Tag: book

Drive

On By rebelwithkindnessIn Uncategorized6 Comments

I never imagined I would drive, I come from a family of HGV lorry drivers and after watching them manoeuvre those gigantic machines I simply thought“not me”. The responsibility, the awareness needed all seemed out of my grasp.

It’s easy isn’t it to tell yourself that you cannot do it. That it does not happen to people like you, it’s out of your reach, beyond you.

This is what I thought as I sat in the public library one day, no matter how many notebooks I filled with my stories, poems, songs holding a book I had written in my hand was beyond me. Seeing a book I had written on the bookstore shelf well that didn’t happen to people like me.

Well it did and it has, yesterday my first children’s book was released. I’ve got to hold my dream. I’ve overcome my fear of failure, my fear of not being good enough to hold my story in my hand. To allow the dream of my heart to be realised. My hope printed from my soul.

It’s strange as today feels like a game changer, just like the day I passed my driving test (not HGV’s) and the world became larger for me. Today the world feels a little clearer, my mind a little braver and my heart a little stronger.

No more telling myself what I cannot do or what shouldn’t happen to people like me. Im going to dream and dream big and drive forward with conviction, with belief.

Belief in me.

Joining in with five minute Friday

1. Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write. Write, post then link up.

Turning the page

On By rebelwithkindnessIn Uncategorised, UncategorizedLeave a comment

As any writer will tell you there are times when the words flow and others when each word written feels like it has been torn from your soul.

I often have days of both.

One thing that seems to free up the gates of inspiration is when I am writing about something that I am passionate about, surprising hey.

A month or so ago I received and email from the company i worked for telling me about a competition that was being run by Irwin Mitchell Solicitors and KIDS. They challenged us to write a piece about disability, either from living with one or caring for someone who had one.

Of course this set me off and before long I had emailed my entry in.

Now this was rather surprising for me as I normally hold back in fear of rejection but as part of my nothing ventured, nothing gained new outlook I decided why not.

Well imagine my joy to receive an email telling me that I was joint winner of the 18 and over category.

I have won an amazing prize of a Kindle Fire but I will also get to see my words in a book they are making to raise money for KIDS.

I am super excited about it all and cannot wait to get my own copy.

If you would like to read what I wrote and the amazing winning entries in other categories please take a look here. My piece is called Never say never.

I”m so glad that i didn’t allow my fear and insecurities stop from entering this time.

[Tweet “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”]

Room to grow – Book Scheme

On By rebelwithkindnessIn Uncategorised, UncategorizedLeave a comment

To say that we are a household of book-lovers is a little of an understatement my husband calls my bedroom the library and my girls rooms are not following that far behind.

Yet over the last year or so I have noticed that the girls were becoming more likely to pick up their smartphone than they were a book. Now I wish this was because they were using a kindle app but no they were mostly using social media to chat with their friends.

Now I can excuse my older two a little as they have to do a giant amount of reading for their forthcoming GCSE’s and A Levels but my little one she has no excuse.

So when I received an email from Room to grow – a book-share scheme I decided it was a perfect way to encourage her back into books.

Room to grow is a children’s bed and furniture website now you may ask what that has to do with books. Well the company was so shocked at the recent statistics regarding the level of literacy in this country that they decided they wanted to do something.

Did you know England is the only developed country producing school leavers who are worse at reading than their Grandparents? According to a recent study by the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development adults aged 55 to 65 perform better than 16-24 year olds.
A survey by the National Literacy Trust recently revealed that fewer children read in their own time, one in five are embarrassed when caught reading a book and one in three said they only read when they had to.

How truly awful are the above statements. I hate that children are embrassed to be found reading a book. I have spent many hours lost between the pages of a good story.

I have also spend many hours curled up sharing stories with my four girls. Watching their faces and their eager anticipation and what happens next.

Thankfully the company Room to grow were shocked and that they decided to fund a parent book share scheme. The concept is super simple but super fantastic too.

1. A book is sent to you
2. You return the book using our prepaid envelopes
3. You continue to receive books over the course of 3 months (minimum)

I love this

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We have already received our first book and my daughter is off on the adventure you can only find between the pages of a book.

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I think as parents we have an obligation to introduce our children to the world of books. If not only for the sheer pleasure one can get from reading but for that fact that no matter how quick the worlds technology may grow you always need to be able to read be it on a screen or in a textbook.

The literacy rate should be rising not decreasing.

I’m just so thankful that Room to grow is making an step to encourage this and in the words of the companies director.

“If Room To Grow can help even a single child understand or maintain the joy of reading and create an unending affection of books, then that can only be a good thing.”

Anne Davis, Room To Grow Director

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