June 2016

It's mid June 2016 and that means the end of the finanancial year, yep that means TAX time and with that comes the normal EOFY bargain sales. As I'm retired basically I pay little tax and that is via my com super  (DFRDB) after 22 years in Defence and as I only pay minimal tax I'm below the tax threshold and I generally get it all back anyway. We do have an investment property, if you could call it that, it's running at a loss and virtually get no tax benifits from that either, but hey we are alive and well and appreciate each day we wake up.
June has also been a month of sorrow with the passing of a great friend and also joyous with the wedding of a family friends daughter, Chantelle to Aaron, in Townsville. Next month will see us all visit the Polling Booths once again in a bid to choose a leader for this great country of ours, unsure which way I'll vote this time, not much between any of them.

Time to reflect

A time to reflect on who we are and why or what we are here on Earth for. Most won't or don't even think about the who, why or what we are here for and that is understandable at times. We exist and therefore we live and co-exist and we multiply and sometimes many times over. We succeed and we fail, and we get back up and we try again. We've continued to do this for centuries now and to what end, what purpose are we doing this? Is it just to live? Yes! we develop and gain knowledge but history has shown we as humans don't learn from our mistakes for we continue to make them. I for one do not know the answer.

I am feeling this way at the moment as I lost a very close friend only recently, I am so shocked at his departure from this world so quickly and unexpectedly that I find it hard to comprehend and this has led me think, to what purpose was his life or any of ours. He was a good man, a awesome father and a helper of those less fortunate than himself and yet he is now gone, never to be seen or heard again, why? I guess that it sounds awful, but it was so sudden and unexpected that no-one got the chance to say goodbye, but then would that have made any difference or make it easier to cope with? Certainly not for him anyway, but those that remain, who knows? I guess it might have.

I will remember my friend forever as a man with few regrets, he was at most times a jovial man who always had a joke to tell. I still hear his laughter and it is his laugh that I will remember fondly for he had a laugh like no other. He had strong morals on life and his philosophy was that no matter what happens to us in life we should be so grateful for what we have as there was/is always someone out there worse off than us. He told me once to live my life as if this was my last day on earth, we are here but a short time, so live life to the fullest.

My world will be a darker place without you my friend.

I will miss you Phil Shivnen.

Royalties

The ones writers receive not the Royal Family. I have an admiration for all forms of royalties be it those in high places or the cheque one might receive from the proceeds of hard work. I was fortunate enough and humbled to receive a royalty cheque in the mail just yesterday and although it was not vast it was a sign to me that readers, somewhere have seen and purchased copies of my book. That alone is inspiring to me and I'm indebted to my readers forever. What the royalty cheque does not tell me is in what median it was found or even if they were hard copy/s or ePub. This is where I as the author feel to a point I have lost a little control over the sale of my product, my publication. I need to regain this and retain it for life.
Unfortunately, like most I was pretty naive when it came to publishing my first novel, I just wanted to get it out there with the old adage "write it and they will read it" I like most, self published my first novel and again, like most, trusted the publishing company would see me right, that they would look after me and they did to a point. Apparently I retain full rights and ownership of the works written, although I'm not sure how I exercise those rights as I don't seem to be able to adjust the sales cost up or down. I'd rather sell a hundred books at say $1.00 each than ten at $10 each especially ePubs, that means 90 more readers would have read my book instead of just ten and that is my aim, to get people to read them, heck I'd like to make them free for a time and I know people can do this but I don't know how, because I don't have control over the product. But I am learning.
I have a number of novels waiting in the wings so to speak, extracts of some can be found in the (WIP) Writing In Progress section on my website www.rickcanhan.com.au which I might add is up and running again. Cruise on over and check it out, if you do, please drop a comment or two. Cheers again for now and keep on reading, Rick.

