Here I am at the edge

A ghost anthology. I am bringing out some of the ghost stories I wrote in an anthology,  as they did not sell as single short stories . The anthology will bring together some older stories with some new work I will be starting soon.

Janey Kirk on the cover. You can't lose! Less than $2 for over 100 pages of a spiritual romance www.amazon.com/dp/B07226FRDK . The lady on the cover is my friend, the singer, Janey Kirk.

Being a senior citizen has its drawbacks.   I am now almost as old as my father when he died from cancer. A fall such as the one I had yesterday wouldn't usually have left me feeling poorly, but with my ankle turning and a heavy fall, I am still shaky and aching almost a day later. The peril of getting older.

A Better Afternoon I am pleased to say the weather has changed back to Summer, after a wintery start to the day we now have a mild breeze blowing down our street. The cover above was shot by me on my last evening in Lac La Biche , Alberta , Canada, in  the Fall of 2009. I was staying with my friend, Faye, at the time. Faye passed away a few weeks later. Nerja is my only ebook short story to be awarded FIVE STARS on Amazon . There is an interesting back story to how I came to write this story. I was watching a video of a plane flying over Manchester, and I thought "I wonder what would happen if it disappeared with all the people in the offices looking on?" That was my original concept, I had no idea when I changed the scenario to a Native American spiritual story. Like most of my ebooks, the story is for sale on either Draft2Digital or Google Play .

The readers are being spoilt for choice on Disqus. On my channel    https://disqus.com/home/channel/indieworld/  - there is an endless store of free short stories to read. I am looking for writers who wish to add their work to a thriving channel, and who seek a new challenge.

Follow my page on Disqus. On my channel on Disqus , I'm running several free short stories  https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-indieworld/god_walks_these_dark_hills_part_2/ . 

New material from next week. From next week, my serial    https://disqus.com/home/channel/indieworld/topics/the-word/   on Disqus will not be copied from old files, I have no idea what will happen next.

Strike 3. If you are wondering about the sequel to my romance story, let me give you an update - it has been shelved indefinitely. Despite my best efforts and at significant cost, the opening book in the series never took off, so there is no point in continuing the story of Kim and Adrianna.   This is the third large book I wrote, and the third consecutive failure, in my world that means it is over.

Always do your best. My former editor used to say, "always write to the best of your ability even on your blogs, you never know if a publisher is reading them." That was one piece of advice I never believed when you consider the millions of people writing blogs what are the chances of a publisher reading one of mine? Less than a snowball's chance in hell. I've been blogging for over a decade and never got anywhere. Years ago, I had a German friend who said I was in the top six bloggers she knew, now I find it hard to write one blog a day.

I fought the battle to the bitter end. When people read I have fought an incurable illness for two decades, until last year, they think of me as a fighter and an inspiration. To me, I am just a person who wouldn’t go down without a fight. I know I’ll lose the war, but I sure as hell will win some battles, and I have.

The Final Chapter Perhaps, I should have stopped a decade ago; at that time my star was in ascendance, and I had hopes of better things ahead. Who can tell? Maybe, I should not have began, I spent 15 years attempting to be someone I am not, and for what? Everyome loves your work, until they have to pay for it. You got that right, buuddy! I must be awesome, in the FREE EBOOK world, I had over 1.500 free downloads last year from Draft2Digital . If I had been given $0.20 per copy, I would have earned nearly FOUR TIMES what I did earn trying to sell my writing . Equally, those sales would have given me the belief to go on, but alas, people only want something for nothing; the writers pay the price for FREE LENDING LIBRARIES . To demonstrate how wicked the system is, one of my ebooks has been downloaded over 1,000 times, and because nobody knows the number of downloads to reach before I get my royalty payment for the book, the situation can go on endlessly. FROM NOW ON You can get your FREE...

A Homecoming sequel. The destiny of the sequel to my romance   https://tsw.createspace.com/title/8748883   lies with you, the readers. If there is no interest in my romance, there is no point in me continuing to write a sequel.

A Christian Fiction story. Several months ago, I completed the first of my Christian fiction stories  God Walks These Dark Hills . I decided to get away from the Science fiction that brought my reputation on Draft2Digital because I needed some peace in my life.

There is more to come. Now I am struggling now to sell my e-books , it is hard to imagine myself writing two popular science fiction series, but I have as Forgestriker may be my only sales success, online I have another popular serial   https://www.alsdominion.co.uk/home/are-you-following-my-science-fiction-serial .

It is a dark path I walk. It is clear to me that it wasn't in the Lord's plan for me to be a writer . All I know is that I won't be writing short stories again; there is no point in spending months writing something that nobody will read.

I am a reader now. The English title of Marcel Proust's seven-book magnum opus is a fitting title to how I feel about my writing. I am not writing again, there is no point in me spending months on a book that either I end up asking so little for that I may as well give away, or writing a book that nobody will read. The dream is over for me since my school days I thought I may be able to sell a few stories, but I was living a lie and chasing rainbows.

