Plans Within Plans

There is so much to do at the moment and there are a lot of plans etc. These are going to take time to blossom so i'm taking a break from posting until I can report on the outcome of plans. Thanks for reading and I will spread the word when the next post is up.

The Articles

This week I have copy and pasted the articles that were out recently in local papers. I am grateful for the help the local papers have given and hope you enjoying the articles that have been written.

Wee County News/Allan Water News

PASSION FOR SUCCESS: Concierge Steven Guscott with his first-ever novel

by NICOLE REID

A Bridge of Allan man has been juggling his concierge service skills with his creativity to write his first novel. Steven Guscott, 23, has written The Journal of Fire – the first in his fantasy series entitled The Chronicles of Elementary, The Micro Circle. After spending four focused months creating and writing the novel, he is hoping to get feedback from around the Allanwater area before he gets cracking with the next five. Working as a concierge, the former Wallace High pupil found ideas came to him in the middle of the night as he body clock adjusted to night shifts. He created characters who will feature throughout the series – and has conjured up ideas for every novel. To get the first one off the ground, he designed artwork for the cover and has put copies online while he gathers local interest. And he hopes this is just a taster for bigger things as enjoying his first writing experience so much has encouraged him to follow a different career path. With aspirations to work in sport after his love of football stemmed from an early age, he went to the University of Stirling to complete a degree in sport. Living in Bridge of Allan and studying his first love, he gained a number of injuries which gave him more time for his other hobby, reading. His passion for English started in High School where, inspired by his Wallace High School teacher, he began to enjoy writing. And to improve his skills and get guidance to go foward with his next books, he has applied to Stirling University to start an English degree in September. Steven told the Allanwater News: “I look back and think of that child who loved football and nothing else and think of the man I am today, and how different they are. “What changed me? It was not the events, but how I reacted to the events that changed me. “I always tried to make the most of the hand life gave me. I found other things to enjoy, other things that have taught me much about life and my own abilities. I had this new drive to succeed and to gain a better life for myself through writing.” He added: “Who knows what will come of it? I personally believe I will be very successful from it. I have moments of doubt but all I have to do is look over my work and I know somewhere out there are people who are going to love this story. I have such a strong desire for all forms of success and have already had many.” The book is available online at www.northhighlandpublishing.com and the hard copy can be bought from www.stevenjguscott.bigcartel.com.

Alloa Advertiser 

This is the article written by Jamie Mcdonald for the Alloa advertiser

Would you read a forbidden book containing secrets on the future?
The conundrum is one of the choices given to Dragatu in the debut novel
The Journal of Fire by Steven Guscott.
Based in a world similar to Earth, the story charts the progress made by
the main character and his brothers as they try to help and save their
people.
He might be just one book in to his writing career but Steven (23)
already has plans for another five novels to follow up the Journal of
Fire and complete his Chronicles of Elementary series.
He told the Advertiser, “It is a good fun story with religious symbolism
and it is written in layers. It could be read by someone in their mid to
late teens and they would enjoy it as much as an adult.
“If you want to look into it more deeply there are basic themes of
choice which we all have to deal with and how power shapes the world.”
Steven, who works as a concierge in Clackmannan, took to writing
following a bout of illness last year.
The idea for his story came to him by first coming up with the name for
his main character.
“Dragatu came from combining the word dragon with an older style of name
and then it spiralled from there,” said Steven. “I took aspects of
different books I enjoy as well as some original ideas.
“Within four days I had written 20,000 words on where the story could
go, and from that I started writing the book. It is almost scary how
easy it was and it was good fun to write.”
It is still early days as far as feedback is concerned but Steven has
been encouraged by the comments received from those who have read his work.
He said, “All the reviews have been very positive. One person had said
they had read it whilst they were recovering from an operation in
hospital and I was really touched with her comments.”
The Journal of Fire is available to buy from
www.stevenjguscott.bigcartel.com or follow Steven’s blog at
http://stevenjguscott.blogspot.com

Newspapers and New Readers

Newspapers

For those who have been following my blog the good news is that local newspapers have been helping me with publicity. This week the Alloa Advertiser and the Wee County News/Allan Water News have done articles on my book and I am very grateful for the help they have given me.

