Category Archives: Uncategorized

Poet’s Corner

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Below is an article which first appeared on my employer’s website. My thanks to my fellow poet and colleague, Toby Wheeler for permission to reproduce the article together with his poem “Happiness”.

On Wednesday 10 February, Toby Wheeler and Kevin Morris will be reading a selection of their poetry. The event will also provide the opportunity for colleagues to read one of their favourite poems.
Here is a little background about Kevin and Toby.
Kevin has been writing poetry since 2012. His latest collection, “Lost In The Labyrinth Of My Mind” is available as a Kindle ebook. Kevin’s work covers a broad spectrum, ranging from poems about nature through to humorous verse.
Toby was first published at the tender age of 7 in a children’s collection of poems called ‘From a Secret Place’.
However he only started writing poetry seriously after graduating from university and completing a placement at Keats House in Hampstead.
His first collection of poems, “27 years, 27 poems” will be published for Kindle in April 2016.
Toby has also written a poem about OCD for the charity ‘OCD Action’ which is due to be released later this year by the charity as part of a collection of poems about mental health. He is now preparing to send poems for possible inclusion into other poetry collections to publishers.

Here is your chance to sample some of Kevin and Toby’s work.
“Raining” by Kevin Morris

“I awoke to the rain
drumming on my window pane.
Opening my lattice I let it in
the purifying water that washes away sin.
The hypnotic sound
of rain falling all around.
All my life I have listened to the rain.
The same drumming
of water coming
from the sky
falling on you and I.
The rain has no end
But you and I my friend
May listen for a while
Smile
then pass on by”.
‘Happiness’ by Toby Wheeler .

I think I’m happy, I don’t know,
What is it anyway?
Is it something beautiful, a calmness perhaps?
Or an acceptance, a thing we just know?

I think I might be happy,
I couldn’t say, I think I may be sad;
I think I may just be happy to be content,
Yes, content is perhaps enough for me;

Even if I found happiness,
How do I keep it?
And if I did, is it a thing you cannot hide?
For everyone I know who’s happy says so.

I think I may be happy,
I smile and laugh from time to time;
I hope that will suffice,
In trying to find that thing called happiness.

Lucy’s Secrets: PorterGirl Lucy Brazier Tells All In This Revealing Interview

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An informative and amusing interview with Lucy Brazier, author of the “Secret Diary Of Portergirl” blog and book.

Dan Alatorre AUTHOR's avatarDAN ALATORRE

(I tried to make that headline sound like The Globe or The National Enquirer, since Lucy is British. Did it work?)

Dan's pic Your humble host.

Lucy Brazier is a friend of the blog and author of the very popular Secrets of PorterGirl blog and book – soon to be a traditionally published book series. She recently did a guest blog post for us about videos and signed a three-book deal with her publisher. (The way I wrote that, it sounds like the guest blog post had something to do with the publisher deal, which it didn’t, but I’m happy to let the confusion stand.)

A very funny and multi-talented lady, Lucy decided to let me interview her (after much begging on my part) and shed a little light on networking, publishing, and writing, as well as creating a character she writes in the blog and books and plays onscreen in her…

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Please Support RNIB’s Campaign To Protect The Right Of Visually Impaired Persons To Continue To Receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) By Writing To Your MP Before 29 January 2016

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The UK government is consulting on possible changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a benefit paid to disabled people which, if implemented could lead to blind individuals losing some (or all) of the financial support they are currently receiving. The purpose of PIP (previously known as Disability Living Allowance) is to provide support to disabled people as regards the extra expenses they face as a consequence of being disabled. So, for example a blind person such as myself may (and, in my case does) use part of their Allowance to pay for someone to read printed material to them. The Royal National Institute Of Blind People (RNIB) is asking that people contact their Member of Parliament (MP) requesting them to right to The Secretary Of State For Work And Pensions, Ian Duncan Smith, to express opposition to the proposed changes. You can find details of the RNIB campaign by following this link, http://www.rnib.org.uk/campaigning-current-campaigns-employment-and-welfare/pip-campaign. I would very much appreciate it if you would please consider writing to your MP in support of RNIB’s campaign. The consultation closes on 29 January 2016 so an email to your MP before that date would be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

Kevin

Update on Amazon’s new Editing policy roll-out

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On the face of it this appears to be a perfectly reasonable stance by Amazon. Kevin

Kawanee Hamilton's avatar

http://johndopp.com/writers/amazon-kindle-spelling-mistakes/

No, Amazon Will Not Penalize Your Book for a Typo

 BY JOHN DOPPLERJANUARY 21, 2016NEWS, SPOTLIGHT

whoa whoa whoa! Amazon spelling penalties?

