The Pages of Evan Vaughan

Got this last night.

Dear Jack Leaf Willetts,

Thank you again for submitting your serial start to JukePop Serials! Congratulations, your serial start, The Pages of Evan Vaughan, has been selected for publication on our site.

This sort of mail is like goldust amongst the rejections, so I’m pleased as hell to have this published on such an awesome site. JukePop Serials works on a vote system; you like the serial you vote for it and it gets ranked accordingly.

This is good, since one of the reasons I submitted this piece to JPS was to get a reader response. I’m not sure about this one, not that I don’t think it has something to say, it’s just different to my usual stuff. The pages of Evan Vaughan is a journal about a guy with a whole load of insecurities and problems. Sound familiar? Maybe that’s why I ain’t sure about him, to close for comfort, not enough distance. The guy pretty much is me, so, I can’t like him (yet), but I need to know if other folk do.

It is also a commitment of sorts, a way of completing a manuscript that has been half written for about three years now.  The first chapter went live this morning, so it pushes me into shaping up the second, and with a head full of ideas and a draw full of unfinished books, I need that push. Cheers JPS!

Anyway, you like voting, liking, tweeting and such, so check it out and be sure to click that big black VOTE NOW sign when you’re done!

Merci,

Jack

 

CLARA

I write songs all the time, never play them for anyone. I mumble, and at best I sound like Dylan under water. Love Dylan, but the guy doesn’t sing so well. Anyway, breaking my rules and sending this one out into the world. Wrote it for my girl and well if you write someone a song, they should hear it, even if you mumble.

CLARA

we drink till dawn when the others have gone
we laugh and smoke and sing old songs
and I’ll tilt my hat walking down your lane

I try to forget till we do it all again
I play the old friend card till then
and I watch as the stars paint out your name

Clara we should have run together
when the night was young
Clara do you remember
dancing without a song?

so I build us a boat with my bare hands
we sail off to some neverland
where we can just be
and when the liquor runs out we’ll drink from each other
we’ll be higher than your sister
and we’ll watch the bottles float to the moon

Clara don’t forget to remember
when tonight is gone
Clara don’t forget to remember
dancing to our song

The Bee’s Knees

Never wanted to write a kid’s book. But the little one loved this story I made up for her and eventually I wanted to write it down, give her some pictures. So, two years later I finally wrote the thing and illustrated it. It’s called The Bee’s Knees and it is ‘a tale for all sorts of folk.’

Since Scarlett (the little one) was real little, we would take her to the graveyard opposite my ma’s house for a walk. She loved that place and took a real interest in the animals she spotted. Yes, it’s set in a graveyard, yes it’s about a bunch of animals. It is also about being poor and homeless. Never wanted to write a kid’s book, so went for an odd angle. Hey, it is almost Halloween…

It has this guy…

and more importantly her…

-Jack

JACK

I changed my name.  Would be fine and dandy had I not spent the last year buiding up writing credits. Must not complain, it had to be done. Strange move for a writer – strange move at 30, but I got real tired of people assuming that I am a girl.

Thing is this: The name Jade is gender neautral in the states. Reason 100 that I should be over there, but I am not and the joke isn’t funny anymore.

 

Strange feeling naming yourself, plus I really liked my name up until I met a load of pretty little girls who shared it. Anyway, I went through my list of possibles and everything I liked was either too weird (Klaus, River) or again gender neutral. So in the end there was only one name I could live with - JACK.

So beatnik folk, if you get an email or a submission from some Jack, it won’t be him, but chances are it will be me…

J. L

Recorded Poem

Reblogged from we bleed ink:

My book is being typeset right now, & writers are being solicited for jacket blurbs. Should be out soon. Promise. I've recorded a poem. A melancholy autumnal thing. It's called Everything Is Ending. Enjoy (or be very, very afraid).

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Passing Out Victorious

Neglected this blog of late -  this will happen again and again so I will spare you (five loyal readers) the apologies. Been painting for the first time in a while and like with everything have gotten a little obsessive. (Will be sure to pimp the works in progress soon as the paint dries). I am a sucker for a quick fix and I think the almost immediate sense of completion is the attraction. Since I have three part written novels, and a load of pieces gathering dust, needing to be pimped, the painting makes for a quick hit of creative closure. Plus I’m painting abstract stuff right now, and for me this means there is no element of anxiety or stress involved. Writing makes me ill for the most part. I wouldn’t and couldn’t be without it, but I enjoy it like I enjoy sitting for a tattoo. It drains me like a hangover after a heavy session. So abstract painting has become my writing therapy. I write, get stressed that I haven’t done enough, that I may never do enough, that I may never get that elusive book deal and then I slope off, play some music and throw paint around.

Anyways, got an email yesterday from a publication that provides a solid platform for artists, whether they be throwing paint around or stressing over words. Issue 3 of PoV (Passing Out Victorious) is out now and gotta say, it just keeps getting better. With magazines I’m usually two strikes and out, simply because I’m trying to build up a list of contributions/ publications. I break my rule when it comes to PoV. I would happily throw words at them for each issue. This is because they are a bit special, the design is pretty much flawless,  and my words are in fucking good company. This issue is on ‘identity’ and I got to do a special feature alongside one of my favourite living writers, Mr Joe Clifford. Got my sirname up big and shit – so makes me feel like I’m chipping away at the writing world (for about a minute). So thanks to the guys Chris Pilkington and Ben Turner over at PoV for putting this gem together. Check it out.

(P.S my stuff: P: 126-129)

For now,

J

New Book Blurb & Just Checking In Again

Reblogged from we bleed ink:

Yeah I'm still here! Haven't posted in a while due to mixture of exhaustion, busyness & the fact my 3yrold £1000 iMac computer has died. Anyway.

Kind of tied up with overseeing the production of my debut book of poems, Grime Kerbstone Psalms. Has been a pleasure working with my publisher, Mac. What a top geezer that fella is. Have  also procured permission from wonderful local photographer Trish Evans to use one of her amazing photographs for the cover.

Read more… 382 more words