Jo Robinson's Blog, page 109

Peter’s Story

Peter's Story.

OUR HEARTFELT GRATITUDE FROM THE PHILIPPINES

Reblogged from ✿ ｡◕‿◕｡ ✿ Donicia's World ✿ ｡◕‿◕｡ ✿:

-- A grateful nation thanks all of your very generous hearts and outpouring support in the rescue/relief/recovery/rehabilitation efforts on the devastation brought about by Typhoon Yolanda, a category 5 Hurricane, a very strong storm (International code name:Haiyan).

May every Filipino you encounter in the world thank you all personally. Our people affected by the recent natural disasters may not have a very Merry Christmas, but because of all of you, they will feel that there is hope for one.

Read more… 324 more words

Makes you love the world.

#ReliefPH - Call For Help For The Yolanda/Haiyan Victims

Reblogged from Luokeshan's Blog:

If you've been following my blog, you would know that I am a Filipino living in Cebu. The Visayas group of islands (where Cebu is part of) has been struck by severe disasters just within a month. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Bohol on October 15, also affecting Cebu and other Visayas islands. Last Friday, November 8 Super Typhoon Haiyan, a category 5 typhoon made landfall 6 times on different Visayas islands.

Read more… 297 more words

Help the Phillipines.

The Writing Prompt

I haven’t had time for writing or spending much time at my computer for a while. Things are settling down slowly, but still a bit hectic for the next couple of weeks – then hopefully all will be tranquil in the land of Jo, and I can get some work done. If I manage 10 000 words on the NaNoWriMo this year I’ll actually be quite proud of myself. Doubtful though. Anyway. I spotted a writing prompt that got my scribbling mojo briefly interested.

WRITING PROMPT: The benefits to the Earth brought about by humanity living on it.

Um. Ummmmmm.



OK – got one! The Mushroom Death Suit. Cool! A suit infused with flesh eating fungus spores to help with all the decomposition and – stuff – whatever goes on six feet under after our souls blithely trip off through the pearly gates.



The suit’s inventor, Jae Rhim Lee, educated these mushroomy little guys to develop a taste for munching on a bit of human by feeding them bits of herself – skin, nails, hair, oozy bits – you get the picture.



She maintains that mushrooms are environmental cleaning heroes, and that this sort of “person disposal” is all to the good of a green planet. Well. Fair enough. What do I know? I’m not a scientist. Still. This whole business just gives me the willies. We now have real live flesh eating fungus on the planet. Mushroom spores like to travel, and the little fellows are pretty good at it. Things like to evolve, adapt, kick up their games. Black mould is already partial to a bit of human lung, so hopefully these fellows won’t get together with the flesh eating ‘shrooms and make some whoopee. Mushroom Zombie Apocalypse. Anyway. We’ll just have to wait and see if future Earth ends up looking like a big giant porcini hanging around idly in space, waiting for some unsuspecting little green alien to pop over for tea.



I don’t think wild animals are prone to as much sickness and disease as we are if they’re left in their own untainted environments. They just get on with things. Unfortunately we’re far too clever to just get on with things. We like to make cool stuff. I bet you ten magic beans that most of the deadly viruses around uttered their first goo-goo ga-ga’s in a lab secreted away in some innocuous looking building somewhere. We have pigs, mice, rabbits and other creatures that have been genetically modified with human DNA. Whatever the reasons were to do these things were – well – I don’t really care. It’s just not right. Think up ways to fix the climate guys – or any of the other things that we’ve already broken before creating mushrooms that enjoy eating us.



Anyway. Back to square one and my writing prompt. Now. Let’s see what we got. We….



Sometime later….



Later still…..



Ummmmmmm…..



New writing prompt needed.

Monday Funnies

Reblogged from Chris The Story Reading Ape's New (to me) Authors Blog:

Next time you have an idea for a story - remember this

Men and apes are not so different

Where do apes go shopping?

Admission of guilt

Compensation?

What a silly question

Guest in the Hut – Ryan Peter

My guest blogger today is the lovely and talented Ryan Peter. Ryan is a writer, journalist and ghostwriter from Johannesburg, South Africa. He writes fantasy and sci-fi and anything to do with the “weird” while he enjoys conversing (and writing, of course) on topics such as faith and theology. His books are widely available at Amazon and other major online retailers. His fantasy epic, “When Twins War” is the first in his “The Rise of the Kings” series and is now available wherever good books are sold.

