Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you! I’m taking a blogcation today because I’m selling my books at our local craft show. The craft show is a fund raiser for the school district libraries so I’ll be back next week! Have a great weekend!
Tag: Starlight Chronicles
Promo Tour for “The Starlight Chronicles!”
Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you! I’m doing another blog tour for The Starlight Chronicles Series. Check it out if you’re looking for a great story for your teen!
Weekend Update: A Slice of Life Post
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. I enjoy writing these posts and getting to know some of the other Slice of Lifers, too.
Today, I’m reflecting back on our weekend. Both boys had a friend spend the night Friday night, and it was interesting to see how they occupied themselves. Their most favorite thing they did was make You Tube videos.
How fun is that? The creator of You Tube has made an amazing product. My boys get creative with their videos, and they’re actually quite funny. You have to remember both of my kids are in elementary school.
It’s great they can get online, share their videos, and talk about it with their friends using Skype. I love this App myself. I’ve used it a number of times. Technology certainly has made communicating with others much easier, but we have to be careful, too.
The Internet can be a dangerous place. Predators hang out there just like they do at bus stops and parks. They’re just looking for that one kid who’s lonely and unattended. The same thing applies to the Internet.
We make it a point to know all of our boys’ friends. So when they’re Skyping, we know who they’re talking to. We’re that involved. Some might call us helicopter parents, but I don’t care. My kids are safe and that’s the most important thing.
We allow our boys to have their friends over quite a bit. It can be a lot of work, but we’re okay with that because we can keep an eye on them. We also get to know their friends, too. We listen to their conversations as they sit around the table and eat. It’s a great group of kids, and I feel blessed that my boys have such good friends.
It reminds me of my friends back in my elementary and junior high days. I had awesome friends, too. I don’t think we ever have friendships as close at any other point in our lives as we did back in those days. I don’t know how anyone else feels, but my friends and I were so tight back then.
We still meet occasionally, but we’re all so busy with our own families and commitments that it’s hard to get everyone together at the same time. It’s interesting to see how far all of us have journeyed on our path.
We didn’t have Skype back then, but we did have the telephone. Remember those old landlines? Wow. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? Thanks for reading my post. How do you feel about your kids using the Internet? Do you feel the Internet has helped or hindered them as they grow into adulthood? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
If you’d like to read other Slice of Life Posts, click the link below.
Did Someone Say More Cowbell?
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I’ve got nothing. I can’t think of an interesting blog post to save my life. I’ve got the dreaded disease Blogger’s Block.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had it, but mine came on gradually. I’d start writing a post and it would start off good, but then it’d dwindle down until I found myself asking, what am I trying to say? Who is going to read this?
When no answers came to me, I trashed my words and started over. I did this three times. Now I’m confessing. I have Blogger’s Block and I need a cure.
Did someone say More Cowbell?
More Cowbell is definitely the cure for this horrible illness. Don’t know what I’m talking about?
Check out this YouTube Video and you’ll understand:
I know I’m dating myself here, but this was one of my favorite skits on the great Saturday Night Live show. This show started in 1975. I remember, I was a skinny teen then and it was a big deal to watch it.
I’d have my best friend spend the night. We’d stay up late eating popcorn and drinking fizzy coke, while we watched this amazing comedy show. We’d laugh and laugh. Our fears and insecurities would become non-existent because we were having too much fun.
We’d get to school on Monday and the buzz through the halls was, “Hey did you see Saturday Night Live?”
“Wasn’t that the best?”
We’d go into great detail about what skit we thought was the funniest. Then we’d discuss SNL shows of the past, ones that were truly iconic.
Saturday Night Live has been around since 1975. This show has been making people laugh for forty-one years. It is the longest running sketch comedy show on American television.
Many young comedians have gotten their start on Saturday Night Live. Dan Aakroyd, Bill Murray, and Will Farrell, just to name a few. These stars have gone on to have major success on the big screen.
