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Friday Top Five

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It’s Friday! Thus, I bring you…the Friday Top Five:

1. The newsletter of all newsletters will be going out on Monday…make sure you’ve signed up here. At the beginning of the year, there will be a free book coming to those who are on the list. PLUS…there are always random giveaways that I like to do for the people on that list. So, make sure you sign up…everyone’s doing it.
2. CONFESSION: I hate trying to promote my book. I’m taking this online writing class, and I learned yesterday (I’m a little dense sometimes…been in the class since about October) that I went about launching a book in a not-so-effective way. My thoughts are this: I’ve never done this before, and I’m still learning. I’m going to cut myself some slack with this one, and do better next time.
3. Did I mention that it is Friday?
4. My little no Internet after 5 experiment is working so far. I have been less stressed at night because I am not hopping around to different links that I randomly find and click. I have also been able to actually READ a book (a concept that has been foreign to me for a few weeks now) at night instead of worrying about writing one.
5. Next week, I have two different guest posts that will appear on friends’ blogs. (It’s so early I don’t even know if that is the correct way to use the apostrophe…my bad.) I really think this is a great way to promote my book…for free. I am working on sending another post to Money Saving Mom because I always get major traffic when I do. Methinks that could translate into 1 or 2 books being sold.

Want to make this the Friday Six or Seven? Click the comment button to tell me something that’s going on with you!

A Sprint to the End

 

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That’s it. I’ve had it. I need a break.

These are the thoughts that consumed my mind yesterday evening. I had come home from school and gone straight to my “second job” as writer. My full intent was to work on a piece that I am writing, but the Internet had other ideas.

I checked my Twitter and Facebook stuff, which added 15 minutes to my time just by themselves. Then, I clicked on a writing-related link that led to another click…which turned in to a second click…then a third…then, finally, it was time to start supper.

I had done absolutely no writing.

And what’s worse? I had stressed myself out because I was reading about all of these things that I should be doing as a writer to be successful, especially marketing tips about selling eBooks. I was miserable.

So, I decided to do something: I banned myself from the Internet after 5:00 at night. (Wish you had an easy way to Tweet that? Click here…you’re welcome)

Funny enough, there is some stress involved with this decision as well. One of the main areas writers are supposed to be excel in is social media…that’s how you build your readership. So, if I decide to cut myself off from that at night, I limit the interaction I can have with potential readers, thus hurting my future. However, I came to the conclusion that I do not think this will significantly effect my “career” as a writer at this point and time. When the new year rolls around, I will ramp this stuff back up.

This also means that I have to schedule my Tweets and blog links if I want them to go out after 5. So, if you see a Tweet go out, don’t call me out, yet. Most likely, it’s pre-scheduled to send out.

It’s a sprint to the end of the year. I need to focus on my writing projects because I have so many balls in the air I think they all might fall down at once. (By the way, if you subscribe to my e-mail list, you will be the first to know and also get a cool freebie that’s going to be released in December…click here to find the sign-up form.)

What are your end of the year projects?

Want to read my book for free?

Hello sweet people! I need your help…my book is #3 on the Educational Leadership list, and selfishly, I would love to see it make the top spot. I need about 8 more reviews to make that happen.

Here’s where you come in…I need each of you to write a review today for me. I’m going to make it easy for you.

If you comment on this post, I’ll send you the book for free. Then, after you read it, you can click on the link below to take you to the Amazon page.

I can’t do this without the help of others. It doesn’t have to be a long-winded review either, and the book will only take you about 30 minutes to read or skim.

Please know that I appreciate this SO MUCH. Seriously…

(LINK TO AMAZON PAGE TO LEAVE REVIEW)

The One Who Created Everything

 

(Photo Credit: Creative Commons)

Okay…who else felt like this picture this morning? *Raises hand.

Yeah, me too. That 4:45 am alarm was difficult to hear. I think my body started laughing when it went off, like “Yeah right, I’m not getting up right now.” After 5 straight days of no alarm, it was quite surprising to be woken up from my slumber.

I know I’m not alone here. I heard rumors that some of you were off ALL WEEK last week…gasp!

While I don’t have some great insight about the purpose of work and how much better off we are for working (give me a break, right?!), I did find this little gem of a verse in my Bible this morning.

He is the one who created everything.”

-Ephesians 3:9

We know God created Sundays…obviously. We know God created Fridays…is there a more glorious day? Saturdays, too.

But Mondays? Ehhhh, I’m not so sure.

But then I read that God created everything…I guess that means even Mondays. (Feel free to Tweet that)

So, there must be some grand purpose for today…try and keep that in mind as you go about your sleep deprived day.

Let me know how your Monday went in the comments below: good, bad, or ugly. I want to know!

 

Book Launch Wednesday

 

 

IT’S HERE!!!! My book officially comes out on Amazon. Here’s the link. Oh, and one more thing…it’s FREE.

That’s right. You heard me. It’s FREE but for 3 days only. So, do me a favor and go get it. Then, after you read it, do an honest review on Amazon…they use those to decide whether or not to display it prominently on different pages in the Kindle store.

Don’t have a Kindle? No worries…you can download a reader to your computer. (Here’s that info for you) They have apps for any Apple device and whatever those other devices are called.

P.S. Make sure you are signed up here to be involved in the giveaways today!

 

Let’s Be Honest

 

(Photo Credit)

What a funny photo! Apparently that town has some issues with people trusting the road signs. This really has nothing to do with my post today, outside of the mention of the word ‘honest.’ Moving on…

I want to be honest today.

• Prayer life has been little to nonexistent lately. I have been so self-absorbed lately that it’s sickening. This is going to change today.
• I haven’t done a thorough cleaning of my house in several weeks. There is a stack of shirts laying on the ironing board waiting to be ironed by me. I’m ashamed to think of how long they’ve been there. My bathroom and kitchen are quickly going downhill, and this is nothing new. I got off my regular cleaning schedule one weekend, and I have never been able to catch up. Life tip: stay on schedule (click to tweet that).
• I feel a little self-absorbed with all this book promoting I’ve been doing (and what I’m going to be doing Wednesday). I am just so excited about it, and I want it to do well. If it is successful, then I will have more readers. More readers=a bigger platform. A bigger platform means that literary agents won’t just throw my query in the trash anymore. (Remember? We’re being honest here!)

Speaking of that book, you will want to be “registered” for all the cool giveaways that are coming on Book Launch Wednesday. Head on over to the Contest page on my website (here’s the link for you) and subscribe to the mailing list. I choose the winners based on that list using a random number generator.

P.S. You will be sick of hearing about this book. I apologize up front.

Question: Anything you need to be honest about? You now have the floor…