Getting on our Bikes

I’m definitely getting into this biking lark.  My first trip to High Lodge in Thetford Forest with a friend was a disaster, as I fell off my bike and cracked a rib.  The cycle trail also seemed extremely long, and I was rather sweaty at the end of it.

However, last Sunday morning Sam and I took our bikes to High Lodge with a rather different result.  It was early, lovely and sunny,  and there were not many about, as you can see.

Cycling is getting a bit easier.  Okay, this trail is nice and flat, but last time it was still hard work and I also had to cycle the last half in pain with a cracked rib.  This time it was rather pleasant, cycling along the forest track with no cars whizzing past.  The trail is 5km, which seemed to fly past in no time at all.

After completing the trail we noticed the café there served quite delightful breakfasts, which we just had to sample.  As we finished eating, hordes of runners took off along the same track for a race.

I asked at the information centre about the other cycle trails there.  Apparently the next one up needs mountain bike skills, and so Sam and I decided that we’d stick to the track we like and maybe go around two or three times. After all, we’re 61 not 16!

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Friday Click & Run – May 24th

Tags

#blogpromotion, #networking

Sometimes when we’re busy it’s nice to simply leave a link to our blog or blog post and run, and so Friday Click and Run is just for that purpose. However, of course you can check out others’ links and share away if you want to. So… every Friday do add some info of what your blog is about and also a link to your blog or blog post in the comments if you’ve got a minute. You don’t have to do anything else such as sharing or commenting unless you really want to. Isn’t that cool? People may decide to check your link out, or they may not. They might decide to leave their own link and run as well, so you may meet each other heading out the door. If I see a post that’s a bit risqué, then I shall be running too – straight to the ‘delete’ button!

Fire away then… let’s see what we end up with.

Thanks to the 11 authors who left their links last week.

What Facebook’s Latest Changes Mean for you

I’ve actually deleted my Facebook account and I’m enjoying the freedom!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Facebook has been under intense pressure lately. On one hand, both public and private bodies scrutinize its every move, worried about privacy issues and undemocratic material posted online. On the other, shareholders are troubled by dwindling membership. So, Facebook has been quietly making a number of changes, placing a renewed emphasis on building relationships and interactions.

The company’s most immediate concern is losing members. In response, it wants people to stay longer on its pages by only showing them posts which are of genuine interest to them. It measures that by measuring how engaged you are to each type of post which shows up on your timeline.

What does all this mean for you? Ari Meghlen has some tips for you.

1. The changes

There are two main areas of change: changes regarding Groups and changes regarding Pages and your organic reach. Specifically:

Group Changes

The main changes concern…

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Review of ‘Ripples From the Edge of Life’, by Roland Chesters

I love reading autobiographies/biographies, and was pleased that ‘Ripples From the Edge of Life’ had been recommended on one of my social media sites.

Roland Chesters’ life was turned upside down on the day he was diagnosed with AIDS.  He had been feeling unwell for some time, and doctors could not find out what was wrong.  However, he is not in the ‘at risk’ groups.  He is gay, but is monogamous and is in a long-term relationship.  He had only ever had one other relationship (also long term), but his ex-partner had undergone a blood transfusion in the days when AIDS was not widely known about…

This book charts Roland’s journey through his various medical treatments up to the present day, and we read of the thoughts and feelings of those around him; his partner Richard, his consultant, and his close friends.  I for one didn’t realise that AIDS sufferers today can lead relatively normal lives while taking their retroviral medication (a shame this wasn’t available for Freddie Mercury!).

Of course the big step for anybody diagnosed with HIV/AIDS is who to tell and when to tell them.  Roland knew that once that information is broadcast, there is no going back, as ripples spread far and wide as people pass on the information to others.

This book is well written and informative, and I learned a lot by reading it.  Roland Chesters’ positive attitude is truly an inspiration to all those living with HIV/AIDS.  I give this book 5 stars for honesty and for Roland’s bravery in writing just what it’s like to live with an AIDS diagnosis.

Streets Ahead Street Team Promotion

Tags

#familydrama, #streetsaheadstreetteam

This week on Streets Ahead we’re promoting Anita Dawes’ family drama ‘Secrets’.

SOME SECRETS WILL KILL YOU…
and some are about someone who is already dead.
A mother must find the truth before the secrets destroy her family…

 

Here’s a couple of Amazon reviews:

“I have had this book on my kindle for a while, but just found some spare time to pick it up. I read it over a day and it’s a really thought provoking book. The relationships between the child, Danny, and his invisible ‘friend’, kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. The characters are really well written and although I have read other books by this author, they’ve all been completely different. This story is full of suspense and you might need to read this story during the day and not before going to sleep!” – Elizabeth C

“I finished reading this in the middle of last night; though it is not unsusual for me to turn my Kindle on in the early hours, this is not the sort of novel you should be reading in the dark watches of the night! It is a good paranormal thriller, but more than that it will make you reconsider all our childhoods. How responsible are children for what they do and what is really going on in their minds? In some ways I felt most sorry for Jack’s parents, a poignant back story gradually revealed, an event that ruined any chance of his father continuing the life he loved or his mother coming to accept their rural life. There is a lot going on in everyone’s lives, but Jackie is a reminder that those of us who have led ordinary lives cannot know what others have had to overcome. There were only a few things that jarred – I thought it was likely the social services would have got involved, Maggie did not guess an obvious pointer as Jack’s story was revealed and some dialogue and characters’ thoughts could be confusing in the pace of the story. But overall I really enjoyed this unusual novel.” – Janet Gogerty

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge

Tags

#Carrot Ranch, #flash fiction, #trees

This is my effort for this week’s Carrot Ranch 99-word Flash Fiction Challenge.  The topic is ‘Trees’, so I’ve written a poem about my pet peeve of people chopping down trees just because it’s Christmas…

Trimming the Tree, by Stevie Turner

On Christmas Eve I watched
As the pine was chopped down.
His children danced
When the tree hit the ground.

