Here I am at the edge

Hello Australia For some time, I've had online friends in Australia . One was a police serjeant in Queensland who praised my Pat Canella series for its authentic feel. I have another - a lady - who works in New South Wales  and is an excellent writer in her right ( Dawn Millen ). My blog until last night never had much following in the land of the kangaroo. But all that has changed in the blink of an eye, I have had a few sales in Australia but not many.

A writing retreat Writing last night's post, The Vagrant Journalist abroad   brought to mind the era of the great writers, and how they would sit on the Paris sidewalks and talk as they wrote. It was a hard time for many of the generation known as The Lost Generation ; they'd come through a war and lost close friends, you can't blame them for living in the moment.

Will book 3 be finished? This week I opened the files to edit book 3 in my award-winning series. My first thought was "Am I wasting my time again?"  Neither of the previous books has sold in four years, and I have over 40 pages of edits to do - not counting continuing the story - if I go ahead, for what?

Hunter S. Thompson The term The Vagrant Journalist was coined by writer Hunter S. Thonpson during his time in Puerto Rico  as he, liked others, waited for his big break; it was a turmultous time in the area with riots and coups in most countries, and the rise of Papa Doc in Haiti . My virtual travels these days include India  as the main port of call thanks to many films and shows from there being on Netflix . The lady shown here is Dimple Kapadia  showing again that you can maintain your beauty and be mature.

Temple Meads station closed  As of an hour ago, the mainline link from  London  to South Wales was closed as  Temple Meads  station in Bristol is flooding with rain from  Storm Angus .   The problem is caused because in Old English - Mead means - land by a river and Temple Meads is in a basin.  I don't know where the trains will be diverted to, the area to the North of  Gloucester  is always flooded as far up the country as  Worcester , and across to  Evesham .  To the south of  Weston-Super-Mare , the problem is the opposite as the  Somerset Levels  are peat bogs.

My spreading readership The good thing about my Google blog   is that it doesn't only show my most read posts, but where they get read. Yesterday's newest readers came from the Republic of Slovakia . To people who are not sure - that included me - the Slovak Republic until 1997 was the Southern part of Czechoslovakia.  I am not surprised that my blog is getting read in Slovakia, one of the reasons is for many years I have had a solid following from states that used to be in the Eastern Bloc . I have been asked about this following many times as some interviewers cannot understand why I have this following. To me, there is no puzzle, and the answer is easy. I find it simpler to write characters like Harry Palmer  than James Bond . I feel an affinity with the old Soviet countries - I'm not a Communist - I visited Russia when I was in school, and the trip left an indelible mark on my soul. I never had a lot of money, so the world of the underdog...

The Reading area As my e-books   aren't selling, and I have about 20 years to live, if my genealogy runs true. I thought I'd reopen the page   The Reading Area   with some stories for  FREE . Even when the e-books were selling, they never brought much money in, other than  Forgestriker .

FOR FREE As this all I am worth a week ($1), I may as well just write for FREE on the blog. You know you suck when unknown UK magazines turn your work down, as happened to me for the fourth time this afternoon :'( :'(

The time passes slowly As my health gets worse, I thank the Lord for giving me the ability to write stories - even if they don't get bought. The relevance of the Dollar is that the United States is the major buyer of my eBook selection. A secondary relevant factor is $1 is how much I earned a month, when I was writing ; mainly because I used to put my short story collection on my blog to read . Never mind, I have plans to write another few stories which I am not putting here, to see if I can gain a few sales .

Pinterest I don't often promote my  Pinterest   pages because they have very little to show for my efforts. The link to this post is for one of my pages, keep watching as I will be adding more.

The story so far I must stop checking to see how much I have written LOL After scaring myself over the length of the original story of  Chronicles of Mark Johnson   you would think I'd learn my lesson, but I didn't. Last night, I uploaded the third book in the series, for edits and additions.  At the last count, this edition runs to 46 pages, and I haven't got truly into the story; this is all about what happens after the end of book 2, not about the conflict with the witch in her dimension.

