The Half and Half Solution

Try something new for your diary or journal this year ...

If you like to have a paper based diary for recording to do lists and appointments in, but you don't seem to use all the space for each day, you have a wonderful opportunity.

This year buy a diary that gives you just a little more space per day on the page. If you used to have a week to a page, try two days to a page for example. Then, use the top part of each page to record the things you need to remember like bills to pay, appointments, friend's birthdays, shifts for work (or whatever you use a date book/diary for normally).

THEN ... use the other half of the page (or more) to record things that happen during the day. Or things you over hear, places you go, situations you observe or feelings you have as you line up in a queue for 20 mins at the bank.

By the end of the year you will have a full record of a year's worth of living - and how you felt about it. Sometimes from a planning perspective, sometimes written as you experience it and at other times when you reflect at the end of the day.

One book.

Two purposes.

New way of looking at the world.

It's ALL about Diaries now!

Ok ok ok ..... Stop the chatter about Turkey and Families now. THIS ... this little week between Christmas and New Year is THE time of year for all diary and journal writers.

We come in to our own now.

You can spot the serious diary users and journal writers at this time of the year. We speed through the shoe sales and spend most of the day around blank books, journals and new diaries. Oh those new diaries. It is such an important decision ... do you upgrade your electronic PDA? Do you revert to the old paper based day to a page? Week to a page? A4 size? Pocket size? Pretty or classy?

And that is just the way you handle your date book.

Journals take on a new meaning. So many journallers won't just keep writing in their current book. These get disbanded and discarded for new blank books to start the new year with a blank page. Oh the blank page! (More on that later in the week).

Then when you get your purchases home ... time to fondle, fill out opening pages, decorate and generally just satiate yourself with the touch of the new and blank pages ahead ... sigh ...

The week between Christmas and New Year is journal and diary week ... life is so sweet. (And better still the left over turkey is all finished!).

Nearly Time for New Year's Resolutions

Like it or not, I bet you over indulged in SOMETHING over Christmas huh?

There is a great health and wellbeing site to go to to start thinking healthy. No Excuses Gym is both kind and hard on you!

It is tough because it reminds you that there really isn't any good reason not to get fit, exercise, eat well etc etc (you can add your own failures here!). I think I am most creative when it comes to excuses not to do things I know I really want to do - and should do.

The site is kind because it doesn't say "Don't go to a Mexican Restaurant" ... instead it says "Here's what to order so you can still get out the door after eating at a Mexican Restaurant". How much better is that? Simple ways to change some habits but still not miss out on life!

This blog is written by Marcela who is totally into personal training and highly qualified by the look of it - both a PhD and Masters ... . I am NOT focussed on intense exercise or motivated by lectures on health, but I like her site. It has a sense of realism to it. Just what I need as the New Year starts. No more huge resolutions thatI know I won't keep.

Pop by and have a look at the hints about exercise, eating healthy, sleeping more (I like that one!), daily tips, interesting tid bits and information that is current and looks at the wellness debate.

Merry Christmas to All and To All A Good Turkey!

I'll be back writing again after Boxing Day - so have a ...

May all your pressies be great ones ... Bridget Jones's Diary

Let's hear from BJ for the last Chrismas Diary Entry ....

"12.30pm. Gift exchange was nightmare. Always overcompensate for bad presents, yelping with delight, which means I get more and more horrid gifts each year..."

So may your presents be wonderful, and IF NOT, then keep the yelping to a minimum!

Christmas Diary - Andy Warhol

Christmas Day 1980 - Andy Warhol ....

"It was the coldest day ever. And I'd been afriad to go to sleep becasue I was alone in the house. I'd like to get Nena and Aurora's brother Agosto to be a bodygaurd, although he's like only two feet high, but he's just out of Marine Corps and its "Yes Sir!" and "No, sir!"and he's great. I was on my way to work but since there was no heat I decided I couldn't. Picked up John Rienhold and we went to Sharon Hammond's for Chirstmas Dinner (cab $5). But there wasn't anybody good there."

It sounds so lame to work on Christmas Day. That's it. No blogging after Friday. (I love Christmas Eve as much as Christmas Day). None then until after boxing day.

Even writers deserve a break. Don't they? Doesn't mean my head will stop.

Christmas Diaries

I figured that in the lead up to Christmas it would be fun to look at OTHER people's Christmas Day musings in their diary ...

I find it interesting, because one of the days I most often MISS writing in my diary is actually Christmas Day. Boxing Day often starts with a list of pressies tho! There is NO WAY I will blog on Christmas Day. The computer will be off ... well and truly! Will you BLog for Christmas?

Anyway If we are to hear from other diaries - I thought it best to start with our friend Kilvert. And this diary entry also has significance for those of us living down under ... but read it no matter who you are. The last line is not what you would expect from the local parson at Christmas ...

" To-day we heard by a short telegram of the awful calamity of the burning of the emigrant ship Caspartia near the Cape of Good Hope bound for New Zealand. Four hundred and forty persons burnt in hher. One boat reached St Helena with three survivors who had lived on the flsh of their companions"

I'll try to find something more uplifting for tomorrow ...

