Is Finishing Your Book Your New Year's Resolution?

Judy Cullins c. 2005

Think of the resolution "I'm going to to lose weight this year"--a statement that doesn't show intention because it's vague. Talk is cheap. So are you still talking about your book, yet don't really want to finish because it's too much work, too much money, and has too many steps?

For some of you the reality is you won't finish. And the longer you "work" on your book, the more time gets between you and publishing time to make a difference in other people's lives. For 5% of you who will do what it takes, this reminder is for you.

Don't wait any longer to write your book. Now is the best time to get it out. When you ponder and linger, you lose interest and motivation. That's why I like the idea of the "Fast-Forward Writing Technique," that produces consistently well organized chapters that hook your reader and motivate in each paragraph so your readers finish and recommend your book to others. .

Remember the benefits of wriing a book. It gets your unique word out to help others to a better life. It brings solutions to your readers' challenges. It can "brand" your business-much stronger than a business card. It makes you known as the expert in your field. If writing fiction, it entertains and educates. Finally, like me it can make half of your monthly income that goes on indefinitely.

Remember you can add marketing pizzazz to each and every chapter in its title, its introduction and its conclusion. Apply the "Essential Nine Hot-Selling Points" before you finish and your book will sell so much better when published.

To manifest your book dream this year, make sure you make it real.

1. visualize your book finished and a great success. See the checks and credit card orders coming in each day.

2. Save money in a special bank account so you'll have enough to get some coaching through teleclasses and writing groups and a small amount for copies printed. (You don't need 1000 printed at first)

3. Know it will cost some money. If you book is so important, don't be too cheap as to what you invest in it to get it finished.

4. Honor High Level Activities each day. Spend real writing time on your chapters, your introduction and your back cover. Aim for 1-2 hours each day or divide to suit your schedule.

5. Stop writing without feedback from peers or a qualified bookcoach. You don't realize that even if you are a professional, you don't know all that makes a chapter sizzle. Old writing habits such as using "is, was" or other passives mar your style, and make it long and unweildy so your reader will yawn and turn away. You need to keep your reader engaged.on each page.

6. Don't give up. Your project may take some time. I recommend writing a short book first so you can finish fast.

7. Consider self-publishing because the traditional path takes far too long and even if you are chosen, you'll find the time and energy you put there will not pay off nearly as much as when you learn a few promotion tips to do implement yourself. The sad truth is that the publishers won't give you much in promotion time.

8. Write your print and eBook at the same time. Service your online audience as well as the audience at your talks. They love and buy books. They want information on all kinds of topics. They have money to spend. Promoting to this audience is far easier, cheaper and productive than other methods.

Finally, put your book project in the top three priorities of your life. Business, Family, Friends, Book! If you don't include it in these, it just won't happen.

TOO TOUGH—Some people may say, "This is the year I meet and marry my soul mate." That's a lot to wish for. What makes more sense is to come up with some simple steps to put yourself in a position to make this happen. How can you put yourself in the path of the person you hope to meet? Think big, but also set up some small action items you can take to guide your daily decisions about how you spend your time and the things you will DO to make your dream a reality.

TOO ONE-DIMENSIONAL—Many people would prefer their homes and offices to be more organized—and vow to do so each year. "This spring I really will clean up the clutter," they will say. Yet, in spite of a bit of spring cleaning, the clutter continues to pile up throughout the year. For many, seeing is believing. Maybe the motivation you need is a photograph of your ideal office or a clutter-free home. Put it up where you can see it. Go to an open house or two and marvel at how neat and clean a home can be. Create a "Dream Board" with images of what you want your ideal environment to look (and feel) like and put them up where you will see them.

Now we know why most people fail to stick to their New Year's resolutions. The solution to making lasting changes in your life is to engage all of your senses and use both sides of your brain in the planning process. When you know exactly what you want—what it looks like, feels like, sounds like and you can picture and describe it in amazing detail—you are much closer to getting it. Also, by breaking down the dream into small micromovements you can do on a daily basis, you can make it happen one day at a time. Using this approach to your resolutions guarantees a great year in 2006.

If you are serious about your success you will find The Whole-Brain Goal Planner by Lee Silber extremely helpful in planning your year. Included is everything you need to set yourself up for your best year yet. To get a goal planner send $49.95 to Lee Silber, 822 Redondo Court, San Diego, CA 92109. We will also include The Ultimate Day Planner Pad for free (a $10.00 value).

Article Source : http://www.article-content-king.com/pro/?member=13

Happy Holidays in Tough Times - 5 Practical Steps From the New Science of Happiness
By Susan McMillin

The holiday season can be a stressful time under the best of circumstances, but in tough times creating happy Holidays can seem even more challenging. In times of hardship and loss we need the spiritual lift that the holidays can give us more than ever. The new science of happiness, can help by identifying what makes us really happy and what we think will make us happy and does not.

