PAIN IN THE NECK!

Hi everyone today I have been working on my manuscript for an educational publication which I am revamping with the intention of republishing it in a different and more up to date format.

I am using a new software to do this and have been experimenting with layout and more over the past few days.

The many hours on the laptop have taken their toll on my neck (probably because I am not using an ergonomic chair or good posture or taking breaks properly!) so I am making use of this fabulous massage pillow  seeing as I cannot get a massage, given the crazy times! It is not quite the same but is helping a little. 

I really need to invest in a good ergonomic chair. I have been toying with the idea of buying something like this but I may end up looking like a teenage gamer so may just go for something more  like this. Alternatively I may purchase a massage gun.

If you have any suggestions for purchases to relieve neck strain, drop me a comment. 

Is blogging old hat?

Are blogs old hat?

With the emergence of social media's many platforms- Instagram, Facebook pages, Tik Tok, Twitter, Snapchat and more, it got me wondering if blogging is now old hat? 

Has this trend of writing for the masses (well those who might visit your blog) gone out of fashion?

With Snapchat now offering  a share of $1 million dollars a day to posters of videos that go viral, is it any wonder that we have to wonder if blogging still has the old appeal it once had?

My latest bit of research showed that even though these newer social media platforms are all the rage there is still an audience for blogging and yes people do still post on their blogs. In fact today there were 1,647,000 blog posts according to Internet Live Stats and it seems that 'users produce about 70 million new posts and 77 million new comments each month' on Wordpress blogs and it would seem that in October 2020 there were about 63 million visits to Blogger.com.

The average time readers spend on blogs, however, makes for interesting reading with statistics suggesting it is as low as 37 seconds, so although there are some stats to suggest blogging is still worth doing the increase in the use of visuals and video content on blogs suggests the way content has now to be produced reflects a change in audience habits.  

I had the fortune of attending a few days' remote training recently during which I learnt some useful and interesting things which I hope in time to implement. 

Today, I wanted to continue my theme from last post regarding blessings. I am truly thankful for all that I have and for this reason I am re-posting something I wrote in 2017 which seems fitting. 

Gratitude is something that comes with age and wisdom.

How can you be grateful for what you have until you have known its loss? Abundance and joy can only be appreciated once loss and sadness are known. So I am grateful for my health because I have been so ill I thought I would die. I am grateful for my closest and most trusted friendships because I have known their opposites.  I am grateful for love because I have experienced its loss. I am grateful for all that is beautiful in mankind because I have seen its polar opposite: ugliness at its very core.

I am grateful for my freedom because I have escaped captivity. I am grateful for my education because of the opportunities it has afforded me when so many do not have these. I am grateful that I can have a fulfilling life, with enough food, water and shelter to never question where my next meal will come from or where I will lay my head.

Life is a gift which I unwrap each day grateful that my eyes still open, my legs still move, my heart still beats and my mind still works.

Blessings

It is true that things happen for a reason. 

Oftentimes when things do not go as we had planned or hoped, we think it is the end when actually it is only the beginning of something better and more beautiful.

Today I pay homage to this as I reflect over past losses and the new opportunities these enabled for me. I am truly grateful for all that I have. 

As I sit here in Turkey enjoying the sea and mountain view I am thankful for all that has been given to me and for what the future may hold for me. 

I hope today is a bright day for all of you. 

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Tonight I would like to write an entry about the topic of copyright. 

When an author or a poet creates a piece of work, it comes from that individual and is protected by way of copyright which forms part of intellectual property law.

The many hours that a person spends thinking about, planning, writing and editing a piece of work culminates in a final product which is protected in law, published and sold. 

So why is it that people see fit to break copyright and publish entire pieces of work online or in the public domain, without paying for this right?

This is completely unacceptable and essentially removes income from authors. It is like me going into your bank account and taking your salary. 

Yet this has happened to me not once, not twice but three times. Each time I have had to follow up with culprits or publishing companies to address. 

If you like anyone's work that much then you need to buy it! And if you cannot source it you should contact the publisher or author his/ her self if the item if no longer published in order that you can purchase the right to hold or share the work. 

That's it. 

Deception

Today I am feeling a bit reflective and thought I would post about the theme deception- a common theme found in literature across the ages. Appearance versus reality.

We all fall prey to deception: I understand how easily we can be fooled into believing the appearance of something rather than its reality. I think we've all been there. What I find more difficult to comprehend is how easily people can deceive others with fake smiles and false words. 

In honour of the theme I wrote a haiku which as you may know is a Japanese poem made up of 17 syllables, in three lines, usually following the pattern of 5,7,5 syllables. So here it is:



Deception


Your welcoming smile
Creeps up silent lips, alert
Like snakes wait for prey

When evil appears

When evil appears, it creeps up on me like a slowly approaching enemy.

A stealthy dark-clad assailant on a path of slow destruction.

Masked in hatred, face covered and spewing anger from a poison tongue.

It appears.

An alien face where once there was a familiar one.

Firing bullets and killer darts in my direction.

Tear gas in my throat draining life from within

An assassin with a mission to destroy.

Through force and fear evil blackens out the past

And removes the future