Grabbing the bull by the horns

It’s been over a year now since I took the bull by the horns and started taking full control of my life. The results have been exceptional. The lists have been a powerful component in me achieving my goals. As I can visualise where I am, and where I want to go and achieve it one tick at a time. The biggest change has been Dark Places magazine; my pride and joy and chief accomplishment of the last year. When I first conceived the idea on the sixth of August I was frustrated, and feeling I could achieve more. The thing I wanted more than anything else was my own business. Using my limited experience, and with the help of a good friend I set up the website. It was reckless, stupid and scary. For the first time in my life my performance mattered. However, I concluded something very important, if the website fails to be successful, then what have I lost? The downside on losses was limited, the upside however was unlimited. It has been the source of frustration, one minor panic attack and a lot of time spent, but I tell you it was all worth it as I looked at the first issue online. The risk was definitely worth it. It was like a dream had come true. I have learned a lot from the experience and I am sure I still have a lot more to learn yet. The next big thing will be doing invoices. What an exciting season to be entering! I remember getting the first twenty likes, the first fifty and we now have over one hundred. Starting your own magazine is probably one of the most daunting things you will ever do, but it is definitely worth it.

Broken Sony Xperia Play

I have had my Sony Xperia Play for coming up to two years now, I love it. It is a very good phone with great features. The internet is reliable and the phone, despite being soaked through still works. However, there are certain things I am learning about my phone. The first of which, she doesn't like to get wet, do you best to keep her dry at all times. The majority of problems I have had with the phone can be traced back to an incident where the phone got wet. The first water damage issue. I used it to get directions in the rain. There was also another separate incident where I downloaded a free game, when I was in Serbia that caused it as well, easily rectified I deleted the game and the problem resolved itself. The second happened when I was using it with wet hands. It had two completely different reactions to each. The first time it broke, after repeated exposure to rain water, my sony Xperia play kept shutting off by itself, then turning itself back on. I followed the usual instructions, but it was a waste of time really, the problem was with the battery. The rain had wrecked it, and there was nothing to do, but replace the battery. That solved the issue immediately. The second time was different. Now it depends who you believe on this one the guy in the shop said the flip element had worn out, which meant that the screen on my xperia play was going fuzzy randomly. My friends said that I got water in the screen and that was causing the problem. I tried to dry it out, but that failed epicly. For a few moments I thought I was watching The Ring, it wouldn't work and when I took the battery out it was worse. I turned it back on and the screen was permanently fuzzy, it has been repaired, took it to the shop. The issue was related to the mechanism that detects when the phone has been flipped out, basically it was badly made and wears out. It is called the flex cable, Whilst I have had these problems I don't intend on changing phones anytime soon, because despite these issues the Sony Xperia Play is one of the best phones on the market, it is robust, reliable and fast. Unless they bring us out a Vita version, I will sticking with it for a few more years, so I am relieved to have her back from the brink once again. Had a new issue arise more recently, the screen on my Sony Xperia play is not responding all the time, this is an interesting issue, I think it arose from it being dropped a bit too much. Strangely though, I will check over the next couple of days, but the solution appears to have been giving the phone a squeeze. I am not joking check out this post Basically as near as I can tell dropping it has forced the screen to come away from the base it is mounted on. So applying a certain amount of pressure to the screen to press it back down appears to work. Now you have to be cautious, but what I did was put one hand on the back of it, and apply pressure to the screen using the palm of my hand, whilst also applying pressure to the back of it. You have to do it vigorously, but it appears to restore full functionality to the phone. I would love to know who figured this one out! Unfortunately it failed to work for me, I took it to the Carphone Warehouse and they basically said it was water damaged so needed a new digitizer, but said they would not provide me with one and the warranty was voided due to the water damage. So I took it back to a repair shop and they quoted me Sixty Quid for the repair. I went back and they told me it could not be repaired, which is sad. Since then I have made the switch to an Iphone 4, significantly better in terms of reliability, durability and longevity. I have never had to reset it, since I got it. Great phone and no more heart break for me!
  

