Jo Robinson's Blog, page 38

APRIL IS NATIONAL PREVENT CHILD ABUSE MONTH

Originally posted on writerchristophfischer:

APRIL ISNATIONAL PREVENT CHILD ABUSE MONTH

���EVERY UNWANTED TOUCH IS LIKE A BRAND, AN OPEN WOUND, A SCAR ON MY SOUL THAT NEVER HEALS������

BE A VOICE FOR ALL ���#���CHILDREN���PLEASE SHARE and help raise awareness.��

Here is some information that I picked up ��from a Colorado news station

In 2013, there were 679,000 victims of child abuse and neglect throughout the United States; more than 10,000 were child victims from Colorado, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children & Families. In 2014, the Kempe Children���s Center at Children���s Hospital treated 1,306 children for abuse, served 641 parents and caregivers and trained 9,605 child welfare professionals.

The Blue Ribbon Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse started as a Virginia grandmother���s tribute to her grandson who died as a result of abuse. She tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car as���

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Monkeys Inside and Out

What day of the week is it? I don���t know what���s with the zooming time these days, but I���m sure whole days are being swiped from me. We���re a funny bunch us humans. I read a thing by Seth Godin where he reckons that artificial intelligence isn���t worse off than humans without the ability to reason and all the other things that go on in our heads. He calls it our chattering monkeys. Those robot guys won���t be jealous of all that swirling negativity and fear at all if they take over the world. He���s quite right too. I���ve had a whole bevy of the little sods all chattering away at the same time in my noggin, and sometimes they cause me to just freeze right up. So a lot of white noise leading to useless action, and very little constructive being done around here these days. Time to focus, I think.
I���m a proper old anxiety bunny. I get all tied up in knots for days about all sorts of things that I think I should be doing even when they���re physically impossible. I stress about letting people down, or not being what other people expect me to be. So ��� got to the point where I did the most epic Tasmanian devil spinout, and then I stopped and put the TV on. This universe never ceases to amaze me. I reckon that there are hundreds of invisible angel guys out there all waving placards at us to slow down now and then and consider the paths we���re on. What popped up on the screen was a documentary called The (Dead Mothers) Club. I was about to change the channel when I saw that it had Rosie O���Donnell in it, and she���s always good for a chuckle, so I watched a bit more, not thinking for one second that I could relate to it in any way. But I did. And I learned quite a lot from it too. It also had Jane Fonda in it, and when I saw that she���d written a memoir I did what any self-respecting scribbler would do and zoomed on to Amazon to see the latest celebrity blah blah that people generally buy only because ��� well ��� celebrity.
Turns out she���s actually a fabulous writer. I haven���t read the whole book yet because my TBR list is WRIT and having writ it, I will not deviate from the reading order. I did have a very quick squiz through though, and I admit to looking forward to getting properly tucked in to it. I remember hating her a bit when I was really feeling the buuurn to her old exercise videos in the eighties, but generally she was inspiring. I read a couple of reviews that spoke about her anti-war protest days – which was news to me ��� and the hatred some people still carry for her. It did make me think though. She���s moved on. She admits to many, many regrets, but she realises that wallowing in them serves her no purpose now. People make mistakes ��� sometimes very bad ones. She���s incredibly honest in her book, and that takes guts. Especially when she looks back on her own failings. But back to the documentary.
It���s all about women whose mothers died when they were young. All the stories are really touching, especially those women like Jane Fonda whose mothers took their own lives. It���s deeply affected each and every one of them, and after the empathy I felt for them I was quite surprised to find myself relating totally to them. Rosie said something like, ���It���s a club. You get a badge…..��� That���s true, I think. I was eighteen when I lost my mother ��� not so young I thought back then. But looking back now with the itsy bit of wisdom I���ve gained, I see that it was. Watching how these women coped it suddenly became obvious that often they completely lost their way for quite a large chunk of their lives. Jane only ���came to��� in her sixties.
I certainly did lose the plot at the time ��� and for many years afterwards my main goal was never to think about her. I managed to block out goodly chunks of my childhood, and if any memory tried to surface it got squashed. All I carried on through the years was how she had suffered to the very end, and also that I missed her death by forty minutes, and she died alone. That guilt made me quite a little crazy I think. There���s also that sense of not belonging to anyone anymore. I used to get properly jealous of friends who had fathers. I don���t remember my father at all, but I do remember being upset at not having one when I realised that all my buddies had them. They were cool too. I used to pretend that someone had got their facts wrong, and that he wasn���t really dead at all, and would show up on the doorstep one day. Now I���m trying really hard to remember my mother ��� the happy bits though, and not the end. ��It’s working, and I think that I���ve just lost the guilt too.
I do believe that anyone can be whoever they want to be as an adult, no matter what has happened to them before the minute of the decision to be whoever they want to be is made. I���m quite tough on myself this way. But seeing these women ��� especially Jane ��� look back on their lives, warts and all, it���s obvious that this club, this Dead Mothers Club is a real thing. It���s like some sort of switch was flicked when they became motherless. You can strike out wildly, furiously, and mess your life up without ever realising that it���s really because your mother died before you were properly grown. Somehow it makes you feel of less worth than everyone else. Always needing to be tough and prove that you���re just fine and dandy on your own, when you���re really not at all. Jane���s locked away pain and the guilt kept her from living her life properly until she turned sixty, and she made some gloriously terrible boobies along the way before she decided to have a little squiz within, and found a way to eject the monkeys.
I can���t recall ever purposefully ever setting out to hurt anyone, but I have. I���ve always been incredibly naive, taking people for what they appear to be, and it took me a very long time to realise that that has caused me some really big missteps. I���m great with the self beating, so I suppose that all the years of running and falling has left all these monkeys running around in my head. I���m not overly partial to monkeys in general ��� the real little sods are having forays into my tomatoes right now ��� so evicted they will have to be.
After a couple of hours of mulling over what I learned from those women, I realise that life shouldn���t be about guilt and sadness for the past, and worry for the future all the time. This is wasting the time we have now, because without a time machine there���s not a lot you can do about the first, and you don���t know what the second will be. Although what you do now will probably have a big impact on your future. Running around with the monkeys will too. So. Deciding to mindfully control your own life after chasing your own tail in your noggin for decades isn���t easy. I���m well chuffed though. I thought I was a club of one kind of crazy, so it���s nice to see that I���m not. Mothers are probably with you always (secret Long Island Medium watcher at your service), and not having one around physically doesn���t make you less valuable. People do love you, blood or not, and just by doing what you���re doing and being who you are, you do have purpose and most definitely value.
You���re allowed to enjoy yourself, and have fun while fulfilling that purpose, no matter what has gone before. In fact, for me, I sometimes think that what has gone before had to happen just as it did for what is now to be. Now is good. Even though everything that you do or is done to you will have some sort of impact, you don���t have to allow these things to control you in ways that make you waste any of your life that you have left. I���ve got a lovely imaginary monkey guilt and worry basher in my head now, so whenever these feelings of not being or doing good enough pop up from now on they will be summarily whacked right out of there. Knowing that you really are doing the best that you can right now is good enough for me, so happy bunny forever for me. Now back to business as usual. Oh, and hi there Mom ��� it���s lovely to see you again.

