Everyday, it seemed, the music played. the locals thought it normal that a derelict piano could be played so beautifully; the tourists stared in wonder at the keys moving, even more so at the broken or missing keys, disbelieving that the music as a whole was coming from the incomplete piano.
There was a plaque subtly placed so as not to displace the magic, on the wall.
It read, “Here plays Stan, long-time musician and busker of this town.”
If you look carefully, at the end of the day, you can see the coins being counted, float through the air and poured into the charity tin of the local shop.
Once a busker, always a busker.
Thanks for reading. One day, I’ll be brave and ask for feedback but for now, simply enjoy (maybe with a like, comment or share 😉 )
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As a parent, I’ve ‘been through’ several WBDs. By ‘been through’, I mean our now 9 year old not being able to decide what to dress up as. Any parent knows the potential chaos and trauma and last-minute headaches this can bring. It’s no biggie though really, is it? I mean, it’s not compulsory, she doesn’t have to dress up and it certainly doesn’t mean she can’t celebrate books without getting into character.
She took to reading books, and literacy as a whole, like a duck to water. Thanks in no small part to her being surrounded by narrative every day; I’d walk along, pushing her pram or pottering around at home, giving her a narrative of the day.) So the fact she loves reading gives me a happy, fuzzy feeling inside.
For me, WBD is not just for the children. Of course, it’s a fantastic opportunity to encourage them into the wonderful world of books and hopefully encouraging their imagination too.
For me, WBD is about celebrating our heroes, heroines, villains and in-betweens that come alive so much when we read a book.
For me, the beauty of WBD is that it gets us thinking and gets us talking about how everyone’s imagination is different. We might talk about WBD at work but it’s mainly in schools. You don’t have to be a complete bookworm (like me!) to get involved in WBD either. Anyone can generally pick up a book and read, opening that door into another world. If that door fuels anyone’s imagination to aspire to be someone or do something, all the better.
It doesn’t have to take long either. My facebook group #ReadFor5Today might be a clue to how passionate I am about encouraging everyone, particularly busy women, to read every day. Whether it’s for 5 minutes, 5 lines or 5 chapters, just do it. Pickup a book on WBD (and every day!) and relinquish that reading journey.
I’ll bet you’ll be glad you did!
So tell me, what will you be reading on World Book Day? Tell me in the comments below or tweent me @AllSortsHere. I’d also love for you to tag your bookish instagram posts and stories with #ReadFor5Today 🙂
Remember to join my #ReadFor5Today facebook community! Just click below…
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How often do you say to yourself “I must read that book” or “I really want to make time to read again”. We can all find things to do, find things to be busy with. But what if you took time to stop. And read. Every day? I bet you’d feel better for it. I know I do. Take the pledge to #ReadFor5Today. Just click on the image below at the bottom of this post and I’ll see you there!
Here I’m sharing what I’ve read this month. I’ll chat a little about some or all of the books and the intention isn’t to give a full-on review, just a little insight. I hope you enjoy reading and don’t forget to tell me in the comments below what you’ve been reading or you can tweet me @AllSortsHere. I’ve a feeling I may will be adding to my To Be Read list! Oh well 🙂
Don’t forget if you’re on instagram, tag any bookish posts or stories with #ReadFor5Today ! I’m @carol_cameleon
So what have I read?
First up was Here and Gone by Haylen Beck which I loved and read very quickly. I was well and truly hooked and thought the characterisation was very good, very believable and more importantly, it wasn’t too predictable.
Then there was Shame on You by Amy Heydenrich. As a blogger who uses instagram every day, and generally social media, this was a great read. What’s real and what’s hyper-real? In other words, what’s fake and made-up? The character makes up her own made-up version of herself and she chose to believe it, no matter what the story. With a no spoilers promise, I’d better not go any further!
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn was quite gripping and had a good pace to it. I felt the end was a little bit rushed but it was a good end, nonetheless. A very clever plot and well-written.
My final complete read for February was The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. By ‘complete’, I mean that I finished it in February, not that there was any books that I didn’t enjoy so much that I gave up! This was totally off the thriller genre and I loved this book! So far, it’s one of favourite of the year and I was glad to get away from thriller for a while. Another clever plot, woven brilliantly and a feel-good read but not so feel-good that it made me cringe!