Horror and Sci-Fi Writing Competitions

There are a number of writing competitions, however looking for ones specifically in the genre of horror is a lot harder. There are several though,  Dark Places Magazine, we accept submissions in the genres of Sci-fi and Fantasy. There is a quarterly prize of £50 for the best story; all other winners get published in the magazine. There is also Dark Tales, they have a prize of £500, but charge for submissions. Dark Moon Digest is another option, they offer a prize of ten dollars to every successful applicant, plus publication in their magazine. Spinetinglers are a horror writing competition based in the UK, they pay £100 for the top story, and the competition runs on a monthly basis.

Roald Dahl Week

We had Roald Dahl week this week at school, I have had a lot of reminders of my dad as it has gone on. I remember him reading Fantastic Mr Fox to me and my older brother when we were little boys. Well Jak was a little boy, I was more of a little monster. He has been on my mind since one of the boys I work with asked about him, He said, "do you have a dad?"
"I used too," I responded, not wanting to lie.
"He died," he said in a matter of factly way, that only a boy with special needs could. This week I have been plagued with reminders of him as I go about my job. I felt all warm inside when I heard one of the teachers reading Fantastic Mr Fox to the children, the hours my dad spent reading it to us by our bedside. His other favourite was the Minpins, another Roald Dahl story. Although most may not have heard of it, I absolutely love it. I learnt to read using Roald Dahl, the books are such fun. What I remember most is that my dad created voices, each character had their assigned voice, I think as I read to the kids in my class, I am reminded of how he used to read to me. The children comment on how I use specific voices for each character, just like my dad used too (although I have to say he was better at it).  Being a kid was awesome, no responsibility, no chores, laying on quilts and then hurling yourself down flights of stairs (maybe that was just me). Part of growing up is appreciating how fun being a kid actually is. It has been a good week, draining, but good and I can't wait to get back into that classroom on Monday morning, I am hoping things will have returned to normal. Then again when working in a school, I don't think there is such a thing as a normal day. So what I have I taken from this week? Don't underestimate the importance of reading to your children, my dad did very little with us in truth, but he did that and the impact has echoed across decades, I too hope to one day read Roald Dahl's fantastic books to my little ones. For now I'll have to settle for reading to other people's kids; the advantage being I can send them home at the end of the day!

An Update from Bradford: The writing and the youth

Christian's can often feel burned out, it's happened to me before, it actually feels as if it is happening now. My usual reaction is to take a break from God, but this evening I tried something different, I pressed in, I read, I worshiped and to be honest I am feeling better for it. I love my life, I would not trade it for a multimillionaire's. It is uniquely designed by God, for me. Things though are moving at a mile a minute, especially with the website flying, we are getting a deluge of submissions for the magazine from writers eager to get their voice heard. I thought it could happen, but I could never have predicted it would be this fast. It has only been a month, the website is booming, constantly generating new traffic and new hits. It is exciting to be at the beginning of something that has so much promise and potential with Brandon at my side. I would like to thank Jan for inspiring me to take the bull by the horns with her entrepreneurial spirit.

The youth work too is starting to blossom into something special, stories of how God has been using me to reveal information I could not have known previously,  and how he is physically healing others have been inspiring young people to think  twice about the existence of God. Testimonies of how God is healed young people at Newday (A youth conference that runs annually) are inspiring my youth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF5wyeoOWlA, there is not much more I could ask for than that. I spent this evening praying for them, and praying for another church I have been doing some youth work with in Saltaire. Prophetic dreams suggest that our youth work is going to grow dramatically over the next few years (both me and the other youth worker for our church have had dreams in which young people are literally queuing up outside the door). I feel like the giant snow ball has finally been pushed down the hill, nothing to do, but pray, wait and keep reading submissions for the magazine. Someone came up to me today in church and said, "I sense God is going to use you for something only you can do." My first thought was maybe he wants me to destroy the one ring at Mount Doom..... However, that seems unlikely so once again I am going to have to wait and see. I thought back in that moment to a few months ago when I was volunteering, and how God laughed as I moaned at the crap I was going through, and his response was "You have no idea, the good things I have planned for you, just around the corner." Well he wasn't lying, was he? The jobs, the magazine, the youth, it is as if everything all at once has clicked into place. For those that are still struggling, my advice is hold fast, the delay in God giving you what you want is definitely for your own good. You are a pawn on a chess board and he is player, trust him and he will make best use of you when the time is right.

I leave you with the verse I kept getting last year, every time I opened my bible it seemed to fall on this page...

I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans to give you a hope and a future.