18 Nov 08 Bloggers Constipation
That little tab in the blog dashboard marked ‘Write’.
That’s what I’m talking about. Sometimes I’m glad to click on it, and merrily type away, and before I know it I’ve written a page and a half. The output borders on diarhea at times like that.
It’s threatening, when I have bloggers constipation, and can’t think of anything to write. It sits there, goading me, after I’ve loaded the dashboard into my browser, knowing that I’ve not written anything for a few days, and yet still can’t think of anything useful.
Truly though, the secret is, don’t worry. It’s like having real constipation; the more you think about it, the more you can’t. (I don’t have that problem for real, in case you were wondering – ok, I knew you weren’t, but you might have been).
If you don’t blog for a few weeks, and you don’t care, then it’s probably time to quit making serious attempts at blogging. Your heart isn’t in it really is it?
But if you miss a day or two, or three, because you can’t think of anything truly constructive to write about – then don’t worry. Something will come to you. It might be at 2am tonight when you can’t sleep, or at 11am in the middle of a busy day.
That leads me onto another point. Keep something to make notes on with you at all times. Keep a pad by the side of the bed for that 2am thought, and keep something you can jot notes into during a busy day – a pocket book, or your phone’s voice recorder, or use Jott, or something else that works for you. It doesn’t have to be high tech. Just something that will remind you what you had a great idea to write about a few hours later, when you do get the opportunity!
Happy blogging.
Tags: attempts, borders, busy day, constipation, dashboard, diarhea, few days, heart, jot notes, jott, sleep, voice recorder
30 Nov 07 Craziness
I’ve always believed that while national pride is good, and quite natural, when it borders on racism, it’s going to far. I very much try to treat everyone, wherever they are from, equally.
I do, however, feel that when you visit, live or work in another country, you should try your best to follow the customs and culture of that country, at least publicly, so as not to offend your hosts.
This brings me to the case of Gillian Gibbons, the British school teacher in Sudan.
Gillian has taught there for some time. Recently, she held a vote in her class to name a teddy bear. By an apparently clear majority, the children chose the name Muhammad.
Everything was fine at that point, although the head teacher pointed out that it was perhaps straying into sensitive areas. Gillian’s problems started when a parent complained about the naming. Apparently, the parent that made the original complaint didn’t want it to lead to what has happened since. The next day someone from the Government came by, and Gillian was arrested and taken into custody.
She was charged with blasphemy, which could have led to a 6 month sentence, 40 lashes, and a fine.
She received 15 days in jail, with a deportation order at the end of it. She maintains she was only going along with what the children wanted to do.
Now, we have thousands marching in the streets in Sudan to demand the death penalty!
I realize that even this represents only a minority of the citizens of Sudan, but this kind of behavior does nothing to help foster better relations between Muslims and the West, which the vast majority of people on both sides wish for.
Tags: apparently, blasphemy, borders, customs, death penalty, deportation, gibbons, gillian, head teacher, lashes, marching in the streets, muhammad, muslims and the west, national pride, racism, school teacher, sensitive areas, sudan, teddy bear
280 | Unique Visitors |
