September 11 is now indelibly linked in minds the world over with those images of the World Trade Center engulfed in flames.
I’d been living in Manhattan until just six months before the attacks, and was a regular visitor to the WTC. To see a city so familiar and so dear to my heart being brutalised shook me to the core. As ever, my thoughts go out to the victims’ families on this day.
In my now-home though, Catalunya (or Catalonia in English-spelling), September 11 has an alternative significance.
It marks the anniversary of the 1714 fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Franco-Spanish forces defeated those of the Habsburg Archduke Charles of Austria. The victorious Bourbon monarchy – which still sits on the Spanish throne – then set about quashing the autonomy of Catalunya and centralising power in Madrid, a source of constant friction ever since.
So when self-government was restored to the region following the approval of the ‘Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia’ in 1979, the Catalan Parliament’s first act was to declare September 11 as Catalan National Day, La Diada.
It is, the Parliament proclamation said, “A special day which, while representing the painful memories of the loss of liberties, on the eleventh of September 1714, and an attitude of struggle and active resistance to oppression, also embodied the hope of total recovery of its nationhood.”
So the yellow and red-striped Catalan flag, the Senyera, is draped from windows and balconies, and concerts and celebrations will be held today across the region, most notably in Barcelona. Whether Catalunya will ever recover full nationhood though remains a contentious topic of debate.
September 11, 2009
July 30, 2009
Book Publishing: The Future ... Part I
There’s a certain kudos to being a writer.
Millionaire novelists like J.K. Rowling, John Grisham and Stephen King spring to mind. Or perhaps the literary cool of an Ernest Hemingway, Jay McInerney or Zadie Smith.
And the non-fiction arena is an even bigger market. Self-help bibles, business success stories, health and fitness guides, even cookery books have the power to turn their authors into celebrity figures.
And even if it doesn’t make the New York Times bestseller lists, a book can act as a badge of status that a writer can leverage for speaking engagements, workshops, coaching programmes and a host of other money-spinning activities.
No wonder so many people dream of becoming a writer.
But the traditional publishing world has an uncertain future.
There are the big success stories of course, with reports of millions of copies of certain titles – not least the Harry Potter series – flying off the shelves.
Nevertheless, reports indicate that for years the general public as a whole has been reading less and less. It doesn’t bode well for your business then if demand for your product is steadily falling.
Plus publishing has an idiosyncratic business model. For while the publishers bear the expense of producing and – less frequently these days – promoting their books, any unsold ones can be returned by the retailer without having to pay for them. The publisher then has to find warehouse space to store them, or pay for them to be pulped. In other words, they face all the risk for the success or otherwise of their products. Can you imagine any other business working that way?
So it’s no wonder publishers are keen to focus on what they think will be surefire successes – the celebrity writers with marketable names, and established literary big guns with a track record.
Which isn’t to say new writers can’t break in. Arguably those that are good enough, and keep submitting, will get noticed by agents and publishers, who are full of talented people as keen to sign the next literary superstar as the writer is to be one.
But it’s not always easy for the aspiring debutant. And the rewards for all that work are often pitiful.
Meanwhile a mass of mediocre books continue to hit the display stands largely on the strength of the author’s name blazoned across the top.
But an alternative future is emerging ... which I’ll come to in Part II.
Millionaire novelists like J.K. Rowling, John Grisham and Stephen King spring to mind. Or perhaps the literary cool of an Ernest Hemingway, Jay McInerney or Zadie Smith.
And the non-fiction arena is an even bigger market. Self-help bibles, business success stories, health and fitness guides, even cookery books have the power to turn their authors into celebrity figures.
And even if it doesn’t make the New York Times bestseller lists, a book can act as a badge of status that a writer can leverage for speaking engagements, workshops, coaching programmes and a host of other money-spinning activities.
No wonder so many people dream of becoming a writer.
But the traditional publishing world has an uncertain future.
There are the big success stories of course, with reports of millions of copies of certain titles – not least the Harry Potter series – flying off the shelves.
Nevertheless, reports indicate that for years the general public as a whole has been reading less and less. It doesn’t bode well for your business then if demand for your product is steadily falling.