New Readers

If you are a new reader who has seen these articles and  you are interested in finding out about my book then I want to say hello and thanks for taking a look.
The blog itself is a record about all that I have done and experienced since I started writing in January 2010. If you want to learn about this then I recommend you go to the first blog update titled "A Long Genisis" and read through the updates.
If you just want to learn more about the book itself then I suggest you go to www.stevenjguscott.bigcartel.com or click the link to the right titled  "hard copy for sale." This is where you can find the book for sale and a synopsis of my first book.
Please follow the link and take a look at the summary if nothing else.

All I ask is that you give it give me a chance. The story is a fun story that I believe the majority of people will enjoy. It is a bit different but I see this as a good thing as its originality will hopefully capture your imagination.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for taking a look at the book.
If you wish to get in touch feel free to leave comments here or on the facebook page that is linked on the right under "comments/feedback from readers."

Just Chill

So I am taking a week off as I am true believer that taking a rest from things every so often is healthy. I recommend that you do the same and go enjoy the sun or just watch a film if you can. Do something you find fun and relaxing is my philosophy for today :).
Next week will be full of exciting news and cool stuff. I cannot wait to tell you all what it is :)

Glorified Doodler

Drawing
Writing has become such a big part of my life but hand in hand with this is my love for drawing. Today I want to share some of my drawings as they are taken from the book.

History
At different points in my life I have drawn a little bit but never to the level I do now. This really peaked after the ideas for the books came.

Skill
I have never been great at drawing and see myself as a glorified doodler and defiantly not an artist. However I love it and I saw how drawing could become part of my books so decided to incorporate it into the stories. I knew that with practice I would improve and I know that I have. I also see a lot of the ideas in my drawings as a skill and even though they are not technically amazing I am proud of the ideas behind them.

Style
I am trying to do a different style for each book and for book one the style is suppose to be gritty and almost dirty, as if the drawer has a hard personality and rushed the drawings. A few of the drawings are in a clearer style because they are a symbol of a person or because I felt it would look better the way it is.

Chapters
Most of the drawings are about an event in each chapter. I have left most of them out of the hard copy of the book but a few important pictures feature in it. For those that have read the book and not seen the art work this will be good for you to see.
Any comments on the art work would be greatly appreciated. You can do that here or at the facebook page.
For the facebook just type "the journal of fire" or "the chronicles of elementary" into the faccebook search bar if you haven't joined up yet.

Doodling
I just love that this gives me another creative outlet and i'm so thankful for the ideas and all the doodles that I have done for this and future books.
Below are all the drawings for book one and when book two becomes the subject of my blogs I will share those doodles and so on unitl book six.   

Dragatu's Vision Of The Creator's Sword

Dragatu's Sword

Unilus Swallow

Dragatu's Necklace

Phoenon's Vision Of The Creator's Braclet

The Nation



Families Book Of Law

Dragatu Robes

Healing

Dragatu's Hunting Knives

Loves Labour

Generations

Retribution

Dragatu Symbol

Phoenon Symbol

Unilus Symbol



Past/Present, Hand Written/Typed and Good News

Introduction
As always this update is some more thoughts that I have had about writing and the experiences I have had with it. Also at the end is just an update of how promotion of book one is going.
 
Past
When writing I often think about all the information that has been written over thousands and thousands of year and it makes my head feel like it's going to explode.
 
I marvel that these writings have survived so long. So many things that have been written have been given such a long life that is far beyond that of a human. I guess it was because the words contained power to captivate people, protected and mass produced, or that they were just lucky to have survived wars and disasters where others didn’t.
 
This makes me think of the Great Library at Alexandria. What a wealth of knowledge it must have contained and it was burned to the ground by a simple accident created by Julius Caesar (see good old wiki for more info). I wonder what life would have be like if we still had that wealth of information. We would have such a greater understanding of the peoples of that time and those who lived before. It is a tragedy that it was lost.
This lesson from history shows that writing is both fragile and powerful.

