As I rapidly head towards my 50th birthday, I'm a tad bewildered by 'How To Wear ...' fashion articles (pun intended).  Are methods of wearing clothes really a mystery, when all any person need do is stick their head through the neck hole, their arms through the arms holes or sleeves, pull the garment into place around the body then use any fasteners supplied.  This season's trending item will be next season's disparaged rag - assuming a person actually cares about such stuff. Thomas Joseph Walton used to say, "When I'm out, the wardrobe is out."  He was referring to his habit of wearing same clothes year in, year out.  When something finally fell into undeniable shabbiness his wife would ensure it vanished into the bin.  I saw him wear the same trousers for seven years, and they were already old when I met him.  Yet he did have better clothes; I once saw him dressed in a very smart evening suit with matching raincoat and trilby hat, when he hadn'

What do you think of the new-look website?  The aim was to simplify the layout, reducing three columns to two so there was less visual clutter.  There's also a new colour scheme to consider; apparently some people using an old monitor found the previous one a little difficult to read. The temporary hiatus which Riverside Writers' meetings have undergone will end soon, as West Kirby Library have nearly finished repairing the interior after bits of the ceiling fell off.  The next meeting of Riverside Writers will take place on the 27th of this month.  Tim phoned to pass on the news about the library being ready to re-open, so my next little job is to zap an email round to everyone on the group's mailing list. Speaking of mailing lists, did you know I have a free emailing list with Yahoo Groups?  To sign up, use the clickable box in the side column.  Membership brings a number of privileges, such as having book release dates or events dates sent straight to your usua

ISBN: 9781476124902  Fifty copies of Bethany Rose have been set aside for volunteer bookworms.  To qualify to receive one free digital copy, you will need to have  - or contribute to - an active blog site or to be an Amazon reviewer.  In return for your free copy, you will pledge to write and publish your honest review of the novel, ideally within one month of receiving your copy. Apply by sending an email to ACBwrites@aol.com and write BETHANY ROSE REVIEW in the subject line.  Please provide an URL to your blog or reviews so that your claim may be verified. About the book: "Selkies, Ghosts, Terror and Romance!  Morgan seems perfect, but he is a member of a mysterious occult order. Can he protect Bethany Rose from power-crazed assassins?   "Horrified by visitations from a black-robed spectre, Bethany Rose runs to Morgan - and straight into danger.  They want to be together. But will love keep them apart?"

The Faerie Pond, Stapledon Woods I've been busy writing Fabian , and was wondering how many further books this series might run to.   The answer suddenly popped into my head, which is something that tends to happen if I don't block the process somehow by trying too hard to make this work.  If I set out thinking something like, "Ok, I now want the answer to X" regards my writing, nothing happens.  If I just open my mind to possibilities, ask the question and then immediately let it go off into the ether - to use a term which is vague but sufficiently useful - and forget about it, then more often than not the answer flashes back.  Is my brain a cosmic postbox?  (That might explain the amount of 'junk mail'...!) So, the Artisan-Sorcerer Series will run to seven books in all.  I have the titles of the last three.  Each is named after the main character in that particular novel, eg. Tamsin , Rowan , Bethany Rose and the fourth, which has around 30,000 words

Following From: Goals for 2013 Goals for 2012 For the last two years, I've started the year by making a list of goals - partially for fun, and partially because it's a way of tracking my progress with projects. So, here were my goals for 2013: Complete 1st draft of Fabian. Complete NVQ Level 3 in Customer Care. Publish a 2nd free ebook anthology (with Riverside Writers and maybe other writers too). Write one short story per month (minimum). Write one poem per month (minimum). Add one new design to Spooky Cute Designs per month (minimum). (...And last but not least), have more fun. Let's see how I did... Ok, Fabian is not finished; approximately 30,000 words are still to be written, so while the end is in sight clearly there's work to be done. However, I not only completed the NVQ Level 3 in Customer Care but also achieved an NVQ Level 2 in Business Skills, and an NCFE Level 2 in the Principles of Dementia Care. This goes some way to explain why Fabia

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 is why ma

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 person with HIV can live just

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 celebrate