Blog: Mel's Muse
Showing posts categorised as 'Life, Faith & Other Stuff'
A Miraculous Moment
Have you ever experienced an episode in your life that was so thrilling you'll never forget it? Perhaps it was the healing of a friend or family member whose death seemed imminent. Or the acceptance of a job application you didn't think you would receive? Or perhaps it was a...
Posted at 17:58pm on 6th March 2024
God Has A Plan
Born with a painful intestine disease
My childhood was anything but a breeze.
'Ignore her crying,' my mother was told,
'She's seeking attention, naughty and bold.'
Reprimands and smacked bottoms followed,
Banished to my room, I hollered and hollered.
But God had a plan, he helped me break free
Through escape to the loft, much to...
Posted at 16:23pm on 18th January 2024
1 Comment
Mental Health Issues: Part 2 – Have You Ever Felt Useless? Or Unheard?
Have you ever felt useless? Unheard? A waste of space? As if nothing you do has any meaning or purpose? Ever thought you didn’t fit in? In your family? At school? At work? Or that everyone else was more successful? While...
Posted at 12:33pm on 8th November 2023
Dealing With The Loss Of A Loved One
With so many young people being coerced into selling drugs, or, like Elianne Andam, being stabbed to death, I can't help but think back to the loss of my own daughter. It was some years ago, for exactly that reason, though she wasn't stabbed, but died as the result of...
Posted at 15:56pm on 30th September 2023
The Eleventh Hour - It's Never Too Late!
Do you, or your nearest and dearest, know where they're going when end-time sets in? No, I don't mean whether they'll be buried or cremated, though that is a good subject to discuss, so you know their wishes before they die. What I'm thinking of is rather more momentous. Let...
. . . To New Life
Diana completed the record of her last client, switched off her computer, and leaned back in her chair. Counselling Michael – Mike, as he liked to be known – was not without complications. Never before had she been called upon to resolve the difficulties faced by a farmer, despite the...
Posted at 12:09pm on 24th August 2023
Misinterpreting The Specification: Two Halves Don't Make A Whole
Most marriages don't add two people together. They subtract one from the other.
From: Diamonds are Forever, by Ian Fleming
This cynical view of marriage, once considered exclusively a male bastion for bachelorhood, is fast gaining credence amongst post-feminist women - if certain American TV chat shows are to...
Posted at 17:53pm on 6th August 2023
From Near Death . . .
“I'm sorry, Mrs Livingstone, but I'm afraid your daughter is going to have to stay in hospital. She has encephalitis.â€
Sharon screwed up her eyes and shook her head. Seated opposite the consultant, she had no idea what he was talking about.
“It is a rare disease,†the consultant said, “and it...
Posted at 11:06am on 8th July 2023
Filling The Void
Have you – or perhaps a loved one – ever had to face the problem of addiction? How on earth, if you're desperate to do so, can you go about giving it up, be it sugar cravings, alcohol, or even drugs? Or, better still, how do you prevent an addiction...
Posted at 14:32pm on 18th June 2023
Writing The Rights & Wrongs Of Life
Are you as fed up with the negative concept of society as I am? Every day we’re bombarded with news about failing governments, education, health and housing services, marriages, families and kids – and that’s without all the heartbreak of drug and alcohol abuse, and 3 million children starving to...
Posted at 12:44pm on 31st May 2023
Shining Forth Despite The Darkness
I wrote, a few weeks ago, asking Who Inspired You To Be You? showing how you can often trace your gifts and aspirations back to childhood. For me, it was the trauma of ill-health and an abusive marriage that initially lit up my life, leading to my becoming a bestselling...
Posted at 10:45am on 19th May 2023
Who Inspired You To Be You?
Who inspired you to be who you are? And how did that come about? Being a bestselling author, this is a question I've often been asked. But whether or not you're a writer, secretary, nurse, or whatever, this is a question, and answer, that could apply to any and all.
Think...
Posted at 12:34pm on 27th April 2023
Who Inspired You To Be You?
Who inspired you to be who you are? And how did that come about? Being a bestselling author, this is a question I've often been asked. But whether or not you're a writer, secretary, nurse, or whatever, this is a question, and answer, that could apply to any and all.
Think...
Posted at 15:24pm on 22nd April 2023
Miracles In The Making
Have you ever been faced with traumatic circumstances and wondered how on earth you would cope? Physically? Mentally? Medicinally? Financially? Of course you have! With the Covid pandemic, Russian assault on Ukraine and resulting economic set-backs, who hasn't!
UNLOCKED BEFORE LOCKDOWN
I had to bring my thirty-five year writing career to an...
Posted at 15:49pm on 29th March 2023
From Near Death. . .
“I'm sorry, Mrs Livingstone, but I'm afraid your daughter is going to have to stay in hospital. She has encephalitis.â€
Sharon screwed up her eyes and shook her head. Seated opposite the consultant, she had no idea what he was talking about.
“It is a rare disease,†the consultant said, “and it...
Posted at 15:33pm on 29th March 2023
People Pleasers: Your Choice? Or The Expectation Of Others?
Trying to please everybody frequently results in pleasing nobody - least of all yourself. The old maxim: You can please all of the people some of the time; some of the people all of the time; but you can't please all of the people all of the time is one,...
Posted at 15:50pm on 13th March 2023
You Are Picked For A Purpose: Despite Rainy Days
IS RAIN A PAIN? OR IS RAIN A GAIN?
In my last post I asked What Were The Seeds Sown In Your life? This was in respect of the gifts and purpose for which you are known, As we have been told in John 15:16 I chose you and appointed...
Posted at 16:09pm on 5th August 2022
You Are Picked For A Purpose: What Were The Seeds Sown In Your Life?
