FORMER EDITORIAL
UnheardWords Editorial 02nd Jan 2005
The Difference Between Dreamers, Dreams and Reality
In dim and distant times (back-in-the-day as some might say) an idea flickered and came on in my head. It illuminated the dark dusty corners of the second-hand bookshops in which I sometimes found myself and it made me smile creativity. How I loved all those books, and yet, I had great trouble finding a voice to speak as I spoke. I was looking for authors who’d speak to me.
What was the idea? Why don’t I set out to publish the voices of the writers that I longed to hear. These voices would speak the new words of new writers, sounding young and vibrant, sounding wilful and wise. Writers who’d change the way we see, who’d create new readers.
The design (branding) of these published works would also be fresh - striking images adorning the covers, the publisher’s Logo blended seamlessly, and even a spine that distinguished by including a brief punchy summary of the delights within, alongside the traditional title and author text. I spent a while developing this idea, encouraging that first glow of imagination. Of course, you’d need outlets. At the time I lived near a few independent bookshops, so I saw these as being ideal retailers. And writers, you’d need a pool of strong talent from which to fish your future best selling authors. So, perhaps I’d set-up a PO box and advertise in local shops and papers, ‘The Voice’ perhaps and / or ‘New Nation’.
As part of the creative process, I actually set-up a writer’s group. It took a while to find members who were willing and able to meet up. And, it took a while longer to select and agree on a venue. And, the early sessions showed promise, as slowly WE, the handful assembled, got to tentatively discussing and sharing our work. However, over time, the group dwindled from a few to a dedicated core, and eventually returning us back to our individual lives. It was not a painful experience, more a natural decline. The good intentions overcome more by the practical difficulties of holding together a set of people with disparate lives, than by any lack of creative or artistic will. Still, these were good times on the occasion of meetings of minds and constructive exchange; comparing and contrasting views on new works. Latterly, reality overtook hope and I lay my publishing ambitions down.
Though never to rest. A couple of years later these aspirations were re-awaken. This time with the benefit of previous experience I was less the dreamer and more the dream. What was the refined idea? To publish a journal featuring the work of local artists, new writers. Along the way I’d come across a lot of people who wrote in their spare time but who, due to other pressing commitments, hadn’t sought to take it any further. For me, these voices were immensely interesting, and were likely to be more genuine than much of the stuff that did get published. On other positive notes; as the journal would feature pieces and excerpts, as opposed to whole works, it would be easier to compile; and as it would appear periodically it would be cost effective to produce. Distribution would be via friendly stores up and down the local high street which was also a pragmatic approach. But, despite being a good example of how big, broad (I’m tempted to add ‘massive’ and ‘hard’) ideas can be rationalised, I never did get around to launching. Sometimes the opportunity is slight , and at this moment in my life, somehow events seemed to conspire to crowd out creative intentions. So once again the fade to grey.
Some time later (2004), the original idea (long past the beauty of its conception but still heartfelt) surfaced once again. This time the mix of refinement and opportunity making for something resembling reality. And, the idea this time? To create a website, as a platform for presenting the work of new writers. I would simply put the site up, state my aims and the hoards of new writers - that I knew (know) are out there - would come flooding, broadband like, across cyberspace to meet, greet and exchange their fresh and hitherto unpublished - unheard - work. I planned the site for about six weeks and in May of last year it went online. Thus unheardwords.com (.co.uk) emerged; an idea realised.
And, some months and hard work and lessons learned (incidentally, hoards of new writers do not simply throw themselves and their work at a website) later unheardwords.com is steadily building the content of writers, from an increasing number of contributors (a pool of authors) and growing its audience - thanks to yourselves.
So you see, though dreamers may not always have dreams that come true, persistence can turn rough ideas into virtual realities.