Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alan Cummings on September 14, 2012 at 22:28

Joe & Jacqueline - you both appear to have a liking for writing stories and you both clearly enjoy posting here.  Writing for enjoyment, education or for profit is something anyone can do these days using a word processor.  Letting others read the work and perhaps comment is easy too.  An email group of like-minded writers could provide mutual support and criticism.  

If you feel more confident or as you grow in confidence you can publish the materials to the web by setting up a blog in WordPress for instance.  Both these strategies are free.  You could recruit other interested parties using Facebook of something similar.  If you are up for fun, use Twitter and compete to see who can write the best "story", poem etc. in the tiny word count it allows.  This could certainly help to pass a few cold dark evenings.  

For anyone with a liking for photography or art, the strategies above would work as well.  Those into music / singing could also join in.  I recently had a guy who was an ex-railway manager.  He loved anything to do with trains and we took some of his hundreds of photos, typed descriptions and comments and created a free website.  He was 79 at the time.  

Come on guys - this is limited only by your imagination. :-D

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Permalink Reply by Joe Wasylyk on September 15, 2012 at 4:51

Alan,  I think that you have exactly the kind of knowledge and style that a mentor and/or coach would have to guide an older adult along creating their own pathway of enjoyment.  I think that for most older people this whole area is kind of a black box where you need to start from zero, then progress naturally on your own time line until you reach your specific goal or objective.  This is why I like Jacqueline's idea of a general mini-course to explain some of these possibilities and then motivate the seniors to do some self-discovery and then from different options choose what is best for each individual older adult.

Whatever I write here I'm actually living the whole experiece in real time.  For example, I started writing a Blog on blogspot.com.  I wrote one article in 6-months time. Then I became frustrated and quit.  Later I received some mentoring to find out why I should do any blogging at all.  After this help I announced on the Internet that I was moving from Blogspot to Wordpress.com  Now, I'm managing to write one Blog article per month.  For me, that's a lot.  For other's some are writing a Blog article per day or more.

I say that I am always learning no matter what the obstacles are.  With the help of mentors/coaches you will find that you can accomplish more and get yourself to the next level easier.  Many seniors like to work alone.  I tried this at the begining untill I found out that I couldn't do the 'Seniorpreneur Project' by myself.  It's going to be a team effort or nothing.

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Kathleen Holding on September 15, 2012 at 8:09

I like the idea of writing for pleasure but, as to publishing what I write; well, that brings up a whole lot of issues. It's funny really because I try to come over as being very confident with myself (blame my mother, lololol). Yet I am definitely not that. To be honest, I don't think I have the ability to sit down and write something that will be of interest to anybody else - I don't have the imagination to use my own words, you might say. It's sad really because every day I come across situations that could be woven into a small story. But I will look into Wordpress.com if only to find out a bit more about what's happening on there - I do belong to Twitter but don't have any followers, so generally stopped posting - now this should say something!

I don't think self-publishing is for everybody - many seniors have great difficulty navigating computers, let alone looking for things that interest them. But, of course, there are still plenty of the younger seniors who need an outlet and this would definitely be a great way of doing just that. I went to France with my husband this year - on our push-bikes. We joined with loads of other cyclists and generally turned the local roads into mayhem (specially during the rush hours). It was an amazing week, we took loads of photographs, and at least the local economy was very grateful for the extra revenue they would have generated. My husband has since uploaded the photographs to Picasso. Perhaps I should go one better and weed out the better ones, and publish them in Wordpress.com along with some antidotes and see where it goes from there. Thanks guys for the brilliant feedback. I may not get rich this way, but at least it's something to be doing on those forthcoming wintry nights!  

Permalink Reply by Joe Wasylyk on September 16, 2012 at 17:44

Jacqueline,

Writing for pleasure is fine and it's definitely less stressful than self-publishing. Everybody has their own circumstances, goals, and objectives and what they want to do with their retirement.  I think that you definitely have ideas that readers want to find out about.  Myself I'm just learning and progressing probaby at the pace of a tortoise. I had to learn gradually about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  When I started I got very frustrated and almost quit on these social media tools. I attended some free seminars and I learned more about social media.  There is so much to learn here and it's lucky that seniors have a lot of time to learn anything. I suggest to go at your own pace and just learn as you go.  I also quit Twitter just after I signed up because at first I didn't understand the process.  If you are already registered with Twitter and have no friends you can find my Twitter account and I will be your first friend.  If you need any other help just ask. Also, I have some articles on my WordPress site.  This is another area where I quit after the first article because it felt hard for me to do.  I had to go back to thinking that I have no boss and I can create what I want at my own pace.  It's not about the money.  I hope that this helps you.

