P.D.R. Lindsay's Blog, page 22
November 20, 2014
THE EXTINCTION OF THE NOVELIST
Who would be a writer? Everyone it seems to me. I never liked statistics. The ones from Amazon I really hate. And try this one! Bowker’s Books in Print, 2012, listed 32 million active titles in the English language. Then look at Amazon’s statistics. Amazon alone has (mid 2014 figures) 3.4 million books in Kindle. What is truly scary is the fact that over one year Kindle releases 2,800 books every day. Yes, that was day, not week or month. That’s a million Kindle books a year.
How can you, a w...
October 2, 2014
Seems to me that no one knows the basics of presentation ...
Seems to me that no one knows the basics of presentation any more. It's about time it was taught to all business people and those people who put themselves on public display.
Recently I have been receiving phone calls from businesses looking for customers, and from the bank. Each time I answer the phone with a polite Good morning/afternoon or Good day.
Without fail the response is "I want to speak to Patricia." Well, my name is not Patricia, it was, until I changed it legally, a bloomin' pain o...
Recently I have been receiving phone calls from businesses looking for customers, and from the bank. Each time I answer the phone with a polite Good morning/afternoon or Good day.
Without fail the response is "I want to speak to Patricia." Well, my name is not Patricia, it was, until I changed it legally, a bloomin' pain o...
September 26, 2014
Some friendly advice for a writer's pals.
One of the magazines I enjoy is 'Seizure'. Australian, stroppy and funny the editors send out a great newsletter.
Their novella competition is now open http://seizureonline.com/projects/
In a recent Agony Aunt column Auntie dealt with a subject dear to all writers' hearts, advice for the friendly fan. It's great stuff and well worth a read. As one whose near family live thousands of miles away and whose blood relatives are bloody awful I lack that circle of rellies who might support my novels....
Their novella competition is now open http://seizureonline.com/projects/
In a recent Agony Aunt column Auntie dealt with a subject dear to all writers' hearts, advice for the friendly fan. It's great stuff and well worth a read. As one whose near family live thousands of miles away and whose blood relatives are bloody awful I lack that circle of rellies who might support my novels....
September 19, 2014
And another thing...!
And whilst I'm on the rampage because I am fed up of people moaning that they don't know what to do to help, or that they can't help because they have no money/time/don't live near enough etc. here's another website where you can help just by playing educational games at home on your computer.
http://freerice.com.
Free rice supplies rice to the UN World Food programme. This is something you can do for five minutes a day and you can play with your children, your English language students or eld...
http://freerice.com.
Free rice supplies rice to the UN World Food programme. This is something you can do for five minutes a day and you can play with your children, your English language students or eld...
September 14, 2014
The People's Climate Marchhttps://secure.avaaz.org/en/100...
The People's Climate March
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/100_clean...
Climate change and worth signing up for this petition and the World Day of protest.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/100_clean...
Climate change and worth signing up for this petition and the World Day of protest.
September 11, 2014
I keep hearing people moan about not being able to do any...
I keep hearing people moan about not being able to do anything. Or it's 'What can they do?' when some horrific disaster or event hits the news again.
I've tried to live my life following the precepts I believe in. ‘Put your money where your mouth is’ was the old challenge. It isn't easy but those international horrors, those rapes in India, or the Syrian government, or religious intolerance, sometimes you can join in a world wide protest because someone in the know cares enough to run a petiti...
I've tried to live my life following the precepts I believe in. ‘Put your money where your mouth is’ was the old challenge. It isn't easy but those international horrors, those rapes in India, or the Syrian government, or religious intolerance, sometimes you can join in a world wide protest because someone in the know cares enough to run a petiti...
September 4, 2014
Down with Air New Zealand.What a joke! Air New Zealand ra...
Down with Air New Zealand.
What a joke! Air New Zealand ran a inflight safety film which was all bikini and boobs on some Pacific island. Naturally the guys drooled but we women protested. I didn't see half naked men in the ad, it was just women. Either they do an ad like that for both men and women to drool if they must or it's rank male chauvinist piggery.
There was a Twitter campaign a fried told me about. I joined in and we did get the safety film off the air. But Air New Zealand had a squa...
What a joke! Air New Zealand ran a inflight safety film which was all bikini and boobs on some Pacific island. Naturally the guys drooled but we women protested. I didn't see half naked men in the ad, it was just women. Either they do an ad like that for both men and women to drool if they must or it's rank male chauvinist piggery.
There was a Twitter campaign a fried told me about. I joined in and we did get the safety film off the air. But Air New Zealand had a squa...
September.That will teach me!The Indie Book Fair was grea...
September.
That will teach me!
The Indie Book Fair was great, not for books sales but because of the people I met and stayed with. I haven't had so much fun, sitting chatting round the dining table, for years.
There's a tremendous amount of work to do now it's Spring. I am planting the seeds ready for the fine weather outside. The bottom paddock is still very wet and have I have lost most of my hazel trees down there because their roots drowned. Bang goes my income.
Seems to me the whole farming...
That will teach me!
The Indie Book Fair was great, not for books sales but because of the people I met and stayed with. I haven't had so much fun, sitting chatting round the dining table, for years.
There's a tremendous amount of work to do now it's Spring. I am planting the seeds ready for the fine weather outside. The bottom paddock is still very wet and have I have lost most of my hazel trees down there because their roots drowned. Bang goes my income.
Seems to me the whole farming...
July 21, 2014
A scream for help
Has the world gone mad?
Well, after this week one can but wonder!
Well, after this week one can but wonder!
June 15, 2014
It's June, and half way through already. May disappeared ...
It's June, and half way through already. May disappeared in snow storms, frosts and floods! This is unheard of as May is the last month of autumn and therefore usually grey, louring and foretelling of winter. It does not act like winter and dump on us with cold snow and heavy rain.
Seems to me the climate is crazy. Could it be that thing the Americans don't admit is happening? We know all about climate change in the Pacific. All those tiny atoll islands now losing their drinking water as the s...
Seems to me the climate is crazy. Could it be that thing the Americans don't admit is happening? We know all about climate change in the Pacific. All those tiny atoll islands now losing their drinking water as the s...
