“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it is too dark to read.” (Groucho Marx)
This summer I read my first book - a very long novel - on a Kindle.
As a consequence I’m a convert! No more cutting down trees to feed my reading habit – I’m happy to read only e-ink from now on…
If I tell you that despite having one of the slowest, dullest beginnings you’ll find in fiction, and that it ends with an essay of interminable boredom, this is nonetheless (justly!) one of the most acclaimed of nineteenth century novels, can you guess what it is?
A further clue: it contains one of the most convincing death scenes to be found between the covers of a book, concerning a character who is killed off twice by his author.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tea, coffee & condoms
In one of my early attempts to write a novel - one that will forever remain in the bottom drawer - the central character, Jocelyn Hough, a rather ineffectual English EFL teacher who dreams of becoming a writer (Autobiographical? No way, man!) is obsessed with the idea that peoples, and their cultures, are defined by what they drink.
Here's Jocelyn explaining some of his beliefs about tea to a young American he has met on the train:
'It's funny, but from the moment tea was first imported to Europe you can see a distinct shift in European sensibility. Once tea appears there's some kind of new awareness of the individual. For example, the first mention of tea in Europe was in 1559 - the very year that Cellini started his autobiography. It's almost as if tea allowed us to look inside ourselves and for the first time accept what we found there.'
The American nodded with the attentive manner of a good listener, encouraging Jocelyn to go on.
'I know it sounds far-fetched, but there are plenty of other examples. For instance, the first boxes of tea reached Paris at the same time that Montaigne was writing his essays. Or look at London: the diffusion of tea there in the late 1650's occurred just as the English rejected Puritanism and were about to usher in the Restoration - what followed was an unprecedented period of social tolerance.'
'Whoa there! You don't mean to tell me that this guy, what did you say his name was - Montaigne? - actually wrote his stuff with a beaker of tea in his hand!'
'No, of course not! But that's not the point. I don't mean that tea caused any of these things to happen the way a cold beer causes condensation. I'm just pointing out some rather strange parallels: what Jung would call the 'synchronicity' of certain trends towards tolerant humanism and the use of tea.'
Not that I believed any of this, but the whole far-fetched conceit served as an excuse for a nice little joke: the never-finished and quite unpublishable magnum opus Jocelyn devotes his life to is entitled 'The Tea Drinker's Coffee Table Book'.
So to return to the theme some thirty years later, though now sounding like a veritable Grumpy Old Man, I've just been back to the UK for the summer and am depressed that in the Home Counties at least, it is no longer possible to order a cup of coffee in English any more. Just try - as I have been doing - going into your neighbourhood cafe, let alone a Costa or a Nero's, and asking for a small white coffee. "Is that a capper-cheeno or a lah-tay?" you’ll be asked . Admittedly, English coffee may not be very good – the British seem to prefer murky beverages made from freeze-dried acorns (judging by the taste) to the real thing, but please, why the linguistic travesty? However, I'll leave my diatribe against the italianisation of the English High Street for another day.
Besides, I'm a tea drinker. The which brings me to my real grouse: - tea socks.
Someone told me that the idea of collecting the sweepings off the tea-room floor and sealing them up in paper bags was a German invention, intended, no doubt, to undermine the moral fibre of the British Empire. The truth though, is even more sinister: the first patents for tea socks date back to 1903 in - you guessed it - our former colonies across The Pond. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea socks were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York, who was soon shipping his invention around the world. No doubt this was a cold war continuation of the Boston Tea-Party. Though bless his little (cotton?) socks, Thomas Sullivan never expected anyone to dunk his contraption unopened into a tea pot - still less serve it up on a saucer next to a cup of lukewarm water, as the Italians are fond of doing - his was merely a convenient way of sending samples of tea through the post.
Are you really telling me you can taste the tea? That you cannot taste the paper? Buon gustaio, amico mio, you are not! Let's face it, drinking tea made with tea bags is like having sex wearing a condom.
Except that I can think of no convincing justifications for the former, and plenty for the latter.
Allow me to finish this little rant with a recipe, a family blend - not, alas, my own (neither the family, nor the blend) - that makes for a very good cup of tea:
Mix a good English Breakfast with Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong in proportions of 4 to 1 to 1.
