do you like short fiction?

I recently decided to start writing short fiction again. When I say again, I was an avid writer in my youth, even winning a couple of local short story competitions.

Back then i used an old typewriter a relative gave me. The medium i used this time was blogger. It makes it easy to send a link to people who I want to proof read it or to offer suggestions. The aim was to see if I could write regularly and quickly to pump out something that at least someone could find interesting. The first rough result is 3000days.blogspot.com.

This week I had possibly my first ever overdue library book

This week i had possibly my first ever overdue library book. 

Its not that I don't respect books or the public library system, it's just that over the last few years I have almost completely stopped reading physical books, magazines and newspapers. I read ebooks, ezines, blogs, web pages and PDFs all of the time.

When I recently discovered that a book I really wanted to read was not available as an ebook, I was left with no choice but to borrow the actual physical book. It was cumbersome. I didn't finish it. I lost it, then found it and returned it late.

I now read ebooks almost exclusively. Amazon's Kindle store seems to be the best place to purchase content, and they support authors by not taking too much from their earnings, unlike traditional publishing houses which consider you indebted to them until your work turns a profit. This means you get a lot more independent and first time authors on Kindle, Barnes & Noble and some of the independent sellers.

This also means you can have a hit and miss experience if you're a little adventurous.

I'm either brave or stupid

This year saw me enter a bold and brave new era of my life. I became a father. Jacques was born on the 5th of January. 

Being a parent has changed my perspective in a way I never could have understood before. I used to be a bit nervy, overly conscientious and easily stressed. 

Now it is as though all of my anxiety bubbles away in the back of my mind just for him. Work doesn't phase me anymore, money isn't a problem and people don't annoy me as much as they used to. My highs and lows in a day can often be a direct result of whether or not he was ok in the morning, or slept ok overnight.
I had a dream a week or so ago in which someone hurt my partner and Jacques. It was very nasty and in real life they would have been dead. My reaction in the dream was to pick up an axe and take revenge. My heart was racing and I had tears in my eyes when I was woken by my concerned partner.