The Greatest Service

This week I once again posted on The Book Notes Project. You can also read the post here.

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Last time I wrote about how each one of us is a story, that you are the author of your story and that you have to make the choices that will determine whether or not your story will be a good one.

But that made me think of something else: we all have an innate need to tell our stories. And more importantly, we all have a need to have our stories listened to.

That’s probably one of my biggest frustrations in life: I can’t find anyone to listen to my story. See, I’m a natural listener. If I sit next to someone on a bus or stand behind someone in a queue, they just start talking to me. Nothing too personal…at first. But I can’t help listening – I’m naturally good at it and I’ve been trained as a counsellor which merely honed my existing skills – and before long they’re spilling their guts to me. Continue reading “The Greatest Service” →

Song Title Challenge #10: Metalingus – Alter Bridge

It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song. Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page. You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Metalingus by Alter Bridge. Thank you once again to Bumblepuppies for the suggestion.

Metalingus

Continue reading “Song Title Challenge #10: Metalingus – Alter Bridge” →

On vacation (the journey home) Part II

I can hardly believe it’s already been three weeks since we’ve returned from vacation. That convinced me to quickly share the last few pics of our trip before I completely forget what it was like.

I left you in the tiny hamlet of De Vlugt, about two thirds of the way through the Prince Alfred’s Pass. You would recall that it’s a gravel pass that winds for seventy kilometres through the Outeniqua mountains between Knysna and Avontuur in the Western Cape Province. The road is quite narrow in places and tend to rise steeply around hairpin bends. We took it slow, stopping often, and had been driving for about two hours by the time we reached De Vlugt. We were starting to wonder if the pass was ever going to end.

Prince Albert Pass — “The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.

By this time we had left the forests far behind, but it in no way diminished the beauty of the mountains.

Continue reading “On vacation (the journey home) Part II” →

On Dan Brown…and why I didn’t buy Inferno

Like many people (according to one infographic I’ve found on Facebook, around 57 million) I had never heard of Dan Brown until The Da Vinci Code propelled him into fame. I did not pay the whole phenomenon much attention – I was earning minimum wage at the time and was definitely not going to spend the little cash I had on a novel by someone I had never heard of.

I did some house-sitting in those days to supplement my income. I spotted the novel on the shelf in one of the homes I was watching and decided I might as well give it a read (and before you get into me for reading other people’s books without permission – I can read a 1000-page paperback novel without cracking the spine).

Can’t say I was crazy about it. Continue reading “On Dan Brown…and why I didn’t buy Inferno“ →

On Spam – A History

I would like to welcome four new spam-followers to If all else fails…use a hammer. They joined yesterday and, while I know they won’t be reading any of my posts, at least they’re helping me towards my milestone of 100 followers, so good for them.

But that made me think, I haven’t written about spam in ages. To remedy that serious oversight I give you,