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| Image: Rossina Bossio |
Why does the United States continue to welcome terrorists into its fold when they keep telling us they have a zero tolerance policy towards this kind of thing? Newly elected President Obama has shown massive disrespect to all those innocent men and women slain by the terrorist Martin McGuinness, by inviting him to a reception in the White House when he visits for St. Patrick’s Day next week.
Sure, he says he is going to “promote peace and prosperity”, but for decades he was responsible for the maiming and murder of men, women, and children for being British and for defending the Union. It’s disgusting. I wonder sometimes if the Americans really understand what went on (and still does go on) in Ireland under the Sinn Fein banner.
The freedom fighting Irish isn’t a romantic thing, nor are slogans like “Tiocfaidh ár lá” and “Erin go Bragh”, which have more meaning than is realised when they appear all over American websites, journals, and newspapers every March 17th. These are terrorist slogans, and many innocent British people have died at the hands of the men and women who lived by these words – all directed and brainwashed by Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.
Speaking of atrocities: 10 dead in Alabama and 15 dead in Germany, all at the hands of cowardly scum that have no respect for anything or anyone in their own life, so they run amok with a gun to make their point.
When are we going to realise that private handguns are an evil this world could do without? Where’s the justification for people being able to get hold of a gun when this kind of thing can happen all too easily?
Oh, but some people need it for personal security, they claim. I say if their neighbourhood is so bad they should move house. Private ownership of guns should be illegal no matter what the excuses for owning one are. I can’t see any valid reason for them other than for the inflated feelings of control and power it brings.
Will the gun lobbyists still cry out for this “basic right” if their own children were massacred in this way? If someone walked into their children’s mathematics class and gunned them all down, will they simply turn around and say: “ah well, it was that person’s right to own the gun in the first place. This is they way it is so we’ll just have to get on with our new life without the kids.”
The next stage of the publishing process for Stella kicked off this morning with an email from my assigned editor. I’ve to expect the manuscript to be delivered in the next few days with the first round of edits, and it has already been translated into US English from UK. I was given the choice and plumped for where the biggest portion of my targeted readership would be based.
And now the scary bit. While the manuscript I sent in was accepted after a couple of minor edits, this is the stage where a professional editor goes through the story word by word, applying fixes and suggesting amendments to the book to bring it up to a professional industry standard.
I think all writers are worried at this stage that the concept of their work will be altered out-with their sphere of visualisation. It’s also the stage where if you get a good editor that clicks with you, the manuscript can be improved through the subtlest of alterations, thereby keeping everyone happy.
Obviously, I’m hoping that my editor understands me and my work, and that only minimal editing will be required.
If any of you haven’t already noticed, this week is Read an E-Book Week. While I love nothing more than selecting a book from a shelf to read – the feel, the smell, the holding of someone else’s creation – I have also embraced the advances made in technology to that has allowed my work to be made available to a new audience – the electronically literate.
Most of my previously published work has been offered electronically and I have three e-books available for free download from my website. It’s a convenient way to publish work that would not otherwise be taken on by a publisher, and it’s also a very good way of promoting one’s work. If it weren’t for the e-book, there are at least two dozen writers and poets I enjoy that I would never have discovered, simply because publishers wouldn’t bat an eyelid at them.
It’s for these reasons I’m touting the benefits of e-books. All the following e-books are available from this blog (Books Page) or from my website. Fringe Fantastic is available at a reduced price, and Poolside Poetry will be released as an e-book for the first time tomorrow, also at a spectacularly low price.
- Selektion – FREE!
- Brick by Brick – FREE!
- Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.1 – FREE!
- Fringe Fantastic – £5.53 (£7.63 USD)
- Poolside Poetry – £5 ($7.10 USD) – print, e-book available 13th March
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Freedom from the Mundane 
Heh heh, don’t get me started on our Newly Minted President…
Here’s to an editor who is a good fit! I hope it all works out well!
You CAN’T listen to what President Obama says. You have to WATCH what he does. It is a contradiction. But again, don’t get me started.
As for gun control, if you look at the stats, I’ll bet both handguns were acquired illegally. I’ve went through legal means to obtain all 4 (or 7 if you count hubby’s) of my firearms. Yep they are locked away.
In the state of NC, you cannot own a firearm if you have been convicted of a felony, have a history of mental illness or heck, even have too many traffic violations. But each state is different with regards to handgun laws.
The breakdown is our revolving door of justice and too many repeat offenders on the streets as well as piss poor treatment options and/or diagnosis of mentall illness. Violence should never be an option but if someone is considering violence on a mass scale, they will find a way with or without handguns. Heck I can make a bomb out of cleaners and chemicals in the cabinet underneath my sink.
Good luck with the editor. Here’s to a good one!
Brenda
i think that gun control should always be imposed at all times to reduce violence.~,.
gun control should always be imposed strictly to avoid another Columbine scenario”“