Here I am at the edge

I had a cousin in #Whitby, #Yorkshire who was a traveler. He was a horse trainer and went to all the fairs

Free reading this weekend The segment follows the story from this link     https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-writingworld/the_trial_to_hell/ The wagon load of prisoners rolled out of the fort. As it did, the band started to play  The Battle Hymn of Republic      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6AOGRsR80   . Clem winked at his sergeant and called out, "Hey lads, I'm sure the Rebs can beat these measly Yanks at their game."  Taking the hint, the Feds broke into   I'm a Good Ol' Rebel      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfHigPsC_s   . Carter watched as the men sang in the contest, and he noted that Mabey wasn't joining in. He reeled his horse in and turned to the guide, "Why aren't you joining in the signing Mr. Mabey?" he asked. Mabey didn't take his eyes of the hills as he replied, "Trooper, it ain't that I don't support your cause. My cause is more important to me than either the Union or the Confed...

Free blog to read As you are reading this  blog  for free, I ask myself this question. Is it worth maintaining a standard?  When I began writing, over a decade ago, I pondered whether to go into books, or ebooks; I chose ebooks to test if I had enough sales to warrant the price of going into print, and my verdict is I made the correct choice.  Other than a huge sales boost of my ebook the only thing which could give me hope to write again is if I get the opportunity of a contract next month, but don'r hold your breath as the odds are 6,000 - 1 against. When  

Science Fiction writer I wonder if I would ever have thought of myself in the same way others did? Because of the number of sales that my  Science Fiction  series   http://alsdomain.weebly.com/forgestriker—the-hit-series.html  has made, many people consider me as a  best seller  – I am not one of them – despite over 700 sales in almost four years, I still consider myself as a hack writer   https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/i-am-vagrant-journalist.html#.Wafq8ch97IU . If my  e-book  sales had kept up, there may have come a time when I would have accepted the title, but the sales have died away despite being on two of the largest distributors  Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007U50BOI   and  Draft2Digital   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/150338

Milan bound If you're flying from  # BristolAirport   to  # Milan   or coming back from Milan, read my   # ebook       https://www.draft2digital.com/book/235628   because Milan is one of the cities mentioned in the story.

World War 1 Years ago when we lived in  Yorkshire , we would visit my late grandfather, and I would be enthralled by his wartime stories of  WW1 , although outside of our visits he never mentioned the war; like many of generation, he preferred to forget the horrors he'd seen. This generation was known as "The Lost Generation "  https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-lost-generation.html#.WaXUr8h97IU   because so many brave men and women died fighting what they thought would be the war to end all wars. The funny part of this story is when I think about now, and joining the local community center; I have become one of the people with stories to tell - truth be told - I never thought I'd see 30, never mind 61

Brislington A short walk from our house is the Callington Road Nature Reserve  https://www.bristol.gov.uk/museums-parks-sports-culture/callington-road . To imagine such a peaceful area in closeness to two main shopping areas of South Bristol is hard, as both Knowle  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowle,_Bristol   and Brislington  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brislington   are bustling shopping precincts.  Next month I hope to be able to get to Eastwood Farm Nature Reserve  http://www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/stockwood-open-space   in nearby Stockwood   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwood , that is if my legs have recovered from the last week of walking nearly every day to get some peace.

The Wild Rover at rest Once he had been a rambler, now the reality of his illnesses began to take their toll. His only escape from the horrors of life in a world of torment had been denied him. Only the fading memories were his escape these days. Where he once reveled in walking the hills, now he realized he could barely get to the local shops without considerable pain in his legs   https://hereiamattheedgeblogspotcouk.wordpress.com/2017/08/13/the-bitter-truth/ He didn't know which was harder to accept, the fact his days on the road were ending or that he now felt like a prisoner of his body. A body that from birth had been fighting him. He realized the road was beckoning him, but he knew those days were now at an end as his legs needed rest every other day.

Me and Religion When I was in the Royal Air Force , I was sent on a course to Amport House , near Andover . At the time, I didn't realize the venue was used for the Armed Forces School of Religion; I thought I'd been sent to help the condition of my #Mentalhealth as I was severely depressed at the time. I have thought over the years, perhaps I missed my calling and should have become a Minister. For many years, I have wanted to go on a pilgrimage to either of these venues   https://hereiamattheedgeblogspotcouk.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/two-items-from-a-defunct-bucketlist/

I need to believe there will be good times to come I used to believe there were good days ahead, but I was fooling myself. Several years after I posted this blog, and the only change is that I no loger care if an eBook sells.

If being disabled isn't bad enough! I don’t only have my disabilities to contend with,  I have to contend with an illness I contracted over 30 years ago when my wife almost became a widow within a week   https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-writingworld/was_history_repeating_itself/#disqus_thread

A 5 book series in one book Yesterday, I made a gaffe of sorts, I decided to re-write my original e-book The Dockland Murders , then I realized I had combined all the Pat Canella e-books into one file on my laptop. Instead of re-writing a 30-page story, I am now writing/editing a 140-page series, hence the  $5 price tag. 

