Life story

Most peope who read blogs also write their own! So there's probably a huger number of 'authors'  than the books we see on the library and bookshop shelves! But have you ever thought of writing down your own life story? Seriously! It's not that scary or difficult  - unless of course there are too many things in your past you'd rather not remember or put into writing. But it is a super way of passing on adventures you've had to your children or grandchildren. You haven't got children or grandchildren? But you might have one day! Your life story doesn't have to be written and finished in one day or in a public arena like a blog. It can just stay on your computer, and you can add or take away, edit, read at your leisure.


I'm on page 50 of mine and have got to my eighteenth year, still many to go - both pages and years! But so far it's been fun! I not only recalled incidents, but also researched what was happening in the news or what has happened to people I remember, with the result that I find new Facebook friends! For example, in my final year at school, South Africa introduced TV - yeah, look it up and find the year! How interesting to read that the most popular programmes were actually Afrikaans children's programmes! I wasn't a child at the time, but those children's programmes characters lived on and on and on. You South Africans - do you remember Bennie Boekwurm? Or Liewe Heksie? Haas Das?!!!


You don't know what to write, you say? There's quite a few books on writing your life story, the two I've got are 'Times of our Lives'  and 'Write Your Own Life Story' both by Michael Oke. They both give memory joggers and ideas for how to set it out. For example one section is headed 'School Buildings'. I bet you now have a picture of part of one of your schools that has either good or bad memories. That's a beginning!


I dare you to try it! You don't have to have a deadline to finish, just write! You don't have to publish or make it available to the world-wide public; when you're satisfied you've done it justice, just print a few copies off for your family. Believe me it's good!


Good luck!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Michael+Oke&x=11&y=17

Frustrations & Irritations

It's amazing that there aren't more - or any - smashed computer screens sitting on our dumps! The number of "Error" messages I've received just this evening would normally have made me get enormously upset and uptight. But I'm just sitting here carrying on without a word! Maybe I've got to the point where I expect things not to go right. As a Canadian comedian living in UK said as a guest on a show sometime - nothing works in England, and you're OK with that! (or something to that effect). When two hours work, copying, typing, pasting, thinking, just disappears off the screen in front of you - shouldn't that be the most irritating, hair-pulling, screaming, hand-wringing experience? Horrors! Have I just given up? Or have I just 'mellowed'?! Does age have something to do with it? Maturity?
How annoying it is to have school kids dart in front of the bus 'queue' - a London 'queue' of course being simply a word with one consonant in it and four vowels and not much else.
But it passes. I get a seat on the bus. I retype the page ten times before going to bed at midnight, or leave it to tomorrow night. There's-always-tomorrow kind of attitude; Chill; can't do anything about it - and that's how we manage to live one day at a time!
Tomorrow's Friday. Maybe that's the day when things go sunny side up, all ready for the weekend? Maybe!