New Website

It's finally here - my new website. Now that I'm a full time freelance writer, I thought it would be a good idea to have an actual website so that potential clients can see what I offer and contact me easily.

Plus it gives me more credibility, and makes me look like a lot more professional.

So there will be a lot less on this blog from now on - but don't worry; I have a new blog over at the new website, so you can still keep up to date with my general thoughts and rambling ideas.

It's here: www.lisamarielamb.co.uk and I hope you enjoy it!

Award-Winning Journalist Gives Prize Money to Charity

Moira Kerr is something quite special, not only in terms of her writing, but in terms of her humanity as well. The freelance journalist who hails from Oban won both the feature writer of the year award (this was thanks to three articles written for the Daily Record) and journalist of the year award for her diverse portfolio of articles, news reports, and features at the Highlands and Islands Media Awards.

Oban RNLI received a donation

In her spare time, Moira is a volunteer fundraising secretary for the Oban RNLI Lifeboat, and so she decided to donate the majority of her £500 prize money to that cause which is clearly so dear to her heart. She gave away £300, and it went towards buying the volunteers at the Lifeboat some Wellington boots which, they say, were much needed and very happily and gratefully received.

Moira said that she appreciated the awards, and was excited to receive them – but that it was all down to her contacts, kept in her Smartphone, who kept her up to date with everything that was happening all across the Highlands and Islands. She called these contacts her ‘phone-a-friends’, which caused a laugh, but which is also absolutely true!

If you need any freelance articles, news stories, or blogging done, please contact me; I’m happy to help. 

Snack Attack

Photo credit: Jason Rogers

https://www.flickr.com/photos/restlessglobetrotter/

Snack Attack

Sometimes I get hungry

In the middle of the night,

And hurry to the kitchen

Without turning on the light.

The floor is cold and creepy

But that doesn’t turn me back.

I feel really sneaky

When I have a midnight snack!

Lisamarie Lamb 2016

New: Trip Trap

It's been a while, but I now have a new book out. Trip Trap is a horror story that incorporates fairytale themes and sets them firmly in the British countryside. Think Midsomer Murders crossed with The Three Billy Goats Gruff and you'll be on your way to an idea of what this new story might be about.

Who's that trip trapping over my bridge? It's the echo of a childhood bedtime story read on a mother's knee, but this story is definitely not for children. Eliza is excited when she gets her first assignment as a newspaper journalist, even if it does mean she has to travel to the back of beyond to get the story. But with a slew of missing persons and some weird weather warnings, there is definitely something going on in the little village of Bailby. The villagers stick together, and local policeman, Fraser, is Eliza's only ally. As they grow closer, something else is ripping the village apart - and it's coming to gobble them up...

Trip Trap is available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com in both eBook and printed formats. It is published by J. Ellington Ashton.

Complaining Is Essential

Don't complain. 

It sounds like a simple philosophy for life, a mantra that can be repeated over and over until it sticks and no more ungrateful, complaining words come out of your mouth.

It sounds like bliss, and at first glance the above quote does seem to be a good one. Don't like something? Change it. Don't complain.

On second glance, thinking about it, changing a situation isn't always possible without a bit of complaint.

But it's okay, because of the second part of the quote - if you can't change the situation that's making you unhappy, change how you think about it.

Gotcha.

Only, actually, I don't get it at all.

I can't suddenly make myself like something that I didn't before. If I don't like it, I don't like it. I have my reasons. It's not just a matter of looking at whatever it is from a different angle and realising that my original thoughts were wrong all the time (oh look! Actually the fact that my car broke down and there are no buses and I have a broken leg so I can't walk anyway is actually fine! It's great! I was just looking at my situation from the wrong angle! Now that I've changed my attitude all is well!).

I think complaining is essential in life.

I don't mean complaining for the sake of it, just for fun, but if something is really wrong, and no amount of attitude changing will right that wrong, then a complaint may well help you. And, although it may not feel like it at the time, if the complaint is aimed at you it can help you too. Don't just assume that whoever is doing the complaining is wrong - they may have a point, and if you think about it, that point may help you grow and succeed.

So, yes, if something is bringing you down, change it. If you can't change it - and sometimes you definitely cannot - then by all means complain. You never know, the situation might change after that. It could even get better than ever.

If you want some help writing a complaint letter, just ask. As a freelance writer I've often complained on other people's behalf! 

What's The Link Between Ian Fleming & Sting?

It sounds like a truly unanswerable riddle, but there is actually a solution - and it is a rather surprising one.

Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels in Jamaica, sitting at a certain desk. Decades later, that same desk was used by Sting to pen his famous song, Every Breath You Take.

Finding this out made me wonder whether creative talent can be passed on. Not necessarily through inanimate objects (although why not? Why shouldn't a desk or pen or chair or anything else become infused with creativity? We don't know what causes it in the first place, so we can't dismiss anything when it comes to skill and talent), but perhaps through being in proximity to someone.

According to some scientists, everyone has some kind of talent, even if it's hidden in most people (that's what it's only a handful in the grand scheme of things who can sing, compose, write, paint, draw, and so on).

But what if, simply by spending time with people whose talent is most definitely out there, we can soak up some of that creativity and be better at the things we want to do?

It's an experiment I'm willing to trial... Now, where would I find J. K. Rowling?

Happy New Year - 2016? Really?

Yes, here we are. It's 2016 and, whether we're ready or not, it's happening. Resolutions are popular, and easily broken. I've already broken my one and only, which was to write 500 words of fiction* each and every day.

Why haven't I written my 500 words today?

Because I was enjoying some family time. It happens pretty rarely, these days when we're altogether, so yes, I could have hidden myself away upstairs and churned out 500 words, but what would I be missing downstairs? What fun could I be having?

And that's the point.

Writing is fun, it's wonderful, I love it, but it will always be there. My family won't. One day my little girl will be grown up and living somewhere else with her own things to do and her own life to live, and I'll have more than enough time to do my writing.

So for 2016, I guess me real resolution is to enjoy life, take opportunities when they come up, and cherish my family. And if I get days when I write 500 words of fiction, that's a bonus.

Let's make it a good one!

Oh, and those resolutions that everyone loves so much are listed on www.supplymanagement.com. They are:

1. Get fitter and healthier (63 per cent)
2. Drink less alcohol (57 per cent)
3. Lose weight (34 per cent)
4. Get out of debt (26 per cent)
5. Stop smoking (22 per cent)
6. Find a new job/change career (18 per cent)
7. Spend more time with friends/family (14 per cent)
8. Start my own business (11 per cent)
9. Travel more (9 per cent)
10. Find love (7 per cent)

*I write for a living, so regularly write upwards of 5,000 words a day for other people. My resolution was to write my own fiction, which lapsed a little in 2015.