And if you think tea leaves are too messy, why not acquire one of those cup-shaped filters (available, for example, from Whittard’s) that fit inside your mug or teapot: no mess, and all the taste!
Here's Jocelyn explaining some of his beliefs about tea to a young American he has met on the train:
'It's funny, but from the moment tea was first imported to Europe you can see a distinct shift in European sensibility. Once tea appears there's some kind of new awareness of the individual. For example, the first mention of tea in Europe was in 1559 - the very year that Cellini started his autobiography. It's almost as if tea allowed us to look inside ourselves and for the first time accept what we found there.'
The American nodded with the attentive manner of a good listener, encouraging Jocelyn to go on.
'I know it sounds far-fetched, but there are plenty of other examples. For instance, the first boxes of tea reached Paris at the same time that Montaigne was writing his essays. Or look at London: the diffusion of tea there in the late 1650's occurred just as the English rejected Puritanism and were about to usher in the Restoration - what followed was an unprecedented period of social tolerance.'
'Whoa there! You don't mean to tell me that this guy, what did you say his name was - Montaigne? - actually wrote his stuff with a beaker of tea in his hand!'
'No, of course not! But that's not the point. I don't mean that tea caused any of these things to happen the way a cold beer causes condensation. I'm just pointing out some rather strange parallels: what Jung would call the 'synchronicity' of certain trends towards tolerant humanism and the use of tea.'
Not that I believed any of this, but the whole far-fetched conceit served as an excuse for a nice little joke: the never-finished and quite unpublishable magnum opus Jocelyn devotes his life to is entitled 'The Tea Drinker's Coffee Table Book'.
So to return to the theme some thirty years later, though now sounding like a veritable Grumpy Old Man, I've just been back to the UK for the summer and am depressed that in the Home Counties at least, it is no longer possible to order a cup of coffee in English any more. Just try - as I have been doing - going into your neighbourhood cafe, let alone a Costa or a Nero's, and asking for a small white coffee. "Is that a capper-cheeno or a lah-tay?" you’ll be asked . Admittedly, English coffee may not be very good – the British seem to prefer murky beverages made from freeze-dried acorns (judging by the taste) to the real thing, but please, why the linguistic travesty? However, I'll leave my diatribe against the italianisation of the English High Street for another day.
Besides, I'm a tea drinker. The which brings me to my real grouse: - tea socks.
Someone told me that the idea of collecting the sweepings off the tea-room floor and sealing them up in paper bags was a German invention, intended, no doubt, to undermine the moral fibre of the British Empire. The truth though, is even more sinister: the first patents for tea socks date back to 1903 in - you guessed it - our former colonies across The Pond. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea socks were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York, who was soon shipping his invention around the world. No doubt this was a cold war continuation of the Boston Tea-Party. Though bless his little (cotton?) socks, Thomas Sullivan never expected anyone to dunk his contraption unopened into a tea pot - still less serve it up on a saucer next to a cup of lukewarm water, as the Italians are fond of doing - his was merely a convenient way of sending samples of tea through the post.
Are you really telling me you can taste the tea? That you cannot taste the paper? Buon gustaio, amico mio, you are not! Let's face it, drinking tea made with tea bags is like having sex wearing a condom.
Except that I can think of no convincing justifications for the former, and plenty for the latter.
Allow me to finish this little rant with a recipe, a family blend - not, alas, my own (neither the family, nor the blend) - that makes for a very good cup of tea:
Mix a good English Breakfast with Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong in proportions of 4 to 1 to 1.
And if you think tea leaves are too messy, why not acquire one of those cup-shaped filters (available, for example, from Whittard’s) that fit inside your mug or teapot: no mess, and all the taste!
Sunday, 31 July 2011
How to be a Superhero
Have you ever wanted to be a Superhero? Do you want to save the planet? Well, you can. Read on to learn how - it's much easier than you think.
Most of us - if only from time to time - dream of doing something that is going to benefit others, of becoming someone who is going to make a difference. We dream of becoming doctors or teachers, writers or artists, and of dedicating our lives to improving the lot of those less fortunate than ourselves. Some succeed, though for many the idealism drops away, either through our own inertia, or because of the constraints of real life; you didn't make the grades for medical school, and now you’re trapped in a job that doesn’t have a lot of point to it except that it’s making you a living, and heaven knows, we all need that...
