Do XSitePro And DLGuard Work Together?

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Although I can build websites with html or use Dreamweaver and Frontpage I am not an expert website designer and to be honest I struggle with software and scripts. Accepting my limitations I bought the XSitePro web design software in 2007 and upgraded to XSitePro V2 last year.

When I first got XSitePro I built my digital download site solely using that. Used Paypal as my payment processor and had thank you pages with download links for every product. It was a cheerful but not very professional looking site. I was fond of my efforts but there were problems with my download links being accessed by cheats and as time passed I began to cringe at the unprofessional look of my website.

As I had made a major investment in some software called Memberspeed I decided to rebuild the site using that. Although the software was intended to build membership sites it has a shopping cart and article directory which meant that I would get regularly updated content to help the site along in the search engines.

Fine but the fatal flaws were that using the software was time consuming and difficult for me to figure out and that it wasn’t flexible enough. For somebody with greater website design skills it might not be a problem but for me it was. My website looked more professional on the surface because I used a ready built Memberspeed template, but the shopping cart looked an uninviting mess that I simply did not have the skills to rectify.

Sales disappeared and another solution was called for. I wanted part of the solution to be XSitePro V2 because I love working with it. I have tried to use other shopping carts but find them difficult to understand and I don’t find them flexible enough for my limited skills. I had regularly seen posts in forums about using DLGuard as a shopping cart, or indeed paying memberships. Most but not all of the posters recommended DLGuard, but not everybody is going to like the same thing.

One day a question was asked about whether or not DLGuard could be integrated with XSitePro V2. The replies were all in the positive and when I checked out some of the sites indicated as using both I was quite impressed. A timely payment from Google Adsense was deposited into my PayPal account so I thought ‘go on girl go for it’.

I bought DLGuard for the princely sum of $146.05 including VAT. Before I could use it I needed to build the bones of a site, and being an impatient bod it was a good job that I had the speed of XSitePro. I used XHeader (a freebie with XSitePro V2) to make the header and utilised the many inbuilt design features to build the rest of the site. Not perfect but it looks more professional than my first digital download site and I can make alterations very easily.

My next step was to unzip DLGuard and upload it to my website following quite easy instructions. It wasn’t long before I’d uploaded my first product and added my Getresponse autoresponder details. That’s built in with both XSitePro and DLGuard so that was the easy part.

My next step was to redesign the DLGuard shopping cart to make it look like my website design. I sat and looked at the screen, scratched my head a few times before I decided that I was out of my depth. I went on to the DLGuard and XSitePro forums looking for how to tutorials and couldn’t find any. I thought about it for a while and decided that the only way to do what I wanted was to experiment.

I had a list of alterable DLGuard pages so I visited my sites Cpanel and viewed the source files. I wanted to edit them but being cautious I copied the source files into notepad before I began. That way if I boobed I would be able to replace the original source files.

An hour later I had added my new header to the shopping cart, altered the background colour and a few other things to give the appearance of integration. Considering how hopeless I am with scripts and software and my lack of design expertise I have surprised myself with what I have achieved.

My website now has an integrated shopping cart and my downloads are secure from cheats. It has flexibility in that I can add articles and reviews quickly and whenever I want. To my eyes it looks better than the previous two designs and it’s even started to make sales again after a spell in the doldrums.

One little glitch was with my first sale on the new site. I had redesigned the product download page and to check to see if everything was working I reduced a product to $0.01 and bought it with a joint Paypal account that I have with a partner. As I was testing I got called away and when I got back to my computer somebody else had bought the product and told me that the download link didn’t work. No it didn’t because I hadn’t uploaded the blooming product at that point. But, never mind the lower price than normal sale tested the rest of the work that I’d done and showed me that yes XSitePro and DLGuard do work together and it isn’t all that difficult.

You can see how I got on at Ebook World and find low cost ebooks, software and templates. Or check out my Resell Rights blog for information about Resell Rights products.

Writing Travel Articles For Article Marketing

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There are lots of travel website owners who write travel articles for article marketing, many of whom do not give themselves the best shot at successful results. In this article I will explain why some travel writers let themselves down and how I believe they can improve their results.

The Nitty Gritty

First of all article marketers submit articles to article directories as part of their website promotions – that and much of what I’m saying here applies for any niche. Ideally article marketers are working towards the following:

· Long term backlinks pointing to their sites
· Viral effect of articles being re-published on authority sites and ezines
· Click throughs on those links
· Establish themselves as an authority in their niche
· Credibility in the eyes of readers

The first 3 are about getting more traffic to your sites, the last 3 are about benefiting from the traffic. Article marketers will not benefit from their work if they produce:

· Poorly written articles
· Show a lack of first hand knowledge
· Ruin their credibility by misleading and disappointing readers

It’s all common sense but not every writer gets it. In order to explain more I will use some potential scenarios.

