COMING UP IN 2014...
Hello beasties!
This week I present an interview that I recently gave to my friends at
THE GROWL GAZETTE in Beargrrria; one hopes that you find it of some interest...
Before we move on to that may I just remind you that my new book,
NOT AS SHY AS I WAS, is out and available to purchase. I'll share some more pieces from that in a week or so...
NOT AS SHY AS I WAS contains over 70 new poems, stories and vignettes by Paul Chandler, a.k.a. Shy Yeti, written between January and September 2012. They include: THE BEAST OF FRIENDS, DRUNK ELK, ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, EVIL IVY, MINE OWN MINOTAUR, ONCE I LOST MY HEART TO A CORNISH PASTY, A YETI IN A HAT and many more… NOT AS SHY AS I WAS is 288 pages long and contains photos by Paul Chandler and artwork by Adam M Botsford, Paul Webster and Pete Katsiaounis.
Paperback: www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/not-as-shy-as-i-was/14135195 £9.99
Hardback: www.lulu.com/shop/paul-chandler/not-as-shy-as-i-was/hardcover/product-21317217.html £15.99
...And now the interview!!
A
SIXTH SLIGHTLY-OVER 60 SECOND CHAT WITH SHY YETI
Here
is another, recent interview from Beargrrria’s top magazine for chat; THE GROWL
GAZETTE. They know me over there due to my dubious connection with a certain
Beargrrrian superstar named Charlie Grrr. This is the sixth time that they have
interviewed me! They really MUST be short of people to speak to. This time I’m talking
mainly about what the next few months hold in store and about my recent
collection – NOT AS SHY AS I WAS and the reissue of my fifth collection, THE
AUTUMNAL E.P. So, here’s what they asked and what I said in reply – straight
from the yeti’s mouth, as it were!!!
Q.
Happy New Year Mr Yeti!
A very happy 2014 to you too…
Q.
Well, be talking more about the new year later in the interview, but first we’d
like to look back. You released your second new book of 2013 back in November, NOT
AS SHY AS I WAS, although you’d been working on it for some time. Tell us more,
if you will. You must be very pleased that it’s finished.
A.
Yes, indeed! There was a slight backlog, but that was more with my previous
book and the type of writing that was included in it. ARE WE THERE, YETI!?,
which was published back in spring 2013 contained prose material that needed
properly proofreading and whilst I was working on that side of things I was
also writing new material for NOT AS SHY AS I WAS. That said, I began work on NOT AS
SHY back in January 2012 which does feel like a very long time ago now. So yes,
I’m glad it’s finally out there and pleased that it was ready in time for my 40th
birthday, especially as it references my yeti nick-name. Originally I’d
imagined that I’d have NOT AS SHY AS I WAS out back in 2012, so this hadn’t always
been the intention.
Q. Do you have any favourite pieces from the latest collection?
Certainly.
Some of them I’ve been performing now for almost two years – so it’s probably
the poems that I have the softest spot for as I am the most familiar with them;
an odd thing to say when you’ve written everything in the book, but you see
what I mean! One of the funniest of the poems when I came to film it was SOMETHING'S
UP WITH ROCKY LOBSTER…, partly because a man cycling down the tow-path where we
were filming mistook Rocky for a real lobster! Which of course he is… *he
isn’t!* We laughed it off by explaining it was all a big joke! It’s maybe not quite so easy
getting away with daft filming when you’re past 40! Other favourites from
this collection include WE’RE ALL JUST BRAINS and SHAVING WEREWOLVES, which was
inspired by my niece!! *long story!* Thankfully nobody caught me dressed as a
werewolf during the filming of the latter piece
Q. That all sounds fair enough – and you’re already well on
your way with putting together your first collection for 2014. Does it have a
title?
At
present it has three… At least there are three possible titles which are all
titles of poems contained within the collection… It was originally going to be GRANNY
ATE MY AFTER-BIRTH – but although that stands out it might also put people off.
With that in mind I have since added the possibility of either calling it A
YETI WAY OF THINKING or BORN WITHOUT A FUNNY BONE. I’ve been doing a vote on social
media and have so far reached a draw!! As I speak to you here and now I am
erring towards A YETI WAY OF THINKING, as it keeps the yeti name-checked.
Q.
Can you share any of these new titles with us?
I
can do – as I say, it’s not complete – but pieces that I am already performing
include… ARE THEY AWARE I'M A WEREWOLF, AUGUSTUS THE TRUSTY GUIDANCE PIG, MYSTERY HEN, PICCADILLY IS A RUBBISH CIRCUS, SASSY MISS SASQUATCH, TWO VAMPIRE HUNTING YETI - not to mention the three titles I've already mentioned above.
Q.
When do you expect this collection to be ready?
Well,
as far as the writing is concerned I’ve not got an exact deadline – I had
considered aiming for the end of 2013, but have since decided to roll it beyond
as I’ve been writing at a lot slower pace of late! We’ll see how prolific I am
over the first quarter of the year because then I still have to get it proofed
and set out how I want it. I’d like to hope that it would be ready by late
summer at the latest, but it takes a lot longer to get these things finished
these days! Technology! That and lack of a proof-reader! I also want to get
some new drawings done for the collection depending if any of my artists are up
for the job this time around.
Q.