Plus publishing has an idiosyncratic business model. For while the publishers bear the expense of producing and – less frequently these days – promoting their books, any unsold ones can be returned by the retailer without having to pay for them. The publisher then has to find warehouse space to store them, or pay for them to be pulped. In other words, they face all the risk for the success or otherwise of their products. Can you imagine any other business working that way?
So it’s no wonder publishers are keen to focus on what they think will be surefire successes – the celebrity writers with marketable names, and established literary big guns with a track record.
Which isn’t to say new writers can’t break in. Arguably those that are good enough, and keep submitting, will get noticed by agents and publishers, who are full of talented people as keen to sign the next literary superstar as the writer is to be one.
But it’s not always easy for the aspiring debutant. And the rewards for all that work are often pitiful.
Meanwhile a mass of mediocre books continue to hit the display stands largely on the strength of the author’s name blazoned across the top.
But an alternative future is emerging ... which I’ll come to in Part II.
July 14, 2009
Homage to Catalonia
My wife and I were recently honoured with an invite to a night out with a party of locals.
Now, depending on where you are in the world this may not seem like anything remarkable.
When we lived in the States – whose citizens I have found to be probably the most hospitable of any place I have been – we were invited into people’s homes on a regular basis, sometimes after we’d only just met them.
However the Catalans, as they themselves observe, tend to be more reserved. It takes a while to make it past the polite smiles on the street and into their houses (a comment many people make about we English).
This though is one of the advantages of sending your children to the local schools in your adopted country – you start to integrate more into the community. And so it has been with us.
On this occasion we were asked out to dinner by the two ladies who split the role of classroom monitor for our daughter, who has severe food allergies. Because of their close association with our little girl we’ve got to know them fairly well. And so, with their husbands in tow, they took us to their favourite restaurant.
First thing to note – the Spanish eat late. This is particularly the case in Madrid, where it’s almost time for breakfast once dinner is done. But even here in provincial Catalunya our hosts didn’t pick us up until 9:30 pm, and it was a half hour drive to our destination.
It was the kind of place you’d never find on your own, a hidden gem frequented by those in the know. It was in a village I’d not seen before, although I must have driven by it several times, a traditional Catalan masia with bare stone walls and exposed wooden beams, serving traditional Catalan food.
The car park was packed, the tables in the plaza outside were packed, the series of small dining rooms inside were packed. But fortunately one of the husbands was friends with the owner.
Second thing to note – by and large, vegetarians are not well catered for in Spain.
The menu was what you’d describe as hale and hearty. Rustic fare. Meaty, in all senses.
On the table as we arrived were baskets of toasted bread, which you rub with fresh tomatoes and garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil and eat with slices of the local dried sausage.
The house wine came out of an unlabelled green bottle with a cork half-stuffed in the top, probably produced a couple of kilometres up the road. Hardly Château Lafite, but eminently drinkable. And a fraction of what you’d pay for similar quality in the US or Britain.
Starters were local specialities too: plates of sliced anchovies, strips of Iberian ham, snails.
The main course selection included rabbit kebabs, guinea fowl, shoulder of kid goat, spareribs, veal steaks. When the plates arrived they were loaded with slabs of tender meat. Vegetables though – if you exclude the fries – were nowhere to be seen.
One of the women, Neus, had pigs’ trotters, a local delicacy to be found in every self-respecting butcher’s. My wife and I have always fought shy of it, but when she offered us a taste decided to give it a try. After all, when in Rome ... The gelatine-based consistency and flavour actually wasn’t bad, but a couple of mouthfuls would be enough.
Aside from the food we were also privileged with an insider’s view of the Catalans themselves.
Catalunya is not so much a region within Spain as a nation within a nation. It has its own language, own flag, own customs, own festivals. And they have a renowned antipathy towards ‘Spain’ as a whole and Madrid in particular, not least because of General Franco’s aggression during the Civil War and repression of Catalan culture during his four-decade dictatorship, something they have energetically sought to redress since his death.
More revealing though were the insights of Neus’ husband, who described the tensions that exist within Catalunya, between Barcelona – where he was born and raised – and the regions.
As George Orwell describes in “Homage to Catalonia,” Barcelona was a stronghold of the Republican forces during the Civil War, and one of the last places to fall to Franco’s Nationalists. Subsequently Barcelona – not least through its eponymous football team – became a centre of opposition to the General’s regime.
