Category: writing

To Read Or Not To Read The AudioBook Way? 5 Benefits…

The book club. It was the first. The apologies came in droves. Oh I started but couldn’t finish. It was the kids, the husband, household chores and so much more. Who has time to read anyway?

My secret and I remained silent. I had ordered the required paperback to be read by the time the group met. But delivery time would be a few days before the meeting. For sure I would have barely started much less finished reading.

Audiobook Rescue

Then the idea came to me. Why not order the audiobook version online and start listening immediately? Then by the time the paperback arrived I could finish my reading with the hard copy. And that I did.

So as the group complained they finally asked and I told them what I did. The envy on their faces grew like a fiery furnace.

I shared that experience to acknowledge that audiobooks work. As an author of several books on Success, leadership, and career development, my last book was different. It was more inspirational. The book GreenLight is filled with anecdotes, uplifting short stories, prayers and exhortations. Readers share it’s encouraging benefits. Many inquired of its audio format. So I complied.

Audiobook Benefits

Not an audiobook reader? Here I share 5 advantages:

1. Better Time Management

2. Enjoy the convenience of multitasking. You can listen while working, commuting or running.

3. More than one one person can read simultaneously. Road trip anyone?

4. Greater reach for authors as consumers are given wider choices of eBook, paperback or audio. Whatever their reading style, there’s an option.

5. Ability to read more books in a shorter time.

So while some are skeptical, audiobooks is the fastest growing channel these days and offer great benefits to those still on the fence.

What kind of reader are you? Audio, paperback, eBook? Do share, we would love to hear!

Happy Reading!

Books: Readers Share Their Top Getaway Reads…

Readers Read. Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

Anna Quindlen

Dr. Shelly's avatarSuccess Strategies

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~Ursula K. Le Guin

We have all had our favorite books that we have read from a young age. Some have left an impact on our lives. On a  B&N public forum, a reader asked “What Book has stayed with you long after you’ve read it?” Fellow readers poured in with responses. Here I share a few that may prove worthwhile for your vacation, getaway, or a mid-summer night’s read.

  • Man’s Search for Meaning
  • Pecan Man
  • The Power
  • We Were the Lucky Ones
  • The Book Thief
  • Before I Fall
  • The Lovely Bones
  • It Ends with Us
  • The Sparrow
  • The Lovely Bones
  • One Hundred Years f solitude
  • The Alchemist
  • Harry Potter
  • We Were Yours
  • East of Eden
  • The Chrysalids
  • The Bible
  • The Savage Song
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • The Notebook
  • The Outsiders
  • A History of Loneliness
  • Tell Me Your Dreams

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11 Tips To Help You Start Your Writing Journey…

What do I need to write my first book? That is the question I am often asked. After researching the topics of leadership and Success, I published over 6 non-fiction books, people figure that I am doing something right. Here I share 11 tips for beginners interested in starting their own Writing Journey

Aspiring Authors Writing Tips

  1. Write. Keep writing.
  2. Read a lot so you understand how others do what they do
  3. Be yourself. Tell the story
  4. It takes a lot of sacrifice so keep going.
  5. Start writing. Just keep writing. Stand at a bus stop, look at a fence and …write. Sit in a cafe, get yourself a drink and write about the next person who walks through the door – not his description… but his life story, his family, his job. Just write
  6. Read the classics and discover why they are rated so highly
  7. If you don’t know what to write or have writers block, use writing prompts to get those creative juices flowing.
  8. Don’t shy away from criticism. Being critiqued doesn’t always feel amazing, but it always makes you a better writer. Every time someone tells you what they think of your manuscript, you get closer to an objective understand of your work, which is invaluable
  9. Don’t worry about perfection when you are writing your first draft. Good writing is re-writing
  10. Believe in yourself.
  11. Never give up.

Good luck as you start your journey.

Cheers!

Traveling To A Place I’ve Never Been…

Corona Air Travel to a place I have never been.

6 Feet apart on the ground.

Masks, face covering and all as orders came for businesses to reopen

Next day mandatory

Embarked on flight observing the usual.

Full flight. Clumped together

White paper bags distributed on entry with tiny pack of cookies and bottled water.

The usual. No changes there

I can see the signs

Less crew to come.

With safe distancing, there’s nothing they need to do besides the initial guidance in preparation for take off

And even then, that’s automated

Three hours later, the friendship State I arrived.

