Why I Write

I write not to release the demons within me,

But rather to resolve the conflict the demons have brought.

September 11

Sixteen years ago today, the world stopped.

 I know exactly where I was when I first heard of September 11. I know who I was talking to. I know what I did.

I know know what the effect of that day was upon me.

This morning, I set about my day heading for surgery when the names of the heroes of United Flight 93 were being run across the screen.  People who had a glimpse of what had happened elsewhere, powerless to help them, but did their own thing.

For All Mankind.

And it struck me. My forefathers before me had their own pivotal moments in time. World War 1. Sir Robert Menzies "and as a result, Australia is also at war." Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The wars of my forefathers, are now my wars. Children who are in school have no knowledge of how much September 11 changed everyone's way of life.

May they never have to tell their children of their own war.

How Far Will You Go To Write?

How far will you go to write?

Will you...

• give up your country?
• take a chance on an untested ability? 
• maintain a day job that can, on occasion, take your writing time away?

Since movng to the United States, I have never worked as hard as I have recently. It's not about just making a wage, it's not about saving for a rainy day, it's about volume.

The volume of work - do more with less for the same amount.  How far can an employer go?

I have recently lost a lot of my writing time, not though neglect. not through disinterest...but through work. Forty days and night have been lost. I went forty days without writing.

Oh, the humanity.

How far will you to go write?

Techincal Difficulties

There are a number of organizations for whom I write for.

There are a number of organizations for whom I entrust my writing to.

And there are two organizations where I am currently witting as a development point. For the past few months, I have been crafting science fiction, developing a first person story telling trait which has been, historically, a harsher genre to write in.

Now I am perplexed by a technical issue that has prevented me from uploading the story for the past three weeks, despite the story gaining viewer traction.

A Gateway error is preventing me from accessing the server in which the story resides.

The story is still being written, it's not in the public forum.

I need to write a resolution to a technical difficulty.

What I Do, What I Write

Next week, I travel interstate for a conference which pertains to my "day job". While it is no secret about what I do - a quick search of Google will show that - there is very little writing about my work.

Conversely, twenty years ago, I was in an environment which now has numerous appearances in a variety of genres - self help, family, motivation and science fiction. How is that I was able to turn a career into profitable works?

I wrote about work.

The New York Times in 2014 wrote that "just being a novelist is a lot harder than it looks". Never has this been more apparent when people inevitable ask me what I do to support my writing. Again, it's no secret, but what I actually do - well, that needs to stay on the 'down low'.

This week I started working on a piece of speculative fiction and several thousand words in, I recognized that had I been sitting at a Starbucks writing, (as most writers seem to be identified as commencing there) any Tom, Dick or terrorist in the area would have been able to see "what I actually do".

Delete.

Our Nations Security, is far more important, than anything that I might write in the imaginative world of the Saturn Sector.

In Memorium

But for the stroke of a pen, there go I.

Vale,  Constable Mark Goodwin.

It took twenty five years before I could write about him.

Force Majeure of Parental Alientation

Each week, I look at the bank page where my blog resides and try to decide what stains will grace it.  Mostly, this blog alternates between the development of the writer within me, the injustices orchestrated against fathers, and occasionally, recent events in my personal life.

This week all three managed to combine into a "force majeure" event, a phrase normally associated with a contract where certain circumstances beyond their control make either party unable to fulfill their obligations.

Acts of God, natural disasters, civil war are the big three that most think of. Sometimes it can be the mental grind.

This week I had to take on the State of California and the Commonwealth of Australia as, once again, their errors which are compounded with automatic penalties, were once again identified as inaccurate. The State acknowledges that the error occurred, but claims it has no authority to correct it. At the same time, they report that they are legislated to act on a thirty (30) day response. The Commonwealth of Australia report that they have no recourse when payment is not made, but must continue to act until so resolved.

No one wants to take responsibility, but will proceed regardless rather than redress the error. Sounds like a poor parenting plan. And it is.

Having championed the cause, I have returned home to receive correspondence from my native country addressed to my daughter at her mother house. Apparently, her mother can receive payments for our daughter at that mailing address, but when a gift from me is sent to our daughter, it is marked "return to sender".

It was only in recent years that I found a name for the "force majeure" of my life.  It's called Parental Alienation. And it's taught by the evil mothers to our children, learned from their mother.

Wickedness, repeats history. As done to the mother of our children, so is now done to our children.