So poor I can't even pay attention

PinotGrigio41

DD2 has given me an outline of her ideal Horsey Book this morning. She is an absolutely avid reader and having ploughed her way through every horsey childrens book on the market says that most of them are pretty samey samey. Stacy Gregg though is her favourite author.

She says that most of the books are, horse gets ill, horse enters competition, horse wins or sometimes pops its cloggs, theres nearly always a nasty girl at the stable, or stable is in financial difficulties and will need to close down but always survives in the end. In her opinion that is the route you dont want to go down !! She has given me some ideas for you though, as if you havent already got enough of your own I'm sure !!

The opinions of an 11 year old eh ?!! :rotfl:

LAM2011

Wow its all go in here Sound like you had a lovely evening and how nice Manpet bought you food you like.

I used to love reading horsey books as a child and in fact now that I have a kindle have downloaded a few from there. Have read every !!!!!! Francis and John Francome too I have a friend who has published a book herself and its downloadable on kindle. I wish you every success in this and it must feel good although very scary to have made the decision to work for yourself.

Question for Pinot - I was thinking of using cash for clothes as I cannot be bothered to photo and ebay loads of small value items. But I read nothing but bad reviews on here - I am assuming your experience with them was not so bad. OH has lots of shoes that are really nice that do not get worn too.

Piq - sending you hugs and Captain kisses from the girls. My old boy went out yesterday for the first time in 3 months and had a bath lol - he loved it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I have a few things I want to ebay and really must make the effort today.

HappyNow

Another vote for children's pony books here. My daughter read just about every pony book on the market when she was younger - she just couldn't get enough. And once you create a character that children will love (human, equine or both) then you could develop a whole series of books following the adventures of that one character that the kids would want to follow. Children's pester-power is a force to be reckoned with, and parents actually LIKE to buy books/ebooks to encourage their young 'uns to read. I hope it works out for you .

cleggie

i think that a childrens horsey book is a GREAT idea!!
I loved horses as a kid, and used to read loads of them. What a fab idea!
Oh Piq, i think you're on to something here!! I am excited for you

I still remember the first line of my favourite horse book 'i dont know what it is about stables, but the smell always reminds me of warm apples'. No idea what the book was called, but it really made a lasting impression on me!

Good luck Piq, i alwats fancied myself as the next Beatrix Potter, as was desperate to be an author when i was younger!

Eliza_L

Hi Piq, I've been reading through your diary, sorry to see you're struggling to find a job, but I just wanted to pop up and say go for it with being a freelance writer. It's been my dream since I was a child, and one I have also just started to proceed with attempting to make the next step.

I have been going down the route of blogging with some success over the last few months. It's not easy to crack into the market, but rewarding when you bid for a job and are successful.

I have a novel in the loft that I wrote about ten years ago, but have never done anything with. Maybe one day.

A thought that if you need a way to hone your writing for actual monetary reward (albeit small) then there are a couple of good product review sites around that pay you for your opinions. The money is nothing earth shattering, but it's your opinion and I firmly believe it's good to write something every day to keep the skills alive.

Best of luck with your journey, and I'll be reading.

Eager_Elephant

Sorry I have not been back for a while.

Another poster answered your question about insurance payments re mortgage and JSA so you are doing the right thing by asking for the insurance to be paid straight to the mortgage.

Can't remember if you claimed Council Tax Benefit?

Also if you are self employed you could claim Working Tax Credit if your income is low as long as you work more than 30 hours per week.

Igamogam

Piquant wrote: »

Thanks Moo!

The idea of childrens' books is building. I know nothing about the childrens market, I need to do some research and quickly. I know an illustrator who may be able to help.

My poor brain is reeling, now I've decided to go down this route! Not helped by the wine last night either!

