What do you do if you buy a book called Teach Yourself Self-Motivation and then can't rustle up the self-motivation to read it?
What sort of people would buy such a book? (Apart from me that is) Do you need to have at least a small amount of that quality to actually buy the thing in the first place?
I love self help books because I figure if I just get one good tip out of each of them they've been worthwhile - and they usually sell well second hand on Amazon or EBay so they don't need to clutter up my shelves unless I really think they're useful.
I'm sure you have to be an optimist to even think about writing a book about self-motivation.
Showing posts with label EBay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EBay. Show all posts
Monday, 19 January 2009
Friday, 30 May 2008
Earthquakes and work
As a result of the earthquake in China I have started to take an interest in the US Geological survey website http://www.usgs.gov/ I find their constantly updated facts and figures of earthquakes fascinating. There are several earthquakes every day which measure more than 4 on the Richter scale. I suppose I can afford to take an academic interest in the subject living in the UK. Having said that I have experienced 2 earthquakes - the one in February this year and then another smaller one in the early '90s whilst I was living in Norfolk. The British Geological Survey http://www.bgs.ac.uk/ also has a section on earthquakes in this country, though it is not perhaps as informative as the American version. I think earthquakes, volcanoes, torrential rain etc all serve to remind us that the earth is alive and well and living and breathing beneath our feet.
Having said all that I'm sure the people affected in China do not think the same way and I feel desperately sorry for them. They deserve all the help they can get. How do you rebuild your life after that sort of tragedy? Was it a problem with the standard of their building that so many houses collapsed? Or was it the landslides which caused so much of the damage rather than the quake itself? Who knows - but I'm sure it will be studied for some time to come by the scientific community. Apparently geologists had only identified this particular fault line last year. I looked to see whether there had been any smaller quakes in the days before the big one, but there hadn't. There have been several since of course. I hope for the sake of the ordinary people living in the area that things settled down soon.
Work - I am on leave for the next two weeks - great! But I have a fence to treat with wood preservative provided it stays fine for more than two consecutive days. I need to catch up with the housework - things like cleaning the windows, and I want to go through my wardrobe and sling out/sell things I don't wear. I also need to do something about over 100 books I don't wish to keep and which haven't sold on either Amazon or EBay. I feel a trip round all the local charity shops coming on. We have plenty of those - about half a dozen in Boston and the same in Spalding including a Sue Ryder shop devoted wholly to second hand books - I wonder whether they want any of mine?
Having said all that I'm sure the people affected in China do not think the same way and I feel desperately sorry for them. They deserve all the help they can get. How do you rebuild your life after that sort of tragedy? Was it a problem with the standard of their building that so many houses collapsed? Or was it the landslides which caused so much of the damage rather than the quake itself? Who knows - but I'm sure it will be studied for some time to come by the scientific community. Apparently geologists had only identified this particular fault line last year. I looked to see whether there had been any smaller quakes in the days before the big one, but there hadn't. There have been several since of course. I hope for the sake of the ordinary people living in the area that things settled down soon.
Work - I am on leave for the next two weeks - great! But I have a fence to treat with wood preservative provided it stays fine for more than two consecutive days. I need to catch up with the housework - things like cleaning the windows, and I want to go through my wardrobe and sling out/sell things I don't wear. I also need to do something about over 100 books I don't wish to keep and which haven't sold on either Amazon or EBay. I feel a trip round all the local charity shops coming on. We have plenty of those - about half a dozen in Boston and the same in Spalding including a Sue Ryder shop devoted wholly to second hand books - I wonder whether they want any of mine?
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Nearly the end of my holiday
Actually another 4 days if you don't count today. It feels as though it's gone really quickly. I was thinking I haven't got much to show for it, but actually I have. I'm now up to 57,000 words with my writing project. I've read several books and started several more, sold several more that I've finished with on Amazon and EBay, written some book reviews on Amazon and seen my reviewer rank go from about 15,000 to 6,214 - not bad for a fortnight! I can see I'm going to be looking at that every day now! I make a point of reviewing everything I read - either good or bad - both on here and on Amazon. It's a quick way of ensuring I do write something every day.
I'm feeling a bit glum at the moment as there are big changes at work in the pipeline which may mean me having to considerably increasing my commuting distance. Unfortunately I cannot mention these in detail or I'm in trouble. But I expect I shall soon have got my normal attitude to such things back again. I've seen loads of changes during the last 30 odd years and all of them have worked out for the best in the end.
But I've still got 4 days to enjoy myself so why make myself miserable? Off to cook a nice meal. Nothing like comfort food to improve one's mood.
I'm feeling a bit glum at the moment as there are big changes at work in the pipeline which may mean me having to considerably increasing my commuting distance. Unfortunately I cannot mention these in detail or I'm in trouble. But I expect I shall soon have got my normal attitude to such things back again. I've seen loads of changes during the last 30 odd years and all of them have worked out for the best in the end.
