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Low-power empowerment

When Hurricane Wilma hit Immokalee, Fla., radio station WCTI helped people find shelter by broadcasting essential local emergency information.

In Greenville, S.C., WLFJ, a Christian radio station, prepares local college students for careers in broadcasting while providing the community with local religious programming.

In New England, WSCA devotes more than 25 hours per week to locally produced music programming — making this station the place to go for music by independent artists and established regional acts that have been shut out of commercial radio.

All three of these are low-power, 100-watt radio stations that broadcast on the FM dial to listeners within a 3.5-mile radius.
The FCC has awarded more than 800 low-power FM (LPFM) licenses to church groups, schools, citizen groups, civil rights organizations and immigrant groups.

LPFM stations have become the focal point — the town square, in effect — for many communities. These stations are licensed to local nonprofit, school, church, and civic groups that understand local needs and offer local leaders and residents a forum to discuss issues affecting their community. They offer the local news, independent music, religious programming, foreign-language programming and farm reports that have disappeared — or never existed — on the rest of the radio dial.

LPFM stations have also been essential in times of crisis. WQRZ, an LPFM station broadcasting in Bay St. Louis, Miss., provided emergency services for its communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Operated by local volunteers, this LPFM station in the Gulf Coast region stayed on the air and provided its neighbors with lifesaving information about the storm, the safety of local drinking water, and the means to get help from FEMA and local first responders.

Thousands of additional LPFM stations like these are needed in communities across the country, but Congress limited the areas in which such stations could be built seven years ago.

In 2000, Congress limited the number of licenses available because larger broadcasters claimed that the LPFM stations would cause interference with existing full-power FM stations — and ordered the FCC to study the interference issue. The resulting study, which was released in 2003, found that increasing the number of LPFM stations would not cause significant interference. The FCC subsequently urged Congress to repeal the restrictions it placed on licensing LPFM stations, but no action has been taken yet.

Lifting the current restrictions would allow more LPFM stations to operate in urban and suburban areas. Thousands of groups have submitted applications with the FCC for licenses to operate their own stations — but they are blocked by the current limits placed on where LPFM stations can operate.

We believe it is time for Congress to lift those restrictions. That is why we introduced the Local Community Radio Act (H.R. 2802), which would bring new local radio outlets to thousands of American cities and suburbs. Sens. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainMcCain rips Trump for attacks on press NSA spying program overcomes key Senate hurdle Meghan McCain says her father regrets opposition to MLK Day MORE (R-Ariz.) and Maria CantwellMaria Elaine CantwellSenate Finance Dems want more transparency on trade from Trump Overnight Energy: Senate close to approving Arctic drilling | EPA cancels controversial media tracking contract | Trump officials sound alarm on mineral imports Lawmakers introduce bipartisan AI legislation MORE (D-Wash.) have introduced identical legislation in the Senate (S. 1675). Our efforts would increase diversity in local markets and empower local residents.

While creating more LPFM stations won’t eliminate our country’s need for more media diversity, our bill would provide more minorities and women with an opportunity to operate their own radio stations.  According to a new study by Free Press, minorities own just 7.7 percent of all full-power radio stations and women own only 6 percent.

The Local Community Radio Act is bipartisan legislation that deserves the support of all members of Congress who support localism, variety and diversity on the radio. LPFM promises to put the public airwaves back in the hands of the people. It’s time to allow our local communities to speak for themselves.


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Union announces TSA labor deal

AFGE's representative for its TSA Council, Kim Kraynak-Lambert, said the labor agreement announced on Thursday "will better the working lives of 45,000 hard-working, dedicated employees.

"TSOs come to work every day in the face of intense public and congressional scrutiny and, to the best of their ability, protect this nation from terrorist attacks," she said. "Now we can look forward to new rights and new working conditions, and a chance to form a true labor-management partnership."

In a committee hearing this week, lawmakers worried that a new labor contract would make it harder for TSA to fire negligent employees.

"If you're not able to fire people for stealing under that new contract, we're going to have a problem," House Transportation Security subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said on Wednesday to TSA's new deputy administrator, John Halinski.

Kraynak-Lambert said Thursday that concerns about the labor agreement negatively affecting airport security were unjustified.

"Contrary to some of the misinformation circulating about TSA, an agreement will not adversely affect security — security related matters were strictly excluded from negotiations," she said. "In fact, this agreement will strengthen our ability to carry out TSA’s vital mission of protecting the American people.”

Gage added that the TSA labor contract would "provide for increased uniformity on fair treatment and the other issues important to employees across the nation’s airports.

“Independent, third-party review is a right that ensures transparency and will improve the working lives of our officers,” he said of disputes between TSA employees and management.

The labor contract will have to ratified in a vote by TSA employees. AFGE said on Thursday the election would take place "in the coming months."

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Turkey Cupcakes

Okay. For those of you that thought I was TOTALLY skipping Thanksgiving this year, here is a post for you!
I found these cute cupcakes a few weeks ago and decided to share the idea here in case some of you were in the baking mood and wanted to try these for your little one's class party or even as a Thanksgiving Day dessert for the kiddies! I love them because they remind me of the Monkey Cupcakes I did a few months ago. Alise will love helping me decorate these!

P.S. Don't forget about this!! What pie will YOU be sharing?? Two guesses on mine.

Love the Pie

P.S.S. I decided to throw in this picture of my little Turkey acting like a sassy Turkey, which seems to be the way of the world these days - at least HER world!

  1. Love both the turkeys! LOL! See y'all in a couple of days. RTR!

  2. I love Alise's expression. We've experienced the same at our house. Love the turkeys!

  3. Oh I love the turkeys. I saw a really cute turkey and pilgrim cupcake pattern in a recent Women's World magazine, but it was very, very complicated. Ithink I could actually do the ones in your post.

    ~hippo hugs~

  4. Love her cute top!!! What a turkey!!!


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9/22 Dina Martina (Just Announced)

Tickets go on sale
Friday, June 23, 2017 @ 12:00 PM

Hear ye! Hear ye! Dina Martina will be performing her brand new show, FINE AVEC ME!, at The Howard Theatre in DC.

This hysterically funny show – like all of Martina’s surreal shows – promises to be an amazing blend of questionable song, pointless dance, unsightly costumes and hilarious video. It is nearly impossible to adequately describe the jaw-dropping pathos and mind-blowing comedy that is a Dina Martina show – other than that it’s a smart and hilarious evening of entertainment that you’ll never forget.

DINA MARTINA has packed venues throughout Seattle as well as New York, Provincetown, Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco and London. Martina has shared the bill with acts such as Margaret Cho, Alan Cumming, Justin Vivian Bond and Bridget Everett. She has been awarded two Seattle Times Footlight Awards and The Stranger Genius Award for Theater.

“Dina Martina goes way beyond drag into some new kind of twisted art.” – John Waters

“Comic genius. I’ve never seen anything as brilliant or as funny as Dina.” – The Atlantic

“The most original drag performer working in America today.” – Michael Musto

Dina Martina »

Dina Martina @ Facebook »

Dina Martina @ Twitter »

Dina Martina @ Twitter »

Dina Martina @ YouTube »

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Seah Street Deli, Raffles Hotel

We wanted some Italian food at Prego's but it had an incredulous waiting time of 30 to 40 minutes. Friends will know that the BF and I are not fans of queues and/or crowds, so we headed straight to Seah Street Deli instead, which was just across the road at Raffles Hotel.

It was fairly empty when we entered the retro New York Diner-styled restaurant. Perfect.

The BF ordered the Texas Burger ($22.50), a whopping 250g beef patty (medium done) with Hickory Bbq sauce, smoked bacon, sauteed peppers, sweet onions and melted cheese. This was hearty, robust and absolutely delish, the way real burgers should be.

I love eating breakfast food for dinner, so I got an Omelette ($14) with Swiss Cheese ($2.50) and Portobello Mushrooms ($5). This came served with baked beans and 2 pieces of toasted bread. Simple and classic, but otherwise unspectacular.

We also got the Mac and Cheese ($17.50) to share. Today's version was sadly lacking in the cheese sauce, so other than the golden brown hued sauce you see slathered on top, the insides were dried out. We struggled to finish this.

We got a side of the Sauteed Mushrooms ($7), shitake mushrooms that was fragrant and earthy. Absolutely yummy.

We also ordered the Root Beer Float ($10), a frothy concoction of fizzy root beer with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream on top, which the BF totally gushed over. I realised then that the BF had never had root beer float before in his entire life! Which totally surprised me. It's amazing that despite being together for more than 2 and a half years, I'm still finding out new stuff about him everyday. That, and the fact that he makes me laugh everyday.

Seah Street Deli
Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road
Tel: 6337 1886
Open Sundays to Thursdays and Public Holidays from 11am to 10pm, Fridays, Saturdays and eve of Public Holidays from 11am to 11pm

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UK Supreme Court to consider Northern Ireland abortion case

Demonstrators chaining themselves to Department of Health to ensure extension of Abortion Rights to Northern Ireland (

The Supreme Court will consider the right of women in Northern Ireland to have an abortion following a recent decision by the Belfast court of appeal to uphold a ruling deferring to the executive in matters of the country’s strict anti-abortion regime.

