Guest Blog: William Kostakis

There's really not much more that I can say about Will Kostakis, he's basically covered it all :D

Ah… the guest blog. Otherwise known as “free reign to mention your book’s title a million times with no editor trying to limit the overly unsubtle, shameless self-promotion”. Well! I recognise a challenge when I see one. Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola… pauses for intake of breath… Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola.

Now that I’ve gotten the awkward advertisement bit out of the way, I can tell you all about the story I found when I was cleaning my room last week. I’ve considered myself a writer for a long time, but in retrospect, I’ve only been a good writer for a short time (at least… I hope I’m a good writer). Unfortunately, this story was not from the good days.

Being someone who’ll never turn down an opportunity for self-deprecation, and who’s always keen for a bit of procrastination, I gave it a read. One word: Ugh. I wrote it a few months after my friend died, so I was being a deep, broody, nihilistic, angst-ridden, woe-is-me, ponderous teenager in my writing. I decided, to make for lulz, I’d read it in my best attempt at a pompous British accent, which, like all my attempted accents, comes out sounding Russian (I don’t know why… I’m Greek). Anyway, it was good for a few chuckles, and then I reached one bit that really knocked the wind out of me:

“We've gotta stop living through what we write,” he said. “I mean, I wanna stop saying what I want to say through words and scripts and stories, through the Courtneys, the Tims, the Katies. I missed out on it all because I devoted my own time to them. Giving them memories, I reckon I forgot about getting my own.”

For the ill-informed, Courtney, Tim and Katie are the leads in Loathing Lola (a story I’d been working on for more-or-less half of my life). The paragraph makes an interesting point, so I’ll have to give deep, broody, nihilistic, angst-ridden, woe-is-me, ponderous William some props. It’s a shame everything on either end of it was absolute crap, but still…

I started thinking, who I would’ve been, if I’d had the ‘typical’ high school experience. What if I was out drinking from sacks of goon in the local park instead of writing about kids doing the same thing? It’s a question I guess I still ask myself, only nowadays, I don’t ask it feeling any longing or regret.

I know exactly who I am because of a childhood spent writing. I’m an author. And no amount of lost goon-in-the-park time will ever make me consider giving up what I have now, the coolest profession in the world and a book on shelves.

So, in conclusion, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola, Loathing Lola.

William Kostakis' debut novel is out now. He has a website that has a very complicated URL - http://www.williamkostakis.com and he's also the main man over at the Australian Lit Blog, Boomerang Books. It has been lovely having Will as a featured author this week and I would encourage you to seek Loathing Lola out, or at the very least read some of his freaking hilarious blog entries over at his site.

William's speaking at the Gold Coast Literati Festival, Saturday 30 May, 10:30 til noon, Robina Auditorium, Robina Branch Library. It's a free event, you can call 07 5581 1600 to make sure you don't miss out.