Information Searches

Jess and Mick have booked a cheap flight on the Internet to the Canary Islands. As they need accommodation it’s only natural that they do a search for the type of accommodation that they want. They use ‘Canary Island holiday property rentals’ in their first search and are pleased to see an article titled ‘Canary Island Holiday Property Rentals’ at the top of the search results.

Disappointment hits them when they find that the article is about the Canary Islands in general and has nothing to do with holiday property rentals except for a link in the resource box. The author has lost credibility because their title is misleading and the only links that are likely to be clicked on are the Google ads that you generally find on the article directory pages or more likely Jess and Mick click away and continue their search.

They finally find the information that they really want and accommodations sorted out they now want information about hiring a car. Their search is Canary Islands car hire, the top link is an article titled ‘Canary Islands Car Hire’. Imagine how annoyed Jess and Mick feel to find yet another general article about the Canary Islands and the only thing concerning car hire is a link in the author bio – goodbye credibility, article and click throughs!

Publisher Searches

Mathew is building a website about the Caribbean. He has some of his own material but decides to visit an article directory and find some content to help build his site faster. He finds a really great article about visiting Jamaica and would love to use it but the title ‘Cheap Flights To The Caribbean’ is a problem. Yes you’ve guessed right – the only reference to cheap flights is in the author bio. Mathew decides against using the article on his website because he has ethics and does not want to mislead his site visitors.

He then spots an article titled ‘Fabulous Jamaica Resort Review’. Mathew expects a genuine review from somebody who has visited the resort, but he doesn’t get that. Instead there is a brochure like article extolling the virtues of a hotel or all inclusive resort that just happens to be linked to in the author bio – and an article that shows no indication of the author ever setting foot on the beautiful island of Jamaica. There is also a sentence recommending a website for more information within the article body and that website just happens to belong to the author – goodbye credibility.

Reality Check

With these scenarios the authors have thought that they were being clever and used the best keywords and phrases in the titles for what they are promoting in the author bio. Fair enough if the article content matches the titles and key phrases – shooting yourself in the foot article marketing if it doesn’t.

If you promise a review of a resort you should deliver just that and not something that can be found on any travel brochure or travel site. A review should be an author’s opinion written from experience and nothing less. Recommending your own websites in the article body not only spoils an article but is also a credibility hit.

If your misleading article is accepted on article directories do you want to benefit from the viral effect of your article being published on other websites and ezines? Would you want content on your website or ezine that is misleading or pure unpaid for advertising? I know that I wouldn’t.

Any good and ethical sales person, and that includes Internet marketers know that to do well you need to build up trust with your prospective customers. You want your articles to work for you so start thinking about them from the point of view of a reader or publisher and you won’t go far wrong.

The travel niche is huge and nowadays many travellers search the Internet for information before they book their dream holidays. The majority of travellers know nothing about Internet marketing, article marketing or key phrases. All they know is what they see – that they are being misled. Would you click on a link and buy from an author or seller who is misleading you?

The author Patricia Jones writes for the UK travel guide and Make Money From Writing where you will find lots of tips to help you with your writing. Patricia also owns the top travel article directory Articles Abroad where authors may submit quality travel articles and publishers find free content.

Easy Recipes For Quick Savoury Snacks Or Meals

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When you have a busy schedule it’s not always easy to find time to shop for, prepare and cook hot, healthy meals with fresh food. I’ve certainly found that anyway. Rather than go down the microwave ready meal route I’ve got a few favourite easy recipes that I make if I haven’t got much time and the ingredients are usually already there in my cupboards. Following you will find my 3 favourite quick and easy recipes:

Spaghetti And Cheese On Toast

My scary ex mother in law introduced me to this snack. It’s hard not to think about her when I prepare and eat it but it hits the spot and tastes so good that the memories fade into a delicious oblivion.

Ingredients:

Tin of Spaghetti or Spaghetti Hoops – whatever size or brand you prefer. I use Heinz.
Bread For Toasting – I use wholemeal but any will suit
Cheese – Cheddar is best and I use low fat
Spread – Optional but I use low fat.

Method

Lightly toast your bread and at the same time heat the spaghetti up, but don’t overheat. Grate enough cheese for your needs. Put a thin layer of spread on your toast and then cover with the warm spaghetti. Cover the spaghetti with grated cheese and then pop under the grill until the cheese is melted to your taste. Transfer to a warm plate and eat.

That’s a really quick, filling and easy recipe and you can either make it as a snack with one round of toast or a meal with 2 rounds of toast.

Jacket Potato With Tomatoes, Cheese & Onion

After I got divorced I was broke and needed to add cheap but nutritious meals to the menu, and as I was working 2 jobs the meals had to be quick to prepare and energy giving. This was one of the cheapest meals that I made and it never got boring.

Ingredients:

Large Baking Potato
Tin Of Plum Or Chopped Tomatoes
Small Very Finely Chopped Onion Or Dried Onions
Grated Or Crumbled Cheese – whichever you prefer

Method

Either bake the potato for 50 minutes or microwave for 7 minutes. Slit the cooked potato open and place the onions in the slit. Cover the onions with cheese and pour the tomatoes on top. Place in microwave and cook on full power for 3-4 minutes.

