
Blog: Mel's Muse
Showing posts categorised as 'Inspirational'
In Her Words By Patricia St John - My Book Club Discussion
Although slightly reduced in number when my Book Club met this week, there was no less lively conversation and laughter. Especially when they discovered I’d bought Orange Club biscuits! The bottom line, though, was that we loved this book! A light, easy read, it nevertheless had plenty in it to...
Is Kayne West Boasting? Or Shining A Light?
Have you ever thought, on Remembrance Day, about how you would like to be known? Perhaps as who you are: husband/wife, father/mother, son/daughter? Or by what you do accountant/shopkeeper, secretary/ lawyer, nurse/charity worker/singer? Or possibly, by what you’ve achieved?
SUCCESS IS AWESOMEAccording to Premier Media, American music artist, Kayne West, wants...
Blossom In Season? A Guest Blog By Helen Elliott
“Why am I getting angry at a tree?”
A question definitely worthy of consideration, I decided, as I stared out of my window for the third or fourth time that week.
It was a huge tree, surrounded by apartments, all in facing and it was Springtime.
The tree was supposed to be flowering...
What’s Wrong With Human Rights? By David Cross - Book Club Summary
Quotes from the book are in italics.
Never, before, have I made so many highlights in a book! As my Book Club members said when we met yesterday evening, this was certainly a narrative that opened up debate, on a subject not often discussed. With so much material to grapple with,...
The Making Of Us By Sheridan Voysey - Book Review
DISCOVER WHO YOU CAN BECOME
I love Sheridan’s lyrical style of writing – so inviting, so personal, so picturesque. Right from the first page, I found myself enthralled, as if I were meeting someone whom I knew, instantly, was going to become a friend. Likewise, when grappling with sorrow and loss,...
Catching Contentment By Liz Carter - Book Club Discussion
I first heard of Liz Carter’s book, Catching Contentment, when I read, somewhere, that she had suffered a lifelong illness. Instantly, that resonated with me. Having undergone a similar experience, myself, I felt a closeness with Liz that belied the fact that we had never met, nor communicated in any...
Catching Contentment - A Guest Blog
I lay on a trolley in A and E, my breathing coming in rapid gasps. My oxygen sats were too low and the pain clamped me in a vice grip, leaving me crying out. ‘It’s a pneumococcal infection in both lungs,’ the consultant said, and admitted me for intensive IV...
Thomas's Story: Overcoming Physical & Mental Struggles
My next book, Picked for a Purpose, with the strapline Bearing fruit through times of hardship, was written at the request of my publisher. Each short chapter contains a story from my life, followed by a page or two of reflections, in which I look back, with the wisdom of...
World Mental Health Day: Don't Chase The World
DON’T CHASE THE WORLD
Why do I feel such a waste of space?
Why is life always such a race –
To emulate, or, better yet
To surpass the success with which others have met?
Is this the world in which I live?
Is this the future I wish to give
To those who follow on from...
Book Club: Sensible Shoes - Who Are You & Where Have You Come From?
WHO ARE YOU? GUILT RIDDEN?
You pick up the phone, an unknown voice asks: ‘Is that the owner of the house?’ Indeed, sometimes they may address you by name. And what is your immediate response? Mine is never to affirm the query but to ask, ‘Who are you?’
This, however, is not...
Book Club: Sensible Shoes - Whose Do You Walk In? Who Are You?
Who are you? Whose shoes do you walk in? Is this a question you’ve ever ask? No. I don’t mean do you ask it of other people. That’s not British! Downright rude, in fact. So - who are you? Is this something you have ever asked of yourself? And if...
Archbishop By Michele Guinness: Book Club Discussion On Personal Discipleship & Service
Personal Discipleship & Service
(Quotes from the book - with permission from Michele Guinness, below - are in italics)
There were a number of salient points in Michele Guinness’s book when it came to personal discipleship in these troubled times, and we all agreed with Archbishop Vicky that it is only ‘In...
Mel's Online Book Club: When We Can't, God Can By Catherine Campbell
When We Can’t, God Can by Catherine Campbell was the book under discussion when we met for Book Club last night. Having met Catherine on several occasions at Christian Resources Together conferences at Swanwick, I was not surprised to see how well her lovely, caring personality came across in the...
National Poetry Day: My Poem, Picked For A Purpose
A seed, a weed, is sown and grown,
This is your life, you know!
The soil, the toil till it’s full blown
Bring happiness and woe.
The root, the shoot, the stem and leaf
The pain the rain of life,
The sun, your joy, gives way to grief
As struggles become rife.
Nipped in the bud you wonder...
Picked For A Purpose 3: Seeds Sown
SEEDS SOWN
Sometimes people of faith speak of coincidence as being God-incidents. So while a coincidence might be described as random - an accident, chance, luck, fluke, or twist of fate - a God-incident is thought to be an unexpected occurrence in which God is perceived to have had an influence. ...
Picked For A Purpose 2: Seeds & Weeds
SEEDS & WEEDS
These are the questions I ask when...
Have you ever felt useless? As if nothing you do has any meaning or purpose? Ever thought you didn’t fit in? In your family? At school? At work? Or that everyone else was more successful? While you . . .? Well!
These are the questions I ask when...
Picked For A Purpose 1 - Me And Daddy, Daddy And Me
ME AND DADDY, DADDY AND ME
I suppose it was the letters that were the trigger – first for my depression, then for my understanding. Small blue folded airmails that bore my mother’s name on them, plus whatever address happened to be relevant at the time. She had kept them all...
Break Loose (2015) Fly Free (2016)
What are your New Year’s resolutions? How likely are you to achieve them?
I read an article recently, which said that 95% of diets fail. Why? Precisely because they are diets! Counting calories or eliminating certain categories of food focuses your mind on the very thing you want to...
Book Club Discussion Summary: Naturally Supernatural By Wendy Mann
A good deal of laughter accompanied our Readers’ Group discussion last week. The book we had been reading, which I had suggested some two months earlier, was titled Naturally Supernatural, and was written by Wendy Mann. With a new senior minister joining us, in the meantime, we felt sure -...
A Hint Of An American Romance Blooming In Time To Shine?
And another excerpt from my latest novel, Time to Shine, which has gained more 5* reviews since the last taster on my blog. Sorry that the photos of the sky don't quite match the description in the book.
Here, Evie Adams, with a broken marriage behind her, takes some time out...
Time To Shine - A Taster Of My New Book
I thought you might like to read a taster of my new book - a gentle psychological mystery - and see a photograph of the setting in Exeter. The protagonist, Evie Adams, is the narrator in this passage, taken from Chapter 2
Arriving for work early one morning soon after my...
Mel's Online Book Club: Questions For: Faith In The Fog: Believing In What You Cannot See By Jeff Lucas

