So, the better part of 3 years ago I launched the Travelling Book project, sending blank journals to people around the world for them to write in, and then pass to other people to do the same.
However, I have a confession to make.
Three books never left me.
One was the trial version, that one is staying at home, but that still leaves two which are partially ready, but sat on a shelf. And it's overdue that they went on their journeys too.
See my latest video to find out how you can get your hands on one! Responses by Thursday 6th April 2017. I haven't decided but I may press my wife into action to choose the winners as she tends to make me do the same for her on her videos :)
Long-term readers may recall the Travelling Book Project that I did back in 2014, sending blank journals to people for them to write in, and then pass on to other people, and so on until the journals were full, and hopefully they'd come back to me so I could scan them and put them up on the internet for all to see.
And the grey hairs were slightly less obvious
Anyway, I've just got a message to hear that one of the books, #tbook18, is alive and well and in Ontario in Canada.
Number 18 is a special one for me because whilst most of the books were mailed off to people to start their journeys, I dropped 18 off myself, starting its journey by leaving it in the Hull College library. Since then it's popped up in Oregon, Illinois, and now it's crossed the border and in Canada.
I knew that it was always unlikely that all of the books would make it home, but I hoped that at least one would. So it's great to see that at least one of them is still journeying around the world.
Apologies for the delay in blogging, but readers may be aware that it's been somewhat of a busy week in the UK, there's been a vote and apparently our little island is being relocated or something :)
Anyway, I wanted to make the announcement that sadly the Travelling Book Project website will be closing down in the near future.
Briefly, the Travelling Book Project was an attempt to connect people around the world by sending a blank journal from person to person, with each person contributing some information about themselves and their life.
Photo of me with one of the books. I still have the t-shirt.
It was a hell of a project - I did an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money, and despite all the mistakes I made (after all, it was the first time I ever tried doing one) I managed to raise over £200 from friends and family, but also total strangers that discovered the project and felt it was worth supporting.
I got to be interviewed on the local radio, which was very exciting, I've promoted the project at Hull College with my bespoke clothes hanger display, and I've made contact with people all over the world as the books visited places such as Ohio, Las Vegas (via Australia), Portland, Chicago, Dublin, Germany, and all over the UK. And I thank everyone who took part in the project for helping that happen.
The website is still live for the next month or so until the subscriptions run out, but I've archived some of the key information (badly) on this blog at http://thoggy.blogspot.co.uk/p/travelling-books.html - I'll review and tweak the archived info so it sits better on this blog when I have chance.
But for now, thank you again to everyone that got involved, and I continue to hope that a book will make it back to me!
In my last blog post I mentioned how Tim Clark of Life, Explained has kicked off a video production death match between the two of us. Not being content with being the superior blogger, Tim is also looking to win on the video side as well, and started off the war with a very worthy animation about President Dawg.
Be warned - this video does include what some people could interpret as singing and dancing.
Badly.
In other news, the Travelling Book Project is entering its last week of funding before we move on to the next phase - making and sending the books out! If you don't know what I'm talking about, get over to our new website now, find out all about the amazing international phenomenon of the Travelling Book Project, and please do consider sharing the project with your friends, and perhaps even supporting the project via our Indiegogo page. Thanks!
The new website does appear to feature a death star, so all I can assume is that my design skills are equivalent to a nine year old geek. Which is probably about right for my mental age.
I have, as of about ten minutes ago, launched my very first crowdfunding campaign.
The Travelling Book Project, which I wrote about last time, appears to be quite popular. As a summary, Travelling Books go from person to person, with each person writing in the book a little bit about themselves and their lives. It's a brilliant way (I think!) of connecting with other people globally, being creative, and taking part in a bit of an adventure (and who doesn't secretly want to take part in an adventure!)
Originally I had planned to make five books, and just send them out to people that was interested, but very quick it became clear that more than five people would like a book, and as much as I'd like to, I can't make all of the books that people want for free. Plus if we're going to have a good number of books (which I hope!) ideally I need to spend time, and quite possibly money, on tracking the books, perhaps by a website set up for the project.
So, I decided to set up a crowdfunding campaign, with people able to fund the project, and in return get their own book (or go for some other perks listed).