The appeal has been brought by the Northern Irish Human Rights Commission which argues that abortion should be legal in cases of women with pregnancies where the foetus cannot survive birth; whose pregnancies arise from rape or incest; or where there is serious malformation of the foetus.

This appeal will be heard on October 24th and will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act 1967. That Act enabled access to reproductive services in a wide variety of circumstances in England, Scotland, and Wales, but it was excluded from applying in Northern Ireland where the issue of abortion falls under its devolved powers.

‘The exceptions to the current restrictive regime proposed by the Commission are extremely compelling, and the denial of those rights to date is an indictment of the equality, autonomy, and dignity of women in Northern Ireland,’ commented Janet Farrell, solicitor at Bhatt Murphy representing Humanists UK which is intervening in the case. ‘This is a vitally important case for women and girls in Northern Ireland for whom access to lawful and safe abortions is long overdue. In this the 50th year of the Abortion Act 1967, this situation must come to an end.’

The law governing abortion in Northern Ireland remains one of the most restrictive in Europe, and the criminal sanctions imposed are amongst the harshest in the world. Abortion can only be performed in certain, limited circumstances – when the mother’s physical or mental health is in danger – and pregnancies that are terminated for any other reason, including fatal foetal abnormalities or pregnancies as a result of rape, constitute an offence against the person, as provided in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

The law remains unchanged since then, apart from the additional provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 1945 that class abortion as ‘child destruction’ – an act that carries a life sentence. In June at the Belfast court of appeal, which considered the high court’s finding that the near-blanket ban on abortion breached the European Convention on Human Rights, it was decided that the controversy and lack of consensus in Europe accorded a wide margin of judgment for Parliament, who should have primacy on the matter rather than the courts. Lord Justice Gillen also added that he felt the law at least provided ‘certainty and accountability’.

In a separate case also in June, in a 3-2 ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the fact that women from Northern Ireland couldn’t access abortion services for free on the NHS in England, reiterating that the scheme of devolved health services meant that the matter was for Northern Ireland to decide. However, having won the case, subsequently the Secretary of State for Health in England chose to reverse his policy on the matter, and allow free abortions on the NHS after all. The Scottish and Welsh governments then did the same. However, this reversal still leaves Northern Irish women with the burden of travelling to Britain to terminate pregnancies, rather than being able to access abortion services in their own country.

Evidence has been filed from three eminent philosophers and Humanists UK supporters: Professor AC Grayling, Professor of Philosophy and Master of the New College of the Humanities; Professor John Harris, Professor Emeritus of Bioethics at the University of Manchester; and Professor Simon Blackburn, retired Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Their evidence concerns the philosophical concepts of autonomy, choice, dignity, and suffering, the absence of a compelling moral case for the almost total ban on abortion in Northern Ireland, and the absence of exemptions in the three compelling categories highlighted by the case.

‘It is simply outrageous that even in the extreme circumstances this case deals with, women in Northern Ireland still are not able to access legal and safe abortions,’ said the chief executive for Humanists UK, Andrew Copson.

‘With the lack of any political will in Northern Ireland to sort this matter out, it is right that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has taken the subject to the courts, to ensure that every woman’s autonomy and dignity are respected, and human rights are upheld. We will be doing our utmost to ensure this challenge succeeds.’
Andrew Copson, Humanists UK

Profile photo of Eleanor Sheerin About Eleanor Sheerin
Eleanor is an aspiring barrister and currently a legal intern with Global Rights Compliance, an organisation committed to enhancing compliance with international human rights standards

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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Peach Blueberry Brown Sugar Cobbler with Butter Pecan Ice Cream

So I whipped this up last night. I've actually prepared five cobblers with the fresh peaches we picked last weekend and froze them to enjoy throughout the year. I had enough peaches for one more cobbler and decided to mix things up and make this one different from the rest. I recently purchased some big beautiful blueberries from Costco and figure why not throw some of them in! Peaches and blueberries go together, right? Then I loved the idea of making the flavor richer, so instead of using just plain white sugar, I decided to try using half regular sugar and half brown sugar. Oh my, was that ever good. Layer on a flaky cinnamon crust and we were almost at perfection. Almost. The final addition that took this cobbler from delicious to frickin' fantastic, was butter pecan ice cream. The way the taste of the fresh peaches blended with the fresh blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon and cold creamy butter pecan was almost too good to be true. Almost :-)

Peach Blueberry Brown Sugar Cobbler
with Butter Pecan Ice Cream

8 X 8 X 2 inch square baking pan

Pastry for 1 9-inch pie crust.
4 cups sliced fresh ripe peaches
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter.

Crust topping:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Your favorite butter pecan ice cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees

Prepare pastry.

Toss peeled sliced peaches and blueberries in lemon juice. Stir together sugar, flour, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon; mix lightly with fruit. Pour into square baking pan. Dot with butter. Cover with your pie crust pasty. Cut a few slits in the top to vent. Flute edges to seal around the edge of the pan. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar crust topping evenly over the top of your pasty. Cover the edges with 2 to 3 inch wide strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake for 35 min, remove foil and then bake an additional 10 minutes.

Serve warm with butter pecan ice cream.

***This cobbler can be frozen before you add the butter and pastry for up to one year. Then simply take out of the freezer, dot with butter, add a freshly made pastry, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar topping and bake.  I use the disposable square baking pans found on the baking isle at the grocery store for freezing cobblers. You will need to place these disposable pans on a cookie sheet to bake.

~The Lemonista

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Fresh Peach Margarita

It's peach season in Arizona. We went peach picking over the weekend and I've been a peach cooking fool all week.

I love fresh peaches and besides the usual pies, cobblers and jam, I love to come up with new ways to prepare these succulent gems. I got the idea of concocting a fresh peach adult beverage, and since margaritas are my favorite, started with that as my base. What I came up with was cool, sweet, tart, refreshing and utterly peachy! This fresh peach margarita evokes the laid-back feelings of summer. Now all I need is a beach and a boat ;-)

Fresh Peach Margarita
serves 2

2oz Silver tequila
1oz Orange liquor
1oz Agave nectar
1oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
1 whole ripe fresh peach, peeled, pitted and sliced
1 cup mounded with ice cubes

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a glass rimmed with salt or sugar.

~The Lemonista

Monday, May 5, 2014

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Gyros

I love my slow cooker but I'm kind of picky about slow cooker meals. Since you can never go wrong with a boneless beef chuck pot roast prepared in the good 'ol crock pot, I'm always looking for new ways to change it up.

Every now and then, I get a solid craving for Greek food and Gyros are a favorite of mine, so I figured, why not? These aren't lamb, so they're not a spot on flavor match for the classic Gyro, but they still have that great Greek flavor and make for a really good meal. Oh, and did I mention they're easy!

Here's the photo tutorial. The recipe and instructions to follow:

Slow Cooker Beef Gyros
Yields 8 Gyros

2 lbs boneless beef chuck pot roast
1/2 tsp. onion powder
Light sprinkle of Kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper.
2 whole peperoncinis (optional)

Middle Eastern Flatbread, I used Trader Joe's brand
Crumbled feta cheese
Tzatziki sauce (store bought or make your own)
Fresh tomato, cubed
Red onion, thinly sliced
Shredded lettuce

Prepare Meat:
Rub both sides of your roast with onion powder and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over med-high heat in a skillet and brown both sides of your roast. Put your roast in the slow cooker.

Prepare sauce:
In a bowl, combine minced garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour over roast. I like the flavor of peperoncinis, so I added two whole peperoncinis to the slow cook. If you're not a fan, you can skip this step.

Set your slow cooker on low and cook for 6 hours, or until meat is tender and shreds easily with a fork.

Prepare your Gyros:
On Middle Eastern flatbread, add desired amount of cooked meat, crumbled feta, Tzatziki sauce, cubed tomato, sliced red onion and shredded lettuce. Fold bread together like a taco and dig in!

~The Lemonista


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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Meet Francine!

Good morning! I'd like to introduce you all to Francine, the newest member of the Lime Canary family. She's quite attractive and will be a very versatile piece. She's dressed in a fabulous velvet with beautiful tufting. In addition to her awesome outfit, she's finished in ivory paint with gold speckles. Girl got style! Pick her up for your next event!

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Battle of the Bands – 60’s Themed Poster Design

The main A3 Battle of the Bands Poster Design

Year: 2012
Clients: Moonee Valley City Council

A fun project in mid-2012 was a 60’s themed poster design for the Moonee Valley Freeza Battle of the Bands. The final main A3 Poster design is shown above. The client wanted a sixties style theme for the poster. I had a lot of fun putting this together in Photoshop and Illustrator.

I’ve included a few other digital copies of the various other print and digital mediums created for the event.

Battle of the Bands 60's Poster Design - A6 Flyer version
Condensed version for A6 flyer.

The Single-sided A6 flyer had to contain less text so it would still be legible at smaller size! Both the A6 flyer and A3 poster were used in the client’s digital campain via facebook, email and local music news portals.

Battle of the Bands 60's Poster Design - Lanyards for Staff and performing artists
Sample of Lanyards for Staff and Performing Artists.

Lanyards were requested very close to the event. They were created very quickly using the simple style established through the posters and flyers!

Battle of the Bands 60's Poster Design - Web banner designs
Banner designs for web use.

