Welcome

So very often we come to a web-site to find the word "Welcome" as a form of greeting, salutation, and, all too simply, a format of sorts, almost seemingly obligatory. But because I truly am appreciative of your time and interest, "Welcome", to me, is an expression of my gratitude to and for you, and the many others who take a moment or more to come here.

Until and unless somebody invests the time and effort needed to actually write a book, be it a hefty novel or simply an anthology of prose or short stories, the actual effort is seldom appreciated, never mind, understood. Some works require months, if not years of invested time, thought, dedication and resolve. There are times when solitude, necessary for focus and composition is rare. Often, the need to retire off into seclusion is misperceived by others, seen as an "anti-social quirk", and then too, there are those who view it as some sort of "bad mood", thinking the writer is angry or melancholoy or is avoiding those around. Then too, there's the "need" to write something, when a thought or memory suddenly flashes in the mind, breaks through the present and demands to be noted... but the reality is that it's just not convenient to drop everything, grab pen and paper and withdraw into one's own mind and heart to pour out sentiments, ideas or notions onto a page of a note-book or even a paper napkin.

As with paintings, drawings, home décor, music, movies, clothing and the likes, tastes for books, stories fiction and non, are as varied as there are people around and amongst us, and one genre of writings pleases some and repulses others (to take the matter to extremes). I'm aware that my particular style or genre has a some-what limited audience, rather like, as I've been told, there are those who do appreciate, enjoy and admire the likes of Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf, Charles Bukowski... Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol... Goethe... Harry Potter, and there certainly are those who wouldn't so much as touch a tome of any of these. Well, to be certain, none of us is able to please everybody around and when we're encouraged by some manner of "approval", the appreciation is deep and sincere. It lends an anxiousness to continue, to forge on, write more so that we can provide further enjoyment to those who, like you here, now, have an interest in the words and stories and will give some time out of every-day life and existence, to read... either the book or the words here on this "web-site".

This said, I can only hope that you do understand the sincerity of my gratitude and appreciation for your interest and that you've obviously given of your time, to me here. And simple words can't express the depth and magnitude of my appreciation to all who've invested in purchasing my works. A very little-known fact about your purchase is that, although I don't live the life of exorbitant luxuries myself, I've never forgotten my own past and the moments when life, itself, seemed more a horrid burden than much else. I've never forgotten the others whom I had the exquisite fortune to have met during those intervals, particularly during the period of Homelessness (which I capitalise as a means of expressing the importance of the matter, to me), about which I've written and continue to write. "Bitter-Sweet Bitterness" and "Journal Days" were written because I'd made a promise to many I'd met in my Homelessness, a promise to tell the truth, the actual truth about the daily oppression of mere existence, the hard-ships, the disappointments and too, the lighter, more jovial moments experienced by most, if not all Homeless people. I've kept that promise, as I've always striven to keep promises made, and now, with the proceeds from the sales of these stories, I give to those to whom my promise was made. In various ways, the income from sales is distributed to those who remain Homeless even as you read these words, be it with the purchase of a hot meal in a local diner, a blanket, a tarp to protect from weather, toiletries, health-care products... what-ever can be acquired, what-ever is needed is provided. So you see, your investment touches not only your life and mine but the lives of many others whom we may never come to really know, but who are given some happiness, a reprieve from their drudgery, and perhaps, a kindling of hope in an other-wise rather barren heart.

So yes, "Welcome". This site is an extension of my rather ethereal "home", the pages and postings are my communications and correspondences with you in the hopes that we will come to know one-another a little and a little better. Welcome... and thank you for your interest and inspiration, both of which are your investment and encouragement to me to persevere. And please, if you've any comments, suggestions or simply the urge to be in touch, know that I'm no "celebrity", that I have no "PR People" who'll read your correspondences in my stead. Your communications with me come directly to me and I respond and reply personally... and I appreciate those with equal gratitude.

Again... "Welcome"... and... Thank you.