I would hugely appreciate you taking a look at the campaign page, and sharing it with your networks. I've got three weeks to raise as much funds as possible to make the project as big and as successful as possible.
Do expect regular updates here, and on the campaign page. I hope we will be raising a glass in a few weeks to a fully funded project!
UPDATE: DESPITE THIS POST ONLY BEING THREE DAYS OLD, A LOT OF IT IS OUT OF DATE. THINGS ARE CHANGING RAPIDLY. EXPECT A NEW POST LATER TODAY!
Today I launch a new project.
Have you ever wanted a little bit more excitement? To perhaps do something a little unusual? Preferably in a way that gives you something interesting to talk about, but without too much effort, time spent, or outlay of money!
I love books like Yes Man, and Are You Dave Gorman, where people go off and do something slightly unusual and odd, for no real reason. If you're not familiar with what I mean, Are You Dave Gorman talks about a drunken wager that forces a guy called Dave Gorman to track down and find fifty four other Dave Gormans around the world.
But, the problem is of course that I don't really have the ability to up sticks and travel all over the place doing something random, as much as I'd like to - I do have a family (which I love very much), and a job that generally requires me to show up at a particular office at least a few times a week, and I'm sure that most of the people reading this are in exactly the same boat.
So, I've thought of a way that I, and you that wants to take part, can get involved in a slightly odd quest.
The Travelling Book. Currently not travelling. So just a book really.
I've got a notebook, and put in the notebook a little bit of information about myself - where I live, what I do, a few photos, that sort of thing. And the plan is for me to mail this book to someone else. They write a page or two about themselves, where they live, anything cool, exciting, or interesting that they might like to say.
And then they mail the book on to someone that they know, for them to do the same (ideally asking the person beforehand if they want to get involved!)
And this goes on and on, until when the book is full, the last person will mail it back to me, and I will scan the book and put it up on the internet so we can see where it travelled. This way, you can take part in a slightly unusual quest, and all you have to do is write a page or two about yourself, maybe stick a photo or two in, and mail it to someone else.
The book isn't too big so hopefully it won't cost too much to mail - it weighs in at about 350 grams, and I'm hoping that it won't take years and years for the book to be filled and to come back home. I fully expect it to be at least a few months, maybe even a year or more, but hopefully I'll still be living here when it comes back!
As I say, I've already done the first entry, I've talked a little bit about where I live (Hull in the United Kingdom), I've sellotaped in a couple of photos - I've used really big sellotape so that the photos don't come loose, because hopefully this book is going to go far and wide and adventure for a while.
Now, this is how you can get involved.
I'm making five of these books, and I need people to send them to, people that are up for putting a bit of information in, and sending it on to someone that they know.
If you would like to get one of these books, email me at mike.raven@gmail.com with your name and whereabouts in the world you live. On Saturday 19th I will randomly pick five people to send a book to, who I will email to ask for their mailing address. We're doing something else now.
Do please be aware that whatever goes in the book is going to be for public consumption, names, email addresses, twitter accounts, whatever, it's all going to be scanned and uploaded, so don't put anything in the book that you wouldn't be happy with people on the Internet seeing! When the book comes home I will email / tweet at people that wrote in the book so that they know it made it back okay and can read the scanned copy of the book.
One other thing that I need you for, and something that you can get involved in even if you don't fancy having a book sent to you - why wouldn't you though?!? - I think that the books need names. Now I could certainly name them myself, but I'd either just call them book number 1, book number 2, and so on, or I'd give them rubbish names like Gandalf or Colin or Simon or something. Not that Colin isn't a brilliant name for a cat or a garden shed, but not for a book.
So please do also get in touch with your suggested book names, email, put them in the comments, tweet me at ravenswingthog - whatever you prefer.
So that's the plan, let's see what happens and if you are up for this then thanks for taking part! I'm also doing a video about this on my YouTube channel (as I type it's still being put together ready for uploading overnight)
I really hope to find five people that are up for receiving a book, where you send it on to is entirely up to you, it could be to your next door neighbour or it could be another country, it's all good!
UPDATE: Here's the video if you want to watch it...