No roots to sustain it,
He placed it in a bucket.
Gaudy trash on its branches and lots of fuss
Because it was Christmas.

No matter it was dying
In a hot stuffy room,
Its needles fell off
It was butt naked real soon.

Then 6th January comes,
It’s shredded without ceremony.
The commercialism’s phoney
And somehow unholy.

That tree could have given
Four people some oxygen,
Next day he’ll start to rabbit
About trying to ‘save’ the planet!

Open Book Blog Hop -20th May

Tags

#writingcharacters

This week the topic is:

‘From all the characters you’ve created, which is your favourite and why?’

—————————————————————————————————————————————

I have to say it has to be Arla Deane from ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome‘.  Arla is myself albeit thirty nine years’ ago, and is experiencing just what I had to go through with my new mother-in-law Jean.

Jean was frankly horrified that her treasured son had found a girlfriend.  From the very get-go she directed all her conversation only to Sam, and always found things from the past to reminisce with him that I obviously knew nothing about.  If I ever had to ring her for something, she would recognise our number and say ‘Hello Sam’, before she even knew which one of us had called.  She would tell lies about me to her two daughters, who believed her every word.  One of them never spoke to me for 7 years.

Poor old Arla then had no chance.  Arla’s husband Ric, like Sam, took a neutral stance and would never say anything to upset his mother.  Arla hated Edna, her mother-in-law, and Edna’s two daughters in equal measure!  However, unlike myself, Arla found out the reason why Ric never wanted to upset his mother.  I have my own theories about Sam, but now that Jean is a frail 89 year old and not the harridan she once was,  those theories were laid to rest some time ago.

Time has moved on.  Jean and I are now tentative friends, and both her daughters now speak to me.  I have my own daughters-in-law, and absolutely ensure that I never treat them the way that Jean treated me!  However, Arla’s daughter-in-law Ria is a somewhat stronger character than I ever was…

Let’s see what other authors have to say on the subject:

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

                                           You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Fear of Missing Out. Or is that Joy?

What a great post by Nicholas C. Rossis. I’m a JOMO. I don’t give a rat’s ass if I’m missing out. I’ve deleted my Facebook account, and I’m loving it (also considering which other social media site to delete). JOMOs like myself hate industry cocktail parties and making small talk with people you’ll never see again, also airline travel and new technology.

Nicholas C. Rossis

When I was in my first year at Uni, about a century ago or so, I took a summer job. For a few months, I was running a one-man quality control lab. I was responsible for taking daily samples of cement, processing it, and recording a number of data including temperature, moisture, etc.

This was the last job I ever held in an office, if it can even be considered that. Ever since, I’ve worked from home. Which is probably why a writer’s life suits me so well.

I thought of this when I came across an article on The Economist. Its author argued that workers, and possibly all people, can be divided into two groups. Those who like to be involved in everything and can be dubbed “FOMOS” because they suffer from a “fear of missing out”. And then there are those who would ideally want to be…

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Sunday Stills Photography – 19th May

This week on Sunday Stills the topic is ‘Playground’.  I thought I’d post a photo of my late mother, then aged 90, enjoying a moment on a playground swing, as she once did as a child back in the 1920s.  My eldest son is pushing her (and making sure she doesn’t fall off!), my youngest son is laughing in the background, and Mum’s having a great time!

The ‘Influencer’ Programme

I’ve set up a ‘Storefront’ on Amazon Influencer, which is part of Amazon Associates.  You can recommend whatever you like, and if somebody clicks on anything you recommend and actually buys it, then you earn a small amount.  I haven’t earned anything yet as I’ve only just set it up, but hey… I’m hopeful!

There’s a ‘follow’ button there too for anybody who feels inclined, and the link to my storefront is below. I’ve called it ‘Books, Books and More Books’, and I’ve used the name ‘MegaReader’ which  I write reviews under.  I’ve added one of my own books and also ‘Understanding’ (as it would be rude not to!), but all the others are books that I’ve read and enjoyed and hope that others would like too.  

Some of the books I’ve read and added have been written by my blogging companions on WordPress, and some are traditionally published.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/stevieturner6

And here are the instructions if you’d like to set one up yourself:

• Login to Amazon with the e-mail address you used to sign up for the Influencer Programme (you’d have to be part of Amazon Associates to be able to do this).
• Type your custom URL into your browser.
• You’ll be taken to an owner view.  Click on the “Create an Idea List” button.
• Give your list a name, for example, “Summer Favorites” or “Christmas Party Essentials”.
• Browse and search for products right from the owner view, or simply search for any product on Amazon.co.uk.
• Go to the product detail page, under “Add to Basket” click “Add to List” and choose the name of the list you’d like to add the product to.
• Repeat! You can create as many Idea Lists as you’d like.