And with Franco’s death and the return of democracy Barcelona emerged as the hub of Catalanism, the seat of the region’s autonomous government, the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Given such precedence, and the local population’s near universal and fervent support for FC Barcelona, I’d have thought the city and all it represents would be viewed with pride by the Catalans. Not so.
Barcelona has long been the commercial powerhouse of Spain. As a result, our companion explained, Barcelonans have had far greater exposure to the wider world, and are more cosmopolitan for it.
By contrast the area where we live, with its traditional agricultural and fishing communities, was practically cut off from the outside world until as little as 50 or 60 years ago. An adventure was travelling to the local market town.
And that contrast between commercial cosmopolitanism and rural isolation remains in the mindsets today. For while Barcelonans look down on the provincials as hicks, those in the provinces regard Barcelonans as rich city types that know nothing of their lives and are not to be trusted.
Which is why, after 23 years of living in our little patch of Catalunya, he is still referred to as “Neus’ husband,” rather than by his own name.
Now, depending on where you are in the world this may not seem like anything remarkable.
When we lived in the States – whose citizens I have found to be probably the most hospitable of any place I have been – we were invited into people’s homes on a regular basis, sometimes after we’d only just met them.
However the Catalans, as they themselves observe, tend to be more reserved. It takes a while to make it past the polite smiles on the street and into their houses (a comment many people make about we English).
This though is one of the advantages of sending your children to the local schools in your adopted country – you start to integrate more into the community. And so it has been with us.
On this occasion we were asked out to dinner by the two ladies who split the role of classroom monitor for our daughter, who has severe food allergies. Because of their close association with our little girl we’ve got to know them fairly well. And so, with their husbands in tow, they took us to their favourite restaurant.
First thing to note – the Spanish eat late. This is particularly the case in Madrid, where it’s almost time for breakfast once dinner is done. But even here in provincial Catalunya our hosts didn’t pick us up until 9:30 pm, and it was a half hour drive to our destination.
It was the kind of place you’d never find on your own, a hidden gem frequented by those in the know. It was in a village I’d not seen before, although I must have driven by it several times, a traditional Catalan masia with bare stone walls and exposed wooden beams, serving traditional Catalan food.
The car park was packed, the tables in the plaza outside were packed, the series of small dining rooms inside were packed. But fortunately one of the husbands was friends with the owner.
Second thing to note – by and large, vegetarians are not well catered for in Spain.
The menu was what you’d describe as hale and hearty. Rustic fare. Meaty, in all senses.
On the table as we arrived were baskets of toasted bread, which you rub with fresh tomatoes and garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil and eat with slices of the local dried sausage.
The house wine came out of an unlabelled green bottle with a cork half-stuffed in the top, probably produced a couple of kilometres up the road. Hardly Château Lafite, but eminently drinkable. And a fraction of what you’d pay for similar quality in the US or Britain.
Starters were local specialities too: plates of sliced anchovies, strips of Iberian ham, snails.
The main course selection included rabbit kebabs, guinea fowl, shoulder of kid goat, spareribs, veal steaks. When the plates arrived they were loaded with slabs of tender meat. Vegetables though – if you exclude the fries – were nowhere to be seen.
One of the women, Neus, had pigs’ trotters, a local delicacy to be found in every self-respecting butcher’s. My wife and I have always fought shy of it, but when she offered us a taste decided to give it a try. After all, when in Rome ... The gelatine-based consistency and flavour actually wasn’t bad, but a couple of mouthfuls would be enough.
Aside from the food we were also privileged with an insider’s view of the Catalans themselves.
Catalunya is not so much a region within Spain as a nation within a nation. It has its own language, own flag, own customs, own festivals. And they have a renowned antipathy towards ‘Spain’ as a whole and Madrid in particular, not least because of General Franco’s aggression during the Civil War and repression of Catalan culture during his four-decade dictatorship, something they have energetically sought to redress since his death.
More revealing though were the insights of Neus’ husband, who described the tensions that exist within Catalunya, between Barcelona – where he was born and raised – and the regions.
As George Orwell describes in “Homage to Catalonia,” Barcelona was a stronghold of the Republican forces during the Civil War, and one of the last places to fall to Franco’s Nationalists. Subsequently Barcelona – not least through its eponymous football team – became a centre of opposition to the General’s regime.
