In 2017 Walsall writer James Josiah released his second novel, Stay Happy, the result of two long years of hard work and crippling self-doubt. The old saying goes that we all have a book in us and he believed Stay Happy was his: he went through three rewrites and constantly tweaked and polished the story until he had something that was as near to perfect as he could get.
“I had poured all of my heart and soul into it” he said “and I was utterly convinced that this was “the one”. This was going to be my way out of the humdrum 9-5 day job and into the career I had dreamed of since I was a child.” He chose to self-publish under The Penguin’s Head banner in much the same way that he had released his debut Days of Madness as well as his novella C90. “This was after I submitted it to various publishers and only received one rejection back that said that they weren’t looking for non-fiction – which I took as a bit of a compliment” he explained.
After an initial flurry of sales it failed spectacularly. “The subject matter and the way the book works means it is hard to review” James said. “ It is nigh on impossible to talk about with revealing either the plot point the whole story hinges on or the "shock" ending. It is a very hard book to recommend to someone, so there was no word of mouth. The few people I managed to sell copies to would tell me when they had started reading it and give me a running commentary until they got half way and to “THAT” point and then they would never mention it to me again. I tired promoted Facebook posts and tweets and got absolutely no results at all from them, it was and still is dead in the water.” James Josiah was utterly devastated and didn’t write anything again for quite a while. Eventually the creative itch needed to be scratched again but he was adamant that he wasn’t going to put himself through the heartache and hassle of writing a novel again.
“I was playing around with bits and pieces of poetry and started doing open mic at the excellent Yes We Cant night in Walsall by Steve Pottinger, Emma Purshouse and Dave Pitt AKA Poets Prattlers and Pandemonialists. I really like the somewhat disposable nature of open mic, once I have performed a piece it is out there and dealt with. I perform as often as I can and rarely repeat a poem.” This fed into an idea of writing something every single day of 2018 in a book that he would then destroy on New Year’s Day 2019. “I knew I still wanted to write in some capacity I just didn’t know what it was”, explained James. “I wanted to write. The main aim was to write with utter freedom, no thoughts of sales, pitches or promotion. No worries about cover art or reviews, to write just for the sake of writing again. The original plan was to burn the book at the end and I bought a suitably cheap diary for such purpose. However the pages were very thin and kept ripping, so my wife bought me a frankly gorgeous journal that was way too nice to burn.”
The next idea was to bury it in Walsall Arboretum but local poet Richard Archer, Chairman of Walsall Poetry Society, stated in no uncertain terms that if he buried it he would dig it up and publish it himself!
“So we came to an agreement”, James explained, “ that I would simply give him the journal after it was complete. In my head I was still writing with no pressure and disposing of it all come the new year. Richard took ownership of the journal on the sixth of January and I have no idea what he plans to do with it now.” Writing every day is an easy thing to say but a lot harder to put into practice. “Itook the journal everywhere with me from Florida to Devon to the Canary Islands and bar an odd day here and there due to illness I stuck to my promise”, said James . “I found out quite quickly that the easiest thing to write if you are stuck is a haiku, three lines, seventeen syllables, BANG job done for the day. I started numbering them as titles are hard and soon amassed hundreds of them of varying quality. They all don’t follow the traditional form of being about nature so they are technically Senryu but a haiku is a haiku is a haiku.” Around this time he found his first smilestone in the Walsall Arboretum. These are decorated rocks that are left out anonymously for people to find, share and rehide. “I absolutely adore these things, finding one tucked away always brings a smile to my face and brightens my day”, he said. “ I really wanted to contribute but I have no artistic skills at all. After giving this some thought I bought a guillotine and a laminator, and using some left over wool from one of my wife’s projects I began to leave haiku out for people to find. I started Twitter and Instagram accounts, both are @losthaiku and use the hashtag #LostHaiku, as well as a Facebook group (now run by Walsall poet Leanne Cooper as I have deleted my account) There is also a website - losthaiku.co.uk - where you can request some haiku to lose yourself as well as submit your own should the urge take you. There has been losses all across the globe thanks to friends and the little community we have built but they are mostly left around the West Midlands while I walk the dog.” The whole project has been kept as anonymous as possible which James Josiah has found very liberating. “I am slowly getting back towards writing with a sense of purpose and have half an idea of releasing a collection of poetry in the summer to mark my 40th birthday” he said. “ At this moment in time however I’m not sure if James Josiah, the name I have always written under, exists anymore. I don’t have the connection to him that I used to and I’m also not really the person I was back then either, so at the minute I’m writing as Bananafox Jones who you can find on Twitter, Instagram and atwww.bananafoxjones.co.uk