The good news for hard economic times is that studies consistently show that money

Thankful for These Things

 By S. A. Hood

 In honor of the coming Thanksgiving Day, this is a list that hopefully will grow. I just started it out with things for which I am grateful. There is a form mail at the end of this list that readers can submit things for which they are thankful. The readers submissions will be added to the list in this article. Hopefully it will grow.

 Menninger’s, says that an attitude of gratitude makes for good mental health.

1. I am alive
2. I own my own home
3.  I have an education
4. I have friends.
5.  I have a computer
6.  I am relatively healthy
7.  People all over the world are finding ways to communicate constructively 
8.  People all over the world are reaching out to each other.

 Let’s make a contest out of this. Let’s see who can submit the most things. Below is the form to submit your list.

Feedback Form for Gratitude Article

Your Name: Your Email: How did you hear about us?FriendTVRadioNewspaperAdInternetOtherTwitter Message/Comments:

 

 Fun And Helpful Ideas For Halloween! by Tracey Grace

 Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31 each year. Its history dates back to early Celtic times. The Celts were a people who lived in what is now England up until about the year 450 A.D. After being defeated by Germanic tribes at this time, they were forced to move from their homes in England to Ireland and Wales.

The term “Halloween” is a shortened version of “All Hallows Eve” and comes from the name of a month in the ancient Celtic Calendar. In the first three nights of this month a festival was held marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celts to take count of their supplies and slaughter any livestock ready for the long winter. It was believed that on October 31, the boundary separating the living from the dead was diminished and the dead became dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness and/or damaged crops. At the festivals a bonfire was usually created and the bones of the slaughtered livestock were thrown in. Costumes and masks were also worn to at the festivals in an attempt to pacify any evil spirits.

The colors black and orange are usually associated with Halloween, as is the Jack-o’-lantern.

Immigrants from Ireland who were relocating to North America during the Great Famine of 1846 brought versions of the Halloween tradition with them. Today in America the Halloween traditions and activities include: trick-or-treating, ghost tours, carving Jack-o’-lanterns, costume parties, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, reading scary stories and watching horror movies.

The Halloween season is spooky and lots of fun. You get to dress up and go to parties and eat lots of junk food.

Fun things to do to get into the Halloween holiday spirit:

Halloween costumes: There are thousands of Halloween costumes to choose from including Indiana Jones, Disney costumes for adults, famous couples costumes, Santa Suits, Halloween scary disgusting masks, make up ideas, weird costumes, sexy Valentine’s Day costumes and puppy Halloween costumes. Dress everybody up from women, men kids and of course don’t forget your pet/s.

Jack-o’-lanterns: Carve your very own Halloween pumpkin using free stencils online. Need help to carving your Halloween pumpkin? Visit our website for instructions and stencils.
 
Recipes: Halloween finger foods, yummy witches finger biscuits, pumpkin squares, cupcake graveyards, traditional red toffee apples, spider cupcakes and more. Homemade Halloween treats are easy to make, look scary (but taste great) and will impress everybody! Don’t forget to roast your left over pumpkin seeds from your Halloween pumpkins. Make Halloween extra special with your very own homemade treats.

Parties: Decorations and party supplies are an important design factor in any party. Get specially designed Halloween party invitations and treat bags for the occasion. A smoke machine is a nice affect as well!

Trick-or-treating: If there are children in your neighborhood, then you’ll want to stock up on trick-or-treat candy. If you’re the one going trick-or-treating don’t forget to dress-up and bring your plastic pumpkin carry bag to store all those treats!

Horror movies: Choose one of your favorite horror movies to watch with friends.

Decorate your computer: Download one of the many desktop backgrounds, screensavers or special Halloween sounds for your computer over the holiday period.

Haunted Attractions: Check out your local haunted attractions with family and friends to make it a memorable Halloween.

We welcome you to use our site to help you with finding anything you need for Halloween, and any other holiday seasons!

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31 each year. The term “Halloween” is a shortened version of “All Hallows Eve” and comes from the name of a month in the ancient Celtic Calendar. In the first three nights of this month a festival was held marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest. Tracey Grace is the originator of halloween-and-more.com

Article Source: http://www.article-buzz.com

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Make a Halloween Gift Bag for Your Friends

Halloween can be fun for grown-ups, too! I use it as an excuse to make little Halloween Gift Bags that I give to my friends and business associates.

