Every one of my aphorisms is original and not borrowed from other people.
“This is a brilliant book – stunningly good,” declared Jungle-bound Stanley Johnson at last month’s launch of Wisdom & Wordplay, my first book of original aphorisms. I got quite a buzz, having these kind words live-streamed on Twitter by the BBC and beamed around the world from the lips of the British Foreign Secretary’s father, Boris Johnson.
Robert Eddison
But he wasn’t finished yet, and I paraphrase: “As a lover of the pithy one-liner, I’ve not come across these before. Now tell me, wherever did you find them?”
“I didn’t.”
“They can’t have come out of thin air.”
“You’re quite right.”
“So where do they come from?”
“They’re all mine. They come from me.”
“I find that quite extraordinary. It’s a remarkable achievement and I congratulate you.”
Wisdom & Wordplay only comprises a one-hundredth part of my total oeuvre. There will be many sequels, starting with the launch of Book 2 in early 2018.
What I didn’t tell Stanley was that my book is only a tiny taster of my work and represents a one-hundredth part of my total oeuvre. Nor did I vouchsafe to him that, although it had taken me less than a week to select the material for this book, it had taken me twenty years to hone my craft and amass the material from which to take it.
They cover an awesome range of subjects, ranging from Animals to Ambition.
My “thought diaries” cover 150 different subjects, ranging from childbirth to political correctness. They replaced my earlier, more conventional, diaries, which noted that I’d switched from margarine to Irish butter a decade earlier. Boring!
I’ve originated over 34,000 one-liners since June 1997, averaging five a day.
In my thought diaries, I can honestly claim to have noted down pretty much every original thought I’ve had since June 1997. Doing this over the past two decades was no more than an all-consuming private hobby. It never once occurred to me to monetise it - any more than it occurs to most of us to make money from our private diaries. Indeed, I’d assumed that, on my death, my aphorisms would be chucked into the nearest litter bin, along with my love letters and my underpants.
I post thirty aphorisms a day on Twitter and two a day on Instagram.
Over the past few years, however, I’ve been gradually worn down by the unremitting insistence of friends and family to “go public” with my diaries, with my former Agent echoing their plea with the suggestion that I first try my luck with Twitter, where I’m now posting thirty new aphorisms every day to my 34,000 followers.
They’ve proved hugely popular, with my getting 7,590 Likes on Instagram in September alone.
On my recently opened Instagram account, they gained even faster traction, with thousands of likes in September alone. Duly encouraged by this growing appetite for my work, I decided to put my toe in the water with Wisdom & Wordplay, which, to my delight, became a runaway bestseller on the night of the launch (October 25th.)
I have an App that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store as well as an Android version.
Condensing a complicated concept into a single line gives me a huge buzz and technology enables my aphorisms to reach a wider audience. From a one-liner like: There is nothing more relative than another’s absolute truth, I get a real Eureka moment. Since I originate, on average, seven new aphorisms a day, I’m not short of such moments!
Wisdom & Wordplay was a runaway overnight bestseller in two Amazon categories.
Upon launch, my first book, Wisdom & Wordplay, shot up the Amazon rankings to the number one slot in not one, but two, categories. A fortnight later, it had sold out and has now been reprinted.
My book is on the point of capturing the American Thanksgiving and Christmas markets.
With cost-to-coast exposure in the States, Wisdom & Wordplay is also on the point of capturing the huge American gift market. In the run-up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, it makes the ideal gift for Americans who like to read a dip-and-dive book on the go.
I’m also an experienced public speaker, broadcaster, playwright and journalist.
As an experienced public speaker and broadcaster, I look forward to revealing how I came to write this uniquely large number of original maxims.