That Writing Workshop

I attended a Writing Workshop late April and I said I'd let you know how it went so here it is. It was absolutely awesomely inspiring and I got a lot from it despite it not being aimed at the writer of fiction. Obviously the ultimate aim of the workshop was to take the next step to do the weekend retreat for the ultimate 48 hr author. I can see the concept of the retreat and believe it is an awesome concept, but it wasn't for me, not that I didn't have faith in myself to follow it through, but I guess as Natasa would say "my ducks were not lined up yet" and at $20,000 my ducks had better be lined up straight and true.  But the whole idea certainly gave me food for thought and I'm well on my way to getting myself in a better position to move forward with my writing as its my audience that deserves to be satisfied with what they read. Cheers for now, Rick.

On this day 46 years ago

Well, it was 46 years ago today, I arrived as a ten year old migrant with my family from England.  The documents below show how and when we arrived in this country we now call home.

 

The years have simply flown by or so it seems. I am now a husband, father and a grandfather, and so the family continues to grow. I served 22 years in the Australian Military and saw operational service overseas. My final employment was 11 years with Qantas Airways which is ironic really as we arrived in Australia on QF736 from London to Sydney.

 

I was sort of forced into an early retirement due to ill health and now live on a veterans pension on a half acre block in the beautiful Glass House Mountains. I am also a published author and a keen writer of fiction and non-fiction.



ANZAC Day 2016

Wow, what a morning we had, awesome. 03:30 depart for Currumbin RSL to get bus at 04:00 to the service area. The set up they had at Elephant Rock at Currumbin Beach was absolutely awesome. We were directed to the Veterans and family VIP seating. The service was one of the best I've been to in a long, long time. The rain came down as the wreaths were being laid and nobody moved. We finished up at the Currumbin RSL for a Gunfire Breakfast and I managed a chat with a few old diggers, they have so much to tell and ANZAC Day is a day they don't mind talking about their time in the services.

My ANZAC journey 2016

 ANZAC Day has always been a special occasion in everyone's social calander, this year will be even more memorable for me especially.  It is with much trepidation I venture south to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Elephant Point, Currumbin Qld. I say with trepidation as this is my first attendance at an ANZAC Day Service for a number of years. Over the last ten years or so I've done my own thing and remembered the occasion in my own special way, usually in solace.
I registered at the Currumbin RSL to obtain passes to gain entry to the Veterans and VIP seating area for myself and a few guests. I understand the ceremony at Currumbin is one of the largest in Qld if not Australia so I'm really excited at the prospect of attending, although still a little anxious at the same time.

Another Grandchild

I've just got back last night (Fri) from a 'road trip' to Townsville and back, been away near on three weeks, maybe more. Tracey and I went for the highly anticipated birth of our second granddaughter to Luke and Lindsay. Yes, we knew it was a girl but we were sworn to with-hold that info. Zoe Paige Mortimer was born 31 March 2016 at 13.25 hours weighing in at 6lb 9oz and a length of 50cm, so she was a keeper. See Lindsay or Luke's Facebook page for photos or just ask Tracey I think she may have one or two on her phone! Oh... BTW Tracey stayed up there, doing the grandmother thing, Luke came back with me.

Now I've got to update the family tree on Ancestry.com. A writer's job is never complete. Cheers all Rick

Writing Workshop Tue 19 April 2016

I'm about to attend a Writing Workshop with Natasa Denman from 48 Hour Author at Quest Chermside, Brisbane. I'm so looking forward to it. My sister, Karen, is joining me on it too so that should be twice as awesome. Will let you know all about it. Cheers Rick

'Follow Me' on my Blog

I'm hopeful that by now everyone has got the message that my main website 'unfortunately' crashed.

With that, I also notice only five people are following me on this site and two of them are related. I know more of you are following me than that. Please scroll over and click on the 'Join this site' to follow me, at least till I can sort out the problem with my website. Thank you.

I'm extremely grateful to you for coming to find me here and I'm hoping you'll have a browse around and make a comment while you are here, I've set it up so that anyone can comment on my blog now, so please do. Thanks again.

My book "Mayan Prophecies" is still available directly through myself, drop me a line and we'll sort something out.

