Happy Days Caring ...

Good morning everyone,

I'm really happy to say that my first shop :~ Creative Writing & Drawing Activity Products for Carers, Teachers and Student Support, Educational Organisations, Early Intervention Assessments and Care Support Services is now open on :~

Happy Days Publishing website :~ 

www.happydayspublishing.co.uk

Happy Days provides a series of interactive activity pages to aid professionals, practitioners, teachers and support workers assess children, young people and adults' difficulties, needs, wants and wishes.

Happy Days ~ creative ideas for people with or caring for someone with dementia.

If you know or live with someone who has dementia ~ please read on ...

Living with someone with Dementia can be daunting, challenging and even tiring. Doing things together can help prevent boredom or ease frustrations for a person with dementia.

For Carers, Families and Friends, People with early stage dementia, Support Workers ...

Happy Days Publishing supplies creative ways to help manage Dementia Days ...

Memory Boxes - prompt reminiscence, collect memorabilia and create conversation 

Dementia Day Planners - keep track of visitors - manage dementia days ~ medicines

Labels and Signage - aid recognition in the home ~ can include name and photo

Talking & Doing Prompt Cards - create new conversations ~ do activities together 

More images, information and shop at www.happydayspublishing.co.uk

Call by and check out ideas to support child, young and adult carers ...

Check out Happy Days for Dementia ... more at www.happydayspublishing.co.uk

Blog, Facebook, Tweet or email me for more information ~
happydayspublishing@yahoo.co.uk
Gillian

Writing with Rhythm ...

Try these cool writing tips about rhythm ...

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/5-tips-about-writing-with-rhythm/

Gillian

Was just thinking ... g ... g ...

Where's your next holiday ?

Fascinating facts ...

Usually, receiving irritating jokes, absurd images, rolls of pet photos [ I do like pets by the way ] and women rule emails [sitting on the fence here - no comment just yet], all drive me mad. The first notion of one, I hit the delete button. But this one got through the net ... and here it is .. courtesy of ...[anon] ...The stories behind some of our sayings .

There is  an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London , which  used to have a gallows adjacent to it. Prisoners  were taken to the gallows, (after a fair trial  of course) to be  hung.

  The horse  drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was  accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop  the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if  he would like ''ONE LAST  DRINK''.

  If he said  YES, it was referred to as “ONE FOR THE  ROAD”

  If he  declined, that prisoner was “ON THE WAGON”. So  there you go.

   

   People used  to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day  it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you  had to do this to survive you were, "Piss Poor",  but worse than that, were the really poor folk,  who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot, they  "Didn’t have a pot to Piss in" & were the  lowest of the low.

  

   The next  time you are washing your hands and complain, because the water temperature isn't just how you  like it, think about how things used to  be. Here are  some facts about the  1500’s:

  Most  people got married in June, because they took  their yearly bath in May and they still smelled  pretty good by  June.

  However,  since they were starting to smell, brides  carried a bouquet of flowers, to hide the body  odour. Hence the custom today, of carrying a  bouquet when getting  married.

  

   Baths  consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the privilege of the  nice clean water, then all the other sons and  men, then the women and finally the children.  Last of all the babies. By then the water was so  dirty you could actually lose someone in it.  Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with  the Bath water!"

  

   Houses had  thatched roofs, thick straw piled high, with no  wood underneath. It was the only place for  animals to get warm, so all the cats and other  small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained it became slippery and sometimes  the animals would slip and fall off the roof.  Hence the saying "It's raining cats and  dogs."

  

   There was  nothing to stop things from falling into the  house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom,  where bugs and other droppings could mess up  your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts  and a sheet hung over the top, afforded some  protection. That's how canopy beds came into  existence.

  

   The floor  was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other  than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt Poor." The  wealthy had slate floors, that would get  slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread  thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their  footing. As the winter wore on, they added more  thresh, until, when you opened the door, it  would all start slipping outside. A piece of  wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a  thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren't  you?)

  

   In those  old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big  kettle, that always hung over the fire. Every  day, they lit the fire and added things to the  pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get  much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,  leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold  overnight, then start over the next day.  Sometimes stew had food in it that had been  there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ''Peas  porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge  in the pot, nine days  old''.

