To those of you who enjoy my Quirky Weekly Wednesday Writing Prompts and wondered has happened to them, they will be back.
As I have a ton of photos from my Disneyland Paris/London holiday to share with you, as well as video footage, I will be predominantly posting posts about those for at least the next couple of weeks.
I am pleased to say that Snuggles has improved in health and seems to be healing. I am praying it stays that way. Thanks to every one of you who has sent their well wishes. After Cinnamon was suddenly severely sick and passed away before my holiday, it’s been an intense and emotionally difficult time for me. Snuggles is my furry kid and furry soulmate. It’s her 3rd birthday tomorrow, and she has plenty of potential years ahead of her. I have her birthday party stuff ready for tomorrow evening when I see her.
To give you a taste of Disneyland Paris. Here are some quirky Disneyland Paris writing prompts to wet your appetite.
Terror Tower – Enter at your peril!
The coffin moved! Welcome to Nutterville, where only the quirky nutters live.
It was a back to the future moment.
The castle was on fire!
It was a fairytale come true. I knew from this moment on, my life would change for the better, forever.
If you read my last post, you will know that while I was in London last month, for the Success 2014 Seminar, I went to the Digital Revolution Exhibition.
I have more amazing videos to share with you.
Sometimes you may wonder how my activities relate to writing. Almost everything I do, I can connect to writing in some way. Some directly and others indirectly. I also feel it’s important for any reader to be able to understand what makes a particular writer tick, in order to better understand their writing and their nature.
From my own experience, this is how the Digital Revolution Exhibition, can help inspire you to write.
● Unlimited writing prompts
A good example of this, was seeing the original Altair and Mac designs. These can inspire you to write a drama set in the period they were produced. Alternatively, what’s the story behind those specifically. Why did someone buy each of them? What work is saved on them and why?
● The feeling of magic
The music, the atmosphere, things moving by sensor, touchscreen, special effects, create a feeling of magic. Can inspire you to create fairytales.
●Taking a behind the scenes look at films; Inception, Gravity and How to train your dragon 2.
Helps you to understand how a script can be brought to life.
●Fantasy becoming reality
Seeing things move by themselves and come to life. Such as a lamp like the one in the Pixar shorts, can get your creative juices flowing.
● Not believing your own eyes
Seeing yourself on screen; one minute with smoke coming from your face, the next stage, seeing yourself with wings and birds eating your body. Conjures up stories of illusion and fantasy.
● Future technologies
There is a solar powered dress on display which lights up. Couple that with the information that clothes in our future will be used to charge our mobile phone, makes you think up future Sci-fi adventures.
The Digital Revolution Exhibition, is at the Barbican in London until 14th September 2014.
If you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging on here quite as much lately, I am currently working on my new design www.beatredundancyblues.com site. As my web host no longer services the site builder I used to build the site on, I have to create a new site using WordPress.org. This has to be done before I finish the final formatting of my Break through the barriers of redundancy book, because I cannot update the site and it is advertised on the front cover of my book. Thankfully, I love designing and creating. To create a new one is hard work and very time consuming, but pleasurable at the same time.
Besides writing non-fiction how-to business books, I also enjoy writing children’s picture books for 3-5 years.
To write for children you need to bring out the child in you. By this I mean:
● Watch children’s TV.
● Read children’s stories.
● Have things a child would have such as cuddly toys or action figures.
● Play like a child would play – On diggers or swings.
● Go to kid’s club at the cinema and watch kids movies in a room full of kids.
● Go on day trips to where children would go – The beach, zoo, theme park.
● Play with and be around children.
● When you are with children, act like a kid, make animal noises, be energetic, make up stories, use your imagination.
● Think young, act young, be young.
If you get the chance, watch the Sooty Show, like I did at Brean Leisure Park.
I have had to venture out of hibernation today, to do some food shopping for me, Daisy, Cinnamon, Snuggles and Snow.
After being indoors for the last few days, working on my Break through the barriers of redundancy book, it is good to get out and about to refresh my writer’s mind.
Being the quirky person I am, I am currently sitting in front of Exeter Cathedral, eating sugar free ice-cream in the cold and wind.
I also enjoy going to the cinema to refresh my writer’s mind. What do you enjoy doing to refresh yours?
I am now in hibernating mode to finish my Break through the barriers of redundancy book.
I finished re-working and amending the Preface and Introduction today. I now have a total of 9 days off from my day job, and go back to work on Wednesday 2nd of April. I am determined to finish my book by then. I went out shopping for food and Mothers Day presents today. Now it’s time to batten down the hatches and have what I call ‘cave days’. I will be less active in the blogosphere until the 3rd of April.
Thanks for all of your comments and kind words. Apologies if you are still awaiting a reply. I am tight against a book deadline for my Break through the barriers of the redundancy book, that is 9am on the 20th of January. I will be getting around to your blogs when my book is finished but all of my energy has to be on my book at the moment, otherwise I won’t make my deadline.
My mum is looking after all of my guineapigs whilst I finish my book. I miss them terribly but my hours after my day job have to be used to focus on my book. Getting them back is the best motivation for finishing my book. It’s Daisy and Cinnamon’s birthday on the 19th.
I have gone back to work on part-time hours this week as I am not back to full health. I am still taking 8 tablets a day and now I have a cold/chest problem since going back to work on Tuesday.
