Alan Smith, British writer (not soccer player)

A well-known British writer, Alan Smith, of England, flew over the Atlantic Ocean to be a guest at UCO as part of the Passport to England program.  

He is a senior lecturer in creative writing at The University of Northampton and has also taught philosophy and English in a prison. He has written novels, plays and non-fiction. He has written more than 70 articles about prison for The Guardian.

When I tried to Google search Alan Smith's picture, the result I got is this and I don't hate it. The reason is because this Alan Smith used to play soccer for my favorite team, Manchester United, and he played for Team England as well.

Anyway, I'm glad that I was able to listen to one of his talks at my blogging class. First of all, I love his British accent, which he claimed not to be as authentic as it is in United Kingdom. I could see his successes through his God-gifted story-telling ability in that class. It kept everyone, which includes me, "entertained" through his talk. 

I like how he said that if a newspaper publishes your work and do not pay for it, that shows the newspaper doesn't appreciate your work and it's of no value. I quote from him, "the only sincere sign of praise is the check you receive." I truly agree with him on this because I'm a photographer, if I don't get paid for my work, I feel there's no point for me to take good pictures. 

He shared another interesting point like how he doesn't have to learn about blogging but write a story on a computer and hit the send button on the email. He said that journalist has the best job in the world because you can write a story even without getting out from your bed. However, for me, as a photography blogger, I can't do that, I have to go outdoor or somewhere else to capture great pictures to blog about. 

All in all, I learned a lot from his sharing.