Welcome To An Author's Look At Life: Resources To Inform, Inspire, Encourage

THE SITE FOR:

Aspiring Authors interested in Article Writing & Blogging; Creative Writing; or Writing & Publishing A Book. PLUS
Book Club Leaders & Readers wanting Book Reviews & Discussion Summaries and Books To Buy
Or perhaps you’re Bereaved? Divorced, Remarried or in a Stepfamily? Need to research these subjects or Family & Parenting?
Are interested in Personal Growth & Relationships or The Drama Triangle?
Or simply need a Speaker for your event, and want to know more about me, as an Author?

TAKE A PERSONALITY TEST TO FIND THE REAL YOU! FREE 5-PART SERIES ON THE SEVEN STORY PLOTS FOR NEWSLETTER RECIPIENTS!

FEATURED POSTS:

Writing & Publishing A Book: Ten Tips Before You Begin

I remember reading, many years ago, of someone famous - a well-known pop singer - who told a story of a woman who had written to him saying: God has told me I'm going to marry you. To which the singer replied: Well he hasn't told me!

Ive come across many people who believe they can do something similar when writing and publishing a book. They may be writing a self-help book or a novel. They may believe that what they have written - or plan to write - is exactly what the world is waiting for . . .

Click to read more

Successful Step Parenting: Do You Know What It Takes?

I’ve been asked by BBC Radio 5 Live if I would take part in a debate, arguing the case for the premise Can A Step Parent Take The Place Of A Real Parent? The e-mail was from one of their producers, who said he’d found my book, Stepfamilies on a Google search. During the telephone conversation that ensued, he asked me if I knew of anyone who might argue the case against. I’ve had to say that I don’t.

Click to read more

The Foolishness of God: A Mad Sad Plan?

An advertisement for a new book, Bad Laws by The Daily Telegraph’s assistant editor, Philip Johnston, has just caught my eye. The book is subtitled, An explosive analysis of Britain’s petty rules, health and safety lunacies and madcap laws, beneath which is the following statement: For 13 years, a war has been waged on British liberties, traditions, and even religious conviction.

Click linked title to read more.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult: ONLINE BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION

Despite a degree of reluctance in some of us to be reading another Jodi Picoult book so soon (bit samey; all legal stuff) we agreed, when we met as a group last week, that we had found Plain Truth an enjoyable and compelling read. There were aspects of plot and characterisation which, as the evening’s discussion unfolded, some of us admitted to having found weak, but that, we felt, did not detract from the author’s ability to draw us into the story and make us want to read on.

Click linked title to read more.

Do Grief & Loss Conform To A Pattern?

One of the most shocking aspects of the funeral of someone you loved is the sense of desolation you feel afterwards. Everything in you has been working towards this moment, to such an extent that it has emptied your mind of everything else. This, of course, is one of the purposes of such rites of passage. They help us through the initial stages of shock and grief.

Click linked title to read more.

Blogging For Beginners: The Use Of Keywords

Blogging, as a means of driving traffic to your website, is a well-documented fact. I’ve written in Essential Blogging Advice For Beginners about the need for beguiling blog branding, tantalising titles, and compelling content for your blog. What I want to write about today is the crucial role of keywords, and how to manage them.

Click linked title to read more.

Many of my articles - where indicated - may be reproduced, subject to certain conditions. Please respect my wishes for those which may not.

August 2010: Wikio ranking puts Mel Menzies Blog at No. 9,124 out of 208,741. That makes it in the top 4.37%. Isn't that a good reason to SUBSCRIBE? (Click button in sidebar on right.) I love to hear from people, and I will always respond.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SUBSCRIBE?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Littera scripta manet (Latin) Words fly, writings remain.
Source: unknown

TABLE OF CONTENTS - See details below

Article Writing & Blogging
Aspiring Authors
Bereavement, Grief & Loss
Books to Buy
Book Reviews for Book Club Leaders & Readers
Dear Mel – Readers’ Letters
Debt Management & Finance
Diary & Events – Speaking engagements & Radio broadcasts
Family & Parenting
Newsletter: Mel’s News, Views & Muse TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE
Personality Test
Personal Growth & Relationships
Speaker
Stepfamilies
Useful Links

1. ARTICLE WRITING & BLOGGING:

Posts on Article Writing & Blogging include a six part series. Where specified, and subject to the conditions shown, some of these posts may be reproduced, free of charge.

For regular updates, click the SUBSCRIBE button in the sidebar on the right.

