Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 3
August 21, 2022
Death of an attachment
It occurred to me earlier this week that I was seeing the death of an attachment.
I have a life (as all of us do) outside of my employed work and mine often involves writing and author interviews. And, when I get an email request for an interview I used to send a reply with a Word attachment containing instructions and sometimes a set of questions.
My process worked well until it didn’t; the document came back and it was a simple matter of copy, pasting and editing to get the info onto the websi...
August 18, 2022
The sun shines on Parkgate
Inspiration can strike anytime, anywhere. It can be overhearing something in a cafe, a well written paragraph in a novel or a line from a poem. For me, I’m often struck by ideas when listening to music.
This month all my writing prompts are about begging, stealing or borrowing from great artists. And today, I’d like to introduce something a little different with a challenge to be inspired by this favourite of mine, Sunshine On My Shoulder by John Denver.
What does this song inspire you to create...
August 17, 2022
How to be a rockstar blogger – part 5
The best tip I can give you about becoming a Rock Star Blogger is to write consistently both in time and subject. Writing on your blog on a daily basis is a must for those starting out if you want to have a chance of competing with others in your field. If you can’t do it daily, then you need to be thinking in terms of several times each week. Once a week is a poor third and it will take you much longer to reach any goals you have set yourself.
Whe...
August 15, 2022
Of many a smutch’d deed reminiscent
Welcome to my final blogpost as the 2022 Hysteria Writing Competition’s Writer In Residence. Over the last few posts, I’ve written about following the guidelines, getting started, and revising and editing your creative writing. In the last blog, one of the things I talked about was what to do with a piece that just isn’t quite there, with lots of suggestions for developmental edits. I promised that for this blog, I’d write about a different kind of revision process, often called ‘polishing’ a pi...
August 11, 2022
Lady Convolvulus
Almost every year for the past ten years there has been a Hysteria Writing Competition. Back in 2012 it was for short stories and poetry and has since then included flash fiction. And every cover reflects one of the category winners entries.
Sticking with this month’s theme of being inspired by greatness, I thought it would be interesting to see what other writers make of the base cover image from Hysteria 1.
The cover of Hysteria 1 was inspired by the poem Lady Convolvulus by Abigail Wyatt
Pret...
August 10, 2022
Beat boredom by creating meaning at work
There is no doubt about it, most people, when pressed would say that they would rather do something that interested them than bored them.
But what exactly does ‘interested’ mean. I would hazard a guess that at some level it is about creating something meaningful within the context of a working day. I’m fortunate of course, as are many entrepreneurs, we are often doing the things that have meaning for us; we have even built businesses around those things too. Passion, it seems is the order of th...
August 4, 2022
Inspired by greatness
According to T. S. Eliot “Good writers borrow; great writers steal.” so this month we’re on a journey to borrow and perhaps steal from the greats who have gone before us as we are inspired by their greatness.
This month’s word is a set of words related to some of the classic writers whether for children, screen or adult. As with all word squares, the aim is to choose one word from each column and weave them into a story, a piece of flash fiction, a poem or even a first paragraph that sets the sc...
August 3, 2022
How to Create 21st Century Leaders
Last month I wrote about what the entrepreneur actually needs to have in his ‘toolkit’ to be able to succeed, which provoked some debate within my own household about whether these were skills that were necessary only now in the 21st Century, or whether they had always been a requirement of any good entrepreneur.
The debate, like many others, continued in this vein for some time and no real conclusion was reached, except that an entrepreneur is also a leader (whether this is in their own organis...
In conversation with Jill Waters, Hysteria 2021 winner
Jill was the short story category winner with The Day of Glorious Silliness in Hysteria 2021 writing competition. Her winning entry was published in Hysteria 8. Jill is a retired special needs teacher who started writing to exercise her brain. She exercises her body by playing tennis and her patience by supporting Norwich City!
July 30, 2022
How to be a rockstar blogger: part 4
I’m an author and a writer and I love the power of the written word, as such I find it reasonably easy to create content, write new books and add blog posts.
It would be easy for me to assume that my audience is similarly inclined and that all I should prepare is more and more written content. This is a fallacy though and once again we need to out ourselves into the ‘it’s not about me’ mindset.
Everyone has preferences when it comes to what they like to interac...