These 2 banners were made for the client’s website.

I had a bunch of fun working on this project. The final deliverables had to be completed within a tight turn-around. As with many event posters, the body copy text, especially the lineup, was tweaked and changed by the client multiple times in the lead-up to the event.

Because of these 2 factors, I had to develop a workflow that would allow me to make the swirly, bendy text, but easily and quickly make changes to the actual text. I created the text in Photoshop, converted the text to smart objects and used the ‘warp’ transform tool to shape the text as required.

I then had the freedom to edit my original smart object text without having to alter the warp. Finally, the text would be vectorised using Illustrator’s live trace feature so it would remain crisp at any resolution.

I found that this was a really handy and time-saving technique. I’ve put together a quick overview of this method and the workflow for the whole poster and will upload that here in a few days!


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Saturday, December 19, 2009

O Night Divine

If any of you ever decide to come visit us here in Guam (the welcome mat is out and waiting to be stepped on), after tonight I would HIGHLY recommend you come for Christmas.  First off, the weather is pretty spectacular, we're getting trade winds again, which keeps the temperature and humidity down.  But mainly, if you come for Christmas you could go to Rota Walk with us!

Tonight, since this is our first Christmas on Guam, was our first Rota Walk.  I've been hearing about it since practically the minute we found out we were moving here.  It totally lived up to and (incredibly) surpassed my expectations.  Rota Walk is held every year on the Saturday night before Christmas. Rota Drive is the nicest residential street on base and winds up a mountain hill.  Pretty much all of the base leadership lives on Rota Drive and they decorate their houses for Christmas.  Rota Walk is the night when all the lights have to be up and everyone walks from the bottom of Rota Drive to the top of the hill.  Along the way, there are choirs, bounce houses, people serving hot dogs and cookies and even hot chocolate.  It's basically a huge block party/street festival.

My description above doesn't really do it justice, and the pictures below probably won't either.  But, it was a great night. We kicked the evening off by having a rather impromptu dinner party (on the menu chili dogs and tater tots- that just reeks of Christmastime doesn't it?  Maybe not, but I think it's the start of a new Michael family tradition, we will serve chili dogs and tater tots and have a pre-Rota Walk get together every year we are here) at our house.  After all 15 of us finished eating, we headed out to Rota Drive.  It was a beautiful night out:  no rain, perfect breeze, no frogs were seen, no shrews were heard- couldn't ask for more. Price rode in his wagon and he spent the night looking at all the lights and watching all the people.  He got to ride a carabao and even got snowed on.  He saw Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman and bulldozers and big trucks.  I saw Christmas through his eyes.  I heard the carols and felt the tropical breeze on my face, and I realized why my mom always loved taking us to look at Christmas lights, I am pretty sure it wasn't for the lights themselves, but for the lights reflecting in our eyes.

The Carabao started walking off after being hit in the behind with a glowstick. I guess I was laughing about almost being trampled by a huge animal.  And no, contrary to what the picture may lead you to believe, I am not pregnant, I have just been eating a lot of cinnamon rolls.

Once again, I feel blessed to feel a sense of wonder and watch Price experience things for the first time and also be experiencing things we never would have if we hadn't moved to Guam.  It was a hard move and it's hard to be so far away from home this time of year.  But tonight was a reminder that we aren't alone here, that someone recognizes that being on this tiny spec of land could be tough this time of year, and goes out of their way to put on an event like Rota Walk so we can feel closer to home and closer to each other by sharing one, dare I say, magical moment with our friends and neighbors.

Guamanian Nativity Scene

Santa travels by a dolphin guided kayak when delivering gifts to Guam.

Bubble Snow and Palm Trees, it's a Corona commercial in the making

I'm pretty sure that those are Price's gifts on that bulldozer based on what his really generous grandparents, aunts and uncles have shipped to him!

shelly_finn said...

Terrell, it sounds like you have really found a "family" there! I'm glad that this christmas was so wonderful for you. It is indeed hard to be away, but the most memorable holidays are sometimes the ones that you aren't at home. I only wish that you guys could have been a part of our "family" here for a bit longer. We really missed you!

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Hello Again!

Hello Again!  Did you ever see that movie - it's a 1987 movie with Shelly Long, Corbin Bernsen, Sela Ward, and Gabriel Byrne.  In it, Shelly Long's character dies, and her eccentric sister finds a spell to bring her back a year later.  But she can't pick up where she left off because life has happened, things have changed, and she also has to change to find a way to get back to LIVING!

Well, there are no spells or eccentric sisters involved, but I have felt that we definitely need to be back!  And because time and circumstance have taught and changed me, things are going to be a little different - better! So here we are -- Hello Again!!!

The theme for The Mommy 15 is Deliberately Creating the Life of Your Dreams: Heart, Mind, Body, Home!  I am SO EXCITED and SO READY for this blog to take shape and take life.  I hope that it will be a place you can come to find a culmination of everything you are looking for AND the inspiration and direction to put it into ACTION and CREATE the life you have been pinning on the Pinterest boards of your mind and heart for as long as you can remember.  Deliberate means purposeful, intentional, resolute!  Those are powerful words! And when applied to life and to dreams, it means that you are and will tap into that part of you that will keep you unstoppable in LIVING your OWN Happily Ever After.

And that change starts . . . TODAY!

So - WELCOME BACK! And please share this blog with your friends, send me a message on FB to request the topics and themes that are the dreams and struggles and inner battles of your heart. Together, we will move forward - like a waking giant in an unexplored world!

Much Love ~ Melinda

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Win this NAUGHTY giveaway, including Synapse Films’ new SORCERESS Blu-Ray!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today is July 4, and to Americans, that means freedom. The Moon is a Dead World is putting the emphasis on free with a new giveaway that’s just a little bit naughty. Included in this giveaway is Synapse Films’ newest release, Sorceress (review here) on Blu-Ray, as well as four of Impulse Pictures’ latest 42nd Street Forever: Peep Show Collections – Vol. 14, 14, 15, and 16. That’s a whole lot of porn for free, and there are four easy ways to enter.

Enter to win using the Rafflecopter above. You can get multiple entries from tweeting about it everyday if you so choose; but if you don’t want your relatives to know you’ve entered to win porn, there are some more secretive options too.

Contest ends July 18. Open to US residents only (sorry international readers, US shipping is terribly expensive), 18+ obvs.

About Author

Writer for, HorrorSexy, and more spots around the Internet. Also a podcaster and lover of craft beer.


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Minister to media: don’t mock anti-graft war

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Anti-graft war: Don't mock us, Minister begs media

Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed has appealed to the media not to mock the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war, urging media practitioners to support the administration’s fight against the menace.

He stressed that as the fourth estate of the realm, the media cannot afford to sit on the fence in the battle to rid the nation of corruption.

He spoke yesterday in Abuja while opening the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).

The minister said while the media should not hesitate to criticise the government’s strategy on the war against corruption, when necessary, it should do so without mocking the government.

“In recent times, it is not unusual to read such headlines as ‘Buhari’s government losing anti-corruption war’, ‘Buhari’s anti-corruption war is failing’, ‘Arewa youths knock President Buhari over failing anti-corruption war’. This is sheer mockery. And this war is not Buhari’s war. It is our war,” he said.

On why all hands must be on deck to fight corruption, Mohammed said corruption was responsible for the many ills being experienced in the country, including erratic power supply, poorly-equipped hospitals, lack of motorable roads, poor quality of life, poor economy, lack of jobs and insecurity.

“After previous administrations spent billions of dollars on power, all we inherited – when we took over on  May 29, 2015 – was 2,690 megawatts. That is due to corruption. After previous governments budgeted billions for roads over the years, what we inherited are death traps. That is due to corruption. Why did Boko Haram thrive for so long? The answer is corruption, because money meant for the purchase of weapons for the military were simply diverted. Why did we inherit an economy in dire straits? It is corruption. For a country that sold oil at over 100 dollars per barrel for years, we simply failed to save for the rainy day, and when the rain came, it beat us silly,” he said.

The minister said the war against corruption was the toughest of the three broad issues that the Buhari administration campaigned with, “because fighting corruption anywhere is like walking a lonely road”.

Mohammed said the war against corruption becomes tougher when the media is not on board.

He said because of the courageous leadership provided by the President, “despite the fact that corruption is fighting back furiously, the administration is winning the war”.

“For our efforts so far, we have so much to showcase: Because we are tackling corruption, we have succeeded in raising power generation from 2,690 to an all-time high of 7,001MW. Because we are tackling corruption, we are saving N25 billion monthly by cutting unnecessary allowances of officials. Because we are tackling corruption, we have added 500 million dollars to our Sovereign Wealth Fund that stagnated at the $1 billion that was used to set it up. We have raised our foreign reserves from $23 billion to $35 billion dollars. We stopped the payment of phantom subsidy of between N800 billion and N1.3 trillion annually, yet petroleum products are available at competitive prices.

“We recovered at least $43 million and 56 houses from just one former government official. We have recovered $2.9 billion from looters so far. Our Whistle-blower policy has led to the recovery of $151 million and N8 billion in looted funds from just three sources,” the minister said.


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Design Element
Comment on "WWDC 2006: Keynote Highlights"
by Abhi Beckert — Aug 07
Something you missed in iChat is screen sharing (ie. remote desktop).

