Hello all,
My name is Alex and I’m a writer, my fiction being published under the name Alexander M Crow. Along with my stories, I make a living from freelance writing and social media management, format and design ebooks, edit others’ work, design websites and, despite the name, write travel pieces, for clients such as Culture Trip. I am currently transitioning to receiving a larger percentage of money from my fiction than my non-fiction.
As you may have noticed, I originally opened my account here (well, on Steem), some time ago, but have yet to publish or comment. I am hopeful this shall change now — it is true, I like to take time to think things through, but I think two years of a post-less account is perhaps taking it a bit too far?
I am a slow traveller, having left Scotland over three years ago — something I had always wanted to do, but kept putting off. Eventually, I set myself a strict deadline, which I hit, just — watching the sun rise on my 40th birthday from the window of a plane, somewhere high above Burma — and I’m still moving around now. At the time of writing, I am in France, but will be returning to Alentejo in Portugal soon. It is very, very likely I shall talk more about slow travel. I work online and in my notebook and, as such, I can work from most corners of this wonderful planet we live on. This usually ends up being a lot cheaper than staying in the UK (especially with the Brexit nonsense). I am not, however, a fan of the phase “digital nomad”, preferring “globally feral”. I feel I have barely dipped my toe into all this planet has to offer; I love to dive deep into cultures not my own, immerse myself in new-to-me foods and experiences, learn all about different natural histories, or gaze upon architecture unlike anything I’ve seen before. Pushing my boundaries and limits is not something that comes naturally to me, but it is something I find immensely rewarding nevertheless.
My family moved to Orkney (the islands off the very north of Scotland) when I was a child, and this had a huge, ongoing influence on me; Orkney is steeped in myth, history, nature, and culture and it was no surprise I later studied archaeology and prehistory at university. Orkney also left me with a love of islands and wind — give me either and I’m comfortable, both and I’m totally at home. I may have been born in England, in a now dead and disappeared county, but I count myself as Scottish.
In my early thirties, nearly ten years ago to the day, I realised a “proper job” was not for me, caught a train, walked out along the wild western Scottish coast, and spent three months living alone in a shelter I built in the woods, testing myself and my outdoor skills, and generally pondering the direction I wanted to see my life head (spoiler — to see more of the world and write for a living). I kept a journal and took many photographs, and intend to share some of this adventure here in the coming weeks. My bushcraft skills and knowledge are constantly being added to and honed — I see this study as a part of nature, as our place in a vast whole, our ancestral skills we should never have lost. And yes, I can light fire with sticks or stones.
I am very interested in the potential for authors from blockchain technology and feel this is an untapped resource at this moment in time, especially in terms of creating a community. I expect this will change, however. If you like fantasy fiction, and want to read something of mine, you can find my first book, Only One Death, free to download more or less anywhere you can find ebooks. (It also contains a link for a bonus free story, Dust & Death.) (Trivia: the WIP title was ‘Standard Fantasy Quest’, and this started out as a gently-humoured attempt to take some fantasy tropes and twist them into something else but turned out a bit darker than expected.) Here’s a micro-blurb:
“A band of ill-suited, would-be adventurers, searching for a legendary lost city—but the group hides many secrets, and death stalks the wilderness.”
The second, Death and Taxes, also contains a link to a bonus tale, A Clean Death.
“Merie has a plan. It all comes down to one final job, and then she will be free. If it goes well. If not, she shall leave her four children without a parent. But no plan is foolproof — especially when the night is full of those who want her murdered.”
The third, as-yet-untitled book, is due out very soon. It shall also contain a link to another bonus tale. A fourth (with yet another bonus) is due sometime later this year. Here’s a map from the series (entitled The Lesser Evil).
What else interests me?
Having spent my twenties not taking care of my body, drinking and smoking far too much, a few years ago I made a conscious decision to try and turn this around. As such, I now eat healthily, no longer smoke, limit my alcohol intake, and exercise regularly and (I think) wisely, incorporating mobility, movement, body-weight, and strength training. I may not be as fast as I used to be, but I feel in the best shape of my adult life. For several years now, I’ve threatened to share what I’ve learnt about exercising, what works for me, what doesn’t, but have yet to really do this, mostly because I just have too many other words to write. Who knows? Maybe I’ll share that here, or use Actifit to do so, although I’ve yet to work out how?
I read, a lot (reading is like oxygen for the writer. Without it, we die). I also love music and film, with a wildly eclectic and always-open-to-new-things taste. I really enjoy taking photos, with particular interest in land, sea, and sky -scapes, nature, and architecture. I also like finding the strange, peculiar, different and weirdly beautiful, wherever I go.
Last, but absolutely not least, I believe in kindness, inclusivity, and patience — and I get exasperated by those who try and compartmentalise us, split people into “us and them”, rather than revel in the whole glorious mess of humanity. Too often, kindness and peace are mistaken for weakness which, as any decent martial arts devotee will tell you, is certainly not the case. I believe in hope — but also keep testing and honing my wilderness bushcraft skills, just in case.
I’ll shut up now.