Here I am at the edge

Happy New Year Max and I are settling in for the night with our favorite detectives, and a warm drink. After the heartbreak of this year, Max needs to he is well-loved. I doubt he will see March, his age is against him, and his breathing is short because of cancer he suffered earlier this year. Each day, I give thank to the Lord for allowing Max to live.

Too good to be true I wasn't on Writer's Bureau long, I had disagreements with an abusive tutor. But the one thing I did learn is lesson Writing 101 - if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. This is how I feel about this idea  http://bingewatchingcure.com/ , the man running the site is offering $200 for a 2,000-word story. The standard rate for such a short item would be a $20 maximum.  I sent in a story I had on file, but I don't expect anything to happen tonight when the deadline is crossed.  My dear friend, and editor, Julia would say I am too cynical, but after several years of people saying they will buy my e-books and not doing it, can you blame me?

Year of the book As my  e-book   selection      http://alsdomain.weebly.com/barnes--noble.html   is not selling well, I am going to concentrate on doing some reading next year.   One of the first books I have to finish is  The Rum Diary  by  Hunter S. Thompson .  I bought the book months before I saw it is a film starring a young  Johnny Depp  as his friend, HST.  The most probable reason for getting the book is somebody said my style of writing was much like Hunter's, later I watched the series  Magic City , which is set around the same time in  Miami . The difference being Rum Diary is set in  San Juan ,  Puerto Rico .   Another book by Hunter I want to read is  The Great Shark Hunt

When you're down, you're down I admit to being a sinner, and it has lead to my downfall. Sin A is envy. I was jealous of the times I read about writers boasting of sales, money and best sellers - all I wanted was a small crumb off the table. Sin B is arrogance. I was arrogant enough to think people would buy my work, outside the early success of my sci-fi series, nothing has sold. Sin C is sloth. The sloth has been brought on by the lack of interest in the books on sale, I now no longer care if I go weeks/ months without writing, soon I won't be blogging either. My life is so dull there is nothing to write about 

Pets mean love Our family has no doubt the best gift we have this year, is the gift of life.  Three weeks ago, we thought we'd lose we'd lose our dog, Max to cancer. He'd had an operation earlier in the year, and we thought he wouldn't be able to survive another one so soon.  Max's death would have completed the most horrid year for the family with losing both his sister, Jess, and their daughter, Bear within months of each other at the start of the year.  I am pleased to say, Max appears to be doing as well as can be expected. His breathing is laboured but it always will be now.

Book 3 starts the ball rolling Ater a gap of four years, Mark Johnson has returned to the sales market with the sale of my new e-book     https://www.books2read.com/u/3Lrxn7

Nosferatu While next year will mark my first vampire romance , it isn't my first vampire story. During the Twilight craze, I wrote   https://www.books2read.com/u/m0gZP3 . I did make the point that if you're expecting young, sexy vampires, you'll be disappointed as these vampires are more in the mold of the classic German film of the 1920's ( Nosferatu ). This story was my Amazon bestseller until I took my books down because they weren't selling.

2017 will be a new beginning for me This year, I started a story about a vampire romance -   https://www.books2read.com/u/mdKnxX  - this is one of the many stories I aim to expand in the New Year. I haven't done vampire romances before so this story will be a challenge for me.

The second half Well, here we are in the second half of the longest month of the year, and things are bleak for my sales.  My e-book sales have hit a new low for the third month on the trot, and Christmas has never been a good time for my sales.

Trenches of Verdun Until you've stood in the trenches, as I did at Verdun , you have no idea how much damage is done psychologically to the men who see their victim fall. Their only solace was "It's either him or me."

Notable ladies of Israel This afternoon, I had a parcel arrive from Israel . One of the stamps on the packing was a Jewish woman, being me, this started a quest for information about the lady in question. The woman in question turned out to be the poet Zelda Mishkovsky . It is a trait of mine to research people I see on stamps.

The Lord said it is better to give than to receive Jesus said, "It is better to give than to receive." That is one reason why I donate to charity  in  Israel . Also, several years ago, my family hit bottom when we were short of money at Christmas ; if it hadn't been for a food hamper donated by our school, we wouldn't have had food that Christmas.

Que sera, sera I can't force sales of my e-books  https://books2read.com/ , so there is no need for me to worry about falling sales. If not in the hands of the Gods, my sales are in the hands of the few readers I have.

To Life The Jewish greeting L'Chaim translates into the better known "Cheers." Each day, I thank our Lord for allowing my friend Max to live, only a few weeks ago, I thought I'd lose him to a resurgence of cancer he'd had several months ago. Max's breathing is wheezy and laboured, but he appears in no pain. He is back to his cheerful self, demanding cuddles and tummy rubs at the most awkward moments; for this, I thank our Lord.  I know when his time comes, I will be devasted, that is why I am thankful for each minute with him. The Rainbow Bridge When Max's time does come, he'll have lots of friends across the Rainbow Bridge . Until that day, I say L'Chaim, Max.

John Masefield When I think of my last trip to Scarborough, the words of John Masefield come to mind, when he said:- I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking. I love to be by the sea on a windy day, to me, there's nothing greater than the salty water on your lips. The odd thing about Scarborough Bay, while the North Bay gets the high winds - in 2005 they needed to rebuild the promenade from where the car is - the South Bay is the opposite and so calm you need to walk for about 3/4 mile to reach the sea; then only a child's ankle deep.

Life isn't all bad One of the happiest times of my life leads to this amusing video taken during my stay in Lac La Biche , Alberta , Canada . The story behind the video is that I used to do a funny walk to give my friend, Faye, a laugh (she's the one you hear asking me to do the walk). It was a sunny day in late August 2009, and the four of us - Faye, her daughter Marge Woods , a friend of Faye's and myself were preparing an outdoor barbecue at the time of the filming, and things go out of hand. As you can hear, it was a funny evening for all concerned. A few days earlier, Faye and I visited the powwow for the Northern Cree tribe that reside nearby. This is a short video I took at the time.

Christmas memories from Alan Christmas to me isn't a happy time. Many of my memories are of hardship and sorrow, not to the extent of the workhouses - thank the Lord. The most memorable and last Christmas was 1974. Why was it both memorable and lasting, read on to find out. I had enlisted in the Royal Air Force a few weeks earlier and our basic training involved camping out for a week, in what turned out to be the harshest winter in over 20 years. We were supposed to be in the camp for a week, but we were brought back after three days. 1974 was also the Christmas that I did the injury to my ankle that has left me an invalid. 1975 was the first Christmas I spent in Scotland. I set off early for the trip to Bristol, and I was plagued by delays caused by snow from the all the way from Elgin to Edinburgh . The train from Elgin to Huntly could only get as far as Keith before the track was blocked. By the time we'd been put on a coach from Keith to Aberdeen, we m...

You tell me because I can't decide for you I have decided to keep my blogs running, at least for a few months, at least the get read. The TravelWest Incident Before you say this couldn't happen, remember we're talking about a Muslim. These people have been taped blowing themselves up. Two years ago, a Muslim hacked into the TravelWest site and closed it down for about two hours, the effect of his actions was minimal at the most.Instead of hacking an airline site, he hacked a local bus site LOL  In this age of terrorism, who would think ALL the West's airlines shared one site - oh yes, a stupid Muslim.