Climbing Upon the Shoulders of Giants

When a door closes, does a window open? Not always so it seems, or at least not straight away. I am referring to my writing journey but I could be speaking about anything. In the case of my writing though I am discovering more and more opportunities to publish, thus far there is nothing yet associated with big named publishers... I am still chasing the pot of gold. For all of the windows that I am discovering, some open and some still as yet closed, I wonder if I will ever have time to knock on the big, golden door. I dream that life will be different, clearer perhaps. I know that my wife and my family are dreaming too, dreaming about a little cabin in the woods far away from everything. I like the idea of a quiet beach somewhere, perhaps one day we will have both. Until then though I must say a HUGE thank you to the existence of independent (Indy) publishers. Black Hare Press, Dark Myth Publishing, Black Ink Fiction, Pure Slush, Sweety Cat Press, Academy of the Heart and Mind, The House of Loki, to name but a handful of so many publishers, all of them successfully sharing the works of writers and artists such as myself, creators from all corners of this globe. Many of these Indy publishers are a one-person, two-person, or perhaps ten (if they're lucky) person team. It all equates to the same thing; more windows, more doors, and thus even more opportunities. Now all it seems we need is more time. One day someone will come up with a way to make that happen too. While we wait and hope for that we must make the most of the time we have got. If you are not sure, knock, and knock loudly. Doors and windows can only swing open when we seek them and ask.

The Joys of Being a Writer

I have begun a new year, already with a poem and a short story scheduled for publication. This morning I recieved in my email digital copies of three anthologies from Black Ink Fiction, five of the stories being animal themed drabble (stories of exactly 100 words), and the other two being short stories of the erotic romance genre. My experience as a writer since the end of 2018 when I started taking this hobby seriously has been a true eye opener. I have made a multitude of supportive friends online, people who write and publish from all over the world, and I have discovered wonderful support from friends and family here at home. I still don't consider myself a professional writer, not yet, but this hobby has enabled me to feature in so many anthologies (both in digital format and in print) that it is getting more and more difficult for me to consider myself a librarian first and a storyteller and poet second. All things considered though, I will always make being a husband and a father my top priority. Hopefully, 2023 will continue to provide me with ample time to submit my stories, short and long, and to maybe one day pay my way through writing... There are many opportunities for the writer of today, one just needs to be clever and quick. A thick skin helps too, along with wonderful friends and family from all over the world willing to stand in your corner and cheer you on. Thank you all!

Family time thanks to Puss and Wednesday

Happy New Year and all the best for 2023 to you all. I am ashamed to admit that I have started a weekly podcast for an independent publisher and am recording podcast episodes much faster than I am posting here. Perhaps I should get into the habit of posting the same day that I record... I guess time will tell... Speaking of time, we have seen in a new year very differently this year... A quick family escape, a planned trip to the seaside that went from two days to one. The river that runs through our town of Murray Bridge as well as numerous other places located in New South Wales, Victoria, and our home state of South Australia is rising, and rising unusually high. One thing that is a result of all of this river water is that the oceam mouth (where the river flows into the sea) is now quite murky and yucky. A trip to the beach is no longer the same joy that it once was. New Years' Eve at Victor though impressed us with the family fireworks and fun things for families to do. Unfortunately the accomadation let us down somewhat and so we returned to a home that is relatively spider free. It was strange to have New Years just as a family, normally there is a party at our house and lots of hugs and kisses when the old year makes way for the new. I guess traditions change, and this tradition helps us focus on what is important, family. And on the topic of family we have had a wonderful family day out recently in which we managed to catch the latest flick from DreamWorks, Puss in Boots - The Last Wish. If each member of our family had a star to allocate then this film would get at the very least four and a half blazing, beautiful, dazzling stars. Probably five if we were all honest. Great characters, and engaging storyline, a good one for the whole family. Something that deserves ten stars at least is the reimagining of the Addams Family, the Netflix series Wednesday. Our eldest has watched it when it first came out and we held off because I heard it was dark and very violent. Then we heard my brother-in-law was watching it with his family and they have kids much younger than ours. So we bit the bullet and decided to give it a go and absolutely loved it. Even Mr. 16 decided to join us for a few of his fav episodes. All in all a great start for us for 2023. Hopefully, this trend will continue.