Laughter truly is the best medicine. I’m sure you’re aware that laughing secretes endorphins in your brain. Endorphins are hormones that activate our opiate receptors. They make us feel good. 🙂
Laughing also exercises your abdominal muscles and the muscles in your face. Which means it also burns calories. I bet you can see where I’m going with this one, can’t you?
But the best time to watch SNL skits is when you’re going through chemo. Because you’ll laugh, and you’ll feel better even if it’s just for a little while.
So whether you’re dealing with Blogger’s Block, or something much more serious like chemo. Just remember, the cure is More Cowbell. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today. I’ve got some other SNL favorites for you to check out. The links are below.
Another Top Ten List of SNL Skits
What are your favorites? List them in the comments. I’d love to check them out!
Failure is a Stepping Stone to Success
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. Today, I’m talking about dealing with failure. In my opinion, failure is just a stepping stone to success, but not everyone feels this way.
The event that brought this subject to light is the Battle of the Books at my son’s school. This is an event, where students read a number of books approved by their librarian. When the students have read ten books from this approved list, they’re eligible to participate in The Battle of the Books. This is where they answer questions on the content they’ve read. I watched it poised with anticipation. I couldn’t wait to see those young eager minds answer questions from the books they’d read.
I watched as these kids nervously picked at their fingernails or bit their lips. I’d forgotten how scary it can be to answer questions in front of a panel of adults and your peers. Not to mention the humiliation they must’ve felt when they didn’t answer correctly. I remembered how intense those emotions can be.
It was a crushing event for one young man and my heart went out to him and that’s when I realized young people need to learn they can survive failing. It’s not the end all drama that they imagine it to be. It’s a painful lesson and we as parents need to remember that as we guide our littles through life.
After all, it took Thomas Edison one thousand attempts before he got the light bulb right. Then there’s J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, who was rejected by twelve different publishers before Bloomsbury Publishing accepted it. This series went on to earn over four hundred million dollars and made Rowling the first female billionaire author.
We’re very fortunate Thomas Edison and J.K. Rowling didn’t give up, they persevered and our world is better for it. We need to teach this to our kids, this belief in their dreams. We need to teach them everyone fails before they get it right. If we don’t, what will the future be like?
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. If you’re looking for other Slice of Life Posts, click the link below.
My One Little Word for 2016
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I’m sharing my one little word for this year. This is my first time participating in the One Little Word event, so I’ve put a lot of thought into my word. I came up with a very simple one, but it does illustrate what I want to achieve this year.
That word is:
LISTEN
I know. A little anti-climactic, after all I was thinking about words like Intuition, Commitment, and Inspiration.
However, as I thought about my one little word. I realized that I needed an action word. Something that would guide me in my everyday life.
That’s why I chose Listen.
I want to turn down the volume and Listen to my Intuition. My inner voice will guide me and help me to make the choices I need to make, but I’ve got to get in the habit of really Listening to it.
I also need to listen to my kids and hubby. And when I say listen I mean, listen to understand and not listen to reply. As a society we tend to think about how we’re going to respond to someone as opposed to trying to understand what they’re saying. So I’m going to work on this one.
I want to listen to my friends more so they feel more understood and I’ll get to know them on a deeper level.
So there you have it. My one little word for 2016. Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I’d love to hear what you think of my word, leave a comment. Do you have one little word you’d like to share?
If you’d like to check out other Slice of Life Posts click the link below:
Do Blondes have more fun? A Slice of Life Post
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. Today, I’m discussing the question, do blondes have more fun?
Now, I can do a survey and ask a random sample of blonde women whether they agree with that age-old theory or I can tell you about my experience as a blonde versus my experience as a brunette.
I bet you’re wondering how I can do this objectively. Well I’ll tell you. You see before I went through chemo. I was blonde. I had some chemical help too, but that’s beside the point. 🙂
Anyway, then I started chemo and I lost my hair. It all fell out. I was bald. This was quite a shock for me, but my family took it in stride. So I bought a wig and I was fortunate enough to find one that matched my former blonde locks to a reasonable degree.
I finished chemo and to tell you the truth when I was going through it, it seemed like it would never end. Now that I’m done, and I’ve been done for about a year, it seems like it happened a lifetime ago. Isn’t the human mind a wonderful thing? It can take some horrific event and make it seem faraway and small.