I’ve sometimes added cooked, sliced mushrooms instead of or with the onions, or used low fat cheese slices instead of grated cheese. I also use baked beans instead of tomatoes on occasion.

Really Super Noodles

I experimented and added to a tip in a magazine for this quick meal.

Ingredients:

Pack Of Bachelors Barbeque Beef Super Noodles
Tin Of Plum Or Chopped Tomatoes
2 Cooked Sliced Sausages
Dried Onions

Method

Break up and place the noodles in a pan with the included flavouring. Add a small amount of dried onions and add the tinned tomatoes instead of water. Stir and keep stirring while bringing to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes and then add the cooked, sliced sausages. Simmer for another couple of minutes and your very quick meal is ready.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can experiment with different ingredients and still get a tasty meal. For instance sometimes I add pre cooked beef strips instead of sausages, or I use chicken flavoured noodles and pre cooked chicken strips and leave out the onions.

Health & Diet

I suppose that it depends how you look at it, or how you prepare the meals whether you think they are healthy or not. The meals have varying amounts of carbohydrates, protein, calcium and iron and we need them all to live.

Are they fattening? Rigid dieters might say yes but I don’t think so as long as you don’t over eat and you swap ingredients for low fat alternatives. In fact I have included these meals when dieting and lost weight while feeling well and healthy.

I hope that you enjoy my favourite savoury snacks or meals and if you want more great Easy Recipes or even a free Yorkshire Pudding Recipe just click on the links.

XSitePro 2 Review – is XSitePro Still Easy Website design?

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Having used XSitePro quite happily for a year I was in two minds whether or not to pay for the May 2008 upgrade to version 2. The aspects that I liked about this website design software were the ease of use, speed and the quick analysis of my website pages for optimisation.

The downside has always been not very good templates and a recognisable same as look for many XSitePro sites. Despite that I found the software quicker and easier to use than Dreamweaver or Frontpage.

Temptation got the better of me and soon after the upgrade was mine I was redesigning one of my older websites. As some far more professional looking templates had been added I used one of those for practice after completing the website building tutorial.

Next I imported another of my sites but added my own banner and used one of the 30 navigational menu designs provided and changed it to my own colour selection to blend with the banner. I then started to build a music site using one of their templates and am now building a travel site from scratch with my own design.

I’m really pleased with all of the websites; to my eyes they look good and even my own designs look more professional than they would if I used Dreamweaver or FrontPage. The XSitePro sameness is a thing of the past. For someone like myself who has the aspirations but not the ability of a professional website designer and wants to design their own sites XSitePro 2 is a great tool.

There are several new features that I am enjoying experimenting with. 30 different navigational menus with colour selection I have already mentioned, but you can now easily place your choice of menu at the left, right or bottom of the page or as an info bar at the top. Your navigational menus can be added to more than one place and easily altered if you want to change the design.

New pages can be added easily and you are prompted to start optimising them for the search engines straight away. Article pages are new, there are 11 different styles that you can further customise or you can use a blank page. You can choose when the content is published, for instance you can set up an advertising campaign to automatically come online on a pre set date.

A new feature that I’m finding useful for the travel site that I’m building is that you can have a different right hand margin for every page. As each page has a different destination I am using that feature for my hotel affiliate links for those particular destinations.

Adding Google ads is still easily done but now you can add Amazon ads in the same way and customise the ads to integrate with your website. You can store your publisher ids and channels, so once they are stored a couple of clicks and your site is monetised. You can also store your affiliate links and you don’t have to visit Paypal to set up payment schemes. These features save a lot of time from having to search while adding your advertising.

I’m quite taken by the Mobile Site Wizard. In a couple of minutes I created versions of my sites that are automatically optimised for viewing on mobile phones or Internet able PDAs. I wouldn’t have thought of doing that but now my websites are available for viewing to a wider audience.

There are tons of graphics that you can use and it’s easy to upload your own graphics. A form wizard with different form designs that you can use to capture email addresses is new, also a banner rotator – and one of my favourites an image gallery creator. There is now a selection of social bookmarking icons that are easy to add to the pages and an RSS feed creator that can be used on the pages that you want syndicating.

You can now choose to add 3 different site maps and use siloing to help with the search engines. Redirects, customisable search boxes and pop ups are quick to add and I nearly forgot – you can have streaming audio and videos on your web pages.

There are so many new and improved features with XSitePro version 2 that it’s impossible to mention them all here. So I’m going to finish with my absolute favourite the Links Page Wizard. In the old version your links page was just a list of sites and descriptions, now you can do a lot more. You can customise the links pages to blend in with your site design, add your own text or ads to the pages and best of all split into categories and include a longer description and screenshot.