  

   Sometimes  they could obtain pork, which made them feel  quite special. When visitors came over, they  would hang up their bacon, to show off. It was a  sign of wealth that a man could, "Bring home the  Bacon." They would cut off a little, to share  with guests and would all sit around talking and  ''Chew the fat''.

  

   Those with  money had plates made of pewter. Food with high  acid content caused some of the lead to leach  onto the food, causing lead poisoning &  death. This happened most often with tomatoes,  so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were  considered poisonous.

  

   Bread was  divided, according to status. Workers got the  burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the  middle, and guests got the top, or ''The Upper  Crust''.

  

   Lead cups  were used to drink ale or whisky. The  combination, would sometimes knock the imbibers  out for a couple of days.. Someone walking along  the road, would take them for dead and prepare  them for burial. They were laid out on the  kitchen table for a couple of days and the  family would gather around and eat and drink and  wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the  custom of ''Holding a  Wake''.

  

   England  is old and small and the local folks started  running out of places to bury people. So, they  would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening  these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to  have scratch marks on the inside and they  realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the coffin and up  through the ground and tie it to a  bell.

  Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, ''Saved by the  Bell '' or was considered a ''Dead  Ringer''

  

   And that's  the truth.

  Now,  whoever said history was boring ! ! !

Well done 'Anon' who kindly posted these facts.

Hope you enjoyed them. The writer stated he/she was keen for everyone to share the knowledge.

Gillian

To Focus or not to Focus ...

FOCUS

FOCUS

FOCUS

If there's one thing I've learned from my 'mature' children, it's to FOCUS. 

Every writing project I begin, I drift ... I want to expand - usually before a key thought is fully considered or a core product is fully designed and completed. Possibly because of my need to 'grow' something but more probably because of my lack of concentration and my craving for change and search for something new. Of course, expanding too soon could be detrimental to the quality of an initial story, series, concept, product, goal etc. 

So now, the minute I feel myself drifting, I just remind myself to FOCUS - I bring myself back to the main point of what I'm actually writing/doing/creating/developing/, where I'm up to, what's supposed to happen next in the development process, keep the end result in mind - Basically, I remind myself to take one key idea to fruition rather than going off at a tangent with other thoughts, designs or products.

I've banned myself from entering writing competitions. I'm not allowing myself to search the internet for writerly workshops but have attended a couple of start-up business seminars. I don't drift into random poetry scribblings or short stories ... I am ... dare I say it ... more focussed ! Finally, I'm getting further with my writing process.

Of course, you might argue that focussing intently on one thing might limit creativity ... limit all those random ideas flitting about in my head, limit the chances of bringing something else new to the ... market ... hmmm ... 

Back to the drawing board ...

Gillian

Hotting up the imagination ...

I find there's nothing better to stir up imagination than a trip to a different location, a holiday; maybe a visit to friends in a part of the country you've never seen before or a specifically made plan to go somewhere new to you ...

100 degrees - hot enough yet ? It was, and it wasn't the scenery that propelled me into writing a short story but remembering a college friend who was writing a novel about the Mojave Desert [just around the back of that medium sized boulder].

I couldn't understand her connection to the Mojave - until I visited it recently - It's high-coloured bleakness was thought provoking in itself - and somehow gave me idea after idea for stories. I considered writing about my friend - what she was trying to achieve [I'm not sure whether she'd actually visited the desert] and the difficulties she came across. Of course I'd have to check with her before I put pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

So, go somewhere new - even if it's only a bus ride away - and watch yourself itching to get back and start writing !

Gillian

How to hot up your Linkedin profile page ...

Good morning everyone,

I assume you are social media converts as you've found this ~ so thought this might be of interest ...

The Linkedin business-ey networking site seems to be the place to go if you're seeking employment, promoting and making business contacts and showcasing start-up businesses.

Linkedin to businesses wanting to network is like Facebook to friends. Not at all showy like twitter, there seems to be a kind-of secret set of guidelines as to how to present yourself.

It's important to say who you are and what you do in a smart and interesting way without bragging. Don't be shy. Don't boast. Just be cool. And be true to you.

Obviously two of the most important things on your home page is your profile photo [preferably not one on holiday in Ayia Napa] and your personal summary ...