Amazon files first-ever suit over fake product reviews…

jorobinson176:

Very pertinent topic for us scribblers right now. Weigh in with your opinion.

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:

To read this article, click on the logo or link below:

(Don���t forget to click the FOLLOW-UP in the article as well)

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-files-first-ever-suit-over-fake-reviews-alleging-calif-man-sold-fraudulent-praise-for-products/

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Five Star Treatment – African Me & Satellite TV by Jo Robinson

jorobinson176:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Thank you so much for this Sally, and thank you Mark and John for your wonderful reviews, and love to all for your comments.

Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:

Delighted to feature the lovely Jo Robinson here with African Me & Satellite TV, a story that I really related to and cannot recommend enough to those of you who have never lived in Africa or really comprehended the issues facing those who live side by side in countries such as Zimbabwe.

About the book

For many years Suzette has managed very well to live her life without actually taking part in it, avoiding any possibility of pain by very carefully ignoring reality. Until something happens. Something so terrible that she has no choice but to abandon her cocoon of safety.

After the brutal beating of an elderly domestic worker, Suzette takes her in, and sets off a chain of events that leads to devastating heartbreak. And an unexpected hero changes everything. Finally finding her voice, she speaks out, and her world explodes, culminating in the death of a very���

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I���m Hooked on a Feeling

jorobinson176:

Bloghussies rock! :D

Originally posted on yadadarcyyada:

I can���t fight this feeling, deep inside of me, I���m hooked on a feeling���blogging, you don���t know what you do to me.

I don���t know how many blogging advice posts I���ve read in the past couple of years ��� some were helpful, others decidedly unhelpful, others gibberish. So here���s my best blogging advice that will change the way you blog forever!

1. Have a blog.


2.Write 300 words to whatever-your-readers-think-isn���t-too-long posts. Think of each post as a summer hat, you want it to cover your face and neck, but you don���t want to be the one with thatRoyal Wedding hat.
3. Put pictures in the posts. Take, make, find, paint, draw���and credit them, if possible.



4.Publish the post ��� this part is way more important than it seems.