Great news – Daisy’s lump was a hair follicle cyst. Not cancer or a tumor. – I am thrilled.
I have had to ban myself from watching most TV. Only one programme allowed each evening so far this week.
I can’t speak to friends much either outside of my day job and certainly I cannot go out anywhere in the evenings.
To keep my energy levels up whilst writing, especially since getting limited amounts of sleep and being ill, I have to listen to dance music almost all of the time.
This is my writing theme tune for 2014.
If you want the original slower version, here is it.
Most weeks when I walk to work to go to my day job, I see this man making dogs out of sand.
I think they are beautiful and he is very talented.
As a writer, I often think, what’s his story? Why is he making dogs out of sand?
Could it be because…….
He is grieving for pets that have passed away.
He has a love of dogs.
He is obsessed with dogs.
He was not allowed any dogs as a child.
He can’t have any dogs now.
He has been reincarnated but was once a dog with his own family of dogs.
He believes the sand makes the dogs come to life and they talk to him.
He finds it a form of therapy away from the problems at home.
He is preparing for a competition to create the best dog sand statues, in the quickest amount of time and be in the Guinness book of World Records if he wins.
Dogs are the only thing he can make out of sand.
He has an OCD.
Like the beginnings of any good story, once we have a creative think about any random situation in life that may lead to a tale that needs telling, we begin to question the answer to our first question.
For example:
Why did his dog die? Was it giving birth? – Hence the small pup.
Why was he reincarnated in the form of a man?
What events led him to the competiton?
Why does he have an OCD?
A good writer always asks lots of questions and is not afraid to let their inner creative mind, think for itself.
Allow your imagination to run riot and enjoy every minute of taking a random event or situation in life and turning it into a literary masterpiece.
Here is a copy of my About Sandra Bellamy/Home page:
Welcome to the website of Sandra Bellamy.
A Writer and Redundancy Breakthrough and Employment Success Specialist by night, a part-time Tutor for the Recovery Learning Community, a full-time Fitted Bedroom Specialist in John Lewis by day and a volunteer Health Buddy. Sandra Bellamy has a range of skills, experience, knowledge and expertise that she loves sharing with others to advance their own career and their own learning.
Sandra’s life changing moment came when she was made redundant for the second time in 2009.
“When I was made redundant for the second time in my career, it changed my life. At first I felt my gut was wrenched from me, worried about my future, concerned about finances, bewildered and lost, I just didn’t know what I was going to do.
A couple of weeks later I began to feel relieved that it was over. I thought about the negative aspects of the job I had just left and focused on what I could change about my life and my future career to make me happy. Rather than just being in a job that I was good at, I began to see and understand what job I was meant to be doing. I assessed –
What I was passionate about?
What made me happy?
What did I ultimately want to do with my life?
I came up with two answers:
To be a writer
To help people
I now do both of these.
I have had:
An article published in Country Small Holding.
A Star letter published in Freelance Market news.
Two articles published in the Be Involved Devon newsletter
A blog article published on the HR company Exclusive website, that got a mention in The New York Times: Manager, Leader, Teacher or Coach?
I have written the course content for ‘Blogging as an aid to recovery – How to start a WordPress.com blog’ that I am teaching for the Recovery Learning Community.
I help people who are redundant to get back into work via my two websites beatredundancyblues.com and beatredundancyblues.co.uk. These are free to use resources, that have access to lots of job sites, recruitment sites and courses sites from within the one site. They have a wealth of other useful information, help and advice. Including about job interviews, time management and health and wellbeing. beatredundancyblues likes to take a holistic approach to redundancy and getting back into work.
Redundancy changed my whole outlook on life and now I am a much happier and more fulfilled person, who believes in myself and what I was born to do. I do not profess to be the best, just to enjoy what I do and to help others as best as I can.”
I am still waiting on the test results from Daisy’s operation. She has another check-up tomorrow morning because she had some severe swelling when she was checked by the vet yesterday.
I hope you enjoy your fireworks evening and it explodes with loads of good things for you.
2) I have recently written a guest blog article for Sage One and I am currently writing one for Pay Justice.
So what are the advantages of writing guest blog articles for businesses?
1) It’s a challenge, having to come up with new and fresh content that will fit in with the content of their previous blog articles and be suitable for their customers.
2) Your creative muscles are stretched.
3) Your writing skills are improved.
4) It boosts your profile as a writer.
5) Increased SEO for your sites, if the businesses put links to your sites at the end of your articles.
6) The articles show off your expertise in a given subject or range of topics. This is fantastic if you are a non-fiction writer as it enhances your credibility.
What are the disadvantages?
1) It can be very time consuming and mean spending less time on your own writing projects.
2) Not only do you need to do research for the article content but you also need to do research about the company whom the blog article is for. You need to find out what the company’s mission is, what they are about, what their point of view is and what previous blog article content has been published. Again, this can be very time consuming.
3) Often there will be no payment for guest blog articles.
4) You may receive a very vague brief or no brief at all, as to what to write about. This means you will need to use your research of the company, as previously described and your imagination, to come up with a blog article idea and create some great content from it.
5) When you write the blog article content, you need to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with your own online profile, business, or blog content.
6) You need to target the article to the said company’s target market, not your own. Although you may find there are some overlaps.
I hope you find this information useful for your own writing ventures and to assess whether or not, blog article writing for businesses, is right for you.
Quirky Books 
You must be logged in to post a comment.