Linda Parkinson-Hardman's Blog, page 76

On being an Amazon Best Seller – the reality behind the hype

Update: 15/04/12 Following a conversation with a friend, I updated this post because he had read it quite negatively and actually the story isn’t negative. When I became brave enough to actually see how many books there were in each category I was being listed as a best-seller. At the end of each listing you can find the numbers of books in each category that I’m listed as a Best Seller in and some of them are quite impressive; I mean #53 out of almost 10,000 is pretty good by anybodies stand...

UK Novel, Full Length Works, Short Story and Poetry Writing Competitions Listings

Over the last few months I’ve been gathering the details of as many novel, full length works, short story and poetry writing competitions as I can find, mostly for my own use because I thought I might like to start entering some of them. I’ve been diligently adding them to a spreadsheet as I come across them and it suddenly occurred to me that this might actually make a good subject for my blog too.

Although these competitions are based in the UK many of them are actually open to authors and p...

I definitely need more time! And this weeks video should help me to use what I have more effectively

We each have an individual perspective when it comes to time; apparently we can be either future oriented or we can be present oriented when it comes to time and, not surprisingly, each of these will give us a different experience of both our lives and our sense of well-being.

Inspiration and getting your act together – including a lesson in taking my own advice

I’ve been inspired to get myself organised.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a blog by Madison Woods. Now Madison writes speculative fiction with a bit of surreal edge, but she also supports other writers by sharing her bit of virtual space with them through things like guest blog posts, a weekly ‘would you buy it slot’ which looks at 25 word blurbs for authors, a regular Sunday Musings post and also a ‘Flash your story’ opportunity for other authors to try Flash Fiction.

It’s not that these...

When a self help book is not enough

I love self-help books, I love the fact that within their pages I am going to find a snippet of information which helps me to sort out some problem I’m having; whether it’s a problem with happiness, love, losing weight (sigh!) or even a good old ‘how to’ book then I’m happy and contented. But there comes a time in every girl’s life when a self help book is not enough, when you actually have to set aside the desire for someone else to do it for you and do some work to make it happen.I had such...