Blog: Mel's Muse

I Am Not A Doormat! Are You?

What do you do when you’re faced with other people’s problems, you’re expected to help, and you’re almost certainly being manipulated, or taken for granted? Do you simply fail to notice the way people are treating you and fall into line? Do you have a vague suspicion that you’re being exploited but get on with...

Posted at 18:46pm on 31st January 2009

Creative Writing: How To Make Your Point Without Being Pointed

21st December 2009: This article has been revised so that it may be reproduced. See below

Years ago, when I was a member of a Writers’ Circle, we used to read aloud to one another, and subject each reading to a critique. One woman – a successful writer – used to stop those of us...

Posted at 15:59pm on 28th January 2009

Assisted Dying For The Terminally Ill?

Revised: 15th January, 2010

Does it ever strike you as strange that medical advances, in Western civilisations, are such that we can prolong life by nearly half as much again as our allotted three-score-years-and-ten, yet the legal position of euthanasia is constantly challenged? Of course, we don’t call it euthanasia! That in itself would challenge our sensibilities,...

Posted at 17:18pm on 26th January 2009

3 Comments

Building Sustainable Relationships For Stepfamilies

I hope you’ll forgive me! I’m afraid I’m going to take the easy way out today and simply upload part of a chapter from my Stepfamilies book, on the topic of building effective relationships with somebody else’s children. It’s been a difficult week; as I tweeted only today: my mother has fallen and broken her pelvis....

Posted at 15:37pm on 24th January 2009

2 Comments

Among Six Others - It Was The One That Touched Me Most

I returned from over 2 weeks away this afternoon, having flown long haul. I read your book 'Post Mortem' on holiday, amongst 6 others, and I think it was the one that touched me and certainly meant the most! So, thanks.

Alwyne

Mel's Comment:

Thank you Alwyne. It's great to know my book stood up so well...

Posted at 16:57pm on 23rd January 2009

If You're Writing In The Passive Voice, Consider Revising

I wrote, yesterday, on the need to find your Voice, and illustrated how verbs may be used in the Active and Passive voice. Now I am no expert when it comes to grammar, and if there are those who know better than I, I would ask you to correct me...

Posted at 20:08pm on 22nd January 2009

4 Comments

What Does Passive Voice Mean In The Creative Writing Process?

I received a piece of work, recently, with a request to look it over and comment on it. It has prompted me to write on the subject of Voice, and the merits (or otherwise) of how it is used. There’s a little bit of grammar instruction necessary here, but I will illustrate my point afterwards...

Posted at 14:42pm on 21st January 2009

Why I'm Tearing My Hair Out About The Gap In Your Teeth!

Talk about early signs of senile dementia! If I’m not already a victim, I’m sure I soon shall be. I Twittered (or should it be Tweeted?) only a couple of days ago about how sad it was seeing my father so upset about being left behind (with a Carer) while my mother (his usual...

Posted at 18:04pm on 19th January 2009

Ten Tips To Help You Avoid The Breakdown Of A Relationship

When you look back on an argument you’ve had recently with someone close to you, do you sometimes feel it was a squabble over nothing? That what seemed like a major misunderstanding at the time was, actually, nothing more than a petty clash of opinion; or a state of affairs where the two of...

Posted at 09:51am on 17th January 2009

2 Comments