Welcome to this series of writing tips. If you would like to pen a guest post for this series, email me at ACBwrites@aol.com . Today, guest blogger Gemma Gaten shares her ideas about how to improve creativity. Every person is unique. We are all creative in our own simple ways but most of us haven't realised our full creative potential. Some people are trying to unlock their creativity while others give up trying to know in which field they are most creative. Being intelligent, hard-working, and having a nice attitude are not enough to become successful in your chosen career. More than these things, you must learn how to use your normal intelligence in doing creative work. Creativity is an element that is present in all fields. Whether you are working in a business, have a job related to the arts or technology and social media, your level of creativity plays a vital role in your profession. Enhancing creativity can impact upon every aspect of your life. That...

In the mid-1980's I was working for South Sefton Health Authority.  Based at Fazakerley Hospital in Liverpool, I was part of a small team of Health Promotion Officers who'd drive around north Liverpool in an old double-decker bus.  The lower deck had been converted into a creche, while the upper deck housed a tiny clinic area and an information resource centre.  For the most part, our team handed out leaflets and played videos  - anti-smoking, healthy nutrition, oral hygiene, etc.  One of the leaflets was the infamous AIDS tombstone leaflet intended to terrify people into using condoms to slow the spread of this rampant disease which would, it seemed at the time, lead to us all having to step round corpses in the streets. And while people certainly have died from AIDS, (or from the treatments given to control it, especially in those early years), many who now live with the HIV virus no longer need fear an automatic death sentence.  Apparently, a...

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! . The Feature & Follow has two hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each has their own Feature Blog. How does this work? First, leave your name here on this post, (using the Linky tools below.)  Then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and leave a message in their comments section. And today's question, set by the FF hosts, is:  What’s your favourite Thanksgiving Day food? If you’re not American or Canadian, what is your favourite holiday food? Here in Britain, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day.  This festival's historical roots can be linked to our ancient harvest festivals and the English Reformation in 1536, and while some people still celebr...

City Stories: Tales of Modern Liverpool ISBN: 9781310916939 Love, terror and 21st century life! From the heart of cosmopolitan Liverpool come nine thrilling views of modern living. Blood-drinkers, killers and secrets. Old sorrows and new beginnings. The light and dark of human life set against the glittering backdrop of a reinvigorated city. City Stories. Tales of life today. Featuring:- Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray Pick up your FREE copy today here! Other distribution outlets will follow over the new few weeks.

I spent part of the afternoon in Birkenhead.  It must be close to a year, or perhaps even longer, since I last wandered round the shops there.  I was surprised to see how many empty retails units there are in the Grange Precinct and in The Pyramids.  For the benefit of non-locals, I should explain that this small shopping mall has neither pyramids nor an Egyptian-themed decor; indeed the only remotely pyramid-like aspect to it is its name. The high number of vacant retail units show how hard the recession has hit, despite debate about whether double-dip or triple-dip recessions are myths arising from the interpretation of statistics.  The Daily Telegraph reported that 27,000 small businesses failed during 2009, when the recession began to bite.  More recent statistics proved difficult to find.  Eighteen shops closed every day during the first half of 2013, just two fewer a day than in 2012 accord...

City Stories, FREE ebook anthology   Contributors : Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray   Here's a preview of the front cover for the forthcoming City Stories ebook anthology, which is currently being proofread with help from Andy Siddle and Tim Hulme.  The photo on the cover depicts part of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and was taken by my husband Richard, (who's currently trying to mend a broken stand for one of my Tangkou dolls).   Frog pond with pennywort, water soldiers, fairy moss and shy goldfish.   Who'd have guessed that fish have personalities?  To prevent the frog pond from becoming home to a legion of blood-sucking mosquitoes, my brother Eric suggested adding a few goldfish.  Three have been making themselves at home beneath the gradually-spreading canopy of pennywort and fairy moss.  They seem to like snoozing under the water soldier...