Using Pictures for Inspiration

by Ryan Peter

It’s amazing how important a good book cover really is. And it amazes me how much a picture doesn’t just “say a thousand words” but can inspire infinitely more!

When I was a young boy I remember sitting in my grandparents’ house and dreaming over the many books in the bookshelves, looking at the pictures and getting this sense of Something. A Mystery speaking to me. The same sort of experience I believe C.S. Lewis refers to as ‘Joy’ in his biography “Surprised by Joy”. Or what another author, John Eldredge, calls “The Haunting.”

The sense of story and wonder. The excitement of ‘story’. Something about a picture that speaks to your deepest senses and gives you a sense of something bigger, something more grand, something wholly more awesome than yourself – and this feeling, this inkling, that somehow you’re a part of that something as well.

The feeling of a grand story, of which you play a part. The wonder of it all. Where you’re actually not even the hero, but you get to be around the hero, watching them take on dragons and space monsters of all kinds.

It’s this sense of awe and wonder, of mystery and possibility, that I have found to be the inspiration for all my writings – whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. I want to capture something about the depth of what I feel into words. It seems that there’s no better way to truly capture that thing, whatever it is, than to invoke it through the medium of story.

Many book covers and book illustrations have awakened that feeling in me, as well as some notable music albums as well. For example, JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has often had some notable covers that evoke that feeling. My favourite is pictured below. The ability for his writing to do that as well is part of what I think has made his story so successful.

Something about the covers on the Jack Aubrey seafaring novels from Patrick O’Brian do too. It’s like every picture in this series inspires you to imagine some grand, seafaring, swashbuckling, treasure-looting story – and interesting Long John Silver characters to go along with it. Although, the books are a far different animal altogether compared to Treasure Island!

Recently, a school invited me to speak to its students about making writing a career. For the matriculants, I highlighted some fantastic moments in journalism (showing a clip from the original interview between David Frost and Richard Nixon, where Nixon finally admits he felt he was above the law). For the younger kids, however, I went in with three different pictures – one of a space ship on fire; another of a tiny figure of a man with a sword facing a giant, menacing eagle; and another of the fiery, red-head female space commander from the popular video game series Mass Effect. I showed the kids each of the pictures and asked them to construct stories on the fly – to look at the pictures and just say whatever came to mind.

Boy, did they get going! Immediately they all started coming up with some of the most fantastic ideas! Some of the kids who were notably silent earlier also began to lose their inhibitions, adding to the conversation. The teacher was delighted to see her kids exercising their imagination in such a wonderful way and getting excited about writing their next creative writing test! They really loved the exercise, all showing clear disappointment when we had to end it due to time.

I realised then that it’s not only me who is an explorer at heart but that this is common to us all. The job of a storyteller is to take us back to those feelings of awe and mystery and excitement we all feel, even from when we’re small, and remind us all again that the world is indeed a dangerous, difficult place… but it is also a beautiful, wonderful place, where we can all answer that Haunting which comes to us at the most interesting times. And we all have our own story to live within it.

Thank you Ryan for your most cool and inspiring words!

When Twins War (The First Prelude to the Rise of the Kings)

Lots of Awards

It’s award time. It’s time to thank some lovely bloggers and award some lovely bloggers. I do love awards. I’ve got some doubles and some bunches of awards so, so as not to strain your eyeballs I’m going to thank all the bloggers together. Huge thank yous to Billy Ray Chitwood, Donicia, John Howell, Katherine Vucicevic, Michelle, Glendon Perkins, Marian Allen, Jasveena Prabhagaran, Donicia, and JCCKeith. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone – I’ll do another award post later. Time to party!

I Am Part of the WordPress Family Award Rules.

Display the award logo on your blog (see above).

Link back to the person who nominated you (also see above!)

Nominate 10 others who have positively impacted your WordPress experience.

Don’t forget to let your WordPress family members know of your nomination.

That’s it! Just pick 10 people that have accepted you as a friend, and spread the love!

Awesome Blossom Award

First Best Moment Award

Inspiring Blogger Award

Semper Fidelus Award

The Versatile Blogger Award

Shine Award

Super Sweet Award

The Most Creative Blogger Award

The Liebster Award Rules

1. List eleven random facts about me.

2. Nominate eleven bloggers for the Liebster Blog Award.

3. Notify the bloggers.

4. Ask eleven questions the bloggers must answer upon receiving the nomination.

5. Answer the eleven questions you were asked when you were nominated.

6. Link back to the person who nominated you.

Eleven random facts about me:

1. I punched a man in the groin for beating a pony when I was six years old, and rode horses every day of my life till I fell off, hit a wall, and lost my nerve.

