There's a J In there… Somewhere!
A blog about all sorts of things!
Blogging for fun
Melissa Gijsbers
I love books, stories, chai tea, and more
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Alien on Mars – Short Story
Categories: Short StoryContinue Reading: Alien on Mars – Short StoryA while ago, the topic for writers group was to write a story about an usual meeting. I imagined a meeting of an alien on Mars. This was my story: I have always wanted to meet an alien. The books and movies make them sound awesome, travelling around space in their rocket ships and cool…
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Introducing Womby
Categories: UncategorizedContinue Reading: Introducing WombyGrowing up, I loved teddy bears. They were great to cuddle and I had a half hearted collection for a while. When we were in Nepal, all I wanted was a teddy bear, and I got one in the missionary barrels. Even as a teen and young adult, teddy bears were among my favourite things.…
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Girls and Sport
Categories: SportsContinue Reading: Girls and SportOver the last few years, there has been a massive push to get girls in to sport. A couple of years ago, there were a lot of ads about girls stopping sport around age 15. The reason they give is ‘why can you be what you can’t see?’ In theory, this makes sense, however not…
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Working with an Editor
Categories: WritingContinue Reading: Working with an EditorIn writing circles, there seems to be a lot of negativity around the editing process. I have found that I am unusual in that I enjoy the process, so long as I’m working with the right editor. I look at an editor as part of my team. I write the story, and my early drafts,…
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Haunted Maze – Short Story
Categories: Short StoryContinue Reading: Haunted Maze – Short StoryI am not big on horror stories or scary stories, however around this time every year, the kids I work with want to write spooky, Halloween stories. I give it a go, always with varying results. In 2020, I gave the participants the prompt to turn something normal into something scary, or something scary into…
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Tea for Transitions
Categories: WorkContinue Reading: Tea for TransitionsI drink a lot of tea. It’s chai tea and I have my preferred tea bags. One thing I’ve realised lately is that I use making tea to help me with transitions from one task, project, or client to the next. I work from home with a mixture of tasks and types of work. This…
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There is no ‘guilty pleasure’ when it comes to reading
Categories: ReadingContinue Reading: There is no ‘guilty pleasure’ when it comes to readingOne term I really hate is ‘guilty pleasure’, especially when it comes to reading. I don’t believe there is such a thing as a ‘guilty pleasure’ when it comes to reading because reading should be a pleasure, something you enjoy doing, and you don’t need to feel guilty about it. This term is often applied…
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Where is my oxygen mask?
Categories: UncategorizedContinue Reading: Where is my oxygen mask?As parents and carers, we’re often given the analogy of being in an emergency on an airplane and putting on our own oxygen mask before we put the mask on our child. This is told to us so that we practice ‘self care’, or looking after ourselves first as we can’t be effective carers or…
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Creating writing prompts
Categories: UncategorizedContinue Reading: Creating writing promptsOne thing I love doing is creating fun writing activities to inspire people to have fun with writing and let their imaginations soar. This started about 10 years ago when my local library asked me to run a regular writing group for teens. Instead of teaching people ‘how’ to write, I create a fun activity…
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Villain’s Assistant – Short Story
Categories: Short StoryContinue Reading: Villain’s Assistant – Short StoryYesterday in Virtual Writers’ Group, we had a job advertisement for the job as a cartoon villain’s assistant. This is my story: Miss Behave looked at the pile of papers on her desk and let out a mighty roar. ‘What is it mistress?’ Treznor, Miss Behave’s loyal minion, asked as he came running into the…