Penguin Starts a Blog

Venetia Butterfield, a commissioning editor (I don't know what that is either) for Penguin Books, is writing "the first blog from a mainstream publisher". She says she's nervous, so go over and say Hi! Her Google page rank is zero (0) right now but if she could get those folks over at Penguin Books with a Google page rank of seven (7) to give her a link, I bet she would come up fast!

More Squidoo

Okay, so I might be getting a little carried away with my new Squidoo lens. It is kind of addictive. It's a special web page that lets you put in all the different kinds of links that you've gathered about whatever subject you choose. One of the cool things about it is that you can search for books, for example, and then search within those results for business or whatever you want. But the coolest thing is that I can organize and share everything I've found in my years of researching my topic, just like all the other Lensmasters. You can do it, too! Give it a try!

Squidoo

Checking my feeds on Bloglines, I found a post from Seth Godin about a lens called The Best Business Books Headquarters on Squidoo. Now Seth has been promoting Squidoo lenses for a while, but this time I followed his link over because I was interested in the topic. And it led me right into creating my own lens, which I did, although I'm not sure I could tell you exactly what a lens is!

Here is my Squidoo lens on Business Management and Personal Development.

Relationships at Work/Conflict Resolution

I propose a college course about relationships at work and conflict resolution. We spend many years learning to how to make a living, but it is our relationships with the people we work with that will have a greater bearing on our success or failure and especially on our happiness with what we do.

But then again, maybe it should start in elementary school.

Doing the Right Thing

When I was at the Job Fair and someone looked over at my table, I said, "Have you ever thought about becoming a Toastmaster?"

Maybe if I'm doing a book signing and someone looks over at my table, I should say, "Have you ever thought about... "

changing the world?
having fun at work?
loving your work?
becoming the peacemaker?
having charisma?
being respected and cared for?

What do you think?

University of Phoenix Job Fair

Today I spent 5 hours at the University of Phoenix Job Fair representing Toastmasters. There were hundreds of people there, many employers and state agencies, and KKOB radio, so it was a lot of fun! They even fed us lunch!

It was great practice for explaining what Toastmasters is in two minutes or less to people who don't know what we do. Also, for making a short speech without any fillers (saying "you know?" after every statement is my worst extemporaneous speaking flaw). It was easy to be excited about what I was doing, because Toastmasters can really help people.

It's interesting. My book can really help people, too, but I am more reticent about pitching it because if people buy it, it makes money for me (theoretically, at least!). But maybe that's not important. Maybe what's important is that it can help people. If I could keep that uppermost in my mind... Hmmm...

Fun Booksigning!

I had fun at my booksigning at Hastings tonight. Many people chuckled at my sign (Advice 10 cents) and a few stopped to investigate. One man came over and said, "Okay, I'll bite" and let me sell him a book. He was Judge Murdoch! I was very pleased!

My friends Christi, with her handsome son Justin (who was into pirates), and Jenny came by, too. I talked to Patty, who said she would come and visit me here on the blog. Don't forget to post a comment, Patty. I passed out many brochures and pens. I would have had candy, but it melted in my car!

Advice 10 Cents

I have everything ready for the book signing: books, pens, brochures, cards, poster, candy. And I've made a little balsa wood booth with a sign, "Advice 10 Cents". Well, actually, I used the cents symbol. Why isn't that on the keyboard anymore? I need it! Anyway, even if I don't sell any books, I'm sure to make some money. See you there:

Hastings
Wyoming & Montgomery
Tuesday, July 25
5:00 to 7:00 PM

Montgomery & Wyoming

Some of us just keep getting cuter every day!
Seriously (he looks serious doesn't he?), I hope to see you Tuesday, July 25, 5:00 to 7:00 PM, at Hastings, Wyoming & Montgomery.

Tuesday, July 25, 5:00 to 7:00 PM

Keep looking at the puppy and thinking, I gotta get to Hastings!

Please come by for my book signing:

Tuesday, July 25
5:00 to 7:00 PM
Hastings
Wyoming & Montgomery

Book Signing at Hastings

Here's another cute puppy picture!





This picture has nothing at all to do with my book signing at Hastings, but stop on by anyway! It will be Tuesday, July 25, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Hastings at Montgomery & Wyoming.

Cute Puppy Alert!

This is Luke.

What Brings Us Together

Toastmasters are people from all over the world, from different cultures, from different histories, from different lifestyles. We don't have a past in common, except the past that all of humanity shares. What brings us together is the future.

The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

You can learn and grow on your own, of course, but it's a lot more fun with friends!

Toastmasters International

This morning I got an e-mail from a Toastmaster in Australia. Tonight I went to a meeting with a Toastmaster friend I met here who has been away for the past few years working in England. Of course, she attended club meetings over there, too. She says they're better speakers than we are, more command of the language, I think she said. We were at a demonstration meeting to try to start a new club in Taylor Ranch (meeting every other Tuesday at 7:00 PM at the Taylor Ranch Community Center), so we had Toastmasters from clubs all over Albuquerque and Rio Rancho there. I've already met Toastmasters from all over New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona. In August, I will be going to the International Convention in Washington, DC (my home town), where I will get to know Toastmasters from all over the world. I'm lovin' it!