But even so, you can still do a huge amount to benefit humanity. You, as one of the richest people on the planet, can make a huge amount of difference by giving some of your money to some of the poorest people in the developing world.
Me, rich? Are you kidding…
Besides, I pay my taxes. Isn’t it the job of governments to provide relief for the destitute? Who but they can co-ordinate international aid?
Yes, I say: if you are born in Europe, you are middle-class and are educated to university level – as 90% of those who are likely to be reading this will be – you are, by global standards, easily within the top 10% of the world’s richest people. If you are still a student, and those earnings are at present only potential, then you still have the chance to learn one of wealth creation’s great secrets: if you can learn to manage your money when you have very little of it, you’ll know how to handle money once more and more of it begins to turn up in your life.
And no, I say: you cannot expect government aid to help those most in need, for the simple reason that governments give aid where there’s most political incentive to do so. Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East (though worthy causes all) will receive far more aid from Western governments than sub-Saharan Africa for many decades to come.
So you still want to be a Superhero? It takes two things. One is the resolve to set aside some of your money each month. Try starting with 2%, with the aim of raising it to 5% in a year or two, and a goal of making it 10% once those Superman muscles have really been flexed… But start small, and start now. We are talking the price of a night on the town, here. Stay home one evening a month when you would otherwise go out for a pizza or a few beers, and that sacrifice, after a few months, might well raise enough to save, or significantly change, another person’s life.
And the second thing you need is information: how much do people in the West need to give to save the planet? Who should you give it to? Do charities really make a difference?
I’m happy to say that the answers to all such questions can be found in one place: Peter Singer’s book The Life You Can Save. Singer is a moral philosopher who has thought through the answers to the problem of ending world poverty – and concludes that it can only be done (but that it can be done) if you and I are willing to play a part. It is a book that works on many levels, both intellectual and emotional, philosophical and practical. Do, please, read it.
Giving What We Can is another inspiring and informative source. Members of this international society have pledged to give 10% of their income for life towards eliminating global poverty, and their website spells out exactly how to give most effectively.
And for Italian readers of this blog, I’d like to suggest a home-grown organization that is also well worth supporting: the Fondazione Ivo de Carneri, which does wonderful work in parasitology from its base in Pemba, Zanzibar.
On a final note, there is another route to becoming a Superhero. For one man’s attempt to do so by more traditional methods, look out for Peter Stebbings’ hilarious film, Defendor. It's a parody of the whole Superhero phenomenon, which succeeds in being both zany and moving. Do look out for it.
Most of us - if only from time to time - dream of doing something that is going to benefit others, of becoming someone who is going to make a difference. We dream of becoming doctors or teachers, writers or artists, and of dedicating our lives to improving the lot of those less fortunate than ourselves. Some succeed, though for many the idealism drops away, either through our own inertia, or because of the constraints of real life; you didn't make the grades for medical school, and now you’re trapped in a job that doesn’t have a lot of point to it except that it’s making you a living, and heaven knows, we all need that...
But even so, you can still do a huge amount to benefit humanity. You, as one of the richest people on the planet, can make a huge amount of difference by giving some of your money to some of the poorest people in the developing world.
Me, rich? Are you kidding…
Besides, I pay my taxes. Isn’t it the job of governments to provide relief for the destitute? Who but they can co-ordinate international aid?
Yes, I say: if you are born in Europe, you are middle-class and are educated to university level – as 90% of those who are likely to be reading this will be – you are, by global standards, easily within the top 10% of the world’s richest people. If you are still a student, and those earnings are at present only potential, then you still have the chance to learn one of wealth creation’s great secrets: if you can learn to manage your money when you have very little of it, you’ll know how to handle money once more and more of it begins to turn up in your life.
And no, I say: you cannot expect government aid to help those most in need, for the simple reason that governments give aid where there’s most political incentive to do so. Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East (though worthy causes all) will receive far more aid from Western governments than sub-Saharan Africa for many decades to come.
So you still want to be a Superhero? It takes two things. One is the resolve to set aside some of your money each month. Try starting with 2%, with the aim of raising it to 5% in a year or two, and a goal of making it 10% once those Superman muscles have really been flexed… But start small, and start now. We are talking the price of a night on the town, here. Stay home one evening a month when you would otherwise go out for a pizza or a few beers, and that sacrifice, after a few months, might well raise enough to save, or significantly change, another person’s life.
