The single best piece of career advice I ever received was from my former boss. At least, I remember it being from him. It could have been from a book as well. (If you know which book this comes from, leave me a note in the comments, okay?) But let’s assume it was my boss. His advice was that you should figure out what that one thing is that you would be willing to do every day, even without pay. Then you figure out a way to make money with it. Of course then I quit to try and follow his advice, so I’m pretty sure he regretted giving it to me 😉 Continue reading “…and doing what you love”
Author: KokkieH
On loving what you do…
I went for a walk this morning. Both my studies and my writing are frustrating me to no end at present, I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m starved for human contact. Walking rather than working seemed warranted. Usually I walk to the shops when I need to get out of the house, in a straight line with a clear purpose in mind. This time I followed my feet.
My wanderings took me to a second-hand bookshop – the only one in my town (sad thought, isn’t it?) It’s not a very big bookshop. They don’t even arrange their fiction by genre (except for romance which has a whole wall for itself – guess that tells you all you need to know about my town). They do, however, have two sections for English fiction. Continue reading “On loving what you do…”
Song Title Challenge #1: Nessun Dorma – Giacomo Puccini
The Song Title Challenge was started as a creative exercise started on A Crucible of Scribes, a blog started by some people from the writing course I did last year. We gave each other song titles, and then you had to write a short piece of fiction based on that title without listening to the song.
I’ve decided I want to make this a regular feature on this blog. Initially, I’ll be reposting my original pieces from the other blog, but I want to give you the opportunity to also suggest song titles for me. You’re welcome to give titles for songs in languages other than English – just write them using the Latin alphabet and give the English translation of the title. Also include the name of the band/artist who originally wrote/performed it. Make your suggestions using the form on the challenge page. If I use your title, I’ll include a link to your blog with my post.
I also want you to participate in the challenge. Write a short piece of fiction, about 300 words, using the song title as your story title. IMPORTANT: do not listen to the song before you write your piece, so the lyrics of the song won’t influence you. Leave a link to your post in the comments section. You’re also welcome to comment on my attempt which appears below.
This week’s challenge: Nessun Dorma, from the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini and made popular again in 1990 by the Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. In English, the title means “None shall sleep”. Have fun with it.
Nessun Dorma
Continue reading “Song Title Challenge #1: Nessun Dorma – Giacomo Puccini”
On what happens when someone too clever for their own good watches Doctor Who
I wasn’t planning on posting anything today – I’ve noticed the traffic on WordPress is quite slow on Sundays and I’m afraid my next big masterpiece gets missed. But when I stumbled onto this article I felt I had to write something before the sense of indignation left me.
In short, the article is about a book entitled Doctor Who and Race, which “…says the BBC programme is based in attitudes ‘that continue to subjugate people of colour’”. That’s right. Apparently Doctor Who is racist and classist. Continue reading “On what happens when someone too clever for their own good watches Doctor Who”
Sharp, sharp, Vuyo
Today South Africa said goodbye to a broadcasting legend. To be honest, my experience of Vuyo Mbuli was rather limited – I used to listen to his afternoon talk show on the radio as a student and only seldom watched the breakfast news show where he was anchor. But there’s no doubt that he was one of the best and most beloved news men ever produced by our country. You only need to read this tribute to get a good idea how people felt about him.
I had been following him on twitter as well for the past few months. This morning, as I was reading the articles and tweets regarding his funeral, something made me search for his Twitter profile. I guess I was wondering whether it had been deleted or perhaps updated by a family member or something. Instead, I found the last tweet sent by Vuyo himself.
if all else fails...use a hammer 