Please check my blog and comment if you wish. You can follow me through this blog, my Facebook page, LinkedIn or Twitter, see my "Contact Me" page for details.

Cheers, Rick Canhan

Manifesto - Writing Challenge

Challenge 1

Calateral Damage

I am a Veteran, I served in the Australian Army for 22 years, I served in an Operational Zone for six months in East Timor in 2000. I took discharge in July 2002 and once again joined the civilian workforce, although this time it was different. Following a breakdown in 2006 I was diagnosed with PTSD and a severe depressive disorder.  Fortunately I sought help quite early and I managed to remain in the workforce until ill health forced my hand in mid 2012 although I live a reasonable lifestyle, I am unable to perform any reummuniative employment. I now live on a Veterans' Affairs Pension and am considering writing on the subject of living with PTSD.

Unseen casualties of war

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is not new. Soldiers have been suffering the effect of PTSD for a long as soldiers have fought in battle, only it didn't have a proper name then. In earlier times like in WW1 and even WW2 many soldiers were unfortunately executed for cowardice etc when they were no doubt suffering from the effects of battle, they eventually called it shell shock or battle fatigue.

Many Veterans' from more recent conflicts are suffering in silence with PTSD from their Military service. There are many Veterans' that are homeless and too many are taking their own lives. These are the forgotten soldiers from many conflicts around the world. They are the the unseen casualties of war. They are calateral damage.

I personally know of Veterans' who are suffering the effects of surviving being in a war zone. Veterans' were soldiers too and as such have witnessed and sometimes done the unspeakable, things that no one should ever be asked to witness or do. These thing cannot be easily forgotten, they cannot be unseen or undone. The minds eye can never close to the horrors of war. The Veteran can suffer a number of conditions ranging from bouts of severe depression, anger on a unprecedented level, severe anxiety, sadness, being suicidal, just to name a few. These are often wrongly treated with the old self medication  strategies of drugs, alcohol, gambling or a combination of all and some I've not mentioned also.

The problem

The problem is two fold really, one part is recognition and acceptance. Firstly that is by the Veteran themselves recognising and accepting they have a problem, which for many is hard to do, especially with the stigma attached to a mental health issues. Once that stage is complete the Veteran then must ask for the help they so desperately need and once again for some this is a hard thing to do.

Secondly the recognition and acceptance phase then must be completed by the government departments such as Veterans' Affairs. Like most government departments this can and does take too long to complete,  often leaving the Veteran with very few options, financially and emotionally, resulting in family breakdowns, homelessness and a totally unacceptable level of Veteran suicide.

The solution 

One solution to the problem would be to not send soldiers to war zones, in a perfect world that is. I see a possible solution in the administration of government departments such as DVA (Dept of Veterans' Affairs) having suitably trained ex military personnel on staff to assist in the processing of claims. I know DVA do a wonderful job, but like most government departments they are understaffed and the public servant mentality without any military knowledge, can impact badly for the Veteran.They can also at times be a little unapproachable and unrealistic into what is happening at the Veterans' end. The Defence Budget every year is massive, but does this budget take into account the cost of taking care of the Veterans' after the fact ? I think not. Whilst sending billions of dollars overseas, often with a zero return benefit. Could this not be redirected to supporting our own aging population including our Veterans'?

Summary

Our Veterans' are suffering. In summary I feel we need to look after our Veterans' better, we need to have a higher level of respect for those that put their lives in harms way for this country so that we, the population can live the lifestyle we are accustomed to. Next time you see a serviceman, servicewoman or a Veteran, thank them for their service. I know it means so much to know they are cared for and more importantly, appreciated.

Rick Canhan

Back on Blogging

What's new today...

Well I'm back on Blogging again after reading a recent newsletter/email from Jeff Goin, sometimes we all need a kick start to get us back on track. I have been an avid follower of Jeff Goin for awhile now and have been receiving his newsletters but often not getting around to reading them in depth. I'm glad to say I read this one (in depth too) and I'm also very glad I did.