What are the seeds that were sown in your life? And did those seeds eventually bear fruit? In other words, how did you first hear about God's love and purpose for you? Can you remember when that was? Or whether it made any difference to your way of...
Posted at 11:38am on 27th July 2022
Diary Of An Introvert: Laid Low By Day
I recently wrote a post on the subject of wearing a 'mask' to convince others that we're feeling fine when, in fact, we are not - Facing Up To The Face Beneath The Mask. And I wonder, is the 'new normality' brought on by Covid 19 having a good...
Posted at 07:56am on 4th August 2020
Three 'light Bulb' Insights From The Screwtape Letters By David Trim
What follows are the 'light bulb' insights from The Screwtape Letters, written by David Trim, a much valued member of the Book Club I lead.
1. To consciously direct our prayers to God "Not to what I think thou art, but to what thou knowest...
Posted at 07:46am on 25th July 2020
Book Club Discussion: The Screwtape Letters By C.s.lewis
Click here for the List of Questions
Suggested by a member of my Book Club, despite the fact that most of us had read it many years ago, The Screwtape Letters proved to have lost none of its appeal. Apart from one lady, that is, who abandoned it on page thirty,...
Posted at 11:36am on 14th July 2020
Book Club Questions: The Screwtape Letters By C.s.lewis
The questions below are those I raised for the Book Club I lead. Click here for the discussion we had subsequently. Quotes from the book are in bold italics.
CHURCH: Chapter II
One of our greatest allies at present is Church itself. Screwtape goes on to...
Following The Funeral: Living With The Loss Of A Loved One
With nearly 40,000 deaths due to Coronavirus in past years, and more to come with the junior doctors' and nurses' strikes, there must be hundreds of thousands of friends and family having to live with the reality of loss. You may have been through Coping With The Initial Shock, learned,...
Posted at 07:37am on 3rd June 2020
Come Holy Spirit
The aim of my book, Picked For A Purpose is to show each one of us the purpose that God has for us, which is to bear fruit for him. That fruit is to show love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But he doesn't...
Posted at 03:38am on 31st May 2020
How To Plan A Funeral In The Coronavirus Era
Before the days of lockdown - due to the coronavirus - planning a funeral following the death of a loved one might have been perceived as a positive and constructive experience. Although not intentionally so, making funeral arrangements, whether for burial or cremation, could be seen as a welcome...
Posted at 09:54am on 18th May 2020
Bereavement: How To Deal With Denial, Grief & Anger Following The Death Of A Loved One
In these times of Coronavirus, many of us are suffering the death of a loved one. I wrote last time about Looking After Yourself following bereavement, and pointed out - from my own experience - the trauma of having to break the news of that loss to another family member....
Posted at 07:14am on 17th May 2020
Bereavement: Looking After Yourself
Last time we looked at Bereavement: Coping With The Initial Shock, using my own experience following my daughter's death, and quoting from the book I wrote some years later. What I learned was that numbness and denial, disbelief and a wandering mind, are common experiences when we first learn...
Posted at 07:27am on 12th May 2020
Bereavement: Coping With The Initial Shock
"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows." Socrates
On this VE day, when we commemorate the courage of those who gave their lives in WW2 so that...
Posted at 04:51am on 7th May 2020
Are You Having To Deal With The Death Of A Loved One?
LOSS & BEREAVEMENT
I was reminded by my Facebook memories this week that it is now ten years ago since I was invited to speak on an American Radio Station about the death of my daughter. I wept. Because no matter how long ago the event, this is something...
Posted at 04:55am on 5th May 2020
Excerpt From My Latest Book, Picked For A Purpose - Showing We All Have A Worthwhile Part To Play
Are you wondering what your life is all about during the lockdown due to Covid 19? Then read on. My latest book, Picked for a Purpose shows that whatever the adversity, we all have value, and a worthwhile part to play. Here is a complete chapter for...
Posted at 03:40am on 6th April 2020
Love You Nhs
Oh, how I love our NHS! I went, today, to have the stitches removed, following surgery on my shoulder and arm. Our doctors' surgery, plus another, is currently closed because of coronavirus infection. As a result, all patients have had to be taken on by another...
Posted at 15:41pm on 12th March 2020
In Her Words By Patricia St John - My Book Club Discussion
Although slightly reduced in number when my Book Club met this week, there was no less lively conversation and laughter. Especially when they discovered I'd bought Orange Club biscuits! The bottom line, though, was that we loved this book! A light, easy read, it nevertheless had plenty...
Is Kayne West Boasting? Or Shining A Light?
Have you ever thought, on Remembrance Day, about how you would like to be known? Perhaps as who you are: husband/wife, father/mother, son/daughter? Or by what you do accountant/shopkeeper, secretary/ lawyer, nurse/charity worker/singer? Or possibly, by what you've achieved?
SUCCESS IS AWESOMEAccording to Premier Media, American music artist,...
Posted at 09:50am on 10th November 2019
Blossom In Season? A Guest Blog By Helen Elliott
"Why am I getting angry at a tree?"
A question definitely worthy of consideration, I decided, as I stared out of my window for the third or fourth time that week.
It was a huge tree, surrounded by apartments, all in facing and it was Springtime.
The tree was supposed...
Posted at 04:35am on 16th October 2019
Creative Writing Workshop: Characteristic Conflict
In the last Creative Writing Workshop, we looked at the way in which we can go about Creating Credible Characters. Now I'm going to show you how you can bring creativity to the way you construct conflict. This is crucial when it comes to writing fiction and memoir...
