A couple of days ago I posted a quote from Henry David Thoreau, “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

It seemed pretty apt. See last week I went to see another Henry; former Black Flag singer turned all around legend Henry Rollins, in Australia on his latest speaking tour.

I’m a big fan of Mr. Rollins. Or Uncle Henry, as he likes you to think you can call him. I’ve read his books, listened to his records, watched his tv shows. He’s a hero of mine.

This was the second time I’ve had the pleasure of hearing him talk, or more accurately, the pleasure of being on the receiving end of a relentless hail of words spat a hundred miles a second for close to three hours.

Relentless, yes. But my, what words they were.

You see, Henry Rollins has been around. Literally. Last time I saw him he’d just been to Afghanistan. This time he’d just returned from a trip to North Korea. Before that, China. Before that Iran.

If there’s a place you’re told not to go, Uncle Henry books a ticket. Travel advisory warnings, war zones, places that are impossible to visit. Nothing stops him.

And why? Because fuck you. Henry Rollins does what he wants. Also, he’s fed up with being told what, where and who to fear. He wants to find out for himself.

This is a man who more life experience in his spittle than most people have in their… you know, lives.

This is a man who literally sweats stories. He’s been everywhere. Done everything.

As a kid he was on the road with one of the most hardcore punk bands of all time. As an adult he turned his years on the road into gripping, literate, non-fiction.

He’s been a writer, an actor (Heat), a broadcaster, a tv presenter. And all that is just to pass the time between speaking tours, which he’s been doing for the past 25 years.

Have you tried telling a story to a friend, out loud, for a few minutes? Can you get through it, or do you run out of steam? How about 10 minutes? 20? How about an hour?

Henry Rollins shouts stories at crowds of strangers a hundred nights a year, and he does it for close to three hours every time.

He is a storyteller. So are you. Take a page out of Henry’s book and go and find some stories to tell.

And by ‘go find’ I don’t mean Google it. Stop fucking Googling things. If you want to learn something, at least go to a library. Lord knows they need the patronage, and lord knows you need the fresh air.

Take a drive, book a plane ticket. Start a conversation with a stranger. Punch an asshole. Stand up and live, and the stories will come to you. 

And the next time Henry Rollins is in town, get off your fucking couch and go see him speak. It’s an experience your story needs.

Leave a comment and let me know how much you hate leaving the house.

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As long as there have been writers, there have been writers using pseudonyms.

In the 19th century, female authors such as Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin (George Sands) and Emily Bronte (Ellis Bell) used nom de plumes in order to traverse the male-dominated publishing world.

Some female authors have chosen to abreviate their full names to make them more gender neutral, such Catherine Lucille Moore, who wrote in the 1930s male-dominated science fiction genre as C.L. Moore, and Susan Eloise Hinton, who published her famous novel The Outsiders as S.E. Hinton.

A more recent example of this is Joanna Rowling, who felt her book about a boy wizard were more likely to be published is she wrote as J.K. Rowling.

Some authors who write in both fiction and non-fiction, or across several genres, choose a pseudonym to avoid confusing readers about their work. For this reason, noted mathematician Charles Dodgson chose to write his fantasy novels Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass as Lewis Carroll.

Stephen King, frustrated by the publishing industry’s view that an author should only publish one book every year, created the pseudonym Richard Bachman in order to allow him to release more books and avoid reader fatigue.

A pair or group of writers collaborating on a work may choose a colllective name to publish under. Thriller writer Nicci French for example, is actually a husband and wife team; Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.

I make no secret about the fact I write under a pseudonym.

From day one I’ve been candid about the existence of other me. I also told you that I’d explain my reasons for doing so. So here we go.

I’ve always wanted to publish under a pseudonym, and have tried a few out over the years. Part of the reason is to distance myself from the work. Once it is published, I no longer own it. You, the reader, do.

A pseudonym helps people who know other me separate any preconceptions or prejudices from the work. It helps separate my life as a journalist and as a social media strategist from my life as a writer of literature.

But why Daniel Dalton?

Daniel is my real first name. I go by Dan as preference, but Daniel is on my birth certificate.

As you may know I recently got married. My wife is an established web designer in Australia and her name holds professional currency, so we decided she wouldn’t change it to mine. (I’ve never been much bothered about that particular tradition - she turned up at the wedding and said yes, that’s good enough for me!)

But she also suggested that when we go to dinner, or events, or on holiday, that she would use my last name. A nice gesture I thought, makes us feel like a team when we’re out and about.

We were talking before the wedding and I happened to mention that Jack White, of The White Stripes fame, wasn’t originally Jack White. When he married first wife and fellow White Stripe Meg White, he took her last name. Pretty cool I thought. Very modern.

My wife looked at me and said it out loud, “Daniel Dalton”. She smiled.

I decided then that although I won’t be legally changing my name either, I’d very much like to borrow her surname for my literature. She agreed.

And shortly thereafter, Daniel Dalton was born.

Do any of you write under a pseudonym? Let me know in the comments…

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The assholes are always trying to tell you what you’re doing wrong. Fuck them. Here are a list of things you already do better than anyone;

1) You write like no-on else

Your voice is unique. Every word, every sentence, every phrase; used and connected in a way that is singular to you and you alone.

I’ve written about it before but here it is again; you are the best in the world at writing like you.

2) Your passion for your story is unmatched

Your story is the best story in the world. You live with it, sleep with it, eat with it and fuck with it. You breathe it, nurture it, raise it from a fledgling idea to a fully formed concept.

Your passion and love for the stories you create can not be rivaled by readers or weathered by critics.

3) You have the best experience for the job

Everything you’ve done in life makes you the most qualified person on the planet to write your story. No other writer knows exactly what you know because none of them have lived your life.

Your insight is impossible to replicate, your perspective entirely your own. You are the only you there is, and only you can tell your story.

4) You are an expert in your field

You’ve read books that no-one else has heard of, stayed home while everyone else went out so you could immerse yourself in your passions.

Whether it is zombies, romance, or zombie romance, your genre is your life’s study, and your novel is your thesis.

5) You can motivate yourself like no-one else

No amount of reading about how other writers motivate themselves will make a difference, because no other writer can motivate you the way you motivate yourself.

It is only when you decide to write that you actually start - and when you start there is no stopping - you’ll do everything you can to sit down and write. Only you know how to do that. You’re very good at it.

6) You are your best worst critic

No other writer could ever criticise your work the way you do. They could tear your words apart, rip them from the page and slap you across the face with them, but it would only be light relief compared to the pain and suffering you put yourself through.

If nothing else, you may take solace in the fact that no-one will ever be able to make you feel as utterly in despair and full of hatred for your own work than you will.

7) You are the best salesman you know

There is no writer alive, no matter how much of a champion of your work, who could sell it the way you do, because none of them have taken your journey.

Be the champion of your words. Get out there and tell everyone. Tell the world. And don’t stop until the world listens. Writing is only half the journey, getting people to read it is the other half, and no one else can sell your story quite like you can.

You write and sell your stories better than any other writer. Start now.

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