John Rose BSc, BE(Hons), PhD in 2024.

Changing times, changing life, writer and academic.

Like a moth to a flame, I hasten to write and publish!

For many years, pictured writing as sitting near a warm cosy fire jotting down peaceful evening thoughts, like my father did when I was a child.

Now this idyll is inevitably shattered by helpful grandchildren poking the fire or throwing poorly aimed logs at my neat pile of glowing coals.

In this rather disturbing daydream, refining and editing mostly involves cleaning up the mess of burning embers and thanking the grandkids for their thoughtfulness while suggesting ways of improving their aim. I admit, in my grumpy fashion, that life would be exceedingly boring without writing and pesky family.

Engineering and financial systems analysis put bread on the family’s table for well over thirty five years. Out of curiosity and over-indulgence in coffee, I started thinking on the relationship between software running on large distributed computing environments and power consumption in corporate IT data centres. This work led to my patent applications and subsequently I completed a research PhD. These days, I am a casual academic, teaching research methodology to engineering students.

Being an academic, I construct precise, well developed, objective and unemotional analyses that seem to reek of vinegar and sawdust. After many dusty years, my suppressed emotions began to assert themselves. I needed to deal with them. Annoying biting emotional insectoids.

One rainy day in a small café accompanied by occasional lightning and thunder for background ambience. Sipping hot coffee and munching donuts with one of my old friends, we swapped worries and whinges like old Aussie mates do. Out of the blue, he suggested writing as a way to open up and explore my insectoids. In fact, he suggested medium.com. Took a while to take him seriously.

Joining medium.com seemed like a ludicrous idea for a most sensible, not to mention, stern academic. Perversely, the sillier it sounded the more appealing it became and impulsively I joined medium.com. My first exploratory days were confronting and then I stumbled upon the Illumination family of publications. I joined Illumination as a writer.

Finally, a forum to open up and explore my emotions. After 40 years, I began to write poetry again — why I don’t know. I found poetry the most effective but difficult and consuming way to express, understand and come to terms with my emotional insectoids. Still, I persevered.

COVID Pandemic.

Along came COVID with its border closures, lockdowns, travel restrictions, check-ins and contact tracing. News agencies issued incessant bulletins on case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths. Nothing else seemed to matter.

Stoic by nature, I accept things that I can’t change and concentrate on things I can manage for the better. My prosperity relied upon surviving the social effects of the lockdown pandemic.

In Australia, my work load critically depended on a healthy influx of international students. My income decreased sharply as international student numbers declined. Face-to-face lectures and tutorials were delivered on-line. My picture is actually a screenshot I made of one such zoom session. I entered a never-ending lockdown. I worried about going out of my apartment and it seems looking back, that I locked myself down.

The pandemic continued. I felt pushed and buffeted by winds of change. Finally, I reached a point where I had to put all my energy into finding alternative sources of income. I left Illumination.

Late 2021 there was some calm in my mind, enough at least to take stock, understand and plan. Easier said than done! My research mindset dictated my first task was to understand the problem and applying stoic principles, sort out what I could do to improve my life and help my family.

Pension Dancing.

2022 and I’m a pensioner, although it did take several months of applying, explaining and submitting documentation. I must admit to a reluctance to take up pension. I attribute my hesitancy to some misguided beliefs picked-up during my upbringing.

My pension provides a base lifestyle contribution. I was determined to keep teaching as I believe exercising the brain is as important as my weight training in keeping good health. But here lies the problem that I describe as “pension dancing”.

Australian pension allows me to gather additional income within tight monetary limits. Exceed those limits and the pension decreases. Zero the pension and you face cancellation (I think it involves stamping your forehead with a bold red “CANCELLED”). So I did an income analysis and tried to balance out weekly income and pension payments to ensure I didn’t exceed the stringent limits. For the first time, I had to turn down some work offers! Not sure I like this pension dancing!

Stories?

Writing a story of an event requires understanding the plot: what happened and why? What did I learn so that I could pass on some helpful advice? I am supposed to be a teacher after all is said and done. When I think about it, I’m really writing stories akin to fables.

I have tried writing fiction, well science fiction and fantasy actually. I love Asimov, Tolkien, Feist, Weber, Herbert, McDevitt and Modesett. But I don’t have their touch. I just write in my own comfortable way about my worldly perceptions. Idea dancing.

Published around 600 stories and have over 11,000 followers which amazes me. Still enjoy writing, reading and interacting with other writers and readers. But now I have an increasing feel of restlessness, time for change?

Now in 2024.

Medium.com is a practitioner of social journalism. The format utterly depends upon community involvement, audience engagement, social newsgathering, verification and being underpinned by data analytics and relationship building.

Occurred to me, while sipping coffee, that many publications just seemed like shopping malls. This metaphor haunted my thoughts. I’d complain, but who would listen? Strong believer in affirmative action, so it was time.

Forced myself to write a statement of intent, airing what I wanted in a publication. All came down to my belief that my ideal publication would be based around and focussed upon on a small involved community. This meshed nicely with my decision to move from Sydney to a small coastal community that was near my family.

My statement of intent for Backwater Publications is based on my imagination of what my life might become. I for one like the notion of living in “interesting times”.

Blessed be.