Blog: Mel's Muse - Archive for September 2008
5 THINGS I'D LIKE TO DO BEFORE I DIE - Competition Final Day
Posted: Tuesday, 30th September 2008
It’s been fun thinking of the five things I’d like to do before I die – but quite difficult, too. I suppose your own death is one of those things you rarely consider. We all like to think we’re immortal. Or perhaps not, the way things are going? Eternal, then!
My fifth and final wish is posted below. I’d like to thank you again for participating in this competition. I’ve a pretty good idea who I’m going to choose as the winner – the one thing that stood out for me.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
IS FAITH A LEGITIMATE SUBJECT FOR FOOLISHNESS, FALSEHOOD OR FUN?
Posted: Monday, 29th September 2008
A COMEDY OF CHRISTIANITY
It’s a strange paradox that at a time when so many people profess not to believe in God, religion appears to be a subject enjoyed by the masses in almost all forms of multi-media. To mention but a few examples, we’ve had the stage-shows Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell; the book The God Delusion (and counter-argument The Dawkins Delusion ); umpteen TV comedies from All Gas and Gaiters to the inimitable Vicar of Dibley, and the film Life of Brian. Now I hear that we’re to have a new film, Religulous, and that the producers unashamedly want to espouse the same anti-religious zeal which makes for best-selling status.
Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Life, Faith & Other Stuff
Cool Brittania: The Good, The Bad - And the Utterly Sublime!
Posted: Sunday, 28th September 2008
THE GOOD
The Good News is that we have a National Health Service at all! Even better are the advances made in medical science, which mean that conditions like Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) can be treated.
Articles on related themes: Current Affairs; Life, Faith & Other Stuff
The How-to of Creative Writing - Plotting is a Journey
Posted: Friday, 26th September 2008
This is the last Post in this Series. Over the past few weeks you’ve been learning how to Plot your Story. Complete the process of writing your book by subscribing FREE to the next series.
SUBSCRIBE NOW *FREE* TO THE NEXT SERIES: CREATIVE WRITING – CRAFTING THE STORY. Your contact details will be kept secure at all times, and will NEVER be divulged to any third party.
PLOTTING IS A JOURNEY WITH A BEGINNING. . .
Remember I told you that plotting a story is like marking points on a map, before you undertake a journey.
Articles on related themes: Plot; Writing & Publishing A Book
5 Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die - COMPETITION COUNTDOWN - 5 DAYS TO GO
Posted: Thursday, 25th September 2008
DAVE FREEMAN'S BOOK 100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE.
This Competition was prompted by the author's death at the age of 47.
Thank you to those of you who have left comments on the FIVE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE. They make interesting reading. If you haven’t seen them, follow the links to Competition Day 14 – Thin Thighs and from there the links to the previous Post. It would help me enormously if you’d leave a comment letting me know which you find the most original and philosophical.
DAY 23 OF THE COMPETITION, WITH ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT TO GO!
BUT IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN IN.
Articles on related themes:
Fun & Competitions
Credit Crunch: The Personal Pain And Gain
Posted: Wednesday, 24th September 2008
Related Posts: Ten Tips to Stay Free From Debt; Ten Tips To Get Rid of Debt
EFFECTS OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH
Watching the UK’s Channel 4 TV programme Dispatches on the human cost of the credit crunch was heartbreaking. First there was the man (Jamaican, I think) who’d worked all his life on the buses. Masking his emotion with a big, beaming smile, he told us that he had never imagined that retirement would be so frightening. He indicated his gas and electrical bills. They terrified him, he said.
Then there was the single mother, wanting to do what all mothers want – to give the best to her children.
Articles on related themes: Current Affairs; Debt; Life, Faith & Other Stuff
Ten Tips to Get Rid of Debt
Posted: Monday, 22nd September 2008
Related Posts: Ten Tips To Stay Free From Debt
CONSUMER BORROWING ON THE RISE
In an article I wrote in 1988 for a popular women’s
magazine, I stated that the UK newspapers spoke of
‘record sales’ and ‘predicted that
as a nation we were heading for bankruptcy’. Bank
lending had risen from £560million in 1970 to £15,002
million in 1984 and in the last four years of that period alone,
credit card lending had ‘leapfrogged by 158 per
cent’.
Articles on related themes:
Debt
The How-to of Creative Writing - Where To Begin
Posted: Saturday, 20th September 2008
Related Posts: Joining up the Dots
HOW TO PLOT A NOVEL & HOOK YOUR READER
At what point do you decide if you’re going to like the book you’ve picked up to read? Almost certainly, it will be by the time you’ve reached the bottom of the first page. If the narrative hasn’t hooked you by then, you’re unlikely to read on.
Articles on related themes: Plot; Writing & Publishing A Book
How We Little People Can Change Big Bank Pay-outs - Open Letter to Lloyds TSB
Posted: Friday, 19th September 2008
Mr Eric Daniels, Lloyds TSB Chief
Dear Mr Daniels,
PLEASE CLOSE MY LLOYDS TSB ACCOUNT WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT
I see, from my Daily Telegraph today (and trust that this is accurate) that subsequent to your takeover of the failed bank HBOS, you are planning to give Mr Andy Hornby, the failed CEO of HBOS a £2 million stake in Lloyds TSB. I had no objection to the former before the event, but I write now to tell you that I strenuously object to the latter.