I love that because of writing we know so much and can learn so much. The power is in the fact that it gives us the ability to understand life, people and ourselves. Then even more than that it can give us enjoyment and make us smile or cry and reproduce the amazing array of emotions that make us human. These are a few reasons I feel words and the ability to write and read should be treasured and encouraged more.
 
Present
In the present we have such a wonderful wealth of technology that allows us to store information and protect it. Imagine if the great library had been able to put all its information on a hard-drive to back it up, we would most likely still have it. Then again all it takes is to hit that delete button by mistake and it's all gone. I guess it is all part of that “power and fragility” concept. Ultimately one of the great things about technology is that it increases the safety of our work.
 
I am so glad that I am able to back up everything I write. I think my heart would stop if I lost the file that contained my books and I think everyone understands that feeling. I'm sure you have accidentally forgotten to save a document or your computer has crashed and you lose what you were working on. It's just such a horrible feeling. That's why I am so thankful for the wondrous age we live in and the ability to back up our work. It's great how it is so easy and how this increases the chances that what we write will survive time.
 
I wonder if in a thousand years someone will read something you have written. They may be working through an assignment for their history class, or for a hobby, or as research into their family history. They will see what you have written as an individual and imagine who you were as a person. They will see how we as a race used the technology we had. They will learn from it and see how we lived our lives and read what we have done all because we recorded it in writing. If that isn’t evidence for the power of writing then I don’t know what is.
 
Hand Written/Typed
Continuing the theme about technology I want to discuss a few things about the method of writing I have used. As mentioned in a previous blog update I typed the first book about an hour a day because of how screens hurt my eyes. With the second book I decided to hand write it as this would not hurt my eyes (hand writing book two was finished at the end of summer 2010). After this I hoped to have help from someone and for them to type it up as I read it out to them. I was helped for a while by my friend David Swanson and we worked through the first couple of chapters. I am grateful for his help but unfortunately having to travel to meet up made it difficult and on top of that book one editing and marketing took over. This left book two being put on the shelf for a while.
 
Recently I have had the urge to write book two onto the computer so it would be safe and ready to be printed. I wondered how it was all going to work. Typing up the hand written version was taking longer than before and it was pretty painful because of having to read the words from the pages, then type them and lastly double check it on the computer. I tried to figure out another way and didn't want to burden anyone else by asking for help.
 
The solution came recently when my step dad reminded me that my blackberry can hold word documents and that they can be edited. This is another reason I am so grateful for technology. I can Use my blackberry to type it out and for some reason it hurts my eyes less. Whatever the reason for this I am just so grateful because I have been writing up book two using my blackberry and use it to write this blog as well.
 
I think about this situation and how I would probably have always used computers to write my books if it wasn't for my limitations. I find myself being grateful that it has turned out this way because there is something organic and inherently beautiful about writing with a pen. It is nice to write the symbols that represent the words that we use to communicate with. Even though sometimes I can hardly spell them, but I am trying to improve and again technology has helped me because of spelling checks.
Because of all this I think I will hand write all my books, then type them up on my blackberry and then edit it on the laptop. It just works best that way and I get the best of both styles of writing.

Good News
The marketing of book one is moving forward slowly, but is moving forward :). I have been in touch with local newspapers and they have agreed to look over what I have done and hopefully if they write an article it will bring some badly needed publicity. Only time will tell and I will keep you posted.
 
Finally I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has brought a copy of the book and thank you to those who are telling people about it.

Extract of Love

This update is me finally giving you a look at some of my book.

I'm not sure why I haven't done this sooner. This blog is about writing and the main thing I have written is my book so I feel it’s about time I shared some.

 
The idea to share some of my book came to me because recently I have been thinking a lot about the emotion of love. Love is an emotion that fascinates me as it is something that causes such a vast amount of actions from different people. Some of those actions are beautiful but some are pretty disturbing. I guess the negative ones stem more from obsession than love but maybe for some people they are the same thing, it all depends on perspective but I won’t get into a debate about it here.
  
