Mick Canning's Blog, page 14
April 1, 2021
Happy Birthday to my Little Brother
Who would have been 62 today. Grief is a powerful emotion. It can be debilitating and overwhelming. It can consume people, preventing them from living their lives. Although it sounds a fictional cliché, In some societies ‘professional’ mourners will attend funerals, intentionally provoking powerful outpourings of grief by almost theatrical displays of wailing and crying; …
March 21, 2021
So Little Time, So Much To Do
The last week or so seems to have been ridiculously busy. All my own fault, of course. I’ve become exceptionally good at realising I’m doing rather a lot…and then starting a new project to add to it. I’m making good progress on my current work in progress, A Good Place. Check. Now that I have …
March 10, 2021
Publishing Platforms – 2
My thanks to those who commented on my last post. I have now unpublished both books from Amazon, although Amazon won’t delist them on the grounds someone might want to sell them second-hand through their platform. I can’t do anything about that. I will shortly re-publish The Night Bus, probably on Lulu, although I haven’t …
February 15, 2021
Publishing Platforms
I have three questions for everyone out there who has self-published a book or books. If you used a platform other than Amazon, which one did you use, why did you use it, and how do you promote and sell? I have published two books, both on Amazon, and I used that platform as it …
February 12, 2021
Happy New Year!
Chinese New Year, that is. The year of the Ox. Here are a few pictures I’ve taken of Chinese New Year celebrations in the past. With Lockdown, I don’t suppose there’ll be too many going on this year, at least outside of China. First of all, some from London about thirty years ago: Chinese New …
February 10, 2021
Brrr!
It’s freezing here today, with a forecast of possibly -10C tonight. So here’s a photo of a line of Buddhist monks going for their breakfast one morning near Bodhgaya, India, from 2004. You’re welcome.
February 9, 2021
We Do Violence
Yay! Day seven of my Poem-A-Day-For-A-Week-Or-So project. I’m jolly impressed I got this far, although I say so myself. And I’m quite pleased with this one. Although, like all the others, it’ll benefit from some work on it later. We Do Violence We all occupy two places simultaneously: Wherever we happen to be in the …
February 8, 2021
Quick!
Day 6 of my poem a day for a week or so project. Almost there! And this one is a bit of an experiment… Quick Quick, the useless and the wistful, The deceitful and the unwary, Come now to me, for I must be honest, For I must write my poem . I have things …
February 7, 2021
Sigh
Poem number five in my Poem-A-Day-For-A-Week-Or-So series. Snow outside, test cricket on the TV, beer in the cupboard. That’s my day sorted, then. The sea sighs for you tonight. It sucks at the shingle And smears your footprints Like a wet thumb rubbed across writing. Where once you walked and left your Prints, it gently …
February 6, 2021
I Made A Vow
Day four of the Poem-A-Day-For-A-Week-Or-So project and a bit of a rush, today, as I’ve been assembling a shed (as you do). Another one, therefore, which will benefit from a revision when I have more time. In Tripoli I made a vow to travel light, my eyes wide open, Travel all the time I could, …