For the second time, Smashwords proved too much trouble to use As I expected, I had masses of problems getting my e-book approved by  Smashwords , in the end, I unpublished it, not that it will make a difference from reports I’ve read about under the table sales. Now, I am only on   Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007U50BOI      and   Draft2Digital    https://www.draft2digital.com/book/235628 .

The word on the street is Pat Canella is set to return to the beat. I stood there, the gun still warm in my hand, barrel smoking from the gun battle. “Why did he do that, Sarge?  I tried my best to talk him out of it.” “Living with the guilt finally got to him, Patti.” “Couldn’t he have talked it over?” “No, the only thing worse than being a dirty cop is being the son of a loose cannon, and none came looser than Bill Chart, Patti.” I looked around.  There lay the body of Bill's son, my ex-partner, Adrian Chart. “I had no choice; he pulled first, Sarge," I said through my tears. “I know, Patti, we all saw it.  Nobody blames you.  It was his way out.” The last thing I remember was the Sarge saying in a soft tone, "Take a week off Patti, something like this will haunt you. I know. I have been there myself.”  Dazed, I stood there, trying to remember how it had all started . . . * * * I'd wanted an office and had pestered the sergeant for m...

It's been too long Yesterday, I challenged myself. The reason for the challenge is since my accident seven years ago, I have not been on a train. Part of the time away from traveling was the injury to my ankle worried me that my ankle would not stand the strain of getting on and off the carriages. As much as that concern was the image I saw on a video of a lady falling under a train, true, she was drunk, but the fall could have been me if my ankle gave way. For all the time away, I wished I could revisit  #Cheltenham . I used to go there at least once a month to give me something to look forward to and to give the family a break from the rows between my stepson and me. When I set out, I had no plans to go to Cheltenham yesterday.; I just needed some space from my stepson. My intention was to explore a local area –  #Knowle  – while I as in Knowle a bus came to go to the city centre,. For some reason, I know why I decided at that moment to get off the bu...

Or no sleep I am awake, despite not having had a night's sleep In three days. Having  Chronic Insomnia  drains your spirit as much as your energy. To add to that, I have lost a sense of time. To add to this situation, in the last few days I have suffered badly from depression ; this is not the cause of the sleepless nights, nor is the lack of sales for my ebook  https://www.draft2digital.com/book/   supply.

Real heroes Until this month, I had always supported the RNLI, what has made me change my views about the charity ? This month, the have sacked over 100 people to buy Burkinis for some Muslim children in a country that hates the UK . I am pleased I never chose them for my charity to donate to via the Give as you Live app. This is the story of real heroes, who only made local news headline for a week. The story is fiction, but the events are part of my family history. This story is fictional, but the events portrayed are part of my family’s history. In the early 1970s, my late Uncle John was involved in an accident at Whitby harbor, similar to the one Johan had. The result was he lost his job as a stevedore on Whitby docks, a position he held since World War 2. Later in the 1970s, my Uncle Len was involved in the rescue of a Polish ship at the mouth of the River Tees, North Yorkshire. My uncle was the man who boarded the boat and got the men to safety. The event is lo...

With an uncle who was in the #RoyalNationalLifeboatInstitute, this is my favorite #Hymn

Has anyone seen my motivation? #MondayMotivation is lacking more this week than before; mainly because I am now writing for free https://wordpress.com/post/hereiamattheedgeblogspotcouk.wordpress.com/1011 ,and I think my work has no value

I have never been able to answer the question A challenging question for me to ask myself as I spent several hours yesterday writing, true, I did enjoy myself but for all the time I spent blogging my stories, I saw nothing more than people “liking” them. For all my writing, not one e-book got sold.

Why I don't push my e-books I do not endlessly promote my books for many reasons.  In no order:- I got tired of trying to force sales, the constant worry lead me to change my policy this year   https://hereiamattheedgeblogspotcouk.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/i-am-writing-for-enjoyment-now/ Blogs that become book blogs get boring quickly - I know I've read many. Endlessly pushing books WILL lead to a stagnant blog because sooner, or later, you WILL run out of things to say about the book. I learned after my award-winner that no hard and devoted you are to pushing your book, in the end, it won't matter as the reader is the ultimate judge. 

I write like Over the years, I have been told I write like E.A.Poe , Wilkie Collins , Sheridan LeFanu , H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury . The latest addition to the list is a fellow writer said I write like Dashiell Hammett 's Sam Spade when I narrate events in my life. Writers are often told to write similar in style to the books they read, in my case, that would be Westerns/Military history   https://hereiamattheedgeblogspotcouk.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/hells-mouth/ I haven't read many westerns, my reading was more towards the history aspect military history