And with Franco’s death and the return of democracy Barcelona emerged as the hub of Catalanism, the seat of the region’s autonomous government, the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Given such precedence, and the local population’s near universal and fervent support for FC Barcelona, I’d have thought the city and all it represents would be viewed with pride by the Catalans. Not so.
Barcelona has long been the commercial powerhouse of Spain. As a result, our companion explained, Barcelonans have had far greater exposure to the wider world, and are more cosmopolitan for it.
By contrast the area where we live, with its traditional agricultural and fishing communities, was practically cut off from the outside world until as little as 50 or 60 years ago. An adventure was travelling to the local market town.
And that contrast between commercial cosmopolitanism and rural isolation remains in the mindsets today. For while Barcelonans look down on the provincials as hicks, those in the provinces regard Barcelonans as rich city types that know nothing of their lives and are not to be trusted.
Which is why, after 23 years of living in our little patch of Catalunya, he is still referred to as “Neus’ husband,” rather than by his own name.
July 2, 2009
Book Publishing: The Long and Winding Road
Ernest Hemingway, Tom Wolfe, Bill Bryson ... the list of successful authors who started their writing careers in journalism is a long and illustrious one.
Like so many other journalists, I too have been dreaming of that publishing deal that would set me on the road to literary fortune. In fact, my journalistic career was more happenstance than design, a by-product of my early book writing efforts, rather than the other way around.
The impulse to write has been with me since my exercise book-filled scribbles at infants’ school. But it wasn’t until a backpacking trip around Spain with my wife in 1997 that I took the all-important step, and committed to become a writer. And that means consistently putting pen to paper.
I remember it now. Sitting in front of our tiny tent under the pine trees and stars, enveloped in the warmth of a Valencian spring evening, I opened my newly-bought notepad and with a cheap ballpoint began to recount our adventures.
In the 12 years since I have written something practically every day.
In amongst the hundreds of magazine and newsletter articles for my day job there has been that original backpacker’s tale, several novels, a host of short stories, TV programme pitches, and at the moment a work-in-progress screenplay.
The investment of a lot of time, a lot of work and a lot of hope. It’s been a long, and at times frustrating, journey. Indeed, given my lack of publishing fame and fortune you’d probably be justified in thinking it’s about time I gave up.
But although the dream of being a full-time author has seemed a million miles away at times, I have never lost sight of it. So I persevere.
Still, rightly or wrongly – and I’m sure there were glaring deficiencies in my work that merited the stack of rejections – I haven’t had much joy thus far with the traditional publishing world.
Which is why for “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” my guide to the pros and cons of expat living, I decided to go down the internet route by writing an e-book, and setting up a website to support and sell it.
The internet is a fantastic evolution in the spread of the written word. For it has provided the opportunity for anyone with a message to reach out to a global audience, even if at times it can be difficult to get that message heard.
But the thing is, you never know when someone is listening. And that’s when one of those serendipitous events occurred to me.
Somehow Bea Stanford, founder of global network community Inside Twente (http://www.twenteinside.com/), stumbled on my website and signed up for my Moving Abroad-opedia newsletter. Apparently she liked what I wrote and asked if I’d share my blog posts on her site.
Through Bea and Inside Twente my book then reached the attention of Jo Parfitt, the author of numerous bibles on expatriate living, including “Expat Entrepreneur” and “A Career In Your Suitcase” (http://www.joparfitt.com/).
And I have Jo to thank for referring me to her publisher Lean Marketing Press, who in turn got in touch expressing interest in my book. As a result, we’re now working together to produce a print version of Should I Stay Or Should I Go, which we hope to bring out in the autumn.
It’s been a strange, circuitous route to publication – certainly not how I imagined it would occur. Nevertheless, it is an immensely exciting prospect, not least because I believe – and many other writers have similarly argued – that the model adopted by companies such as Lean Marketing is the future of publishing. But I’ll go into that another time.
Like so many other journalists, I too have been dreaming of that publishing deal that would set me on the road to literary fortune. In fact, my journalistic career was more happenstance than design, a by-product of my early book writing efforts, rather than the other way around.
