4) Announcing the Winner of the Meet the Author Quiz

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

Congratulations to the winner of our Meet the Author Quiz who is Guy Portman. He has won a signed print copy of SLUR (http://viewbook.at/Slur) together with signed print copies of my other publications, Kids’ Clubs and Organizations: viewBook.at/KidsClubs and Great Places for Kids’ Parties: viewBook.at/KidsParties plus a £10 gift voucher. We’ll be sending our bundle of prizes out in the post.

If you weren’t the lucky winner, don’t forget that you can still buy a print or Kindle version of SLUR at: http://viewbook.at/Slur and can download a free app that enables you to read the Kindle version on your computer, tablet or smart phone here. In fact, you’ll need a version of SLUR to be in with a chance of winning a £50 gift voucher and signed print copies of all my books in our SLUR Big Prize Quiz at the end of today.

The Answers

In case you’re wondering what the answers were, here they are:

My ears.
My shoe – it slipped off whilst I was boarding the train.
Once in manual, then I gave up because I absolutely hated it. I returned to learning to drive years later but automatic only and sat my test a further three times, so four times altogether. Driving is most definitely not my favourite thing.
Three – first year, third year and fourth year juniors.
I don’t have a middle name.
Diane Mannion Writing Services.
It was about my late mother. It was back in August 2013 when I hadn’t had my WordPress blog long – here’s the link: https://dianewriting.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/why-i-dont-write-poetry-anymore/.
A 20 year old boy and a 17 year old girl.
Spain.
Manchester.

Staying in Touch

Here’s a little reminder of some of the ways in which you can stay in touch with me or find out more about my work:

Check out my Amazon author page, which lists all my books including SLUR: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diane-Mannion/e/B008MX8LD0 in the UK or http://www.amazon.com/Diane-Mannion/e/B008MX8LD0/ in the US.

Sign up to my mailing list at: http://eepurl.com/CP6YP and be the first to find out about new releases and special offers on my books. N.B. I use my mailing list solely for this purpose and will never share your details with any third parties.

Follow the blog to find out what I’m working on and get tips and information about the writing world in general. Just click follow in the box to the right of this screen.

Like my page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DianeMannionWritingServices.

Follow me on Twitter: @dydywriter.

Find me on Goodreads by searching for author Diane Mannion.

Connect with me on Google+ by searching for Diane Mannion.

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19Sep2014

Literary Quiz

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

We’re now moving onto our second competition of the day (or first for Saturday), which is our Literary Quiz. I’m very excited about this one as it gives me a chance to introduce some of my talented author friends who have kindly offered to contribute signed copies of their books as prizes.

We still have two more competitions to go, which are our General Knowledge Quiz later this afternoon, with a £25 gift voucher for the winner, and the SLUR Big Prize Quiz this evening. The winner of the SLUR Big Prize Quiz gets a £50 gift voucher and a signed print copy of SLUR plus my two parenting books. (Please note that some of these quizzes will be re-run on Saturday 20th September but times will differ. You can find full details of approximate times for both days at: https://dianewriting.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/launch-party-agenda/.)

But first let me tell you more about our Literary Quiz. We’re giving away a great prize for this one so there’ll be 20 questions but you have until 5pm next Tuesday 23^rd September to send your answers by email to: dianewriting@gmail.com. The winner will be drawn from all those with 20 correct answers or, if nobody gets all the answers right, the winner will be drawn from all those with the most correct answers. The winner will be contacted shortly afterwards, as soon as we have had a chance to go through all the entries, and will also be announced on the blog. We will also publish the answers on the blog after the competition closing date.

The Prize

I have taken my book launch day as an opportunity to introduce you to the wealth of talent that the independent publishing world has to offer. The prize will be a bundle of five signed print copies of books by talented authors. I have specifically chosen these five authors because I have read books by each of them and I personally recommend them. That’s why I’ve called them my Fab Five. I appreciate that everybody has different tastes in reading matter so I’ve selected a variety of genres. Here they are:

My Fab Five

Each of the following books are included in the prize for this competition. I have read every one of them and they’re all excellent. N.B. Please click on the author name to find out more about the author. By clicking on the book title you will be directed to the Amazon page for that book. If you’re not lucky enough to win the prize, why not take the chance to discover a new talent and buy one of these books from Amazon?

