Fooling with fools
It’s All Fool’s Day which is traditionally marked by the custom of playing jokes (usually on friends and colleagues) and engaging in frivolous activities. So it seems only right that today’s writing prompt reflects such hilarity and it seems fitting to try out a sentence or two of nonsense verse. By the way, I am not a poet, would never claim to have such skill, but this was fun to do as it just let me work with what came into my head without editing! Fool’s a fool in Anyone’s eyes and Anyone could spot Fool quite clearly. And nonsense withstanding, the aim of Fool or Anyone is to make other f...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - April 1, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing writing prompt Source Type: news

Hysteria Readers 2022
The Hysteria Writing Competition couldn’t take place each year without the help of my wonderful volunteer writing competition readers. You can find out more about this year’s team below. Each reader reviews all the entries in their category. This gives them the opportunity to really see what makes a good entry. As you know fashions and tastes change and the unique review form allows the teams to be as unbiased as possible when it comes to the individual entries. Your entry will be judged against the same set of criteria as every other entry. All the readers try not to judge each piece against any other. The things read...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 28, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Hysteria hysteria 2022 hysteria readers Source Type: news

What the humble bowerbird can teach us about marketing
Why is Apple like the bowerbird? The bowerbird, an inhabitant of Australia and Papua New Guinea is a great marketing metaphor that every business owner would do well to learn from. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if even the late, great Steve Jobs himself had been secretly influenced by this fascinating avian character. In essence, this little creature has developed a marketing strategy that is as extraordinary as it is helpful to us here in the human world. It has harnessed the power of getting and keeping the attention of the audience it’s seeking. Of course, unlike its human counterparts, its purpose...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 28, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Marketing metaphor Source Type: news

The new rules of marketing automation
I’m a big fan of automation, particularly as I hate having to do the same thing twice. I’ll go out of my way to avoid that scenario, which is why when autoresponders and email marketing came along well over a decade ago I decided that it would be a ‘good thing‘ to use them in my other business. They’ve worked well over the years and continue to serve my clients regular doses of useful information that help them make sense of issues they have. They appreciate it and the business benefits. But here’s the thing. I’ve noticed that as the use of this simplest form of marketing automatio...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 21, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Technology automation Source Type: news

Bells and Whistles
I love the strange and weird. And the photo’s from travels in unusual sculpture gardens always get my imagination running. The one here is no exception and I’ve called it Bells and Whistles. If you want to see it in situ it’s in the Devon Sculpture Park which also has an amazing tea room! This week you can let your imagination roam free with a flash, micro, or poem that considers what planet something like this might exist on in real life!. You can see my effort on here: Dregand looked across a barren landscape, grass, trees, and shrubs had sprung up like weeds. One small building remained of all that had...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 17, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing writing prompt Source Type: news

Doing the digital detox
It occurred to me last weekend that I spend way too much time in the online environment, even now after I’ve already cut down significantly. The reason I noticed my time online was creeping up again was the amount of time I spent doomscrolling through updates on the ‘state of the world’ on YouTube. I know it does nothing for my inner sense of well-being and yet still I find I want to scare myself witless sometimes. So, enter the digital detox. I’ve done this several times over the years and, as a result, have already cut back on the tools I use, the apps I have on my phone and the length of time I h...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 16, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Life detox digital Source Type: news

How to be a rockstar blogger – part 2
It’s the CONTENT that matters I see and read many blog posts in the course of a working week and it would be fair to say that most are a little on the ‘thin’ side. They promise me ‘three top tips to make the best victoria sponge’ and deliver instead a thinly veiled advert for strawberry jam instead. The same is true for many of the free ebooks I’ve downloaded when signing up for the latest ‘must have’ newsletter. The websites and blogs I love, which are also the ones I recommend to others, are those that give me really good, helpful information about the things I want to know about. They are not the one...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 14, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Writing Business blogging Source Type: news

Music to live by, reprise
This week it’s a challenge to write a story or poem in just 100 words. That’s the word count I used in previous Hysteria Writing Competitions in the Flash Fiction contest. Although it’s short, it’s not as easy as it first appears as you have to follow the usual storytelling arc giving it a beginning, middle, and end! Whilst I’d love it if you shared your piece as a comment on this blog post, there is no need to share it. You could instead write it in your journal, add it to a personal archive, or post it to a friend in a letter. If you do post it online on your own website or blog, leave a com...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 10, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing writing prompt Source Type: news

