My blogs

  • Oscar Pistorius – guilty as hell

    I have, like many people, been following the developments and questioning in the Pistorius trial. Several times, I have asked myself and discussed with friends why we find it so gripping. In my opinion, its not simply a case of celebrity fascination. We are not watching the trial because Oscar is well-known, we are watching Read more

  • Murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher – 30th Anniversary – Matt Johnson

    Today is the 30th anniversary of one of the worst days I have ever experienced. It is a day when a friend and colleague was shot to death. 30 years on, despite the identity of the killer being known, he remains a free man. On 17th April 1984 I was a 27 year old advanced car Read more

  • Follow Your Destiny

    Originally posted on Front Porch Politics: There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall down and stay down, life will pass you by. Life’s circumstances are not always what you might like. The pattern of… Read more

  • Cheating the reader – by Matt Johnson

    Back in the traditional days of publishing, many writers viewed self-publishing as the option of last resort. To an extent, self-published authors were unfairly regarded as second-rate because they couldn’t find an agent or sell their book to a big publisher. They were ridiculed as “vanity” authors. We don’t hear much of that anymore. Self-publishing Read more

  • Matt Johnson on ‘Getting noticed’, the seedy side of social media

    As an indie author, getting noticed amongst the huge pool of talent that exists in the social media world is an incredible challenge. If there were an easy way, we would all be doing it. Only yesterday, I read a tweet from a fellow independent author asking to people to do an ‘exchange review’ with Read more

  • Humour in age

    Yesterday my daughter e-mailed me again asking why I didn’t do something useful with my time. Like sitting at home writing a book is not a good thing. Talking about my “doing something useful” seems to be her favourite topic of conversation. She was “only thinking of me” and even suggested I go down to Read more