Author	Book	Genre
Joanne Phillips	Can’t Live Without	Romantic Comedy
Rose Edmunds	Never Say Sorry	Thriller
Guy Portman	Necropolis	Black Comedy
Clare Davidson	Reaper’s Rhythm	YA Urban Fantasy
Georgia Rose	A Single Step	Romantic Suspense

The Importance of Reviews

Independent publishing is currently undergoing a bit of a revolution. Because of the difficulties in getting published by mainstream publishers and the stringent rules they apply, increasing numbers of authors are publishing independently. This includes authors that previously had publishing deals, because they prefer to have control over when and how they publish, what design goes on the cover of their book, how they divide their time between writing and promotion etc.

However, the downside of independent publishing is that independent authors do not have the big advertising budgets of large publishing houses and we therefore rely on recommendations and word of mouth. Every time a positive review is published on Amazon or Goodreads it encourages potential readers to purchase our books. If you have read and enjoyed a book, please spare a couple of minutes to leave a review as the authors really appreciate your contribution.

Before I print the questions, let me remind you that we’ll be announcing the winner of our Meet the Author quiz shortly (Friday only). If you aren’t lucky enough to win a copy of SLUR, don’t forget that you can still buy one for as little as £1.99 for a Kindle version or £7.99 for a print version from Amazon at: http://viewbook.at/Slur.

The Questions

1. In “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy, what was the name of the family horse that died?

2. In “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck”, what is the name of the boss’s son on the ranch?

3. In the play “An Inspector Calls” by J. B Priestley, who does Sheila get engaged to?

4. In “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, what district are Katniss and Peeta from?

5. In the Shakespeare play Hamlet, what is the name of Hamlet’s mother?

6. In “The Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, what was the conch used for?

7. What is the name of the magician in J. B. Priestley’s “Lost Empires”?

8. What is the name of the royal poisoner in “I Claudius” by Robert Graves?

9. Name the two cities in “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens?

10. What condition does Terry Pratchett suffer from?

11. In the well-known satire “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, what was the novel said to parody?

12. The well-known writing duo Nicci French is the name of a man and wife team. What are their full names?

13. Val McDermid recently did a re-imagining of a Jane Austen classic as part of the Jane Austen project. What was the name of the book?

14. In “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte, what is the name of Mr Rochester’s dog?

15. Where was Robert Harris’s book “Enigma” based?

16. In Robert Bolt’s novel “The Mission”, what did the slave trader do that caused him to become a priest?

17. Who won the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and what was the name of the book?

18. Who is the bestselling author of all time?

19. What is the name of the warship that saves the narrator’s brother in H G Wells’ “War of the Worlds”?

20. What classic of Latin literature did Julius Caesar write?

——————–

Don’t forget to send your answers by email to dianewriting@gmail.com by 5pm on Tuesday 23^rd September.

——————–

19Sep2014

2) Meet the Author

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

Now it’s time to find out a bit more about the author with our fun quiz. Don’t forget to send the answers to all of our quizzes by email to: dianewriting@gmail.com. The winner of the Meet the Author Quiz will be drawn from all those with 10 correct answers or, failing that, the winner will be drawn from those with the most correct answers. The deadline for your answers to this quiz is 1pm this afternoon.

We will announce the winner on the blog later this afternoon along with the answers. We’re not expecting anyone to get all the answers right and we realise that a lot of your answers will be guesses. The idea is to have a bit of fun (and maybe a laugh or two at the author’s expense).

If you want to find out more about the author you could sign up to my mailing list by following the link here. I use my mailing list to share details of my new releases, discounted books etc. and will never share your details with any third parties. You might also want to check out my Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/DianeMannionWritingServices.

The Prize

For our Meet the Author Quiz we’re offering a signed print copy of SLUR (http://viewbook.at/Slur) together with signed print copies of my other publications, Kids’ Clubs and Organizations: viewBook.at/KidsClubs and Great Places for Kids’ Parties: viewBook.at/KidsParties, and a £10 gift voucher. Don’t forget that you can also buy a print or Kindle version of SLUR at: http://viewbook.at/Slur and can download a free app that enables you to read the Kindle version on your computer, tablet or smart phone here.

N.B. We welcome overseas attendees and are willing to exchange the voucher for the equivalent in the country of choice if the prizes are won by somebody from overseas.

Here are our Meet the Author Quiz questions:

1. Which part of my anatomy is so small that my daughter’s was bigger than mine by the time she was five years of age?

2. Which item did I once drop under a train resulting in a delay as the guard had to have the train moved up the track so he could retrieve it for me then move the train back into position? (Meanwhile all the passengers were waiting patiently to board whilst staring out of the window at my red face.)