Here we go again…

There’s a change coming at Amazon. You know what that means.

Panic! Share the first poorly-researched blog post you can find! Scream! Rage at Amazon’s cruelty until your fury is spent and you’re left crying into your ice-cold coffee.

And now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems, let’s breathe calmly into our paper bags while we examine the facts.

This week, the Good E-Reader blog announced that “Kindle e-Books will have a warning message if they have spelling mistakes.”

Some authors have taken that headline at face value and assumed the worst: that Amazon will brand any books deemed to have typographic errors — no matter how minor — with a sinister warning label.

The reality is far less dramatic.

The Facts

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Backup And Backup Again!

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backup_chart3

Over Christmas I took my trusty Sony Vio laptop to Liverpool with me. Much of my time in Liverpool was, not surprisingly spent celebrating the festivities with family. I did, however find time to write and, as always saved my creations to my laptop’s hard drive.
On returning to London I powered up my trusty old work horse only for the machine to display an error message saying that Windows had been incorrectly shut down. I tried the usual solutions (start Windows normally and when that failed a system restore) but all to no avail. Eventually I took the laptop to a computer repairer I have used previously only to discover that the hard drive had gone to the great computer heaven in the sky where it is, no doubt now whirring away contentedly with other computer bits and bobs!
Fortunately the above story has a happy ending. Although the hard disk had died Graham (the computer repairer) was able to fit a new one and transfer my files from the defunct drive to it. Had he not been able to do this I would, potentially have lost much of my work. Hours of hard slog down the drain!
I had no warning that my hard drive was about to fail. Apparently they can fail soon after a machine has been purchased for no apparent reason, while others can work for years without a hitch. I have owned the laptop since 2011 so had, I guess enjoyed a fairly good run for my money as regards the hard disk.
The moral of the above is to always back up one’s work to somewhere other than one’s computer’s hard drive! Happy backing up!

Kevin

He Will Go His Way

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Birds sing
Yet spring
Is far away.
The day
Is cold.
I think of arms that enfold
And do not hold.
The gold
Coin doth spin
And what some call sin
Enters in.
I think of a girl’s scent
Of those who do, and then repent.
I dwell on heaven
O how close ‘tis to hell!
And think it well
To leave the stone
Alone.
Why this desire
To know the secret fire
That in man does burn
And how he doth turn
Away
From the light of day.
He will go his way
Whate’r the moralists say.

On The Closure Of A Retro Shop

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The retro
Must go.
A version of the past
Is sold off fast.
Perhaps I will take a look.
Perchance happen upon an old book.
I meant to visit before
But now the door
Will soon close
On retro clothes.
People are interested in the old ways.
The days
When all was right, or seemed so.
The stock must go
For a song.
Before long
Another business will take the shop’s place.
The bland corporate face
Will occupy another space.
We race
Knowing not where we are going
Or what we may be sewing.
Without a feel for the past
The future beccons, bleak and vast.

My First Poetry Reading

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I am excited to announce that my employer has kindly agreed to host a poetry reading by yours truly together with a fellow poet and colleague, Toby Wheeler.

Toby Wheeler

Toby Wheeler

The event will take place on 10 February and will be open to all employees of the organisation for which I work. This will be the first time I have given a poetry reading. While I am delighted to have this opportunity, I must confess to feeling somewhat nervous at the prospect.
Please do check out a selection of Toby’s work here (http://www.writeoutloud.net/profiles/tobyw). You can find examples of my poetry on this site (http://newauthoronline.com/).
Kevin