May 14 2017

AND SO..........

By the end of July this year I will have completed my chronological upload of the history of England. The updates started last September and the development period, with my select group of schools and teachers, began a year or so before that. All involved are happy with how the resource has turned out, me included. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in the creative process that produced the resource, the website, as it now stands. However, we always planned to extend the resource once that first stage was complete.

Similarly, and running concurrently with the history uploads, the website has been providing some information about every European country. That too will end in July. From then, until July 2018, we will put up similar information about each and every country in the world.

And alongside all of this I have designed, developed and written a series of projects to be done by young people all over the world that will tell everyone else about the life, hopes and culture in the young peoples' own country. How to do these projects is now on our website and we have put a date of July 2018 as to when we will begin to upload the work done by these young people and schools.

But the plan to extend our history section is now coming to the fore. That plan is to try to bring history, and indeed geography, alive. The way this will be done is to follow that original coastal journey idea and to visit all parts of England, between September 2018 and July 2019, and upload short video clips to enhance and enrich the information already on site. Extra clips, in a separate section, will cover certain geographical topics.

The lessons I have learned from previous projects are simple. The project and journey must be very well planned, hence beginning that phase now. Finances must be in place but, most important of all, unless cloning has been perfected, I should travel, film and upload on my own. I would never pretend to be easy to work with or for but over the last fifteen or so years the people I have come into contact with relating to any work I have done or tried to do, have been, to put it bluntly, pretty useless.

It is possible, and to be honest I live in hope, that out there somewhere is someone who could accept my need for perfection, tolerate my work ethic, have the ability to contribute to the finished product, input their own creative talents and, the impossible part, make my enjoyment of the work even better than I know it would be on my own. However, my pessimism comes from the fact that I have tried at least 3 times in the past six years and although, on occasions, finances have held things back, I know I would not have enjoyed working with any of the people who I was in contact with, although they may be one exception but other circumstances stopped that.

Over the next months I will keep anyone following all this updated here. You can wish me luck or, indeed, you can wish me to fail. I don't actually mind. I'm doing this. My way is my decision.

May 6 2017

A RECAP

What have the last few weeks re-examining my past projects told me? Firstly I have produced, and can produce, good, interesting, innovative learning resources. I see absolutely no reason why I should not be able to continue to do this. The ideas are still there, the creative juices continue to flow and time, if anything, has merely added a load of experience, and a high level of self confidence, to what I do. At the moment, age, or to be more precise my age, really makes no difference. In fact I now have more freedom, more time, to think, create and produce.

If I need any finance then it must be in place well before I start. In the past I have never worried with contracts etc.: a shake of the hand, a verbal agreement, was sufficient. Over the last 15 or so years I have been lied to, deceived, even defrauded by so many people that I now would want, nay insist, that all agreements were put in print and were legally binding. And it's not only business associates who have caused me problems. There have been partners, even family, who think they have the right to take advantage.

People are a problem. I will readily admit I am not easy to work for, or to work with, and for several reasons. I am a perfectionist with my work and I expect the same from others. In the past I have also not looked closely enough at the abilities of people nor really examined their attitude to work and indeed life. The same has been true of my personal life where I have entered into a relationship and, almost immediately seen something I don't like, but pressed on under the illusion that it will get better or I can cope with it. In no way am I blaming other people completely for the disasters that have occurred in my working life in the same way as I do not completely blame others for personal break-ups. We are all different. Something I cannot cope with in someone, may appeal to someone else.

However those who have openly lied, cheated and defamed, those who have been only centred on their own interests, must take some of the blame. My mistake has been to believe them in the first place and not to get out when the faults are obvious.

I would now find it very hard to work with anyone ever again. If I did, I would have to know them well and have spent some time on other projects before inviting them to have an input into my work. The problem is that my work is also my dream and it is a massive step to ask someone to share your dream.

So, where do I go from here, knowing all these things, learning from the past and yet, fully aware that my dreams, my ideas, are well worth exploring further, well worth trying to execute.

The answer to that question comes next week.