Posted at 10:43am on 3rd August 2019
What's Wrong With Human Rights? By David Cross - Book Club Summary
Quotes from the book are in italics.
Never, before, have I made so many highlights in a book! As my Book Club members said when we met yesterday evening, this was certainly a narrative that opened up debate, on a subject not often discussed. With so much material to...
Bodacious The Shepherd Cat By Suzanna Crampton
'What I love about Book Club, is that it makes me read books I might never, otherwise, have chosen.'
So said one member of our group when we met, yesterday, to discuss our take on Bodacious, The Shepherd Cat. How right she was! A book, supposedly written by a...
Posted at 09:43am on 16th May 2019
The Making Of Us By Sheridan Voysey - Book Review
DISCOVER WHO YOU CAN BECOME
I love Sheridan's lyrical style of writing - so inviting, so personal, so picturesque. Right from the first page, I found myself enthralled, as if I were meeting someone whom I knew, instantly, was going to become a friend. Likewise, when grappling with sorrow...
Posted at 07:43am on 23rd March 2019
Catching Contentment By Liz Carter - Book Club Discussion
I first heard of Liz Carter's book, Catching Contentment, when I read, somewhere, that she had suffered a lifelong illness. Instantly, that resonated with me. Having undergone a similar experience, myself, I felt a closeness with Liz that belied the fact that we had never met, nor communicated...
Posted at 10:45am on 15th March 2019
Inside Out
'Making clean-eating a dirty word gets my vote', so says Bryony Gordon in The Daily Telegraph. Quoting the Duchess of Cornwall, who was speaking at a reception for the Royal Osteoporosis Society, she warned young women against 'fad diets' which have the potential of making them ill. Lack...
Posted at 08:10am on 26th February 2019
Eleanor Oliphant Is Absolutely Fine - Book Club Review
Have you ever been aware of others talking about you behind your back? Perhaps when you've been standing alone, catching the flickering glances of a nearby group? Knowing, without doubt, that the whispered exchanges in some way refer to you?
So how did it feel? Especially if,...
Posted at 07:23am on 15th November 2018
Catching Contentment - A Guest Blog
I lay on a trolley in A and E, my breathing coming in rapid gasps. My oxygen sats were too low and the pain clamped me in a vice grip, leaving me crying out. 'It's a pneumococcal infection in both lungs,' the consultant said, and admitted me for intensive...
Thomas's Story: Overcoming Physical & Mental Struggles
My next book, Picked for a Purpose, with the strapline Bearing fruit through times of hardship, was written at the request of my publisher. Each short chapter contains a story from my life, followed by a page or two of reflections, in which I look back, with the wisdom...
World Mental Health Day: Don't Chase The World
DON'T CHASE THE WORLD
Why do I feel such a waste of space?
Why is life always such a race -
To emulate, or, better yet
To surpass the success with which others have met?
Is this the world in which I live?
Is this the future I wish to give
To those who follow on...
Posted at 00:33am on 10th October 2018
Book Club: Sensible Shoes - Who Are You & Where Have You Come From?
WHO ARE YOU? GUILT RIDDEN?
You pick up the phone, an unknown voice asks: 'Is that the owner of the house?' Indeed, sometimes they may address you by name. And what is your immediate response? Mine is never to affirm the query but to ask, 'Who are...
Posted at 09:55am on 10th September 2018
Suicide Prevention Day: The Trauma For Those Left Behind
THE TRAUMA FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND
I spent the morning speaking with a male friend, of longstanding, whose mother took her own life when he was in his mid-teens. Coincidence? I had no idea that today, Monday 10th September, 2018 is World Suicide Prevention Day. Nor that my...
Posted at 08:04am on 10th September 2018
Hirschsprung, Ibs, Abdominal Pain & A Low Fodmap Diet: Reintroduction Table
Having been diagnosed only twenty-five years ago as suffering from Hirschspung - an intestinal disorder I was born with - I have endured decades of pain and embarrassment. Then, thanks to my lovely daughter - a teacher, who is good at directing her pupils and nagging where necessary -...
Posted at 07:46am on 4th August 2018
Book Club: Sensible Shoes - Whose Do You Walk In? Who Are You?
Who are you? Whose shoes do you walk in? Is this a question you've ever ask? No. I don't mean do you ask it of other people. That's not British! Downright rude, in fact. So - who are you? Is this something...
The Book Thief By Markus Zusak - Book Club Discussion
Words, words, words. Too many of them thought some members of my Book Club. But words, and their critical importance for good and evil - particularly when used by Adolph Hitler in the lead up to World War II - were the theme of The Book Thief by...
Posted at 07:57am on 20th March 2018
When Helping Hurts - Book Club Discussion Summary
How does it make you feel when you help someone out? Or when you give to charity? Big time! Go on. Be honest. Inevitably, it makes us feel good about ourselves. Doesn't it? But what about when someone offers to help us...
Posted at 04:52am on 27th February 2018
Archbishop A Novel By Michele Guinness - Book Club Discussion Of Media Hysteria
MEDIA HYSTERIA & PUBLIC EXPECTATION
One of the things my Book Club loved about this book, was the way humour was used to hammer home the truths we all need to know. With the enormous pressure upon her, newly elected Archbishop Vicky is all too aware of how little time...
Posted at 04:03am on 12th January 2018
Archbishop By Michele Guinness: Book Club Discussion On Personal Discipleship & Service
Personal Discipleship & Service
(Quotes from the book - with permission from Michele Guinness, below - are in italics)
There were a number of salient points in Michele Guinness's book when it came to personal discipleship in these troubled times, and we all agreed with Archbishop Vicky that it is only...
Posted at 04:53am on 13th November 2017
Archbishop By Michele Guinness: Book Club Discussion On What Constitutes Church?
