Some months ago Pa Broon's blog Fazzledown featured the story of his walk with a group of Scouts along the Great Glen. I know that some of the regular readers of this blog read the story. I certainly did, and enjoyed it immensely.
Pa, who is a Scout leader, and has been involved with scouting for over 20 years, tells the story in an really engaging way recounting the joys and travails of the trip in Scotland's unpredictable weather... and when the under canvas is out of the question because of the aforementioned weather, the joys, or otherwise, of youth hostelling.
Pa says he enjoys writing: "... its a good feeling to concoct a sentence or paragraph which is economic with words yet concise in its message, I mean I hardly ever manage to do it, but still; I try." ...Self deprecating as ever! He actually does manage to do it a lot amount of the time. When I was reading it I could feel the cold and the rain, and smell the youth hostel! But I also laughed a lot, and could see the scenery in my mind's eye. Most of all, I kinda wished I'd been there!
Anyways, he's expanded the story now and published it as an ebook, available on Smashwords or Kindle. It's ridiculously cheap for a good and entertaining read, and on top of that, all the money goes to his Scouts' group. So it's win win. You get a good read; his group gets some of your money.
Of course, this might not be your cup of tea for reading matter. If so maybe you'd at least consider publicising the book on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace, or whatever other social media you use.
Merci d'avance!
I remember.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful summer evening, under canvas, exhausted after a day long yomp...
The farts and the ribaldry gave way to silence.
The birdsong stays with me still; a sweet melancholy, even after thirty odd years.
It's a damn good pub crawl. Myself and 2 friends did it a few years ago, blootered every night. :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect a blog entry Tris, thank you, it's much appreciated. This is one of the things I didn't expect when I got in to blogging, it's a real community, I've got a lot more out of it than I expected.
ReplyDeleteThanks again.
Lovely memories Conan. The kind you look back on and are grateful for them being there... even if remembering them is a little melancholic...
ReplyDeleteAh, yeah Jutie. Probably Pa was too. He just can't put that in the book! :)
ReplyDeleteAye, I don't think the Scout Association would endorse it. Although I would say, one of the main motivations for volunteering is, once the kids are in their beds, the wine tends to make an appearance.
ReplyDeleteWell, they drive you to it so they do.
Pa: You are very welcome. I really enjoyed reading it in the blog, and I'm looking forward to it on Kindle. I'm happy to give it whatever tiny bit of help the mention in the blog will afford it.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about the community aspect of blogging. There are a lot of people that I don't know ...that I know so well. You obviously are one of them... but there are so many.
I got into this 4 years ago, when I was sick after an operation. The "Spook of Leith" and I became friends on his blog and he talked me into blogging because I was bored, stuck at home all day in loads of pain. Subrosa gave me a lot of help and encouragement too, and eventually I built up a band of faithful commentators who have become friends.
It is a community. I'm busy now and I don't really have time to blog, and I know that sometimes my blogs are relatively effortless pieces pinched from somewhere else (with credits). I should give up. I keep threatening to do so, but I feel I'd lose my friends on here... and I'm reluctant to do that.
It is very much a community.
I'm glad you get something out of it. You give a lot of pleasure too.
I should give up. I keep threatening to do so,
DeletePardon!
Pa and Tris,
ReplyDeleteMore power to your entertaining blogs and your wee communities! Look forward to reading this book.
Thanks John :)
ReplyDeleteBreaking News!
ReplyDeleteHa ha...
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