And the second thing you need is information: how much do people in the West need to give to save the planet? Who should you give it to? Do charities really make a difference?
I’m happy to say that the answers to all such questions can be found in one place: Peter Singer’s book The Life You Can Save. Singer is a moral philosopher who has thought through the answers to the problem of ending world poverty – and concludes that it can only be done (but that it can be done) if you and I are willing to play a part. It is a book that works on many levels, both intellectual and emotional, philosophical and practical. Do, please, read it.
Giving What We Can is another inspiring and informative source. Members of this international society have pledged to give 10% of their income for life towards eliminating global poverty, and their website spells out exactly how to give most effectively.
And for Italian readers of this blog, I’d like to suggest a home-grown organization that is also well worth supporting: the Fondazione Ivo de Carneri, which does wonderful work in parasitology from its base in Pemba, Zanzibar.
On a final note, there is another route to becoming a Superhero. For one man’s attempt to do so by more traditional methods, look out for Peter Stebbings’ hilarious film, Defendor. It's a parody of the whole Superhero phenomenon, which succeeds in being both zany and moving. Do look out for it.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Going to Hell in a Handbasket.
Elsewhere, I’ve mentioned the work of Bill Harris (see Six of the Best, July 2010), who brought us the Holosync meditation programme.
Over the last few months Bill Harris has posted a three-part blog with the title ‘Going to Hell in a Handbasket’, which I would like to share with anyone who stumbles over my own blog-site.
It contains some sobering - some would say, downright pessimistic - thoughts on the times we are living through, occasioned by his reading of Ian Morris’s book Why the West Rules–for Now. These form the bulk of Part One.
Apart from my gut feeling that here is someone discussing the big picture as it really is, Bill Harris finishes by advising us to become as well informed as we can be, and by providing an appendix to Part Three which contains his ‘Information Resources’: this is his personal reading list for keeping up to date in economics, psychology, science and world affairs. As such, it is fairly eclectic, but I am certainly going to check out some of his suggestions, and would invite you to peruse them too.
One final point, before I leave you with the links: note that you can listen to these blog pieces rather than/as well as reading them.
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/02/22/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-1/
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/02/28/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-2/
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/05/06/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-3/
Let me know if you find any of this useful.
May your days be pleasant, peaceful and productive!
Bob
Over the last few months Bill Harris has posted a three-part blog with the title ‘Going to Hell in a Handbasket’, which I would like to share with anyone who stumbles over my own blog-site.
It contains some sobering - some would say, downright pessimistic - thoughts on the times we are living through, occasioned by his reading of Ian Morris’s book Why the West Rules–for Now. These form the bulk of Part One.
Apart from my gut feeling that here is someone discussing the big picture as it really is, Bill Harris finishes by advising us to become as well informed as we can be, and by providing an appendix to Part Three which contains his ‘Information Resources’: this is his personal reading list for keeping up to date in economics, psychology, science and world affairs. As such, it is fairly eclectic, but I am certainly going to check out some of his suggestions, and would invite you to peruse them too.
One final point, before I leave you with the links: note that you can listen to these blog pieces rather than/as well as reading them.
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/02/22/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-1/
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/02/28/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-2/
http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/2011/05/06/going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-part-3/
Let me know if you find any of this useful.
May your days be pleasant, peaceful and productive!
Bob
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Oh, and there's a Simpleology blogging course you might like to try...
I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:
It covers:
- The best blogging techniques.
- How to get traffic to your blog.
- How to turn your blog into money.
Six of the best
My friend Carla laughed at me when I mentioned Simpleology.
Not that there’s anything inherently funny about Simpleology, but because, as she said, I’m the only person she knows who is always doing some new course or other, and every time she meets me I’m full of my latest enthusiasm .
She’s right. Just as there are DIY maniacs, always putting up bookshelves and painting the walls, I’m a self-improvement maniac; actually there are quite a few of us out there, although our activities are quieter and less visible…
So here is it: my list of ‘six of the best’ self-help courses. For no good reason that comes to mind, I’ll present them in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent and working backwards:
Simpleology
ACIM
Tom Butler-Bowden’s reading lists
Spring Forest Qigong
Holosync
The Artist’s Way
Simpleology.