WHAT CONSTITUTES CHURCH?
(Quotes from the book are in italics)
With some members of our Readers' Group being Street Pastors and School Pastors, and all of us attending churches involved in outreach, the issue of whether church is a building or a people was one that resonated. Faced with...
Posted at 07:42am on 12th November 2017
A Better Story: God, Sex & Human Flourishing By Glynn Harrison: A Must Read For Everyone
Before I start, I want to say that I have nothing against anyone who is genetically predisposed to the LGBT spectrum. I have personally known people in homosexual relationships, and always found them to be delightful. I also have a family member who is transgender, whom I love...
Posted at 07:41am on 17th July 2017
The Internet - A Tower Of Babel?
Let me be clear: I love the internet. The advantages are indescribable. For me, as an author, it facilitates research, enlarges my readership, and enables me to make friends via social media. As a mother, aunt and cousin, it affords photographic and written information to be shared...
Posted at 04:56am on 5th June 2017
Mel's Online Book Club: The Art Of Hearing Heartbeats By Jan-philipp Sendker
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER:
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker was, we all agreed, the best book we'd ever read. A beautifully and evocatively written love story, it was woven throughout with profundity and truisms: a tapestry of an unknown lifestyle, embroidered with recognisable threads.
MYSTERYSet in Burma, the story is...
Lessons Learned From Life Re Politics
ADAM
God gave me an apple tree in the Garden of Eden.
• It will provide shelter for my family
• It will feed my family
• Fallen branches will cook my food and heat my home
• I shall work hard and create an orchard
• Dad passed his...
Mel's Online Book Club: When We Can't, God Can By Catherine Campbell
When We Can't, God Can by Catherine Campbell was the book under discussion when we met for Book Club last night. Having met Catherine on several occasions at Christian Resources Together conferences at Swanwick, I was not surprised to see how well her lovely, caring personality came across in...
Posted at 05:51am on 9th March 2017
Holy Habits By Andrew Roberts
What a great book! When I first suggested that we read it for Book Club, one of the members thought it looked somewhat 'heavy-going'. On the contrary, when we met to discuss it, we all felt it was an easy read and had much to say to...
Posted at 06:02am on 4th December 2016
National Poetry Day: My Poem, Picked For A Purpose
A seed, a weed, is sown and grown,
This is your life, you know!
The soil, the toil till it's full blown
Bring happiness and woe.
The root, the shoot, the stem and leaf
The pain the rain of life,
The sun, your joy, gives way to grief
As struggles become rife.
Nipped in the bud...
Posted at 03:49am on 6th October 2016
Picked For A Purpose 3: Seeds Sown
SEEDS SOWN
Sometimes people of faith speak of coincidence as being God-incidents. So while a coincidence might be described as random - an accident, chance, luck, fluke, or twist of fate - a God-incident is thought to be an unexpected occurrence in which God is perceived to have had an...
Picked For A Purpose 2: Seeds & Weeds
SEEDS & WEEDS
Have you ever felt useless? As if nothing you do has any meaning or purpose? Ever thought you didn't fit in? In your family? At school? At work? Or that everyone else was more successful? While you . . .? ...
Posted at 05:49am on 6th September 2016
Picked For A Purpose 1 - Me And Daddy, Daddy And Me
ME AND DADDY, DADDY AND ME
I suppose it was the letters that were the trigger - first for my depression, then for my understanding. Small blue folded airmails that bore my mother's name on them, plus whatever address happened to be relevant at the time. She had kept...
Book Club Discussion Summary: Naturally Supernatural By Wendy Mann
A good deal of laughter accompanied our Readers’ Group discussion last week. The book we had been reading, which I had suggested some two months earlier, was titled Naturally Supernatural, and was written by Wendy Mann. With a new senior minister joining us, in the meantime, we felt sure -...
Posted at 06:19am on 18th November 2015
Mel's Online Book Club: Questions For: Faith In The Fog: Believing In What You Cannot See By Jeff Lucas
FAITH IN THE FOG: by Jeff Lucas
NB: Page numbers below relate to Kindle pages
Click here for Discussion Summary of Faith in the Fog 1. Time Trapped. 31-46 · Do we wish we could go back in time as the disciples went back to Galilee to fish? If so why? Isn’t our past shame washed...
Click here for Discussion Summary of Faith in the Fog 1. Time Trapped. 31-46 · Do we wish we could go back in time as the disciples went back to Galilee to fish? If so why? Isn’t our past shame washed...
Mel's Online Book Club: Discussion Summary Of Faith In The Fog: Believing In What You Cannot See By Jeff Lucas
Having prayed for absent book club members, particularly one, who is back in hospital on a second course of chemo, we started the evening with a general overview of Jeff Lucas’ book, Faith in the Fog. Without exception the group professed to having enjoyed it, though one person found his self-deprecation...
Posted at 09:36am on 28th June 2014
Mel's Online Book Club: Questions & Discussion Summary Of Simply Christian, By Tom Wright: Chapters 1-2
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION SUMMARY ARE PROVIDED FOR MEL'S ONLINE BOOK CLUB and may be reproduced – see below. Please leave your comments so that further discussion may be promoted.
More than a dozen of us gathered to discuss Tom Wright's book, Simply Christian. Most of us had read at least...
Posted at 07:49am on 12th May 2013
Mel's Online Book Club: Love Wins By Rob Bell - Part One
A daring choice for my real-time book club, given the controversy that surrounds it, Love Wins, by author, Rob Bell, attracted rather more people than usual to the discussion on Thursday evening. We'd teamed the book with Michael Wittmer's Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response... - half the group reading one title,...
