Dom's Thoughts, Uncategorized
Dominic Holland Bucks You Up
This week, the true horror of the word impotence struck me.
I refer not to any marital failings but an equally grave scenario – my website went down.
Anyone self-employed and with clobber to sell is completely beholden to the nerds who now run our world.
On this subject – exciting news – a new revamped www.dominicholland.co.uk is coming. It is being designed now and will surely be the digital breakthrough I’ve been searching for…
A no-brainer – making my blog more central and featuring my new novel also, I,Gabriel – and to coincide with my long overdue podcast, provisionally called DOMINIC HOLLAND BUCKS YOU UP. The artwork is done – I have bought a mic and now all I need do is to hit the record button…
As the title suggests, BUCKS YOU UP – it is intended to be an entertaining and affirming listen – to tap in to our common frailties and make listeners feel good.
Here is the blurb I have written for it…
Dominic Holland is a stand-up comedian; commonly considered to be the hardest job in the world. And with some success. He’s been a pro for almost 30 years and his four kids have remained dry and fed throughout. But amongst the highs have been many lows. Dropped from TV shows and then dropped by TV, he’s many penned books that haven’t sold. And yet, Dominic fights on. This podcast is for anyone who dreams big but needs to remain patient and ever hopeful. Because there are few overnight sensations. Everything is relative and most people struggle-on-through. And particularly successful people. Dominic Holland Bucks You Up is a pick-me-up, then. A heartening reality check. Interviews, musings, short-stories and more by a comedian and author who is striving to remain relevant – and within the shadow cast by his eldest son, Tom Holland – an actor who happens to play one of the world’s most recognisable cinematic characters on silver screens across the globe.
Realism and perspective then is the thrust of the podcast – the same narrative spine of Eclipsed: that all endeavour is always worth it because it creates hope and hope is invaluable whether or not a project bears fruit.
I know, this is heavy stuff.
I am conscious of sounding like a self-help book which is worrying because in my experience, such books are started with gusto but never finished. We shall see if my podcast can avoid this fate.
My podcast then – another project for me to be excited about. And hopeful for…
Dominic Holland Bucks You Up is yet another bullet in the barrel of hope aimed at some target off in the distance.
Something to occupy myself. Something that might be enjoyed by people I will never meet. And something that might just take off and become an internet sensation. Listened to by millions the world over; with illustrious guests clamouring to appear and the world’s biggest brands advertising their wares on…
Er…
Or not.
But no matter, because it will still be worth it and this is the nub and the essence of the forthcoming podcast; something we can all use a little of I feel…
But that said, because I believe that this is common to everyone, the potential audience for this pod is flipping enormous…
It’s practically everyone, which means that it could be massive!
Finally, I might be on to something here…
As one of the people (I’m sure there have been others) who tried to contact you a few times in the past several weeks regarding the issue of the comments section not working, I’m so glad to see it’s working now!
And since this particular blog post was not only one of the first ones I read after I started following you on Instagram, but was also the one that clued me in that you’re a writer and not just Spiderman’s dad :D, it seemed appropriate that I should go back to it to post my first comment.
What I mostly wanted to say was that I relate so much to all of this, including the first podcast, which is so far the only one I’ve had a chance to watch. I left my professional career almost twenty years ago when my first son was born; about six years later, while pregnant with my third child, it occurred to me as someone who’s always enjoyed creative writing that there was no reason I shouldn’t take the stories that tossed around inside my head and make them into books. I was reading the Harry Potter books at the time and had a little “if she can do it, so can I!” moment. Basically, what you described in your podcast is exactly what happens to me: there’s a little “what if” moment, just a spark of something, and it grows until I can’t get it out of my head and I have to write it down.
So here we are, fourteen years later, still nearly unpublished with no fewer than three finished (young adult) novels and four or five works-in-progress waiting patiently on my computer. I’ve queried agents in the past, and came close once or twice, but the fantastic thing about it all is that looking back at my early stuff, I can see how much it sucked, how much I’ve grown as a writer, and how much better I am at putting what’s in my head, onto the page. I recently got a little bit of validation when a short story of mine was selected to be included in an anthology, and I’ll be getting an entire ten bucks out of it, hahaha. The cooler thing for me, of course, is that I can now include on my query letters the fact that I’m a published author, because hey, published is published, right?
I’m also at a point where I’ve decided that I’m about ready to self publish one of my stories that I’m positive I will never send to agent or try to publish by the traditional route. So, now begin my more recent goals of trying to figure out the entire self-publishing process, and untangling the concept of what it means to have a platform and how I should construct one for myself.
Oh, and I also agree with you on how well-known authors don’t necessarily have the best books out there. I’ve met so many writers online, including some I went to school with years ago but didn’t know well, who are struggling to get their work out there. I make a point of buying and reviewing their books, and recommending their stories to other friends who I think would enjoy them. Because I know how hard it is, and I see how good some of them are.
This has turned out way longer than intended, but I get excited when I find someone who shares the same passion for storytelling that I do, because it’s not always easy to explain it to my friends and family. I pre-ordered “I, Gabriel” and am looking forward to getting started with it tonight, and I’ll be moving back to some of your other blog posts over the next few days to catch up on the comments I wanted to make pre-fixed-comments-section. Best of luck with your book!
Liz
(readerwriter1 on Instagram)
Great read as always Dom