So many blogs, so little time!

Last week, I wrote about the bedevilled thief of time, procrastination and this week, my post is two days overdue! Go figure! However I’m pleased to announce that it is not because I let myself fall victim to that vicious bandit but because I have been a bit unwell. Thankfully, this episode of poor health is on its last legs.

Blogging is such a fascinating endeavour. Some people blog for a living and make money doing it, whilst for others, it simply a hobby. Within the hobby-blogging category, there are a myriad of reasons for doing so and it would be extremely presumptuous of me to claim to know exactly what they all are. Suffice it to say that whether it be for business or pleasure, we all have our motivation for expressing ourselves through this medium.

Anyway I’ve been meaning to do a post on some great blogs that I enjoy visiting regularly. Just the way you would surf TV channels to find something suitable to watch and sometimes inadvertently stumble across an interesting programme, I also surf other blogs. There’s a mind-boggling array of blogs out there with just about any and every subject matter on the face of the earth.

It’s a struggle to find the time to read them all regularly so I tend to go back to the ones I find interesting, amusing, educational and just plain entertaining. I would like to share some of my favourites with you in the hope that you’ll not only pay them a visit but also comment on any posts you enjoy reading.

Myne Whitman is a novelist. She’s just published her second romance novel set in Nigeria and is working on her third. On her blog, she encourages other writers/bloggers in many ways including profiling their stories occasionally, interviews and memes. She is currently doing a series on blogging tips called ‘Good blog, bad blog’ which I highly recommend.

Joxy is a close friend and she writes about pretty much everything and has a witty take on ‘life, as she sees it’ while Toks’ Pawpawandmango provides a delightful and refreshing look into family life and running your own business.

The Globetrotting Executive and I were in school together. She started blogging in earnest in March this year and has managed a post a day except for a few days in May when she had no internet access. She shares tips on surviving the upheaval of relocating every so often but the main attraction of her blog for me is our mutual penchant for rhymes.

The oxymoron that is the outspoken introvert is quirky, simple and succinct and I love her writing style. In a bid to brighten up her corner of the world  and “be the change ‘she’ wants to see in the world”, she started a campaign called ‘It Matters Monday’.

MaidofHeart writes beautiful parables on her blog Histiara while Jaycee’s Light-a-lamp never fails to offer encouragement and spiritual upliftment.

Naija mum in London tries to make sense of life and family and usually has a refreshing perspective on things. Chibundu Onuzo is a very young and soon-to-be published author of ‘The Spider King’s Daughter’. Her writing displays a maturity way beyond her years and her blog, ‘Author sounds better than writer‘ is a like a breath of fresh air.

Kiru Taye, a budding romance writer, recently starting blogging on ‘Thrusty Thursdays’ sharing her writing her journey and very juicy excerpts from her manuscripts.

This is by no means a conclusive list of the many blogs I visit but in order to keep this post well within the confines of a ‘do-not-bore-me-to-death’ length, I will stop here for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Procrastination

I am happy to say that blogging more often has helped me get back into the discipline of writing regularly and I’m currently halfway through a manuscript which I hope to get published in the future. So I feel less pressure to blog as this is not my sole writing outlet.

Having said that I did sign up to the WordPress Postaweek2011 challenge. Whenever I write a blog post, I relax in the knowledge that I have a whole week/7 days/168 hours within which to write another.  However one week isn’t as long as I’d like it to be as too quickly it’s gone and another post is due.

I would like to be proactive and have several posts scheduled for publishing more than once a week but I have to accept the limitations of time, inspiration, inclination and sometimes plain procrastination. When I think I have lots of time to accomplish a task, I tend to leave it till the last-minute.

So for this week’s post, I’ve written a rhyme about procrastination. Hope you enjoy it along with the images I got off Google.

 

 

If you’ve got something to do

Now’s as  good a time as any

For soon it’ll be overdue

And your tasks, way too many.

If you’ve got some goals to accomplish

Best to get stuck in straight away

For soon you’ll be wringing your hands in anguish

And shaking your head in dismay.

You may think you’ve got lots of time

And wonder why I’m writing this silly rhyme

But all too soon the time goes by

And becomes short in supply.

Time waits for no man

Not even for woman

Stop putting off till another day

What you can do today.

I hope this rhyme motivates you

That henceforth you’ll eschew

Procrastination in all its subtle forms

And to your life bring great reforms.

Tara for now.

 

 

 

Lessons I learn from my kids (1): Ask questions

I took my boys, WEO who will be 5 next week and three-year old EDU, to Shrepreth Wildlife Park a couple of weeks ago. It was the Friday of the half-term week. I hadn’t really done anything with them as I’d been working the whole week so this was our special thing to do together.

From a previous visit to another wildlife park, I knew that once the boys got tired from walking around the vast grounds they would want to leave irrespective of how much there might be left to see leaving me seething about all the money wasted on tickets. So to avoid that scenario, I came prepared with their scooters so they could get around the park  on wheels.

We had a really nice time guessing what the animals were and what kind of things they eat. The boys particularly enjoyed the train ride and the Adventure playground which featured swings, sand pits, climbing frames, a tree house, a zip wire and a pirate ship. We took along a picnic and the boys had their fill of sandwiches and all the other nibbles we’d packed.