It's going to make a *huge* difference when demoing finished projects with clients, something I currently do over the phone. It'll also be pretty nice for helping the family with their continuous issues.
Back to "WWDC 2006: Keynote Highlights"
Design Element

Copyright © Scott Stevenson 2004-2015


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iPhone Case

I'm pretty picky about cases. I basically want the slimmest, most subtle thing possible. No visible stiching, no straps, no design elements. Just a cover with minimal texture. I want the Safari of cases. The best option I've found so far is the Incase Folio for iPhone. Any other suggestions?
Design Element
iPhone Case
Posted Jul 4, 2007 — 40 comments below

Ep — Jul 04, 07 4473

How could you even consider that with all its visible stitching?

Scott Stevenson — Jul 04, 07 4474 Scotty the Leopard

It was the option that seemed the best at the store. It's a pretty good case, but I'd like something more subtle.

David Weiss — Jul 04, 07 4475

Do you really need a case? It adds a lot of bulk and the phone doesn't scratch easy. Just a thought.

Scott Stevenson — Jul 04, 07 4476 Scotty the Leopard

Even though it's scratch resistant, I'd still like to have some sort of minimal layering. I'd also like to have it covered so that it's not, for example, taking direct sunlight while sitting in the car.

Chris Grande — Jul 04, 07 4477

Take a look at http://www.vajacases.com

Yogi — Jul 04, 07 4478

When talking about scratching, there's a nice try to do that here though they are not getting much done.

Scotty — Jul 04, 07 4479

I always use these cases. They are amazing, scratch proof and virtually invisible.

Frederic — Jul 04, 07 4480

Apple's iPod socks could do the job, I use them for some other devices too.

ssp — Jul 04, 07 4481

I usually ask my mum to make a case. Not only is this a nice personal touch and gives a perfect fit, it also has the advantage of making the packed device not look like an expensive tech toy that wants to be stolen.

On the other hand: From what I read on the internet, the iPod may not need a case - which would be the most space saving and design-free solution possible.

Lemont Washington — Jul 04, 07 4485

Hey Scott! I usually get Sena cases for my devices. They havea few elegant ones coming for iphone. Check it out!

Jose Vazquez — Jul 04, 07 4486

Personally I am waiting for this wooden case from miniot. I think it fills your requirements but it may not be exactly what you were expecting. That, and it is not available yet... I just think it is classy. Plus it is sturdy so I can throw it in my pocket and not have to wear a holster (Ikeep bumping into everything with those).

hope it helps,

Charles — Jul 04, 07 4487

I've heard unconfirmed stories that some of the early cases cover up the proximity sensor and cause problems. This is what happens when you make a case before the product is actually released.

Chris — Jul 04, 07 4488

Shieldzone make some great near-invisible shields. I have my phone and camera screen covered, and it works brilliantly.

Maybe not applied to the screen if you don't want, but it comes with everything else too.

Houman — Jul 05, 07 4490

I got the natural colored incase case. It works well and I snipped of the incase badge.

I've purchased Vaja cases in the past, but I feel that they are overpriced. The vaja cases also don't have the little "push up" whole that the incase cases have.

For $40, you can't go wrong.

Houman — Jul 05, 07 4493

...meant "off " not of

Erik — Jul 05, 07 4494

Scratch resistance notwithstanding, one reason to get a case is to prevent the slippery little beast from falling out of your pocket, when you're in the back of a cab. Which happened to a coworker of mine.

By some miracle he saw that same cab driving down a different street about ten minutes later, flagged it, and the phone was still in the back. He immediately proceeded to go to the Apple store and get one of those Incase molded rubberized condom things to prevent the slippage.

Tom — Jul 07, 07 4499

As far as form fitting iPhone cases go, the standard against which all are measured is Orbino. Very, very expensive, but I guess that's the way it goes!

Rob — Jul 07, 07 4500

When I first saw THAT case, I thought it was definitely the Killer Case ...
... but then when I found how it works ...
... NOT !

If they had built it so that the iPhone can be used when the top flap is opened and folded behind then it would be their most popular case.

As it is, it just looks good and then creates many opportunities to drop the slippery iPhone, thus only nimble fingered girls will like it.

I choose their black leather case with the stitching showing.

Its pretty stealth for my pocket and has a clip if I wear shorts with small pockets, and the clip will make it look like a pocket protector if put it in a tShirt pocket ...

Rob — Jul 07, 07 4501

Anna — Jul 08, 07 4502

The Orbino cases are definitely the coolest - no doubt. I ordered it in Crocodile and got a note confirming that it will have an additional hole for the sensor. They say the phone is fully functional in the case with access to everything. I already have one of their iPod cases and their quality is KING. Only handstitched by Italians for my new baby!

Rob — Jul 08, 07 4503

!!! WoW !!!

Leather cases with with a magnetic flip front JUST LIKE STARTREK

PreOrder $42.39

Rob — Jul 09, 07 4508

My guess is the Proporta case is what Scott is looking for.

yabado — Jul 09, 07 4509

Looks like the Orbino and senacases both cover the proximity sensor?

Jay — Jul 10, 07 4511

"No visible stiching, no straps, no design elements. Just a cover with minimal texture."

... then you're leaning towards the Folio, which has everything you don't want minus the strap. Sounds like someone got an incentive to do a shameless plug for inCase!

Scott Stevenson — Jul 10, 07 4512 Scotty the Leopard

Sounds like someone got an incentive to do a shameless plug for inCase!

If I was doing that, I probably wouldn't have asked for suggestions. :) The incase was just the lowest-key design I could find.

Bryce — Jul 10, 07 4513

I get all my cases from <a href=http://www.sfbags.comWaterField Designs. They're coming out with some cases and I know it will be worth my wait.

Bryce — Jul 10, 07 4514

That's Waterfield Designs as http://www.sfbags.com. Sorry for the HTML.

Rob — Jul 11, 07 4515

Case-mate might have what Scott wants.

Daniel — Jul 12, 07 4519

I'm sure you've already checked out iLounge which breaks down pros and cons for each case. Althought a lot of the ones mentioned here are not on there it might be work taking a look at.

Rauser — Jul 13, 07 4525

I've always found Vaja cases to be very very good. They have a holster model for the iPhone that appears to be both functional and great looking.

Sam — Jul 15, 07 4529

I searched everywhere to find the perfect case for my iPhone, none have tickled my fancy. Then one day, I came by this site iQase.com
I bought their iQase Side and Film to protect my screen, much better than my previous screen protector from shield-zone. With the Film I can actually glide my fingers across the screen it's so smooth.

check it out www.iQase.com

Rob — Jul 26, 07 4547

Sounds like someone got an incentive to do a shameless plug for inCase!

If I was doing that, I probably wouldn't have asked for suggestions. :) The incase was just the lowest-key design I could find.

I think the "shameless plug" speculation is TRUE since he deleted my HUGE LIST of available cases !!!

AND my post indicating that my incase case was making pits in my iPhone.

Me list LIVES here:

Scott Stevenson — Jul 28, 07 4549 Scotty the Leopard

@Rob: I think the "shameless plug" speculation is TRUE since he deleted my HUGE LIST of available cases !!!

I deleted the long list of links to iPhone cases because it's really not appropriate content for a comment. If you want to link to a list of cases, that's fine.

Rob — Aug 06, 07 4555

raelene mercer — Aug 10, 07 4566

this list doesnt exist! someone is fooling with freedom of speech here! scott are you to blame? rob, send us a new link pls!

Steve — Aug 14, 07 4568

I waited until my favorite bag manufacturer -- Waterfield Designs at sfbags.com -- came out with their cases. They have three options and I bought one of each. I continue to be blown away by the craftsmanship of their products and their amazing customer service. Here are addresses of the three cases they have:

iPhone Smart Case

Suede Jacket

iPhone Travel Case

They are worth every penny and worth a look.

Natalie B. — Aug 16, 07 4569

A note of caution: I always bought Vaja cases (some costing upwards of $150) until I experienced their customer service. I purchased a custom iPod Nano case with a clip that they refer to as a "metal hook". The hook was a piece of junk and it failed, causing my Nano to fall the first day I used it. I complained to Vaja about the defective clip on my expensive custom case, and they told me it could NOT be defective, because they checked it before they shipped it. I explained it didn't seem to grip well from the time I took it out of the box, and that it in fact failed the first time I used the case after maybe 30 minutes of walking. Vaja blew me off. I explained I was a repeat customer that bought an average of two cases a year, and they still blew me off. They wouldn't let me return the case and they wouldn't replace the hook, which I cut off with scissors; I never did use that miserable, pricey case, which is stuffed in a drawer somewhere. I'll never buy from them again.

So, if you must buy something from Vaja, avoid the "metal hook" option where offered, and pray you don't receive a defective case, as they don't and won't stand behind their product - and you'll be left with no recourse since they're not an American company.

carlnunes — Aug 30, 07 4580

I don't think anyone has mentioned these by boxwave.