B. Dalton Booksellers

So I heard through the grapevine, well, really, from Gary Wilson at POW New Mexico (Promoting Outstanding Writers), that there is to be a local author booksigning at B. Dalton Booksellers in Cottonwood Mall this Saturday. So I called them up. But they wouldn't let me participate because my book is not available from www.barnesandnoble.com. Really it is, but only through their "authorized resellers", that is, my publisher, which is ebookstand.com. That made me wonder why B. Dalton buys all their books from Barnes & Noble, so I looked it up. They are Barnes & Noble! I didn't know that!

I can't find any publicity on the event though, not in the Albuquerque Tribune or the Albuquerque Journal or anywhere on the web. If you have seen anything on it, let me know. I like local authors, too.

Donation Button

Today I spent time figuring out how to put a donation button on my website. It turned out to be pretty simple.

Go to www.paypal.com and sign up for an account. I already had one so I used that. Then go to Merchant Tools and click on the Donations link on the right hand side of the page. There are optional fields to fill in, but I left them blank. Then tell it to generate the code. Highlight the code, then copy it, then paste it where you want the donation button to show on your web page.

If you have a blog, you will need to go into the Template section to paste the code into the HTML. You have to read through the HTML to find the place where you want to paste. If you already have an Amazon or Barnes & Noble link, it is just like that.

When I tried out the link, I found out that it uses your registered e-mail address to let the person know who they are paying. Because I was already signed up using my old e-mail address, I had to add my new e-mail address to PayPal and then make it the primary e-mail address so that people wouldn't get confused.

Because I have a whole website and not just a blog, I also created a donation page to put my donation button on. That way, I can link to the donation page from all my web pages or anywhere, like this:

If you find this information helpful, please leave a donation.

There is a link to the same place from my home page and I will eventually put a donation button in a permanent place on my blog and on each web page, but haven't done that yet.

If you have a website or blog, give it a try!

Every Woman Needs a Pair of Red Shoes

In his book, Napoleon Hill gives excellent advice -- to think about what you want in a positive way because your mind will set about making it happen. I wondered how to do that consistently. Which is why I am so glad I got up to go to Albuquerque Weekenders Toastmasters at 8:00 AM this Saturday morning, because I heard a wonderful speech entitled Every Woman Needs a Pair of Red Shoes.

The speaker said that red shoes are a talisman, a reminder of our inner joy, freedom, and power. And whether it is red shoes or a red tie or anything else that represents that to us, whether we are women or men, we should find our talisman and keep it with us so that we can focus on that feeling.

My talisman is the copy of my book that I carry with me always. I think I will also have a pin made so I can wear it!

Napoleon Hill

Speaking of Napoleon Hill, you may know of him, as I did, because he wrote a book called Think and Grow Rich. I always thought it was some kind of investment advice book, which didn't interest me. But I kept hearing about him, so I finally decided to see what it was about. Wow, was I wrong! It's a fascinating book. And it just might teach us how to grow rich (or do whatever else we want to do) by changing the way we think. I recommend it to you.

Think and Grow Rich

Lieutenant Governor of Marketing

This year, which for Toastmasters is July 1 through June 30, I am Lieutenant Governor of Marketing for Toastmasters District 23, which is all of New Mexico and El Paso County. Today, I was putting together the information I received from the outgoing District officers about people, groups, or companies who are interested in starting new Toastmasters clubs. Then I passed it along to the people who will help me in my term. That's what I love about Toastmasters, how we all work together to help others and the organization and how that helps us to be better at whatever we want to do.

As Napoleon Hill said,

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed."

And as Ralph Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters, said,

"Let us share with others the benefits we have gained for ourselves."

Hastings at Montgomery & Wyoming

I also have my book at the Hastings at Montgomery & Wyoming. It is not doing as well there in the management section, which is actually where it belongs. But I have scheduled another booksigning to see if I can give it a boost. Come by on Tuesday, July 25, between 5:00 and 7:00 PM!

Hastings at Coors and Montano

Before the Writers to Writers meeting at Hastings, I stopped in to see Denis, the book manager. They have sold 11 copies of my book at that store! Most of those were when it was on the "Hot Reads" table. It was there quite a while. Now most of the local authors have moved to a new display on their own shelf. I hope everyone supports their local authors!

Writers to Writers

Writers to Writers met tonight at the Hastings at Coors and Montano. I went over to hear Jonathan Miller talk about location in fiction writing. I haven't written any fiction, but I like to hear Jonathan. He is very enthusiastic and funny, smart and well spoken. Tonight he was wearing a white shirt and purple tie, which were featured in some of the selections he read, because he is a character in his books, too! He told us that location can be like another character, if you can make it interesting and unique. He said to make ordinary locations seem exotic and exotic locations seem ordinary. He read excerpts from his books to illustrate. I was especially taken by what he said about his first book, Rattlesnake Lawyer. It is set in New Mexico and the main character is from Washington, DC, like me!


Rattlesnake Lawyer

I'm Back

Sorry I didn't blog for so long. With my friend and colleague gone, life got very difficult for a while. It seemed like a hundred little things went wrong that he would have taken care of in an instant and that took me hours and days to do, even with lots of help from other people. It was hard to get used to not having him there. Perhaps I am projecting my own feelings onto him, but I think he would be pleased. Although he wouldn't want me to mess up all his work either, so I am resolved to do better.