But I've still got 4 days to enjoy myself so why make myself miserable? Off to cook a nice meal. Nothing like comfort food to improve one's mood.
Monday, 24 December 2007
Dentists Christmas and all that
I rang my dentist today and they will fit me in on Thursday - it could have been today, but my other half felt there would be too much traffic. He did say that if I was in pain he would have taken me today. As it's not hurting I'm happy to wait until Thursday. I think that is excellent service - and it's why I stick with this practice even though a 140 mile round trip is not ideal.
Nothing to do now until Christmas - well apart from cook a meal tonight and go to midnight mass if my neighbour still wants to go. Weather is dull here today having been brilliantly sunny all day yesterday. It was even still daylight at 16.00 yesterday. No I don't think it means that the days are getting longer I think it's just it was a lovely bright day.
Nothing much on the news today to comment on and nothing remarkable on the books read front. I did finish reading 'Twenty Times a Lady' by Karyn Bosnak last night which was enjoyable. Written by the lady who set up a web site to appeal for donations to pay off her debts. She also wrote a very successful book about the experience as well. 'Twenty Times a Lady' is about a girl - Delilah - who decided to revisit all her former lovers to see if she's accidentally overlooked Mr Right. Her hilarious adventures across America and her self analysis in the process makes good light reading. I thought the plot was interesting only to find in the next book I picked up - Shari Low's 'The Motherhood Walk of Fame' - that the heroine mentions a trip she made to meet all the men she'd been engaged to when she was wondering if she'd missed Mr Right!! OK the trip was described in a few paragraphs but it just shows you can't keep a good plot down.
I am currently having a chick lit fest as anyone reading this blog might have gathered. I have loads of other books to read but at the moment I'm in the mood for light reading. I have Judith Cutler's 'The Food Detective' next in line to read - so I'm back to crime with that. Judith Cutler has written several books so I'm hoping she's going to be an author I'll enjoy. I'm always on the look out for authors who have written more than two or three books, and nothing pleases me more than to discover someone I like who has written a dozen or more. I find it very frustrating to hit on an author's debut novel just after it's published because I'm then left waiting for the next one to come out!
But as I read probably about 3 or 4 books a week and many different authors it's not really a problem. This is where EBay and Amazon second hand is useful. I don't mind paying £2 or £3 to see if I like an author because I usually then go on to buy new.
I'm starting to wonder whether all authors and would be authors ought to make a point of buying one self published or small press book every month, to try and get more publicity for the independents. I often pick up ideas for new authors to try from Writers' News and Writing Magazine. That was how I first came across 'Pink Champagne and Apple Juice'.
But I'm waffling. Writing a blog appears to be addictive!
Happy Christmas everyone
PS I like the name Delilah - I wrote a short story about a girl called Delilah who had been to art school and whose nickname was Dali - from when she was going through a surreal period. It went through to the final judging stage in - I think - The Cotswold Writers' short story competition in 2004/05.
Nothing to do now until Christmas - well apart from cook a meal tonight and go to midnight mass if my neighbour still wants to go. Weather is dull here today having been brilliantly sunny all day yesterday. It was even still daylight at 16.00 yesterday. No I don't think it means that the days are getting longer I think it's just it was a lovely bright day.
Nothing much on the news today to comment on and nothing remarkable on the books read front. I did finish reading 'Twenty Times a Lady' by Karyn Bosnak last night which was enjoyable. Written by the lady who set up a web site to appeal for donations to pay off her debts. She also wrote a very successful book about the experience as well. 'Twenty Times a Lady' is about a girl - Delilah - who decided to revisit all her former lovers to see if she's accidentally overlooked Mr Right. Her hilarious adventures across America and her self analysis in the process makes good light reading. I thought the plot was interesting only to find in the next book I picked up - Shari Low's 'The Motherhood Walk of Fame' - that the heroine mentions a trip she made to meet all the men she'd been engaged to when she was wondering if she'd missed Mr Right!! OK the trip was described in a few paragraphs but it just shows you can't keep a good plot down.
I am currently having a chick lit fest as anyone reading this blog might have gathered. I have loads of other books to read but at the moment I'm in the mood for light reading. I have Judith Cutler's 'The Food Detective' next in line to read - so I'm back to crime with that. Judith Cutler has written several books so I'm hoping she's going to be an author I'll enjoy. I'm always on the look out for authors who have written more than two or three books, and nothing pleases me more than to discover someone I like who has written a dozen or more. I find it very frustrating to hit on an author's debut novel just after it's published because I'm then left waiting for the next one to come out!
But as I read probably about 3 or 4 books a week and many different authors it's not really a problem. This is where EBay and Amazon second hand is useful. I don't mind paying £2 or £3 to see if I like an author because I usually then go on to buy new.
