Thursday 31 December 2015
Best of Song for Sunday 2015
As the final bye to Allan Jay & hello to Allan Stone I've put together a best of the Song for Sunday from 2015. It's an hour of good quality music by/about the GBT experience (no L in this particular selection as I'm clearly all about the men being emotionally literate and singing about it).
As Allan Stone I will be posting more song choices throughout 2016, so watch out on Twitter and Facebook for the links.
In the hour or so of music you get musicians from five continents; music styles that range from blues to african beats, through to euro-electro and US country; and some stunning video work too.
Click and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG1Ubz99AfQ_SnOSSICjSwXmm026zcgBY
Saturday 19 December 2015
From Jay To Stone
When I first chose the name Allan Jay* I was living in Manchester. I was having a go at writing as a hobby, trying to turn something that I'd always tinkered with and trying to turn it into something that could be good enough to be published. The name Allan Jay was chosen for two reasons:
Allan was chosen because that is in fact my real first name. I just couldn't get to grips with being able to respond to being called anything else. It'd be too confusing for me. So Allan stayed.
Jay was chosen because it has one syllable and is roughly in the middle of the alphabetic pack. Both these things just made things seem easier than using my real last name.
So I did a quick search and found that no one was using the name on Goodreads and no one 'famous' had that name. So I went with it.
Forward on a couple of years and a few things happen. I moved to Glasgow. I had a few stories published. I had someone on Twitter, also with the name Allan Jay, take a dislike to me having that name. The other Allan Jay is a singer and actor. He uses the name professionally. Initially I proposed that it is in fact fine that we both use the name. We're operating in different arenas and aren't likely to have people confuse us. He didn't like the idea, but I never heard from him so assumed that he'd moved on to other things.
Then late in 2015 I start seeing the advert posters for a pantomime at one of Glasgow's theatres. Included in the line up is this singer/actor. His name is quite prominent on the poster. Oh, I thought, he's doing well for himself. It's also a bit weird to see the name you use on posters in every subway station and the like. It made me think.
So from 2016 onwards I'll be writing using the name Allan Stone. Again chosen for ease of use.
The singing Allan Jay is welcome to the name - I really wouldn't want to be mistaken for him. If another Allan Stone comes along, then tough. I'm only doing this change once.
As Allan Stone I'll still be doing the same things. I'll still be doing the occasional bit of blog, i'll still be making sarcastic remarks on Twitter, and I'll still be writing LGBT fiction. Who knows, I might even get more of it published.
* Yes it's a pen-name. No I'm not trying to fool anyone. What you get through my writing - the fiction I write, the social media, and on the blog and website I've had - is a sense of who I am. You get my real character, my real opinions and my silly approach to most things. None of that changes regardless of which name is used.
Allan was chosen because that is in fact my real first name. I just couldn't get to grips with being able to respond to being called anything else. It'd be too confusing for me. So Allan stayed.
Jay was chosen because it has one syllable and is roughly in the middle of the alphabetic pack. Both these things just made things seem easier than using my real last name.
So I did a quick search and found that no one was using the name on Goodreads and no one 'famous' had that name. So I went with it.
Forward on a couple of years and a few things happen. I moved to Glasgow. I had a few stories published. I had someone on Twitter, also with the name Allan Jay, take a dislike to me having that name. The other Allan Jay is a singer and actor. He uses the name professionally. Initially I proposed that it is in fact fine that we both use the name. We're operating in different arenas and aren't likely to have people confuse us. He didn't like the idea, but I never heard from him so assumed that he'd moved on to other things.
Then late in 2015 I start seeing the advert posters for a pantomime at one of Glasgow's theatres. Included in the line up is this singer/actor. His name is quite prominent on the poster. Oh, I thought, he's doing well for himself. It's also a bit weird to see the name you use on posters in every subway station and the like. It made me think.
So from 2016 onwards I'll be writing using the name Allan Stone. Again chosen for ease of use.
The singing Allan Jay is welcome to the name - I really wouldn't want to be mistaken for him. If another Allan Stone comes along, then tough. I'm only doing this change once.
As Allan Stone I'll still be doing the same things. I'll still be doing the occasional bit of blog, i'll still be making sarcastic remarks on Twitter, and I'll still be writing LGBT fiction. Who knows, I might even get more of it published.
* Yes it's a pen-name. No I'm not trying to fool anyone. What you get through my writing - the fiction I write, the social media, and on the blog and website I've had - is a sense of who I am. You get my real character, my real opinions and my silly approach to most things. None of that changes regardless of which name is used.
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