When I first started blogging more than six years ago, I read a piece of advice which said, “stay on topic”. The thinking was that if you wanted to grow your blog readership, you should write with focus on your chosen subject, whatever it might be.
Honestly, I’ve never been able to do that.
Whilst most of my posts are about food, over the years I’ve also written about nasal lavaging, fossils, cowboy boots, fat lady sculptures and paper dragons (to name but a few). I guess this blog has ended up as a record of whatever has intrigued and delighted me in any given week. I get excited at the thought of sharing those moments with you – a bit like I’d tell a friend about them over a cup of coffee.
So today I’m letting you know about this fun book that I found! I picked it up in paperback as a birthday gift for a friend, but loved it so much that I then bought myself a Kindle version as well.
It’s called Life In Five Seconds, and I’ll let the author describe it to you…
It reads particularly well on the iPad using the Kindle reader app and costs just $6 in that format. The iPad version has the answers on the following page rather than the bottom of the page (as the paperback version does), which means it’s easier to try and guess what the images represent without sneaking a peek at the answer.
Here are a few screen grabs to give you an idea (I’ll put the answers at the end of the post)…there are 200 of these in the book…
Lots of fun! Hope you’re all having a great weekend! x
* Adam and Eve
* French Revolution
*Michael Jackson
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
There’s something to keep the grey matter ticking over! Clever book! I’m with you Celia. For the first year I blogged I kept trying to think about what topic I was knowledgeable enough to write about each and every time, and I came to the same conclusion as you, life. I think it sounds like we are both pretty good at living our lives, so why not share it!! And now to prepare my latest post….
Ardys, we really do have fun don’t we? :)
What fun, Celia! That’s a lot of fun for 6 bucks!
Maureen, it’s a hoot! I think you’d love it.. :)
Wow, love it… thanks so much for sharing, Celia.
Enjoy love – think your Peter will to! :)
You do make me laugh. I love having someone with such brains and humour in my life.
Ah lovely woman, the feeling is mutual.. xxx
That looks like a brilliant book. I mainly blog about food too but never exclusively, I find it hard to say only on one topic also. My blogging is for fun, a hobby of sorts, and if I am sharing myself sometimes that involves more than food. I like hearing little bits about the people whose blogs I follow, it is like getting to know someone.
I guess if our blogs aren’t our jobs, we really can do whatever we want! :) Ahh..the freedom of it all.. ;-)
G’day! Oh what fun the book looks to be Celia!
I love things that challenge my mind too!
As far as staying on topic? Good advice, but always think a person’s theme and passion in what they blog about shines through!
Cheers! Joanne
Jo, this book is great fun – I think it would be great dinner party conversation!
It would take me a good 15 minutes to try to fathom out those tricky little adages let alone the 5 minutes that it would take me to lose my temper after that and the 2 minutes spent between my impatient self wanting to turn the page to see the answer and my proud self who “just wants to think about it for a bit longer…” and half a day would be gone! I think I might pass but everyone else, knock yourselves out! :)
You’ll need the paperback version Fran! The answers are on the bottom of the page in a tiny font.. ;-)
I personally like a blog with a bit of variety Celia! x
Me too love, thank you xx
I am confused already!! love love.. c
Hahaha….it would be a great drinking game, Celi! Could you imagine… “have a White Russian, now tell me what this picture is describing…” :)
I will definitely keep that in MIND!!! c
Very clever! And you just keep right on doing what you do with this blog, Celia. We love it.
Thanks darling, you’re very kind…as always xx
On topic… really? My favourite part of blog reading is “off topic”, and on my own I range far and wide. What a clever book. I’m intrigued… cats without cat littler has always been a goal ;)
Hahaha…I haven’t actually found a cat reference in the book yet, but I’m only half way through! :)
A whole book of that would do my head in! I’m already struggling staying calm with just those snippets, bit like rubicks cube. Only way I could solve it would be to remove the stickers and replace in order! I am REALLY good at Pictionary though!
See, if you’re really good at pictionary, I reckon you’d be great at this! :)
The Michael Jackson one made me laugh out aloud! What fun :)
Danielle, I bought the book purely on that one page.. ;-)
Looks like an interesting book! And fun, too!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
It IS great fun! :)
Sounds like a fun read! I’ll have to add it to my Goodreads.
Really cheap on the Kindle!
That does sound like a fun read! Would be great for our camping trip at the end of the year! Thanks for sharing.
Clare, the paperback version is very good, but the font is quite small – might be tricky under firelight…
I love reading about the things that intrigue and delight you Celia! Your eclectic topics are always interesting and your enthusiasm for it all is as fab.
Andrea, you are always so lovely, thank you! I love rambling through the Wind in the Willows Cotswolds with you too! :)
Ooh that’s clever and I love your posts – always an interesting and entertaining read :)
Tanya, thank you! It’s a fun book! :)
I love how your blog is about you!
Tandy, you’re lovely, thank you. xx
Congrats Celia on your six years of blogging and all the success that’s a direct result of all your hard work and efforts. I think my blog is a bit like yours in that it’s a bit of everything – all the things that interest and intrigue me. It makes it so hard to stay on topic! xx
Charlie, maybe our lives are our topics! :D
I started my blog with the intention of just writing about food but soon learnt off topic was the fun of blogging – it is where blogs develop personality – I love all your off topic posts – sounds like a fun book
Johanna, part of the joy of reading your blog is seeing what you and Sylvia have been up to! :)
The true brilliance and humor behind the book concept is that it takes so much time, thought and effort to create these ‘five second histories’ *and* to interpret and explicate them as a viewer/reader/appreciator. And that’s exactly why a blog isn’t really better if it sticks to one topic: life, and our understanding of it, is far richer and more complex, and sometimes it takes a long meditation on the political history of the African deserts, earth-moving equipment, gardening trends in western culture, and the improvements that plastics have afforded physical laborers, just to explain why a fresh green salad is such a good thing! One of the many reasons I do love your posts is that they take us on such wonderful journeys and to such unexpected places. No boring snoring here! :D
xo,
Kathryn
Kathryn, thank you for your thoughtful comment. It really is fun to follow how our minds meander and see how one thing leads to another! :)
Not only do I like reading your varied posts, I like writing my own blog in exactly the same way!! Thanks for letting me know that it is okay to continue doing exactly that!! xxoo
It’s a much more fun adventure that way! Stops it from ever feeling like work! :)
I think variety is the spice of life!!! you seem to be doing something right :) The book looks fun! Liz x
Liz, the book is a hoot! Thanks love x
And I’m glad that you post about more than just recipes! Let’s face it, there’s all sorts of cookbooks out there but I’d rather have a blogging friend to chat with and share stories of what’s going on in their lives. This looks like a very clever book.
Thanks Diane! It IS a clever book – I’ve just downloaded the sequel as well! :)
Brilliant – an idea for a stocking filler for younger teen.
Sally, there’s a follow up book called Films in Five Seconds as well!
love it x