Blog: Mel's Muse - Archive for December 2009

Online Book Club (Readers' Group)

Posted: Sunday, 27th December 2009

I’ve decided to start an online Book Club! Well, actually, I can’t take credit for it myself; my online friend Lucy suggested it. Thing is, I already lead a real-time Readers’ Group and post the discussion summary on my Diary page (last one was Joanne Harris’s Chocolat if you want to read it) and I think it would be interesting if this was extended to online discussion as well.

Articles on related themes: Book Club / Readers Group; Online Book Group

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A Christmas Gift For All Year Round

Posted: Thursday, 24th December 2009

I was reading, this week, a short piece titled: Right People Get It Wrong. The writer cited two extremes in the range of good and evil: those who appear to live selfless, sacrificial lives; and those who are utterly unconcerned about the damage that they do to others. But the gist, the moral, of the article, was that we should, none of us, be too quick to label people as one or other. We can be too swift in ‘filing’ people in categories of good or bad, or even writing them off altogether, said the author.

GOOD AND BAD

I thought, immediately, of my daughter.

Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Personal Growth; Inspirational

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Blogging, Copyright, & Free Distribution

Posted: Sunday, 20th December 2009

If you blog, do you blog only to convey information to your readers? Or do you blog so that others may freely copy and distribute your material?

I ask because, to date, it has been a vexed question to me. As the author of a number of books published over the past twenty-five years, my experience has been that of the real world (as opposed to the cyber world). In addition, I have been employed, for the past twelve years, as Copyright Manager for a publishing company and, in the next few days, I shall be writing a post on Copyright to accompany this one.

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A Letter From A Blogger Who Wants A New Tagline

Posted: Saturday, 12th December 2009

I've put Blogging For Buddies: Create Your Own Voice to Instil Confidence on my Dear Mel page in response to a letter from Isaac, who has commented on my own articles from time to time. Do see what he's had to say, read my response, then visit his site via the link I've put up.

Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Chapter 3 Part 2 - The Tug Of Two Loves

Posted: Wednesday, 9th December 2009

Catch up with the story so far in Part 1:1 The Inner Yearning. It will be posted, in parts, two or three times a week. For a free prompt to follow the story to its conclusion click the Subscribe button on the right.

BANKRUPT – IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE!

Early one winter evening, as I was putting the children to bed, James arrived home with the sort of commotion that announced that he was drunk. There was nothing unusual about his condition; it was only the time of day that surprised me.

Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Marriage; Inspirational

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Creative Writing: How, Where & When?

Posted: Monday, 7th December 2009

How, where and when do you write and, more to the point, does it matter? Many bestselling novelists, whose diverse methods and locations are described below, would chant an unequivocal ‘Yes!’ And I think I would have to agree.

WRITING IN LONG-HAND

Perhaps because my earliest stories and dramas were written when I was only a child, my first few published books naturally began life in long hand, in exercise books. There is something about forming cursive lettering with a pen on a page which seems to help the creative juices to flow.

Articles on related themes: Writing & Publishing A Book

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