I'm starting to wonder whether all authors and would be authors ought to make a point of buying one self published or small press book every month, to try and get more publicity for the independents. I often pick up ideas for new authors to try from Writers' News and Writing Magazine. That was how I first came across 'Pink Champagne and Apple Juice'.
But I'm waffling. Writing a blog appears to be addictive!
Happy Christmas everyone
PS I like the name Delilah - I wrote a short story about a girl called Delilah who had been to art school and whose nickname was Dali - from when she was going through a surreal period. It went through to the final judging stage in - I think - The Cotswold Writers' short story competition in 2004/05.
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Money saving and Donna Leon
I was recently incensed to discover that if you order new books way in advance of publication date from Amazon you may well end up paying more than if you order close to or after publication. I am prone to order books by favourite authors as soon as they are listed. Now I shall just add them to my wish list and review that regularly so that I pay the lowest price possible. I have recently reviewed all my pre-publication orders and cancelled them where the price shown on the site is now less. Grhh!! But glad I spotted it.
For most books I will look on Amazon second hand listings and on EBay before I commit to buying new in any case. I keep a fairly tight rein on my book collection these days and only retain what I know I will want to read again. Anything else gets read and sold on Amazon or Ebay.
I'm very much into second hand stuff at the moment and I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes from a conventional shop. Even cheap prices strike me as expensive. I was conducting an interview this week and needed to look smart so I wore a black jacket I bought last year and had not worn. £10 on Ebay - if bought in a shop would have cost probably about £90 - and it was new!! It was an Elvi jacket and those of my readers who are familiar with clothes for 'traditionally built ladies' in Alexander McCall Smith's immortal phrase, will know how good their quality is and how expensive they are. In fact my whole outfit on that day cost less than my shoulder bag - which was expensive and was a Christmas present!
Donna Leon - I have just read her latest Brunetti novel - 'Suffer the little children'. Excellent as always though not perhaps up to the standard of 'Through a Glass Darkly'. A convoluted story offering several ethical dilemmas for Brunetti. This time, topically, illegal adoptions. If you have not read Donna Leon then I would thoroughly recommend her for complex characters and motives and the never less than honourable Brunetti himself and his firebrand wife Paola who we don't see enough of. Satisfying well written crime novels with violence only where it is necessary to the story. Love them.
Have just got hold of 'Dark hearts of Chicago' by William Horwood - I saw it reviewed on Dove Grey reader's blog - link above - and it seems like 'a good thing'. I will report when I have read it. Currently reading the never less than trenchant Theodore Dalrymple's 'Romancing Opiates' a polemic against the medicalisation of drug addiction. He's demolished for ever my lurid ideas of withrdawal symptoms - they only last about 3 days and are nothing like we're led to believe. I was fascinated by his quotes from Thomas De Quincy's 'Confessions of an English Opium Eater'. De Quincy apparently used Opium on a very occasional basis for 20 years before becoming an addict. More anon when I've digested it - if that's the right word to use?
For most books I will look on Amazon second hand listings and on EBay before I commit to buying new in any case. I keep a fairly tight rein on my book collection these days and only retain what I know I will want to read again. Anything else gets read and sold on Amazon or Ebay.
I'm very much into second hand stuff at the moment and I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes from a conventional shop. Even cheap prices strike me as expensive. I was conducting an interview this week and needed to look smart so I wore a black jacket I bought last year and had not worn. £10 on Ebay - if bought in a shop would have cost probably about £90 - and it was new!! It was an Elvi jacket and those of my readers who are familiar with clothes for 'traditionally built ladies' in Alexander McCall Smith's immortal phrase, will know how good their quality is and how expensive they are. In fact my whole outfit on that day cost less than my shoulder bag - which was expensive and was a Christmas present!
Donna Leon - I have just read her latest Brunetti novel - 'Suffer the little children'. Excellent as always though not perhaps up to the standard of 'Through a Glass Darkly'. A convoluted story offering several ethical dilemmas for Brunetti. This time, topically, illegal adoptions. If you have not read Donna Leon then I would thoroughly recommend her for complex characters and motives and the never less than honourable Brunetti himself and his firebrand wife Paola who we don't see enough of. Satisfying well written crime novels with violence only where it is necessary to the story. Love them.
Have just got hold of 'Dark hearts of Chicago' by William Horwood - I saw it reviewed on Dove Grey reader's blog - link above - and it seems like 'a good thing'. I will report when I have read it. Currently reading the never less than trenchant Theodore Dalrymple's 'Romancing Opiates' a polemic against the medicalisation of drug addiction. He's demolished for ever my lurid ideas of withrdawal symptoms - they only last about 3 days and are nothing like we're led to believe. I was fascinated by his quotes from Thomas De Quincy's 'Confessions of an English Opium Eater'. De Quincy apparently used Opium on a very occasional basis for 20 years before becoming an addict. More anon when I've digested it - if that's the right word to use?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