The minimalist in me likes this one! The horizontal flap one; of course. :-)

Mike — Dec 26, 07 5296

The best iphone case is toughcase by covercase.If you're looking for " hard leather slimmest, most subtle thing possible. No visible stiching, no straps, no design elements. Just a cover with minimal texture" look no further.... visit http://www.covercase.com for more info

Alex N — Jul 07, 09 6825

I bought a Vaja for the iphone and it looked fantastic - the slimmest around, huge variety of colours-though I thought the clip itself (friction) was a little dodgy.
Well I was right to worry. It lasted a total of 8 months and the thin piece of leather wore out and the white plastic inside-broke, so it won't stay closed any more.
I emailed the company 1 week ago and still haven't heard from them.
The most expensive case - and it's utter crap.
I've had Sena before, and never had the problems.
I'm so p*** off with this case, it is now my mission to write reviews anywhere I can find them.
Don't buy this crap! You will be sorry.

Comments Temporarily Disabled

I had to temporarily disable comments due to spam. I'll re-enable them soon.

Copyright © Scott Stevenson 2004-2015


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MPOC CEO: Fact-based Promotion for Palm Oil

Prior to the 9th annual meeting of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil that took place last week in Malaysia, Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, published on his blog a prediction that environmental organizations would use the event as an opportunity to further their campaigns against the crop, at the expense of Malaysia, palm oil producers, and the hungry and poor throughout the world.

The Malaysian palm oil industry has been criticized for being a leading contributor to climate change, despite accounting for less than 0.1% of global agriculture land and only 0.019% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To provide perspective, the airline industry’s share of global emissions (2 – 3%) is a 105 times greater than the Malaysian palm oil industry. However, all those environmental activists and RSPO auditors flying into Sabah appear more interested in their visit to Malaysia than to their contribution to global warming.

But these facts hold little sway over a movement that has harnessed environmental concerns to advance their opposition to agriculture development in developing countries. Why else would these organizations stand in opposition to the most efficient vegetable oilseed in favor of crops that require 10 to 20 times more land area, and as a result more deforestation? Or crops that are produced in affluent economies over those alleviating poverty in developing countries? Perhaps it has more to do with the realization that Malaysian palm oil producers are not so willing to donate to their campaigns. In light of the criticism of palm oil’s sustainability, as reflected in WWF’s annual “Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard”, it would appear that only palm oil certified under the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) can be considered sustainable . Would palm oil produced under the standards of a Malaysian national scheme meet WWF ’s approval ? It begs the question, ‘is WWF interested in demonstrating sustainable palm oil, or controlling the palm oil supply chain?’

If the criticism against the rate of uptake of “green” palm oil from buyers by WWF is any indication from this year’s RSPO meeting, the organization hasn’t been getting a lot of donations from retail and processing firms either.

Written by The Oil Palm


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chain of evidence…

Following on from our defeat in the table quiz last night (we came second – without cheating) one member of the jackpot-winning team hit the internet to declare his victory.

A listener, Brendan, emailed the link from Irish Poker Boards to us this morning.

What you are about to read is pretty disturbing, and tarnishes the good name and reputation of the game.

Screen shot 2011-03-02 at 11.10.41

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And finally:

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  1. Paul said...
    Disgraceful stuff altogether!
    Michael said...
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    Mick said...
    Ha ha stung..
    JJ said...
    Just downloaded your podcast. Very much looking forward to listening now! Hope you hung them out to dry. Its basic theft!

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Activities >> Horse Carriage Tours

Horse Carriage Tours
A pleasant way to discover the city and a great alternative to walking for miles or being tossed about in a taxi, is to sit back in a horse carriage and admire the best of Marrakech’s architecture and gardens at the right speed. Have a leisurely chat with the driver and he will gladly share with you his love for the city.

Need information, a personalized quote or advice? Do not hesitate !

Contact us or fill out the form below. Team Premium Keys will be happy to answer you.

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Ask Charles: "He dumped me on Christmas. What did I do wrong?"

Dear Charles:

I've been with my boyfriend for three years. Recently, he proposed and we were officially engaged. But the day before Christmas—without notice—he sent me a text message telling me that he's been seeing another woman, and that it's over. I don't want to call him, but I do love him what should I do? I feel worthless and don't understand why he's acting this way. The same day, he dropped me at work and told me that he loves me, and we didn't even argue. What did I do wrong?

Dear R:

I'm so sorry for your experiences. I know you are in a lot of pain and confused with his behavior... but I need to be straight with you: If someone can drop you cold after three years — with a marriage proposal — then something else is really going on. My gut is that if he is seeing another woman, it's likely that relationship has been happening for some time and you just found out about it.

But consider this: Him choosing to leave you that way isn't a reflection of YOUR worth... it's a reflection of HIM not being worthy of YOU. Your self-worth isn't dependent on his acceptance of you. He made choices that hurt you... and for that I'm profoundly sorry. But HIS choices don't define YOU or your worth.

My advice: He will likely be back to ask for forgiveness... and I would ask you to consider NOT forgiving him. If he can treat you so poorly after so much time together, a marriage to him will likely not improve the situation. It comes down to a simple question — Who will YOU CHOOSE to value more: HIM... or YOU?

Need advice? Send Charles an inbox message by visiting his Facebook Page and clicking the "Message" button. All submissions are kept anonymous unless otherwise requested and become the property of Charles J. Orlando and The Problem with Women... is Men. Given the volume of messages received, please allow a minimum of 8-12 weeks for a response. Charles answers all messages personally, so your patience is appreciated!


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Blog Status

If you want to use any photos on this blog please see this link.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Friday - Ickworth

Yesterday it was blue sky and warm temperatures (t-shirt weather) today it's grey and I need a jacket!! We were going to Anglesey Abbey but turned on to the A11 as traffic looked heavy and went to Ickworth.

The wildflower meadow in the walled garden will be superb next year for butterflies I hope.

There's a moth on this RR!!

and a Moth here ;)

I had forgotten about the feeding station, and of course my telephoto was in the car so these are with the travel zoom! There were lots of birds highlights were Marsh Tit, Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit and Nuthatch.

We spent more time at the feeders than planned.....we had a nice soup and sandwich from the Porter's lodge (in my opinion preferable to the restaurant).

1 comment:

Ragged Robin said...

Aha Moths!!!! :) If its the same as Tricia posted on Twitter its a Nettle Tap (courtesy of Stewart "From the Notebook" :) Won't bore you with the latin name too :)

ps Wildflower meadow looks lovely and great for pollinators :)


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Monday, October 25, 2010

New Block of the Month - Garden Gatherings

Here's a picture of Mom (Clarice) and me in front of the new block of the month we'll be starting SOON! It is called "Garden Gatherings" by Cozy Quarters and the wool applique is on fabric backgrounds. Wow! It is gorgeous! We've had so many comments on it already! We'll send out a newsletter to let you know when it is time to sign up, and will post info to the website if you can't make it in.

I just got an email today, telling us we are featured on the home page for Meet NWA -- check it out to see more of our new location, especially if you haven't been in yet.

We appreciate you --

Only Because of His Grace,
Mary Elizabeth

1 comment:

  1. Mary Elizabeth, reading your blog today loved finding this pic of you and your Mom! I am so excited to see a pic of your purple woolens!!! Trying to wait patiently - went to Goodwill today and found some 100% wool garments - washing them right now! I am soooo ready to work on my jacket but won't til I get some purples!!!
    Looking forward to shopping with you online!


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Monday, June 29, 2009

Burma (Myanmar): Stay Free

This is a video/photo collage I put together from our trip to Burma in 2008. All the photos were taken by Yuko.

1. Black Mountain: "Stay Free"- Inle Lake;
2. Jane Siberry: "The Life Is The Red Wagon"- Mandalay & Bagan;
3. Nina Simone: "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free"- Yangon & Kyaiktiyo.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

A Musical Biography: My U2 Book

Christmas has come early to my home - my new book is here and it's available to order at Amazon. Gift certificates make an ideal stocking stuffer...

What?! Another book on a bloated bunch of has-beens from the 80s?! Lou Reed said it best:
Does anybody need another self-righteous rock singer
Whose nose he says has led him straight to God?

But this book is different. I wrote it.

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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The "Hang and Level"

Every once in a great while I get sucked in to buying products displayed on the end caps of stores.  I really try to ignore these displays, but recently I got sucked in to a table at Home Depot for the Hang and Level, a bright yellow plastic gadget for hanging pictures that I was previously pondering about inventing for myself, but someone beat me to it.
Anyone that hangs a lot of pictures knows how challenging it is to align several frames at once.  One way is to hang pictures with a measuring tape and a pencil, measuring the hanging point on the wire from the top of the frame, and how that lines up on the wall.  Lots of little pencil marks are made and some head scratching too as the math can get complicated when considering hanging at 57" from the center point (the average height from the floor for optimal viewing of pictures).  Apartment Therapy has a post on that subject. Sometimes I have had to make several little holes in a line to finally get the picture hanging in the right place.  The "hang and level" (h & l) doesn't eliminate all of that, but makes hanging frames so much easier.  On the bottom is one or two hooks to hang the picture from depending on the weight of the frame.

