Hi, I’m Mark McCann; Hard Boiled Horror writer, poster boy for low level crime and flat broke gym monkey. This is my blog where I will discuss many things that are weird, wonderful, helpful, topical, controversial, political, non PC and often very pedestrian and ordinary (because hey, I am the former after all. Not so much the latter). I do this not because it pays at all well or gets me rep points with the ladies (I wish), but because I love to sit down and write as a life enriching creative outlet. But it’s also because I love you dear reader, even more so when your reading my brain mulched ramblings and emoting something, anything, whether it be – empathy, happiness, hatred, choler, apoplexy, elucidation, madness, gladness, sadness badness, schadenfreude, whimsy, sexual frenzy or impotent lacklustre apathetic nullity – I’ll take whatever just so long as you get something from it, and I’ll fill my boots on whatever you give me right back.
To start I guess I should explain how a no life cubicle bum like myself began the long hard upward struggle into the world of writing a book then blogging about it, a world where up until a year or two ago I was as alien as a border slipper at the crest of a barb wire fence. Truth be told I was less than happy with my soulless 9-5 and while I could afford to pay for shit to fill the void that hung in place of my soul, there was never enough shit to fill it and the hole just kept getting bigger. Stop prostituting yourself to ‘the MAN’ a voice said, and at the tender age of twenty eight, long past my sell by date and the point of no return, I made the decision to jack in my bullshit post at the ass bottom of the corporate ladder and do something that I hated a lot less for no money bar part-time hours and the flickering light at the end of the tunnel.
That light as it turns out is miles away! You’d need a lift from Jensen Button to get there anyway fast. But it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon or so self made wine guru and ‘swimming in it’ millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk would tell you. Getting people to notice your work takes frigging ages, especially nowadays because of stuff like the X Factor, a big nasty recession and I suspect the government putting something in the water (the bastards!) that’s made us all care less about anything that doesn’t come in a tornado of hyperbole with a thousand squealing euphoric advocates – pre-packaged as the new commercialised MESSIAH in a shiny plastic wrapper.
That said: the light is still there for the long game. I believe it is because it must be, however distant and sometimes ephemeral – flickering iridescently like a firefly in the woods at night and tempting me to follow it like a half crazed Ahab chasing down the great white whale. So I can’t give up! I have to get there! Big Arnold, the former Governator, spoke no truer a sentence than when he said: “Failure is not an option! Everyone must succeed!” and whatever it is you set yourself to, the great man and eighties action legend was right to thunderously trumpet his bravado into the ears of his eager supporters. Because if an Austrian beef cake with an ex Nazi daddy can overcome a thick accent and transcend the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s and then make it all the way to the California governorship in the 2000’s, then there’s literally hope for anyone with the right dedication and mind set.
So yeah, I have plans that involve getting my toe through the publishing house door with my own self published works and beyond. There are going to be pit falls aplenty, more rejections, self hate diatribes and piteous moaning, some elitist rants and just casual meanderings through my daily thoughts that will hopefully serve to entertain you and in the cases of those readers with similar goals, well I hope it can serve to inform as well. Because yes, I’d be lying if I said that talking about it here doesn’t help get stuff off my chest and give forum to the thoughts I would be otherwise stuck with. But if this goes according to plan then I won’t just be bouncing my words right off your eyes dear reader: I’ll be bringing you along for the ride as well.
So take part, comment and feel free to tell me what you think, love it or hate it. Whatever I’m talking about don’t be shy about asking me to explain myself (I’m totally accountable) and if I can help anyone whose seeking to do something similar or you just want to know something I might have the answer to; just ask. Because I don’t believe I’m giving my enemy the dagger they might use to cut my throat with this. I’m looking to level the playing field by helping where I can and you in turn can maybe scratch my back sometime when it gets all itchy. Failure after all just ain’t an option. Everyone must succeed.
