2 Weeks later & Still Nothing

...........perhaps she just can't be arsed any longer?

WanderingScribe: nesting

It looks as if wanderingscribe may have misjudged her audience - the new rising star may have run its course. She posted a new blog this afternoon but she may have waited too long since her last because it is now eight o'clock in the evening and still nobody has posted a comment. BBC claimed that she had 11,000 readers per week before she signed her book deal (a figure I strongly dispute), so where are they now - even her loyal followers seem to have deserted her. Sadly her creative streak seems to have also deserted her. Let's hope for her sake it's just a short period of writer's block.

Query to BBC re accuracy of story.

This morning I posted an email to the BBC News website feedback about the wanderingscribe followup story as follows:
I have already pointed out that your mathematics in the story about Anya Peters (Parked up) are incorrect. Your story claims that her website had 11,000 READERS per week, which is incorrect. You are basing your figures on the statistics provided by her site meter which records the number of VISITS made to her site. Agreed there would have been 11,000 visits per week but since many of these visitors returned daily for updates and many of them made more than 1 visit per day then the actual number of readers could be as little as 500. Isn't it time that your story should be corrected? or is this a case of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story? I would also like to know why the BBC has printed mostly complimentary comments concerning this story and neglected those which are critical of her story.
The story in question can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5029984.stm
I await to hear what BBC's reply (if any) is to this.

BBC Guilty of moderating comments

For some reason BBC want to give the impression that WanderingScribe's blog is extremely successful.
In their article, referred to previously, BBC claim WS has had 11,000 readers per week - I posted 2 comments on their web page pointing out that although she may have had 11,000 visits this did not in fact mean 11,000 readers. Many of these visitors went back regularly every day and often 2 or more times per day so the actual number of 'readers' is much lower (it could be as low as 500 actual readers, which would only be 1 week's sales and not enough to make it a top 10 best seller).
But do you see that in their comments section - NOPE - they obviously just want happy smiley everything is wonderful comments.
I am not trying to detract from WS's success - I would just like BBC to get their maths right.
Publishers may want to take this into consideration when trying to judge pre-publication popularity.

What's that saying? Lies, damn lies and statistics!! 'nuff said.

WanderingScribe: Coming in from the cold

BBC have reported that Anya Peters, who until recently was homeless and living in a car, has signed a publishing deal with Harper Collins. She decided to record her experiences in a blog, published under the name of Wandering Scribe, which was picked up world-wide and has now provided an escape from her homelessness.
The story of her homelessness and previous life is scheduled for publication next Spring.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost


WanderingScribe Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Of fixed abode
Finally...Finally, finally, the search is over. I found a place to live last week.
And on Sunday I moved in. It is only a room — a small, cream-walled room, that still smells of new paint ....

WanderingScribe

WanderingScribe makes Paypal refund ...

The following was lifted from the Comments on WanderingScribe's blog:-

At 10:08 AM, Conor said...
Hey WS,

Wasn't surprised when I recieved the Paypal refund, but wished I hadn't. It was meant as a gift when you needed it. I understand that due to the abundance of bitter people posting hate messages and hatefull, poorly written, what could only loosely be called prose, on this site refering to you, that a refund was called for now that you were no longer in need of it.

I am, as ever, an avid reader, and fan, or should I say addict, of your blog. I await the release of your first published literary masterpiece with bated breathe. I am sure it will be as colourfull, as descriptive and aesthetically beautiful as the images you have portrayed to us here.

Take care.

Regards,
Conor

http://epiphaneia.blogspot.com/

This has got to be a kick in the goolies for the counterfeit wanderers and their cronies.