Jeff's newsletters often got me motivated but this one more-so. I've resurrected my old blog and accepting Jeff's 7 day Blog Challenge. So watch this space. Cheers All!

Times are a changing!

Well the times are really changing alright. It's 26 days before the supposed end of the world, well the end on the Mayan Calender anyway, but maybe they just ran out of room.

My debut novel published in Jan 2012 was actually called 'Mayan Prophecies' and I for one certainly hope its not the end of the world. I've got my next novel waiting to come out.

I do believe the ancient Mayan people foresaw something, something that was of great important and it would occur at that time, something important enough it had an effect that interrupted their recording of time and space. Some sort of change within the Galaxy system itself, it must have been significant enough to stop these early space watchers.

Be alert over the next few weeks and see if you can work out what it was that stopped a civilisation in its tracks.

talk soon, cheers Rick

28 Sep 2012

What's new today...

Wow, once again time has gotten away from me. I can't believe it will be October shortly.

Undoubtedly most would know I had complications following a workplace incident in August 2011 where I hit my left elbow on an aircraft door strut. Numerous ultrasounds and nerve tests detected a compressed Ulnar Nerve and possibly some nerve damage . Decompression surgery was then planned for my left elbow Ulnar Nerve in Jan this year.  Well it took me till July to convince them something was not right as it was still causing me grief. A nerve conduction test in Aug produced the same result as the pre-surgery result in Jan. An MRI was conducted and detected a few complications, consequently, more surgery was required.

Mid September saw me heading to Brisbane again to have more surgery at the Wesley Hospital. Seems the nerve was still compressed somewhat and there were issues with a tendon which had to be restitched to the bone. Hopefully, this time it will be sorted, got another few months rehab followed by more light duties so probably won't be back on full duties till late December. It has been a frustrating time to say the least, but at least I'm still getting paid by workers comp.

As far as my writing is concerned, one would think I could have pumped out another book, but it's not that easy. Pain and discomfort tends to be a distraction, but I am getting a lot of reading done and keeping a few ideas in mind too.

Currently reading book 3 of 5 of the  'Game of Thrones' series, and I must say I'm finding it compelling reading if that's your interest. I've been fortunate enough to see season 1 & 2 of the mini series also. I can't wait till season 3.

Until next time.

16 July 2012

What's new...

Thank you to those that gave a quick review to my debut release of "Mayan Prophecies" It was really appreciated.

Well, just lately I have been busy marketing my book via my Author Platform on my website www.rickcanhan.com.au whilst I have been doing this I have made new contacts from many Authors, Writers, Editors, and publishers within the literary industry. I'm extremely happy to say the traffic to my Face Book, LinkedIn and Twitter account has increased which has lead to a number of sales directly from me.

Even if you haven't purchased a copy yet, you are lifting my profile to greater heights just by your visit and I thank you for that. I will endeavour to answer or at least acknowledge all contacts, even if it is just to say thank you. 

A chapter for Review.

What's new today...

They are relatively short chapters so they won't take long to read.

Here is Chapter 1 from 'Mayan Prophecies'

MAYAN PROPHECIES

(Inescapable Collision)

by

Richard P. Canhan

www.rickcanhan.com.au

    

Copyright 2011 by Richard Canhan

IBSN: 978-1-4628-5077-8

Xlibris Corporation 

                                                    Chapter 1

                                                   

The rain that fell in the valley was comparatively light compared to the torrential downpour that fell on the high ground above where the man sat. He was still sitting where he had fallen a few short hours earlier, hungry, thirsty and too exhausted to move. He saw flashes of lightning in the distance and held out his swollen tongue to catch the light rain as it fell, the light rain temporarily cooled his sunburnt face. During the night he slept little, whilst the sleep he got was plagued with visions of being buried alive and he was soon jolted awake with fright, it was then that he first heard a distant rumble from up the ravine. Perhaps just thunder or another aftershock maybe, he thought. He drifted off to sleep again, but the rumbling sound filled his tormented dreams once more. Later he sat bolt upright, wide awake, unsure what had actually woken him and the ground beneath him seemed to vibrate. It was deathly quiet as he looked up at the night sky where the moon tried hard to break through the clouds. The light rain again peppered his eyes and stung his sunburnt face.

