Showing posts with label All Cracked Up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Cracked Up. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

2012 is dead, long live 2013

Now that the world has exercised the cooling off period for the brand spanking new year, it looks like its here to stay. Merry new year people.

2012 proved to be an interesting year for me. Much was accomplished; I went back to Europe, I started my Masters in Project Management, I got some writing published, I've had the greatest increase in followers (mainly due to the awesome dudes at Dude Write), I have started my reign on Twitter, my stand up comedy is improving and I have started getting booked for gigs. 2012 was a great year, but I want more.

I want to run more, I want to be booked more, I want to perform to different crowds, I want to be published more, I want to write more, I want to finish that damn book I started writing two years ago. There is so much I want to do, yet I feel it may be becoming too much.

The GF and I were walking back to my car and discussing what we wanted to do this year. Her goals this year are very sensible and career orientated. I envy her ability to focus on one or two things, but if you can't set your sights to the sky, you will never find out what your limits are.

I don't believe in resolutions, I always prefer to set goals. Goals are better at measuring success, and can be tailored throughout the year if your situation changes. My goals for 2012 were
  • The damn first draft - Not check. My writing got a little sidetracked this year with the focus on stand-up, All Cracked Up, short stories, etc.
  • Run more - Check. I ran a lot last year, I did a full marathon, and was gearing up for an ultra marathon but I injured my foot. I got better. Now I'm back to running.
  • More stand-up - Check. I did a bunch of gigs and getting booked is awesome. 

This year, I'm going to keep myself busy yet again.
  • I want to do more gigs in 2013 than 2012.
  • I'm aiming to perform stand-up outside of my hometown of Adelaide, and to start writing an hour show.
  • Ultra marathon. Boom.
  • Read more blogs. I have fallen off the pace in keeping up with blogs. Work has been a mad house of late, but hopefully at the end of the week my current project will come to a close and I can finally go back to 7 hours of sleep a night.
  • Sleep more.
  • And I'm going to finish that damn draft!
Let's see what this year has install.

Cheers,

Rusty

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Pen Licence - Pish Posh

Welcome to the first ever guest post on Swinging like a rusty gate. Set your front face to excited because it is by the awesome Pish Posh. I first met Pish Posh through another blog, and clicked through from her comments and got to know her. She drew me a picture for one of my posts once, but I was already hooked. She has a charming, fun, and sincere style that you can't help but enjoy. So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the page Pish Posh.

You know Australians are different. They drive on the wrong side of the road, they get flagrant with their vowels, they’re vague with directions – Walkabout? Outback? Could you be a little more specific please? – they make tear-jerker movies like Red Dog that help me remove my mascara without even trying, and they’ve held certain of my family members hostage for years.  And they have really big spiders. Crikey!
Apparently, they also have something called “pen-licenses.” I learned this when Rusty sent in his stories to our new book collection All Cracked Up. His stories are some of my favorites – sweet, funny, and affectionate.

In “Dogs Cry Out in the Night” for example, he tells the sweet story of his dad masturbating the family pet. Well, not exactly. But sort of. Let’s just say his story includes the line “How many years of school do vets have to do just to wank off dogs?”

Mr. Rusty of Manliness, in “Beards: Holding My Soup since 2003,” he about how manly his face is, or at least its ability to grow hair. In fact, bearded men are so manly because they think about boobs a lot. Because like a chia pet that just keeps on growing, the more a man thinks about breasts the more his testosterone spikes and the more his facial hair grows. So the next time you see a bearded fella, you can be sure he’s thinking about boobies. In fact, some men just grew a beard by reading the word boobies. From the US to Australia, men are thinking about boobs and growing their beards. I’m glad I could help.

One part of this story that you won’t see though is his reference to a pen-license. Because what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about? And I made him take it out. Apparently Australians get pen-licenses because the government is afraid of their rampant vowel usage. And endless letter-writing and graffiti-by-pen. Actually in grammar school, when their handwriting is legible they can get permission to stop using a pencil and begin using a pen. HOLY HELL BALLS!



What if we had licenses for everything like that? I would like my boyfriend to have a license to go to the grocery store. Because 45 minutes to find the salami is too long - and no that is not a euphemism. If it was, 45 minutes of hide the salami would be just fine, if you know what I mean. His problem isn’t hiding it, his problem is finding it. Like the socks he searches the house for, and are, gasp, in his sock drawer. Although if he had to get a license to do the grocery shopping, he would intentionally fail and I’d end up doing the shopping, so nothing would change. This is apparently his scheme on loading the dishwasher.

But how about licenses for other things? I think some people should have a license to dress themselves in the morning. A license for how to behave in public, and a license for how to be a good sibling. But, the most important license of all would be the license to have children. Now before you jump down my throat, y’all know there are people out there who just shouldn’t keep making more of themselves. Smurf Village is full.

But thank god we have pen-licenses. Otherwise, we’d have all these kids running around with permanently bad penmanship. And that, ladies and gentlemen, would be the game-changer.

Anyway, so Rusty can grow a beard, used to have a well-satisfied canine, and is on vacation. Show him you love him. Check out our book!



Amazon page for All Cracked Up
Junipaya.com for our publishing company Junipaya Productions
Pish Posh.com for my site if you’d like to debate the value of pen-licenses with me

Grab the code on the sidebar to add our button to your page:

Much Love to Rusty-Fans

Pish Posh

Thanks Pish! By the way my spell checker went nuts with all the missing vowels. Get cracking on the comments for your chance to win a copy of my book. Next week we have a new blogger to the scene

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Welcome to October, commence the fun and games


I don’t know about you, but the last few months have been a whirlwind of awesome. I have been part of the new sensation in electronic light reading “All Cracked Up” with some awesome writers, I have done a few gigs that went well and have been booked for more, I'm off to a good start with my Masters, I go on holiday on Wednesday to Europe with the GF, and I have been involved in another publishing adventure that had its launch on Sunday.

Set pants to wet
First up, “All Cracked Up” is a hilarious romp through the mind and lives of some of the best writers on the Internet. It features authors from all walks of life exploring all things from rules for cat owners to high gloss paint protecting your assets against shit happening. Available currently as an eBook  you can purchase here from Amazon. 

Below is a list of the writers liable for literally splitting your sides laughing in All Cracked Up


Set pants to... fantasy
Want more of me? That shouldn't be a problem, for when I come back from holiday with a few extra kilos there should be more of me to share. But if you were after some more writing, then you can check out “Tales from the Sleeping Dragon”. It is a collection of fantasy short stories from a group of Adelaide writers launched yesterday afternoon. That’s right, I'm very local. Get in early to score a limited edition of the book (as they spelt my name wrong on the cover and will be reprinting soon). My story is about a man who must go against his cultural beliefs to save his people from war.

If you are interested you can purchase the book from Amazon. There is no ebook version at this time, but it is coming soon.

I am going on holiday for a few weeks on Wednesday, but do not despair, I have something awesome for you. I will be hosting a guest blogger series featuring some writers you may already know, plus someone new to the blogging world that I would like you to meet.

Plus as an added incentive to stop by and say hello, I have three copies of “Tales from the Sleeping Dragon” to give away. If you want to score a free copy, just post a funny/engaging/friendly comment on any of the guest posts next week, and I will pick a favourite from each blog.

So please come back over the next few weeks and say hello to my guests, and leave abuse for me. I will after all be reading them from a café in Paris, from the shores of Nice, the walls of Caen Castle, a pizza shop in Rome, or even the mean sewer streets of Venice. That is how I roll.

Cheers,
Rusty