I’m currently reading The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd, which is the March read for my facebook group #ReadFor5Today. To join in with the group you don’t have to read the group book by the way! I’ll report back next month on that one 🙂 See you then and thanks for reading!
What are you reading? Drop me a line by commenting below or tweet me @AllSortsHere Thanks!
This post contains affiliate links meaning that if you buy something from the link, i will get a few pennies but it won’t cost you a penny more!
I love to write and generally I find that my words flow with paper and pen.
Sometimes pencil but mainly pen.
When my words flow, the inspiration keeps coming, the idea keeps growing, the creative juices don’t scratch on the page and all is well.
Rare is the occasion when I find myself typing directly to computer. My notes are only understandable by me, partly due to my writing which when ‘in the flow’ is what I would call ‘artistic’. I wouldn’t win any house points for handwriting, that’s for sure.
There are arrows drawn from here to there with asterisks, triangles, squares – anything that can be married up with ‘go to [star, triangle, square]’.
Parts are sectioned off and numbered so that I know which section goes where. You’d struggle to do that on a computer.
Back in my school days I used a fountain pen with actual ink cartridges and I loved it. There was a real sense of ‘old skool’ about it. I’m tempted to get another for the sake of nostalgia!
Because there’s no doubt that if you use a good quality pen, the whole process is going to feel better. It’s a no-brainer!
What about you? What’s YOUR writing tool?
Comment below and/or tweet me @AllSortsHere Thanks!
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#ReadFor5Today is all about making time to read. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 5 days, 5 weeks or 5 months to finish that book. All books are different lengths and we all read at different speeds.
What matters is that we make time to read, every day. Whether that’s 5 lines, 5 paragraphs or 5 chapters, if it works for you… do it!
For me, reading is where it’s at; a time to relax, to escape, to kick-back. Time for me, reading what I want to read!
My #Readfor5Today facebook community is a supportive, closed group where you can tell us what you’re reading, be accountable and get support and cheerleading along the way. Please do share any inspirational posts or quotes that fit in with the feel of the group. Thanks for joining in to make reading YOUR aim.
And here I am, getting my act together and creating a poll for the March #Readfor5Today ! Yes, you read that right… March! That gives us a week to vote for which book to read and 3 weeks to find the book, whether that means ordering it online, reserving it from the library or borrowing it from a friend. The aim of this group of course, is to encourage us all to #Readfor5Today and every day, whether that’s for 5 minutes, 5 paragraphs or 5 chapters! Which one would YOU like to #Readfor5Today ?
I recently read a book that really resonated with me. During the Christmas break, I had decided that I would take some time out for me and my family. I decided that I would re-read a book that would help me to focus on what I wanted to achieve, and this in turn brought into question what I actually did want to achieve.
At the risk of sounding like a total cliché (there’s no getting away from it – we have a good and proper old-fashioned cliché here!), I realised that I wanted to focus on what I already have, to remain focussed on what I already have and on the more naff days that everyone has, focus on what I’ve got to be grateful for in order to bring that vibration of gratitude right back to where I want it to be.
Considering I re-read this book in December, I decided there and then to start applying this theory and didn’t want until new year to get stuck in.
Since the day that I first read the book, I’ve written in my gratitude journal most days. And I can honestly testify that it works. If I’ve had a bit of a naff day, racking my brains for something to be grateful for does make me see the lighter, brighter, happier, even simpler side of life. Heck, I even find myself making mental notes of ‘I can pop that in my gratitude journal later!’.
So yes, my gratitude journal is working for me, lifts my mood when needed and has become a good habit, which I’m very grateful for… And who doesn’t want some feel-good vibes?…
I often post an insta-story of what I’m grateful for each day too and have found that a lot of people watch my stories, perhaps inspiring them to do the same.
What about you? What do you do regularly to lift your mood and focus on being grateful? I’d love to hear in the comments below 🙂
*This post contains an affiliate link which means that if you happen to purchase something from the link you click, I get to have a little happiness too! 🙂
I’ve always loved to read, have been brought up around books and have passed on this love of books and reading to our daughter. And there’s the key. For the past (almost) decade, I haven’t made the time to read, always putting some else’s needs first (rightly or wrongly – there’s a discussion for a separate blog post!).
