Trying to market my books is taking on a life of its own. It seems the internet is the way to go but it is so easy to be invisible with all the new books that hit the air each day. Trying to attach key words to your books involves signing agreements for programs that each website uses. I don't do that. If I can't understand what the heck they are talking about, I am certainly not going to accept the terms and agreements. My choices seem to get less each day. I am not giving up, but it sure is hard for an author to sell books. I am looking into ebay as an option. We shall see.....
On a happier note, my sister is going to place some of my books in her Uncorked Artist studio! Thank goodness for supportive family!
Friday, September 21, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
My cat Jasmine has this interesting tendency to bury things she doesn't like. Each morning, as I sit here sipping my morning cup of coffee, she is right here on the desk burying it. Now mind you, there is nothing to bury it in and no matter how long she works at it, it is still there. But this doesn't matter to Jasmine. She faithfully buries for about 5 minutes, turning in different directions, moving around the cup until she is satisfied. Then she nonchalantly walks away as if the object is buried and gone. She does this with food, beer, and even stinky socks. I wonder, as I watch her bury these offensive items, if I can somehow use this in my own life. How easy it would be to mentally bury the things that I don't like. I can use any medium I want and bury it as long and deep as I want. Example: rude driver cutting me off. I could bury this driver in poop, maybe fresh cow manure, walk away and leave him there. Just the thought brings a smile to my face. Yes, Jasmine, I think you are on to something.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Rescue Dogs: Worth loving and saving.
This past week has been tough. I'll start with a thought I had this morning watching our three dogs play outside. We are dog sitting for two dogs who were rescued from a cement prison. They lived in this prison for two years and were recently adopted by a great family. This family has been working overtime in the love and attention arena for these precious pups. They brought a trainer into their home to work with the dogs and have given them a safe place to live. Will this be enough in the long run? Only time will tell. They were going on vacation and didn't want to place them in a kennel. So we took them in for two weeks and are loving and enjoying Piper and Leo's company everyday. They are good dogs and have a lot of love to give; they are needy dogs who crave attention constantly. Cooper, my daughter's dog, was pulled out of a garbage dumpster when he was about 5 weeks old and she adopted him at 6 weeks. He is now 11 months old and I love having my grand puppy in our home. I used to think he was so needy until Leo and Piper arrived. Now I look at Cooper differently and wonder how he changed so much? Well, in actuality he didn't change as much as my perception of him changed.
So, the dogs were playing a rousing game of keep away, running as fast as they could. My "Aha" moment thought was " We are all like rescue dogs". We come into this world helpless, weak and hungry for love and affection. Hopefully, those charged with caring for us are kind and loving, seeing to our immediate needs and more. Sometimes, we are not that fortunate and our lot in life is different. We exist in the prison's we are living in, trying to find love and affection from where ever we can. Sometimes, we get super lucky and our care is given to others who try to make up for the lost time with extra love and affection. Sometimes, it is too late to make a difference.
Last week, a human being, who was loved growing up and given a warm place to thrive and grow, turned into a demon and disrespected and ended lives that didn't belong to him. He had family who loved him, education, friends, and yet something went terribly wrong. Unlike rescue dogs, he will never be given a second chance.
Somehow, his world/life was a cement prison that he spent all of his life trying to escape. When he finally figured out how to do it, he took all the lives with him that he could, as if this would make his world a better place. My world is not a better place because of his actions. I cannot grieve enough or mourn enough to make any of this better.
I watch Cooper, Leo and Piper running free and living in the moment and I realize this has been taken away from me, temporarily I hope. My personal safety and security bubble has been burst. I thought it was strong enough and big enough to handle anything the world could throw at me and I was wrong. I take solace in the fact that I do not mourn and grieve alone. My grief and loss floats up to the heavens where is joined with your sorrow and grief. What I realize is that my strength and love are attached to my grief and loss. As all of our emotions mingle and join, I pray that the positive strength we are all born with, overtake the sorrow and grief and bring hope to us all once again.
For most of us rescue dogs, life is still worth living.
