What is an Emerging Writer?

He was that French guy who wrote Madame Bovary. I just wiki’d it.

“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” Gustave Flaubert.

That quote by Flaubert is one of my favourites about writing.

I like how it implies writing is a continual process of learning.

That’s how I feel about writing. As a writer I am always learning about my craft, myself and how I fit in (or not) to the world around me. And this is a philosophy I think the Emerging Writers’ Festival wholeheartedly embraces: writing as a process of learning about who you are, about what you believe—and sharing that.

But exactly what is an emerging writer?

Is an emerging writer a bespectacled goatee-wearing hipcat climbing out from behind a torn-up couch after a drunken night of pseudo-intellectual pontificating, reaching for a pen to write a post-party poem about how some cad stole his iPhone?

Is an emerging writer a housewife who had locked herself in her study for three weeks—so she could blog in privacy—taking a crowbar to the padlock and chains on her door and coming out, finally giving into her need to pee in something other than a bucket?

Or is an emerging writer a fired accountant encouraged by his girlfriend to upload his eBook memoir to Smashwords? (‘Linked Over and Out’ being an extraordinary exposé of an office culture ‘directly responsible for’ his addiction to making increasingly crass Facebook updates and how said addiction had cost him his career when he inadvertently linked FB to LinkedIn)

Perhaps an ‘emerging writer’ is all these and more. But I can tell you one thing for sure:

I am an emerging writer*.

Moi.

Having first been part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival last year—at ‘Page Parlour’ and the ‘Fifteen Minutes of Fame’ event—and after being invited to present a panel on ‘Structure’ at the Town Hall Conference on Saturday 26th May this year (see below for more on that), it will be my second year as an attending artist.

Cool.

It will also be my second year as an attending attender. Because even though I’ve been writing for about twenty-six years (I wrote my first song when I was sixteen—yeah, that’s how old I am) I am still emerging, and as such can benefit from getting amongst it with other writers more advanced than, less advanced than, and many about the same as, me.

Yes, I’ve been a writer for a while but as I am still chipping away at The Big Commercial Success, and am still developing my voice, I believe I qualify as an Emerging Writer. Not that No Fame and Small Fortune are the qualifiers of being an EW. Going by the official description of how the Emerging Writers’ Festival organisers describe an emerging writer I qualify there too.

Here’s how the #ewf12 (as you’ll find ‘em on Twitter) see an Emerging Writer.

How many points can you TICK?

“An Emerging Writer is someone who:

1. Identifies as a writer doing work.

TICK. I have written well-reviewed albums, a still-being-discovered novel, and am halfway through a year of blogging about a year of living sober. I identify with doing a lot of work.

2. Is at an investigative, early or experimental stage of their career.

Investigative? TICK. I’m always investigating. Early? Well, I’ve only published one novel so I’m definitely early in that phase of my writing career: TICK. Experimental? My next novel combines my love of music and narrative in a unique way I haven’t heard of being done before so…TICK.

3. Has an ongoing engagement with the creative practice of writing.

TICK. I blog, I tweet, I festival (therefore I am)

4. May be working in established or emerging genres and media.

TICK, TICK, TICK. (Paperback novel, couple of blogs, ebook convert)

5. Has slightly forgotten why they write and are in the midst of finding the writing industry around them restrictive, intimidating and frustrating.

Not me. NO, NO, NO and sometimes maybe…but, NO. I actually think this is the best time since the quill and ink-well to be a writer. Google ’KDP Select’, ‘Amanda Hocking’ or ‘J.A. Konrath’ if you disagree.

6. Is removed from networking and who appreciates the change to emerge from their studies

Well, I’m not studying—except my own library—but living on the outskirts of town I certainly appreciate a chance to network with peers so…TICK

7. Someone who wants to be inspired by those around them

TICK. Of course.

There you go. It’s almost a clean sweep. I AM an ‘Emerging Writer’.

How about you?

Are you an Emerging Writer too?

:)

Ben

N.B. If you are in Melbourne and interested in the role ‘structure’ plays in writing do come along to The Town Hall tomorrow (Sat 26th May, 2012) for what promises to be an illuminating and fun session with four experienced pros (Ali Cobby Eckerman, Anita Sethi, Damon Young and Fiona Harris).

N.B.B. If, like most of my readers, you aren’t in Melbourne you can still join in the fun by getting involved on-line with the digital component of the festival (again, check out the website for more.)

* Except for the peeing in a bucket bit. I keep an old baby bath under my desk**.

** No I don’t. I do skip to the loo more frequently than the Sex and the City girls at a nightclub though.

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by B.G. Mitchell on May 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by B.G. Mitchell on May 25, 2012

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Where do writers come from?

“Rose had never thought herself a writer until one day when…”

Writers Emerge.