Happy Birthday To Me!

Well......... happy birthday to my BLOG that is!

I can't believe it. I started blogging twelve months ago when I started the research component to my book The New Century Notebook. It had been suggested to me that perhaps the best way to learn about blogging (its ups & downs, its addictive nature, its frustrations and fun) was to become a blogger.

It was supposed to be a short term thing.

No one warned me it was so totally addictive!

Here I am, with a 12 month old blog now, wondering what happened. No longer just about the research I am still finding my blogging voice. Still creating a blogging community around me and most definately learning the more advanced things about blogging still.

I'm here to stay. NCN Blog is here to stay. There will be some change in focus from just the NCN project ... but I ain't goin' no where!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Mummy Bloggers Wanted!

I love Mummy Bloggers!

As part of the New Century Notebook Project I am now doing a mini study on Mummy Bloggers!

You know the ones ... the witty women who share their daily trials and tribulations so the rest of us parents feel half normal.

If you are a Mummy Blogger, please please please pop over to Mums@home in the Blogosphere and share the URL for your Mummy Blog so I can profile you!

RIP Muppet Mobile

There is definately something in this Feng Shui thing ... I swear it.

When we put up our HUGE Chritsmas tree in what Feng Shui people would call our "Finance corner" of the house. I said to Stuart: "This is bad financial Feng Shui to put an artificial tree in this corner". He argued well, pointing out it is a Christmas Tree, not just any artifical plant. So we added our nativity to that corner, great lights, metallic looking decorations in silver, red and purple, and forgot the conversation really.

* Then the air conditioning broke down in our house: Bill $600+
* Excess water bill arrives (I am more disgusted that we went over our limit in these drought ridden times, than the bill to be honest): $ you don't want to know!
* Then Stuart's car needed new brakes and something done to the transmission: $1500+
*Then my car overheats and costs me unexpected coolant: $30 (small price to payI know ... but it's the point that it was unexpected in December. Who has extra money in December?)
*THEN ... my Muppet Mobile dies totally (my car, ok? Yes, it has a name!) -LOWEST quote to resurect it?: $3500

So excuse me if you don't hear from me for awhile ... I'm off looking for a LIVE tree for that corner of the house ... but with the Muppet Mobile gone I will have to walk ... and drag it home over my shoulder ...

New Skin Design Wanted!

Position Vacant!

New Century Notebook will be one year old in a dew days ... and to think I started this blog simply to experience blogging for the book! I need to seriously focus my postings, but I also want to get a new look.

That's where you come in.

I would really like a blog skin designed that more clsoely reflects the blog and me ... and I would love some recomendations about who to get to do it.

Any ideas? I know some of you have had some work done to your blogs recently, so I would love a referral. Or perhaps you are a designer and would like the challenge.

Help me out here. (Oh and thanks to Zoot for this temporary change!).

Do check out Pay Per Post ...

I have fallen for as many e-scams as the next person (give or take about a million!). So I am actually quite pleased to add a new little link to my blog (Check it out over there by the other blogging resources on the right ... no lower ... where all the icons are under my visitor numbers ... yeah there!).

As you will know there aren't many legitimate deals for making money on your blog. Well Pay Per Post is one place you can earn serious blog money . And it is perfect for any blogggers who already talk about cool sites and share resources with others. The best bit is honestly that there is no unwanted advertising on your site. If you like something, you blog about it, you get paid. There are a few restrictions ... like you have to have a cool blog approved, write regularly and not just be a sales blog of some sort. But it's dead easy and no more adsense putting whatever it wants on your site!

So click on that little banner (... over there ... LOWER ... gees do I have to go thru all that again ....)
Oh bugger ... here's a link just for you lazy ones that have had too much Chrissie cheer to be able to scroll ....

Dear Diary ...

Dear Diary ...

How do you start your journal or diary entires? Your blog entries? Have you noticed that most blogs (while they often have an alter ego attached) rarely start with a salutation of any kind.

Traditional diaries definately had a persona, and were often adressed by a name, or more generically as "Dear Diary..."

I haven't used a name or a salutation for years ... what do you do?

New Roomie New Roomie New Roomie!

Come on down and meet Noi from Singapore!

Do pop over to visit Noi at 'Voicing My Thoughts' blog.

I hate choosing who to take up for renting my blogspace ... so thanks to everyone who put in a bid ... please try again next time. As a political act I am keeping the bid amount to 10 points (the minumum you can have) ...

Now ... go see Noi!

Happy Birthday Claire

Hey there Claire.
Happy Birthday.

We all wish you were here to share a cocktail or two - tho of course you would have to make them!

I can hardly believe this picture is two years old at Christmas time. I am still taking care of your bucket ...

I still miss you, you cheeky young thing.

Rest In Peace.

Urban Legends Debunked!

