Posted on Friday, 28th October 2011 by Paul
Well after 5 months of writing, phonecalls, emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, DM’s and face to face chats, my new book is out, Wim’s Tims-The best thing to hit Scottish football in 10 years.
I write a lot, in a style that a lot seem to like but quite a few despise also, and I basically just write from that inner voice we all have (and that some think is God…) and then put it on the screen. I think back to how coversations went, how things were laid out, expressions and so on because I want the reader to feel like I am there with them telling them the story as if we were both in the pub. It’s not a style I’ve tried to create or evolve, it’s basically the only one I know.
Any time you write stuff you want the public to read, books, blogs or bibles, you’re going to get some folk who don’t like you. That’s par for the course. I don’t mind that all. Obviously you’ll get people who, for whatever reason, will just say bile or wait for any little thing you say so they can dissect like it like Gregory House and a disease, but again, as long as it does not get personal, I’ve no problem debating with people. Similarly you’ll get people who will disagree with you and come at you saying that but not in an aggressive manner and you’ll pretty much always find they are good people, just wrong. haha. The point I am trying to make is that sometimes you can forget that what you are writing will be, hopefully, read by other people.
I always try to include as many others as possible in the books I write, because I’ve never felt confident that someone wants to read all me from start to finish and sales of my non Celtic books would testify to that fact! I find that all Celtic supporters have a story to tell, it’s just some don’t realise it. I also get inspired by people in many different ways. Some people have no idea that they do, but I always try and tell them this. See my big thing is this, I love people who come from nothing and change the world. In broad sense that’s people like Elvis, The Beatles, George Best and Jinky. In a Celtic World sense, that is folk like The LostBhoys, Mince at CelticMinded, Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and Tony “Laptop Loyal Diaries” Hamilton. See people like that don’t set out to do it, it just happens. Their talent, their drive, their determination leads them to do it.
This is what happened in 1997/98. The men that stopped the ten changed the world. They did it because they were a tight knit group who stuck together and understood what it meant to all of us. In doing this book I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Jackie McNamara and particularly Simon Donnelly. It is impossible to get beyond the fact that they are heroes. More importantly though, for me, they came from nothing and they helped change my world and yours too.
Then there was Phil O’Donnell. Phil I think is one of those people you meet, maybe three or four over your whole life, who is impossible to dislike. Or easy to love. Phil was Celtic through and through and right away you’re drawn to that. Tommy Burns signed Phil and many people compared them both. The sad thing is we have lost both of them now but you can guarantee, wherever they are, people around them are happy.
So I hope you buy this book, £6.86 from every one sold goes to The Phil O’Donnell Trust (the rest to the publisher) and what I’ve tried to do is relate my own stories and experiences with a few that came from within Celtic Park.
1997/98 was almost our Armageddon, then the world changed…
Wim’s Tims-The best thing to hit Scottish football in 10 years is out now and you can get your copy below.
Paul (twitter @paullarkin74 and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single
Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978
Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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Posted in Paul | Comments (2)
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October 28th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Well I’m in the camp that likes your writing style, having read From Albert With Love.
And if I ever get to the point in my life where I feel like I can write a whole book and not just the blogs I currently do, then I’m sure I’ll be looking for others to contribute because I whole heartedly agree with you that we all have different stories and perspectives and memories of our shared events.
After all, isn’t that what makes LostBhoys what it is?!
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October 29th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
I look forward to reading your book. However, I am getting a little worried as there appears to be more and more articles and books focusing on Celtic’s recent history just at the time we appear to be entering a very troubled new era. People always tend to look back when the present is too difficult to face up to.
I note with interest your use of the word ‘armadgeddon’. I feel we had survived our ‘armageddon’ back in ’94. 1998 was very, very important for everyone connected to Celtic but I think we must face up to the situation right now.
We have already reached a point far beyond crisis and we all need to start thinking about how we are going to join together to try and fix it. Believe me Celtic Park will have less then 30,000 in it come the next two home games. People have had enough. I feel we will also be managerless within the next two-three weeks. Where to next?
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