Writer Interview: The Exiled Geordie

‘The man who makes a success of an important adventure never waits for the crowd. He strikes out for himself. It takes a great lot of grit but the man that succeeds has both. Anyone can fail. The public admires the man who has enough confidence in himself to take a chance. These chances are the main things after all. The man who tries to succeed must be criticised. Nothing important was ever done but the greater number consulted previously doubted the possibility. Success is the accomplishment of what people think can’t be done.’
A quote in which can be attributed to that of C.V. White and a one in which I have used previously at the beginning of a personal piece. Numerous sections of this specific quote can, and have been attributed to both my life and works. It shows that success and failure are to go hand in hand and that we can’t have one without the other. We need to strive to learn from our mistakes and it is those, I believe, that makes a person who they are or strive to become. 

Concerning that in which I am reading, I think it is hard to single out any specific one from within an individual’s life, let alone for a specific week. If I was to select a favourite, recent read, then that would be either Dwarves or The War of the Dwarves by Markus Heitz. Both of these books took me to another place within one’s mind, which is that of fantasy and make-believe.
Regarding magazines however, that is so much easier, especially as I only really read three – Toon Talk (which I contribute to), Writing Magazine (subscription and work purposes) and World Soccer (collected and read since 1993). Of late these three contribute in some way to both of my passions, that of football and writing. 

I am a mature student at Teesside University studying a BSc Honours Sport & Exercise Psychology degree, as well as being a freelance sports writer with Toon Talk fanzine, an aspiring author, and hopefully soon-to-be editor of my own magazine, Spirit of the North. I have one book on the verge of publication (Rising from the Ashes) and two others in progress (the biography, Every Boys Dream and A Sting in the Tale). I also do football-based interviews and articles for my own personal blog – http://www.petermann.tk.
My writing began back in 2003 as an outlet for the hurt and depression caused following the death of my younger brother the previous year, and has grown since then into what it is today.
As for becoming a writer, I’m doing this because I want to do it, it interests me, and it’s a passion, not a chore. 

The magazine articles presently penned by myself are football history based, on Newcastle United and Gateshead Football Clubs for the Toon Talk fanzine, and under my pen-name, The Exiled Geordie where I write weekly, NUFC historical pieces for the Toon Talk website – http://www.fansonline.net/newcastleunited/cats.php?cat=27.
I also use this pen-name for the interviews and articles that are on my website blog. 

I have written numerous pieces over the past seven years and for me to pick a specific piece would be difficult and not do the others justice. Therefore I have chosen a couple from different publications. From the BBC’s non-league website in June 2008 I wrote a feature which was entitled ‘The Northern League meets the FA Vase’ where that of Consett, Dunston Federation and Whitley Bay were through to the competitions quarter-finals and I proceeded to interview their managers, Kenny Lindoe, Perry Briggs and Ian Chandler respectively. The ‘Glorious Decades’ articles I contributed to Players Inc magazine were all favorites and interesting in their own, individual rights. And finally, in June 2010, I researched and wrote ‘The history of sport psychology from early North America to modern day Europe and beyond’ for the British Psychological Society’s student member’s publication, Psych-Talk.

Was your article published? If so, where?

Of all the articles in which I have had published, all of which have been done voluntarily I hasten to add, have been written out of love and passion both for that of the written word, and the subjects themselves. I love the research which goes into a good written piece, especially with the historical articles, as well as the sense of accomplishment upon completion.

How did you go about researching your article and how time consuming was this?

The Sport Psychology piece is the most recent large feature I have written and this took a vast amount of time and research to complete. It was, as with anything else I have wrote, done with some purpose, and this was no different, being linked to a presentation I was giving at university on the same subject matter. Personally it had relevance to myself and helped me to understand something further, even though this meant reading through vast amounts of textbooks and research papers in order to accomplish the end goal.

How did you hear about Write & Share?

I heard about Write & Share from an advertisement that was placed within a recent edition of Writing Magazine. I don’t usually take much notice of adverts but for some reason this particular one caught my attention. Following on from this I searched for and joined the Write & Share group on the social networking site, Facebook, befriending several group members. It was from here I was then directed to, and subsequently registered, on the newly created Write & Share website.

How do you feel the site will benefit you and your writing?

I think that both the Facebook group and website of Write & Share will be of some benefit to me in the future, although it is impossible to say how much. Through these two sites I have become acquainted with, and befriended some new and interesting people and this can only be of benefit to me. So far, materials, advice and discussion have been both interesting and intriguing. They provide a good insight into how others work and what they expect from other, likeminded writers.