As already mentioned, you continued to release your early books as 10th
anniversary editions during 2013. Were there any poems that you’ve enjoyed
revisiting or which you had practically forgotten? When is the next due?
A.
Well, the next re-issued collection due is LOVESONGS FOR THE BITTER AND TWISTED
which isn’t really meant to be out until late 2014, however I have pretty much
finished all my work on it and am working on the following collection, MUGSHOTS
which is due in early 2015. There’s a good chance that I will allow LOVESONGS
to escape a few months early and release it by the time of my first Poetry Café
show of 2014, around April-time. That allows MUGSHOTS to be out around the time
of my birthday in 2014, with POETIQUETTE ready for a spring 2015 re-release.
Once those first 8 collections are ready I may then consider revamping POEMS TO
MAKE BEARS GROWL (2006) and RHYME BEARS STEAL PIES FOR (2007) as they hit their
tenth anniversaries.
Q.
You recently released the 10th anniversary of THE AUTUMNAL E.P. How
do you feel about that collection now?
A.
It seems a very long time ago, although ten
year isn’t so long really – all these early books pre-date me discovering www.lulu.com, so this was one of my books that
I put together by hand and quite literally self-published through the blog. I’m
really not sure how many copies were produced, looking back – but there are
quite a lot of favourites in that small collection; so it was good to revisit
them.
Q.
How are you going with the SHY YETI ON
LOCATION videos? I hear that there are episodes left over that were originally
filmed during 2012 and 2013?
A.
Yes, that is true – one way or another I didn’t feel in an editing mood during
2013. This was partly due to there being plenty of Shy Yeti videos available on
MRSHYETI on Youtube (over 100) and reckoning that it gave time for new viewers
to catch up. Not only this, but I was unwell and experienced struggles with
ailing technology! My old laptop with the excellent software is on its last
legs, whilst the new laptop has rubbish editing software – but alas it’s not
that simple to swap the package between the two! Argh! Also I don’t know where
the time has been going to in the evenings – no sooner am I home than it seems
to be bedtime.
Q.
Are there many SHY YETI episodes from 2012 and 2013 yet to be seen?
A.
Quite a number, yes… Filming them that
hasn’t been the problem, it’s editing them; although I have slightly reduced
the number filmed per trip! I’ve still got a series or two from 2012 left –
most notably a four part edition set in the Lake District.
Q.
Presumably there are a good number though from 2013 still to see the light of
day – where are they set?
This
is true – as the only episodes filmed in 2013 that I actually edited were
either live shows or one that I recorded around Easter time concerning the
arrival of Spring. Otherwise, I filmed an episode up in the Shetlands, although
I wasn’t feeling too well at the time. I returned to the Lakes in the summer
and then also made a trip out to Portland in the
States to film another episode in late August. Around the time of my 40th
birthday in November I also filmed footage in Florence
and Nice and I also made sure to document, at least some, of each of my four
live shows. The location episodes are all single editions – so hopefully I’ll
be able to catch up at some stage – especially as I’m in no rush to publish
another book in the immediate future. As mentioned on my blog, I did return to
Dorset around the new year (2013/2014), however as I’ve already recorded two
episodes in that area and the weather is rarely good at this time of year – I
did not record a special episode there on this occasion.
Q.
What about 2014? Are there any locations lined up?
I’m
going back to Venice in month or so… I do love
that city, as you might have guessed! I’d like to think of a new way of
presenting the city on this occasion – but we shall see! Last time I tried to
film a yeti version of a giallo, but that ended up being a little too
ambitious! I’m also booked to spend a week in August near Grange-over-Sands –
so I’m sure there will be a chance to film then. There are a number of other
holidays in consideration, but nothing more booked – so I’ll not speak about
them at the moment just in case my plans change.
Q.
How is the performance poetry going? Will there be more shows in 2014?
A.
2013 was mainly about my own shows at The Poetry Café – one each in April, July
and September – with the last in November being a belated 40th
birthday indulgence… These all went well and a number of other poets took part
– all but the November show featured John Smallshaw and the September show saw
not just John, but also the return of Wilfredo! We also had a number of nice
surprises when we opened the evenings up to open-mike readers. I am pleased to
be able to announce four more dates for 2014 – these are: Wednesday 16th April, Friday 18th
July, Wednesday 17th September, Friday 31st October. It’ll
be interesting to see who I can get to perform alongside me for these shows or
whether some of last year’s open-mikers will return.
Q. Will
there be any non-poetry related projects next year?
A.
Oh yes. I’m pretty sure there will. I’d like to get back to The Mouse Of
Commons, which I pretty much set aside last year due to writing overload. I
have a Mouse novel half-written and a book of Mousely short stories to type.
I’m currently making final changes to the second series of BEAST OF FRIENDS and
am also beginning work on the eight scripts for the third series.
Q.
That's good news. Thank you for answering our questions, Mr Yeti.
A.
That's okay, thank you for inviting me back – hopefully we’ll growl again soon.
Once again, I’d just like to pass on my thanks to every one in Beargrrria for
all their support and good will over the years.
So, there you have it! More
soon! Yeti hugs, Paul xx
Next week we'll be looking at some of the titles that we have collected together for the next book; whatever it does end up being called!!!
More soon!
Yeti hugs,
Paul xx
This post and all contents are Copyright Paul Chandler 2014.
A YETI WAY OF THINKING...