This past week has been tough. I'll start with a thought I had this morning watching our three dogs play outside. We are dog sitting for two dogs who were rescued from a cement prison. They lived in this prison for two years and were recently adopted by a great family. This family has been working overtime in the love and attention arena for these precious pups. They brought a trainer into their home to work with the dogs and have given them a safe place to live. Will this be enough in the long run? Only time will tell. They were going on vacation and didn't want to place them in a kennel. So we took them in for two weeks and are loving and enjoying Piper and Leo's company everyday. They are good dogs and have a lot of love to give; they are needy dogs who crave attention constantly. Cooper, my daughter's dog, was pulled out of a garbage dumpster when he was about 5 weeks old and she adopted him at 6 weeks. He is now 11 months old and I love having my grand puppy in our home. I used to think he was so needy until Leo and Piper arrived. Now I look at Cooper differently and wonder how he changed so much? Well, in actuality he didn't change as much as my perception of him changed.
So, the dogs were playing a rousing game of keep away, running as fast as they could. My "Aha" moment thought was " We are all like rescue dogs". We come into this world helpless, weak and hungry for love and affection. Hopefully, those charged with caring for us are kind and loving, seeing to our immediate needs and more. Sometimes, we are not that fortunate and our lot in life is different. We exist in the prison's we are living in, trying to find love and affection from where ever we can. Sometimes, we get super lucky and our care is given to others who try to make up for the lost time with extra love and affection. Sometimes, it is too late to make a difference.
Last week, a human being, who was loved growing up and given a warm place to thrive and grow, turned into a demon and disrespected and ended lives that didn't belong to him. He had family who loved him, education, friends, and yet something went terribly wrong. Unlike rescue dogs, he will never be given a second chance.
Somehow, his world/life was a cement prison that he spent all of his life trying to escape. When he finally figured out how to do it, he took all the lives with him that he could, as if this would make his world a better place. My world is not a better place because of his actions. I cannot grieve enough or mourn enough to make any of this better.
I watch Cooper, Leo and Piper running free and living in the moment and I realize this has been taken away from me, temporarily I hope. My personal safety and security bubble has been burst. I thought it was strong enough and big enough to handle anything the world could throw at me and I was wrong. I take solace in the fact that I do not mourn and grieve alone. My grief and loss floats up to the heavens where is joined with your sorrow and grief. What I realize is that my strength and love are attached to my grief and loss. As all of our emotions mingle and join, I pray that the positive strength we are all born with, overtake the sorrow and grief and bring hope to us all once again.
For most of us rescue dogs, life is still worth living.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
This blog will be dedicated to feelings. Since I wrote Mice in My Tummy to address anxiety in children, I will start with anxiety in my own life.
Anxiety: painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usually over an impending or anticipated ill (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary).
I can tell you how anxiety manifests itself in my life. In one word "Worry". I get highly anxious when something is new or unknown, especially when it involves my children. My girls are all grown and in their 20's. When they were small, I used to imagine the day when they were grown, on their own and taking care of themselves. I figured my life would get easier, especially with the day to day worries and craziness. Well, I am still waiting....
While life has not gotten harder in regards to my grown children, it is definitely much different than I ever imagined it would be. I get anxious over the silliest things and that feeling tends to grow and have life of its own. Here is an easy example: One of my daughters is having a hard day. She is having some interpersonal issues with someone at work and she calls me from her car, during a work break, crying. I listen to her trying to talk, not understanding a word she is saying and all I can tell her is "Breath honey, Breath!". She hangs up after 10 minutes and I still haven't understood a word she was saying.
So now my "anxiety" takes off and makes up some crazy scenarios. Scenario one: she goes back to work and her issues are handed up to her supervisor who holds her accountable for all the problems and she is issued a stern warning. Scenario two: when she gets back into work, everyone there ignores her and won't give her the time of day Scenario three: the person she had problems with is mad because she went up her chain of command to complain and follows her home.
You can see where this is going. Through years of counseling (ack, my secret is out) I have learned to reign in my anxiety and get control in a few easy steps. Well, theoretically the steps are easy.