Do, please, leave your comments at the end of each post. They provide linkbacks for you; help others; and encourage me! Also, please send to a friend.

2. ASPIRING AUTHORS:

Articles on Creative Writing Techniques will tell you all you need to know about writing a novel, while Writing & Publishing A Book will give you tips on the practicalities of writing and publishing a book, including details of the Seven Plot Lines.

if you're an aspiring author, take a look at this article: What Drives You? to focus your mind. Or read my story. It was only in adulthood that I realised that my father thought he saw in me a mirror-image of himself - as lacking the discipline to follow through on any of the myriad pursuits which grabbed our interest. Fortunately, however, what my mother lacked in academic prowess, she more than made up for with crucial lessons in self-discipline. The liberal dispensation of a slipper applied to my bottom taught me all I needed to know about determination and the strength of mind to complete a job. Read on to learn more of Mel's journey in becoming an author.

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3. BEREAVEMENT, GRIEF & LOSS:

Coping with bereavement, grief and loss is something that will almost certainly affect each one of us at some time or other. This section contains articles specifically aimed at those dealing with grief and death. Some of the poetry, particularly, has in mind those trying to come to terms with the death of a child.

Having lost my daughter some years ago, I do understand the pain involved, and hope that visitors will find some solace in knowing, as you read my articles, that you have my utmost sympathy. Some of this material - where specified, and subject to the conditions shown - may be reproduced, free of charge.

Bereavement Poetry: Death Is But A Door
Poetry for Loss & Bereavement: Weep For A While
A Painful Post Mortem: A novel, inspired by the death of my daughter, this book has been endorsed by the Bereaved Parents Network - a grief support agency - and is promoted at all their events.

4. BOOKS:

Many of the non-fiction books I have written over the past twenty-five years or more are now out of print. However, those shown on my website should be available from any good bookshop, or from online stores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others. If you have any problem sourcing them, do let me know as I keep some in stock and, with the addition of post and packaging costs, will happily send them to you.

Books To Buy will take you to those I’ve written: inspirational biographies; how-to books; or if you prefer fiction download buy a copy of A Painful Post Mortem, or download as an e-book to save shipping fees. It’s a story of love, loss and triumph, written in the style of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, so if you enjoyed that, you’ll love this, too.

ALL PROCEEDS FROM SALES OF THIS BOOK ARE FOR CHARITIES BENEFITING KIDS! See Links for charity details.

Readers’ Reviews: "It has everything... humour, pain, characterisation, existential angst..." said one reader.

"I’m not normally a reader; however, I could not put this book down," said another.

"After reading your book, we felt it would be good to add it to the Bereaved Parents' Network library, which is a resource we have at all the events we run for bereaved parents, which many find very helpful. It includes a wide variety of books relevant to bereaved parents, and we have produced a catalogue containing a brief synopsis of each. The way it works is not that people borrow books, but that they take a look at them and note the ISBN number of any that they are interested in so that they can buy it from Amazon or similar.

"We make sure that one of the team has read every book that we display - I read yours. I am sure that you are well-aware of the great number of books about children who have died - parents often write them as a memorial to their child and perhaps also as a way of working through their own grief. Yours is very (and refreshingly) different - writing it as a novel makes it so easy to read. And it is very well written too."

Mike Coulson
Bereaved Parents' Network Co-ordinators
www.careforthefamily.org.uk/bpn

5. BOOK REVIEWS FOR BOOK CLUB LEADERS & READERS:

Do you lead, or are you part of, a Book Club? If not, and you’d like to, see Setting Up A Book Group: Twenty Tips.

Feel free to use the Book Review, Questions and Discussion Summary on any of the books listed, which were compiled for the group I lead. They may be reproduced, freely, on your website, blog or in print.

Please ensure that links are provided to my home page www.melmenzies.co.uk and show that it is 'Used By Permission'.

Special discounts available on my books for Book Clubs: e-mail for details.

Are you in need of inspiration? Or practical advice for Creative Writing, tips on how to craft fiction and the structure of a novel? (See below for Writing & Publishing A Book).

Not sure? Read: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SUBSCRIBE?

6. DEAR MEL - READERS' LETTERS:

Write to Dear Mel for specific advice on any topic on this website (including Agony Aunt matters). From her experience as author, speaker, and (with her husband) a leader of Family Forums and Marriage Enrichment Classes, Mel offers readers tips on a variety of subjects.