Hey - wanna have some fun?
I am always looking out for interesting tid bits to add to my writing - especially in novel writing. But I also find it kinda useful to have a pocket full of interesting 'facts' to have at the ready when I am socialising at this time of the year too.

The good people at Maxim magazine have taken a set of Urban Legends and common myths and opened a "Debunkment" Section of their web page (yeah I know, I doubt that this is a real word!).

I 'borrowed' this pic of the laughing nun from their site too ... isn't she cute?

There are some Urban legends I hadn't even heard of before like ... using the words 'president' and 'kill' in one telephone conversation could lead to the US government recording your conversation (in the States obviously ... or phoning in to the States) .... and chewing gum taking 7 years to digest if swallowed ...

Hee hee - I'm not telling you if they're true or not. Go check them out for yourself!

Year Endings

The year coming to an end often moves journal writers in to a new frenzied state. Do you buy a new journal to start on January 1? Do you try to quickly fill the old one up even though it still has so many pages left? Do you just leave the last pages blank? Or - do you just keep writing as if the end of the year is nothing special at all?

Have you noticed the journals for sale as Christmas presents? There are some really lovely ones out there at the moment (no free ads from me I promise!). BLank books can be used for so many purposes ... they are worth considering as a present ...

I'm thinking I might try a new radical approach next year ... but I'll write about that later if I decide to.

And tell me ... does anyone else feel like time is speeding up as we approach the end of the year???

Fun Way To Spend On Line

I have a lovely little dirty secret people ... and whilst I realise that sharing in the blogosphere means it will no longer be secret ... it is still very very clever from a budget concious point of view.

And isn't this time of year so much about Christmas present buying?

I'm sure many of you have already learnt the beauty of doing a lot of Christmas shopping on line. I am seriously suggesting to my family that we even have 'on-line' shopping as a theme for our pressies next year. It takes the stress out of finding a car parking space that's for sure!

Now as all bloggers know, anything on line has the potential to being addictive. Therefore it stands to reason that Christmas shopping on line is a potential new addiction to add to your ever growing list.

BUT ... there is good news. The good people at Pay Per Post have a solution for this little problem (and yes this is an ad ... but it is worth thinking about ok?) . If you are willing to join the crew of people who are getting paid to blog by simply writing the occasional copy for companies you actually DO believe in... then by simply assisting companies YOU choose to advertise on blogs and by working with the PPP team, you can easily get the funds you need for your Christmas shopping addiction. I have nearly $30 US on its way to my PayPal account, which means it will already be sitting there when I want to buy on line using my Pay Pal account.

Now that is only going to cover me for one pressie this year ... but I'm already feeling good about having a full fund for 2007!

How easy is that?

Delivering Your Vision Newsletter

Christmas Pressie for all!

This is a one time offer to be on my e-newsletter mailing list, usually reserved for my life or career coaching clients. I promise that this is a 100% sale free zone, It is simply a method I use to further motivate clients I am currently coaching - and arrives by email once per month with a monthly challenge (oh and a little waxing lyrical from me!). Feel free to even just subscribe for one month to see if it's at all useful for you.

Email me through my web page by clicking on CONTACT PAMELA and filling in the contact details so I can email it to you. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time.

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to all bloggers ...

Meet Saskia!

I have noticed that many writer's blogs are full of the dramas of writing or the business of writing. And that's not a judgement, I'm not making any kind of statement about it ... coz I do that too! But there are SO MANY wonderful things about being a freelance writer ... and one of them is meeting other writers ... so I want you to meet Saskia Walker ...

I only just met Saskia myself recently. In October this year she published a new erotica title for Penguin called Double Dare and I had the privledge of a pre copy so that I could do a review for the Erotica Authors Association. You can read what I had to say here. It's all good ...

So you can imagine my delight when invited to interview her.

I love meeting other writers and hearing how they deal with the ups and downs, and craziness of the writer's life ... and Saskia has a great blog where you can follow her musings. She writes across a few genre ... It gave me a chance to wax lyrical with someone I respect as a writer ...

I've just finished an interview with her where we had a look at strong women role models in erotica ... check it out here.

I love freelance work. I love the little journeys that I get to go on because of it.

Oh and thanks Saskia for being so cool whilst I totally ranted and raved!

Especially for the Kilvert Fans ...

Oh you have to read this ... I TOLD you this guy was a little .... well... strange ...

Remember this Kilvert guy is the local pastor in the village ... and also remember that back in 1875 we wrote and viewed the world quite differently ...

But I still think this is all a little strange ... welcome to Kilvert's World ...

"Saturday June 12
I went to see my dear little lover Mary Tavener, the deaf and half dumb child. When I opened the door of the poor old crazy cottage in the yard the girl uttered a passionate inarticulate cry of joy and running to me she flung her arms round my neck and covered me with kisses. Well. I have lived and I have been loved, and no one can take this from me"

That's it from me with regards to Kilvert ... there is a Kilvert Society if you're interested in joining ... I think I will move on to someone else's published diary next week ... I can't do much more of this one!!!