Little English Lessons

As you may know, when I'm not writing or podcasting (so, most of the time, then) I'm teaching English. And over the past couple of days I've had an odd notion to make a few videos to help my students learn a phrase or two of English. Watch them, and maybe they'll help you to remember one - or both - of these everyday English phrases ;-)



Totally Awesome! from Mike Bennett on Vimeo.

You Drive Me Crazy from Mike Bennett on Vimeo.

Into the closet

Yes, listeners, some people come out of the closet, but thanks to traffic noise penetrating our 1970s windows, I've been forced into one. As you know from previous posts, we bought a flat and moved in August. I've done some recording since then, but it was marred by the sound of cars from the main road outside. Our windows are single paned aluminium framed horrors from the days when the homes they were attached to had brown wallpaper and portraits of Miss Wong to add a splash of colour. So, I tried recording in the kitchen, but the fridge noise drove me out again. I tried the bedroom; to much echo. I tried the lounge; traffic noise again. I tried the bathroom; echo. I tried the hall; echo! This wasn't good. I had to find a recording space to record the new U&F podcast, and I had to find it fast! Then I saw the hall closet. It looked big enough for a medium sized chap like me. So I pulled everything out and tried it out. I liked it. I then lined it with cardboard boxes from the house-move, and lo and behold - a recording suite ... sort of.

It's not Abbey Road, but it'll do for now

 
I tried a number of recording positions, and the one that seems to give the best sound is when I'm sitting in the closet with the microphone positioned just outside facing in. For some reason, the sound with me and the mic inside the closet resulted in too much sibilance. I don't know why. Damn it Jim, I'm a writer not a sound technician. Anyway, the main thing is I have a space to record Blood and Smoke Episode One in.

At the end of the month we have some window replacement guys coming to take out the old windows and replace them with a fine set of double glazed beauties that will hopefully block the street noise and permit to come bounding out of the closet in time to record Episode Two. Unless of course, I like it in there. But what are the chances of that happening? Grown man retreats from normal life into closet ... Hmmmm, is there a story there?

Parsecs Arrive!

No news from me for a while because I've been doing stuff that would be of no interest to anyone ... other than me. I've been doing up my new flat - buying paint and shelving, putting up shelves, hammering in nails, painting walls, etc. I've also been doing a lot of English teaching; the summer season is always the busiest, so it's a great time for me to earn some money to get me through the lean seasons, like winter, when work dries up and I often get laid off. It sucks, but that's 'zero hours contracts' for you. But anyway, I do have a bit of news to share with you. As you can see from the picture below, the Parsec Awards I won this year for Underwood and Flinch and The Shadow Over Innsmouth arrived by post.

I'm thrilled, as you can imagine, and yes, it does inspire me to lay aside my emulsion-dripping paint brush and to try and push my students' English language needs from my head and to get on with my next writing project. I'll be doing some more of that this weekend, hopefully finishing off the text of Episode One of Blood and Smoke and then getting down to work recording it. I'll be in touch about that here and on my other sites, rest assured. But until then, take a look at these lovely awards and rest assured that the Moon is rising over Underwood and Flinch again :-)

New Flat

Just a quick update on my activity at the moment. Nothing going on at all in the writing / podcasting departments, because my wife and I are in the process of moving house. Yes - again. Third time in three years. But the good news is, this time it's into our own flat. We bought a place - we got the keys last weekend.  Yay!

The new room wherein all writing and podcasting will take place. 

Those curtains'll have to go.

Since then we've been painting, decorating, buying appliances etc. But now it's time for the worst bit - packing up our stuff. Arrghh!! But what makes things just that little bit more arrghhh (and also makes podcast recording an impossibility right now) is that I have a stinking cold. My students have all had it, but I miraculously resisted ... until I took a week off work to move house. The day my holiday started, ah-choo! It's like the virus was just waiting for me to leave the school before it pounced. Oh well, plenty of symptom-suppressant medication, rest, and vitamin C, and hopefully all will go well. And then, after we've settled in to our new home and I've set up my microphone etc in the little room above, I shall resume a normal service. Ahhhh-choo!

Fracking in Balcombe

I've become obsessed with the fracking in Balcombe. It's not far from me - and worse, it's not far from the reservoir that supplies my home and 65,000 others around here. I've been up to the fracking site once, and I'd go up there a lot more if I didn't have to work every day and wasn't in the process of moving house right now. But anyway, I won't go on too much right now, but I just wanted to share this video that's appeared on YouTube. I watched it this morning and I found it deeply moving. I can't bring myself to watch it again because I know I'll blub like a fool.



If you're unanware as to what fracking is and why so many people, including me, are so worried about it, watch this too.

U&F on Wattpad

Resurrection has started on Wattpad. So far I've posted 10 episodes. I want to see how it goes. It could connect me with a new audience of millions ... or none. Who knows? All I know for sure is: if you aren't in it, you can't win it. So, if you use Wattpad, please give it a like and share it with your Watty pals. Many thanks :-)

I'm using this cover - complete with gongs - to try to lure in the uninitiated.

Vote U&F in the Top Adult Vampire Chart at Goodreads!

Are you on Goodreads? If so, please could you drop by and give Resurrection and Bonded in Blood some stars. I'd be very grateful.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18209151-resurrection
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18209165-bonded-in-blood
Also, I'm trying to push U&F up the Best Adult Vampire chart on Goodreads (currently number 145)

So if you'd like to help, please vote for Resurrection here:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/129.Best_Adult_Vampire_Books
Thank you, and Huzzah!!