Alan Place - Writer of Science Fiction

 My Golden year

Forgestriker

2012 was the year my Science Fiction series was at its foremost, that year, the Forgestriker series sold over 1,000 eBooks. A friend in Canada said, "If that had been on Amazon, I would be classed a bestseller." However, it was on Draft2Digital, so it went unnoticed.

Why am I using X?

 Promoting my work

Twitter Promotions

There is one reason I still use Twitter, to promote my blog. I often see posts asking "Would you unistall X for $1,000?" Happily, as I use WhatsApp to chat on. I also see posts asking "Would you uninstall Facebook?" That would be difficult for me, as I haven't used Facebook for over a year, and I have NOT missed it.

What would I like?

 To earn my royalties this year

Draft2Digital

My goal as a writer this year is to sell three of my eBook content on Draft2Digital, by doing this I can be paid my royalties for the first time in three year. After that, I may write again, and add the new book to my Amazon page

The cheat who lost

 My Golden year

Why cheat?

2012 was my summit as a writer, two of my stories earned an award, and I beat my harshest critic in contests THREE times that year. Usually cheats win, but I would rather come second knowing I did my best, than win knowing I cheated.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about. In 2012, I beat my critic, despite her asking a friend to hack a site, to eliminate one of my stories, which came back to beat hers on its return. The same year, she proclaimed a prize she had "claimed" on LinkedIn, that was until I pointed out, I had bought the story months earlier from a friend, and posted a photo of the book the story was in.

My Golden year

 The year of the Awards

Two Writing Awards in a year

In 2012, both of these books earned an award. Chronicles of Mark Johnson earned an award given by a site based in the USA. Sea Ghosts earned an award given in a writing contest set up by Facebook.

Yet, this was not the best part for me, personally. My joy came from beating a writer I used to know, not once, but THREE times in contest in 2012. Despite going against the site rules, which didn't apply to her, or her freinds, she often tried to ridicule my writing as inferior to hers.
It was an opinion not shared by many people on the site. One contest was set up by a friend of the writer, and I didn't wish to enter, I knew her tactics from old, "Win at any cost," which often included hacking a site. Against my wishes, I was coaxed by my freinds to enter. the other writer invited her friends to come to view my publis humilation. I amgine her horror when despite the site being hacked, and one of my stories being deleted, the story came back to take fourth place, well ahead of her best story, which came 10th.

I did consider going to the site, and posting about my win, but chnged my mind, it isn't my style to brag, and besides, her freinds already knew the news.

The double life of John "Mad Jack" Adams

 Sea Ghosts

Rudyard Kipling

I would say most people have heard the line from Rudyard Kipling's poem, Pook of Pook's Hill, "Them that ask no questions are told no lies."

It depicts the story of piracy during the 18th century on the coastof the UK. When times are hard, and food short, be grateful for anything. Wreckers were common along the shores, these people would move beacons used to guide the ships through safe safe channels to pull them onto rocks, then rush to the scenes to pick what they could, killing any survivors of the wrecks.

My short story (shown here) is a fictionalised version of the life of a man who led a double-life, one one hand John "Mad Jack" Adams was a king's man who checked for the smugglers. On the other hand, his knowledge of the shipping, meant he became one of the most feared pirates along the coast of Yorkshire.

This story has a sad ending, only told in my story.

In 2012, my story earned an award in a writing contest set up by Facebook.

This is Your Life

Alan Place -Senior Citizen

Romance in Whitchurch

Over the years, I have talked to many Senior Citizens, and felt sorry their lives focussed on going out twice a week for a treat. This week, it dawned on me, I am now one of them. Twice a week I go to the Whitchurch Inn, Whitchurch, Bristol, to meet my friend, Clara. I have been so often, I am now classed as a regular