There are stories I won't write

 Alan Place - Multi-Genre Writer

Sex and Violence

There are some areas of writing I will not write about, for several reasons.

I won't write stories were the main theme is violence. Years ago, I wrote a story for a lady who got her thrills reading about the spilling of blood during sex, a little rough sex, within reason is arousing. This lady knew no boundaries, where you it lead? Writing that story made me physically ill.

I won't write a sex story, I tried, but got nowhere. Several of my stories have sex in, but that is part of the story, NOT the theme. I found it too boring to keep drawing the story to sexual encounters, sex in my stories is sensual, not sensational, I won't go into intimate detail, or use some of the modern terminology

No thanks

Alan Place - Book Promoter

                  A little-known area of my Writing life

Many years ago, I devoted my time to promoting the works of writers, via my blog. What happened?

Two writers were awarded contracts from my blurb writing content, another in Queensland, Australia saw his sales rise from 20 books a month, to over 200. What thanks did I get,none. Not even a quick email of gratitude, it was at that point I decided to play hardball, and stop promoting other writers, after all, nobody promoted my writing.

I earned my reputation as a writer of ghost stories, before I came into contact with other writers. My reputation as a writer has been spread by myself, and now, after a 15-year struggle, I have made a breakthrough. I have a literary agent interested in my story, The Awakening.

In conversation with Rick Riordan

 Alan Place - Children's Author

Angels Cried

Yesterday, I was contacted by bestselling author, Rick Riordan, writer of the Percy Jackson series, about the charity book Angels Cried. In 2011, I was asled to participate in compiling stories for a charity book to send money for the Sandy Hook massacre. I have stories in other antholgies, mainly for the Children's Charity books written by The Peacock Writers. As these were for charity, we didn't expect a payment.

One anthology of this time features two of my stories, but this antholgy left a bad taste with the writers, though the book sold out at a festival in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2012, none of the writers who contributed saw a nickel.

In Praise of Older Women

 The Allure of the Older Lady

Secrets on Amazon

There is a line said by a minor character in my book, Secrets, which typifies my view of older ladies. The young man says "Are trees that have aged with time, not as beautiful as young saplings?"

Cinema is ageist with regards to ladies, once they get in their 40's, when many are at their prime, they get replaced. 

Mae West was at her best in her 40's, her last films, when she tried to maintain the glamour of her appeal were a disaster.

Some younger ladies, in my opinion, get better with age, Jenny Agutter is a good example of this

The Netherlands reads this blog more than the UK

 The UK is lagging

The disappearing blog

In my 15 years as a blog writer, there has been one constant. No matter how well it does in other places, getting readers in the UK is almost impossible. To give you an idea of this, last year, I had more readers in both Hong Kong, and Singapore than the UK. Yesterday was another low for the UK with less readers than the Netherlands

I'm a celeb

 Alan Place - Award Winning Author

The Appeal of my eBook - The Awakening

For a few months, I was a celebrity, but I never bragged about the matter. The story above earned an award from a writing site in the USA, this was followed by my short story, Sea Ghosts, coming third in a contest organised by Facebook, both events happened in 2012.

This year, my story, The Awakening has gathered lots of interest from publishers. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do much as I am a disabled pensioner, and my little money leaves nothing to fullfill my dream

Boycott Morrisons

 Weighing the prices

Waitrose

This graph showing the decline of the financial status of Germany, may well represent the downfall of Morrisons soon.

They sacked a loyal employee after 17 years for apprehending a shoplifter. This action, only weeks after Waitrose did the same could become a trend.

The men should be publicly applauded for thier vigilence, not lose their jobs. In defence of the companies, the cost of a court case far outways the value of the goods taken, so a court case is not an option, why not lower the prices?