Censorship and where's my ego

A counterfeit wanderingscribe blog has been set up by someone calling himself wanderingego who purports to tell the truth about wanderingscribe. He also claims that he neither moderates nor censors the comments on his blog but a number of people who have posted comments find that, if they do not follow his line of thinking, they are quickly deleted. Comments that also make intelligent observations are also just as quickly removed. Anything that might challenge his vain attempt at celebrity suffers the same fate. He and his cronies have been branded a shower of sick bastards but you won't find that comment any longer either. The only comments and posts you will find are so far removed from the truth as to be in a totally different dimension. I have copied the following from his blog before he removes it without even bothering to answer his accusations.

arnold lane said ....
wanderingscribe (i.e. wanderingego) said...

Anybody with a modicum of common sense is welcome to post here.
But will have their post instantly removed
It's what makes this a superior blog in every way to wanderingscribes.
Says who? - certainly nobody with a modicum of sense
No censorship here lads.
NO? then why do intelligent comments immediately disappear?

You're worse than WS for censorship you bloody hypocrite

Say what you like without fear of your posts being moderated,

they will just be removed

Sympathy.

Now when you climb into your bed tonight
And when you lock and bolt the door
Just think about those out in the cold and dark
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love to go 'round

And sympathy is what we need my friends
And sympathy is what we need
And sympathy is what we need my friends
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love to go 'round

Now half the world hates the other half
And half the world has all the food
And half the world lies down and quietly starves
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round

From the album "A singles Collection" - Album Version 3:29
Written by Mark Ashton, Graham Stansfield, David Kaffinetti & Stephen Gould (Rare Bird).
Published by Carlin Music Corp.

Inferno

Opening lines of Dante's Inferno,translated by Seamus Heaney

WanderingScribe - The Truth.

I know I said that's my last comment on that matter but ......

I finally think I have figured it out - there is no wandering scribe, well actually there are a number of different wandering scribes. I believe that this is actually a scam/hoax/experiment orchestrated by the BBC in collusion with the New York Times; that the voice on the NYT web site is that of an actress and that the blogs have been written by BBC scriptwriters.

I noticed that my Site Meter had been registering a number of hits from locations in the Lambeth area (including some from the BBC itself - the hits were spread round different establishments because presumably too many hits from the BBC would be too obvious). The person/s from the BBC checked only the blogs I posted relating specifically to wandering scribe and then they moved on to blogs of people who had posted comments concerning those particular blogs.


Also did nobody else find it strange that DitchMonkey only mentioned WS once in his blog on 3rd April (I am not counting the lengthy blog that she posted on his site on 6th Feb.) and nowhere has he mentioned the meeting that was supposed to have taken place between him and WS. I am sure there was a second blog where he mentioned her by name (Anya Peters) and that she had emailed him to say she had been mentioned on the front page of the New York Times but I cannot find that anymore no matter how much I search. If he had been communicating with her via email would we not have had a progress report from him at some point?

Here is something else that is strange - a search in http://wanderingscribe.blogspot.com produced this entry

Ditchmonkey

12 Feb 2006 by WanderingScribe

A guy called Hugh Sawyer, who has a blog here under the name of Ditchmonkey (ODM). Because I was stunned that someone else was 'choosing' to be homeless for a year, and intrigued, I emailed him. We met and kept in contact by email and ...

... and clicking on the link for this entry comes up with this result

Not Found

The requested URL was not found on this server.

... but there is an entry

Thursday, February 09, 2006

The man in the woods

In November I read, in an article in The Observer, about someone else living in the woods. A man ... somewhere in Oxfordshire. He is doing it for a year, to raise money for charity. And at the same time he continues his daily commute to work in London. A guy called Hugh (DM), who also has a blog. Because I was stunned that someone else was 'choosing' to be homeless for a year, and intrigued, I emailed him. We met and kept in contact by email

(Previously posted here: http://wind-sand-and-stars.blogspot.com/2006/05/wanderingscribe-truth.html)

Revelations Chapter 2 --- The End of a beautiful relationship.

To tell you the truth I don't care if she is fake or genuine. Whatever, she has entertained a lot of people over the past few months - she's the internet's answer to Big Brother and now it has to come to an end. To her supporters and detractors alike (those fanatics who have been at each other's cyberthroats). I say "Get a life, stop trying to live somebody else's. Have you nothing better you could be doing?"