Dear Mel, What Do You Know Of Author, Paul Gallico
On this night, the one-hundredth anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, comes a reminder of the sinking of another ship, the MV Victoria
Hi Ms. Menzies,
I performed a Google search on author, Paul Gallico and your name came up, and I noticed you used to work for him. ...
Book Sales Donation To Tearfund
Thank you, again, to all who have bought my book, A Painful Post Mortem. A novel about a mother who has to come to terms with her daughter's waywardness, it raises, among other things, the question of HIV and AIDS.
Posted at 09:07am on 13th April 2012
My Daughter's Tribute To Her Grandfather
My grandfather, Bill, 97 and ¾
Photograph taken approx. 1941
I started to call him Billy when I was little and he replied with Milly (even though my name was Amanda). He was the only one that was allowed to call me Milly and Millicent when he was cross with me...
Posted at 21:26pm on 24th January 2012
A Tribute To My Father
Photo: My father in his Flintstone tie on Christmas morning, one week before he died.
My father, known to his parents as Beel, was born in Elgin, Scotland, on 15th April, 1914. The middle one of three boys, he was raised, largely, by his mother and maiden aunts, because his father,...
Three Thoughts For Christmas & The New Year
Have you ever found that sometimes, various, seemingly disparate, things have come together and you've heard a still small voice? Some truth about life that's been revealed to you? Something that's previously eluded you, but has now come into sharp focus?
It can happen, as I discovered, even in the busyness...
Posted at 18:26pm on 19th December 2011
Online Book Club - Showing Of Love By Julian Of Norwich - Discussion Summary
Showing of Love, a book written by Julian of Norwich in the 15th Century, is not an easy read! OK. I admit it. Mea culpa. With much laughter, when nine of us met last week for Book Club, I was roundly - but affectionately - condemned...
Posted at 15:46pm on 6th December 2011
Online Book Club: Discussion Summary - Life Of Pi By Yann Martel
One of the great things about a Book Club, as I've said before, is that almost always there are aspects of the book we've read that strike people in different ways. So while all of us who met last Thursday confessed to feeling disappointed by the denouement of Life of...
Posted at 17:44pm on 16th October 2011
Online Book Club: Book Reviews & Questions - Life Of Pi By Yann Martel
BOOK REVIEW
At times profound, at others humorous, the novel, Life of Pi, is the story of an Indian boy who, because he is named after a French swimming pool (Piscine) and doesn't like the nicknames which result, shortens his name to the irrational mathematical number Pi - 3.14... Pi...
Posted at 16:06pm on 14th October 2011
Edgy Christian Fiction: Books For Summer Reading
If you're anything like me, a book will be essential packing for your summer hols, the perfect partner for a picnic lunch, a bonus for the beach and a relaxing read for bedtime. So here are four book reviews for sensational summer reads, all with a Christian world view that...
Online Book Club Discussion Summary: A Time To Live By George Pitcher
Are you in favour of assisted dying? Would you like British law to be amended to allow euthanasia? Or is the risk of abuse to the elderly, disabled and infirm too great a concern?
Most of my real-time Book Club members admitted, when we met on 28th July, 2011, that they'd...
Posted at 11:00am on 3rd August 2011
Online Book Club Questions: A Time To Live By George Pitcher
QUESTIONS
How did reading the book either confirm or change your previous opinions about euthanasia / assisted dying?
What, in your opinion, were the most persuasive arguments put by the author against...
Posted at 09:29am on 2nd August 2011
Dealing With Depression Caused By False Accusations
Photo: Desolation: An Empty Beach
In Dealing With Depression: An Author's Look At Life I stated that, as an author, writing is not what I do but who I am. I went on to say that while writing and publishing a book is quite beyond me at present because I'm battling...
Dealing With Depression: An Author's Look At Life
Photo: Dandelions At Dusk
Forgive me, those of you who come regularly to An Author's Look At Life to learn about creative writing techniques and writing and publishing a book. I feel I've let you down, lately. The fact is that I'm at something of a crisis point in my life. ...
How To Be A Writer Of Christian Fiction Books
Are you an established writer or aspiring author who is also a Christian? Is there a novel you want to write (or have written) for which you are unable to find a publisher? Do you enjoy reading mainstream fiction but find that Christian fiction books leave you cold? How does...
Posted at 15:50pm on 24th June 2011
God On Mute - The Problem Of Unanswered Prayers: Mel's Online Book Club
As book club questions were included in the book, I did not compile any for my real-time reading group, who met last week.
A book on unanswered prayer is never going to be an exhilarating read, but God On Mute, by Pete Greig, surpassed expectation for all but two of...
Empowering Solutions: Lift Up Your Eyes; Enlarge Your Vision!
Have you ever felt weighed down in an emotionally draining situation – as if someone had thrown a heavy, wet, cape around your shoulders; as if the effort of having to drag it around drained you of energy for anything else? Especially anything inspirational, like creative writing.
Of course you have! Most of us have...
Posted at 09:02am on 8th June 2010
The Foolishness Of God: A Mad Sad Plan?
An advertisement for a new book, Bad Laws by The Daily Telegraph’s assistant editor, Philip Johnston, has just caught my eye. The book is subtitled An explosive analysis of Britain’s petty rules, health and safety lunacies and madcap laws, beneath which is the following statement: For 13 years, a war has been waged on...
Book Promoting & Christian Integrity
You’ve finished writing your novel, your bestseller, and had it published. So now what? How do you market your book, or promote it?
You understand the need to bring it to the attention of the book buying public – your readers. But how? What lengths would you go to in order for your book to...