The impulse to write has been with me since my exercise book-filled scribbles at infants’ school. But it wasn’t until a backpacking trip around Spain with my wife in 1997 that I took the all-important step, and committed to become a writer. And that means consistently putting pen to paper.
I remember it now. Sitting in front of our tiny tent under the pine trees and stars, enveloped in the warmth of a Valencian spring evening, I opened my newly-bought notepad and with a cheap ballpoint began to recount our adventures.
In the 12 years since I have written something practically every day.
In amongst the hundreds of magazine and newsletter articles for my day job there has been that original backpacker’s tale, several novels, a host of short stories, TV programme pitches, and at the moment a work-in-progress screenplay.
The investment of a lot of time, a lot of work and a lot of hope. It’s been a long, and at times frustrating, journey. Indeed, given my lack of publishing fame and fortune you’d probably be justified in thinking it’s about time I gave up.
But although the dream of being a full-time author has seemed a million miles away at times, I have never lost sight of it. So I persevere.
Still, rightly or wrongly – and I’m sure there were glaring deficiencies in my work that merited the stack of rejections – I haven’t had much joy thus far with the traditional publishing world.
Which is why for “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” my guide to the pros and cons of expat living, I decided to go down the internet route by writing an e-book, and setting up a website to support and sell it.
The internet is a fantastic evolution in the spread of the written word. For it has provided the opportunity for anyone with a message to reach out to a global audience, even if at times it can be difficult to get that message heard.
But the thing is, you never know when someone is listening. And that’s when one of those serendipitous events occurred to me.
Somehow Bea Stanford, founder of global network community Inside Twente (http://www.twenteinside.com/), stumbled on my website and signed up for my Moving Abroad-opedia newsletter. Apparently she liked what I wrote and asked if I’d share my blog posts on her site.
Through Bea and Inside Twente my book then reached the attention of Jo Parfitt, the author of numerous bibles on expatriate living, including “Expat Entrepreneur” and “A Career In Your Suitcase” (http://www.joparfitt.com/).
And I have Jo to thank for referring me to her publisher Lean Marketing Press, who in turn got in touch expressing interest in my book. As a result, we’re now working together to produce a print version of Should I Stay Or Should I Go, which we hope to bring out in the autumn.
It’s been a strange, circuitous route to publication – certainly not how I imagined it would occur. Nevertheless, it is an immensely exciting prospect, not least because I believe – and many other writers have similarly argued – that the model adopted by companies such as Lean Marketing is the future of publishing. But I’ll go into that another time.
June 24, 2009
Spain School Holidays
“School’s out for summer ...”
Yep, the school summer holidays have started here in Spain. Three months of freedom and sunshine stretch into the distance.
As my brother in England commented, it seems like a crazy length of time off. After all, the English schools won’t finish for another month yet, and then ‘only’ for six weeks.
Indeed, the schools in Spain seem to be about the first in Europe to break up. If the car registration plates are anything to go by it will be the beginning of July before the French cross the border to start their holidays, and a few days after that before the Belgians, Dutch and Germans arrive.
Still, the Spanish timetable is understandable. Through June my daughter’s school shifted its hours so they were in from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., instead of the usual 9-12 and 3-5 p.m. The afternoons get too hot at this time of year to do anything else.
And now, with the full force of summer upon us, it’s too much for the kids to continue.
It’s been a long term too. Unlike in other countries, where there is a half-term break for the kids to recharge, here there are merely three long terms. The last holiday our daughter had therefore was Easter. And that was only for a week, rather than the two her cousins in England get.
So now 12 weeks at the beach beckon. What a prospect.
It’s not so great for the parents though. With so many working full time – and for people that live by the Mediterranean this is peak earning season – what are they supposed to do about childcare?
Hello grandparents ...
Hmm, not necessarily an option if you’re an expat and the rest of your family live thousands of miles away.
Or, as is commonly the case, you could enrol the kids in a summer school. So, back to class then. Maybe it’s not such a long, lazy vacation after all.
Yep, the school summer holidays have started here in Spain. Three months of freedom and sunshine stretch into the distance.
As my brother in England commented, it seems like a crazy length of time off. After all, the English schools won’t finish for another month yet, and then ‘only’ for six weeks.
Indeed, the schools in Spain seem to be about the first in Europe to break up. If the car registration plates are anything to go by it will be the beginning of July before the French cross the border to start their holidays, and a few days after that before the Belgians, Dutch and Germans arrive.