7. DEBT MANAGEMENT & FINANCE:

Twenty-two years ago, in February 1988, I was commissioned to write a series of articles on debt for a regular monthly magazine. I never thought the insights of those pieces would be relevant again in 2010!

As with all this Index, clicking on the numbered section title above will take you to those updated articles. They include:

Ten Tips To Get Rid of Debt
Ten Tips To Stay Free of Debt

8. DIARY & EVENTS:

Speaking engagements, book signings and radio chat show broadcasts are presented in My Diary pages. See also No. 5 above for Book Club resources - downloadable Book Reviews, Questions & Discussion Summaries. These are treated as an 'event' because of the Readers' Group I lead.

9. FAMILY & PARENTING:

In addition to extracts from my book Stepfamilies – to be revised and republished next year – I’ve included topical issues, some of which have been raised in the radio programmes on which I’ve been asked to debate.

These include things like:

Telling Children The Truth About Divorce
Sex Education & Teenage Pregnancy
The Isolation of Being Unable To Read
Living With Dementia
Eldest Child Syndrome - Are You What Your Parents Made You?
Family & Parenting: Tough Love & Discipline Prove Best Practice

But this is by no means all.

Subscribe, free, to receive regular updates by clicking on the button on the right.

10. NEWSLETTER:

Sorry, Mel's News, Views & Muse is temporarily unavailable

11. PERSONALITY TEST:

One of the most liberating experiences of my life was to attend a seminar on psychometric profiling, with a free personality test. As a result, I found that not only was I able to accept myself as I was, but I enjoyed greater self confidence than I had ever known. Feeling valued – for the person I was, rather than the person I thought I should be (or others thought I should be) – also led to an improvement in my general health and well being. And it set me free to see my writing not as an indulgence, but as a valid and worthwhile occupation in the service of others.

So what is psychometric profiling? Read the following article to learn more and, if you are an author, find out not only your own strengths and those areas that need to be built up, but also those of your characters.

The Power Of Positive Thinking Is Unplugged

The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, has electrified society for over half a century as the means of feeling valued and attaining success in life. Now, it appears, to have been unplugged – or at least to have suffered power failure and fizzled out! Despite an epidemic of positive thinking for the last fifty years, we are, says the World Health Organisation, heading for a pandemic of depression in little more than a decade.

Psychologists have discovered from case studies, that repeating positive thoughts can, actually, be counterproductive – especially for those who are most in need of a psychological boost.

Now read on:

or go straight to the Personality Test

12. PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS:

Some of the articles in this section overlap with those in Family & Parenting. Whilst I am a great believer in ‘loving yourself as your neighbour’ – the Real You – part of that is in recognising your frailties. So these articles have been written with that in mind: to inspire you to enlarge your vision and enjoy the abundant life which may be yours as a result of building on your strengths; and to empower you in overcoming the flaws that might, otherwise, hold you back.

They include posts on forgiveness; assertiveness; resolving conflict; happiness and many other topics.

Subscribe, free, to receive regular updates by clicking on the button in the sidebar on the right.

13. SPEAKER FOR CONFERENCES & EVENTS:

The author of a number of books, one a Sunday Times No. 4 Bestseller, Mel Menzies is also an experienced Speaker, and has addressed live audiences of between 20 and 700+ in addition to participating in TV and Radio chat shows, leading Family Forums, Marriage Enrichment, and Writers' Workshops.

That's the by-line today. For further details on the journey from a childhood, in which I knew I was a huge disappointment to my parents, to the point where I came to know the Real Me and have confidence in my own potential, read on.

Details of how to book Mel as a speaker at your conference or event

Book her now for your event

Mel is a member of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, Activate, and the Association of Christian Writers.

14. STEPFAMILIES:

For articles giving support, understanding and advice for anyone involved in a stepfamily.

My book Stepfamilies, based on lessons learned during my second marriage, plus interviews with many other step parents and step children, has attracted enormous attention from both radio and TV and involved me in numerous broadcasting events.

Successful Stepparenting: If Ozzy Osbourne Can Do It, So Can You!
Successful Step parenting: Three Potential Pitfalls - No. 1 Financial includes links to Parts 2 and 3, Coping With Step children, and Contact With Absent Parent.

15. USEFUL LINKS:

As the title suggests, this page contains links to many helpful organisations offering support and advice, and to other websites in respect of all the topics covered by this site. If you have any further links to suggest, though I don’t promise to include them all, I will certainly consider them.

Do, please, leave your comments at the end of each post. They provide linkbacks for you; help others; and encourage me! Also, please send to a friend.