A two week hiatus…
By the time you read this, I will be in Bali, partaking of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival and then Sharing Bali’s Write A Bestseller Retreat. I’ll be spending a few days in Sanur afterwards, smashing my NaNoWriMo word count out of the ball park. Well, that’s the plan, anyway! I’m not taking a complete hiatus, though. I’ll
3 contradictory truths about self publishing
I have been on this self publishing journey since around this time last year. In October 2014, I decided to take myself down the self publishing route because I was tired of waiting to be picked, waiting to be published. I could pick myself—I had the tools, and I could learn what I didn’t know how
A birthday update
Last week I turned a young 52. I say young, because I don’t feel old, and people (generally) don’t consider me old. Sure, I have senior moments when I walk into a room and can’t remember why I went in there in the first place. My hair is more gray than brown now; my skin
On perspective
Bad is never good until worse happens. ~ Danish proverb I’ve been thinking a lot about perspective lately, and I have come to believe that it is one of the most valuable of gifts. It is a gradual awakening, brought on by comparing each of our experiences, beliefs, attitudes, views and opinions, one against the
She’s moving out!
My daughter recently informed me that she is moving out next year. Apparently, she and her boyfriend (they have been together since high school) are finally building their house. Yippee! Happy dance and all that, because it’s time. It’s been time for the last 12 months. Christmas last year was a particularly turbulent time, and
Whatever happened to free agent nation?
Back in 1997, Fast Company published an article that was a wake-up call for businesses. Its premise was that workplaces were being flipped: the old model of the boss calling the shots and having all the power was going the way of the dinosaur. The employee, as a valuable knowledge worker, was now in the
Choosing life
My sister shared some sad news with me a couple of weeks ago. Her ex-partner and also the father of her daughter—my niece—has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It’s spread and he’s been told has six months to live. She is deeply saddened by this news, and I felt for her, not least because
Don’t make these 6 self publishing mistakes
It’s been six months since I published my first book on Amazon. I thought I’d be well on the way to notoriety, infamy and gazillionaire status (also known as being able to quit my day job) by now. I thought I would write my books, publish them and the dollars would start rolling in. I
7 frustrations of highly useless people
Steven Covey wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and we all know he is the pin-up boy for effectiveness. Colleagues, managers and peers love to quote frequently from his book. I’ve read it and it makes a lot of sense. But what I’ve found is that in workplaces in particular (the ones I’ve
What no one tells you about online dating
Reading Attached was a revelation. For the first time in my adult life, I felt empowered and in control of my relationship choices. As a result, I reactivated my online dating profile, keen to practise the “screening out of avoidants” I learned from reading the book, and get cracking with finally finding myself a mister.
Monica Lewinsky: I would’ve made the same mistake too…
Monica Lewinsky is someone I didn’t think I’d be writing about on this blog. She of the intern shenanigans and the infamous blue dress and the subsequent less-than-presidential denial from President Clinton. Of course, we all sniggered at the footage of her greeting the President when he was campaigning, and chortled with glee at his
On authority
Waaaaaaay back in the 1960s and 1970s, before university ethics committees stamped out these sorts of experiments, two researchers wanted to know more about how human beings reacted to authority, and how positional power impacted relationships. Stanley Milgram, a researcher at Yale, was interested in how Nazi Germany came to be, particularly the horrific and tragic