Blog: Mel's Muse

Abusive Relationships And Those Trapped In Them

Emotional abuse - when a paternal example of sexual rejection, silence and sarcasm are damaging to a child's development, is it time for those trapped in abusive relationships to get out?

Posted at 22:56pm on 21st October 2009

Abusive Relationships And Those Trapped In Them

Dear Mel,

I don’t know where you live in the world so I don’t know whether you saw that drama programme on TV a little while ago but I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears when I saw it. I think it was called Criminal Justice or something like that – and it described exactly...

Posted at 12:33pm on 20th October 2009

Blogging: Does Adding Your Credentials Add Or Subtract Followers?

Do you ever feel that the more you know, the more you know you don’t know? I, for instance, didn’t know until I wrote that sentence that The More You Know was the title of public service announcements in the USA! Googling the phrase – as you do – brought up the following YouTube...

Posted at 18:13pm on 18th October 2009

8 Comments

Can You Hear Me? By Brad Jersak - Uv Book Group Questions & Summary

The Book Club met on Thursday 15th October, as usual, in the Library at The Grand. As I was nursing a hacking cough and swollen glands I had to cry off, so the group was admirably led by Pippa, who had reviewed the book, Can You Hear Me? and also compiled the following questions, below...

Posted at 17:51pm on 17th October 2009

How To Blog To Sell When Writing And Publishing A Book

You’re an author and you have a book to sell. Selling in bookshops is one thing; selling online another. You have a question: which is superior, social media or search engines when it comes to promoting your work?

In my last blog post I concluded that, as a reader or researcher, I prefer the latter....

Posted at 17:37pm on 15th October 2009

3 Comments

Writing And Publishing: Online Marketing

I wrote, last week, about the futility of relying solely on book publishing houses to promote your new novel, and the need to think in terms of self-promotion. Publishing a novel is not an end in itself (you want people to read it!) and, sooner or later, the process of creative writing has to be...

Posted at 11:02am on 12th October 2009

Successful Step-parenting: If Ozzy Osbourne Can Do It, So Can You!

I was asked by BBC Radio Birmingham to be their 'expert' on this morning's discussion on step-parenting. I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve been interviewed in connection with my book, Stepfamilies, but I suppose, given that something like one in eight British children are now growing up in a blended family, it’s a hot topic.

STEP-CHILDREN:...

Posted at 11:57am on 8th October 2009

Bbc Radio Birmingham: Topic - Stepfamilies

BBC Radio Birmingham broadcast this morning - a phone in on stepfamilies. Ozzie Osborne kicked it off talking about how his kids from two marriages sometimes get on and sometimes don't. Read the interview here and join in the debate.

Posted at 10:47am on 8th October 2009

Writing And Publishing: Promoting Your Novel

If you are serious about writing and publishing your book, then sooner or later you’re going to have to think about promoting it. I’m not talking here about manuscript submission guidelines, how to write a publishing proposal for your book. Nor am I referring to writing a synopsis for a novel in order...

Posted at 10:00am on 7th October 2009

2 Comments

Anti-social Behaviour: Is It The Result Of Legislation Promoting Children's Rights?

Newspaper reports on the life and death of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter make harrowing reading. Victims of abuse and anti-social behaviour by local youths, the lives of both were made a misery for years. However, despite making no fewer than thirty-three complaints to the police, her plight, and that of her daughter, was...

Posted at 17:41pm on 30th September 2009

4 Comments

Page 29 of 54