Well, when I finished chemo, I started to recover and my hair started growing back, but it came back very dark, almost black. It’s still in the process of growing in, but it’s long enough so that I can style it a little now.
Because of this experience I feel that I’m qualified to answer the question: Do blondes have more fun? After all, I’ve been a blonde and I’ve been a brunette.
And the answer is: It doesn’t matter if you’re blonde or brunette. The people who have the most fun are the healthy ones. Take care of your health and you’ll truly have wealth.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I’d love to hear from you.
For more Slice of Life Posts click here:
Pennies from Heaven: A Slice of Life Post
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. Today, I want to talk about the significance of finding coins, specifically pennies and dimes.
Recently, I went to the mall with my youngest. There was a game for the Xbox 360 he wanted to get and he couldn’t wait one more day to get it. Sigh. So we ventured out on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
I parked my car in the parking lot and stepped out. I happened to look down on the ground and there sitting right by my foot was a dime. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I didn’t think much about it, just proceeded into the store.
After my son picked out his game, we stood in the long line waiting to check out. Ahead of me in the aisle was a bright shiny penny. I had seen it earlier, before I stepped in line, but I figured someone would pick it up. I was surprised to see it still on the floor. I picked it up and handed it to the cashier. I thought it was odd, all those people milling around and no one picked up that coin. I shrugged it off, after all, it was busy. The chances of finding loose change will increase dramatically when you have more people milling around.
We left the store and headed toward our car. As we travelled across the parking lot, something shiny caught my eye. When I stepped closer, I realized it was a coin, another dime. Now I believe in synchronistic events and I find it strange that I would find three coins in a busy mall out in plain site where anyone passing by could pick them up.
So when I returned home. I did an internet search and I found there is a spiritual connection to finding pennies and dimes.
Some people believe that finding these two types of coins in odd places or frequently is a message from someone who has passed to the other side.
Click this link to read more here:
http://www.ask-angels.com/spiritual-guidance/finding-dimes-pennies-from-heaven/
If this is true, what does finding these coins mean? What message are they trying to convey?
Well, according to the above article, pennies signify the number one. Which carries the vibration of new beginnings, new ideas, achievement, success, and progress.
Dimes, on the other hand, signify that you should pay attention to your intuition and trust your instincts as you move forward in life.
Is this true? I don’t know, but I do know that I’ve had a rush of new ideas recently in regards to my writing. 🙂 So I’m going to be paying attention that’s for sure.
How about you? Has anything like this happened to you before? What did you make of it? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
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Volunteering: Another Solution to Teen Angst
Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you today! I wrote this blog post about three years ago and I thought it was important enough to share again. So, even though some of the info is a little dated. It’s still relevant today. 🙂
I’m back today and I’d like to just touch on some of the teen issues that I’ve discussed in the past, for example, bullying behavior, teen depression, and teen pregnancy. What I’d like to touch on is a possible solution to these problems. 🙂
All of these behaviors are a result of pressures that the young adults feel during these tumultuous years. These years are filled with new challenges and new emotions and this is the first time teens are testing their boundaries. These are exciting and frightening times for them.
So, it’s not surprising that they make some incorrect choices. 🙂 In the past, I’ve said that parental involvement and keeping kids active in sports are ways to combat some of these negative choices. I still believe that parental involvement is very important in developing positive behaviors, but what about the kids who aren’t interested in sports? Some kids just don’t have any inclination in that direction.
Well, I’ve thought about this and I’ve discovered a solution. 🙂 You knew I had one didn’t you? What about volunteering? That’s right. I came across a wonderful organization that encourages teens to volunteer and I’m very impressed by it.
In fact, I’m working with them on a project and I’m very excited about it! But, there will be a whole blog post about that as soon as we get all the details ironed out. 🙂 So stay tuned for that. 🙂 The organization is called VOLUNTEENATION and here’s the link to their website. Check it out! http://www.volunteennation.org/. This is a national organization which means they have volunteer opportunities all throughout the United States.
