.”

“Destiny. Do you really believe in destiny? Things happen because you make them happen. There’s no such thing as destiny or fate or any of that. Everything seemed impossible to the Sex Pistols, even gaining an audience. During our heyday, it was the arty farty lot, the socialists and trendies who would come to the gigs. I especially liked the working class bit creeping in. That didn’t appeal much to Malcolm McLaren and his friends because they were pushed to the back of the hall very quickly. Those were the chaotic days. The only real violence we would get would never be from our audiences. It would be from outsiders. Usually the men wearing blue uniforms. The regular boot boys–football hooligans–never needed victims. They were vicious gangs of drunkards that roamed the streets looking for anything to prey on as long as there were fifteen of them and one of you.”

Okay, I will stop there, but it is just the most awesome read and everybody should read it, I think. Anyway, if you love music, if you love biographies, if you love memoirs, this is priceless stuff. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant. Thank you very much and I’ll be seeing you.

PS: I promise to finish this one and write something more like an actual review! 🙂

Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

As soon as I get through the thousands many other books I need to read.

PPS: Okay, I just couldn’t resist it! Ah ha ha! 🙂