The Time Bubble

One of the things that makes us all uniquely different as human beings is our own individuality. Whilst millions of people could have any one of the same songs that I have on their iPod's, the chances of any single one of them having an identical playlist to the one I'm currently listening to is infinitesimal. Music is one of those things that defines us as individuals and is very special to us. That is why I never run down any musical artists, even if I don't personally like them. I find it quite shallow and egocentric of people when they make sweeping statements of their own opinions and present them as fact, e.g. "Westlife are crap". I choose Westlife as an example because I personally can't stand them though clearly lots of people do as they have sold millions of songs. If asked for my opinion I'd just say I didn't like them. Different people follow different musical genres and have different tastes. The one piece of advice I could offer to a...

Last Saturday Claire and I went out for our monthly nosebag, heading once again into Bicester - Oxford will come later in the summer. Usually I book somewhere but what with all the focus on Cheltenham last week (which went very well, thank-you) I did not get around to trying to organise something until Saturday itself. When I rang Denis they could not fit us in until after 9pm, so we decided to chance our arm and walk into Pioneer Square and see if we could get in to one of the three new restaurants there all of which we've been to and enjoyed before. I was struck by how lively and vibrant the whole area of the square was. The new restaurants and the cinema have brought the centre of Bicester alive and it was great to soak up the atmosphere of lots of people around all enjoying themselves. I really do believe that this new development is the best thing ever to happen for Bicester and as more units fill up it will get even better. The drawback of all off this was that the rest...

This blog entry is predominantly about horse racing so if it doesn't interest you, it's probably best to look away now. I suggest looking back through the archive for some of the "funny" posts about sausages instead! Our school's motto is "Dare to be wise". I like this. I have changed one word though for the purpose of today's post, because I like to "Dare to be different". What do I like to dare to be different about? Well all sorts of things really. When it comes to popular culture, the more popular something is, the less I like it. Mass market TV such as The X Factor is a big no-no for me. I've always nailed my mast to the cult and niche interests. In my teenage years and beyond it was indie music all the way. In fact if a song by an act I liked made it to No.1 in the charts, I'd go off them! Fortunately the likes of The Smiths, Depeche Mode and others never scaled such dizzy heights. Being a Doctor Who fan was also tough g...

Now that the book launch is out of the way, it's time to get moving on some other projects. You'll recall my new sausage ideas which I broached at the turn of the year. I think it's now time to pitch these to the industry, so who better to start with than a name synonymous with two things to launch my new "sausage ice cream" product. So, without further ado I dashed off this little missive today, and now eagerly await the response! Dear Walls, Good evening. Allow me to introduce myself, just in case you haven’t heard of me. My name is Jason Ayres, aka “The Sausage Man” and author of the book of that title (check it out on Amazon). During 2013 I held the coveted role of VIP Judge for the annual industry awards, judging the best of the nation’s sausages alongside celebrity chef, Simon Rimmer. In the last chapter of my recently published book, I cast my crystal ball into the future to try and come up with some new ideas to revitalise the sausage world and dr...

As a new author I found it quite daunting when first venturing into the realm of selling Kindle books. How would I get noticed? How would I get reviews? And many other questions. Coming in as a complete novice with my first book almost a year ago I certainly made a few mistakes. But I've learnt a lot since then, both from experience and reading as much as I could from other writers in the form of blogs, message boards, and simply by talking to them. Quite early on, I realised there were two hurdles to overcome. It was hard to make sales without any reviews. And it's hard to get reviews if no-one has bought your book. It is all very well putting a book on to Amazon and hoping people will buy it, but this is not the equivalent of having it on display in the front window of Waterstones. In fact you have about as much chance of it being spotted as you'd have in Waterstones if they agreed to stock it, took one copy and then hid it behind the cistern in the staff toilets. W...