The screenshots get my vote – apart from it being more appealing to other webmasters to exchange links with you; every time those web pages are updated you get fresh content to help keep the search engines happy. Although this is my favourite feature it also holds the only downside that I’ve found so far. I wanted to add the XSitePro company website to my links pages but the software has problems with the screenshot for their site and it won’t view duh!

Is XSitePro Version 2 Worth The Asking Price?

For somebody who only wants one or two websites then I would say no. There are plenty of website designers including XSitePro users advertising on the Internet. Or there are lots of ready made free or paid for templates or free site building resources available on the Internet.

I believe that it is absolutely worth the full asking price if like myself you want to build multiple big websites with constant content updates, sales pages or smaller sites. Or if like me you wake up one morning and think that your site looks as messy as your hair and you want to change the design throughout as quick as it takes to get your hair restyled. It’s also easy to change your site design back when you realise that you should have woken up properly first with a cup of coffee!

I am having a lot of fun with XSitePro 2 and am finding using it refreshing after spending several months struggling to learn how to use the rather more expensive Memberspeed membership site software. It may not be fair to compare them as they have different functions, but although excellent in it’s own way I find Memberspeed hard to use and very time consuming and frustrating in comparison. Maybe that will be my next review.

What Upgrades Would I Like to See in the Future?

Although I got far more than I expected with the upgrade and am having a lot of fun using the software it does no harm to have a wish list. I think what would be the most useful is more interactivity with site visitors, perhaps the option of visitors being able to add comments. A shopping cart and a way to add members built into the software – now that would be the icing on the cake!

To see some sites built with XSitePro check out the Creative Writer and Make Money From Writing websites where you will find free writers tools worth over $3000. Or visit the UK Smart Guide

Meet Scotlands People, Move to the Scottish Highlands and Islands

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There are many reasons why people relocate anywhere, so why the Scottish highlands and Islands? I myself am not a native Scot, but like many others have fallen in love with the place. I may moan about the rainy, windy days but I can’t imagine living anywhere else!

I have experienced both sides of Scotland from one of the remotest islands to Scotland’s largest city. Both are equally beautiful in their own way and have character like nowhere else I’ve lived.

Living in the Outer Hebrides completely changed my life. I had no idea such places hidden away in the UK existed (although it was marked on the BBC weather map all along!) It’s a shame not many people get to experience Scotland in its raw form and only get to touch the tip of the iceberg on what there is to see. When you finally move to Scotland, you loose that ‘touristy’ feeling and you become connected to the place in a completely different way.

Scotland is littered with places where you might consider moving and it can only take that one visit before you have your heart set on a place. Whether you’re looking for the good life on a croft or wanting the fast pace of a city there is something for everyone. I’ve experience both and have loved every minute of it. If only I could take what I have in the city to the Islands, then it would be perfect!

Schools

If you have children it is important to bare in mind the difference in the school system. The primary schools can work in two ways depending on where you are. Children start primary school at the age of 5 until the age of 11 (P1 to P6) to which they then move up to Secondary school. However in some highland and island communities they might combine the primary school with the first 3 years of secondary school (to S3) and pupils then move up to secondary school at the age of 14 instead (S1 to S5).

It’s a much simpler system I feel and saves a lot of moving around. From seeing my brothers experience of moving from England to Scotland, it was a much smoother transition between the schools as in the highlands and islands in particular they tend to be more prepared for pupils moving from a different curriculums. Personally, I had more problems moving schools within the same county in England. One thing to keep in mind; Scotland doesn’t have GCSE’s or A-Levels. Instead they’ve got Standard Grades and Highers!

Housing

In some parts of Scotland buying a house is quite different compared to the rest of the U.K. For the different laws that surround buying a house it is best to get in touch with an estate agent within the area that you are interested in buying.

In the highlands and Islands it is very common to croft your own land. My family does this to rear their own animals on a two acre plot of land right next to a loch overlooking the sea. It is also popular for to rent their land out to local farmers for keeping animals or growing certain crops. It doesn’t make you a great deal of money, but it is great for the local economy in the long run and it’s so nice seeing baby animals prancing around in the spring!

In Scotland it is very popular to buy and build your own ‘kit house’. Overall this is a cheaper way of getting yourself on the housing market. I have seen 2 bedroom one storey houses going from 30,000 (excluding the price of land) which is great because you can design it the way you want!

In the cities however, in recent years I have seen the price of houses creep to level with the rest of the U.K. Though cost of living seems to be less than I’ve experienced in England, everything else is pretty much the same. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the most expensive, but there are a lot of online forums which you can join to find the best areas of the cities to rent or buy and the council tax hot spots.

Visit the UK travel guide, where you can learn about UK destinations and search freely for the best hotel deals in the UK and worldwide.

Articles Abroad is the top travel article directory where you can learn about travel destinations, review travel destinations and find free content for your websites and ezines.