Joe W.

Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Kathleen Holding on September 16, 2012 at 18:11

Hi Joe, I agree that we all have to learn at our own pace. I have had quite a few people at the bowls club say that they've tried going onto Facebook, but given it up because they don't understand how to use it. This is very sad and perhaps I should be spending time showing them how to navigate the various websites. I do belong on Twitter but found I wasn't getting as much out of it as I had hoped. I mostly follow my son who works for a charity placing and helping the homeless. He's always got some great article on and has met some extremely interesting people through work! The most recent being Princess Anne, who he has a very high regard for. Being a republican myself, lololol, I don't hold with his views, but then, it wasn't me discussing homeless people with her. He was very impressed with her knowledge on the subject. I've opened a blog at Wordpress.com but am still feeling my way around it. Do you know how I would find other people's entries? Or do I just type in something like "news", etc? Today I've been busy uploading photographs to our ancestry website. My mother asked me to add them to her family tree. I can feel an article of her life in the early 1930s coming on! She was born in a pub, the last of 13 children, yet had a very privileged life for those days - even had a nanny. Now how many children can say they had one of them!

Permalink Reply by Alan Cummings on September 16, 2012 at 22:58

Joe & Jacqueline - sorry i have not posted but I have been rebuilding my daughter's laptop (2 days - nightmare!).  You both sound enthusiastic about publishing blogs etc. and that is great.  I agree that some of the technology can be confusing at first.  Sometimes YouTube have videos that go through how to use Wordpress etc.  If self-help groups form and get organised, Skype is a really excellent way for 2-3 people to help each other on a 1 to 1 basis (if not exactly face to face) and geography is no issue although time slots may be :-D  and, of course, it's free.  

Anything on-line is potentially problematical as eventually most sites attract the attentions of idiots (see our front page here), but as long as you can be thick-skinned about thick heads - it's not too much of an issue.

If blogging appears frightening, try Facebook. No pressure and all you need post is what you have done or feel today. I type some total rubbish - but so do my friends :-D  Lots of special interest groups are available and provide a venue for like minded people talk.  I belong to lots - music, motorcycling, model aircraft etc.  Great!

Permalink Reply by Joe Wasylyk on September 17, 2012 at 0:53

Jacqueline & Alan- I know that this thread is suppose to be about the bad economy in Europe and finding out how we could get an ombudsman for Seniors issues and collecting grievances against the Government.  In a lot of cases what happens is that we get senior's issues and grievances on one side and promises and more promises on the Government side.  I think that seniors need to get together and have seniors helping other seniors, and don't wait for the Government to help us anymore.

Alan, I think a lot of seniors are looking for a magic wand to help us learn everything quickly.  Like you say it's probably as simple as knowing what you want then go through the learning process and just try-out Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress.com etc.  I know that seniors will get better with more practice and asking a lot of questions.

Jackqueline, it's great that your son has decided to work for a charity to help and place the homeless. To add a social mission to my 'Seniorpreneur Project' I am working to help eradicate Seniors Poverty.  If you want to see some Blogs to see how they operate I believe you can Google 'Blogs' to get some examples.  Myself, I get to see other peoples Blogs through my Twitter account. Also, I have my own blog on my website.

Yes, how do you get material for your Blog?  Blogs come in all forms, shapes and sizes.  I want to help Adults 50 Plus so my own blog concentrates on this demographic. For example, you can discuss a problem, link to current events, talk about questions, interviewing experts, review something or read other blogs.

Also, if you want you can link to my Twitter account and there you will find many blogs by other people.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Thompson on October 23, 2012 at 15:08

The right of the Tory Government have an ideology and they stick to it.  And this does not include you, me, or anyone else.

I curse the British people who voted Tory at the last general election.

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