FAITH IN THE FOG: by Jeff Lucas
NB: Page numbers below relate to Kindle pages
Click here for Discussion Summary of Faith in the Fog 1. Time Trapped. 31-46 · Do we wish we could go back in time as the disciples went back to Galilee to fish? If so why? Isn’t our past shame washed...
Click here for Discussion Summary of Faith in the Fog 1. Time Trapped. 31-46 · Do we wish we could go back in time as the disciples went back to Galilee to fish? If so why? Isn’t our past shame washed...
Mel's Online Book Club: Discussion Summary Of Faith In The Fog: Believing In What You Cannot See By Jeff Lucas

Having prayed for absent book club members, particularly one, who is back in hospital on a second course of chemo, we started the evening with a general overview of Jeff Lucas’ book, Faith in the Fog. Without exception the group professed to having enjoyed it, though one person found his self-deprecation...
My Daughter's Tribute To Her Grandfather

My grandfather, Bill, 97 and ¾
Photograph taken approx. 1941
I started to call him Billy when I was little and he replied with Milly (even though my name was Amanda). He was the only one that was allowed to call me Milly and Millicent when he was cross with me...
How To Be An Author: Facing Discouragement

If you are an aspiring author and are contemplating self-publishing your book, there are various issues to be considered. I received an e-mail from a visitor to my website last month which highlighted some of these.
She recently self-published her book and has encountered several problems. So over the next few...
Dealing With Depression Caused By False Accusations

Photo: Desolation: An Empty Beach
In Dealing With Depression: An Author's Look At Life I stated that, as an author, writing is not what I do but who I am. I went on to say that while writing and publishing a book is quite beyond me at present because I'm battling...
How To Be A Writer Of Christian Fiction Books

Are you an established writer or aspiring author who is also a Christian? Is there a novel you want to write (or have written) for which you are unable to find a publisher? Do you enjoy reading mainstream fiction but find that Christian fiction books leave you cold? How does...
Why My Marriage Bucks The One In Four Trend For Divorce
I’m sitting in the lounge after lunch, about to resume writing my new book, when I hear Paul coming down the stairs.
“Could you let me have my bank card back, please,” I call out.
He has borrowed it to take to the Post Office, because the Sub Postmaster forgot to write my number on...
Empowering Solutions: Lift Up Your Eyes; Enlarge Your Vision!