Still, the Spanish timetable is understandable. Through June my daughter’s school shifted its hours so they were in from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., instead of the usual 9-12 and 3-5 p.m. The afternoons get too hot at this time of year to do anything else.
And now, with the full force of summer upon us, it’s too much for the kids to continue.
It’s been a long term too. Unlike in other countries, where there is a half-term break for the kids to recharge, here there are merely three long terms. The last holiday our daughter had therefore was Easter. And that was only for a week, rather than the two her cousins in England get.
So now 12 weeks at the beach beckon. What a prospect.
It’s not so great for the parents though. With so many working full time – and for people that live by the Mediterranean this is peak earning season – what are they supposed to do about childcare?
Hello grandparents ...
Hmm, not necessarily an option if you’re an expat and the rest of your family live thousands of miles away.
Or, as is commonly the case, you could enrol the kids in a summer school. So, back to class then. Maybe it’s not such a long, lazy vacation after all.
June 20, 2009
Elbow’s Lessons in Life
My brother recently gave me a copy of Elbow’s album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid.’ It contains some great songs, but there’s one in particular I can’t get out of my head: ‘One Day Like This’ ... what my niece calls “the holy cow song.”
I confess I hadn’t heard of the band before. I’ve become desperately out of touch musically since moving to Spain six years ago, and now rely on my much-more-with-it 40-year old brother to tip me off to the new releases.
Elbow are hardly a new sensation though – The Seldom Seen Kid is their fourth studio album. Yet it is only as a result of winning last year’s Mercury Music Prize that it has brought the band a level of commercial success to go with their long-standing critical acclaim.
As such they are an object lesson in the value of persistence.
After forming the group as schoolboys in 1990, they recorded their debut album with Island Records in 1997. However, it was never released. Instead they put out EPs in 1998, 2000 and 2001 before their first album, ‘Asleep in the Back,’ eventually came out that same year, earning them both Mercury Music Prize and Brit Award nominations.
Despite apparently being well-received critically though their third album didn’t sell well. So the band was dropped from V2, its record label, in 2006.
But instead of giving up Elbow signed with a new label, and recorded, mixed and self-produced The Seldom Seen Kid, which has proven to be their breakthrough.
In addition to the album’s Mercury Prize success, the song ‘Grounds for Divorce’ was used in the trailer for the Coen Brothers’ film ‘Burn After Reading’ as well as in several TV adverts, while One Day Like This was used by the BBC in its coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and has featured in adverts for the film ‘The Soloist.’ And Elbow went on to win the 2009 Brit Award for Best British Group. Not a bad list of credits.
I don’t know, but I’m guessing the V2 label bosses are feeling a bit stupid right now.
More importantly though Elbow’s long-awaited time in the sun is a testament to the group’s love of music, belief in themselves and sheer determination – and that is something from which we can all take heart. For they are a real-world demonstration that if you dare to cherish a dream, believe in it and (crucially) keep working towards its achievement, the rewards eventually will be yours.
So if your dream is to move abroad then why not go for it? Work out what you need to do to make it a reality and take the necessary steps, one at a time. It’ll be easier than you think.
And the same goes for all life’s ambitions.
It’s easy to lose sight of your ultimate goals in the current economic mess, when many people – myself included – have been scrambling just to survive. But, if you’ll excuse the cliché, you’ve got to ‘keep your eye on the prize.’
That’s what’s happening to me with the upcoming publication of my book, ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Truth About Moving Abroad And Whether It’s Right For You’ – and that is the essential message within it ... work out what you really want from life and start living it.
I’ll finish with a quote I was sent yesterday as a subscriber to Simpleology (a series of courses I highly recommend by the way). It’s from that great British writer Rudyard Kipling:
“If you don’t get what you want, it’s a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”
Words we’d all do well to remember.
I confess I hadn’t heard of the band before. I’ve become desperately out of touch musically since moving to Spain six years ago, and now rely on my much-more-with-it 40-year old brother to tip me off to the new releases.
Elbow are hardly a new sensation though – The Seldom Seen Kid is their fourth studio album. Yet it is only as a result of winning last year’s Mercury Music Prize that it has brought the band a level of commercial success to go with their long-standing critical acclaim.
