“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
― Isaac Newton
Hello world! I've officially kicked off my Bulletproofreading venture and I am hoping for the best. If you have no idea what I am talking about check out my Facebook Page, like that bad boy and then tell your friends, family and pets all about it! You can also send them my nifty pamphlet with my details.
Journeys have been an overarching
theme in my life of late, whether it’s at work or at home. Journeys are perhaps
one of the overarching themes of all life. That and running a race. All my
teachers in primary school loved comparing life to running a race. I digress,
though. What I want to get at is that when one is on a journey it is good to
stop once in a while and take stock. Just stop, catch your breath, relax and
look back at the way you have come. A little break also allows you to look at
the road ahead and to plan a bit. I recently joined the wonderful people over
at Freelance Cape Town as a freelancer (duh!). Marius Vosloo, the guy who heads
the team up, immediately made me feel welcome and at home. They recently
launched their blog, called Our Voice and it serves as a platform for creative
people to be heard. Marius asked me to write something about my journey as a
freelancer thus far. I haven’t looked back on the way I have come in a while and
this proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to pause, take stock and
reflect on my journey as Charles thus far and to add my voice to theirs and see
what sort of music comes of it.
Dear Reader and fellow traveller, sit
down and rest your feet a while and let me tell you my story.
My name is Charles Siboto and I am a
reader and lover of beautiful stories. I haunt places where I can find good
stories. My love for stories has resulted in me becoming someone who works with
stories, whether they are my own or stories that other people wish to tell. I
mainly prefer stories that other people tell because there is nothing better
for me than getting so caught up in someone else’s visions that you just cannot
help but love and understand that person a bit more than you did before being
moved by their story. I grew up as a reader and from early on I knew that
stories are magic and that I want to be a part of that magic when I grow up. I
never knew in what capacity I would help make and spread more of this magic but
at least I had a general direction in which to start looking for where I can
fit in.
I am not even all that picky in my
love for stories. I love the stories my grandmother told me as a child and
listened to Gcina Mhlope on the radio every Saturday morning on a show she had
that was sponsored by Joko tea. I can’t remember the name of the show but I
loved the monsters she always told of and how the children in the stories
always outsmarted them. I read books, comic books, played video games, watched
movies and listen to weird radio dramas. I landed up studying English
Literature, Linguistics and Literary studies and I loved most of it and hated
some of it. I remember one instance in my fourth year of university where I
read the comic book, Final Crisis by Grant Morrison and had one of the greatest
moments of my life reading a story and it shook me to my core. Final Crisis is
a massive story in its complexity and when Zillo Valla (if my memory serves me
well), one of the beings in charge of protecting the multiverse utters the
following words it just gets me every single time I read that story: "Behold:
we monitors who were faceless once . . . We all have names now, and stories.
There are heroes and villains . . . secrets and lovers." Things like this
unstitch me. Somewhere in that comic book Superman asks that the words, To Be
Continued be carved on his tombstone because humanity’s story never comes to an
end, it always carries on. I read and love J.R.R. Tolkien and he taught me that
some stories can break your heart and yet still strike you with sorrow as sharp
as swords, eucatastrophe he called it, the good ending that breaks your heart.
Stories lead me to where I am today.
My name is Charles Siboto and I am an editor of children’s books by day at one
of South Africa’s biggest publishing houses. This is a great honour and
privilege for me because it was a struggle for me to get my foot in that door
but like any good character in your favourite stories, I persevered and always
kept ongoing. I am also a freelancer in the sense that I use the majority of
my free time to blog and write about books, movies, comic books, video games,
technology, lifestyle events and even a dash of politics for various online
media. I also offer my services as a proofreader and editor to almost just
about anyone who needs it. Interestingly enough, French engineering students
turn up on my doorstep with reports for me to proofread on a regular basis.
This led me to my exciting new venture, Charles Siboto Bulletproofreading for Interns Abroad. A bit of a mouthful, right? But it’s all very exciting and I
hope the venture does well. I have even dabbled in doing voiceovers, officially
becoming the voice of one of our book characters at work, Dogtective William.
This, dear Reader and fellow
traveller, is where I find myself currently. I am juggling a publishing career
and exploring many avenues as a freelancer. I am learning a lot in both spaces
and I love it. I’m working with stories and helping people who tell them find
ways to tell them as clearly as possible, whether it’s an author writing a book
for children or a company that needs content written to succinctly share their
vision. My own story remains, always, to be continued . . .
You really can’t go wrong with wine and it’s even more
difficult to do so with chocolate. This is why a festival dedicated to these
two things is a great idea. Chocolate and wine is by far a much better love
story than Twilight. Almost exactly a month ago I got to be part of this love
story at the 2015 Winelands Chocolate Festival at the beautiful Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West, which is part of the Stellenbosch Wine Route.
The festival took place from 25 to 26 July. I am in love with the Cape Winelands
and visiting the various wine estates is one of my favourite things to do. The
Lourensford Wine Estate is one of the more beautiful wine farms and provided a
lovely gathering place for lovers of chocolate from all around the country.
My lovable friend and I went on Sunday, the second and last
day of the event. Though the weather looked like it was leaning more towards
the miserable end of things I jumped into my friend’s trusty ol’ Corsa Lite (or
the Erin-mobile, as I like to call it) and off to Somerset West we went with a
song in our hearts and chocolate and wine on our minds. The weather turned out
to be quite mild and lovely by the time we arrived at the venue and we were
immediately taken in by the bustle of chocolate aficionados walking around and
stopping at the various stands to nibble on some chocolate and chat to the
masters of chocolate behind the beautiful and tasty heaps of chocolate goodness
on display everywhere. I am a sucker for chocolate fountains and those bad boys
were on display everywhere. You’d think my friends call me Chocolate Charlie
because of the hue of my skin but, no, Sir, you’d be wrong! They call me
Chocolate Charlie because I’m a sucker for chocolate fountains. Exhibitors at
the festival included chocolatiers like Alexander Avery, Chocolat Frey,
Gayleen’s Decadence, Honest Chocolates (who does not love chocolate that does
not lie to you?), LINDT (a brand that we all know and love) and My Sugar. There
were loads of other chocolatiers in the mix and everyone had a really good
showing.
The food wasn’t to be scoffed at either. There was some mean
grub available from the restaurant, Bistro 13 and three great food trucks. I
you wanted some coffee Origin was on hand to sort you out and the Tipsy Gypsy
Art Bar looked after you needs in terms of drinkables.
We had a great time at the Winelands Chocolate Festival. It
was just amazing soaking up the sun, drinking wine, tasting and buying a whole
lot of chocolate. The venue was just spectacular and the people were all
lovely. This festival definitely goes onto my annual calendar of things to do.
It was also lovely to receive a free gift in the form of a digital gift voucher
for Yuppiechef.com’s Indulgent Chocolate Creations course in my email box a few
days after the festival.
