I’m going to get it wrong.
This isn’t some sort of threat, this is just reality. And by ‘it’ I don’t just mean the folklore, I mean everything about The Everyday Lore Project. I’m not particularly known for my concentration span, so to keep focused for a whole 366 days (Leap Year!) feels like a rather tall order for me. So, with less than a month to go before I start, I thought I would get in front of this by making a Christmas list of my top five potential cock ups:
1) Misattribution. No matter how much I research something, I guarantee I will say Yorkshire when I mean Lancashire, or Dorson when I mean Briggs. Feel free to correct me (or debate me), but please don’t assume I did it on purpose. The best I can hope for is not sparking a jam/cream, cream/jam scone war.
2) Offending someone. See above. But also, please understand I have the depth of a puddle and more flippancy than a dolphin on acid. I can barely make it through 24hrs without putting my foot in it (let alone a whole year), and I’m notorious for deploying inappropriate humour at times of stress (especially if it’s church-related, I blame The Princess Bride). I’d feel wretched if anyone thought I was being deliberately disrespectful, but at some point I’m bound to re-interpret something that doesn’t capture the original spirit, or write something up with the wrong tone. If you think I’ve been impolite, don’t stew, let me know. This is a learning experience after all.
3) Being disappointing. With so much folklore to pick from, I’m almost definitely going to disappoint somebody with my choices. Well, buck up, this is about me, not you. I’ll have my reasons for not doing certain things, but you can influence my selection by volunteering suggestions, making a case for doing something, and inviting me to do stuff (I won’t always be able to say yes, but you never know). You can do this at any time in the blog comments and on Twitter. And at the beginning of every month I’ll be tweeting a #FolkloreFOMO call out asking what folklorey things other people do that particular month and what they reckon I should try.
4) Being repetitious or boring. Obviously I’m aiming not to repeat anything during the year (unless there’s proper cause), but I may blunder. And there will be days I am going to be busy doing Other Life and the project will be reduced to a couple of throwaway lines about ginger tea or hoovering. This won’t last forever. Stay with me!
5) Crappy grammar and/or spelling and/or formatting. I’m partial to an Oxford comma. And I like to use And and But at the beginning of sentences. And given that many of my posts will be hastily written at the end of the day, my proof-reading skills may have disintegrated by then. If I have time, I’ll go back and correct myself. If not, I’m hoping this isn’t the end of the world. But if you do feel compelled to point out my mistakes, thank you for having my back.
Now, I’m sure there are many more pits I could fall into (not least getting the actual folklore wrong, turning up on the wrong day, falling asleep on the train and missing my stop, so many potential cock ups are churning my stomach). Let me know in the comments if you can think of anything else I should watch out for…
And finally:
A quick word about subscribing and subscriptions. I’ve had feedback from people who have subscribed but haven’t received a ‘click to confirm’ email. Without this email and without clicking, your subscription hasn’t worked and unfortunately, if you try again with the same email it won’t re-register you. Let me know if this is you, or try again with another email (it doesn’t seem to like Hotmail for some reason). Also, once you’ve subscribed you can manage your subscriptions. So if me pinging off a blog every day from 7 Jan 2020 is too overwhelming, don’t suffer! Click on the ‘manage subscriptions’ link on the email and find a frequency that works for you.
If I don’t post again before Christmas, have a Cool Yule, beware of any overly large Icelandic cats, don’t get caught in a #MeToo mistletoe moment, and if you break your stomach on Christmas Day (as I regularly do), ginger tea really is a life saver… 🎄🐾 ☃️
Cannot wait!! Bought your My Celebrity Boyfriend book for my good friend in Wales for Cmas
We are both Richard Armitage fans and met through that fandom
Just love your humor and outlook!
Happy Holidays to you !!
Hi Michele
Oh you are lovely, thank you! And thank you for your kind words and support. Richard is awesome, I was on tour with him for six months so I should know. You’ve picked a goodun to be a fan of. Hope your friend enjoys the book and you enjoy #EverydayLore – join in! Happy Holidays! L