Hold the "h & l" with one hand against the wall with the picture hanging on the hooks.  When it is in place, remove the frame and set it aside (a helper can be good for this, but not necessary)  keeping the "h & l" on the wall.  The hook, which has a point on the back of it, is pushed down to make a slight indentation in the wall where the nail should be placed.  Put the frame down, and nail in to the spot marked on the wall.
The point on the back to indicate the nail hole

After the frame is hung, the "h & l" also has a level on it to level out your picture.  When I moved into my new studio, I used this gadget to hang several frames.  It went very quickly, with little or no measuring, and the frames were lined up perfectly. I think I will be using the hang and level from now on to hang my work in my studio and in exhibitions. (BTW- this is a completely unsolicited endorsement of this product)

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After Much Wriggling, A Seal Gulps Down an Octopus Whole for Breakfast

by Owen James Burke

…and this is why seals and octopuses are some of the most ingenious creatures of the sea. We’ve seen both seals and octopuses in strange and unimaginable circumstances, but this one incontestably falls somewhere near the top of the list. Sure seals and octopuses share the same domain, seeking nourishment and sanctuary among the kelp, but the octopus seems far too elusive. Then again, if I can catch one… (Photo: Andrew J. Lee/Solent News)

(Photo: Andrew J. Lee/Solent News)

Photographer Andrew J. Lee captured this precarious encounter at Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach, California. As one might imagine, the seal prevails, but not without a gallant last stand on the part of the octopus.

(Photo: Andrew J. Lee/Solent News)

With a little direction, this scene could probably be turned into an opera or a musical — surely Broadway has seen worse.

The Ocean Conservancy — OJB

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16 February 2013

Book & Movie REVIEW: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
by Isaac Marion

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Book Review
I really really enjoyed this book! This was one of the very few zombie books I've read and so far, it's been the best. The whole concept of this book was amazing and something I had never thought of, so I was extremely excited to read this book. I was slightly let down by the book, but I still really enjoyed it.

R was an amazing main character. He was so torn between what he had to do to survive and what was the right thing, which is extremely odd for a zombie to be thinking since everything I've ever read about zombies says that they are dead and they don't think. So instantly I was drawn in by this massive difference. R's inner dialogue was really interesting. I enjoyed getting to know him and some of his inner dialogue was hilarious. He was an extremely intelligent person and I felt so much sympathy for R because he couldn't express himself properly. I grew attached to R very quickly and I was hoping that he would be able to overcome this disease thing and be who he really is.

“We are where we are, however we got here. What matters is where we go next.”

I really liked Julie's character as well. She was amazingly strong after everything she'd been through and I really admired that (I probably would have freaked if a zombie tried to take me away with them!). She was really tough. She was also and extremely likable character and I had a bond with her too. I like how Julie managed to ignore what R was like on the outside and see him for what he really was on the inside. I was rooting for these two the minute R set eyes on her.

M and Nora were brilliant characters as well. I love how M and R managed to have a close friendship even though they were zombies, they weren't giving up on being human. Nora was a hilarious character and I loved the parts of the book she was in.
Perry was a great character as well. Even though he was dead, I liked how we still got to hear about him and learn about his past and what kind of person he was.

The story line was great. Most of the book was fast paced and enjoyable, but there were moments where the plot line would slow down, or it wasn't moving fast enough for me. There were also some really awkward and weird scenes that I wished weren't in it (like the weird zombie sex scenes - were they really needed?)

R and Julie's relationship was one that gave me hope. If Julie can ignore the fact that R is a zombie and treat him like a normal human being, maybe all humans would learn to accept the zombies (after they had changed, of course). But, R and Julie were just so perfect for each other.

I was slightly confused by the ending, however. I wasn't too sure what actually happened to R [spoiler - did he become human or not? It wasn't explained very well]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book which is why I gave it:
I definitely recommend picking up this book. The whole concept behind the story is brilliant and I really enjoyed it.

Movie Review

OMG! Seriously, this never ever ever happens, but I thought that the movie was SO much better than the book.
I was hooked from the very first couple of lines, and I was laughing most of the way through the movie. They managed to bring the characters to life and make the story so much more interesting.

'What am I doing with my life? I'm so pale, I should get out more. I should eat better'

Nicholas Hoult was the perfect R. He was brilliant at being an awkward zombie, and he was so believable as this character. He played R brilliantly and managed to get across everything that R was and what he really wanted to be/do. Plus he was pretty hot... for a zombie.
Teresa Palmer is an amazing actress! She was brilliant at playing Julie, she was everything I imagined her to be and I can't fault her at all.
Marcus and Nora were brilliant in the film as well, I grew more of an attachment to them in the movie (especially Nora, she was badass!).
I was slightly gutted that there wasn't a lot of Perry's story, but what do you expect? Some things had to be cut out and maybe they thought that it wasn't a major part of what they wanted the movie to be. One thing I'm glad that was cut out was the weird zombie sex (totally un-needed)
There wasn't a dull moment in the movie, I was hooked from the very start and I loved every single minute of it.
The story line made so much more sense in the movie and the ending was just brilliant. I seriously wish that the book ending had been like that, it would have been so much more amazing!
There was A LOT more action in the movie and there were more appearances from the boneys, which I really enjoyed, and the humas realised that the boneys were their real enemy, not the zombie/humans.
The massive fight scene at the end was amazing! I loved how everything came together at the end!
But that scene with Julie and R in the water, I almost died! [spoiler - I thought they had killed R!].
And then the ending with Julie and R was so sweet, and I just loved the whole film
I seriously recommend going to see this film, even if you haven't read the book because it's just so awesome that I think everyone should definitely see it!

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Tutorial: How to Format Your Amazon Book Description (Add Bold and Italics plus more!)

Want to jazz up your Book Description?

One of the most common questions I get via email is how to add bold and italics to book descriptions on Amazon. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think and you don’t need to know any html.

Here’s how:

Download this Tutorial as a PDF. (Right click to save.)

1. Sign in to Author Central

Go to Amazon Author Central and sign in. (If you do not have an account, you will need to create one.)

2. The Welcome Screen

On the welcome screen, click Books on the blue menu bar.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Tutorial: How to Set Up a KDP Select Promotion

I had a question via email about setting up a KDP Promotion, so I put together a quick tutorial on how to get it set up.

Download as PDF Right click to save.

Step 1: The Publication Process

When you are publishing your book make sure to put a check in the box labelled Enroll this book in KDP Select. Then go through your publication process to finishing publishing your book on Amazon.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Step 2. Once Your Book is Published…

Return to the KDP Dashboard.
Go to your Bookshelf and click your book title.
It will take you to your publication details.
In the yellow box, click Promotions Manager.

Step 3. The Promotions Manager

The Promotions Manager will open.
Click the new button.

Step 4. Enter Your Details

Now all you need to do is enter in your promo details–give your promo a name and then choose your dates.
Click Save.
You can come here to stop or edit your promotion at anytime, even while it is running.

And you’re done!
Now you need to promote your free book: KDP Free Promo Resources
If you have a question, please Contact Me.

How to Sell More Books this Fall

Fall is upon us and with it comes the impending holiday season. Readers are about to start buying  a lot more more books–not to mention all the new Kindles that will be in use after the Winter Holidays.

Get a head start on this lucrative season by making sure your book is at its best. Here’s how:

Spiff Up Your Product Description

Now’s the time to fine tune your book blurb and make sure it really conveys the spirit of your book. It’s easy to tweak your description through Author Central and the changes will appear on your Product Page within hours. Put a short, descriptive phrase after your Title that hits the genre of your book. Readers will see this in search results and it will give you a head up on the competition.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)Roblox HackBigo Live Beans HackYUGIOH DUEL LINKS HACKPokemon Duel HackRoblox HackPixel Gun 3d HackGrowtopia HackClash Royale Hackmy cafe recipes stories hackMobile Legends HackMobile Strike Hack

For Example:  Fang’s Moon (WereWonders Book #1, Paranormal Romance)

You can also add customer images to your page to increase interest from potential readers. They can be anything from pictures of your setting to readers who took pictures of themselves with your book. Create as much interesting content on your page as you can because customer engagement means sales for you.

Take Advantage of Author Central

When readers click on your hyperlinked name just below your book title they are transported to your Author page on Amazon. If you have not taken the time to fill this out, don’t wait another minute. (I’m going to hit the high points here. For a more in-depth look and step by step instructions, please see The Self Publishing Toolkit.)

Through Author Central you can:

  • display your latest blog posts (with hyperlinks right to your site!)
  • connect your Twitter Feed (again this is a direct connection to readers!)
  • include your entire biography (readers want to get to know you, so don’t skip this step.)
  • add videos or book trailers, if you have them.

Amazon will also list all of the books that you have written here, so this is a great way for a reader to get to know you at a glance.

Give Your Book a Ranking Boost with KDP Select

If you are a member of KDP Select, run a two or three day promotion now. You’ll give your book a lot of exposure across Amazon and probably get a little hitch in your rankings as well. Schedule your promo at least a week in advance, more if possible.

Use the KDP Select Free Promo Resource page on this site to notify every possible site of your promotion. Take an hour or two and fill out all the submission forms. Last time I did it at McDonalds while my kids were in the Play Place. It did not take that long to go down the entire list. Even if I only get picked up by half the blogs, my exposure will have increased dramatically.

Use HootSuite to schedule all of your tweets ahead of time. This took me a max of 30 minutes to do using the list of Twitter Accounts on the KDP Select Free Promo Resource page. You can use Auto Schedule to spread your tweets over the length of your promotion which is essentially ‘set it and forget it.’ Once you have submitted all your information for your Free Promo, you can move on to other things and let the promo go on auto-pilot.

