Turn That Frown Upside Down

I’m busy preparing for a challenge set by author Wendy H Jones.  The challenge is to use the national celebration days throughout October to market your books.  There are some interesting days, such as; national vodka day, boyfriend day and handbag day.  Who on earth dreams up these things?  It is a great challenge, but before I tell you my two favourites, I’ll tell you a short story.

A youth worker friend of mine was chatting to a young person who had been dealing with a lot of struggles and the lad said to him, “Why can’t people just be nicer?”

My friend responded by telling the boy that this is the second of the Ten Commandments, ‘to love your neighbour.’

Getting back to Wendy’s challenge, one of my favourite days is ‘Do Something Nice Day.’  As I think about this and my friend’s story, I ask the same question as that young lad and I question, “Why do we have a, ‘Do Something Nice Day?”  If we all did something nice every day, then there would be no need for it.

It is so easy to do something nice every day and it fits in with my second favourite day, ‘World Smile Day.’  It’s so easy to smile at other people instead of having that long, grumpy face.  There is a technique called, ‘smile talk’ which is as the name suggests, to smile whilst talking.  This technique has been proven to lift our mental health.  It’s so easy to do, will change you and could even change another person’s life. 

There’s a well-known story about a young man in San Francisco, who jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge.  His suicide note read, “I’m walking to the bridge to jump off.  If just one person cares enough to smile at me just briefly on the way, I won’t jump.”  So let’s support ‘World Smile Day every day and in doing so, do something nice every day.  Turn your frown upside down you never know you could be saving a life.

A final caution, I now smile a lot, but it has landed me in trouble a few times.  I have to always remind myself NOT to smile when someone is telling me some bad news.  I’m sure that I will smile when I see some of the other author’s posts for this crazy challenge.  

Brendan is a Christian poet and author of 8 books, including 'The book of PSALMS in Rhyme.'  Based in Stroud Gloucestershire.  There are 'self-made men' and 'God-made men', Brendan is the latter.  An associate speaker with Christian Vision for Men.  A member of the Association of Christian Writers.

Click here to visit Brendan's website

What's in a name?

I published my first book, The Golden Thread, in 2015, so I've been writing for over 6 years and have now published 8 books.  Though I have written blogs before, this is my first venture onto 'Blogger' and so far I am most impressed.  As this is my first blog, I thought it best to introduce myself a little.

I love to investigate the meaning behind names, particularly when creating a character for a novel.  Their name must have an appropriate meaning to reflect the personality, temperament and nature of the subject.  Do you know the meaning of your own name?

My name, Brendan, is derived from the Gaelic name Breandán, which is in turn derived from the earlier Old Irish Brénainn and it means, ‘Prince’ or ‘King.’  Wow, I am royalty.  This may explain why I was not at all daunted on the two occasions when I have been honoured to meet members of the Royal Family.  The first time was when I was invited to one of the Queen’s garden parties and the second when I showed Prince Edward around the charity that I worked for.  Incidentally, the name ‘Edward’ means wealth (that’s interesting).

Image from Pixabay

Now, what about my surname?  If you have not yet realised it is Irish Gaelic, pre-10^th century origin, derived from the name O'Conbhuidhe meaning 'the descendant of yellow hound'.  Yellow hound was most likely a Gaelic Chieftan.  I am proud of my Irish heritage (my dad was Irish) and I do consider myself to be Irish (though born in England).  I also like to use the name, ‘Yellow Dog’ in honour of my ancestors.

This is why I call this blog, ‘Yellow Dog Blog.’  I am also a drummer in a band called, ‘The Shaggy Dog Raconteurs’ and my band name, well obviously it’s ‘Ole Yella Dog.’  My final tribute to the origins of my name is in the name that I publish my books under, you guessed it,‘Yellow Dog Publishing.’

As for my middle name, Mark, that means, ‘consecrated to the god of Mars.’  I laugh at this one because as a Christian, I feel that I am consecrated to the God of the Universe.

My name is Brendan Conboy, King Yellow Dog.  I do hope that you start to follow my blog and enjoy getting to know me through my random rambles.  Now go and find out who you are. 

Brendan is a Christian poet and author of 8 books, based in Stroud Gloucestershire.

There are 'self-made men' and 'God-made men', Brendan is the latter.

An associate speaker with Christian Vision for Men.

A member of the Association of Christian Writers.

Click here to visit Brendan's website