First, I make sure I am breathing (inhale, exhale) and find a calm state of mind. Second, I take a close look at my perceived anxiety situations and order them from least to greatest. Third, while all of the above scenarios could be possible, are they highly likely (on a scale of 1 - 100) to really occur and fourth, is it really the end of the world if they do occur. By the time I have gotten my breathing under control and looked closely at my festooning anxiety, I see it for what it really is. My worry needed an outlet and it used my imagination in a very creative manner.
I find out, in a much calmer phone call, that my daughter was PMS'ing, she was working her first midnight rotation and she was having personal problems with her boyfriend. What does this have to do with the interpersonal issue at work?? Well, other than giving her own emotions and anxiety wings, not too much. She just needed to hear mom on the other end of the phone to complete her meltdown.
I would love to hear some of your stories concerning your children and anxiety.
Talk to you later,
Andi
Anxiety: painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usually over an impending or anticipated ill (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary).
I can tell you how anxiety manifests itself in my life. In one word "Worry". I get highly anxious when something is new or unknown, especially when it involves my children. My girls are all grown and in their 20's. When they were small, I used to imagine the day when they were grown, on their own and taking care of themselves. I figured my life would get easier, especially with the day to day worries and craziness. Well, I am still waiting....
While life has not gotten harder in regards to my grown children, it is definitely much different than I ever imagined it would be. I get anxious over the silliest things and that feeling tends to grow and have life of its own. Here is an easy example: One of my daughters is having a hard day. She is having some interpersonal issues with someone at work and she calls me from her car, during a work break, crying. I listen to her trying to talk, not understanding a word she is saying and all I can tell her is "Breath honey, Breath!". She hangs up after 10 minutes and I still haven't understood a word she was saying.
So now my "anxiety" takes off and makes up some crazy scenarios. Scenario one: she goes back to work and her issues are handed up to her supervisor who holds her accountable for all the problems and she is issued a stern warning. Scenario two: when she gets back into work, everyone there ignores her and won't give her the time of day Scenario three: the person she had problems with is mad because she went up her chain of command to complain and follows her home.
You can see where this is going. Through years of counseling (ack, my secret is out) I have learned to reign in my anxiety and get control in a few easy steps. Well, theoretically the steps are easy.
First, I make sure I am breathing (inhale, exhale) and find a calm state of mind. Second, I take a close look at my perceived anxiety situations and order them from least to greatest. Third, while all of the above scenarios could be possible, are they highly likely (on a scale of 1 - 100) to really occur and fourth, is it really the end of the world if they do occur. By the time I have gotten my breathing under control and looked closely at my festooning anxiety, I see it for what it really is. My worry needed an outlet and it used my imagination in a very creative manner.
I find out, in a much calmer phone call, that my daughter was PMS'ing, she was working her first midnight rotation and she was having personal problems with her boyfriend. What does this have to do with the interpersonal issue at work?? Well, other than giving her own emotions and anxiety wings, not too much. She just needed to hear mom on the other end of the phone to complete her meltdown.
I would love to hear some of your stories concerning your children and anxiety.
Talk to you later,
Andi
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Hello friends. I now have 3 children's picture books published: Mice in My Tummy, Stop That Pudding! and J.P.'s Halloween Parade. The themes are anxiety in children, healthy snacking and random acts of kindness. Stop by my publishers page and take a look!
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/jps-parade.htm (J.P.'s Halloween Parade)
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/mice-tummy.htm (Mice in My Tummy)
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/pudding.htm (Stop That Pudding!)
I am working on a chapter book for the tweeners (8-12 years old) and one other picture book.
Any words of encouragement you might have to keep me motivated will be absolutely appreciated!
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/jps-parade.htm (J.P.'s Halloween Parade)
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/mice-tummy.htm (Mice in My Tummy)
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/pudding.htm (Stop That Pudding!)
I am working on a chapter book for the tweeners (8-12 years old) and one other picture book.
Any words of encouragement you might have to keep me motivated will be absolutely appreciated!
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