Too scared to sleep, but too tired to stay awake he heard that strange rumbling sound in the distance again, although it was louder this time he again dismissed it as thunder. Then something else he heard from up the valley caused him to sit up, he strained his ears. He thought it sounded like snapping tree branches, but there was more to it, it grew louder and louder until finally it filled his ears and mind with a total rush of confusion. It was only at the last second, he jumped to his feet when he realised what it could only be.  

He was standing in the centre of the darkened ravine when the wall of water and debris came around the bend, the rolling crest of the water was illuminated by the moon light that had suddenly burst through the clouds. The flash flood stretched the full width of the ravine and over half way up each side. He stood there in his heavy mining boots frozen to the spot, his feet refused to move, his eyes bulged at the enormity of the water and debris that appeared to tower over him. It was twenty or thirty metres from him and coming fast. A last second scramble up the wall of the sandy ravine was almost a futile attempt and with every step he took he felt he’d slid back two, though it was enough to save him from being hit with the initial force of water and the debris that rode the surge. Even with his bandaged hands he grasped onto a tree root on the edge of the ravine, it was pliable and as strong as a rope, although he doubted his own strength could match it. Within seconds he was washed downstream like driftwood in a storm.  

His almost unrecognisable head bobbed up and down with all the flotsam that the flood had collected; he managed to grab hold of a log and was carried downstream. He fought to stay above the waterline as the log jockeyed along the surge for an quite a distance before the flood dropped five metres as it emptied into a much larger raging river that swirled and boiled its way further down the valley. The man managed to stay on the log longer than he thought he could with the help of a branch that stood upright like a mast on a ship. His makeshift raft sudden hit an underwater obstacle and tipped and swayed and he was no longer able to maintain a grip on the log. He was thrown violently into the murky water and the small sword he had kept now bit deep into the flesh at his waist.

The water swirled and engulfed him as he was sucked down and along the river. He was not even sure which way was up and his heavy boots felt like lead weights, he clawed his way upwards and kicked with his legs and burst through the surface to gasp a lungful of air only to be dragged under once more. He bounced around underwater from rock to rock and just as it felt like his head was going to explode he again lunged for the surface, but was soon sucked under just as quickly. Another attempt was made and again he broke the surface to suck in a lungful of water and air although this time he was not dragged back under, but pulled up short by something around his neck and one arm. Water now exploded over his head and his ears were full of water, he coughed and spluttered as he was dragged backwards through the water towards the shallows. To his surprise and amazement, strong hands grabbed him by his shoulders and dragged him onto dry land. Through foggy vision he saw strange faces peering at him and he heard muffled voices as someone spoke to him in unrecognizable tones that seemed distant. He coughed and spluttered after his near drowning, vomiting a vast amount of murky river water onto the ground. Exhaustion finally took control and he passed out.

The woman had been sitting on a rock just watching the swirling river, she had grown tired of accompanying her brother on another of his forays into the wilderness, when she thought she spotted something in the river but it disappeared. She stood up and saw it again and indicated it to her brother; he immediately grabbed a rope and raced along the river’s edge. She called out to him that it looked like a man but then it was gone. The brother knew the river snaked around the bend so he raced up over the ridge in time to see the drowning man’s head bob up a few times. He timed his rope throw to coincide when he thought the head would reappear, his first throw missed and he cursed. The second throw found its mark and caught the man around his head and one arm, he knew he would have to work fast or the man would drown. The man’s sister hauled on the rope also and together they pulled the stranger in like a giant fish. He coughed and spluttered, and vomited the murky water out as he gasped for air. The stranger lay on the shore, his chest rose and fell heavily with each breath; they turned him over to look at his face.

‘Who is he?’ asked the inquisitive girl.

‘I don’t know, but it looks like he’s been out in the bush for awhile and I guess he’ll tell us soon enough,’ the brother answered as he relieved the stranger of his short sword. ‘And I’ll hold onto this for awhile I think.’ He continued.