Tonight is the opening of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in Melbourne. The ‘festival for writers’ runs for eleven days (May 24 – June 3) and includes international and local guests at varying degrees of emergence.

Some of the writers are well established in their field, and will be sharing from their wealth of experience. Others are newbies who’ll no doubt be bringing bucket loads of enthusiasm (perhaps a cup or two of naivety) and more than likely—if I remember my twenties well enough (and even though they’re not that far behind me I’m not sure I do)—a sprinkle of, dare I say it, cynicism.

But just where are these writers emerging from?

Picture a vegetable garden in your own backyard. If you live in a flat or apartment you might like to imagine a herb garden small enough to fit on a window sill. Wherever your mind’s eye is wondering, now start to water that little patch with words. Say things like,

“You were born to write!”

“Come out, come out wherever you are, pick up a pen and become a star!” (I think that fairytale television show, Once Upon a Time might be getting to me)

and

“We’re waiting for EXACTLY what you’ve got to give. Come—forth—NOW!”

So why are we staring at an imaginary mound of compost rich soil, yapping away like crazy folk? Because we are not just waiting for magic to happen, we are getting involved and focussing our energy to help make it happen.

What’s going to happen?

A writer is going to EMERGE.

“Look! You can see her head breaking the surface, she’s just graduated with her commerce degree but still doesn’t know what to do with her romance novel manuscript.”

“I see her,” you say. “I see her!”

“And, over there! There’s another one sprouting too. He looks like he might grow into a fine playwright now that he’s had his heart broken and travelled the world. Or maybe he’s got some poetry sprigging from all that life experience?”

New writers come from everywhere. They emerge from unrelated studies, unfulfilling career paths and unbelievably amazing diverse life stories.

Fresh talent for picking!

Though some people say writers are born and not made, most would probably agree that, at some point, all writers emerge. Not just out of their mothers either.

The emergence I’m talking about is this process by which talent is developed, recognized and built upon, word by word, poem by poem, blog post by blog post and novel by novel; each turn in the road that leads one to call himself a writer.

Quick grab the water can!

(And if you’re in Melbourne check out the program for the Emerging Writers’ Festival HERE.)

How about you? Were you always going to be a writer? Or did you fall into it from another profession? And if you’re not a writer, have you ever dreamed of being one? Please feel free to share your experience with a comment below.

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by B.G. Mitchell on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by B.G. Mitchell on May 24, 2012

http://bgmitchell.com/2012/05/24/where-do-writers-come-from/

Why I’m not the gay country singer you might think I am.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve looked a bit at branding.

With a particular focus on writers/performers I started with this post HERE on Steve Martin and his refusal to be pigeonholed as either a writer or a performer (he’s both). I followed that up with a post on what to call ourselves when we can be many different versions of our own name HERE.

Today I’m going to continue the theme of what makes us unique by making a startling confession, the likes of which has not been heard by the world since we found out who shot J.R. (yeah, I’m that old).

Here’s my confession:

“I am not the only Ben Mitchell in the world.”

I know. Hard to believe, right? But it’s true. There are at least three—maybe three-thousand—more.

Besides one particularly annoying other ‘Ben Mitchell’ (annoying because he snapped up the simplest Twitter handle back in 2009 and hasn’t used it since), there is a Ben Mitchell tennis player from Perth, Australia, and a fictional character from Eastenders who both share the name most of my friends refer to me as (Benjamin Grant Mitchell being a bit of a mouthful and all).

But maybe I’m the only Ben Mitchell writer guy? Yeah?

Nup. No way. There are more Ben Mitchell writers than you might think.

Here’s a few.

Ben Mitchell is a gay writer from Dallas whose book, ‘Without One Plea’ tells the story of “a young gay man who returns to his Southern roots” (‘roots’, hey? *insert Beavis and Butthead laugh here*); Ben Mitchell is a television gossip magazine editor from Australia (or he was in the nineties when I was thespian-ing on the box), and Ben Mitchell is a country western singer-songwriter (again from America) who, like me, has put out at least two albums.

But wait. There are still MORE Ben Mitchell creative types.

I haven’t done any acting for a while but when I was treading the boards (mostly of commercial casting agencies) I learned I wasn’t the only Ben Mitchell from the Southern Hemisphere with a ten-by-eight and DVD showreel in my knapsack. There’s a another Ben Mitchell actor, one who hails from New Zealand and once had a lead part in one of that country’s most popular soaps (also refuting my once cherished belief I was at least unique in being the only Ben Mitchell to ever star in a Southern Hemisphere soap opera?). Choice ‘bro BM and yours’ truly BM have even had their credits mixed up on IMDB (a showbiz website for actors). No wonder it gets confusing, hey ‘bro?

And don’t get me started about the fictional Ben Mitchell who came to a sad demise in the classic Ozzie slasher flick, Wolf Creek.