Get on the Promotional Train

If you haven’t been blogging or Tweeting, now’s the time to get in gear. When curious readers come looking for your website or Twitter account, make sure you have something waiting for them. Create a comfortable atmosphere where readers will feel good about buying your book. This does not have to take a ton of time out of your day. Once blog post a week and a few tweets that you can set up in less than ten minutes a day will put you in a great position.

Write Another Book

No, I’m not kidding. Now is the time to be writing. The kids (if you have them) are back in school (toddler parents will have to be creative, see McDonalds above) and NaNoWriMo starts November 1. Commit now and you can have a new book out by January, just in time to capitalize on all those brand new Kindles. If you need a little inspiration (or kick in the pants…) sign up for InkyBites’ NaNoWriMo Road Map Workshop and spend October getting ready to write in November.

Book sales may have slowed down this summer but all of that is about to change! Don’t miss out on this lucrative time for authors. Set aside a few hours a week to work on your promotional efforts and it will all pay off in your royalty checks!

What You Can Do When Your Books Aren’t Selling

We’ve all had those moments when the numbers on the KDP  dashboard stubbornly refuse to move no matter how many times we hit refresh. Instead of waiting for sales to come to you, here are a some fundamental things you can do to to bring buyers to your book.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

At first glance, these may seem basic but most authors overlook the obvious when their books aren’t moving. Ready to roll up your sleeves? Let’s get to work!

Change Your Book Cover

Your book cover is the first thing a customer sees on Amazon. If your book isn’t selling, chances are the cover has something to do with it.

The most important feature of your book cover is that it be legible at a small size.  Your cover may be breath-taking full size but a blurry mess when reduced. Contrast is key when it comes to small covers, so view your cover at a small size as well as in greyscale because that is how readers see it on their Kindles. And yes, there are a lot of eInk Kindles in use!

Your cover must reflect your genre. Take a look at the covers for Amanda Hocking’s Watersong Novels. You know they are YA when you look at them. Now is not the time to be cutting edge or try to separate yourself from the pack.

Take a look at the covers on the best seller list in your genre. Then spend some time browsing through the images at Dreamstime to get ideas of what colors and images reflect your book. (Whether you are designing your own cover or not, create a lightbox and save the images you like for later use or to share with your designer.) You can find a list of very affordable designers at the Kindle Boards Yellow Pages.

For more information on book covers, please see Secrets to Super eBook Covers that Sell. You can also find detailed information on creating covers in The Self Publishing Toolkit.

Re-Write Your Book Blurb

Your book description is what motivates your potential buyer to sample or buy your book. If your book isn’t selling, your book description is a great, easy thing to tweak. So many authors waste this precious space by slapping a random sentence or two up and calling it a day. This is not good enough. Use this space to sell your book.

The most important thing to know about your book description is that it isn’t a summary of your book. It’s a tease meant to raise more questions than it answers. Do a little recon and look at the blurbs of books that are selling well. Make sure you style your text with bold and italics so that it is easy to read. You are essentially writing ad copy, so spend some time on it and tweak it until you’ve got it just right.

The easiest way to edit your book description is through Author Central. You can add bold and italics with a rich text editor. If you know a little html, you can also add headings and such. Your edits will also show up on your page within an hour or two versus having to wait a day or more through the KDP Dashboard. Once you edit your book description in Author Central, you can no longer edit it through the KDP dashboard.

Please don’t load up the front of your blurb with quotes from reviews. Put your reviews in the Editorial Reviews section of your Product Page. This is also accessible through Author Central.

Check Out Your Book Sample

Your book sample should be primed to sell. That means that it should not only be irresistible, but your writing should be front and center. Download your book sample and look at it from the reader’s perspective.

If you’ve got a lot of front matter taking up space in your sample, get rid of it. Put your dedications and appreciations at the end of your book or on your website. If you must put reviews, limit yourself to three at the most and they should be snippets, not the full text.

Your sample should be error free, well formatted and compelling. Pull the reader in so that they have to click the buy button to find out what happens next.

Amazon.com is the Best Place to Sell Your Book

As long as you are offering a well written book, there are buyers out there for your book. Amazon is a sales machine; they have three hundred million credit cards on file and millions of people that access the site with the intention of purchasing books.

We’ve just covered three of the most important things that you can do to help your book sell–so remember when your book isn’t selling, you don’t have to sit back and take it. The beauty of digital publishing is that nothing is ever set in stone. Your book sales are under your control, so get to work!

Secrets to Super eBook Covers that Sell

A good book cover pre-sells your book. We all know that, right?

But how do you know if you have a good cover?

It’s not about the image you choose or even the designer, it’s about understanding how Amazon displays your book cover. Whether you are using a Pro or DIYing it, you must understand these critical points to create a book cover that sells.Roblox Hack No Survey No Download

Size Matters

Your book displays on Amazon at 87 pixels across. That is not a lot of space, my friends.

Your book cover must look good at a small size.

Shrink your cover down before you publish and make sure that you can read the title, your name and get some sense of what the book is about at a small size.

Take a field trip to Amazon and browse through the books via the search function or the genre bestseller lists. Note the covers that look good and then determine why. You want a book cover that stands out in a line of covers other covers. This is not as hard to do as you might think. There are a lot of dark book covers on Amazon with titles in super skinny fonts. The minute you reduce that kind of book cover, you have an illegible mess. So no matter how beautiful your cover is full size, you have to have a beautiful thumb nail as well.

Contrast is King

The Self Publishing Toolkit.One of the most critical components of your design is the amount of contrast between your background and your book’s title.

The majority of Kindles in use right now utilize the grayscale e-Ink display. I’ve placed the cover of the Self Publishing Toolkit to the left of this text in grayscale at 87 pixels wide. This is an approximation of how it would appear on a Kindle. The cover is easily readable, yet still manages to convey the theme of the book. (This cover was designed by Karri Klawiter of Art by Karri.)

Make sure you check and see if your cover displays well on an actual Kindle before you hit publish. If you don’t own one, use the Kindle Previewer or your graphic design program to covert your image to grayscale so that you can get a feel for how potential readers are seeing your cover when they are browsing on their Kindles.

The key to making money as a Self Publisher is to write a lot of books, preferably a series that hooks readers from the get go. Readers should be able to tell your related books at a glance–this is branding.

Branding should be one of your top priorities when you are designing a cover because it helps you to stand out in a very crowded field. If you have a series of books on Amazon, make sure that the covers connect to each other in some way and clearly indicate what number the book is in the series.

Many authors incorporate a graphic or stamp on their cover to indicate that the book is part of a series. Middle grade book series do this very well, so look to them for good examples. (Check out Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven Series for some really cool covers that are tied together by a common theme.)

Going Pro?

Using a professional designer is a good idea for a lot of reasons. (My favorite is the time I saved!) But before you hire a designer, make sure you get references from previous customers. Find out what their experience was and what they liked about working with your potential designer. A good place to find excellent cover designers is the Kindle Boards Yellow Pages.

Self Publishing is booming business and a lot of service businesses have sprung up all over the place and it seems that all you need is a copy of Photoshop and a free blogger website to be a cover designer. So do your homework and know what you are getting as well as when you are getting it before you agree to pay for your cover.

If you want (brutally) honest feedback about your cover, you can post it over in the Writer’s Cafe on the Kindle Boards. There is an awesome community of writers, editors, and cover artists that will set you on the right path.

Any Questions? Let me know in the comments or contact me.

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Easy Ways to Make Your Website Look Professional

Make your website more professional with these tips.

Make your website more professional with these tips.

As a self-published author, you already have a to-do list that is a mile long. Having a professional web presence is definitely at the top of the list, but since time is short here are some quick tips that make you look like a pro without taking up precious writing time.

Get Your Own Domain Name

You’ve probably heard this before, but having your own domain name conveys your seriousness about about your craft, your books, and your image. This is increasingly important as Amazon is flooded with sub-par self-published books. You can bet authors who don’t care about quality are going to throw up free blogs via blogger, if at all. Having your own domain is both easy and cheap in addition to giving readers a place to find out about you and your books on the web. It has the added benefit of great Search Engine Optimization and gives you complete control over your content.

If you don’t already have your own domain and hosting, HostGator offers cost effective hosting that is easy to manage. Plus you can use the code SELFPUBLISH to knock 25% off of your order. Complete instructions for setting up your website (even if you are non-technical to the extreme)  are in the The Self Publishing Toolkit.

Clean Up Your Site

A simple website looks professional. Ditch anything that blinks or shifts. These types of widgets and gadgets distract readers’ attention from your site and make it appear unprofessional.

  • Toss any ads that are for books other than your own.
  • Use your author name in your header  instead of a cutesy title.
  • Use a light background with dark text for easy reading.
  • Review your sidebar content and make sure that everything is relevant to your site.