Godparents - What Should They Do? Anna Ford And Martin Amis At Loggerheads
Godparents - what are they and what is expected from them? In times of falling church numbers, it may seem almost anachronistic to be asking. However, it appears to be a hot topic!
ANNA FORD ON MARTIN AMIS’ ROLE AS GODFATHERI arrived home from holiday today and, within ten minutes of stepping through the...
Posted at 20:23pm on 26th February 2010
Uv Readers' Group & Online Book Club: The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Discussion Summary
My UV Readers’ Group met last Thursday, 21st January, to discuss The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and, as always, we had plenty to say! First and foremost that we had found the book an enjoyable and compelling read, with the sinister elements evident from the start and building to a climactic conclusion.
A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIPThe...
Family & Parenting: How To Love Yourself - And Difficult Elderly Parents
Dear Mel,
My parents have always had a very explosive relationship. There were always shouting matches when I was a child, and I grew up fearful that they were going to get divorced. My dad had a very fiery temper, whereas my mum would be tearful. Inbetween the rows my dad...
Heroin Addicts Like Kate Walsh Show That The Grey Areas Of British Law Need A Black & White Reform
We read, this week, of a situation which has complied with British law but which is, nevertheless, a grave miscarriage of justice. Kate Walsh’s parents, when their sixteen year old daughter died of heroin in a dirty squat, were denied the protection that the law is supposed to provide. They are not alone. British law...
Posted at 18:01pm on 4th November 2009
Anti-social Behaviour: Is It The Result Of Legislation Promoting Children's Rights?
Newspaper reports on the life and death of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter make harrowing reading. Victims of abuse and anti-social behaviour by local youths, the lives of both were made a misery for years. However, despite making no fewer than thirty-three complaints to the police, her plight, and that of her daughter, was...
What Is The Role Of Godparents: Are They Really Relevant Today?
UPDATED 27th FEBRUARY 2010
It seems strange, in this highly secularised world, that the concept of Godparents appears to be such a hot topic. It makes you wonder if, despite our anti-religious dogma, we’re not – deep down – actually spiritual beings after all.
Well, of course, I’m in no doubt that we are! But...
Posted at 01:00am on 14th August 2009
Erotic Photographs & Sacred Spaces
The Diocese of Truro is suing photographer, Andy Craddock, for taking erotic photographs of women inside the 13th Century St Michael Penkivel Church, in Cornwall, in South West England.
Naturally, the self-professed-self-taught photographer denies intentionally causing the “deep offence” claimed by the church.
“I don’t understand it and I don’t see the photographs as offensive, it’s art,” he...
Les Holidays Anglaise
If you don’t mind having to flush the odd, alien, pubic hair from the shower tray, and polish your cutlery before eating, les holidays anglaise take a lot of beating. I am not, you understand, referring, here, to the fortnight in an Eastbourne hotel or boarding house favoured by my parents’ generation during my childhood,...
Live With Less: How To Love Working To Live Rather Than Living To Work
I began this article a couple of months ago before Parliamentary Expenses took over as the latest UK soap opera escapism from the real story of boom and bust economics. So I wondered, this morning, whether it would still have any relevance; whether, in fact, it would resonate with you, my readers. But thinking...
Posted at 20:55pm on 18th May 2009
The Shack By William Young: Uv Readers' Group Discussion Summary
Is The Shack A True Story?
This was one of the issues raised when twenty-one of us met on Thursday to share our impressions of William Young's debut novel. Many of us found ourselves thinking of Madeleine McCann, the four year old who disappeared in Portugal whilst holidaying with her parents...
Posted at 22:50pm on 25th April 2009
What Drives You: Final Instalment Of The Easter Story
Previous Episodes: What Drives You? Part I & Part II
The rev rave on the cliff top was no longer a happy blare of horns and engines but had taken on an entirely different ambience, bordering on what appeared to be mass hysteria. From where he stood, in the corner of the car park,...
What Drives You? Part Ii
What Drives You? Part I
Now read on:The rev-rave on the cliff top was a riot of music and laughter, as engines were tuned and horns were blasted. The little once-white-now-pink car was ecstatic; he’d never seen anything like it before. His little red car – he still thought of her as his, though she...
What Drives You?
Once upon a time there was a little white car, shiny and new. It had been specially made by its designer so that they could go out and about together, and although the little white car knew that there were bigger, fancier cars than himself, he always felt that he was – well, special!
He...
Posted at 14:25pm on 8th April 2009
Sex Education And Teenage Pregnancy
“Do cats get married, Daddy?”
The question came from my four-year old granddaughter. She’s one of twins, and is obsessed by cats.
“Nope,” Daddy replied.
“Then how do they have babies?” asked Millie.
With the news of a thirteen year-old fathering a child fresh in his mind, and wanting to foster a sense of relationship, my son-in-law...
Stroke Survival: How To Recognise The Signs & Save A Life
If your Mum or friend had a stroke would you know what to do to ensure their survival? No? Nor me! So when I received the following by e-mail, I thought it was so important, I’d put it up on my blog.
THE STORY OF A SAD AND UNNECESSARY DEATHDuring a BBQ, a friend...
Posted at 12:59pm on 7th February 2009
Golliwog Banned: And Tv Presenter Carol Thatcher With Him
As a little girl, I owned a much loved golliwog. I have no idea who gave it to me, nor what their motive was in doing so. I can only conclude that it was a toy of its era, and that the gift was intended to please and delight me. And so it...
Posted at 12:59pm on 5th February 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,...
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
Proof That God Does Not Exist? Look No Further Than A Bendy Bus!
There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. So says the 800 or so advertisements that now adorn London’s bendy-buses, as the result of a campaign by The British Humanist Society (BHA), funded by Prof. Richard Dawkins.