Why social media marketing doesn ’ t work for SME ’ s
The rise of social media is a revolution that has put the power of understanding and awareness into the hands of those that participate and I doubt there’s a business on the planet that hasn’t been told at least once, and probably dozens of times, they should be using it to promote themselves.The first couple of times they’ll dismiss the suggestion as absurd because they don’t have the time and anyway their customers aren’t on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. But the more times they hear how easy it is to set up an account on XYZ network, the more they’ll get sucked into a swirling vortex that eventually compels ...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 8, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Technology marketing social media Source Type: news

Pink to make the boys wink
Where does colour take you? What emotions does it invoke? And how do you know whether the colour you see is the colour someone else sees. Given that sight is dependent on the brain interpreting electrical waves coming through the eyes how do we really know what’s going on out there in the colour of our mind? This week, take a colour, any colour and paint a picture of it for other people so they can see it vividly in their mind’s eye. Paint it with words that allow even those who have never seen your colour to understand what it means. You can see my effort here: Pink to make the boys wink, that’s what my ...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - March 3, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing writing prompt Source Type: news

How to be a rockstar blogger – part 1
MOTIVATION Before we get down the nitty-gritty of becoming a Rock Star Blogger we need to establish one key thing and that is the motivation behind your desire to achieve blogging superstardom. At a guess, I would imagine you have been reading some free ebooks that have told you all you need to do to become an overnight(ish) millionaire is to start a blog or a website and sell an eager audience your many pearls of wisdom. Would I be far wrong? If you say absolutely wrong Linda, then you have my apologies. I meet so many people who seem to think that the Internet is the key to a lifetime of riches that I can come across as ...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - February 28, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Writing Business blogging Source Type: news

Inside the ping pong ball
I was not always the best student. I freely hold up my hand and admit that sometimes I didn’t pay attention. My mind would wander beyond the confines of the classroom to the fields and woods outside, or to the latest book I was reading. My form teacher, Mr. Griffiths, was mostly patient, but eventually, even he would snap and I would be punished in some way. His punishments were always original. One memorable afternoon I was tasked with an essay on the subject of the inside of a ping pong ball! A whole side of A4 had to be filled, not with a single line “I must pay attention”, but with my first piece of ...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - February 24, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing creative non-fiction writing prompt Source Type: news

Sustainability is not sustainable
Over the last few weeks I’ve been offering up a weekly writing prompt and this week is no different. The challenge is to expand our vocabulary and think about what words mean to us. The one I’ve chosen this month is ‘sustainable‘, mostly because I’ve noticed its definition seems to work against what I think of its real meaning. When I looked for a definition online it appears sustainable is connected to the idea of constant economic growth. For example, Merriam Webster tells us it means: “able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed” or able to last or continue for...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - February 17, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Life writing prompt Source Type: news

My mother ’ s onion soup
Having a framework to get started often helps overcome the ‘what should I write?’ block arriving with an empty page or screen flashing at you. The word square is a simple concept; take four words, one from each column, and include them in your story. You can use them once or many times, the choice is yours. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a scene, story, or poem. It can be short, long, or micro. As long as you include one word from each column it will be great. My effort is below. “My mother’s onion soup was a thing of wonder. Served at the old kitchen table it warmed away February&...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - February 11, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Creative Writing wordsquare writing prompt Source Type: news

A New Hope by Tracy Davidson, Hysteria 2021 category winner
Tracy Davidson is the winner of the Poetry category in the 2021 Hysteria Writing Competition. You can find her poem, along with the other finalists from each category in the Hysteria 8 anthology. Listen to the recording Read by Laura McHarrie during the Hysteria 8 launch party. https://lindaph.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Tracy-Davidson.mp3 Read the poem Six months after the ceasefire a different man comes home. He won’t talk of war, but haunted eyes speak volumes. On warmer days he spends hours in the garden, feeding the birds. Their quiet chirps and soft songs a balm to ears used to sounds of battle. It still hau...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - February 10, 2022 Category: OBGYN Authors: Linda Parkinson-Hardman Tags: Hysteria hysteria 2021 hysteria 8 poetry Source Type: news