Wandering Scribe

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   NN blog/blogger who made it into the news once, it looks like an attempt by a publisher to whip up controversy about a book in order to generate sales.

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Wandering Scribe is the internet name of a supposedly homeless female blogger allegedly from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire who came to the attention of the public in April 2006, when her blog was featured in an article in the New York Times and by the BBC in their online magazine. The blog's author described herself as a law graduate, who had come to be homeless after a mental breakdown following a bad relationship and debts. She claimed to be living in her car in some woods in central London, taking showers in a local hospital, receiving unemployment benefits from the British government, and pretending to members of the public that she was not homeless. She further claimed that her personal pride prevented her from accepting any form of assistance from the authorities (except unemployment benefit, evidently), and that there were no friends or family to whom she could turn. The blog's author also mentioned that she had written a novel and that she harboured feelings of jealousy for another homeless blogger who had received some sort of book deal because attention was drawn to his plight. The blog is written in a self-conscious, often breathless, verbose and flowery 'stream of consciousness' style, with some spelling and grammatical errors. Frequently, posts are very long. Although the author states that the purpose of her blog is a private and personal exploration of her feelings and thoughts about being homeless, it emerged that she also publicised her writings on internet creative writing sites.

Wandering Scribe: Internet Hoax?

Following the publication of the BBC article, the Wandering Scribe blog received a lot of attention from members of the public and a debate began as to whether the blog was genuine or some sort of internet hoax. This intensified when the blog added a PayPal donation button and donations were requested. Threatening comments were posted on the blog and an impersonator sent abusive emails under the Wandering Scribe name to those who had posted supportive comments.

Inconsistencies and discrepancies in the Wandering Scribe story were pointed out, and the blog's author was asked to explain. Several of the issues raised were answered by members of the public in the course of lively debate (but, it must be noted, never by the blog's author). Overwhelmed by the abuse and the volume of postings, the blog's author prevented any further comments on her blog.

Amongst the inconsistencies discussed were:

   * how a homeless woman could afford to pay for internet access in cafes and to pay for her mobile phone, which she often charged in the hospital chapel.
   * how she gained access on a regular basis to London libraries, particularly as her blog posts appeared at very late hours, or on Sundays.
   * how she managed to park in central London hospital car parks, which have only expensive paid parking for visitors;
   * how she managed to continue receiving benefit without being interviewed regularly by the authorities;
   * Why she has rarely attempted to answer criticisms of her blog, leaving it instead to readers;
   * How she managed to elude hospital security for so long when she was allegedly making use of staff facilities such as showers in the basement?;
   * Why she never took anyone who interviewed her to see her laneway.
   * How a supposedly vulnerable and mentally ill homeless woman who shunned all human contact managed to negotiate herself a book deal with a publishing house.

Shortly after this, in May 2006, the Wandering Scribe blog reported that the author had received a book deal from Harper Collins, following the engagement of a literary agent. The book was to be a 'misery memoir' about the blogger's miserable childhood and adulthood, explaining how she became homeless. This further inflamed scepticism about the authenticity of the Wandering Scribe persona, as it was not explained why a homeless woman suffering from a mental breakdown was in a position to pen a full length book, although the breakdown was now some time in the past,. The issue of whether Wandering Scribe is a literary hoax along the lines of the Kaycee Nicole hoax has not been resolved. The Wandering Scribe book, Abandoned, appeared soon thereafter for preorder on Amazon.com, with the author's name listed as "Anya Peters". The exact length of the book was listed (320 pages) and a firm publishing date announced: May 8th, 2007. Such apparent certainties gave rise to further skepticism, as other books appearing on Amazon at that time and due for publication sooner, such as the autobiogrpahy of Doctor Who actress Billie Piper, contained no information regarding page count. However, it has to be acknowledged that this is common practice in the advance marketing of books, the word length specified in the author's contract permitting accurate estimates of length.

The Wandering Scribe blog added a handful more entries describing how the author had found a place to live in London, and was struggling to write her life story for publication (charmingly, she mentioned writing "scenes", as opposed to "chapters").

There were no new posts on the blog from July 17 to August 17 when the author reappeared, stating she had been in Ireland to escape from the heat. The blog also introduced the author's father as a character, who has been living in Ireland. The author's mother is revealed to have left Ireland the year before to live in the United States. It also revealed the author had attended boarding school as a child. Her grasp of Irish geography is evidently shaky: far from being "in almost the exact middle of Ireland", Yeats' Tower in Gort, Galway, is less than 10 miles from Galway Bay on the west coast, and over 70 miles from the geographical centre of Ireland.

Many of the blog's followers have attempted to defend the author's inconsistencies by putting forward evidence of their own. One poster claimed there was a car park at a London hospital where wardens never visited, allowing motorists to avoid paying charges and that he himself often used this car park. In the blog the author clearly states the hospital she visits has a free car park.

In October 2006, the amazon.co.uk site updated its description of the upcoming Wandering Scribe misery memoir, Abandoned. The synopsis does not refer to the book as an autobiography, but as a "true story". It shifts from referring to the protagonist/ author as "one woman" and "a little girl" to "Anya", and includes the rather odd and incongruent use of such colloquialisms as "shopped" and "cracked", giving it the feel of the Wandering Scribe blog, which itself would shift randomly from self-consciously "literary" language to colloquialism and slang. The story set out in the synopsis states that:

"Born illegitimately to Irish lovers, Anya was given away by her real mother and brought up in England by her loving aunt. However, her childhood with her new family was far from happy - verbally and sexually abused for years, Anya finally cracked and shopped her violent uncle, resulting in his imprisonment. After his imprisonment and a few months before her twelfth birthday, Anya lost her whole family overnight. They didn't die, although they might as well have done; they just went away, abandoning her. There was no one else to care, so Anya pretended that she didn't either."

External links:

   * Wandering Scribe blog
   * Blog asking questions about the Wandering Scribe possible hoax
   * Harper Collins page on the forthcoming misery memoir