2. Bananas make my cheeks itch.

3. I sat on a wasp five minutes after being stung on the bum by a bee and got stung on the other side.

4. I watch documentaries about ghosts at night then can’t go to sleep.

5. I once got chased by a penguin in a bird sanctuary.

6. I love Brussels Sprouts in cheese sauce.

7. I eat condensed milk out of the tin with a spoon.

8. I want my own Playstation.

9. I used to ride a boyfriend’s big Moto Guzzi in ancient times.

10. I was taught to shoot as a child.

11. I buy too many high heeled boots.

My Answers to my Questions:

1. How long have you been blogging?

Two years – I think.

2. Why did you choose the topic(s) for your blog?

I don’t think I have a proper topic for my blog. Originally it was going to be a place to post “diary entries” for Christopher – a character in African Me & Satellite TV.

3. How do people find your blog?

I have no idea. LOL!

4. Do you feel comfortable promoting/advertising your own stuff?

No I definitely don’t. I keep expecting someone to point at me and yell “FAKE!”.

5. What’s your happiest earliest childhood memory?

My cousins and I being forced by my mother to row her around Zoo Lake like a reclining empress. She did this often, but it was always cool because she regularly fell overboard, jammy scone in hand.

6. If you could have any critter, real or imaginary, as a pet, what would it be?

A dragon would be cool.

7. What would you name it?

Tiny.

8. Why would a woodchuck chuck wood?

Because he’s aiming it at something?

9. Vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore?

Piscatarian. Is that right? I eat seafood.

10. What are you reading (not these questions, silly! what book?)?

I’ve got more than one read on the go right now, including Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals.

11. What is your superpower?

My love of animals and the Earth.

My Questions For My Chosen Bloggers:

1. When did you start blogging?

2. What was your hope for your blog to accomplish?

3. Do you read a lot of blog posts?

4. What was your best post ever?

5. What’s your favourite thing in the world to do?

6. Describe your pets and why they’re the cutest.

7. Who’s your favourite person in the world?

8. Do you have any hobbies?

9. Do you have any habits that you’d like to get rid of?

10. What do you like to read?

11. What would be your crowning achievement in life?

My nominees for ALL these awards (extra because I know that some of you already have most of them) follow. Your blogs are brilliant!

The Story Reading Ape

Dropped Pebbles

Glendon Perkins

Squid Mc Finnigan

I Hide My Chocolate

Imagineer

JCCKeith

Kev’s Stuff

Kizzie Lee

Lawrence Grodecki

Lucy Pireel

Nest Expressed

Phil Davies

Patinspire

Robbie Robin’s Journey

Seamus Gallacher

Wordwabbit

White Wolf Moon

Ghost Talk Blog

Next You Universe

A Soldiers Wind

Marian Allen

Hmmm….

A comment on a previous post got me thinking about what I’m actually doing here. The spat of freak weather we’ve been having here has left this particularly crazy scribbler with way too much time to think. Firstly – the weather. There was an epic windstorm and a couple of fairly epic thunder and lightning events. And some hail. Truthfully, after living where I’ve lived in Zimbabwe for the past eighteen years they were a bit ho-hum to me. I’m used to having rip-roaring cyclones without the benefit of a basement. Anyway. Things blew up electricity-wise. Now I really get those guys in the first world who have pucker “bug out bags” and plans for evacuation in the event of the zombie apocalypse. This little town shut down tighter than a snail with OCD. The banks were closed. The fuel pumps were closed. The supermarkets were closed. Hell – everything was closed. And so my obsession with having loads of food on hand and a bit of cash at all times was WELL justified. Take THAT you guys who said I was odd.

Also – I take my hat off to the people of Zimbabwe for seriously rising to the occasion. Apart from having a mental president who rants at all aspects of Westernism, yet is not averse to the odd horse drawn carriage, twenty one gun salute, or a really fine chilled glass of Pinotage, they know how to survive in an apocalypse. There when the power went off, we put the generator on. We always had at least a month’s worth of food on hand. The banks, supermarkets, and petrol stations all had their own personal generators, so shopping was not so hard – apart from the time TM got stuck on Phil Collins’ rendition of True Colours and we were all sobbing our eyes out with the till operators when we left.