As such they are an object lesson in the value of persistence.
After forming the group as schoolboys in 1990, they recorded their debut album with Island Records in 1997. However, it was never released. Instead they put out EPs in 1998, 2000 and 2001 before their first album, ‘Asleep in the Back,’ eventually came out that same year, earning them both Mercury Music Prize and Brit Award nominations.
Despite apparently being well-received critically though their third album didn’t sell well. So the band was dropped from V2, its record label, in 2006.
But instead of giving up Elbow signed with a new label, and recorded, mixed and self-produced The Seldom Seen Kid, which has proven to be their breakthrough.
In addition to the album’s Mercury Prize success, the song ‘Grounds for Divorce’ was used in the trailer for the Coen Brothers’ film ‘Burn After Reading’ as well as in several TV adverts, while One Day Like This was used by the BBC in its coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and has featured in adverts for the film ‘The Soloist.’ And Elbow went on to win the 2009 Brit Award for Best British Group. Not a bad list of credits.
I don’t know, but I’m guessing the V2 label bosses are feeling a bit stupid right now.
More importantly though Elbow’s long-awaited time in the sun is a testament to the group’s love of music, belief in themselves and sheer determination – and that is something from which we can all take heart. For they are a real-world demonstration that if you dare to cherish a dream, believe in it and (crucially) keep working towards its achievement, the rewards eventually will be yours.
So if your dream is to move abroad then why not go for it? Work out what you need to do to make it a reality and take the necessary steps, one at a time. It’ll be easier than you think.
And the same goes for all life’s ambitions.
It’s easy to lose sight of your ultimate goals in the current economic mess, when many people – myself included – have been scrambling just to survive. But, if you’ll excuse the cliché, you’ve got to ‘keep your eye on the prize.’
That’s what’s happening to me with the upcoming publication of my book, ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Truth About Moving Abroad And Whether It’s Right For You’ – and that is the essential message within it ... work out what you really want from life and start living it.
I’ll finish with a quote I was sent yesterday as a subscriber to Simpleology (a series of courses I highly recommend by the way). It’s from that great British writer Rudyard Kipling:
“If you don’t get what you want, it’s a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”
Words we’d all do well to remember.
June 11, 2009
Expat Living Book Deal
It’s been a while since I’ve done any blogging for Expat Living 101.com. In truth, like so many other expatriates I’ve been hit hard by the financial crisis over the last nine months – particularly in the interest rate on our mortgage and the currency conversion of my foreign earnings into euros – which has forced me to work twice as hard. Not what you want at the best of times, but especially when the sun is beckoning outside!
But now I’m starting up again with this new Blogger site and a new mission ... for today I signed a contract with Lean Marketing Press for them to publish a print version of my book on the pros and cons of living overseas: “Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Truth About Moving Abroad And Whether It’s Right For You.”
The publishing contract may not come with a $1 million advance and movie tie-in rights as per my J.K. Rowling aspirations, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless – one that hopefully will help a lot more people get a better handle on the real benefits and costs of moving to a foreign country, and enable them to get a much clearer view on the right path to take. And if it can help readers towards living the lives they truly desire then I will be well satisfied.
This blog then will record the book’s journey to fruition and beyond, as well as being an opportunity to record some of my thoughts and observations on the expatriate life as they crop up.
I hope it proves interesting – and if you have any comments or questions on the way then please feel free to add them.
Hasta luego ...
But now I’m starting up again with this new Blogger site and a new mission ... for today I signed a contract with Lean Marketing Press for them to publish a print version of my book on the pros and cons of living overseas: “Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Truth About Moving Abroad And Whether It’s Right For You.”
The publishing contract may not come with a $1 million advance and movie tie-in rights as per my J.K. Rowling aspirations, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless – one that hopefully will help a lot more people get a better handle on the real benefits and costs of moving to a foreign country, and enable them to get a much clearer view on the right path to take. And if it can help readers towards living the lives they truly desire then I will be well satisfied.
This blog then will record the book’s journey to fruition and beyond, as well as being an opportunity to record some of my thoughts and observations on the expatriate life as they crop up.
I hope it proves interesting – and if you have any comments or questions on the way then please feel free to add them.
Hasta luego ...
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