Quote from the 16th Century John Bradford 's quote is my credo I may not have the best of health but some years ago I learned to be grateful for what I have. I have always been a man of simple pleasures ; I'm perfectly happy with a bag of fish and chips sitting on the dock watching the waves, I don't need a lot of money to be happy - mainly because I never had a lot money. Years ago, before I almost died in my sleep, I learned to accept what I had and enjoy what the Lord had given me. I knew sooner or later I would end up in a wheelchair, but I was determined to fight the battle to the last and I am still fighting - ten years on. My health is declining by the day but I apprecite that many people never lived as long as me, for what health I have I am grateful. Fighitng the battle has enabled me to visit Lac La Biche , in     Canada  and return to Scarborough one last time.

Armistice Day At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent, and four years of terrors came to an end.  The Lost Generation A generation of young people went to war believing they'd come back heroes in a few months. Four years later, those who did return came back with minds and bodies torn to pieces and were never the same. Is it any surprise that after such horror that generation lived for the moment.

As it won't happen Now appears to be the opportune moment to tell you, I was considering entering a prestigious science fiction writing section that paid for stories. I could have sent in my award winner for a lower rate. I decided not to post anything in; I don't have any confidence in my ability to entertain the readers these days.

I have the ideas It's a daily struggle to fight my demons, which is why today as though my battle is lost and the urge is to write is lost . In my search for new markets, this week I started to write a story about a spiritual encounter in Israel . As I doubt the story will get published, the story is about a journalist's Aliyah  and a trip to Masada . The story is fiction, but I always wanted to visit the Holy Land . I need to find the faith that others have in me, as the Jewish people have a strong belief in the word of the Lord, I have started to read the Bible in the attempt to find some faith in my work  as a writer.

. It's gone This month is the 8th anniversary of the final book launch in my bestselling scifi series of ebooks . They kept selling , in small ammounts all this ti me; in other concepts it is about 6 years since I stopped writing any type of ebook as none sold.

Money, money, money Hopefully, this month, I shall recieve my earnings from Draft2Digital , I passed the $10 mark; not bad for 6 months - I can't cry as I am out of pity - that run out years ago to be repaced by anger. Anger at nyself for being so arrogant to consider the possibility readers would pay a few cents for hours of work. All the readers wanted is to read for free - as one adage says - Everyobe loves your wiok, until they have to pay for it.

A second referendum So, the #RemainInEU   got their wish for a second vote. They are relying on the voters who voted to stay in the sinking EU to vote for again,  and hoping that Project Fear   will scare some of the borderline voters to sway the vote back. As with all things, this could work, there again it has a bad habit of backfiring on you - ask Ed Milliband - the former Labour leader was counting on the SNP   to back Labour in Scotland. What happened was Labour's nightmare, not only did the SNP not back Labour, the Pro-SNP movement cost Labour valuable;e seats and he lost the election and his job as leader. You need to remember that holding a second vote so close to the first is a suicidal ploy unless things have gone from bad to worse. In the case of Brexit , the UK has never seen such good things for generations. In this scenario, a second vote is doomed because people keep reading about trade deals and trade growth, despite the  media bia...

The first to 100 readers Today's big news is that the Irish Republic  is the first country to have 100 blog readers in a day for my blog.

In memory November is here and to the many the next thing is Bonfire night . As an animal lover, I plead with you to make sure our furry friends are safe, they can't understand the noises and flashes and don't forget to check your wood for hedgehogs - to them, a pile of timber is a place to stay warm. Not that I need reminding, to me November means one thing - remembering the fallen and damaged lives, who gave their lives for our freedom. Being ex-services, I carry with me a constant reminder of my days in the Royal Air Force . My left tendon ripped, and I am waiting for the right muscle to become torn. Two years ago, I wrote my story   From Elgar to Vaughan Williams   as a commemoration of what became known as The Lost Generation .  Young men and women who went to war, and returned broken in spirit - some scars are not physical - I knew a man who had nightmares about the Burma railway death marches. I dedicated my book to my late grandfather w...