3. How many times did I sit my driving test (extra points if you can name how many times were manual and how many were automatic)?

4. And just to prove I’m not as stupid as I might sometimes seem, how many times did I win the top of the class prize at junior school?

5. What is my middle name?

6. Can you give the name of my writing business?

7. I previously published a poem on my blog. Who was that poem about?

8. What are the ages and genders of my two children?

9. Where do I usually spend most of my holidays?

10. In which city was I born?

———————

Don’t forget to send your answers to this quiz by email to dianewriting@gmail.com and get them to us by 1pm this afternoon at the latest.

19Sep2014

The Story of Slur

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

The party’s started so grab yourself a cuppa and crack open the biscuits – we’ll save the wine and nibbles till later. I thought I’d start by letting you know what we’ve got lined up before telling you a little bit about the book. In fact, SLUR will be telling its own tale, and I have to warn you that with all this attention it’s become the diva of the book world.

We’ll be running some fun quizzes throughout the day and are offering great prizes (more about that below). All quiz answers should be sent by email to dianewriting@gmail.com. We’ll also be publishing updates during the day so if you want to receive the updates by email, just follow this blog by clicking the box marked ‘follow’ to the right of the screen.

Where to Buy SLUR

SLUR is available from Amazon in both Kindle format priced at £1.99 and print format priced at £7.99 at: http://viewbook.at/Slur. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free app that enables you to read the Kindle version on your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can find the app here.

Great Prizes

You will have a chance of winning a signed copy of SLUR as well as my other publications, Kids’ Clubs and Organizations: viewBook.at/KidsClubs and Great Places for Kids’ Parties: viewBook.at/KidsParties, plus a £10 gift voucher, in our Meet the Author Quiz, which is coming up next. We’ll also be giving away a bundle of books by our Fab Five Indie authors in our Literary Quiz around lunchtime or shortly after.

If general knowledge is more your thing then you could have a chance of winning a £25 gift voucher by entering our General Knowledge Quiz later this afternoon/early evening. Lastly will be our SLUR Big Prize Quiz at the end of the day where we will be giving away a £50 gift voucher and a signed print copy of SLUR plus my two other publications. Questions will be based on SLUR, and the winner of this one will be announced in a few weeks’ time to give you a chance to find the answers. Please note that some of these quizzes will be re-run on Saturday 20th September but times will differ. You can find full details of approximate times for both days at: https://dianewriting.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/launch-party-agenda/.

N.B. We welcome overseas attendees. As all our prize vouchers are in GBP, we will give equivalent vouchers in a relevant currency if overseas entrants win our prizes.

The Story of SLUR

I first started writing my debut novel SLUR back in 1999 and finished the first draft around 2002. It took almost three years to write because I was studying for my writing diploma at the time as well as bringing up two toddlers. Sadly, it has since been on the backburner. In fact, my book has waited such a long time to be published that I thought it only fair for SLUR to tell its own tale. After all, it’s been around so long now that it’s as though it’s taken on a personality of its own. Over to you SLUR:

Thank God for that, I was beginning to think my time would never come. 15 years is one hell of a long time to wait for your moment of glory, you know!

Well lovely readers, it all started back in 1999. I can still recall the first stroke of the keyboard, her initial excitement, the way she couldn’t wait to start tapping away at the keys once the kids were in bed. I had high aspirations of course – first the bestseller lists, a film adaptation, then all the glitzy award ceremonies – you know how it goes. I figured I ain’t no flavour of the month celeb with a tale of instant stardom; I’ve got staying power!

So I was toted around the agents. I remember hearing their conversations like it was yesterday – ‘good writing style, nice opening – starts with a bang, great characterisation’. Then there were the naysayers – ‘the author’s unknown, we’re taking a risk, what niche would it fit into?’

Swines!

I swear, if I could have sprouted a pair of hands out of all those sheaves of paper I would have done some serious damage.

Anyway, at the end of the day I guess it was just one rejection letter too many so my printed manuscript got filed and locked away. Even now I can hear the sound of the key as it rasped painfully around the lock mechanism like scissors slicing through my aching pages – OK, maybe a bit dramatic, but you get the idea.