May I remind you, Mr Daniels, that I have banked with you for the past twenty-six years.
Articles on related themes: Debt; Current Affairs
A Life of Laughter: BOTTOMS, WEE-WEES, WILLIES & POO-POOHS
Posted: Thursday, 18th September 2008
Other posts on Parenting: Parent Power = Kids Confidence
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from my cousin. He used to be an airline pilot flying holidaymakers out of Gatwick, and he tells stories of walking out to the plane in full view of all his passengers, dressed in a long gabardine, with one leg strapped up and only a wooden broom handle visible. As if doing a Jake the Peg impression wasn’t enough, he’d weave about as if drunk. The story, and his telling of it, made me laugh. But how true it was I don’t know.
Articles on related themes: Life, Faith & Other Stuff
Divorce & Family Law - Does It Affect Us All?
Posted: Wednesday, 17th September 2008
Other Posts on Books & Reading: The Isolation of Being Unable to Read
STATISTICS OF SINGLE PARENTS
What do you think of when you read of mothers raising children without fathers? Does it incite you to indignation? Rage? And if so, against whom? The mothers who so ruthlessly exploit the benefits system with serial offspring by multiple fathers? The feckless fathers who abandon them? Or the systematic onslaught of successive governments who have dismantled the best-known building block for the stability of society: marriage and the family unit?
Whilst we are (rightly) concerned with such matters, we appear to have allowed the other end of the spectrum to have slipped from our sight.
Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Current Affairs; Family & Parenting
COMPETITION - DAY 14 - Thin Thighs
Posted: Tuesday, 16th September 2008
IT'S LONELY HERE!
Look! I’m going to stamp my foot and cry if you don’t respond to my invitation >:( It’s very lonely blogging away here and not getting any response! I’m going to put up the third thing I’d like to do before I die (see below) and it would be great – no, really Great! – if you could let me know even one, teeny-teeny little thing you’d like to do before you die.
Not that it’s imminent, you understand. At least I hope not. But then, I suppose that’s what Dave Freeman must have thought when he wrote his book 100 Things To Do Before You Die.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
Ten Tips To Stay Free From Debt
Posted: Monday, 15th September 2008
Revised: 10th December, 2009
The article that follows was written more than a year ago, when the true story of global recession was only beginning to unfold. Now, nearly fifteen months later, governments of all nationalities face unprecedented levels of indebtedness. And levels of unemployment, we’re told, are still set to rise. If you are one of the millions who face a drop in income and a squeeze on your finances, read on. These ten tips are designed to help you stay debt free.
Articles on related themes: Debt
The How-to of Creative Writing - Joining Up The Dots
Posted: Saturday, 13th September 2008
LINKS TO PREVIOUS SESSIONS
How did you get on with the last session? I hope the update on all the previous tutorials was a help. For those of you who’ve just joined, the post titled The How-to of Creative Writing – What Makes A Story A Plot? – will link you to all relevant sessions.
STORY & PLOT
In the last post, I stressed the importance of conflict in plotting a story. That is as true of an inspirational true-life story or testimony as it is for a novel. We looked at E.M.
Articles on related themes: Plot; Writing & Publishing A Book
Memories of 9.11.2001
Posted: Thursday, 11th September 2008
Other Posts on Current Affairs: Rick Warren
I thought that in memory of all who lost their lives, and those who lost loved ones, I would reproduce the comment I left on The New York Times online.
COMMENT
I expect, like me, you've been thinking about the terrible events of seven years ago. But can you remember where you were? I'm old enough to remember the assassination of John F Kennedy and still recall exactly where I was when the news came through. But 9/11 was worse. So much worse!
I was at home (in the UK) when my eldest daughter rang to ask me where my niece was.
Articles on related themes: Current Affairs; Life, Faith & Other Stuff
COMPETITION - DAY 9 - Don't Let Me Die Before You Reply!
Posted: Thursday, 11th September 2008
Look, I’m sorry to sound sergeant majorish, but this is pay-back time! I’ve succumbed to your silence by speaking out myself, and I’ve identified one - no TWO - of the items I’d like to do before I die. (See below)
This competition was prompted by the book 100Things To Do Before You Die, written by Dave Freeman. His death, at the age of 47, has prompted a flurry of posts on various sites.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
The How-to of Creative Writing - What Makes A Story A Plot?
Posted: Wednesday, 10th September 2008
I’m sorry I’m rather late with this week’s How-to of Creative Writing. I’ve been developing my website in the hope that it will make it easier for visitors to navigate. Also, I wanted to make sure that my readers – you! – understand what it’s all about. I hope you’ll take a look around and let me know what you think. I’m open to any suggestions for improvement. I may have been a published author for nearly twenty-five years, but I’m a novice when it comes to websites and blogs! I need your feedback, please, to help me get it right.