5.Read. Not just books, but other people���s posts. If you don���t have time to read, how do���

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DEMONS & PEARLS On #Thunderclap! Can You Help Me Hoist the Colors?

jorobinson176:

A bit of help to get Peggy up to 100 would be lovely guys. :)

Originally posted on Author P.S. Bartlett:

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/24769-hoist-the-colors-mates

Hey everyone,

Sorry to interrupt your day���well okay, no I���m not because I really need your help with something.

I have a new book launching on April 14, 2015 and I���m trying something new this time called Thunderclap.

First of all, it���s FREE and EASY. You just click on the link and sign up to take part in my book launch. Thunderclap will do the rest.

What will happen is on the date and time I specify, which will be 4/21/15, #Thunderclap will share my post about the book via your Facebook, Tumbler or Twitter pages ALL AT THE EXACT SAME TIME! How cool is that?

My book message will be shared over several social networks and I am hoping for it to be sent out to over 100,000 people all at once!

Here���s the catch, I need at least 100 people to sign up for���

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Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue – Launch Tour

LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE:

SLEEPER OF THE WILDWOOD FUGUE

LIVE on Amazon Kindle!
Art by Jason Pedersen

The final champion stirs and reaches out to any who can hear her voice. Yet all who heed her call will disappear into the misty fugue.

Awakening their new ally is only the beginning as Luke, Nyx, and their friends head south to the desert city of Bor���daruk. Hunting for another temple once used to seal Baron Kernaghan, they are unaware that the game of destiny has changed. Out for blood and pain, Stephen is determined to make Luke wish he���d never set out to become a hero.

By the time the sun sets on Bor���daruk, minds will be shattered and the champions��� lives will be changed forever.

Don’t forget to mark it as ‘To Read’ on Goodreads too!
Charles E. Yallowitz
About the Author:

Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.

Blog: Legends of Windemere

Twitter: @cyallowitz

Facebook: Charles Yallowitz

Website: www.charleseyallowitz.com
Read the Previous Volumes of Legends of Windemere!!!

BEGINNING OF A HERO

PRODIGY OF RAINBOW TOWER

ALLURE OF THE GYPSIES

FAMILY OF THE TRI-RUNE

THE COMPASS KEY

CURSE OF THE DARK WIND

Publishing Your First Book on Amazon for New Indies

Originally posted on :

It���s a good idea to find out how to publish your first eBook on Amazon before, or while you���re writing it. Simplicity is the key, and if you have too many bells and whistles going on formatting wise, you might end up having to clear all formatting and start from scratch. If you use a word processor other than Microsoft Word you might have to pay for formatting, but using Word makes the process very easy. Here���s a quick overview for a standard work of fiction without images. (Click on the screenshots to view them larger)

Don���t use lots of spaces or your tab key for indents. This could result in an ebook that���s a bit of an oops. Rather set up the whole document. You can do this from your first paragraph, or you can highlight the whole document and set it up. Do this from a clean document���

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Life Expectancy – Industrialised food and its effect on our longevity.

jorobinson176:

What we put into our bodies is so important – a great wake up call from our Sally.

Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:

Tables and studies on life expectancy are only as good as the data provided. There are too many variables to take into consideration. Back in Victorian times for example there were many people who lived to over 80 or even 90 but because of the high infant mortality rate this brought down the average.

However, there is no doubt that there could be the beginning of a trend inthe reduction in average life expectancy, not just for women but also for men. And not only in the UK which is the subject of this article in the press but in the US and other countries in Europe.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3028113/Shock-fall-life-expectancy-women-60-Unhealthy-lifestyles-cuts-social-care-blamed-fall-decades.html

Those of us termed as ���baby boomers��� are now reaching our 60s and 70s and there are factors within our lifetimes that have impacted our general health and therefore our life expectancy.

Whilst there is no doubt that in some cases medical���

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Echoes of Narcissus in the Gardens of Delight

jorobinson176:

Thank you very, very much for the wonderful review of Echoes over on Ms M’s Bookshelf!

Originally posted on Ms M's Bookshelf:

This is the third book I���ve read by South African author, Jo Robinson, and the third one I���ve enjoyed immensely. ��While this is an extremely gripping novel with entertainment value, Robinson clearly intends it to be a wake-up call for women who are trapped in an intimidating and debilitating relationship with a narcissistic husband, and face the long, terrifying road which leads out of it into a ���normal���, healthy life.

Donna is an adult with a grown, independent daughter, Shelley, and a husband who provides her with a grand country house, and an extravagant lifestyle. ��To acquaintances, it appears to be an idyllic life. ��Donna has everything anyone could want ��� except a truly loving, appreciative husband. ��Marco has never physically struck her, but is a master at inflicting mental torture and hurtful humiliation in other ways. ��He obsessively controls her ��� searches her handbag, scrolls through her phone���

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