Have you ever felt weighed down in an emotionally draining situation – as if someone had thrown a heavy, wet, cape around your shoulders; as if the effort of having to drag it around drained you of energy for anything else? Especially anything inspirational, like creative writing.
Of course you have! Most of us have...
Does Your Creative Writing Style Encourage A Relationship With Your Readers?

Is it ever a good idea, as a book author, to stop writing? This isn’t a trick question: I have a genuine interest in your views – especially those of you who subscribe to my blog and are regular readers of my articles – plus it may be something you should be asking yourselves....
A Christmas Gift For All Year Round

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

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...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Chapter 3 Part 1 - The Tug Of Two Loves
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.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Part 2:2 Lost & Found

Arguing a case against Jesus’ claims about eternal life, Megan is brought face to face with the truth that it is her pride which prevents fulfilment of her inner yearning. A second visit to a Billy Graham rally sees her accepting that even a good friend is no substitute for faith. Only a life...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Part 2:1 Lost & Found
With marriage, babies and moving house having failed to still the inner yearning in Megan’s life, she feels sure that her new friendship with Eileen must be the answer. Especially when Eileen invites her to hear Billy Graham. Eileen has a faith in God which Megan finds enviable. Eileen knows Jesus as her Saviour...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Part 1:3 The Inner Yearning

With two babies only a year apart in age, Meg is as lonely as ever. Will moving house be the answer? For a while it seems a possibility. But as James’ career ambitions take him away from home once more, it seems that only a new friendship might fill that inner yearning.
Catch up with...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Part 1:2 The Inner Yearning

Less than a year into Megan’s marriage to James, with her baby born and motherhood now a reality, the cracks which were apparent from the outset, are beginning to widen. As the swinging sixties begin to make themselves felt, the over-riding question is: can Megan find, in James, the love she craves?
Catch up with...
Demise Of A Marriage: A True Story - Part 1:1 The Inner Yearning

What follows is a true story, the real life story of a woman named Megan, who was raised in an era when to be married, to be a wife, was the pinnacle of aspiration for a woman. The expectation that you shopped, cooked, cleaned and raised children whilst your husband worked, played and waited...
Creative Writing: Tips For Novelists On Priming The Pump
Authors of books are urged, by writing pundits, to identify the genre and market for which they are aiming before they commit to print. This is for good reason; not least that if you are engaged in writing and publishing a book, knowing who you are writing for will affect how seriously a publisher...
Creative Writing Style: Do You Have One?

We talk about certain novelists as having “style”, or say that we like "the style" of this author, but not that. But what does it actually mean to have writing style and is this something we can acquire, or foster in ourselves as writers? Or is it something that just happens?
IS STYLE DICTATED BY...Authors: Tellers Of Tales, Weavers Of Dreams? Tap Into Your Childhood To Reveal And Nourish Hidden Emotional Creativity

Why do writers exist? What is it about the human race that makes us want to be authors and readers? Tellers of tales, serialisers of stories, weavers of dreams: what compels us? Scriptwriters, dramatists, actors, theatre-goers, radio broadcasters and listeners? Why? What inner compulsion urges us on – those of us who share our inner...
The Shack By William Young: Uv Readers' Group Discussion Summary
Is The Shack A True Story?
This was one of the issues raised when twenty-one of us met on Thursday to share our impressions of William Young’s debut novel. Many of us found ourselves thinking of Madeleine McCann, the four year old who disappeared in Portugal whilst holidaying with her parents...
Sex Or Chocolate? Chocolate Or Sex? How Would You Define Happiness?

Revised: NEW YEAR'S EVE, 31st December, 2009
Much has changed since I first wrote this article, so
it seemed to me that it deserved to be revised, amended and added
to, with quotes, suggestions and advice. I hope, that in following
some of the ideas, you might find yourself stumbling on happiness,
without, perhaps, ever...
BBC Radio Devon Interview
Listen to me chatting to Dave Fitzgerald about my latest release, Chosen, on BBC local radio.
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