Then she moved onto other things – the magazine articles, the writing services business, the parenting books – phut! But I knew my time would come. As the saying goes, “I’m Beyonce, I ain’t no Kelly Rowland.” And I ain’t no poxy parenting book either – I’m the real deal!

So here I am with my beautiful new jacket complete with image of attractive heroine, admittedly looking a bit distressed – well she would, wouldn’t she? Her whole world’s fell apart, the poor cow! She’s still got to prove her innocence before she breaks down altogether. That’s if she’s got enough feistiness left after she’s been through hell!

Well, that’s enough of me, I must dash before she changes my title to ‘Diva’. I’m going to show off my gorgeous, sexy new jacket now. And when it gets opened I’ll be glad to finally put my goods on display and show the world just what I’ve got to offer. It’s show time! (Slinks away singing)

“Cos tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999, da da, da da da.”

———————–

30Apr2014

Dealing with Difficult Customers

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

After a rather demanding few weeks I thought I would deviate from general writing topics and focus more on the business side of things for this week’s topic. Since I started Diane Mannion Writing Services seven years ago I have had the pleasure of working with some great clients and the vast majority have given me no problems whatsoever. However, most of us come across situations when we have to deal with difficult customers.

Having worked in credit management for 14 years prior to becoming a writer, I can instinctively spot whether a customer is going to give me problems. Thankfully it’s a rare occurrence but we all get awkward customers from time to time. However, there are certain steps you can take to protect yourself, and your business. Here are a few tips that might help:

Don’t be frightened of turning away business. If you think there’s a chance that you won’t get paid or the profit margins will be too low, just say no. You’re not obliged to take on any business you’re not comfortable with. I was in two minds about a client recently. His manner on the phone was quite unpleasant and I got a bad vibe from him. Unfortunately, I was tempted by the possibility of future business but I definitely regretted my decision to accept his business.
Get everything in writing. Provide a written quotation for every job and get the client’s written agreement to the quotation. If you provide a service, agree the client’s requirements in writing so that he understands exactly what is being included. Keep this written agreement as you might need it if a conflict arises in the future.
Agree payment terms at the outset; the client does not set the payment terms, you do. Occasionally you may want to fall in with a large company’s policy of paying once a month, for example, if it’s the only way to gain their business. However, they cannot demand extended credit terms as a right. If you only accept payment terms of 7 days, for instance, then it is important to get your customer’s written agreement to this at the outset from someone in authority. You will have to think about how important this is to you and balance the volume of business against the need to maintain a healthy cash flow. If you can’t afford to wait 30 days (or sometimes more) for payment then you may decide that this business isn’t worth your while.
Don’t be frightened of taking sanctions. If a client refuses to pay and you know that the money is due, there may be steps that you can take aside from going to court. For example, could you withhold further orders? N.B. this will only work if the client cannot obtain the same type of goods or quality of service elsewhere. Would negative publicity (about refusal to pay) be harmful to the client, or reporting him or her to a professional or regulatory body if the client’s business is linked to one?
Stay firm but polite. There are a few customers that try bullying tactics. They will make unfounded claims about poor goods or services to deliberately avoid payment. Don’t let them intimidate you. If you know that you have performed the particular service to the required standard, or sold goods at the required standard, then be prepared to counter their claims. You shouldn’t be expected to work for free.
Taking legal action. It’s not always necessary to go to court but if all attempts to collect outstanding money or settle a dispute have failed then you may have to consider taking legal action. Before you do so, you must send a formal letter notifying the customer of your intention to take legal action. This is known as a ‘letter before action’ and you can find out more about how to do it here. Often this will be sufficient to prompt the customer into making payment. However, if this doesn’t do the trick then you may have to take things a step further. Even if you decide to take legal action, it still isn’t always necessary to attend court. There is a procedure known as the Small Claims Court which makes it easier, more convenient and less intimidating to settle claims under £10,000. You can find out more about it here. If you are considering taking legal action it is important to document everything as this will help to back up your claim. This is where the items referred to in points 2 and 3 will come in useful. Even if you don’t reach the legal stage I have found it useful in the past to be able to point out to clients exactly what they agreed and when, especially when I have something in writing to prove it.

I hope that this information helps you in your business dealings and would love to hear about any experiences you have had with difficult customers. Please don’t mention anyone by name though as I wouldn’t want to find myself being taken to court for libel – haha!