On the subject of comments - who says that you have an incontrovertible right to comment? A number of people are complaining that they are not allowed to post total and utter mindless drivel. There's nothing wrong with intelligent debate but to expect to be allowed to post the same expletives over and over again is just boring. As bloggers we can turn the comments off or on as and when we please - it's a bit like TV if we don't like the idiot who is raving on about the political situation in BoogaBoogaLand we can turn him off : same goes for you - and there are many people there who I don't like - and I've never even met you (says a lot for your personality doesn't it, I would really hate to meet you in real life).

As for the Paypal button - if people are stupid enough to pay for something that they haven't got a clue about whether or not it's genuine then that's their problem. Personally I don't care if someone sells them London Bridge or The Golden Gate - if it makes them happy all well and good.

I wouldn't bother following the link to the blog in the previous post - he does the same thing that he condemns wanderingscribe for i.e. removes comments if they are not to his liking.

I have just read WanderingScribes latest entry and I must admit I find this very difficult to believe:-

Meanwhile, back in the laneway...

................................................................................................................................... It's also kind of surreal because I still haven't found a place to live, even though with all this running around that has been my priority for the last couple of weeks. Have been to view lots, and used up several credit vouchers on the phone chasing places, but no luck as yet. Although that might be about to change tonight — so maybe more news about that tomorrow. So for the most part life continues to be sardine sandwiches and sleeping bags...

Sorry, she's got an agent but this said agent cannot fix her up with somewhere to live. I would have thought the first thing she (the agent) would have done would have been to move her (wanderingscribe) into a hotel. Then maybe agents are the ogres they are portrayed as - not having met one I don't know. And that's my last comment on that matter.

Like I said - I DON'T CARE!

.... for All The Lonely People!

((((((HUGS))))))

Now doesn't that make you feel a whole lot better?

The Truth about Wanderingscribe

Some of you may be interested in what's been written at this site and some of you just may prefer to ignore it. Frankly I would ignore it - it's the biggest load of rubbish. If you think The Sun or The Mirror don't present a balanced view - this is ten times worse.

I wouldn't bother making comments on this blog - he does exactly what he condemns wanderingscribe for i.e. removes comments if they are not to his liking.

I have decide to remove the link - so if you want to read it you will have to Google it. Sorry, but I'm not going to make it easy for someone like him and the garbage he prints.

Smelly car survey

Cars from Edinburgh and Leeds are the smelliest in the country, according to a new survey.

Car air freshener makers Auto Expressions asked smell expert David Prybus to analyse 130 cars from five cities.

Mr Prybus was asked to rank their smells on a scale from 1 (putrid) to 10 (pleasant).

He found that cars from Slough smelled the sweetest (4 out of 5 cars got more than half marks), while those from Leeds and Edinburgh were the pongiest (more than half got low marks).

Mr Prybus said: "The most common pungent smells came from cigarettes, rotting foods, drinks cans and blankets that lock in pet odours.

He obviously didn't analyse any cars in Camden Town :-)

CAR FOR SALE

CAR for sale, immacule condition, 1 careful lady owner, low mileage, Remote Central Locking, superb condition with no dents and virtually no scratches, Computer, air conditioning, Asda plastic air bags, oil-fired central heating, steamy windows, has been parked off road since last August.

Girl in a pink dress

Girl in a pink dress by Cincinnati artist Elizabeth Nourse (1859-1938)

Revelations Chapter 1

…. you do know it was me who made her what she is today. If it wasn’t for all that publicity I drummed up nobody would ever have heard of her. Personal appearances in places as far afield as Camden, Lambeth and she even popped up briefly at Paddington Station – what a furore that caused; people scrambling over each other to touch the hem of her garment.
But then doctors started taking an interest in her - she had this weird band of hangers-on. You know one even thought he was an alien being, ha ha can you imagine it – he used to dress in uniform, like in that film …what’s it called now? Oh yes, Blue Max.
Said he came from Planet Goerring or some such place, nobody’s ever heard of it of course, obviously a figment of a demented imagination. But they were all like that, you only had to say one word ___ and they turned ugly (not that they weren’t ugly already) but suggest that perhaps there was the hint of scandal and they fell on you, like a ton of bricks, to hear some of them you would think that she could walk upon water.
It is sad really, she had such talent and she wasted it. She got really carried away by all the adulation, forgot about her career and started a mad round of crazy parties until finally she got carried away by the men in white coats.
Of course I should never have loaned her the car ………

The Big Exposé.