… is a cute, free programme – or at least the entry-level 101 course is free – for taking yourself in hand. A series of twenty short talks on goal-setting lead you into the nicely designed ‘Daily Target Praxis’, a 15 minute daily time-management routine. Not only are you encouraged to dream your dream and list your goals, but you are also expected to analyse your habits to see which ones weaken or strengthen your progress. Of course, you may be thinking you’ve seen this all before, and sure, the ideas are hardly new, but the site is slick and fun to use, the presentation is a joy, and the reinforcement through checklists, quizzes and MP3 files ensure that this time round, these familar counsels of perfection soon become engrained habits. Further courses (102 and 103) deal with financial management and health and fitness. Me, I’ve already signed up for them… You can try Simpleology for yourself at www.simpleology.com
A Course in Miracles.
You can’t get far in the self-help world without reading, or overhearing, someone dropping a quotation that begins “As A Course in Miracles says...”. So ten years ago, when I came across a copy in a bookshop in Bath, I bought it. The owner (yes -it was one of those bookshops!) assured me that although he’d never been able to get into it himself, those that did claimed it was the ultimate guide to self-development. It’s been on my bookshelf ever since. I did try the daily lessons (the workbook is a year-long course; the text itself is impenetrable) but gave up after a month, put off by the pseudo-Christian terminology, and the over-elaborate mental exercises. Here’s an example of the latter, from Lesson 12: “These exercises are done with eyes open. Look around you, this time quite slowly. Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to another involves a fairly constant time interval. Do not allow the time of the shift to become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo throughout. What you see does not matter... As you look about you, say to yourself: I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world, and so on, using whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you...”.
However, last autumn I read a book that explained what it was all about – a way of getting past the ego – (the book was Take Me to the Truth by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira) and it all began to make sense. Now I’m reading A Course in Miracles a second time, and I’m hooked: with its emphasis on dropping our grievances, joyous acceptance, and forgiveness, it really does lead you out of the trap of the small-minded way most of us have come to see the world. Oh, and there’s no need to buy it; this too is on the web: www.acim.org
Tom Butler-Bowdon’s '50 Classic ...' series.
I love these books! I started with '50 Psychology Classics', went on to '50 Spirituality Classics' and have now devoured the lot. By presenting elegant and intelligent summaries of fifty books in each area (his other titles are 'Self-Help', 'Prosperity' and 'Success'), Butler-Bowdon not only gives an overview of these fields, but provides a useful starting off-point for further exploration.
Strictly speaking, they are not a 'course' at all, but I've used several of them as the basis for my own reading programmes, and have been immeasurably enriched as a result. Actually, I listened to these titles rather than read them, and have found that they suit the audio-book format perfectly: the ten to fifteen minutes/three or four pages devoted to each book commentary chunk up beautifully for such tasks as washing the dishes or walking the dog. www.butler-bowdon.com
Spring Forest Qigong
I was introduced to Spring Forest Qigong through one of Bill Harris’s many recommendations (see below); indirectly, another of his suggestions led me to a major career change; but that’s a story for another day...
Qigong is an ancient Chinese healing technique, and to give a very rough idea of what it’s about, I’d describe it in action is as a cross between Tai Chi and yoga, and with much the same goals as Reiki (though with a far longer pedigree). Its purpose is to optimise physical and emotional health in yourself and in others.
I can’t tell you if it works for me yet, but that’s because I’ve only been doing it for a couple of months (even though I’ve known about it for years), and because – grazie al Dio! – I’ve always enjoyed abundant good health.
However, when I first received Bill Harris’s recommendation of Spring Forest Qigong, my intuitions told me to sit up and take note, so about a year later I signed up for the level 1 course.
I’m impressed by its teacher and master: Chunyi Lin. He is quiet, sincere and radiates a gentle benevolence. His motto is to have "a healer in every family and a world without pain." For now, I’m learning the basic exercises and waiting to see where Qigong takes me. If you want to check it out for yourself, take a look at: www.springforestqigong.com
Holosync
In essence, Holosync is an aid to meditation. Bill Harris, who designed and markets the course, claims that by using these audio tracks 'you can meditate like a zen monk, literally at the touch of a button'.
I discovered this course, serendipitously,at the beginning of 2007, and in retrospect this was one of the major turning points in my life.
