Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 7

Bells and Whistles

I love the strange and weird. And the photo’s from travels in unusual sculpture gardens always get my imagination running. The one here is no exception and I’ve called it Bells and Whistles. If you want to see it in situ it’s in the Devon Sculpture Park which also has an amazing tea room!

This week you can let your imagination roam free with a flash, micro, or poem that considers what planet something like this might exist on in real life!.

You can see my effort on here:

Dregand looked across a ...

Doing the digital detox

It occurred to me last weekend that I spend way too much time in the online environment, even now after I’ve already cut down significantly.

The reason I noticed my time online was creeping up again was the amount of time I spent doomscrolling through updates on the ‘state of the world’ on YouTube. I know it does nothing for my inner sense of well-being and yet still I find I want to scare myself witless sometimes.

So, enter the digital detox. I’ve done this several times over the years and, as ...

How to be a rockstar blogger – part 2

It’s the CONTENT that matters

I see and read many blog posts in the course of a working week and it would be fair to say that most are a little on the ‘thin’ side. They promise me ‘three top tips to make the best victoria sponge’ and deliver instead a thinly veiled advert for strawberry jam instead. The same is true for many of the free ebooks I’ve downloaded when signing up for the latest ‘must have’ newsletter.

The websites and blogs I love, which are also the ones I recommend to others, are t...

Music to live by, reprise

This week it’s a challenge to write a story or poem in just 100 words. That’s the word count I used in previous Hysteria Writing Competitions in the Flash Fiction contest. Although it’s short, it’s not as easy as it first appears as you have to follow the usual storytelling arc giving it a beginning, middle, and end!

Whilst I’d love it if you shared your piece as a comment on this blog post, there is no need to share it. You could instead write it in your journal, add it to a personal archive, o...

Why social media marketing doesn’t work for SME’s

The rise of social media is a revolution that has put the power of understanding and awareness into the hands of those that participate and I doubt there’s a business on the planet that hasn’t been told at least once, and probably dozens of times, they should be using it to promote themselves.The first couple of times they’ll dismiss the suggestion as absurd because they don’t have the time and anyway their customers aren’t on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. But the more times they hear how easy ...

Pink to make the boys wink

Where does colour take you? What emotions does it invoke? And how do you know whether the colour you see is the colour someone else sees. Given that sight is dependent on the brain interpreting electrical waves coming through the eyes how do we really know what’s going on out there in the colour of our mind?

This week, take a colour, any colour and paint a picture of it for other people so they can see it vividly in their mind’s eye. Paint it with words that allow even those who have never seen ...

How to be a rockstar blogger – part 1

MOTIVATION

Before we get down the nitty-gritty of becoming a Rock Star Blogger we need to establish one key thing and that is the motivation behind your desire to achieve blogging superstardom.

At a guess, I would imagine you have been reading some free ebooks that have told you all you need to do to become an overnight(ish) millionaire is to start a blog or a website and sell an eager audience your many pearls of wisdom.

Would I be far wrong?

If you say absolutely wrong Linda, then you have my ...

Inside the ping pong ball

I was not always the best student. I freely hold up my hand and admit that sometimes I didn’t pay attention. My mind would wander beyond the confines of the classroom to the fields and woods outside, or to the latest book I was reading.

My form teacher, Mr. Griffiths, was mostly patient, but eventually, even he would snap and I would be punished in some way. His punishments were always original. One memorable afternoon I was tasked with an essay on the subject of the inside of a ping pong ball!...

Sustainability is not sustainable

Over the last few weeks I’ve been offering up a weekly writing prompt and this week is no different. The challenge is to expand our vocabulary and think about what words mean to us. The one I’ve chosen this month is ‘sustainable‘, mostly because I’ve noticed its definition seems to work against what I think of its real meaning.

When I looked for a definition online it appears sustainable is connected to the idea of constant economic growth. For example, Merriam Webster tells us it means: “able t...

My mother’s onion soup

Having a framework to get started often helps overcome the ‘what should I write?’ block arriving with an empty page or screen flashing at you. The word square is a simple concept; take four words, one from each column, and include them in your story. You can use them once or many times, the choice is yours.

Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a scene, story, or poem. It can be short, long, or micro. As long as you include one word from each column it will be great.

My effort is below.

“My...