Sources have today revealed that the person known to many as Wonderin’Screib is in fact a long term patient at a, as yet, unnamed London hospital. The person using the nom de plume of onesole (this was originally arseole but was censored by the hospital administration because it was deemed unfit for public use and would have brought the hospital into disrepute) is in fact the lover of the aforementioned Wonderin’Screib who had a total breakdown on learning that she had an infatuation for a certain doctor and had been corresponding with him for some months.

Also the news was released that the hospital janitor (nicknamed alienspirits by other staff, because of his penchant to drink copious amounts of foreign beers) has been dismissed for allowing patients to use staff showers. Apparently he did this so that he could then photograph them, without their knowledge, and sell the photographs on the internet. Investigations are ongoing as to whether these incidents are related.

Wonderin’Screib had apparently been allowed access to a computer after she had been discovered in the library removing books from the shelves and then throwing them at visitors in the car park while shouting “Get out of my lane, you mingers”. When it was later discovered that Wonderin’Screib had been soliciting money for a fictitious manuscript the decision was taken to place her in a secure ward, where she now plays ludo with other patients and/or staff. Some have objected to her constant rendition of “Luck be a lady tonight” but her only response is that this is her blog and she will not be silenced.

An open letter to Wandering Scribes supporters and a big BUT

Dear WS supporters,

I know that you mean well and want to keep giving her comfort and encouragement. BUT have you stopped to think that because of all the extra posts she is getting and because she is moderating them, while trying to write her blog at the same time, that you have actually placed an extra burden on her? I know she has been posting comments late at night while the rest of you have been watching tv, enjoying a pint in your local, watching the latest blockbuster film or whatever. So with every good intention for WS's welfare (she really is not getting much time to herself) I am asking that you think before posting that comment. I know she appreciates the support but even the simple ((( HUGS ))) take time to moderate. You do have blogs of your own so why not use them to show some of your support? Some of you have not even bothered to post a blog so now's your chance - let's see your first blog.

Yours in all good faith
Dr Adder

Wandering Scribe Revisited

WS finally posted the news that she may have got herself an agent – so presumably this means there is a publishing contract in the offing? I can see the detractors already lining up their big guns with, “I told you she had a multi-million publishing contract in the pipeline”. I for one do not believe that this was the case when she started, nobody but nobody becomes homeless with the intention of publishing a book, but I think as time wore on and people told her just how good a writer she is and some may have suggested that she get something published then I think WS saw that these ideas could become a possibility.

Well for Christ sake if JK Rowling can make a fortune then why can’t somebody with some actual writing talent profit from it? Especially if that person is homeless with no idea of what the future holds. I will be one of the first in the queue if/when it gets published. Don’t tell me that you won’t – because you read her blog and your attention was held by what she wrote, so guess what a book would be like once she gets her ideas into a proper (?) layout. Frankly I hope she keeps to her blog style, which is more spontaneous and shows her fears and feelings at the time, though I can see the drawback of trying to write about the situation with the benefit of hindsight.

What surprises me is that she appears to have come through this with her sanity and dignity intact (well I hope that she has, it cannot have been easy for her) – I had a reply to a comment I posted recently and although it is difficult to tell about a person’s state of mind or personality from a written note you can get a rough idea of how they feel from their choice of words. She could really have blasted me for some of my comments but didn’t – hopefully she saw that my anger was not directed at her but some of her fanatical supporters.