Articles on related themes: Writing & Publishing A Book; Plot
GUEST BLOG - David Scott - K.I.S.S.
Posted: Tuesday, 9th September 2008
DAVID SCOTT - Novelist, Consultant, Former Newspaper Editor
I was talking with David Scott last week, and I asked him if he would share his thoughts on writing, for the benefit of my readers. David is a former editor of several daily and weekly newspapers, and now runs his own media consultancy, training journalists on short, intensive, in-house courses. His first novel, The Standard Bearer, was published in 2004.
Here’s what David had to say:
K.I.S.S.
Of all the advice I have given potential writers over the last 30 years I think the most important is to remember K.I.S.
The Isolation of Being Unable to Read
Posted: Monday, 8th September 2008
Related topics: 59 Million Keywords to PublicationReading Between The Lines
EFFECTS OF ILLITERACY
Have you ever thought what it would be like if you were unable to read or understand a word of this blog? Doubtless you would be feeling the same shame and isolation as the people I wrote about in my post: Reading Between the Lines last month. Tears were aplenty as they shared their stories in the TV series Can’t Read; Can’t Write – and they weren’t solely those of the participants! There we learned that in Britain, alone, over five million adults have a reading age of 12 or less, or are unable to read at all.
Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Current Affairs; Family & Parenting
COMPETITION - DAY 5 - 5 Things You'd Like To Do Before You Die
Posted: Sunday, 7th September 2008
Okay – so you don’t want to be the first. I understand that! BUT IT'S NOW DAY 5 OF THE COMPETITION, WITH ONLY 23 DAYS LEFT TO GO!
This is a bit like having a primary school birthday party when all the other children are too shy to come in. Remember that? When your guests hid behind the door and wouldn’t give you your present?
Well, I’m asking you to come inside. I’ll go first. (See my contribution below). But I’m really hoping you’re going to be brave enough to follow. This is the competition as posted on 3rd September. It finishes on 30th September.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
CREATIVE WRITING - Creativity in Conflict
Posted: Friday, 5th September 2008
DEALING WITH CONFLICT – DO YOU KNOW HOW?
Ever felt that you fall out with your partner / colleague / mother about the same thing, over and over? Not sure why this happens? Even less sure what to do about it?
This Post will, I hope, be of interest to anyone reading it, not simply to aspiring writers. I wrote a couple of days ago about the need to bring credibility to the characters we create. Now I’m going to show you how you can bring creativity to the way you manage conflict – in your own lives, as well as the lives you write about.
Articles on related themes: Writing & Publishing A Book; Plot; Character
COMPETITION - DAY 3 - 5 Things You Want To Do Before You Die
Posted: Friday, 5th September 2008
The recent death of Dave Freeman aged 47, author of 100 Things To Do Before You Die, has prompted a flurry of posts on various sites.
Come on everyone! Today is Day 3 of the COMPETITION I launched on Wednesday.
Post your comments showing the top 5 Things You Want To Do Before You Die and you could win a free copy of my novel A Painful Post Mortem.
I’ll keep the competition open throughout the month of September.
COUNTING DOWN: ONLY 25 DAYS TO GO.
The winner will be the comment which I consider to be the most innovative and profound.
No trips to the moon will be allowed.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
Competition - 5 Things You'd Like To Do Before You Die
Posted: Wednesday, 3rd September 2008
The recent death of Dave Freeman aged 47, author of 100 Things To Do Before You Die, has prompted a flurry of posts on various sites.
So I’ve decided to launch a COMPETITION.
Post your comments showing the top 5 Things You'd Like To Do Before You Die and you could win a free copy of my novel A Painful Post Mortem. (No pun intended!)
I’ll keep the competition open throughout the month of September.
The winner will be the comment which I consider to be the most innovative and profound.
No trips to the moon will be allowed. All comments must be decent and realistic. Winner will be informed by e-mail.
Articles on related themes: Fun & Competitions
Child Pornography
Posted: Tuesday, 2nd September 2008
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY – A SUBJECT FOR DRAMA?
Child pornography may not be everyone’s ideal Sunday evening viewing (UK - BBC1 – Fiona’s Story), but it is, sadly, a topical subject. The problem, to my mind, is the way it was dramatised. Am I the only one to feel that it was all very unsatisfactory? Both content and conclusion left me feeling badly let down.
I can understand that if you’ve been married for some years and love your husband, then – like Fiona – you going to be in denial to begin with. Shock and disbelief go hand in hand.
Articles on related themes: Family & Parenting
The How-to of Creative Writing - Credible Characters
Posted: Monday, 1st September 2008
A couple of days ago in the How-to of Creative Writing, I said that Characters – whether in fiction or true-life stories – need:
- Credibility – to be true to life
- Creativity – in the way they respond to conflict
- Complexity – depth which makes them three dimensional
Today we’re going to look at the first of these features:
CREDIBILITY
In this Post, and the next, I’m going to show you how to know and grow your Characters.
Articles on related themes: Character; Writing & Publishing A Book
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