The free download version, containing Chapters 1 - 3, of my book “Back To The Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” is now available as a .pdf file.
It's on the social publishing site Scribd.
Click on this link, or copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://www.scribd.com/michael_macmahon
It’ll also be available on other sites soon. Watch this space!
Tomorrow is a crucial day for cricket-lovers.
As I write it’s the end of the third day’s play.
On this important day for English cricket, comprising maybe six hours of play, how much coverage will I be able to enjoy on TV, either terrestrial or freeview? Nothing, nada, rien, nichts, zilch. Not even five minutes of highlights. I could watch it by subscribing to Sky Sports, of course, but I don’t think it’s worth committing to that monthly cost for the occasional overseas Test match.
So the BBC did not think it worthwhile to cover this series. What other sporting delights does the Corporation offer in its place? The answer is snooker, which dominates airtime this week in “BBC Sport”. (I use the quotation marks advisedly) Last week it was darts. And when I say dominates, I mean it: up to six hours coverage in every 24 when there is a major tournament on, sometimes even more.
No doubt snooker and darts are cheap TV compared with cricket. But are they sports, as BBC branding insists they are?
Right now, by the way, the snooker competition that swamps the schedules (especially on BBC2, which was promoted as the culture channel when launched) is called the Masters. No, let’s give it its full title, as a sponsor has no doubt paid handsomely for the privilege. It’s the “Pokerstars.com Masters”. I know this, because I saw it in a graphic alongside the BBC Sport logo. Maybe, in future, the BBC Sport schedules could include poker too? And why could not snooker, darts and then poker become Olympic sports?
I’m about to stop writing this before it becomes a full-on rant, so that I can watch the football on “Match of the Day”. I am not really a football fan; after all I don’t really support any particular team.
Where am I going with this? Snooker, darts, (and poker too) require great skill of course. But athleticism? Fitness? What constitutes sport and what constitutes a pastime? Discuss, as they say.
Simon Barnes in the Times did indeed discuss that, very recently. (see link) He praised the skill of the darts player Phil Taylor (no problem with that) and suggested that anyone who says darts is not a sport (and that includes me) does so out of snobbery. Well, who am I to disagree with such an eminent sporting journalist, but I shall. If you were to suggest that croquet is a sport I would say that that is a pastime, just like darts and snooker; snobbery doesn’t come into it. Tosh, Simon, no matter how brilliantly you expound it. Frankly I think it’s marginal as to whether golf (now to be in the Olympics) is a sport; or whether it’s “a pastime that’s almost a sport”, as one of my all-time favourite Dilbert cartoons memorably described it.
Greetings to my readers in Bristol (that's the one in the UK) and surrounds. I wish you a very enjoyable (and, of course, cultural) 2010.
My random selection of imminent events starts here:
Sun 10 Jan, 7.30 for 8 pm: “Sunday night at the Lansdown”. Acoustic Evening, featuring Emily Grist, Rosie Garrard, Bashema.
Here’s a copy of a media release I’m in the process of circulating, regarding the launch of “Back to the Black.” Watch this space for updates.
MEDIA RELEASE
Date: 5 January 2010
From: Michael MacMahon
Subject: New book helps debtors get “back to the black”
AUTHOR PHOTO AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
______________________________________
A new self-help book for people with debt problems will be launched this month. “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” is based partly on the author’s practical experience of escaping bankruptcy and partly on the principles of coaching. A substantial extract becomes available as a free downloadable file on 18 January and the complete e-book will be available in February.
The book’s author, Michael MacMahon says: “A few years ago I survived a major financial crisis. While digging myself out of that hole, I became interested in the principles of coaching, especially the idea that most people have the knowledge and resources to solve their own problems, if only they get the right support. One of the best ways of providing that support is to ask the right questions, because questions help to focus thinking, especially at times of stress; and being in debt is certainly one of those times. The book is thus derived from my experience and also demonstrates how those key questions can help anyone get out of debt.”
The book has been favourably reviewed by debt advice experts at
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The book
The first release of “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” will be an abridged e-book, available free of charge from 18 January 2010. The complete publication will be released as an e-book in February: prices depend on format but average below £5. Audiobook and paperback editions will be available later.
Weblinks for the free download will be published on 18 January. For updates, see the author’s blog: http://michaelmacmahon43.blogspot.com/
The author
Michael MacMahon is a freelance writer and voiceover. He was previously a managing director in the chemical industry and then ran his own training business. He lives in
CONTACT DETAILS: interviews, photos etc:
Michael MacMahon
Tel: 0117 973 8420
Mob: 07905 138701
Blog: http://michaelmacmahon43.blogspot.com/
In my last post I said I had decided to write a book about my debt experience and what I had learned from it; and that I had decided to self-publish, first as an e-book.
I’ll be blogging about the topic too. One of the obvious advantages of this form of publishing is its immediacy and flexibility and the way one can link to other sources of information. Thus I’ll certainly aim to signpost people who want advice on debt problems, to helpful websites and blogs. Here are two absolute “musts”.
1. Martin Lewis’s massive site is always worth looking at, especially his “Debt-free wannabe” section: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76
2. The Motley Fool website is another well-known resource for financial advice of all kinds and they have a “Dealing with Debt” stream among their discussion boards: http://boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?bid=50079
A few years ago I hit a financial crisis. I had a business which, after five very promising years, had begun to stagnate. I had turned a blind eye to the problem and came very close to bankruptcy. With the help and support of friends and of a few professionals (one of whom happened also to be a friend) I was able to avoid that, and eventually came through the experience without permanent scars to my spirit or credit rating.
Later, I decided to write a book about the experience and what I had learned from it. My book would be written from the perspective of someone who had been there, had the problem and found a way out of it.
After spending a lot of time over the past two years trying to get a deal with mainstream publishing houses, I have now decided to self-publish the book. It will be available first as an e-book; later, depending on demand, as a paperback and an audiobook.
The e-book will be available early in the New Year. Its working title is “Back to the black: how to become debt-free and stay that way.” If you’d like to be advised by e-mail when it’s available, please post a response on this blog.
A friend died at the weekend. His name was
If you’ve never heard of this man you may wonder why I’m blogging about him. The reason is this. Jonathan died of a brain tumour at the age of 51. Before that he had been living with multiple sclerosis, ever since I first met him; first the relapsing-remitting type, then the secondary progressive type. He went from being the restless entrepreneur - driving all over the country to manage his restaurants and look for new business opportunities – to being a train or taxi passenger, but still striving. Then he could walk with the aid of a stick but preferred to avoid it. Then he needed two sticks, then eventually a wheelchair. I remember he invited me for tea at Brown’s Hotel a year or two back; at that time he could walk with the aid of two sticks but wanted to get from our table to his taxi without them. I was impressed with how the staff was solicitous and caring but did not try to interfere, even though the 10-yard journey took us about 10 minutes.
He tried all kinds of new treatments, of course; volunteering for trials of new drugs and technologies, including a drug based on serum from goats’ blood and later an electrical impulse system called
Earlier this year Jonathan went downhill; it was first thought it was the MS getting even worse but then a brain tumour was diagnosed; the ultimate obscenity on top of what he had already been through. By the time he died at the weekend, he had had enough, in the words of his partner Sarah who has cared for him these past few difficult years.
Now here’s the point; if you didn’t know Jonathan you might have wondered when I was getting to it.
I’ll try to remember that, next time I have a cold. Rest in peace, Jonathan.