Beating Writers Block- The Easy Way

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At some point or another every writer experiences writers block. It could be because of tiredness, life’s stresses and strains, or it could be for absolutely no reason at all. There is no one type or reason, but there are many ways in beating writer’s block that you can incorporate into your daily routine.

Write all the time

Writing every day in little bursts will help combat the serious bout of writers block. Where ever you go keep a notebook handy so if a great idea comes to mind you can write it down there and then. If you can’t get past it, the best way I find to help unlock your thoughts on to paper is to go for a short walk, to clear your head before returning to the computer screen.

Meditation

I find that meditation helps quite considerably. It helps you to relax and allows you to find a peaceful place in order to gather your thought. After meditating I find I am at my most creative and relaxed. Most meditation courses can be found by private teachers, but if you are lucky to have a Buddhist center near by, they offer regular classes which run at different times during the day to suit you.

Don’t try too hard- take a break

Sometimes it can feel like you have to squeeze the words out, and in the end you are just not happy with what you have created. Don’t push yourself, even if you have a deadline as this will only stress you out further. Give yourself a break even if it’s to recharge to return to it an hour later or the next day. The best way to beat writers block is to come back to your writing when you are refreshed and relaxed. I find first thing in the morning is when I am at my most creative and fluid.

Change your scenery

Changing your surroundings can be a great way to alleviate writers block. Take yourself to a quiet café, or if it’s a nice day go outside. New things could give you inspiration and I find this helps when I get the worst of writers block.

Refresh your skills

It is always a good to refresh your skills once and a while to beat writers block. There are many inexpensive short day workshops for creative writers of all levels that you can use to your advantage.

A few years ago I went on a creative writing holiday in Scotland. The scenery among other factors was a great inspiration and being able to write with others meant I could learn new skills and techniques. These courses don’t happen all the time so snap it up when you get the chance.

Listen to how you write

One of the best bits of advice when beating writers block is to write with your talking voice. It is always obvious when a writer is not expressing themselves naturally and in the end, is more frustrating to write and uncomfortable to read.

I find the best way to combat this is to read what you have written or your problem passage and record yourself. Play back the tape and what you have written will sound completely different. This will help you to find the right words and will help get rid of writers block.

No matter what method you use to rid yourself of the dreaded writers block, it is always important to remember that really, writers block does not exist. It is a name we have given to the inability to make decisions when writing. Look at where you are having problems in coming to making your choice, whether its wording that paragraph or chapter. Sit and then figure out what decision you are not making and make it.

The author writes for several websites including UK Smart Travel Guide, The Creative Writer and the make money from writing site where you will find lots of tips and information about making money from writing and free writers tools worth over $3000.

Book Review – Accident by Danielle Steele

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We start off playing happy families with 39 year old Page, 45 year old husband Brad and children Allyson 15, Andy 7. They live in San Francisco and as far as Page is concerned everything is near perfect, her marriage, children and lifestyle. So much so that she wonders about having another child before it’s too late.

Suddenly as is typical in Danielle’s novels their lives are torn apart one dreadful Saturday night. Allyson sneaks out on a double date with her school friend Chloe and two 17 year old boys Jamie and Phillip. It is Allyson’s very first date but knowing that her parents won’t approve of her going out with an older boy she and Chloe tell their respective parents that they are at each others homes. They have an enjoyable night; a meal and the boys drink wine but only half a glass.

Allyson’s date Phillip is driving and the other couple are in the back seat. They are crossing the Golden Gate Bridge when another car driven by a Senator’s wife hits them. The crash causes the instantaneous death of the driver Phillip, Ally has terrific head injuries, Chloe has leg injuries and Jamie walks away with a few bruises. The senator’s wife is unharmed and her white dress isn’t even marked.

She is going home from a party and claims not to have had a drink. The police believe her and don’t bother to breathalyse her. They cannot tell how the accident was caused because there was too much damage to the youngster’s car, but the implication in the newspapers is that Ben was under the influence of alcohol despite having had only half a glass of wine. The senator’s wife is an ex alcoholic and the families have to question whether she had lapsed and been drinking and if there was a cover up because of her husbands position.

Page rushes to the hospital to find her daughter in a coma and needing brain surgery. The doctors cannot tell whether she will live or not and if she lives how badly affected she will be. At first she cannot contact her husband who is supposed to be on a business trip and has to get in touch through his boss. Normally he leaves a contact number, why hasn’t he this time, why did he sound annoyed at her and why did he only take an hour to get to the hospital when it should have taken six?

Yes the story drew me in and absorbed me for at least the first two thirds of the book. Danielle Steele writes in an easy to read manner that plays on your emotions. Throughout I wanted Allyson to come out of her coma and every time she had a setback and was expected to die I felt sad but then glad when she stabilised.

The book is mainly about a woman and mother dealing with problems that come out of the blue but are far reaching. Page has to juggle her life around spending hours at her daughter’s bedside willing her to come out of the coma and without much support. Wondering if she will ever be the same if she does, how much the family’s lives will be affected if there is brain damage, but most of all preparing herself for Allyson’s death.