I've recently been thinking about love in my personal life and how it relates to my writing and I have decided to take something from my book that deals a little with this emotion and I hope you enjoy it.
 
This extract is very important to me but before telling you why I will give you a brief summary of my book so you understand the context, then the extract will be given and then why it's important to me.
 
The book is a journal called 'The Journal of Fire.' It is the first of 6 books that make up the series called 'The Chronicles of Elementary.' The writer of the journal and main character is called Dragatu. He is a triplet and his other two brothers are called Unilus and Phoenon.
This extract is from chapter 4 and Dragatu is beginning to fall in love. The problem he faces here is that he is not good at articulating his feelings and after some teasing his brothers help him write something to give to the girl in an attempt to impress her.
So here it is.
 
   “Perception has often been the fuel to change a person’s existence, the opening of the eyes to something never seen before, and see something you always knew was possible, but never had considered.

  This was revealed in a single instant and I was blinded by a revelation that turns a seed unknown into a rose fully understood, but what to do with that rose?

  Give it to you with chance of reciprocation? Or hide it under glass for fear of rejection?

  How did the seed turn into this rose? What circumstance led to this moment?

  It was a humble parting moment and regular event. Yet that parting smile, the feelings I felt as I left you standing there. I have never seen you so radiant, so unique, so perfect.

  At that moment I realised I would do anything to make you happy, as I had known you were when you were with me.

  The perception had changed and I saw all the time we spent together, and all I had ever done since we met, was for you. I had done it as more than a friend.

  To see all this in a single moment cannot be described.

  I came to realise a simple truth. That you are the only exception, the only star at night, and that this fact remains when all dies, I love you.

  Yet what to do with this enlightenment? What to tell you? What to say?

  I had never known such fear. I who had faced beasts three times my size and been victorious.

  I know I had discovered in you a treasure far beyond riches or power, I had become the richest man with fewest possessions, but my conscious has made a coward of me. Is the risk too high?

  I never want to lose your friendship, and I fear what I feel could be a rift between us.

  Would you return my love?

  The hope in me cannot understand why you could not love me. I am a man of strength, of power and of honour. I would dedicate every breath to seeing you smile and laugh.

  How could you not want this?

  You who are gifted with a love more powerful than most would surely understand, but this love was previously burned. I hate how you were hurt so much. How I wish I could take that pain away from you.

  I have tried my best to relieve your agony by making you smile and laugh, but even suffering from such pain I could see your strength and capability to love. Please don't close your heart because of this experience. Just learn to position your love towards someone who will always be there for you.

  Someone who understands your feelings, who has, and will be there for you as long as you need him. Who loves your secret desire to be comforted? Even though you are so strong and hide this side of you behind a mask.

  Someone who loves your desire to achieve and be successful, and would encourage you to be the best at everything you do.

  Someone who would dance with you forever, holding you close to shelter you from any storm.

  Someone who comprehends your space and time, to acknowledge and appreciate when you need your own, but would always let you have his when you required it.

  I could be that someone, but if not, find him, be happy. I love you.”

 
 
An interesting secret, that will no longer be a secret after this, is that I wrote this before any idea of the book had come into my mind. It has been changed a little to make it work for the story but this was a typical 'Steven' attempt to understand his own emotions, from a real situation in life, through writing.
 
It was an important part of my life to have written about, which I guess is the point. Moments that involve such strong emotions such as love, hate, anger, despair, joy, fear etc are important to remember and in my opinion should be record in some form so we can learn from the experiences.
 
This is so important when it comes to writing stories. I love to observe and learn from the world around me but there is nothing that can beat experiencing the broad spectrum of lives circumstances and emotions for yourself. In the context of story writing it just allows you to write better characters if you understand what they are going through.
 
Hopefully all the experiences in my life allow me to write situations and characters that you can empathise with and I also hope you will see a little of yourself in some of them, or what they go through.
 
I just hope you enjoyed the extract and it should give you a small peek into the world I have created and hopefully will make you want to discover more.
 
(for any guys, yes I am being stereotypical and sexist, that read this there is a lot of action in the book too J love for some reason was just on my mind recently)