Here's why:
It works! I have been convinced of the usefulness of regular mediation since my student days, but never made much headway. To start with, I never really had the self-discipline to do it for more than twenty minutes at a time, or for more than a few days at a time, or with enough concentration. In other words, although I was theoretically in favour of meditation, I found it difficult to do, and it wasn’t taking me anywhere. Then as soon as I started using Holosync, I started meditating for an hour a day, and it was pure bliss!
More important have been the changes that the regular use of Holosync have brought: sure it was pleasant, and I was getting off on it, but it wasn't until about six months in, when I found myself in a a stressful work situation, that I realised that I was coping untypically well, and I had no doubt at all that my new-found resiliance was due to Holosync. Now, three years later, and I’m happy most of the time; I’ve undone most of the knots that used to tie up so much of my emotional energy.
And finally, Bill Harris's support material - his writing, his blogs and recordings, the free gifts, and the introductions to so many other useful sources on the web - is astounding.
Holosync isn’t cheap, but it has been one of the best investments, both in time and money, that I’ve ever made. www.centerpointe.com
The Artist’s Way
Julia Cameron’s ‘The Artist’s Way’ is something of a classic: it’s a twelve week course in recovering your creativity. If you’ve ever had thwarted dreams of being a painter, a musician, a poet or a novelist, then ‘The Artist’s Way’ will take you gently in hand and encourage you to nurture those dreams. This is a book that I turn to time and again, because for all the skills and technical information that the incipient artist needs, it is the succour and support that motivates us over the long haul that really makes a difference – and you’ll find it here. But be warned: if you follow Cameron’s exercises and advice this book can change your life upside-down. It did mine. www.theartistsway.com
Oh, and why the title?
‘Six of the best’ was, when I was at prep school back in the 60s, still the pinnacle of pedagogical punishments. It referred to six strokes of the cane, and, along with my mate Simon Wilson, I had a certain enduring notoriety for holding the school record as the most frequently caned boy: 17 times in one term, mostly, for the not overly heinous offence of talking after lights out. Maybe all my efforts with self-improvement are motivated by a desire to be remembered somewhere, by somebody, for something other than my record for ‘six of the best’!
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
A complete stop and a halt
It’s now eleven months since I last posted a blog, and time, I think, to explain why.
I started this blog as an appendage to a website, the which was intended to promote the novel The Gift of Honey, which was accepted for publication as long ago as September 2006.
Then came the annus horribilis: in the summer of 2009 not only did the publishers, bluechrome, disappear without a word and without trace, but my website did too! SiteGround.com, the website hosting service I was using, sent me a couple of emails asking me to make some technical changes to lighten my site, but these unfortunately were routed to a junk email folder; by the time I discovered them it was too late - they had blown my website out of the water! They not just closed down the site, they also cancelled my account, with no forewarning, which denied me any chance of recourse. Needless to say, I won’t be recommending SiteGround anymore.
That’s it, whinge over! Worse things happen at sea, as they say down my way…
I also became a bit blog-shy after a friend pointed out that unless you’ve got interesting things to say, the world does not need another blog! Who cares what some blogger had for breakfast, or who needs to hear another nutter sounding off in this virtual Speaker’s Corner?
Point taken. But I’m writing this to explain why I stopped, not why I’m starting again…
I started this blog as an appendage to a website, the which was intended to promote the novel The Gift of Honey, which was accepted for publication as long ago as September 2006.
Then came the annus horribilis: in the summer of 2009 not only did the publishers, bluechrome, disappear without a word and without trace, but my website did too! SiteGround.com, the website hosting service I was using, sent me a couple of emails asking me to make some technical changes to lighten my site, but these unfortunately were routed to a junk email folder; by the time I discovered them it was too late - they had blown my website out of the water! They not just closed down the site, they also cancelled my account, with no forewarning, which denied me any chance of recourse. Needless to say, I won’t be recommending SiteGround anymore.
That’s it, whinge over! Worse things happen at sea, as they say down my way…
I also became a bit blog-shy after a friend pointed out that unless you’ve got interesting things to say, the world does not need another blog! Who cares what some blogger had for breakfast, or who needs to hear another nutter sounding off in this virtual Speaker’s Corner?
Point taken. But I’m writing this to explain why I stopped, not why I’m starting again…
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