She also needs to spend quality time with her young son and faces the dilemma of should she reassure Andy and let him think that everything is going to be back to normal or should she prepare him for the worst. Then there are marital problems to be faced, more reassurance for Andy – it isn’t his fault that his wonderful father is turning into a rat.

More crap is thrown at Page when her selfish mother and sister who live in New York come to stay for a week. Supposedly out of concern but they expect to be waited on hand and foot and are more interested in shopping and getting their hair and nails done than visiting the hospital.

Danielle described those two characters very well. She made me loathe them but I think that she didn’t need to go further and add that the two women had locked Page in her bedroom with her doctor father when she was a young teenager. Too much information and I felt unnecessary to bring incest into the storyline. I also felt that the whole scenario was unrealistic. If I had moved thousands of miles to get away from the gruesome twosome I wouldn’t have them to stay in my home that’s for sure. But then Danielle was throwing every bit of conflict that she could at her main character to test her strength and courage.

As a main character, Page came across well. We are shown that a woman portrayed originally as very ordinary can produce an extraordinary amount of inner strength to enable her to deal with terrible situations without falling apart.

There are some special moments in the book when Andy befriends Bjorn, Chloe’s 18 year old brother. Bjorn has a mental age of ten and loves being around young children and Andy is proud to have an older friend. It was a nice touch to add the character of Bjorn and a demonstration of how good can come from bad. I would have liked to read more about the developing friendship, it expressed to me how young children don’t have prejudices and can easily accept somebody who is a little different. A week after finishing Accident I feel that I enjoyed those small sections the most.

I enjoyed reading the rest of the book to a certain extent, my emotions were played with and at first I found it hard to put down. Then the storyline became all too familiar and I realised why I had stopped reading Danielle Steele before. After the first few chapters I had a good idea of what was going to happen, leaving little surprise element, though the ending did leave some questions unanswered.

If I were new to reading Danielle Steele’s novels I would probably have thoroughly enjoyed this one. Perhaps over familiarity with her style and technique induced a boredom in me towards the end which I would normally only find when reading work from less skilled authors. I feel a little sad to be taking Danielle Steele off my reading list knowing that I was previously enthusiastic about her work. I have changed but Danielle hasn’t.

I find it hard to rate this novel because I would have found it compelling throughout a few years ago and know that my tastes have changed. Therefore I will recommend it to those who like a romantic/tragic read with the power to play on your emotions.

Patricia has been writing articles and reviews for many years. You can view
more of her work and find some great free advice about writing and free writers tools worth over $3000 at the creative writing guide and her Make Money From Writing website Cashwrite.info

Easy Recipes: Yorkshire Pudding Filling & Scone Topping

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yorkshirerecipesWhen you think about it Yorkshire Pudding batter mix is quite versatile and can be used in lots of savoury and sweet recipes. Pancakes are a firm favourite come Shrove Tuesday and they can be turned into a savoury pancakes quite easily if you add fish, cooked meat, vegetables or chicken mixed with white sauce.

I’ve got a pretty tasty recipe for Fruit Batter Pudding and I love Toad in the Hole. One of my favourite warming winter meals is a giant Yorkshire Pudding filled with onion gravy and I’ve even had Yorkshire puddings in a Chinese restaurant but that’s another story.

I have had mince and onions in giant Yorkshire puds in cafes but I’ve never been very keen on mince finding it tasteless unless you add flavourings. What I do like is Yorkshires filled with savoury mince and following you will find the recipe that I use, plus a scone topping recipe:

Savoury Mince Recipe

Before you start prepare and place giant Yorkshires in oven unless you are using the frozen kind.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

3 large carrots

1 large onion or leek

1 lb (½ kg) minced beef

400g can of chopped tomatoes

60z (150g) garden peas

small can sweetcorn drained

4 oz (100g) mushrooms sliced

½ pint beef stock

pinch of mixed herbs (optional)

2 tablespoons Worcester Sauce (optional)

Cooking oil or lard

Method:

Dice the carrots and slice the onions then fry them together in a saucepan until lightly browned. Take out of pan and drain well. Fry the mince until evenly browned and drain the fat out before adding the carrots, onions, tomatoes and juice, peas, sweetcorn, sliced mushrooms, beef stock and herbs if you are using them.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. When cooked I usually stir in a couple of tablespoons of Worcester sauce for added flavour but it still tastes good without.

To Serve:

Ladle savoury mince into Giant Yorkshire Puddings which should have been cooking at the same time as your savoury mince. Or you can use this recipe as a delicious jacket potato filler and grate a little cheese for the topping.

Cooking Alternatives:

I’ve made this recipe in a slow cooker or crockpot, pressure cooker, microwave and in the oven and it’s been delicious every time. For different meal choices I’ve topped this dish with dumplings, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes and the following tasty scone topping which can be used for this dish, beef or sausage casseroles.

