My Wonderful Wobbly Life by Charles Irwin (VBT, guest post, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

Interestingly enough, I don't remember submitting this as one of my sample questions...but I am happy to share a guest post by author Charles Irwin, who answers the hypothetical question...

If I’d never heard of me would I read my book?

by
Charles Irwin 

From my professional experience, this question is unclear and is open to debate, like questions used by Zen philosophers.  

My explanation for this opinion is, that for seventeen years of my working life I was employed by the Australian Government as a patent examiner during which time it was my responsibility to read applications for patents from inventors.  The primary task was to interpret and criticise what they had written, assess its legibility and check that it met the requirements of the Patents Act.  Once those criteria were met, I would grant a  patent for the invention.  

That may appear to be quite simple, BUT each word of the application needed to be construed in the context that it was used.  Therefore, when I saw the suggested topic for this blog, my Interp & Crit mode automatically got to work and I metaphorically flinched.  I will now, if I can consciously remember how, interpret and criticise the question asked, “If I’d never heard of me would I read my book?” 

‘I’ and ‘me’ are used as grammatical correctness for the same person.  Therefore, the sentence is based on an impossibility, unless ‘I’ and ‘me’ have bad memory recall or are not acknowledging the existence of each other. (ourselves)   

How are ’I’, ‘me’ and ’my’ associated?

‘Me’ is the objective case of ‘I’ and ‘my’ is the possessive form of ‘I’, they are therefore a single being. 

“Would ‘I’ read my book?”  ‘My’ book is a book I have in my possession and belongs to ‘me’.  Why is it presumed that ‘me’ does not also wish to read my book, or maybe is unable to read? 

For clarity, I suggest that the question be rewritten thus: -

“As a reader, why would I read a book written by someone I do not know?” 

Or, “If I’d never heard of you would I read a book written by you?” 

Any book ‘I’ chose to read would need to meet the interests ‘I’ was interested in at the time.  ‘I’ could be looking for a book to entertain ‘me’, enlighten, or educate ‘me’.  Hopefully, this book, being autobiographical, will generate interest covering all three criteria and whet the reader’s appetite.

Being an engineer and patent examiner by profession, the writing produced during my career has mainly been of a technical nature, not easily interpreted or understood by lay people.  When it came to putting my story in words on paper, I wrote in the same vernacular that I speak so, hopefully, it is undemanding to read.  

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My Wonderful Wobbly Life

by Charles Irwin

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GENRE:  Memoir (Autobiography)

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BLURB:

Having survived quite a few birthdays and had some interesting experiences, I wrote them down. That's how "My Wonderful Wobbly Life" was conceived. It was nearly born in 2004, but decided to hang on until 2018 to become 'Born again' Alleluia!!!!

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EXCERPT

“When they told my mother her little Bobby had brain damage and was a cripple, can you imagine how she felt? According to her, devastated!

The way home from the hospital led to one of London’s bridges across the River Thames.  She stopped halfway across with the intention of SPLASH!!! End of story for both of us. She hesitated. The thought of a man crippled by polio, who had succeeded despite his disability and become President of America, came into her mind. She walked on thinking, if F.D. Roosevelt can succeed, so can my Bobby!

When my father arrived home that afternoon my mother was on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor, filling the bucket with her tears.

“What’s the matter Peg?”

“Oh Bert! our little Bobby’s a CRIPPLE!”

“Well Peg, even if he is, there is one thing we are not going to do. We are not going to be ashamed and hide him away. He will come everywhere with us.”

He was as good as his word. I went everywhere with them when I was young and have fantastic memories of fun times. One of my favourites was being at a dance hall, possibly the Wimbledon Palais de Dance. I could not have been older than three or four, but I distinctly remember my father dancing around the dance-floor with me standing on his feet. It made me feel so proud and grown-up and I was then content to sit and watch for the rest of the evening.  He was a real Yorkshireman, proud of me, his son. “

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(NB: Please see the author's comment below regarding sale prices!)

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Charles was born in London U.K. in 1932. During his birth the forceps slipped, resulting in brain damage to the motor control nerves of his right side and causing total body spasticity. However, his intellect was not damaged. Throughout his life the two adversaries, controllable brain and semi-controllable body, always needed to be balanced. 

After several years of work and study he became a Chartered Production Engineer. In 1971 he emigrated to Australia and became a senior examiner in the Australian Patent office. This autobiography illustrates the rhyme: “He started to sing as he tackled the thing, That couldn’t be done - but he DID IT!” 

Charles chronicles his journey from useless to useful, with humour and joie de vie. He pays tribute to friends who only gave him help when it was asked for. At a young age he recognized his psychic abilities and, by using lessons at the end of each chapter, shares some insights with readers

Website

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GIVEAWAY

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The tour dates can be found here