Vacation Happiness or Headache?

This is today's topic for Blogfest 2012 and the thought of vacations (or holidays as we Brits call them) conjures up a million different memories for me.

I've had many different vacations during my life. The first one I remember anything about was going to London when I was about eight for the Festival of Britain Exhibition, which was Britain's vision of the future after the dark days of World War II. I remember being so thrilled to see all the 'sights' of London for the first time. London has never ceased to mean something special to me, even though in the 90's I was there 10 or more times each year for meetings at Girl Guide HQ.  The most memorable occasion has to be the year I was invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace (along with about 6,000 other people!)

I could tell you about many other cities I've visited - all over Europe and in Canada and the USA too, all with their own special memories - and too numerous to mention.

Maybe the worst trip I ever went on was to Italy one Easter - and it snowed! Totally freak snowstorm at that time of year! We were staying at a spa town in the hills between Rome and Naples. It was a coach tour - but they couldn't move the coaches because of all the snow, and we were stuck in the hotel - which wasn't geared up to providing lunches or evening meals for us. Instead, we had to venture out to find something to eat - and, being Easter and a religious holiday, there was only one shop and one pizza place in the town that were open! We'd gone expecting warm weather, so had shorts and summer dresses with us. I had to live in my only pair of pants for 3 days until the snow cleared and the temperatures rose again! And I wished I taken half a dozen sweaters and not just one!

My best ever trip was to Egypt two years ago. We did a week's cruise on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan, and I visited places I'd never thought I would ever see - the ancient temples in Luxor, and on the other side of the Nile, the amazing Valley of the Kings with all the underground tombs of the Pharaohs. At Aswan, we got up at 2.30am to catch the first flight to Abu Simbel to see the sun rise over Lake Nasser and cast its golden rays over the huge statues at the entrances to the temples there - an unforgettable experience.

I can't end this 'vacation' blog without mentioning Ireland where I've had some wonderful visits. I love the country, the scenery, the history, the people - so I'll conclude with this photo of the sun going down on Galway Bay!

Judging a book by its cover

Hello, welcome to my blog. I’m the BlogFEST 2012 Host of the Day for Monday 22nd October, and I’ve chosen ‘Judging a book by its cover’ as my topic for today.

 

If you’re a writer, you’ll know that a lot of emphasis is put on book covers. I know I wait with bated breath to see my own covers. It’s said that the cover is your first chance to attract a reader. I’ll agree with that to a certain extent, having seen many book covers which don’t attract me at all. That’s usually because they represent a genre in which I don’t really have any interest. I’ve also seen a lot of beautiful and/or interesting covers. However, is it really fair to judge a book by its cover?

 

Many years ago, I used to see a man riding his bike to work every morning. He had long straggly brown hair (half way down his back) and a bushy beard, and he always wore shorts and climbing boots, whatever the weather. The local kids considered him a ‘weirdo’.

 

Jump forward twenty-odd years, and I’m directing shows with the local Musical Theatre group, and the ‘weirdo’ is one of the sound and lighting crew. I very soon learnt that Bob (not his real name) was, in fact, one of the most considerate and caring men I have ever met. Yes, he still had his long straggly hair and bushy beard, and yes, he still wore his shorts and climbing boots, but I’d been able to look past the ‘cover’ and see the real person.

 

The reverse can, of course, be equally true. The good-looking guy may turn out to be a spouse-abuser; the attractive woman may be mean, nasty and vindictive.

 

We can’t judge people by their appearance, and I think the same applies to books. Don’t judge them and leave them on the shelf because you don’t happen to like the cover!

 

Please leave me a comment below and/or write a post on your own blog! Have you been disappointed by a book with an attractive cover - or vice-versa? And what about people? Have you ever judged someone by their appearance and then discovered you were wrong about them?

I’m looking forward to reading your take on "Judging a book by its cover.”

When you are finished posting to your blog, visit our BlogFEST 2012 facebook page and leave us the URL to your post and I'll be sure to come by and read it

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BlogFEST-2012/508934629122385

Blogfest 2012 - Online Courses?

Today’s host for Blogfest 2102 is Toni Lynn Ferro-Cloutier at www.tonilynncloutier.com and the topic is:

Online Courses

An intriguing topic today – and one I’ve never really thought about before. I’ve never taken any online courses, in writing or anything else. I once went (in real life) to a 6 week ‘Creative writing’ course about twelve years ago, but didn’t find it very useful, unless you wanted to write pretty adjective-laden descriptions of sunsets or flash-fiction about some fairly useless topic like ‘The day I lost my shoe’.

But back to online courses, and here I'm referring to 'writing courses' rather than any other kind of course. Would I sign up for one? No, probably not. Why not? Well, one reason is that there are masses of articles online about every aspect of writing (some of which I agree with, some I don’t.) There’s plenty out there, for free, so I don’t see the point of paying for something when you don’t need to!

I consider myself a fairly proficient writer. That’s not to say I know everything about it. I don’t, and I’m always willing to listen to others’ advice and opinions, or to check things out on the internet. I find, too, that I learn something new with every book I write. 

What about new writers? Personally, I tend to think that the best ‘training’ for new writers is firstly to read, read, read, and secondly to write! Read all you can in your preferred genre (and maybe in other genres too) to see what you like and what you don’t like about the author’s style, characters and plot. And then write! Maybe find a couple of critique partners, too, who will give you honest feedback and constructive criticism. That, to me, is probably more valuable than any online course.

This post is for BlogFEST 2012 which is taking place each day in October (except Sundays). Every day a different blogger will act as the host and will post the topic for blogging that day, so you can look forward to a wide variety of topics to read and enjoy.

 

You can find the links to all the other blogs here https://www.facebook.com/pages/BlogFEST-2012/508934629122385

 

If you want to join in, post your blog on the topic of the day and leave your blogpost URL on this Facebook page, so that others can visit your blog. Don’t forget to ‘like’ the page too!