Scone Topping

Prepare savoury mince, beef or sausage casserole and place in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:

6 oz (175g) plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

20z (50g) margarine

Approx 1 tablespoon milk

Optional:

20z (50g) grated cheese

and/or 1 oz (25g) dried onions

Method:

Mix flour with baking powder and rub the margarine in until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs. If using mix in the grated cheese and/or the dried onions at this point. Add enough milk to make a soft dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface until about ½ inch thick.

Cut into rounds with a pastry cutter and place on top of your prepared dish, brush with a little milk and bake for 15 minutes at 200° C, 400° F or Gas Mark 6.

Alternatively you can cut the scone mix into one large round and use as if it’s a pie topping and scatter the grated cheese on top instead of using it in the scone mix. This way would require adding at least another 10 minutes onto the baking time.

There you have it a delicious savoury mince recipe to go with your Yorkshire Puddings or baked potatoes and a tasty topping as an alternative, enjoy your meal!

If you want more great Easy Recipes or even a free Yorkshire Pudding Recipe just click on the links.


Bad Gift Ideas Or Are They?

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It’s coming up to that time of year when we are all looking for Christmas gift ideas and it seems to get more difficult every year. I always try to find gifts that the recipient will like and use no matter what the occasion but we all end up with gifts that gather dust.

Carla, one of my friends recycles unwanted and unused gifts every year. That’s a good idea in this age of recycling, but she came a cropper last Christmas. The year before she received a large gift basket containing lotions and potions from a well-known beauty product chain. Carla put it in her gift recycle box because she is allergic to that particular brand, sneezes every time she uses the products. If it had been another brand she would have been delighted but there you go.

Last Christmas she was struggling to find the time to shop for gifts having just given birth to a little boy, so the gift recycle box came out. On Christmas day she prepared a festive dinner for ten and after they had eaten the gifts were presented. When Carla’s mother in law opened hers; instead of the expected smiling thank you Carla received a frosty look.

Feeling uncomfortable Carla said “I thought you would like it I know that you use that brand”. “Yes I do” replied her mother in law “So much that I gave the exact same basket as gifts to all of the women in the family last year, they were made up especially for me”. Carla now makes a note of who gave her the gifts in the gift recycle box and vows that she will never recycle to her mother in law again.

I have received some amusing gifts over the years, but not for the reason that you might think. One year my mother gave me a slimming recipe book and a big tin of chocolate biscuits – quite a contrast. Maybe with the slimming recipe book she was hinting and with the chocolate biscuits she decided to give me a treat before I had to suffer on a diet.

The chocolate biscuits went down well but the slimming recipe book is still on my shelves gathering dust. Not because I haven’t been on a diet since but because although the recipes look really tasty like many other slimmer’s recipes they are based on meals for 4 people and not for 1, which would be more useful to the many go it alone slimmers. I’ll always keep the recipe book because whenever I see it I smile so the gift does come in useful after all.

Last year on my birthday my 4 year old grandson gave me a set of plastic trowels for my garden. He chose the trowels, he was trying to be helpful bless him. I’d had problems with my garden fence getting knocked down or blown down in the wind for several years and I lost interest in gardening. The garden became very overgrown and had fascinated my grandson even as a baby – one look and he would stop crying.

What he didn’t know was that I had already arranged to fork out a king’s ransom for a much sturdier new fence, the weeds removing and for most of the garden to be pebbled over. Now there is a very tidy patch with a few flowers down the side of the garden path instead of the jungle that it was. When my grandson sees it his eyes light up, he believes that his gift of plastic trowels worked the magic and I’m not going to disappoint him and tell him any different.

A not very amusing gift came from my ex husband on our first wedding anniversary. There I was expecting a romantic surprise and when I excitedly tore the wrapping off the surprise was a chip pan. As I don’t like fried food I think that particular gift was for him not me. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but that wasn’t the way to my heart.

Looking back I think that my favourite and the most useful gift that I’ve ever received was a kimono. My brother and his wife brought it back from Hong Kong one Christmas and I’ve got to admit that I was disappointed at first. I had been hoping that my gift would be a duty free bottle of Pernod ungrateful beast that I am.

My kimono was tucked away unused for a couple of years and saw the light of day again when I was going on holiday to Paris. I realised that it was perfect for trips; it was light and didn’t take up much room in my suitcase – a necessity for me because I always take too much baggage. It was an attractive and comfortable way to protect my modesty and my husband thought it was sexy too!

That kimono lasted for years and was brought out whenever I went away on a trip and whenever I wanted something more attractive to wear than my old towelling dressing gown – if you know what I mean! So sometimes unwanted gifts can turn out to be extremely useful and enjoyable.

This year at least one person on my gift list is going to get a kimono and as my kimono has now worn out I’m going to treat myself to a new Oriental kimono and I’m sure that it will serve me just as well as the old one.

A Review of Killing The Shadows by Val McDermid

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I don’t think that I’ve read a book written by Val McDermid before so from the first page it was like starting out in unexplored territory, not knowing what to expect.

