Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 13

Reflections on 2020

According to the Cambridge Dictionary a reflection is “the image of something in a mirror or on any reflective surface” and I felt this was a good place to start this post as 2020 has forced us to face some uncomfortable personal experiences at the same time as exposing social flaws and challenges we had perhaps hoped to keep swept under a carpet of denial and delusion.

2020 is a year everyone alive who is of an age where memory kicks in for the long term will look back and say somethin...

Hysteria 7 book cover competition

It’s taken a few months to get to this point, but finally Hysteria 7 has been published and is ready to be unleashed on the world. As is usual at this point in the competition I’m releasing the book cover a couple of days early and inviting you to guess which of our finalists entries it relates to.

The first person to name the correct entry and writer will win a free copy of the ebook version of the anthology. The book cover competition will run up until the end of this week when I’ll be launchi...

In conversation with Sahar Abdulaziz

When suspense writer, Sahar Abdulaziz isn’t busy plotting a stabbing, a garroting, or a murder (all on paper of course) she’s busy writing about her crew of highly-entertaining, quirky, unpredictable book characters. Some have been lovely, big-hearted, gentle souls, merely temporarily lost and in search of answers, while others have been eccentric, unconventional, writing their own rules – determined to live their best life to the fullest. A few … okay, perhaps more than a few, have been devious...

I am, therefore I think

In 1637 René Descartes published his Discourse on the Method in French stating in Latin, Cogito, ergo sum which roughly translates as I think, therefore I am. And ever since I first came across the phrase whilst studying philosophy at Uni, I’ve had a problem with it. It’s always felt as if it’s a bit itchy or scratchy, niggling away in the back of my mind that something about it wasn’t quite right.

Then, back in the mid 1990’s Louise L Hay’s book ‘You can heal your life’ was recommended when I w...

What’s your ‘real’ issue?

It’s very easy to assume that the circumstance or problem I’m viewing today is the ‘real’ issue. I don’t know about you though, but I’ve noticed over time that similar issues keep cropping up in relationships, career or work, family, friendships or even in health, wealth and happiness.

One day it dawned on me that the problem I thought I had, the one that was flavour of the month right now, was similar to things I’d experienced previously and I realised that there was something more fundamental ...

The collateral beauty of 2020

Last weekend I watched the film Collateral Beauty with my husband Steve, aside from being awed by the concept of the film and it’s core message it really got me thinking about what we’ve witnessed this past 10 months. The film focuses around three abstractions, Love, Time, and Death. As the central character, Howard, explains right at the beginning of the film, we long for love, we wish we had more time and we fear death.

I realised that since the beginning of 2020 I’ve been increasingly living ...

Collateral beauty

Last weekend I watched the film Collateral Beauty with my husband Steve, aside from being awed by the concept of the film and it’s core message it really got me thinking about what we’ve witnessed this past 10 months. The film focuses around three abstractions, Love, Time, and Death. As the central character, Howard, explains right at the beginning of the film, we long for love, we wish we had more time and we fear death.

I realised that since the beginning of 2020 I’ve been increasingly living ...

Hysteria 2020 finalists

It’s taken 6 months, many hours on the part of lots of people including all the wonderful entrants, and finally I’m at the stage where I can announce the finalists in the Hysteria 2020 Writing Competition. The under 16’s category hasn’t been finalised yet, so I will update this post later this week when I have the details.

As usual the standard was exceptionally high and it was hard to choose between so many good entries and I just want to say a huge thank you to Becky Danks who also judged half...

In conversation with Wafa Tarnowska

Wafa’ Tarnowska was born in Lebanon and has lived and worked in Australia, India, Cyprus, Poland, the UK and Dubai. She is currently based in the UK dreaming of a hideaway in the land of Dante. In her work, Wafa’ strives to create a valuable bridge between East and West, helping to break down the stereotypical images people have of one another. In our conversation we talk about the shift towards the sacred feminine, corporate social responsibility, what we need versus what we want, and exploring...

Finding your passion

In my experience, there are two types of passion. There is the passion that stems from ‘I must have this’ and thesecond begins with ‘I really don’t want that’. Many people will say that one (the former) is better than the other because it is more positive, but in my experience, both are equally helpful when it comes to creating massive change.

The keyword here is PASSION and I’m going to capitalise it so that you realise how important it is. Without PASSION you won’t have the drive or commitment...