But anyway. Back to the subject at hand. A comment on my Yacking It Up post really made me take ten steps back and take notice. I mentioned depression in the post, but I really thought I skirted the subject well enough not to draw criticism from those who suffer this affliction. Seems I was wrong.

I started this blog as a newbie writer. And I mean newbie. I’m not one of those scribblers who have been penning tales from the age of six. I haven’t written anything until about three years ago apart from shopping lists. Originally after I got the whole inspiration thing for African Me I thought I’d go the traditional route and find myself an agent and obviously turn out to be the next best thing since cream cheese. But unfortunately my OCD kicked in.

It was never my intention to share these interesting character malformations that I have here on my blog. This was supposed to be all about my writing. And this in all probability will be the ONLY post I ever share about my weirdness. But here goes anyway.

I have Anxiety Disorder. I have Panic Attacks. I do believe that I am borderline Agoraphobic and possibly Bipolar. However. Mostly I have these things under control. Not so much at the moment because sometimes life chucks so much crap at you you would be ABNORMAL not to be a freak show.

Still – these are not things about my life that I care to share. Even though I’m fairly “normal” now, I remember all the terror, bloody excessive amounts of cortisol that did crazy things to my body and mind. These things can NOT be understood by those that have not lived through them. And each of us has a unique set of symptoms. Medication might work for one – yoga, exercise, diet, and prayers works for me. It just pisses me off a little to have anyone casually toss such a random comment into my post when I never professed to be an expert on the subject of Depression – although I can assure you I’m a bloody card carrying member.

Anyway. This will be my last post of this nature. And I’ve thought long and hard about actually posting it. My blog is about BOOKS and THINGS THAT I LOVE AND FIND COOL. If you have anything really stupid to say – write it on a carrot, and stick it….

Book Promo Day: 31st October, 2013

Reblogged from Imagineer-ing:

The Tsunami of requests for books to be promo'd is drying up folks!

Please don't let this be a short lived thing – AUTHORS you've never had it so good regarding opportunities to get free promotion on this popular blog, so:

DON'T DELAY – GET YOUR PROMO IN TODAY

Find the form HERE

And PLEASE make life a little simpler for this silly old ape temporary blog editor and give ALL the information requested in the form, especially FULL http://www.**** addresses of book covers and where the books can be obtained (or downloaded), etc.

Read more… 876 more words

Souper Day

Zooming through. The last couple of weeks have been more than a little challenging. I’ve got a seriously busy week ahead with major projects and deadlines blowing my mind a little too much, so panic is my buddy right now. It’s been all cold and wet around here for a couple of days, so thinking that tossing some split peas and bits in a pot this morning would leave me even more time to get on with work, and not have to worry about cooking things that required more than one pot or much effort seemed like a great idea. Soup’s generally very kind about doing all the work itself. So I did the tossing and tootled off to my desk to get stuck in.

A half hour or so later the feathered horde headed off to the kitchen for a snack, as they do regularly during their days, and instantly set up such a screeching that I thought the apocalypse had come and there must be zombies beating at the windows. It was much worse though. I think I used too small a pot, and I forgot to turn the stove to simmer, so all the pea impregnated water had zoomed out of the pot and formed a gloopy green sea all over the floor. Over an hour later after having a go at cleaning up the mess (by cleverly managing to transfer most of the pea juice on to my clothes and hair), while being bounced on by four birds who thought it was a hugely fun game, I was a wreck. There are little sticky green birdie foot shaped splotches all over the furniture now too. Those guys had a ball, little buggers.

Anyway, I managed to save the soup by adding more bits to it, but at the end of all that clever cooking avoidance, I ended up spending more time away from my work than it would have taken to prepare three courses – and some home-made fudge to snack on. I’m not sure if there’s a lesson in there somewhere, all I know is that now I’m really crotchety, and I really am not in the mood for soup any more. This craziness did get me remembering past disasters though – that should have taught me to be more cautious in the kitchen. Like the first time I cooked gem squash. I popped a load of them in a pot of water and tootled off elsewhere. Lucky for me I was out of the room when they exploded. Getting those little yellow bits off the ceiling took days and a coat of paint too. Then there was the time I thought I’d make Roquefort chicken, so I hollowed out a frozen chicken, stuck a whole wedge of blue in there and stuck it in a 280°C oven. Interesting result.

Those disasters happened yonks ago before I became the amazingly brilliant, talented, gifted, humble, and fantastic cook that I am today by the way. Anyway. The stove is off and I’m off to write some more.