Any way, let me be one of the first to congratulate her on what may hopefully be a new and rewarding career and take this opportunity to wish her luck in the future. I do hope that you will soon be enjoying some of the pleasures of a more ‘normal’ life style.

P.S. please send me an autographed copy :-)

…and for alien freak this PS is humour – something you don’t seem to have heard of.

Rhubarb

Drawing by Laura Westlund for Stinky and Stringy: Stem and Bulb Vegetables by Meredith Sayles Hughes

WanderingScribe - team members only

here (for anybody who is interested) is a comment I was going to post on wanderingscribe's blog site :-

At 7:35 PM, Alien Spirit said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

Oh beautiful, just beautiful. Made my day :-)

WS - I think you can see that the comments have become a free for all so I think you may be wiser to stop them all together and not just the anonymous posts. That way you can get on with your blog and your life without worrying about all the negativity that's being posted here.

But then again maybe this is what you want - all this debate and interaction. I hope it's worth it. But I do wish you well, whatever your plans are.

...and what do I find? She has beaten me to the punch. Comments are now restricted to team members and of course there are no team members listed. Good on you WS. I hope we will be hearing more from you shortly.

JOURNAL OF A SOLITUDE

For those of you who have been following the exploits of Wandering Scribe then you will know why this entry has been made.

"JOURNAL OF A SOLITUDE" By MAY SARTON (Excerpt)

January 8th
Yesterday was a strange, hurried, uncentered day; yet I did not have to go out, the sun shone. Today, I feel centered and time is a friend instead of the old enemy. It was zero this morning. I have a fire burning in my study, yellow roses and mimosa on my desk. There is an atmosphere of festival, of release, in the house. We are one, the house and I, and I am happy to be alone - time to think, time to be. This kind of open-ended time is the only luxury that really counts and I feel stupendously rich to have it. And for the moment I have a sense of fulfillment both about my life and about my work that I rarely experienced until this year, or perhaps until these last weeks. I look to my left and the transparent blue sky behind a flame-colored cyclamen, lifting about thirty winged flowers to the light, makes an impression of stained glass, light-flooded. I have put the vast heap of unanswered letters into a box at my feet, so I don't see them. And now I am going to make one more try to get that poem right. The last line is still the problem...

... think I'll go out and buy it before it gets sold out !!
It also sounds like a blog - especially the actual mail box at her feet with the unanswered posts.

Wandering Scribe -- nice comments only .....

Over on wandering scribe's blog a Joe Bloggs has entered a link to my own wandering scribe post but for some reason a blog administrator has been deleting the entry. He has not used any profanities nor has he insulted wandering scribe but somebody has decided to censor his right to Free Speech and not allow others to read my post. Is this really fair? I certainly don't think so.

If you look closely you will find that only the nice comments remain.

Wandering Scribe

Like many of you I have been following wanderingscribe's blog and like many of you I want to believe that she is the genuine article BUT and it's a large BUT (as opposed to a large butt - but that's another story :-) ) BUT, the more I read, the more I start to doubt her genuineness and begin to suspect her ingenuity. There are too many little tantalising titbits, which makes me suspect that her blog is a publicity vehicle for a forthcoming book.

The little girl in the pink dress, sitting in her bedroom awaiting the police, is a prime example - she keeps mentioning her, and more recently a knife has been added to the scenario, but (that word again) we don't hear why she is waiting and so we come back for more and hope that all will be revealed. Perhaps it will, but is it a truth or just a fiction? And don't forget the two sinister men - one in a car in the woods and the other in the hospital canteen - why are they sinister? why are they mentioned? are they just there to draw you in or will they actually have a bearing on the eventual outcome?

Also, if she doesn't have an address, where does she collect her benefit cheque? Surely it's not addressed to Anya Peters, Woodland, United Kingdom????

For someone who wants to remain anonymous she has been leaving an awfully big paper trail so that I can imagine there are a lot of people watching for her in and around Camden Town.