Monday, March 15, 2021

BOOK NUMBER 3

 How time flies. My last post was in December 2020. It is now the 15th March 2021. A full 3 months later. Strangely, Covid-19 has ensured that not much has happened over the last 3 months. Off course life happens, but it all seems to be in slow motion.

My major events are that I revamped my flat in Pinetown. A full makeover. I painted the walls, varnished the woodwork, fitted burglar bars to all the windows, replaced the kitchen tops with granite and retiled the bathroom fitting a new bath and shower unit whilst we were at it. I am now completely broke, but it was all worth it for the very nice tenant I now have. A Malawian professor and his wife, Very good payers.

My other big news is that Paul may be getting married to Ellery soon. As soon as the red tape has been completed in the UK. It is a minefield and he has been forced to employ lawyers to help him through the process. Good luck to him. And Carina, my God child is going to marry Rene' on the 22nd March 2022. She has booked a very nice venue in the winelands @ Mont Rouge, Tulbagh. Love is in the air.

And then I have decided to publish a third book. I think I will call it AFSP. (Anthology of flash fiction, short stories and poetry or Audrey, Frank, Stephanie and Paul.). This is fitting as one of my companies is called FSP Enterprises. FSP for Frank, Stephanie and Paul. Its only right that I bring Audrey into the equation here and it slots in perfectly.

I started writing after I was laid off work in 2003. I joined the Writers Circle in about 2006 but only started entering competitions in 2008. Anyway, I now have bits and pieces of writing dating from 2008 to the present. I have not been very active in the Circle for years now, Audrey didn't like the type of people that attended their meetings, but I have entered certain competitions from time to time. The closest I have ever got to winning was a third place about a year ago. I won R50. Great stuff!

Whilst at a Writers meeting I met Ros Fielding who dragged me off to LIPS (Live Poet Society) meetings, much against my will initially. I have never considered myself a poet and had, and still do have a pretty low opinion of poets in general. I hate it when they get all dramatic with angst, gnashing of teeth and rending of sack cloth. They simply over dramatis any subject to death. My poetry style is to follow the classic style of the type or genre of poetry being written to the letter, or as best I can. All very academic and formal. The first and third lines rhyme. Then the second and forth lines rhyme. Scholarly but correct. I have produced a few good pieces I think. You be the judge when the book is finally published. Don't hold your breath, it will still be a long while before I publish. I may have to write more to get the desired number of pages.

All I need to do now is find enough material of a high enough quality to warrant publication. I'm afraid I was not very good at writing in 2008.

As regards my health, which you probably don't want to hear about, But I include it so that you will not be too surprised if I pop off the twig one day.

My cellulitis is still with me after heaven knows how long. I started taking antibiotics, Purbac again on Saturday. The infection is still there, but seems to be confined to a very small circle on the top of my right foot. I know this strain is resistant to antibiotics but it is my only option. The Purbac comes from a months supply that I could not take earlier. I was sure that the antibiotics were making me sick after two months of taking them, so I stopped. Anyway, I am taking them now, first a five day course then if no improvement I have enough for another five days. We live in hope.

As for sales of my first two books. There are no sales. All my Shell contacts, all my bowls contacts, all the people in Toti, nobody is buying. I gave two books to Carina, my Godchild for her birthday. Even she did not bother to buy a copy of the books published by her Godfather. Nice hey?  I also gave a copy of each to Amanda, who has published two books on Amazon, but she is too poor to import any copies. How sad is that? A published author without a copy of her own books in hand. I referred her to Malherbe Uitgewers. They will publish for her at a reasonable price.

I gave a copy of both of my books to the library at Galleria They promised to acknowledge the generous donation, but never did. So much for getting rich from the sale of books. Forget it, I am going to starve.

Otherwise I continue to struggle to breath in the Durban heat. It is particularly bad when the temp is above 29 deg C during the day and the humidity is above 85, or over 24 degrees C at night, and the humidity is above 85 percent. Atmospheric pressure below standard, 1013 mbar also seems to to be bad. My Vannair asthma pump is critical at these times. Without the pump I would never sleep. I have always said that high temperatures are good for me, my muscles work when it is warm, but now I cannot breath. How pathetic is that?

And on that cheerful note, I leave you. Till next time then.










MY BIRTHDAY, MY PATENT, MY CHILDREN COMING HOME AND THE 4TH WAVE.

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