The main character is Professor Fiona Cameron, in her late thirties and lives with crime thriller writer Kit Martin in London. She is a psychologist, teaches but also uses computers to build up crime linkage and geographical profiles to help the police in their search for serial killers. She works out where they may physically live and the links between crimes by inputting details into a specially designed programme rather than character profiles, an idea that I find fascinating.

There are several different storylines running alongside each other, multi layered the cover says. That sounds as if the book could be confusing but it wasn’t, for me it added to the tension and made the book more interesting.

One of the sub plots is that Fiona is called to help in the search for a serial killer in Toledo, Spain. Bodies of tourists are found displayed in surroundings important to the history of Toledo and the police are baffled. They have no clues and no ideas as far as motive is concerned. Fiona and Kit fly out to Toledo and Fiona visits the murder scenes. She doesn’t really need to because her work is done on the computer with facts, but her visiting the murder scenes of each case reassures the police who don’t understand how the programme works.

She inputs what facts are available and comes up with an area that the killer probably lives in. She can see that the crimes are against tourists – all armed with the same travel book and points out that this killer must hate tourists and perhaps his or her life has been badly affected by tourism at some point. She then asks for details of older crimes against tourists that haven’t resulted in death. When these crimes are input into the programme she comes up with a different area and suggests that perhaps the killer had moved from that area to the other area and that the reason for the move had angered the killer and that the assaults had accelerated into killings. This is enough information for the police to open new lines of inquiry but I won’t say if they were successful, my aim was to give more idea of the work that Fiona does.

At the same time crime thriller writer Drew Shand is murdered in Edinburgh. His death and the grusome display of his bloody remains are similar to a scene in one of his books. Because Drew is gay and into rough sex it is assumed by the police and media that his death was a sexual encounter gone wrong.

Fiona’s long-time friend Detective Inspector Steve Martin has problems. Susan Blanchard was raped and murdered on Hampstead Heath and the man who was charged with the murder has just been released from the Old Bailey. Freed because the judge said that the case was brought to court through entrapment and little real evidence. Steve needs some help from Fiona when he and his team decide to give up their free time to hunt the murderer, be it the man who was tried or somebody else entirely. The trail has gone cold and so is Fiona initially towards his need for help. She had vowed never to help London Met again after Steve’s superior had taken her off the case and put somebody less competent on it.

Jane Elias, another thriller writer is killed in a similar manner to a victim in one of her books. Her gruesome remains are found on her estate in County Wicklow, Ireland. The police and media believe that it is a copycat killer and don’t link it to the murder in Edinburgh. Despite that Kit and Fiona feel the beginning of fear, and distress because both writers were friends of Kit and they all wrote the same type of novels.

Throughout the book are extracts from a serial killers diary, describing what he does to his victims in an almost matter of fact way that left me shuddering but not feeling sick with the details. The extracts work well in helping to build up suspense and throughout you don’t know whose diary it is.

I found the main character Fiona quite cold and it wasn’t easy to build any empathy with her. She is driven by her sister’s unsolved murder many years earlier. She felt guilty because she had encouraged her to go to University and her choice of career stems from her pain and guilt at the murder. Her relationship with her friends and lover Kit show a warm side to her character but when about her business the coldness is there. Perhaps a defence mechanism against the gruesome nature of her work or maybe Val McDermid couldn’t imagine anything but a cold female in this line of work.

Kit remained a bit of an enigma to me. Maybe because he came across as very ordinary whereas I imagine a best selling author to be quite extraordinary. At times Fiona practically mothers him. You know that it comes from a fear of her losing somebody that she loved in a terrible way but wonder why he doesn’t get irritated more.

Steve comes across as a bit of a lovelorn wimp. Although he has a tough demanding career; unnaturally to me he hangs around with Fiona the woman who he has loved for years and her lover – talk about rubbing your nose in it.

The places that we visit in the book are described well and helped me to picture events more vividly. Scenes in the Scottish Highlands in particular almost made me feel as if I was there watching on.

Did I enjoy the book? So much that I couldn’t put it down and unlike me, missed going on the internet for a whole day in favour of reading it. I managed to complete all 549 pages within 2 days, which is quite a feat for me. It is fast paced and I found it totally compelling. From the first chapter I wanted to know what surprise the next one held and I was absorbed right until the breathtaking, exciting conclusion.

I didn’t guess the ending and found Killing The Shadows not totally but less predictable than some of the books that I’ve read recently. Crime thriller novels have never previously been my first choice of reading matter but some of the best books that I’ve read in recent months are of that genre and I would say that this novel is the most outstanding of anything that I’ve read for a long time. Apparently it’s not thought of as the best work by Val McDermid, if that’s the case then I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Patricia has been writing articles and reviews for many years. You can view
more of her work and find some great free advice about writing at the creative writing guide – Submit travel reviews and find free travel articles at Articles Abroad