Really? Now what do you say to that?
Much has been made of that word ‘probably’....
Overcoming Shame: Are We Guilty Of A Guilty Conscience?
I was reading about a man – Jeff Lucas – who described himself, in his younger years, as a “shame addict”. The term resonated with me and sparked a sitting-up in bed, early morning debate – though, sadly, without a cuppa to accompany it.
“That describes me years ago,” I said.
“Yes!” my husband agreed. “But...
Posted at 18:00pm on 6th January 2009
Thirteen Things To Boost Your Morale
On the last day of 2008, I posted a blog titled Let This New Year Be Your New Beginning, and suggested that if you’ve been having a tough time in 2008, or are facing hard times as the New Year dawns, you might try a writing exercise. Exercise is probably the wrong word to...
Posted at 17:01pm on 5th January 2009
January Blues
I don’t know about you, but for the last couple of days I’ve been feeling vaguely depressed. Some of my feelings of malaise are undoubtedly to do with tiredness brought on by having a houseful of guests to feed, and the late nights spent sitting on hard, upright chairs, playing games like Mexican Train Double...
Posted at 17:24pm on 3rd January 2009
Let This New Year Be Your New Beginning
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I hope that 2009 will bring you good health and happiness. If you’re an aspiring author, let this be the year that you achieve success in publishing terms. And if you’re simply in need of a little love and understanding, may you find it where you least expect it. Read on ....
Posted at 16:44pm on 31st December 2008
A Black Hole Where Once Your Mind Was
His world is one of darkness. Silent. Confused. He’s not entirely Anything. Not blind, nor daft. Just less of what he was. Diminished. Shrunken. Glimpses of shapes he catches in the side of his eye appear tall and distorted, disorienting and delusional from a moving car. The rushing sensation induces motion sickness. He cries out...
Posted at 21:35pm on 27th December 2008
Ten Thoughts At Christmas
Happy Christmas
A hot debate in The Daily Telegraph has dubbed the family Christmas letter as ‘self-congratulatory’, ‘embarrassing’ or ‘derisory’. Am I alone in enjoying news of far-flung family and friends? I hope not, because this one comes with a very sincere thank you to all of you who have visited my website in the (nearly)...
Posted at 00:00am on 23rd December 2008
Advent: A Time To Reflect Between Thanksgiving & Gift Giving - Ten Tips To Happiness
I woke, yesterday morning, feeling bad-tempered. This is a rare occurrence and is almost alwaysas a result of my husband’s snoring! There’s something deeply offensive about lying next to someone whose somnolence – loudly and bed-tremblingly declared - is the sole reason for your inability to sleep. Don’t you think?
A FEELING OF CONTENTMENT WAS MARKEDLY...Posted at 10:37am on 2nd December 2008
Youngest Child In The Family: Paragon? Or Pain?
Where, in birth order, do you come among your siblings? Are you the youngest child in the family? Do you see yourself as different to your brothers and sisters? Are you aware of a gulf between them and you?
Having previously written about eldest child syndrome and middle child complex, today I’m going to begin...
The Right To Die; The Fight To Live
On the day that the news broke of the British teenager who has chosen to reject a heart transplant, an e-mail arrived in my in-box from a young woman who has no such choice. Both stories are incredibly moving.
THE RIGHT TO DIE WITH DIGNITYHannah Jones, the thirteen year old, has had leukaemia since...
Posted at 11:57am on 12th November 2008
Animal Rights Stuff
This surely has to be the stuff of comedy? I mean I know we, in Britain, are a nation of animal lovers, but do we need a whacking great document telling us how we should look after them, with a threat of a £20,000 fine if we stray from the guidelines? What are these people...
Posted at 15:40pm on 8th November 2008
Healing And Forgiveness
An article in The Times, last month, contrasted, without condemning, the reactions of two families who have recently been in the news. First was the story of the two young boys killed by footballer and drink driver Luke McCormick, whose family was unable to forgive him. And second was Carolyn Todd, the widow of Michael,...
Posted at 18:46pm on 6th November 2008
You Wouldn't Do It To A Dog
A cracked rib is painful at the best of times. A fortnight with an undiagnosed cracked rib still worse. But a fortnight, yelling in pain, being fobbed off with paracetamol and accused of malingering, when you’re 94 years of age is outrageous.
THE WRONG SORT OF BLINDNESSIt began two weeks ago last Sunday. My...
Posted at 17:13pm on 29th October 2008
True British Spirit - Transport Style
It was with a sense of dread that I left home, at the weekend, to travel north to visit my eldest daughter. It was a trip which should have taken eight hours and included three trains journeys, with a car ride either side. As it turned out, it took nine hours, five trains plus...
Posted at 00:00am on 28th October 2008
The Art Of Forgiveness - Is It Achievable?
My daughter passed on to me her copy of The Times from a couple of weekends ago. She thought I might like to blog about an article to do with modern grannies, but my eye was caught by another – on healing and forgiveness. Time enough for grannies at a later date, I thought!
PERSONAL...Posted at 11:39am on 21st October 2008
Bank Of England Bail Out Versus House Repossessions 2008
Now I’m not an economist, and neither do I read economist reports. But I am a human being! And it seems to me that it’s not difficult to see a great injustice going on in today’s troubled times. What’s even more galling is that wherever you come across it, there’s always someone benefiting from injustice....
Posted at 11:25am on 20th October 2008
Birth Order - Middle Child
According to the Wikipedia website, one of the first people to suggest that birth order has an effect on personality was an Austrian psychiatrist, Alfred Adler. A contemporary of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, he argued that the way in which each of us tackles the major aspects of life – friendship, love and work...