My Amazon bestseller. The funny thing about my  Amazon bestseller    www.amazon.com/dp/B007CJKK84   is that it is the only  Western Fiction  I wrote, yet when I began to write, not for sale, I used to write Western Fiction stories. The only reason this book is my bestseller is it sold several copies in one day (twice), not even my best-selling book -  Forgestriker    www.draft2digital.com/book/32492 - can match that feat.

Help a writer feel he's worth something, please. If you've read my blog , you'll know that I struggle to believe my work is valued, despite being an award-winner and having my science fiction series sell over 800 e-books. You can help me fight these doubts by buying some e-books from my store    https://www.alsdominion.co.uk/book-store.html . To me, the sales are not monetary value, but a sign that readers think my work has a value that is more valuable to me than the money.

It's no shame to be self-published. I would have liked to have my book    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075BJH2D2 published by a reputable publisher, but being a realist, I know there is little chance of it happening. So I printed it myself using CreateSpace . I have to say I am pleased with the result.

The Word. Week 10 of my science fiction serial has just gone online    https://www.alsdominion.co.uk/the-reading-room/the-word . 

So much to write, so few to read.  I know what I need to do; I need to get back to writing  short stories , but that is easier said than done when my blogs    www.alsdominion.co.uk/ ,  hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/ ,  and    https://disqus.com/home/channel/indieworld/ are not being read. You could say, why not write more to attract more people? My answer to that is give me a reason? I am blogging most days and feel I am the only person reading what I write.

There is a need I feel to change how writers tackle their art. I know I live in a time that no longer exists when writers had morals to keep. The trouble is with the internet making anyone with a laptop and basic IT capabilities a writer (that includes me), the web and bookstores are being filled with cheap porn passed off as literature.  I am no prude, I have written two or three erotic romances in my time, but the difference with my stories is the sex is only a minor part of the story, not the crux of the storyline. I feel there is a need for writers to rethink how we write. I have tried to write the type of cheap porn that sells and I found I could not write the stories. My stories will have a religious theme, but I am not trying to preach/convert readers, only to show that some writers do not need to write trash to write a good story. I also realize that writing Christian Fiction short stories will increase the probability of me not selling any e-books ...

Weird moments in a confused mind. Last night, I came up with an excellent sequel to this story    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007QERF2E , then in the reality of the mess drugged state of clarity this morning I realized there is no point in writing the story; nobody has read the original story. In my state of drugged sleep last night, I also dreamed that I sold two #ebooks on Draft2Digital . What are these potent drugs that create such wondrous illusions? Nothing special, only my usual sleeping pills, Amitryptiline .

I wish I could believe things will work out

Pat Canella goes to a publisher. Before I earned my rep  Science Fiction , I won praises from an Australian police officer in    Queensland  that I used to chat to before he became a top-selling writer in  Australia . The book that gained the praises is the first in my Pat Canella series    www.amazon.com/dp/B0078VZREI . I did write a sequel and start the third book, but the sales died off after the initial rush.  The series is about a young PI who needs to fight prejudices to prove herself, a good read for fans of  Agent Carter . By this weekend, I should know if the book has been accepted by a  Crime Fiction publisher .

The Fourth Reich. Theresa May  should be tried as a traitor! She sold out the UK to Germany, now she has doomed generations to pay off the German banking failure. The UK held all the aces in the deal, we had begun to thrive again, after the news of  Brexit , countries were lining up for business deals including  Germany . Mrs. Merkel was pleading for a deal as she said Germany would lose over 700,000 jobs if we left, now she's laughing all the way to the bank knowing the UK is tied to bailing Germany out of whatever mess they create.  Mrs. May has no respect for the thousands of men, women, and children who died in the wars to prevent this from happening.

My book page on Weebly. With the holiday approaching where better to get your quick reads than from at    https://www.alsdominion.co.uk/book-store.html . On Draft2Digital I have some freebies, but in general, the e-books are available from either Amazon or Draft2Digital .

Who needs rap, when we have musicians? This to me is music, there are beats and rhythms to listen to, unlike the "C" rap that is mass produced sound today. There are some excellent rap singers such as Jamie Grace , Lynda Randle , and Babbie Mason . If there is one thing I wished I could do, it is play an instrument.

I was going to write Christian fiction stories. For several weeks I thought about writing Christian fiction stories; I did start one a few days ago. One thing I am not proud of doing, but it was time to do it, is I launched a book with a semi-naked couple on the cover. The cover may give a false impression of the content of the story, but why should I bother about that, after all, I struggle to make a dollar a week as a writer. If somebody complains about the story, I have got to the stage where I am saying, " all that matters is the book sold."   I am not proud to have fallen so low, but I feel this is the only way to sell books these days.

Being a performer takes a lot of courage. Have you ever thought of the courage it takes to stand in front of a crowd, even a small one, and act/sing or read? Of course, I discount garage, rap, and house, they could sing off-key and out-of-tune, and you'd never know with the volume of sound involved. I went to one concert where I had to leave after 15 mins, the sound bouncing off the walls was like a hammer hitting me in the chest. I was physically ill that night, the gig? A rock band? No, folk singer Richard Thompson. The set up was equivalent to what you'd expect from Alice Cooper. I know, I did it once, never again.