14Mar2014

Writing Using the Five Senses

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing Tips by heatherbwriter

As I have returned to fiction writing after a long break I have decided to brush up on some of the skills I learnt on my writing course many years ago. I have therefore recently been reading a book called ‘Teach Yourself Writing a Novel’ by Nigel Watts. Whilst reading chapter 9, ‘Setting the Scene’, part of this chapter reminded me of something I covered on my writing course. This relates to utilising all of the senses when describing a scene from a character’s viewpoint because this helps the reader to picture the scene i.e. don’t just describe a scene or character visually but also describe how it sounds, smells etc. Perhaps you could be describing a mangy room where the odour is so bad you can almost taste it, for example.

On this blog I have previously described how when I was writing my first novel I became really engrossed and felt almost as though I was the protagonist and was experiencing everything that she was going through. Perhaps part of the reason for that was because I was utilising the five senses. With my second novel I haven’t felt that same attachment up to now and I know that I need to recapture that feeling before I return to it. Hence I am revisiting some of the techniques that I learnt previously.

Another example of utilising the five senses would be if the protagonist was to enter the scene of a burning building. By using the five senses you would not only describe the visual impact but also the sound of the flames, the feel of the heat, the smell of burning flesh or the choking effects of the smoke. Obviously it isn’t always necessary to use all five of the senses but by using a few of them you can add dimensions to your scene. Because this helps readers to imagine the scene, it fits in with that old writing adage of ‘don’t tell, show’.

I was pleased to find an example in my debut novel where I’d taken on board some of the advice I’d picked up in trying to set the scene. In this particular scene the protagonist has just been subjected to a vicious verbal attack in the canteen where she works, as she is one of the suspects in a murder inquiry.

Julie’s first reaction was to flee from the room as quickly as possible, but Norma’s words kept echoing inside her head, and she told herself, “If I run, everyone will think I’m guilty.” She knew that she had to see it through. “I’m going to eat this bloody pie if it kills me,” she told herself. “I’ve got to try to act as normally as possible; I mustn’t let them get to me.”

Consuming the meal was a struggle. Julie had never before realised that eating could take such an infinite length of time. Her muscles were tense and she found it a tremendous effort to eat each mouthful. Her throat was so constricted that she felt as though she would choke each time she tried to consume the bland pie. Occasionally, she raised her head and glanced around the room just to let people see that she wasn’t about to bow her head in shame.

She could sense eyes watching her, but each time she raised her head, they quickly diverted their gaze. This caused her to become even more self-conscious. She felt as though her every movement was being noted; the shaking of her hands, the way she struggled to swallow – her face becoming more flushed with each agonising gulp, the way she shuffled uncomfortably on her chair.

A piece of pie then became lodged in her throat and she lifted her drink so that she could attempt to swill it down. Unfortunately, the cup slipped from her shaking hand. She quickly grasped at it and managed to steady the cup on the table, but not before some of the contents had spilt onto her food.

As she replaced the cup, Julie heard somebody clear their throat and a couple of people coughed, as though indicating a break in the tension. She couldn’t face going to the canteen staff for a cloth to wipe up the mess, so she searched her bag for a tissue. Julie only succeeded in clearing up part of the drink with her tissue, so she had to face eating the rest of her meal with her plate swamped by liquid.

She had managed to swallow the lump of Shepherd’s pie whilst her mind had been drawn to other things, and this had encouraged her to quickly devour a few more forkfuls. However, she was still only two thirds through the pie, and was beginning to struggle to swallow it once more. She knew that she mustn’t leave any on her plate, as this might suggest that she had rushed away, unable to face people any longer.

When Julie eventually reached the point where a marginally acceptable amount was left on her plate, she arranged her cutlery so that it concealed the biggest lumps of food. She then stood up and pulled back her chair as calmly as she could, in defiance of her rapidly beating heart and clammy hands. Julie then walked slowly and deliberately from the canteen with her head held high.

Eye

Please feel free to share your thoughts about using the five senses in your writing, by adding your comments below.

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2Jan2014

New Year Writing Plans 2014

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing plans by heatherbwriter

What an exciting year lies ahead! As well as doing the promotion for my second parenting book I hope to publish my debut novel at last. In fact, in some ways this year may see the culmination of many years of writing effort for me. Read on to find out what I have planned.