Piq

I have had a childrens book rolling round my head for years now - one day! Not a horse though but a dog - he has a name and everything. I can picture him but sadly cant draw him. Think if I could do this I would be away but cant draw a stick man with a ruler!! Inspired by by a little pet cemetery I stumbled across in an overgrown area in the grounds of a stately home we once visited - I cant abide keeping to paths!

Piquant_2

Oh my word it's been busy on here today and I haven't been here at all! The diary has a life of it's own!

My brain is all of a tizz wozz... can't stop thinking about stuff, unfortunately, there is no order to what's going on in it at the moment. But that will come. I'm trying to get things started so far today I have done the following:

Had a long conversation with dd about setting up a website for me to use as a platform to drum up some freelance business. She is coming over for the day/night next Saturday. We will hammer out how it's going to work and actually get the basic site built :eek: Also she will set it up so it comes up in searches etc and link in my not yet there Twitter account.

Had a long conversation with a lady who runs an IT department, but is about to be made redundant down at the yard. She is not very forthcoming with information. I think she's scared I'll run off with her ideas and make a fortune [chance would be a fine thing ] She has set up lots of websites based on what's hot and uses advertising on them. She says she's made about £4k. The one thing she mentioned, but I can't find it at the moment, is writing for paid per article sites. I don't think she meant to tell me about them as she seemed to be back tracking a bit. But is sounded interesting.

I was sent details about writing for a restaurant, food reviews and the like. They wanted examples, so I've written one on my blog. Tomorrow I'll write to them telling them how good I'd be at it and give them a link to the article. Hopefully, it's what they want.

Won a bet with my Dad, that the man sitting opposite in the cafe had a toupee. Luckily for me, it slipped a little in the wind and rain as he was leaving. Dad paid me £5, he insisted, even though I'd been joking!

Went for a hack with the Captain. We were attacked by a Yorkshire terrier:eek: It was growling and hanging on to the Captains feathers, really ferocious, made even more terrifying by the blue ribbon tied on it's head :rotfl:The Captain just kept walking with this tiny dog attached to his leg, eventually it gave up and ran away only to attack the Captain on the way back.

I must now update myself with all the comings and going here. Big wave to all of you :hello:

Piq

Piquant_2

Eliza_L wrote: »

Hi Piq, I've been reading through your diary, sorry to see you're struggling to find a job, but I just wanted to pop up and say go for it with being a freelance writer. It's been my dream since I was a child, and one I have also just started to proceed with attempting to make the next step.

I have been going down the route of blogging with some success over the last few months. It's not easy to crack into the market, but rewarding when you bid for a job and are successful.

I have a novel in the loft that I wrote about ten years ago, but have never done anything with. Maybe one day.

A thought that if you need a way to hone your writing for actual monetary reward (albeit small) then there are a couple of good product review sites around that pay you for your opinions. The money is nothing earth shattering, but it's your opinion and I firmly believe it's good to write something every day to keep the skills alive.

Best of luck with your journey, and I'll be reading.

Hello Eliza!

It sounds to me like we're travelling the same road. Good luck to you. I look forward to hearing how you get on. Please may I see your blog, you can always pm me if you're shy. I am, that's why everything is under a pseudonym!

What are the product review sites? Do you have to have the products? I've bought very little over the last couple of years. I think a lot of my stuff is heading towards the retro look, but not in a good way

Don't just read, join in! Love to see you here!

Piq

Piquant_2

Thanks Cleggie, LAM, Mrs Happy, Pinot and Moo for your ideas about childrens' books. I'm still thinking about where to go with this. I think my brain is protesting a bit as it hasn't had to think for a few months now I've put it into overdrive.

I can't think, at the moment, how to make the Captain a hero and build a plot around him. I tend to write anecdotes about him, somehow I need to build on that. I can't see how I could have him rescuing chickens from a burning building, yet...

I will definitely be having a nightcap this evening to try to get some sleep, I'll also have a notepad by the bed, because the middle of the night is the time my brain gives me the answer, then wipes the slate clean almost immediately!

Piq