There were some special experiences to get up close and personal with the animals from kissing a bug *yuck* to mucking out the lemurs but I wasn’t willing to pay any extra besides the cost of the entry and train tickets so we didn’t see any of them. We were walking past the rabbits’ enclosure and noticed two little girls in it, stroking the animals. I was content to walk past assuming they had paid extra for the ‘experience’ of getting so close to the animals till WEO asked why the girls were in there. Now WEO is not known for using his ‘inside voice’, he can be rather loud so the girls heard his question.

I proceeded to answer by saying they’d probably paid extra to go into the rabbits’ enclosure and tried to hurry them away from there before he asked me to pay so we could go in too. One of the girls promptly piped up that they hadn’t paid any extra. She informed us that anyone could go in and stroke the rabbits. I looked around to see if there were any signs letting the general public know this but couldn’t find any. By this time, WEO was already letting himself in so I quickly followed looking around surreptitiously to make sure we would not bear the brunt of some aggrieved warden’s wrath. It turns out that it was open to the public as several more people came in while we were there.

Now, left to me, we wouldn’t have had the ‘experience’ of getting so close to and actually touching the rabbits (or the boys wouldn’t as I didn’t actually touch them). I would have worked on my assumption that it required extra payment and probably wouldn’t have confirmed my assumptions by asking.

Even those who have very little to do with children know that they tend to be extremely inquisitive and are constantly asking questions. My kids are no exception. Very soon after mastering the art of speaking, the word ‘why’ became a firm favourite and it made an appearance every turn. I usually try to answer their questions to the best of my knowledge and ability but have to admit that sometimes I just revert to the good old “because I said so”.

The older we get, the more reticent we get about asking questions. Our reasons may vary from person to person and range from embarrassment at admitting we don’t know something to simply not being bothered or curious enough. Unfortunately this reluctance to ask questions often leads to many a misunderstanding and in some cases prevents us from experiencing life to the full.

That Friday, I was reminded that it’s ok to ask questions if I don’t know or am not sure about something. I may actually learn something new.

Tara for now.

 

 

Hi, my name is The Wordsmythe and I’m papyro-ergophobic!

It’s official! I hate paperwork! Ok, so maybe ‘hate’ is such a strong word but I have an aversion to paper work. It’s such a chore, such tedium! I’d much rather be getting on with fun stuff than be bogged down filling out forms, balancing accounts and other related matters.

As I write, there are a number of folders piled up on the side table awaiting my attention. There are forms and assessment sheets that need filling. I need to collate my accounts (income and expenditure) for my  accountant to send off to the Inland Revenue before the end of June otherwise I am liable to pay a fine of £150! Phew!

I will usually do anything else just to avoid it. Like writing this blog post now when I should really get started on all my filing, assessment sheets, blah, blah, blah!

I appreciate that keeping correct and regular paperwork makes life smoother but it is the doing of it that I have a problem with. It’s so hard! It is one of the few tasks I procrastinate on and keep off till as late as I possibly can. Sometimes I make an effort to do it as soon as possible so I can get it out of the way and not have to worry about it, unfortunately this isn’t one of those times.

While thinking of writing this post, I thought there might be a word for a phobia of paperwork. Someone gave a synonym for paperwork as ‘Satan’ but I couldn’t actually find the word I was searching for. Instead I happened on another, papyrophobia, meaning the pathological and irrational fear of paper.

It’s fascinating what you stumble across when you’re not actually looking. Who knew there was a concept like, much less a word for a fear of paper? Certainly not me! Apparently the symptoms of this phobia include feeling uncomfortable, becoming nauseated or beginning to perspire. More severe symptoms displayed by this phobia could be crippling anxiety and/or panic attacks, muscle tension, trembling, dry mouth, hyperventilating and gasping.

I admit that I don’t really understand how anyone can actually fear paper but I do not, by any means, wish to trivialise what may be a valid and palpable condition for some people. I do however feel sympathy for them as I love reading so much I couldn’t begin to imagine how traumatic it would be for me not to be able to touch paper seeing as books as made from the very same.

I wonder if having papyrophobia also makes one hate reading or if it is possible to enjoy reading but hate paper? That would make the person a bibliophile-papyrophobe – one who loves reading but hates paper. In that case, every bibliophile-papyrophobe must be doing cartwheels since the introduction of electronic readers. They now have a chance to get on with the business of reading and not have to touch any paper while doing it.

In my usual fashion and in keeping with tradition, when I can’t find a what a word that accurately expresses what I want to say, I make one up. It’s called poetic licence! Besides language is constantly growing and evolving with words being added to it regularly. So here’s my contribution to the growth and expansion of the Queen’s English, papyro-ergophobia!

Here’s my equation for newly coined word;

Papyrophobia = Fear of paper

Ergophobia = Fear of work

Therefore Papyrophobia + Ergophobia = Paphyro-ergophobia, fear of paperwork.

So this is my public confession. Hi, my name is The Wordsmythe and I’m a papyro-ergophobic.

I’m off to face my demons and tackle some of that paperwork right now. Wish me luck!

Tara for now.