Jo Robinson's Blog, page 31
July 5, 2015
Saturday Round Up – How to escape Crocs, Cats on Ipads and The Hills are Alive!
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
Happy July 4th to my American friends and I hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends. I am sure that you will be far too busy to be reading blog posts so enjoy..
On with the review of the week.
As we get into summer and we focus on getting the house sold I will be making some changes to the schedule to leave the weekends more flexible for visitors and viewings.
Also everyone is much busier at the weekends will less time to read blog posts so I wanted to move William Price King to the Wednesday music slot instead of Saturday mornings.
I will schedule the Memories are Made of this series into Friday mornings and the health blogs and other regular posts will stay the same.
The Sunday Show will also go on hiatus from the weekend after next and I am…
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July 3, 2015
THE OWL LADY SAYS: Mark Your Calendars! The Sunshine Book Show Celebration is Coming ******** And check out my Rafflecopter!
Originally posted on theowlladyblog:
Here is a line-up of the authors who will be there to share their work
and answer you questions.
Prizes will be given out, too!
THIS IS WHAT THE ENTIRE DAY IS ALL ABOUT!
Let’s Party!
I have also started a Rafflecopter giveaway
for a $10 Amazon Gift Card
and an autographed copy of “The Owl of the Sipan Lord”:
I’ve been TAGGED…
Our Story in the limelight :D :D :D
Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
Ana from Anaslair tagged me in a challenge
1. How long have you been a blogger?
Since 4th April 2013
2. At what point do you think you will stop?
When I’m no longer enjoying it – which considering the great folks I’ve ‘met’ since starting, may mean NEVER :D
3. What is the best thing?
I can not only introduce great authors (new and seasoned) to everyone I’m connected to online, but I can also inject some of my other interests into the posts as well, like music, art and humour.
But the BEST thing about blogging is that I can ‘converse’ with people from all over the world – something I enjoy and miss since I retired from traveling and working outside of the UK.
4. What is the worst thing? What do you do to make it okay?
Not having enough time to read everyone’s blog…
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I,Asimov Quote Day
Day two of my quote challenge. Yes, I know that the first one was ages ago. I’m going to go with another favourite author – Isaac Asimov. I’ve put a comma instead of a full-stop between I and Asimov by mistake in the image here, and I’m not in the mood to make it again. So. Apologies to IA.
Being the memoir junkie that I am, I’ve got rather a large collection of them on my Kindle, mostly by authors, but also others by people I find generally interesting. I.Asimov is a pretty massive book, and so far I’ve been chapter hopping the titles that have been grabbing my interest, rather than reading it straight through. He’s jolly lucky that he’s not being paid for pages read. From a writer’s point of view as well as a fan’s point of view I’m finding it rather fabulous. He doesn’t at all see any point in being humble in areas of his life that are about his genius, because that’s what he is, but he’s far from being a narcissist. Ahem.
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do – I. Asimov”
He’s hilariously humble about other aspects of his life and personality though, and the bits about his fear of flying and fear of heights really resonates.
As far as I’m concerned, I get the biggest adrenalin rush when a plane takes off – I really do love that feeling of speed and power zooming up into the sky, but you can keep all the rest of the flying malarchy, especially the rottenest bit – THE LANDING. All not things I’m fond of at all unless couraged up with copious amounts of wine, which is fodder for a whole other true story. But the heights thing—. No indeed. I remember on an outing when I was little, the way some adults reckon that they can just jolly you through your fear, a friend’s mother managed to force me onto a narrow set of stairs between two high buildings. I got to the middle and looked down. And down, and down. I very carefully lay down flat on my face, and ended up losing a fingernail during the following hour of various people trying to pry me loose and carry me to the other side. Even looking at pictures of heights freaks me out, so just sharing this one has me trying to hold on to the floor with my toes.
Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/juliacaesar
Here’s a few other little gems from the book:
“Believe me, I’m an acrophobe – I. Asimov” (I hear you Isaac – me too)
“The instant the roller coaster topped the first and highest rise and began to swoop downward, I reacted like an acrophobe. I screamed in terror and I hung on desperately to my date, who sat there stolid and unmoved. I got out of the roller coaster half dead, and if I had been older and had had a less youthful heart, I’m certain it would have killed me. I. Asimov”
“As the workman staggered back, I reacted like an acrophobe, emitting an unearthly scream. I. Asimov”
Believe it or not – Alleged fixes for itchy throat, ice-cream headache and a stitch.
Some out of the box tips from Sal today. :D
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
These were passed to me several years ago and I can confirm that the first one to help an itchy throat does indeed work.. Also the party trick at the end is one to baffle your friends and family.. magic!!
How to cure a tickling throat – dig into that ear
When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty centre in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.” You can use an ear bud but do be careful about pushing too far into the ear and causing damage. Just enough to cause a cough reflex.
How to cure a toothache
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found…
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Amazon… A virtual marketplace, or Big Brother?
Originally posted on imy santiago:
A couple of weeks ago I read the third installment of a series I really loved. I will refrain from sharing the name of the novel and its author.
Like any reader, as soon as I finished reading, I wrote my review. When I tried posting it on Amazon (I did buy the eBook, just like any normal and decent human being would), I received a rather concerning email.
I will not share the screenshot of the email as it does contain the title of the book and name of the author. In its place I have copied the body of the email below.
Dear Amazon Customer,
Thanks for submitting a customer review on Amazon. Your review could not be posted to the website in its current form. While we appreciate your time and comments, reviews must adhere to the following guidelines:
http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines
Here I was, thinking I had included an…
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July 2, 2015
Smorgasbord Health – Weightloss – Willpower and a paper trail!
If you want to live a healthy life and maybe lose a pound or two, then read this. Also read Sally’s book, Size Matters. It’s not only inspirational from a “been there” perspective and refreshingly unpreachy, it gives you all the tools you need to finally get your life back without living on a celery stick a day.
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
Today I am going to be taking a look at the elusive superpower when it comes to losing excess weight… Willpower.
Also having been there and got the T-shirt I know that there is a certain amount of denial about how much we weigh… how much we really eat and drink….and how much it really matters to us.
I have met very large people who tell me that they are very happy as they are, they love their curves and the fact that there are certain normal everyday activities they can no longer carry out means nothing. I remember saying those very same things to people when I weighed 330lbs. The problem is that once you get three stone overweight it is not just activities that are restricted but also the function of major organs such as the heart and liver who are in fat overload. They are not happy!
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How to Create a NCX Table of Contents for Amazon Upload Using Calibre
Originally posted on I have to say that apart from proofreading, creating a NCX table of contents is something I would be more than happy to outsource to a professional and pay for. Considering my mission to learn all the aspects of self-publishing myself though, as well as the fact that not all Indies have the couple of hundred bucks in their budgets for this, I decided to figure it out myself. I must admit that I wasn’t keen to load any file on to Amazon that wasn’t a nice clean HTML conversion, so I updated my already published books using Calibre with some trepidation. They all worked out very nicely, and now that I understand the logic behind this method I’m all for it. The table of contents we did before works very well for getting a nice clickable table in the front or back of your book, depending where you want…
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July 1, 2015
Annual Bloggers Bash Awards – NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
Originally posted on Sacha Black:
It’s the 1st of July, know what that means? It’s ONE MONTH TO GO till the first ever Annual Bloggers Bash Party which is going to be in London on the 1st of August. To find out more visit the Annual Bloggers Bash Page.
Now, not all of our wonderful community can make it. The joy of blogging is that we can meet new friends from far away lands. So I thought we would do something that CAN include everyone. I am please to announce the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards.
Is there a blog you simply love? Has someone made you smile week after week? Maybe they have super helpful and informative posts? Or perhaps you have been inspired by them. Now is your chance to nominate a fellow blogger for one of these six awards. Winners will be announced on the 1st August at the bloggers bash and for all those not…
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