I’m sure you all have heard one of the best ways to combat depression is by helping others…I believe this applies to teenagers as well and that’s what volunteering is all about.
What I love about this organization is that teens are working with other teens in a positive situation. They aren’t at home closed off in their rooms brooding about their problems. Volunteering takes their focus off of their problems and gets them moving in a positive direction. In my opinion, this might lead to more fulfilling friendships because teens are working together toward a common goal.
Another positive effect this type of organization has is that there are certainly instances where teens can utilize/learn leadership skills as well as team building skills. 🙂 Skills that are necessary for the working environment. 🙂
Maybe if we got our kids involved in volunteering we’d have fewer disasters like Columbine and Newtown. Something to think about my friends. 🙂
Check out Volunteenation’s blog. Here’s a post about how teens can support the Newtown victims. http://www.volunteennation.org/blog/categories/latest-news/203-how-youth-Lican-support-newtown
I can’t say enough about this organization; it’s getting teens headed in the right direction. 🙂
Thanks for reading my post today! I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! 🙂
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I HOPE 2013 IS YOUR BEST YEAR YET!
Promotion: The Step all Authors Struggle With
Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you. I’m here today to talk about promotion. I know all my author friends are cringing right now. It’s one of the toughest parts of the job especially for newbie authors.
There is no tried and true method for marketing, I’m sad to say. What works for one author may not work for another. There are many tools out there for authors to use, Social Media, Blog Tours, Bargain Book Sites, and Online Radio Interviews.
What I’ve found is Social Media is a great way to communicate with your friends and followers. I’ve sold books this way, but if you talk about your books, too much it can be a turn off. When I think of Facebook and Twitter, I think of sharing of information. I have many author friends that I chat with and we share marketing tips and other helpful information.
***This photo is courtesy of Flickr and https://mkhmarketing.wordpress.com/
I’ve also participated in Blog Tours. They’re a great way to get out in front of your audience, but they don’t usually net many sales. So why do them at all? Well, first, they offer exposure of your books and they offer reviews. I don’t know about you, but I find reviews are hard to come by and blog tours are an excellent way to get reviews from someone other than your mom. 🙂
Here are a couple of blog tours I’ve used:
YA Bound: http://yabound.blogspot.com/
Goddess Fish Promotions: http://www.goddessfish.com/
There are also Bargain Book Sites. The purpose of these sites is to sell a large quantity of books to their followers. Therefore, you’ll want a site that has a history of success. Not all of them do, so this is where communication with other authors comes in handy. Check with your author friends to see what kind of success they’ve had. Some new sites will offer their service free. Take them up on it. They may be trying to build a following, so you might not have a lot of success, but you might. It doesn’t cost you anything so it’s worth a try. The one site I’ve had great success with is http://ereadernewstoday.com/
The last but certainly not least way to get exposure for your work is by Online Radio Shows. This is a way to reach a larger audience fast. Again, I’m looking for exposure and getting my name out there. I’m working with The Author Show and my interview will be available for everyone to hear tomorrow.
I’m excited about this because they have a large following. I was a little nervous at first, because I hadn’t been interviewed in a long time. I worked with Linda and she eased my anxiety, she was so open and friendly. They do the interview and air it for one day free. They have social media sites they post on and they allow you to share the interview on all your social media sites. So you’re getting in front of a larger audience. Did I tell you they edit the interview too? So all those Umms…and Ahhhs… are deleted. Again, they do this free. Here’s the link if you’re interested in listening to my interview, or if you’d like to contact them and set up an interview for yourself. Check it out! http://www.wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsShow.html
We’re talking about the third book in the Starlight Chronicles Series. It’s titled “Starlight” and the cover and blurb are below.
Seventeen-year-old Lark Singer and her band Starlight have entered a competition that could launch their musical career if they win. However, Lark soon discovers that her nemesis, Duane McIntyre has also entered making her desire to win stronger than ever. How far will Lark go to win and what will it cost her in the end?
Thanks for stopping by and if you have any marketing tips you’d like to share, please do! We’d love to read them!