“No, unknown Facebook message sender. I am not the same ‘Ben Mitchell’ who was stupid enough to get his broken down car towed by a psychopathic Crocodile Dundee impersonator.”

So with all these Ben Mitchell’s floating around the internet what should I do? As I seek to build an easily identifiable brand around me and my writing, and endeavour to separate myself from the pack of other ‘Ben Mitchells’, what can I do about all my multi moniker mates? Maybe I should change my name completely? Go all Englebert Humperdink on my arse?

Yeah, that’s sounds like fun. Let’s see then, what can I come up with in the way of memorable strange professional monikers?

Kevin Knievel. Has that simple first name and cool surname thing going on. I once rode a motorbike too.

Don Brown. Maybe it would help my own book’s sales (or at least google searches) having a name so similar to a known best seller.

J.K. Rowing. Ditto above. Plus it would give the added bonus of doing what it was designed to for J.K., namely to disguise the gender of the writer for a possibly genre-biased readership (it’s been said Ms Rowling’s publisher didn’t think fantasy readers would appreciate her having boobies.)

Or, I could take another writer’s name, the real one they decided NOT to use, like, I don’t know…

Eric Arthur Blair. As a big fan of his prophetic novel, 1984, surely I could do worse than appropriating George Orwell’s real name?

What about going the other way and resurrecting the forgotten pen names of some other famous writers?

Boz: Charles Dickens.

Clive Hamilton: C.S. Lewis.

Richard Bachman: Stephen King.

and don’t forget this doozy:

Silence Dogood: Benjamin Franklin.

And I could go on.

I won’t.

What I will do is stick with Benjamin Grant Mitchell as my author name and B_G_Mitchell as my Twitter handle. By using my full name  for my ‘serious’ writing I remind myself how I use every part of me when I write; all that I was given and all I have grown to make it mean. By keeping my Twitter name as short as possible, hopefully I make it easy to remember.

Then again, some of my new Twitter buddies have started calling me by my initials, ‘B.G.’, and I kind of like that too.

But maybe I should keep it simple, at least on this blog.

It might not make me unique but, please, feel free to call me Ben.

How about you? Do you know of any other ‘selfs’ roaming the world? Are they making it hard (or easy) on you establishing a unique identity? Do share…

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by B.G. Mitchell on May 17, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by B.G. Mitchell on May 17, 2012

http://bgmitchell.com/2012/05/17/why-im-not-the-gay-country-singer-you-might-think-i-am/

What’s in a writer’s name?

A teapot by any other name might be a vase.

Identity is an issue for everyone these days.

It’s not only writers, like me, who deliberate over choosing the perfect moniker (for characters and ourselves), at some point, everybody faces the dilemma over what to call his or her self.

Whether we are forced to choose a strange Twitter handle (because our own name is taken already), have to resignedly accept an awkward suffix to our name for use on a website (back in the day, my myspace account had to me benmitchellmusic) or if we just have to add the required next-number to our real name when setting up a new email account (benmitchell867 is NOT available!), we all have moments when we have to compromise the integrity of the name we’ve grown up with.

But what is the cost of being forced to make these bastardizations or alterations to our names? Especially for those of us who need our good name to reflect our good work?

As a writer I need to know:

What’s in a writer’s name?

Would a Rowling by any other name be as rich? Or, as Shakespeare said, “would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?”

I don’t know? A rose by any other name could be a flampin.

It could also be a ‘wolstack’ or maybe a ‘trangop’ even.

The thing is, and to answer the question posed by Bill Shake Spear, a rose could be called by any multitude of different names and it would still smell sweet. But—and I guess this is the point ye Will was really trying to poetically make—would it seem as sweet? Would lovers feel the same way about exchanging ‘cruxins’ or leaving a single, long stemmed ‘jismbit’ on the pillow for their beloved to discover.

‘“Oh my! What a lovely yepupoltski. And yellow! My favourite!”

The reason I’m thinking about the names of world conquering authors and world popular flowers is because lately I’ve been confused about what to call myself. Though it’s not a recent dilemma. Almost since I was christened (legally speaking) I’ve been undecided about my own name.

As a married father of two baby girls you’d think I should know who I am by now—but I’m not sure I do. Maybe that’s because, since entering the world of art/commerce/credit-card-applications also known as ‘showbusiness’ way back when (around the time Crowded House was toppin’ the charts), I’ve been a few different versions of my self.

I, Benjamin Grant Mitchell have been Benjamin Mitchell, simply Ben Mitchell and also Benjamin Mitchell. Since joining Twitter, which wouldn’t allow me to use my full-name-including-middle-name, I’ve also been B_G_Mitchell (as I am here on this blog).

Just call me ‘B’ Underscore ‘G’ Underscore Mitchell.