So here's a few tips to hot up your Linkedin summary ...

Consider:

Your Photo

Personal Branding

Semi personal summary to reflect your personality

Use key words that belong to you or you want to own

Express Professional experience

Build trust

Be precise & concise

Define:

Who you are

What you do / want to do

Why you’re unique

Choose some key words:

passionate about / interested in / specifically / presence / focus primarily on / goals / objectives / strategy / winning tactics / opportunity / driving force / interaction / effective / fast learner / good listener / asset / driven / goals / accomplishments / skills

Make your paragraphs short and precise:

Paragraph 1

Why you are there - use powerful key words

Paragraph 2

What you are currently doing

How previous positions relate to the present

What you specialise in - discuss here what you do 

[Consultant/Graphic Designer/Educator/Illustrator/Writer]

Paragraph 3

Self promotion - Why you should you be chosen above someone else

Why should a new employer or client phone you first?

Paragraph 4

Your specialities - Use Your industry buzz words - they’ll match search enquiries / queries 

Paragraph 5

Be sure to put your contact details here ....

You might even find something new about yourself!

Enjoy the process, Gillian

Social Media Marketing ...

Hi there daughters, mums, uncles, dads, aunties, grandmas, sons, brothers, sisters, grandads, friends ...

I suppose I'm now considered one of the 'olds' and expected to have non-existent technical skills of any sort. My sons won't help with pdf formatting, iTunes or acronyms ... 'You'll just have to learn it for yourself Mum' is what they say, throwing the front door into its casing. 'Thanks a lot', I grunt, slamming the kitchen door and stamping upstairs as I wedge the second earphone into place before leaping onto my bed to check my text messages ... Oh was that me? No, of course not, I have been glued to my lap top for 12 months now, writing, designing a series of interactive books - and networking - yes, at my age. And it's been quite fun. A massive learning arrow rather than curve. I have formed friends, been to meetings and a number of SEO presentations which were brilliant!

So Mums, Dads, Aunties, Uncles, Grandmas and Grandads and Great relatives, I urge you to move with the times [even ahead of them] - get yourself on the net; blog, look for new interests, find old friends, socially interact, find like minded hobby pals, find local courses and activities to join ... and most of all ... look up all acronyms if you're very time wealthy and make a full and comprehensive list of them. Learn off my heart. Eat the paper. [Apologies - your list will be on screen no doubt]. Put the pathetic three lettered acronym into practise. Most of the 'youngs' don't know what many of the acronyms stand for anyway. Drop them into conversations. Ask them in front of their friends what HTTP, PDF, RSS, IMAP, URL, SEO really stand for ...

That's when they'll tell you ... 'You'll have to just learn it for yourself Mum'

So here's a short list to get you going [if you've absolutely nothing else to do]

URL     Universal Resource Locator

RSS      Really Simple Syndication

PDF      Portable Document Format

Jpeg      Joint Photographics Experts Group

WIFI     Wireless Fidelity

TIFF     Tagged Image File Format

HTTP    Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

IMAP    Internet Message Access Protocol

SEO  -  Search Engine Optimisation

So, my note to everyone ... SEO is really what we need to be thinking about. We all have favourites and opinions of facebook, twitter, linkedin, google etc. but to be honest the recent Social Media Presentations I've attended have been the most motivational prompts I've come across for some time [other than realising my cholesterol contained too many bad fats].

Choose the right social group for your work - your book - your business - for instance, on Linkedin, its a great place to promote yourself and your product or your skills - find employment, freelance writing opportunities, research your possible audience, meet colleagues, clients, business links, people in the publishing industry, join like-minded groups, forums ... make contacts for your genre, link to your website or blog. This is quite a grown-up place, so text speak is pretty much frowned on - save that for your phone or twitter. [Oops - is texting out of date now ??] No-one wants to know if you've been to a party - so post that to your Facebook friends. Linkedin is a place to meet business contacts, promote business and check out your competition.

My advice - get on a social media marketing course if you can ... Try local or county councils, community centres, libraries, search the internet for business re-generation projects and you'll probably find the 'beyond websites' type social media presentations.

The courses are usually funded and therefore Free to attend.

[often including breakfast, lunch or snacks ! - such a bonus]

Enjoy, I did, Gillian