Posted at 01:00am on 17th October 2008
Sex Or Chocolate? Chocolate Or Sex? How Would You Define Happiness?
Revised: NEW YEAR'S EVE, 31st December, 2009
Much has changed since I first wrote this article, so
it seemed to me that it deserved to be revised, amended and added
to, with quotes, suggestions and advice. I hope, that in following
some of the ideas, you might find yourself stumbling on happiness,
without, perhaps, ever...
Is Taking Risks In The Second Half A Good Game Plan For Life?
OLD AGE? YOU GOTTA LAUGH, BEFORE YOU DIE
Do you ever feel that there are times in your life when your body is trying to convince you that it’s closer to lights out than it is to reveille? You don’t, actually, have to be in your dotage to feel like this. Neither do the...
Posted at 11:00am on 13th October 2008
Man Flu? The Female Version's The Killer Strain!
MAN FLU?
I don’t know about Man Flu, but I’ve definitely been suffering with the female version this week. You know the sort of thing? Having hardly slept overnight, you wake up on Monday morning feeling utterly ghastly: stuffed ears feeling as though they’ve been pumped full of the insulating foam that lines the cavity walls...
Posted at 18:18pm on 6th October 2008
Recipes From A Yorkshire Woman
THE REAL YORKSHIRE PUDDING
Consistently produce the perfect Yorkshire pudding; one that rises majestically into crisp pinnacles on the edges yet retains a moist base. Nick says mine are great, but unlike me, he doesn't come from the north of England where a housewife is judged on the quality of her Yorkshire puddings!
This was one...
Posted at 16:31pm on 4th October 2008
Protesters Take On The Post Office - And Win!
Other Posts in Life, Faith & Other Stuff:
Recipes From
A Yorkshire Woman
Last month we saved our local Post Office. This week it’s Ban the Mast. Well – you gotta try, haven’t you?
RADICAL ACTIVIST NETWORKSActually, I’ve never been a try-er in the sense of protestors who regularly practice militancy, marching, or sitting-in. I recall the...
Posted at 12:13pm on 2nd October 2008
Is Faith A Legitimate Subject For Foolishness, Falsehood Or Fun?
A COMEDY OF CHRISTIANITY
It’s a strange paradox that at a time when so many people profess not to believe in God, religion appears to be a subject enjoyed by the masses in almost all forms of multi-media. To mention but a few examples, we’ve had the stage-shows Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell; the book The God...
Cool Brittania: The Good, The Bad - And The Utterly Sublime!
THE GOOD
The Good News is that we have a National Health Service at all! Even better are the advances made in medical science, which mean that conditions like Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) can be treated. Best of all is that there are courageous people out there who fight unfair decisions by NICE (a...
Posted at 18:17pm on 28th September 2008
Credit Crunch: The Personal Pain And Gain
Related Posts: Ten Tips to Stay Free
From Debt; Ten Tips To Get Rid of
Debt
EFFECTS OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH
Watching the UK’s Channel 4 TV programme Dispatches on the human cost of the credit crunch was heartbreaking. First there was the man (Jamaican, I think) who’d worked all his life on the buses. Masking his...
Posted at 08:23am on 24th September 2008
A Life Of Laughter: Bottoms, Wee-wees, Willies & Poo-poohs
Other posts on Parenting: Parent Power = Kids
Confidence
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from my cousin. He used to be an airline pilot flying holidaymakers out of Gatwick, and he tells stories of walking out to the plane in full view of all his passengers, dressed in a long gabardine, with...
Posted at 19:57pm on 18th September 2008
Memories Of 9.11.2001
Other Posts on Current Affairs: Rick
Warren
I thought that in memory of all who lost their lives, and those who lost loved ones, I would reproduce the comment I left on The New York Times online.
COMMENTI expect, like me, you've been thinking about the terrible events of seven years ago. But can you remember...
Posted at 22:52pm on 11th September 2008
New York Times Comments On Rick Warren's Forum
SHOULD POLITICS AND RELIGION MIX?
Should politics and religion mix? This is the question which is vexing the readers of the New York Times – and probably many more of the population.
REV RICK WARREN’S FORUMAn article by the columnist William Kristol, titled Showdown at Saddleback, was what prompted the dispute. It seems that Rev. Rick...
Posted at 11:47am on 21st August 2008
Dry Mouth And Sinking Stomach - Photographer V Dentist
Dry mouth and sinking stomach.
‘Without wishing to cast aspersions on your profession,’ I said to the photographer, ‘I should tell you that as far as I’m concerned, having my photograph taken is akin to having teeth pulled.’
Actually, I’ve never had teeth pulled – but the sensations I experienced as my sitting room was invaded...
Posted at 10:15am on 29th July 2008
Is The F-word Foul?
Whatever happened to the old saying, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me'? They can, of course. But only if we let them. Have we become a nation of wimps that we have to talk of legislation to prevent the use of certain words? Words like Chav, for...
Posted at 19:56pm on 21st July 2008
Journeys & Destinations
A visit to a friend in the Malverns, en route to my daughter, brought home, vividly, how fortunate we are. Forget the increase in car tax, food, fuel and heating. Put out of mind the drop in house-prices, the pesky politics, the miserable summer. Blake’s green and pleasant land is stunning; Elgar’s inspiration lush and...
Posted at 17:00pm on 17th July 2008
An Inrush Of Hissing Air
It must be the most expensive single purchase I’ve ever made on my own. Oh, no! There was the house, of course. I bought that at auction, whilst heavily pregnant, and exceeded my husband’s upper limit by several thousand. I could only plead temporary insanity and excessive competitiveness due to hormones. My other half and...
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