On second thoughts…maybe don’t. It might confuse me even more than I already am.

And what else has contributed to my identity confusion?

When I started in the ‘biz’ I continued acting under the name in my first high-school production programme—’Ben Mitchell’. Then when I hit the big-time (1 year on Australian soapie=3 years in English pantomime) I took the more refined ‘Benjamin Mitchell’.

When songwriting took over as my main source of creative expression I reverted to the more accessible ‘Ben Mitchell’ for all four CD’s (two albums; two EP’s) I released independently. Then, in 2011, when I published my first novel, I decided to use my full name again (Benjamin Grant Mitchell).

But what of my future I.D.?

Gearing up to publish my second novel I’ve been thinking what ‘written by’ name I should put on it?  I’m wondering if, since social media is such an important tool in book promotion these days, maybe I should include the Twitter underscores on my next novel’s cover?

A novel by B_G_Mitchell.

I don’t know?

But I do know that whatever name I call myself—am known by or answer to—I’m just a guy who likes to stop and smell the roses and write a bit about how life is better for their existence.

Whatever they’re called.

HOW ABOUT YOU? DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE ‘NAME’? OR MAYBE YOU’VE JUST GOT A FUNNY ALTERNATIVE FOR ‘ROSE’ TO SHARE? LOVE TO GET YOUR COMMENT…

(P.S. Come back real soon—or ‘follow’ this blog—for Part 2 to this post, where I explore my Inner Gay Television-Star Country-Singer. No, really.)

12 Comments
by B.G. Mitchell on May 10, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Humor, Independent Publishing, Writing Community
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Posted by B.G. Mitchell on May 10, 2012

http://bgmitchell.com/2012/05/10/whats-in-a-writers-name/

Steve Martin: Renaissance Brand Man

These days everybody’s talking about your brand. How important it is to have a ‘brand’, how you must know your niche and how you’ve got to have a point of difference. You’ve gotta have a brand. A singular, simple to sell B.R.A.N.D.

But someone forgot to tell Steve Martin.

That guy does a bit of everything. Steve Martin is ‘The Renaissance Brand Man’. From a successful stand-up he morphed into a world-famous movie actor while all the while never giving up the banjo.

Steve Martin is a writer too. He’s written plays, books, screenplays and about a squillion Tweets—way before most people his age had even figured out how to LOL.

You gotta love a guy who’s so multi-talented, disciplined and productive, haven’t you? Maybe not. Not if you’re the jealous type, anyway.

Personally, I love Steve Martin.

But being someone who has always expressed himself (and my feminine, inner-‘herself’) across various disciplines of artistic endeavour (not all of them involving as much discipline as good ol’ Steve) this branding business—this marketing need to simplify my offerings—has been a constant challenge for me.

I write (novels, songs, blogs and more), I sing and I act; I love it all. But I’m still struggling with something as simple as whether my main website should be ‘Benjamin Grant Mitchell’ or ‘B.G.Mitchell’ (because that is easier for people on Twitter, and has the added bonus of evoking J.K. Rowling and J.D. Salinger; ahh the mystery of a sexless initial). What is my brand? What is my B.R.A.N.D.?

Steve doesn’t seem to have this problem. Steve seems to have it all figured out.

‘Steve’ is an everyman name; ‘Martin’ is easy to remember. Together Steve Martin does whatever he loves and then puts it out there to let the world worry about what pigeon hole to stuff it and him in. Perhaps he does calculate his moves a bit more than I think but my point is, Steve lets it all hang out. Whether people take him seriously or not. Whether they laugh or not. Whether they tap their feet to his picking or scratch their chins to his philosophical pontifications.

“Here you go, check this out!”

I like to do lots of things. I like to write, to sing, to tell jokes and to act. I like to draw too and I try not to let the fact I’m not very good at it stop me sketching the odd (very odd?) doodle or damble.

Dang, a man’s creative output should not be limited by narrow boundaries of what fits your brand!

Over the years, inspired by my constant need for graphic design (CD covers, flyers for gigs, posters for plays and last year my first book cover) I’ve ignored my self-critical voice—the one that reminds me of my lack of formal training—and have added pixel manipulation to my palette of imagination realization colors.

Recently, when I saw all those ‘ironic profession’ jpegs flying around the Facebook I came up with one of my own for Steve Martin. It’s simple, maybe a bit funny but most importantly I had fun doing it. And so I wanted to share it.

Here.

What about you? Do you struggle with issues of brand? How do you market your multi-talents?

14 Comments
by B.G. Mitchell on April 21, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Blogging, Free Thinking, Funny, Humor, Independent Publishing, Writing Community
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Posted by B.G. Mitchell on April 21, 2012

http://bgmitchell.com/2012/04/21/steve-martin-renaissance-brand-man/

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