You don't need much, and you don't have to spend a lot of money. My favorite place to shop for Halloween doo-dads is Walgreen's---and thanks to the coupons that are usually in the Sunday newspaper, I can buy items at 2-for, 3-for, 4-for, and even 5- and 6-for-$1.00! I buy an assortment of Trick or Treat bags, candies, candles, and whatever else catches my eye, and then I use these things to make up fun treat bags. Since I shop with coupons, each gift bag costs less than $1 total, so I make up plenty of them and keep them handy.

Since I work at home, I like to send a little Halloween Gift Bag like this to my clients. A little bag of Tootsie Rolls or M&Ms (basically, anything that's chocolate) will get a smile out of everyone---even the men!

To make quick, easy, and inexpensive Halloween Gift Bags, you'll need:

• Trick or Treat Candy Bags

• Candies

• Candles

• Other small Halloween-related items (let your imagination run away with you!)

• Halloween Gift Tags (see below) imply stuff each bag with a few candies or other Halloween favors into a bag, fold over the top, and attach a gift tag!

Hand them out to friends, business associates---and even the checker at the grocery store...and watch the huge smile that you get in return!

Here's an idea for what to put in a bag:

http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/Halloween_Gift_Bags.doc

The gift tags are meant to be printed on sheets of business cards. If you are unfamiliar about working with business cards, then please see my tutorial:

http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/businesscardgifttags.htm

For your convenience, I have provided Halloween Gift Tags that are already made. One set just has a Halloween picture on each card, and one set has a place for you to type in someone's name:

http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/HalloweenGiftTags.doc

http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/HalloweenGiftTagsNoName.doc

For more tutorials about working with jpg (picture/graphic) files, with easy-to-follow illustrated instructions, go to:

http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/#Tutorials:

For more Halloween crafts, ideas, and tips for easy-to-make, cheap-to-buy Halloween costumes, please see my articles:

http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/#Holidays_and_Seasonal:

Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan's free crafts, recipes, tutorials, other resource sites, and free content articles, as well as Jan’s business services. Be sure to visit Mom's Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005 to present. All rights reserved.

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Trick or Treat: Planning for a One of a Kind Halloween by David Stack

We are all a few months away from Christmas, but before we start collecting coupons and calculating the budget for that, how about we allocate some funds for Halloween? Yes, the occasion is celebrated only for one day -October 31- but every parent or event organizer will tell you that there are plenty of preparations and expenses needed to throw a successful Halloween party: costumes, party supplies, trick-or-treat ideas, food, Jack-O-Lanterns. But it is possible to save time and money for Halloween.

Let's start with costumes. Some schools like to celebrate Halloween and ask students to show up on that day in the most creative or most frightening costumes they can think of. Some neighborhoods make it a tradition to celebrate the same way. If you don't want your child's self-esteem reeling badly from Halloween costume criticism, then assist him or her in selecting which ones will work, and which ones they will be confident enough to wear: a Superman impersonation? Voldemort? It doesn't have to be scary; they can be dressed up as, say, Cinderella, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, or a Star Wars character. There are plenty of online stores Buycostumes.com and Halloweencostumes4u.com that offer customized, highly-detailed, and yet affordable costumes - and most of them also offer coupons so that you can save money on your costume purchase. Even better, make your own costume!

As for party supplies and decorations, don't worry. It's not as bad a logistical nightmare as you think, but only if you plan properly. Before making a decision on anything, research on possible suppliers, food and drinks caterers, candy makers, souvenir stores, and party decorators to make your Halloween a truly unique fright fest. Again, there are a number of all-in-one merchants which you will find online that can offer you their products, services, and coupons at a very affordable price. One of them is Shindigz.com. But be creative, not expensive. Learn the recipe for candy apples, or toffee, instead of buying them ready-made from a store. Also, you can search for a spooky song to serve as soundtrack for your party. You can put up fake cobwebs on your front door and in the corners of your living room ceiling, and "Trick or Treat" banners to cover up the real cobwebs. As for trick-or-treat, you can make use of an empty pillow case for your child to use instead of buying an unnecessary bag. If you are going to spend on anything, just be sure that you get the best value in making your house a haunted one (even if just for a day).

It would also help make a memorable Halloween if you actually participate in the festivities. Don't just let your children have a grand time; make it even grander by joining them. Organize party games and give away cheap novelty items - like bobbleheads, snow globes, and horror books - as prizes for the winners. You can make a small bonfire in your backyard garden for a horror story telling session. You can rent a classic horror film DVD and gather the whole family for a night of movie viewing. As long as your active effort is there (and you use coupons to ease your budget constraints), then there's no need to be scared of Halloween preparations.

David Stack is a coupon code aficionado and loves to search for promo deals in the Web. He runs a website where you can see a list of thousands of promo codes and coupons from different online stores, such as Buy.com promotion codes. .

Article Source: Article Directory

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