Book Promotion

My second parenting book “Great Places for Kids’ Parties (UK)” was published to the Kindle at the end of November. Since then I have been absorbed by a mixture of working on client projects and arranging to have the book printed cost-effectively. The latter has proved more challenging than I anticipated as the book is in colour, which is expensive to print. Thankfully I got there in the end; my book is now with the printer and I hope to release the print version very soon. However, time spent searching for the right printing arrangement together with my client workload have meant that my promotional efforts have been virtually nil.

As we go into the New Year I intend to remedy this situation. My first port of call will be with the parenting magazines and fortunately I have a list of contact details that I used when I marketed my first parenting book. Because many of the regional parenting magazines are issued quarterly, they have quite lengthy lead-in times. This means I need to approach them now if I want to secure any editorial in their Easter editions. If I manage to achieve this it should coincide quite nicely with the special offers featured in the book as they start to become effective from April onwards.

As well as approaching parenting magazines I will be contacting various parenting blogs and others involved with childcare, children’s parties, family days out and additional related topics. Hopefully they will be interested in guest blog posts, interviews or features related to the book. Once I receive my shiny new copies of the book I will also be hauling it around various book shops and gift shops. So, it looks as though the promotion will be keeping me busy for a few weeks yet.

Debut Novel

I know I’ve been promising this for some time, but I will definitely be publishing my debut novel this year. It has already been written – it just needs, fact-checking, editing and proof-reading and then I’m ready to run with it. In fact, it was written many years ago. At the moment though, I want to concentrate on promoting “Great Places for Kids’ Parties (UK)” as much as possible. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that it is a quality product that will appeal to book shops and others. I therefore owe it to myself to continue my efforts now that I have reached the promotion stage.

Once I feel that I’ve given it my all I will start to shift my focus onto the novel. One thing I will say though is that novel writing requires a different writing approach to non-fiction writing. I therefore intend to brush up on some of the techniques that I learnt on my writing course as I’ve become a little rusty. If I come across any valuable writing tips I’ll share them via the blog. It will be interesting to view my own work from yesteryear and see what I think of it now that I have the benefit of a few years commercial writing experience.

Website

As well as doing a bit of snagging and general tidying up of my main website (http://www.dianemannion.co.uk/), I also have other plans for the website in the long-term. These plans will involve an extension of the book page (http://www.dianemannion.co.uk/books.html) by adding book excerpts and other book related information and functionality. I’m also planning to host interviews of fellow authors on the blog. (N.B. My WordPress blog is imbedded into the blog page of my main website so you can also access it from there.) These plans are all for the long-term though. I figure I’ve got enough to concentrate on for now.

I have to say that the Christmas break has enabled me to relax and refocus. Prior to Christmas I was becoming totally encumbered with work and more than a little frustrated as I seemed to be ‘chasing my tail’ and not getting very far. Thankfully I am now feeling more refreshed and ready to face the challenges and hopefully the joys that 2014 will bring. How about you? What are your plans for the coming year – writing or otherwise? Please feel free to share them using the comments box below.

29Nov2013

Book Launch – “Great Places for Kids’ Parties (UK)”

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

I am pleased to announce that I have now published my second parenting book “Great Places for Kids’ Parties (UK)” in digital format. It is available to purchase at: http://www.amazon.co.u Party Settings k/dp/B00GXHQ02G and a print version of the book will follow in the next few weeks. It was no mean feat as I had a few technical problems when trying to upload the book to Amazon, but I’ll save that for another blog. It’s time to tell you a little about the book:

A big feature of the book is the exclusive special offers from big name party venues as detailed in my last blog. The offers range from free gifts to party discounts of up to 20%. They are exclusive to the book which means that you have to purchase a copy and show your receipt in order to qualify.

Another plus with this book is that it’s full of valuable information to help you prepare for your child’s party. Often parents arrange a party and are unaware of exactly what is involved. This can mean that they arrive at the party venue expecting everything to be taken care of only to find out that they have a bigger role than they thought. There’s nothing worse than trying to organise a room full of excitable children when you’re not really sure what you’re supposed to be doing. This book tells you everything you need to know. I have collaborated with 23 organisations featured in the book, which means that I have been able to provide details that you won’t find on the company websites.

“Great Places for Kids’ Parties (UK)” can also help you with ideas and inspiration for your parties. A quick check of the relevant chapter of the book and you will know whether your child’s dream party is a viable option. After all, it’s no good if your child has his heart set on a particular party only for you to find out that it is too expensive or that it is not available for his age group. I’ve also included lots of fun colour pictures to really get you in the party mood.

