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    Dream, Hope, Fly ( Day 16 )

    The Challenge for Day 16. The challenge for Day 16 is to write about hope, that thing which pushes us forward even ( Or especially ) when the going gets tough. It came up in a previous post of mine, Hope, so it’s obviously something close to my heart. This time I thought I’d expand it a bit and talk about hope in relation to following a dream. The quote below is by Jonas Salk, author and medical practitioner, the man who developed the polio vaccine.   There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality.  Jonas Salk      Dream…

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    Writing Evaluation ( Day 15 )

    The Challenge for Day 15:  Writing Evaluation We are just at the half-way mark of the challenge and today Jeff Goins asks us to record our thoughts on our progress. Are we feeling overwhelmed or energized? Has your writing improved? Have you noticed any changes in how you approach your writing?   Overwhelmed or Energized? Sometimes it can be difficult to churn out 500 words a day, especially something fit to put in a blog post. The irony is that publishing is not part of the challenge, but many of us add it to the list ourselves. Why is that? Well, I can only answer for myself, but I know…

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    Traditional Irish Food ( Day 14 )

    The Challenge for Day 14 Today’s challenge is to “Write about Food”, so I thought it might be nice to combine this prompt with my Ireland theme and write about traditional Irish food.   History of Traditional Irish Food As I said in Ireland Calling, we Irish love our food just as much as the Guinness. Real traditional Irish dishes are made from cheap, locally sourced food and tend to be quite simple. That’s linked to our history, most people lived on small land holdings and were dependant on these to survive. They supplemented their diet by foraging for things like berries, mushrooms and shellfish. Under British control and with the arrival…

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    Pampering ( Day 13 )

    The Challenge for Day 13 Today’s challenge is “Tell us about your Day”, maybe throw in a bit of pizazz so it won’t bore everyone. I happened to have a hairdresser’s appointment today, so immediately the theme of Pampering came to mind. Not sure how much pizazz it contains, it’s just a day in the life, but here goes anyway.   Pampering Snow? They said we were meant to have snow. But when I awoke this morning, the ground was just a more glistening shade of grey. Puddles of rain had formed outside the back door and even the cat refused to venture out. Definitely the most miserable looking day of…

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    Seeking Leprechauns ( Day 12 )

    The Challenge for Day 12 Today’s challenge from Jeff Goins is to “Rewrite history, imagine an alternate reality, or just plain lie.” Okay, here is my alter ego 🙂 …Seeking Leprechauns   Seeking Leprechauns My goodness! An award for one of my books! It’s hard to believe, but this is my new reality and I feel quite overwhelmed. The accolade isn’t even for my first published work,  Speed Dating Secrets, a book about love in the modern age. Amazingly, it’s for my far more obscure literary piece, Seeking Leprechauns. This demonstrates how important it is to follow your gut instincts in these matters. I’m not at all a desperate type, but I did spend…

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    Ireland Calling ( Day 11 )

    The Challenge for Day 11 Today’s challenge is an interesting one, it’s called “Persuade me.” As an example, Jeff suggests persuading someone to try something new. As it happens, while checking up on Twitter this morning, I came across a tweet announcing that Ireland ranked at number two in Good Countries, just behind Finland. So that gave me an idea…Why not try to persuade people of the benefits of choosing Ireland as a holiday destination? Obviously, as I live in Ireland, I’m already a believer. Now it’s just a matter of convincing you!   Ireland Calling Well, what is so special about Ireland? The answer lies in its’ uniqueness. A small island, located…

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    Happy Mars Day ( Day 10 )

    The Challenge for Day 9 The prompt today for my 500 Word Challenge is to ” Write about Writing.” The joys, the pitfalls and how I’m coping with the Challenge. We seem to have days for everything now, so why not have a Happy Mars Day? And I mean the planet, not the chocolate, but I guess both could work at this stage. Just check out Twitter!   Happy Mars Day Why am I calling today Happy Mars Day? As you might know, I’m currently taking part in a Creative Writing course with Pauline Clooney. Each week we get a story prompt, usually quite open to interpretation. One particular week the…

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    Vodka, Sunscreen and Goat Stew ( Day 9 )

      The Challenge for Day 9 Interesting email from Jeff Goins today, where he asks us to ” Teach something.” Well, after my years of teaching primary school children, I’ve learned that sometimes it can be fun to go a bit left of field. So, with that in mind, here’s my advice on getting the best out of a foreign holiday trip… It’s satire, But I’m Irish so I hope I can get away with it 🙂   Vodka, Sunscreen, and Goat Stew   ” An Irishman’s Guide to Travelling Abroad”     Don’t waste time on Research Who wants to waste hours trawling through the internet? Or even worse, stuck…

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    Ten Writing Tips ( Day 8 )

    Day 8 of my 500 Words Challenge ” Make a List” I’m reading my email from Jeff Goins and I do a double take. A list? That’s all he wants today? And me on a roll with all that creative writing? I’m joking, of course. It is such a relief to wind down the dial a bit for today. Gives my brain a chance to paddle along the ocean edge. The big waves are fun, but you can’t keep that pace up constantly, you just might get rolled over. With that in mind, I thought I’d share these ten writing tips with you. Stuff that I’ve learned during my six-month…

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    Hope ( Day 7 )

    The Challenge for Day 7 The challenge for Day 7 was to write a letter to your younger self. I found this quite difficult. Too many competing emotions, I think. The poems of Emily Dickenson have always inspired me and never more so than today. Here is the first verse of ” Hope”   “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –   Hope   Dear Bernie, You are probably wondering who is writing to you out of the blue like this? Well, let’s say a little bird told me…