Wilfried F. Voss is the author of The Bleeding Hills. For more information see his website at http://wilfriedvoss.com.

Oh well, my blogging day usually starts at 5:30 in the morning and ends about two hours later. Yes, I do have a daytime job that pays the bills, and blogging, as much fun as it is, does not pay off. Considering the time I spend and the money I make, I work way below minimum wage when it comes to blogging. Nevertheless, blogging is fun, and I still hope that some time the efforts will result in some kind of financial independence.

So, on a normal day of blogging I get up at 5:30 in the morning. I take the doggy, Bailey, with me and let her out into the backyard, praying that she does not eat my wife’s carefully planted flowers. She’s a strange dog…

Next step is filling the water kettle, get two mugs from the cupboard, and fill them with a bag of good Barry’s Irish tea (Gold Blend). My wife and my 4-year-old son are still sleeping, but at about 7:30 a.m. I will be prepared to serve my wife her first tea of the morning.

While the kettle is sitting on the stove’s flame, I let the doggy in, but not without carefully checking the surroundings in the dining and living room. Bailey is still a puppy, and she chews everything she can find from aluminum foil, masking tape, newspapers, socks, shoes, gloves, and more.

Finally, the computer is on, and I start my Pandora music station, then the Internet browser. First, I check my blog’s statistics from the previous day. Damn Google and their new algorithm! These days you can’t write and publish anything that is not Google compliant or else nobody will find my blabbering. I have learned a great deal these last years, but all these little tricks, designed to attract search engines, take time to implement. And on top of that I am sure that there is more to learn, but that makes the difference between the amateur and the professional blogger. In all consequence, I should divorce my wife, leave my son, and dedicate my entire being to blogging… Not an attractive aspect, though.

Time to get up and pour the hot water over the tea bag, then it’s time to start the first post. What is Bailey doing in the living room? Good, she is chewing on one of her multiple toys. It’s a situation where you get nervous because you don’t hear anything. You also get nervous when you hear something. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Time to get the tea bag out of the mug and start working on that first post. It’s almost six o’clock, and I haven’t posted anything as of now. Timing is important, and this is where my website statistics are a great help. Naturally, I get the most traffic between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., while the afternoon does well, too, but not quite as good. According to alexa.com, my audience, middle-aged and well-educated professionals, reads my posts at work.

I hear tapping noises from above, meaning my son is up, and, sure enough, two minutes later he comes into my small office, takes seat on my lap, and demands to be entertained. Puff the Magic Dragon on Youtube is a sure bet. It’s almost seven o’clock, and I grab my tea for the first time. Damn, it’s cold. Time for a new brew. On my way back from the kitchen, I need to admire my son’s newest Lego creation, and he explains everything he did in his own fantasy world.

Okay, let’s continue with the first post, but then I hear my son crying. “Daddy, Bailey took one of my Legos!” After chasing the dog for several minutes and prying the Lego block out of her mouth, I finally put her into confinement in her crate. Back into my office and back to my post.

I hear my wife’s footsteps from above, and I get back into the kitchen to start her tea. After another highly philosophical conversation with my son I return to remove the tea bag from the mug and add a gush of lactaid milk, then, carefully balancing the hot tea, I go upstairs where my wife is waiting for me.

“Thanks for the tea,” she says. “I hope, you had enough time to post some good articles on your blog.”

It is 7:30 a.m. Time for my shower and getting ready for work.

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THE BLEEDING HILLS
A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.