Each chapter of the book features a different party location or theme, and has a case study of a party venue or organiser. The case studies provide the following information:

– How you can prepare for the party e.g. how far in advance you need to book, when payment for the party is due, whether the venue supplies invitations etc.
– What a typical party involves.
– How many children the venue can hold.
– The age group for that type of party.
– The catering arrangements.
– The cost and what is included in the cost.
– Any additional points that you need to consider.

I have tried to include organisers that have venues UK-wide or that travel to different areas of the UK. Where this hasn’t been possible for certain themes I have included tips on finding similar parties in your area.

The special offers featured in the book are time sensitive so if you want to take advantage of them it’s best to buy your copy as soon as possible. I’ve covered a wide range of parties that are available throughout the UK so there should be something for everyone. With a bit of preparation you should be able to ensure that everything runs smoothly. So on the day of the party you will be able to relax while the children have fun as you will have the peace of mind of knowing that everything has been taken care of.

I appreciate that not all people reading this blog will be parents of young children, but if you know anyone that is please feel free to tell them all about this book.

17Oct2013

Which is the Easiest – Writing or Speaking?

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing by heatherbwriter

I guess I was destined to be a writer since, as far back as I can remember, I have always found it easier to express myself in writing than orally. I think there are several possible reasons for this. Firstly, it could be down to the fact that I have an inner confidence hidden behind a façade of low self-esteem. I know that my writing is good and, whilst I’m not one to brag, as a writer it’s important to have self-belief in your work. Writers get many knock-backs and it’s only by having that inner belief that you find the tenacity to continue in what you’re doing.

Secondly is the fact that with the written word your imagination can run riot and you can have as many attempts as it takes to perfect what you want to put across. The use of a good thesaurus is also invaluable. Sometimes when I’m writing I know that there is a word that captures precisely what I want to say, but I can’t quite recall it. So, for the time being, I’ll use a word that I’m not totally satisfied with. Then usually, by either consulting a thesaurus or returning to the piece of work later, I can find that word. I can also proofread my work after my brain has had a chance to rest so that I can approach it afresh. This gives me the opportunity to correct any mistakes. In speech, on the other hand, if you drop a clanger you can’t scrub it out. When I was younger I was forever ‘putting my foot in it’. Thankfully, nowadays I don’t do that so much, but I still wouldn’t feel confident addressing a room full of people.

Thirdly, I’m not always too good at coming up with ideas when under pressure, but I have a powerful subconscious, which tends to spring to life when I am more relaxed. I feed my subconscious with the right influences by immersing myself in the particular genre or writing style that I am producing and also by carrying out research. This helps me to ‘get in the zone’. For example, if I have to write a comedy piece, I will read work by others that is in a similar tone and style. By doing this I find that my ideas start to flow. If I have to express my ideas verbally I usually prefer to rehearse what I am going to say rather than share my spontaneous thoughts.

Maybe it’s something to do with being creative, but I find that in order to come up with good ideas I have to sometimes push the boundaries a little. This means that I often brainstorm to myself before I arrive at something workable. It can entail coming up with some wacky ideas initially, but I put them all down on paper because these help to feed my imagination further so that I can eventually hit on the right one.

I would be interested to know whether you also find it easier to express yourself in writing or whether you make a good orator as well. Please feel free to share your comments below.

25May2013

Welcome to my New Blog

Posted in Uncategorized by heatherbwriter

I was thrilled to discover that I can insert a WordPress blog into my website and still retain all my website content. The blog that is provided with my website software package has been bugging me for a while. There are so many deficiencies with it:

You can’t post pictures or videos
The links don’t look like links
You can’t change the colour of the font
The RSS feed for subscribing to the blog doesn’t work
The RSS feed for following a particular blog post doesn’t work

All in all it is just not sophisticated enough now that I have become a regular blogger. However, I am happy with the rest of my website content and didn’t want to have to redevelop the whole website from scratch. So, I was pretty chuffed when I found out that I could have the sophistication of a WordPress blog but still show it within my main website URL.

If you want to refer back to any previous blogs, just visit the archive blog, which is listed as a sub-page of the blog, and you’ll be able to find them all. You can find the blog archive through my website at: www.dianemannion.co.uk – just hover over blog in the menu and the blog archive tab will appear; click on that tab and you’ll be taken to the relevant page.

I’ll be posting part five in my series on becoming a freelance writer next. This one is all about attracting new customers so please subscribe to the blog if you don’t want to miss it.