That was The Week That Was …

Phew!

What a week as I literally join the jet set and end up setting my watch by which town I was in.

Keybasher has been quiet for a while because work has been dominating the agenda and time though the free writing gigs listing is proving popular so rest assured I’ll keep that going for you hungry scribbling keybashers.

Just remember – you get a gig from these lists and you owe a post up here on The Keybasher

I used to think how my ideal working environment would be a room with a glorious view out over the sea as it lapped the Florida shoreline say, by New Smyrna or St. Augustine. After a brief visit back down there this week I am of the opinion that I couldn’t do it – I’d want to be out and enjoying the fishing, the babes, the sun and bar hopping which Hemingway certainly managed but I’m not him.

Work assignments are pouring in at a terrific rate which is great news for the bank manager but hell on the social life. I have an assistant now so I guess I must be ascending the aristocratic ranks of the keybashing literatti but as ever, my better half brings me back down to earth with a practical bump and it’s now time to go take out the trash.

I’ll be going quiet again for the week as I have probably the biggest and most important piece of written work in my life to submit to an ultimate panel of three “editors” – if you want to know more you can visit:

Emily Rose Hindle

Monday Morning Mood

Fresh at my desk and the morning ritual with caffeine ingestion showing no signs of slacking and it’s my second pot; gone are the days when a cup of tea moved me, my tastes have been corrupted by full-on American Joe delivering  its electric jumpstart to Keybasher’s system.

Typically the start of the week is a good time for me; I like the “fresh start” provided though it’s a trifle stale given I worked my weekend.  As the saying goes, when your feet are in the fire you’ll do anything and so it is with me.  The day is murky and overcast in Richmond, Virginia remniscent of gloomy, fog laden mornings in Oldham, Lancashire”oop”  in the north-west of England and a damp chill seeking out your bones but here and now, the sun is claiming the air.

In front is a busy week with new clients and assignments; there was a genuine reason for working the weekend with two new commissions which are a welcome addition to my bottom line.  Everyone is struggling with money and business but it is not as bad as many make out; get off your backside and go look for work and you do find it just not as quickly as you once did.  

As you see, Keybasher is in positive mode, aggressively brooding on the dawning possibilities of these next few days while savouring the last dregs of coffee.

Time for work boy – get to it!

Sow No Panic – The First Step in Dealing with Swine Flu

I can feel the germs spreading towards me from Mexico – they’re getting closer by the news update!

For a week or so Swine Flu has been intruding on my conscious as breathless, doom-laden sound bites track the spread of the “epidemic” from South of the Border to Uncle Sam, north and east to Canada and will Old Blighty suffer?

My daughter emailed me earlier with a touching missive:

“Daddy I hope you don’t get affectioned by the flu tell me you are alright.”

I called her back that day and made pig noises in between blowing my nose down the phone while she told me off for being embarassing – that’s my girl!

Therein lies the rub – a 10 year old in the UK worried about her old dad on the East Coast of America 3,000 miles from a pig cold originating out of Mexico. What price information with the potential to create mass manic panic by use of mass media pandering to basic, inbuilt human fears?

Mass media is important in our world, I wouldn’t live without it by choice but is there no alternative way of communicating news without trying to generate the hysteria which will generate ratings? News used to mean something, it was a ritual in my grandparents lives to watch the news at a fixed time to get their fix and from my tender memories Reginald Bosanquet and Alastair Cooke had something to say.

It was called news for a reason.

If a pig in clover so much as reaches for the Kleenex there will be a camera crew on site before you can say “CDC” (Center for Disease Control for the non-Americans here).

The result of all this media activity is obvious when looking at my emails.  My email has been slowly filling up with “cures” for Swine Flu (or H1N1) if only I will part with my bank or credit card details and there is now serious competition as to whether Viagra, Nigerian fraud mail or H1N1 will win the battle for top of the spam – thinking about this; a pig cold winning the battle of the spam – that has to be a certain winner!

Oink! Oink! Boom!
(My version of a flying pig breaking the sound barrier)