Use Professional, Royalty Free Images in your Posts

There are lots of places on the internet you can get royalty free professional images. Some are free (like those at Dreamstime free) and some cost money (my favorite place to go is Dreamstime). But whichever direction you go in, make sure you choose clear, relevant graphics. Name your images with your post name and make sure they are royalty free. Nabbing an image from another site can get you in a lot of hot water with the original creator. So make sure you know the terms of use before your post it on your site.download full movie Sausage Party

Give Your Navigation a Check Up

Make sure your navigation is clear and easy to follow.  It should be located across the top of your site, either under or over the header or in the right sidebar. All author sites should have the following pages:

  • Contact
  • About Me
  • Books
  • Blog
Make sure any images of your books link directly to a buy link on Amazon, B&N or any other site you have your book for sale. You should also have a mailing list sign up form available for readers to subscribe to for future updates. Don’t put up pages that say ‘coming soon’ or are just dead ends.

There you have it. Four easy things you can do today that will improve your website visitors’ experience. Contact me if you’d like me to do a personal review of your site. (No cost, no strings attached.)

Setting the Mood: Writing Music

Music inspires your writing!When it comes to Self Publishing, the more books you have, the more money you make so productivity and concentration are a top priority. Music, whether it’s your favorite movie soundtrack or white noise, helps to get you into the zone, improve your focus and achieve your goals. Here are three of my favorite free online sources for mood setting music:movie Rings streaming

RainyMood gives you a non-stop sound track of rain that is so realistic, it will have you checking the windows to see how wet it is outside. You’ll love using RainyMood when proof-reading or editing. I’ve discovered it sets the perfect atmosphere to keep me focused for long stretches of time. In fact, I’m listening to it as I write this post.

No matter what kind of music you are in the mood for, Pandora’s got it. You can set up stations for each of your books to make slipping into your writer mode that much easier. If you’ve never used Pandora, give it a go. Pandora learns what you like (and what you don’t) and will suggest new artists based on your preferences. I have found so much inspiration on Pandora, both for life and writing, that I can’t recommend it highly enough. Pandora is free, but ad supported. It’s $36/year to get rid of the ads.

Want the world to go away for a while? Writing in a busy cafe or coffee shop? Simplynoise gets the job done . You can live stream white, pink or brown noise for free. They also have a free downloadable 60 minute Thunderstorm track as well as a donate and download option for an Ocean Waves track and white, pink or brown noise. These would be perfect for timing your writing sessions.

Do you have a favorite site that you’d like to share? Let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

Getting Twitter Followers

Get More Twitter FollowersAre you getting the most out of your Twitter experience?  Followers are key to getting the word out about you and your books. When I first started tweeting, I thought that the followers would come to me. I am sure you can guess how well that worked out! I was amazed to discover that finding followers was easy, once I went looking for them.live streaming movie The Bye Bye Man 2017 online

Follow Readers

Twitter can be a valuable marketing tool–but only if you have people who are seeing what you have to offer. As I mentioned above, follow other people first, don’t wait for them to find you! You have to go out and find your audience and Twitter offers you a super easy way to do that. Do you write paranormal romance? Use the #paranormal hashtag to find Twitter users to follow. No matter what your genre, there are hashtags for it, so spend a few minutes  and find your audience. (Keep a list of those hashtags as well so you can use them in future tweets.) You can combine hashtags to narrow your search.

Make sure you seek out readers, not other authors. Following authors is great, but they aren’t your target audience. So focus on finding readers first, then once you’ve built up your follower base, work on connecting with other authors in your genre.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

Fill Out Your Profile

A lot of authors waste the space in their Twitter profile, filling it out with information that is irrelevant to their books. Don’t make this mistake! When you follow someone (and they have notifications turned on), they get an email announcing the fact and Twitter includes your profile information. Make sure you’ve listed the books that you’ve written, their genre and where to find them. Include a link to your website as well so potential followers can check you out.

Make Following You Easy

Stay away from validation services like True Twit. True Twit claims to keep spammers from following you, but what they are really doing is keeping legitimate people from following you. Do you care if a spammer is following you? You don’t see their tweets and they can’t direct message you unless you follow them back. So don’t annoy your potential followers (and readers!) by making them fill out a CAPTCHA to follow you. Twitter makes communication fun and easy, so don’t complicate it unnecessarily.

Get HootSuite

I’ve said this many times before, mostly because I am so impressed with how easy HootSuite makes Twitter. You can use it for free, so there is no reason not to get an account.  HootSuite lets you see all of your Tweets, your Direct Messages, Mentions and any other searches you want to add. (Keep track of your genre hashtags and participate in Twitter chats.) You’ll spend less time managing your Twitter experience and more time writing, which is what this is all about! HootSuite will also manage your Facebook profile as well as any other social media sites you are on.

Twitter is all about connecting with people who have similar interests and sharing information. It’s not about direct sales, so don’t think that you can Tweet a constant stream of ‘buy my books’ to your new followers. Focus on sharing content and driving potential readers to your website to pique their interest further.

Do you have a tip for getting more followers? Add it to the comments and thanks for sharing!

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Buy The Self Publishing Toolkit on Amazon.

Twitter Made Easy

Twitter Made EasyYesterday there was a bit of discussion in the Writer’s Cafe (on KindleBoards) about using Twitter for KDP Select Promos, as well as its general use, so I thought I would write up a quick post on how to use Twitter effectively.

Get HootSuite

I’m not kidding, go download it right now. HootSuite will make sense of Twitter for you and it’s free so there is no reason not to use it.  After you have it all set up, take a minute to look around. In addition to your Home Feed, you’ll get columns for Mentions and Direct Messages which makes it super easy to respond to any one who has tweeted to you or about you. If you click Add Stream just above Home Feed, you can add searches. I like to keep an eye on my genre related hashtags, so I can see what people are talking about.

HootSuite allows you to import up to five Social Media account for free. It is so much easier to keep track of everything if it is all in once place. If you have more than five accounts (or want access to analytics and extra fuctions), you’ll need to upgrade to HootSuite Pro. (HootSuite will give you a 30 day free trial of the pro version.)

How to Tweet

At the very top left corner of your HootSuite Window, you’ll see a ‘Compose Message’ box. That’s where you type your tweet. Whenever you type another user’s handle before your tweet content, the tweet appears in that individual’s stream. For example, if you start your message with @d_dangerlove, your tweet will go directly to me, as well as anyone who follows both of us. If you do not mention anyone at the beginning of your tweet, it will go out to all of your followers. So if you are doing a KDP promotion, make sure to put the account you want to retweet you prior to your message about your book.

Once you’ve got your message, just select which account you want to tweet from (if you have more than one). You can also schedule your tweet to go out at a later time, which is a good idea. Instead of sending out ten tweets all at once because you are in front your computer, schedule them to go out through the day so that you reach a broader range of your followers. When I did my last KDP Promo, I spent 30 minutes setting up my tweets for 2 days, this made it a lot easier to concentrate on the rest of my promotion.

Tweeting ‘Buy My Book’ Over and Over Will Not Get You Anywhere but Unfollowed

Sending out the same ‘buy my book’ tweet over and over (even if you reword it) is not going to sell books. Mix it up–retweet your followers, tweet a note when you update your blog, host a contest (don’t give away your book–you want people to buy that), send out an update on your work-in-progress. If someone sends you a tweet saying they loved your book, retweet that with a link to buy your book.  Tweet when you get a great review or are about to break into the Top 100 on Amazon. If you don’t know what to tweet, scan some hashtags to find interesting links to retweet or go look around on Pinterest and find something related to your genre to share. Get creative, you are a writer!

There are a lot of authors on Twitter who tweet a constant stream of buy my book tweets. Personally, I don’t get that strategy because not only is it annoying, but seeing so many of the same tweets means that I don’t even bother to read them when I am skimming my Twitter stream.

Let me have them. And if you want more information on how to use Twitter effectively (including how to get a lot of followers painlessly), head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of The Self Publishing Toolkit.


text:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013

That's the way it crumbles cookie-wise.

My birthday is in five days, on the 25th. Renoir, George Harrison, and I all share it, quite amicably, no arguing or any of that. My mother and I saw my grandparents over the past few days. They live near Olympia. We spent our time on walks and in antique malls. We also took two separate day trips to Olympia. The highlight of the trip (for me at least) was finding a blue 1970s coat with a fur collar in a vintage clothing shop called Psychic Sister.

I asked my mother to snap a couple of shots and here's the best one.

A bientot!

P.S. The title is a quote from "The Apartment," a film co-written and directed by one of my favorites, Billy Wilder.

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text:
Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Flapper girl

  My family and I always go to this event at the Paramound Theatre called Silent Movie Mondays. Considering I had just found a 1920s dress the day before, I couldn't resist a chance to wear it to this week's showing of the Charlie Chaplin film, "The Circus." It was the most crowded and enthusiastic Silent Movie Monday I've ever been to. I found the movie's ending to be sad because (spoiler alert!) the Tramp doesn't get the girl. We arrived early and ended up sitting towards the back.

  Pre-show I persuaded my mother to take my picture using the theatre as a backdrop. I look pretty uncomfortable because people kept walking by as my picture was being taken. A passerby told me she liked my dress, which made my discomfort almost worth it. I'm positive that this dress is the best thing I own. Owning a twenties dress has been a dream of mine since I was twelve years old (when I first discovered vintage clothing).

  After the movie we went for a walk through Capitol Hill and I photographed some of my favorite old buildings.

  1. Love the dress :D you look very cute indeed! It's such a lovely style, looks great with coral lipstick too! X

    1. Thank you so much for commenting. Do you have a blog as well?