In January 2018 I decided to start reading regularly again. I wanted to give my eyes a break from allll the screens and enjoy some down-time. Some time where I could dive into another world for 5 paragraphs, 5 chapters, 5 minutes…
I also took up a book reading challenge last year through GoodReads and am doing the same this year. Last year’s challenge was to egg me on to keep reading (I love updating my book with ‘read’!).
All this reading gave me the idea to share the books that I’ve loved. There won’t be full-on reviews, just a personal view of why I enjoyed a book. What better way to share my reads than in a blog linky for everyone else to join in with?
#BrilliantBooks was born. If you’ve blogged about your favourite read, share it here! There aren’t really any rules; it doesn’t need to be a recent read or a recent post. Just a book, any book, any genre, any author. I think you get the idea! And it doesn’t have to be an actual book either, e-books are welcome. I’m not saying that I’ll read every single post but I will share every single post on various social media. If you’d like to be featured next month, link up and share each post on twitter tagging it @AllSortsHere #BrilliantBooks . The person who has shared the most tweets posts with the hashtag will be featured in the next linky post which will be the last Friday of every month.
And let’s not forget instagram… link up your picture and use the hashtag #BrilliantBooks . Just copy the url of the actual picture into the linky tool below.
Share my badge (see bottom of the post and my sidebar) or link back to my blog and let’s go!
I’ve always loved to read, have been brought up around books and have passed on this love of books and reading to our daughter. And there’s the key. For the past (almost) decade, I haven’t made the time to read, always putting some else’s needs first (rightly or wrongly – there’s a discussion for a separate blog post!).
But I took
up reading again and it gave me the idea to share the books that I’ve loved.
This won’t be a full-on review, just a personal view of why I enjoyed the book.
I’ve mentioned before how I steer away from ‘chick lit’ beach-type reads and I would class this in that genre but there was something that lured me into this one as it sat on the library ‘all donations gratefully received’ shelf.
As I started reading, I wondered if I would regret my purchase because of the Notting Hill setting (I’m not sure how cheesy you can get?!) and the main character being the divorcee of the man who lives in the flat below.
Thankfully though, the author builds up the ex Leo’s ‘darling’ character so effectively that you want to slap him, frankly.
That aside, the deeper tales of deceit, of being true to yourself, of caring, building trust and respecting others’ feelings/opinions kept me reading.
No spoilers here but I got dewey-eyed over a hedgehog can didn’t predict the pitter patter of tiny feet. Not for ‘her’ in any case!
There’s nothing worse (for me) than a fluffy ‘they all lived happily ever after’ ending. While this doesn’t ‘quite’ fit that bill, it comes very close. But as yo know, I don’t post reviews of books that I don’t enjoy. That said, I was looking forward to moving on the next in my TBR pile…
This post contains affiliate links meaning that if you buy something from the link, i will get a few pennies but it won’t cost you a penny more!
As a writer, nothing quite compares to ‘getting in the flow’ and just writing.
Sounds obvious? Well, maybe.
I mean, there are different forms of writing aren’t there? Novels and novellas, short stories, poetry, limericks and even writing in a journal.
They’re all expressing yourself through writing, even a gratitude journal which is a great form of (cheap!) therapy by the way!
For many people, including me, writing is a way to sort out my headspace, to sift through the million and one thoughts, ideas, concerns whirring through my mind.
Sometimes what translates from my head to paper/screen might be nonsense. But that’s okay. Because it’s my nonsense!
It’s like my writing tool is my chance to defrag, just like a computer.
As a rule, I prefer to write, actually write with a pen. Sometimes a pencil. Rarely do I sit and type.
On my blog you won’t find much raw material. It’s usually been edited, polished, fine-tuned. Why? Because that’s my perfectionist side. For me, the writing has to flow by using punctuation and the correct rhythm for the stanzas for a poem. I really should be a proofreader because it takes a few criticial eyes over my work before I’m ready to publish.
So, why do I write?
For me…
For my readers…
For my never-resting creative brain!…
I hope you enjoy my writing here on my blog.
Now, over to you!…
What do you like to write?
Comment below and/or tweet me @AllSortsHere Thanks!
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