The good morning, good night thread

[Ed]

Cool

I think I'll extent the dealine until the end of Feb. I've got a flash brewing in my mind, but it's not down on Word yet

[delboy]

So the western publisher stopped publishing westerns as there's no money it. Which is a shame as I have a finished MS and a half-finished MS and an idea for a whole series on the back of one of these. As mentioned earlier on this thread I have been considering self-publishing, but I'm a lazy sod and this looked like a lot of effort.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, another western writer in the same boat has published a couple of his completed MS's with Wordwooze - a Californian Co who will do an ebook, an audio book, and sometimes a paperback. He's had no issues and says they're good to work with.

So I subbed my MS to them and they've accepted it (I'm so used to rejections, that anytime someone says Yes I think "What's the catch?"). I don't expect much other than it being nice that the book is out there and, hopefully, it'll be reason enough to write some more in the series, which I've been looking forward to doing, but have needed an outlet to inspire me.

Still waiting for that moment in life when I have enough time to really, finally, be able to throw some proper time at writing. When that point comes around I shall try and up the engagement level between my writing and the world! Meanwhile, I think this is  good news.

[Ed]

Sorry to hear your publisher has thrown the towel in, Del. I hope the new one woks out well for you.

[Ed]

Over share -- deleted

[delboy]

Wow, he certainly doesn't sound like a very nice person, to put it mildly. I can see why you've cut all ties. Only you can decide - but do you need closure? Hasn't that already happened? Blood is one thing. Family is something totally different. But, like I said, only you can decided. Hope you're feeling okay, physically and emotionally with everything.

Take it easy.
Derek

[Ed]

Yeah, I will. Thanks Del. Probably a bit of over share going on here, TBH. You would expect me to be a basket case with all this going on, and more besides, but I feel OK. If anything, I'm just a bit worried that I'm not reacting normally to these things, or how you or I would expect to react to it all. I probably should be feeling a whole gamut of emotions from the cancer, for which they've now recommended chemotherapy, and the death of a parent. I'm just not feeling it. I've got the normal worries of work life, nothing has really changed. I'm still a bit sore from surgery, but life is pretty much back to normal for the time being.

[Ed]

Didn't go, and don't feel like I will regret it. Didn't even think about it until quarter to one, when it was already over, so it obviously wasn't important to me.

[Geoff_N]

Just popped by to see any activity.
Gosh, sorry to hear of your cancer, Ed. I probably should've known? I was in denial of my cardiac problem, what with being vegan and a cyclist and all, but when I was blues and two-ed to Broad Green in Liverpool and had 3 stents shoved in my heart I had to get real. I feel fine now as long as I keep taking the tabs. Good luck to you, Ed.

I'm sure, Del, that I bought a couple of your westerns and my son nicked them before I could read them. I presume they're still available on Amazon? I only buy paperbacks cos my eyes start drifting these days from staring too much at screens.

[Ed]

Hi Geoff, sorry to her you've had your own medical woes. Seems there's a lot of it about, lately 

When I got the diagnosis and knew I had to wait a while for the operation, I decided to go vegan for the interim, in the hope it would maybe keep the cancer at bay. I kept it up for about a month, but then at pre-op, I was told in no uncertain terms, "Don't do that!" and I'd need as much iron in me as possible for blood production, to stave off the need for a blood transfusion. I was doing veganism as properly as I could, in terms of getting a balanced diet, but I must admit it made me feel really unhappy. I couldn't believe how many things I suddenly couldn't eat. On the way back from the hospital that night, my wife suggested we stop off for a steak to celebrate, but what I really wanted was a carbonara, so we stopped in an Italian. Funnily enough, I found myself thinking the bacon was too salty and tasted really strong, so I left most of the meat. I found the meal very difficult to digest, and I felt quite unwell for a couple of days afterwards. I think it was the shock of introducing animal proteins into my system again.

[Ed]

Ain't life a bitch. My chemotherapy has been called off due to Coronavirus. Couldn't make it up, could you?

[delboy]

I suppose there must be good medical reasons, Ed? Maybe to help keep your immune system as strong as possible?

The whole world is changing and it's all driven by this little invisible thing.

Crazy times.

[Ed]

Yep, basically, one of the common side effects of the chemo is upper respiratory tract infections, so I'm guessing it would be deadly with coronavirus on top of it. I've got a funny feeling I'm fucked anyway, one way or another. Right from when I was young I've believed I would die when I'm 53 years old, and it's my 53rd birthday in a few days

[Pharosian]

Oh, Ed! That's a terrible thing to have believed all these years! I'm worried that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. My dad said he wanted to live to be 90. The family all gathered around to celebrate his achieving that milestone in February 2018, and he died in his sleep on April 3, just six weeks later. Belief is a powerful thing.

[Ed]

Oh, Ed! That's a terrible thing to have believed all these years! I'm worried that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. My dad said he wanted to live to be 90. The family all gathered around to celebrate his achieving that milestone in February 2018, and he died in his sleep on April 3, just six weeks later. Belief is a powerful thing.

Yeah, got to wonder. It's funny though, in my early teens I was a bit of a young Nostradamus for a while there. A lot of strange things happened that adults couldn't explain and I could demonstrate reliably, such as watches stopping as soon as they were put on my wrist, and that old TV tennis thing with the dot on the screen, it wouldn't work for me. I soon grew out of it, but one of the things that popped into my mind at the time was the age of my death and I've always wondered if it would turn out to be true. I hope not, because the manner of my death, according to a recurring nightmare, was falling through a dark sky into undulating black water. I'm guessing a plane exploding in mid air, or something similar. Yeah, I know 

[Pharosian]

Happy Birthday, Ed! 

At least it's still April 1 here in the States... I guess it's already Thursday in the UK. Hope you had a good one.