They both asked him a barrage of questions, questions the stranger either did not understand or was unable to hear. The questions stopped when the stranger passed out.

‘What’ll we do with him now? The girl asked.

‘We’ll have to take him back to camp, patch him up and find out what his story is,’ the brother answered.

‘We can’t take him back,’ she retorted.

‘And we can’t just leave him out here, can we? He replied.

The girl had to agree they couldn’t just leave him now, after they saved him from drowning, but she had to make a point.

‘What if we don’t like his story Steve?’ she asked uneasily, using the man’s name for the first time.

‘Then we kill him,’ he replied.  ‘But anyone that gets washed down river, dressed in rags and carrying that sword, has got to have a remarkable story, and I want to hear it.’

                                  End of Chapt One  If you want more just let me know what you thought of this chapter and we'll pick another one. Thanks.

2012 Guide to Literary Agents: How to Find & Get a Literary Agent - WritersDigestShop.com

2012 Guide to Literary Agents: How to Find & Get a Literary Agent - WritersDigestShop.com

What's new today...

What's new today...

Well I can tell you it's been too long since I was last on here and  I intend to make up for it.
I can't believe it was Jun 2011 when I was last here, wow.

So much has happened since then, my book that was due out in Jul 2011 was delayed due to a post production error and has been released again as at Feb 2012, but I'm getting ahead of myself, lets go back to June 2011 (Would be great if we could).

In June 2011 a number of things went on, firstly I developed a chest infection which laid me up for awhile, then The edited manuscript of my book came back for review and we reviewed it. We accepted the minor changes that were highlighted as directed, and yes I had made some stupid errors, but that's why we have editors, other changes were in line with current printing standards etc. All was good and I returned it with my approval.

Jul 2011 my chest infection developed into a severe case of bronchial pneumonia or something and I was hospitalised for nearly 3 weeks, sick as.

Late August saw the arrival of the proof copies of my book, unbeknown to me at that time it was already on sale through the Barnes and Noble Website and Amazon also in hard and ebook form.
Everything was going well. We were making the final plans for our trip to Hawaii in Sep/Oct  and the 16 night cruise back to Sydney afterwards.  Anyway, I was excited obviously, my book was in print, I was over my pneumonia and generally things were looking good, until I started to read the proof copies.

First dozen or so pages, great. I was getting right into it, even though I'd written the book it was still exciting to actually hold it to read. Well from page 15 I found a few errors, to my horror those few got worse and it turned into a nightmare. There were words there that I didn't write or changed altogether. I had a line that stated 'The powerlines were brought down and left the mine in complete darkness' it now read 'incomplete darkness' as in not complete or not finished, it changed the whole meaning. Some pages were error free while others had up to 20 plus errors. It became a bit of a joke as a total of 235 errors were noted. The joke stopped when I started to recieve phone calls from as far away as Perth from friends stating they had my book and, by the way did you know it's full of mistakes? Now I was mortified.

Contact with the publisher was made pronto to sort this out. Initially they were not overly concerned and said they'd have to make some post-production corrections and could I send them a list of the changes needed. To cut a long story short, after they passed the blame on everyone alive, they fixed it and said if anyone that purchased a copy with errors could return it for replacement. Consequently all that took till January 2012 and it was re-released in Feb 2012 and is selling quite well really. I was contacted by a buyer in South Australia who had an error filled book, he said he enjoyed the book anyway but wanted to keep and said "It might be worth a fortune in the future". Well there you go.

My book "Mayan Prophecies" is now available - So get your copy now!

What's new today... If you haven't heard already my book Mayan Prophecies is finished and available in print. So be the first to pre-order your copy of the first Austin Jones Novel.

Once I recieve the first shipment (next week)I'm planning on holding a book launch/signing early July at a local library, possibly the Thuringowa Library, watch this space.

Great News!

My new novel is out very soon, June 2011 possibly. Check out my page for that.