Heartache City
Eleven years ago, I fell in love. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t focus. I was intoxicated. Over the 11-years there were ups and downs and perhaps in retrospect signs that all was not quite OK. The funny thing is, often you don’t actually register the signs until afterwards. The last 2-3 years have been one long roller coaster of off and on again culminating in me finally moving out a few months ago. Even then, all was to some extent OK. I still loved her but I needed to get some space and process things a bit. In my heart, I think I knew that it was over but I held out that little glimmer of hope that somehow, the woman I once knew and loved would
Read More »I Feel an Album Coming On
Recently, I bought a new guitar. Then, I bought a way to record it on my iMAC and then finally, I bought a microphone…. I am now engaged in a project to record a bunch of songs I wrote and often performed back in the 1970’s and early 80’s along with a couple of newer songs. Not sure what people will make of my indulgence but I am having fun! One thing I discovered is that my voice is no longer very powerful and I no longer can hit the notes so well….. However, here is the first track – I may re-record the verse vocals at some point but for now, I’m sort of OK with this. It’s called Waitin’ For You and I wrote it in a room
Read More »Audio, Audio
As a writer who publishes his own books, any way to get to an audience and make additional sales is of value. About 6-months ago I thought I would have a shot at audiobooks via ACX – Amazon’s audiobook platform. Today, I sold my 500th audiobook! I am reaching a different audience using the audiobook as well and I do think that is helping book sales generally. I am on for a record year and currently have 4 books in the UK supernatural top 50 including an audio book! The ACX program is a bit rigid but it is quite easy to navigate. Firstly, you sign up for your account and then you identify your books – those you want to create audiobooks with anyway. Then, you look for a
Read More »Amazing Coincidence
This last weekend, we went to a fairly remote location north of Prague for some hiking and sight seeing. On the Sunday, we were trying to decide where to stop for lunch. Initially, we stopped at a pub that looked quite nice but we were put off by the interior and so we set off again. A few minutes later, we saw another place that looked OK so we pulled in. Parking was a bit of an issue as the place seemed quite popular. We had our lunch and then we walked around and up the hill a little, taking in the pretty hillside cottages and the view. Then, we walked around the back of the pub/restaurant, got in the car and, after a quick chat and change of plan,
Read More »Murder by Social Media
Perhaps I am going to run the risk of getting the wrong side of the PC crowd with this one, but as I often say, someone has to say it. This last week, two news stories caught my attention because they were two sides of the same coin and in my opinion, both wrong. The first story is of the mountain climbers in Malaysia. OK, when in Rome and all that and tourists need to consider where they are and take responsibility for their actions and all of that – yes, I agree. But, good grief, how to get worked up over a non-event. Apparently, it was offensive to God that these people got naked for a photo. Really? Which God would that be then? The one that created them
Read More »Checkpoints
Once again I find myself sitting here sort of alone. I always seem to end up listening to music and drinking a glass or two of wine. The music these days will be Bush, Gavin Rossdale, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, or one of his other projects…. maybe Riverside or Opeth. Whatever, the music seems to find its place within me and that place is invariably somewhere in the past. It isn’t that I don’t look forward to the future, I do and very much. No, it is simply that I now have 55 years of very precious memories, life’s lessons and many rambling and bizarre thoughts about how to make sense of it all. I have been extraordinarily fortunate in my life. I have packed a couple or more lives
Read More »Responsibility
As an esotericist, I have come to the conclusion that I am responsible for myself. I have half an idea that for many new agers and the like, this statement is akin to saying I am a satanist, but I stand by my statement none the less. We all create our reality – this place we live in. We create it in the way that we see things and how we act. Thoughts are things and they manifest as reality. Only I can create my reality therefore I am responsible for my thoughts and what they create. As a self responsible co-creator of this reality we live in, I must strive to improve myself. I don’t mean make more money or buy a bigger house. No, I mean improve myself
Read More »People are Funny
People. We are a strange bloody lot don’t you think? There is a woman down our street who we often meet walking her dog. If we have our dog with us too she will cross the road to avoid us glaring the entire time. What is bizarre about this is that dogs like to sniff each other don’t they but her she protects her dog from contact with all others muttering to herself and glaring her glare at other dog and owner. Why? Today, I made a comment on a global warming story. I expected a reply or two it is par for the course but the reply I actually received blew me away. It said “Look mate, I have an O level in science and I got that O
Read More »Christmas is Just Silly!
Christmas has many facets. One of them is the never ending commercialization of what really should be a simple family Christian religious celebration. Of course, christmas has in its central theme, much for non-Christians to peruse and consider in terms of its greater spiritual meaning and in terms of other non-Christian celebrations at this time of the year. However, the endless commercialization has really spoiled for me what used to be a happy and beautiful time of the year. In the Czech Republic, christmas decorations generally still go up around the 1st December. Some of the chain stores with HQ’s overseas start earlier though. In other places like the US and the UK, christmas basically now starts in October or even earlier. It is no longer a religious holiday unless
Read More »Finally, A Hit?
Recently, I decided to experiment a bit with writing and publishing. I decided to try to broaden my audience a bit and see what worked in terms of covers and content and so on. In writing this blog, I actually generate a lot of material that eventually gets buried and lost in time but is eminently re-usable. I also had the weirdest experiences growing up with ghosts, poltergeist and all sorts of strange paranormal phenomena. I hit upon an idea and wrote My Haunted Life as a small book, primarily designed for the Kindle paranormal and supernatural market. I took some blog articles and turned them into short stories and added several new short stories – all true. I topped and tailed it with some thoughts about reality as it
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