Big airport. Masks everywhere

Until I get to my mountainous destination

Scanty. A few masked ones. The rest on their own.

Free to wander. Free to decide.

Spread the germs

Get the germs

The virus

Will it ever end?

Second leg. Flight empty except for a few dozen passengers

I arrive at my seat.

Backpack in hand and rollercase

I  was assigned to sit next to another passenger

I looked around. Why?

The flights empty for crying out loud!

Lovely lady. Kind. Helped me get ‘settled’ into my window seat

Except…. there’s no window.

Oh that’s weird.

A window seat with no window, hmm

Of course I couldn’t settle

One of my pastimes while traveling is to stare out the window

I read. I write. I plan. I stare. Eyes fixed until the earth beneath disappears behind the clouds

Then I gaze at the morning’s sunrise, midday sun or evening sunset

At nights I just stare at the lights until they are gone

Then I zoom into the plane’s flicker against the night sky.

Absolutely love

But then back to my story.

My kind neighbor who looks like a mayor’s wife who bakes cookies and welcomes all at Christmastime agree that I can make haste to the window behind.

No flight attendant in sight. I settle in.

Flight ready for takeoff they asked me to elevate the seat back

The sure demise of a previous passenger

I wiped the place clean … well as clean as I could without looking like a germaphobe

Settled in.

Look around at a passenger dressed in spacesuit

Extra precaution I’d say

Hungry …. had not eaten from morning and airport snack counters closed for obvious reason

I slaughtered a pack of biscuits brought from home

I usually sleep during take off but was too ravished to nap.

I dived in and ate and ate until the pack of biscuits disappeared

Now I await the 3 hour flight to a place I’ve never been

Writers Escape. The She-Shed Inspiration …

Writers desired escape seems far fetched. The longing to get away to a quiet place to write. It seems the more the writer seeks the faster it disappears. Yes that quiet space to retreat.

HGTV’s 16 She Shed ideas provides the perfect solace. Here I share my favorite two. Ohhh the dream to steal away to write, just write in an ideal writer’s space.

Take a peek and share your own fav.

Cheers!

The Daily Habits Of 5 Famous Writers…

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. ~Mark Twain

I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine. ~Leo Tolstoy

Haunted by the desire to write, yet each day ends the same with a blank sheet? Here are the daily habits of famous writers penned by Danielle De Wolfe. Five captured my interests. All seemed to write in the mornings and hated when they were interrupted by family, friends, or the outside world. Here I share my top favs:

  1. Mark Twain. Began writing daily after breakfast. Skipped lunch and showed up for dinner at 5:00 pm. working uninterrupted for hours.
  2. Stephen King Works in the mornings after breakfast to meet his writing goal of 2,000 words daily.
  3. Jane Austin Wrote in the sitting room daily after breakfast with her mother and sister knitting close by. If someone came she would quickly pretend she was knitting.
  4. Charles Dickens wrote in absolute quiet accompanied by his idiosyncrasies of writing utensils (desk by the window, pen, ink and fresh flowers).
  5. Leo Tolstoy wrote in isolation. In his  must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine.

Stay tuned for 20th century famous writers’ habits. But for now, what are your own writing habits? Do share. We would love to hear!

Cheers!

 

Writing Inspirations From The Beach

Footsteps

Inspirations come alive at the beach. Writers write. Children play.  Musicians compose. The depressed are relieved. The sick can be healed.

A person can listen to the waves, cry, laugh, read, yawn, sleep. Such lazy waves forces peace, quiet, and welcomed relaxation.

The beach… a place where moments come alive. Steal away and bask in the sun, sand, and sea.

Swoosh….

Read. Write. 27 Things I Like…

Dr. Shelly's avatarSuccess Strategies

beach-birds-e1566410701716.jpg

As I look over the circus of things I like, I realize that though I enjoy them and they bring me satisfaction, I find myself not doing them as much and in some cases at all. For over two decades I have been caught up in work, work, work. So this prompt helped me pull away and ponder the things I once enjoyed, or get to enjoy on a rare occasion.

But even as I finalize the list I realize that life’s not promised, so I intend to start doing the things I like and stop leaving them for …one day soon.

Watch The Waves By The Sea

That said, the things I like are:

    1. People watch
    2. Explore the world
    3. Simple things
    4. Enjoy a good laugh
    5. Acting | Participating in drama presentations
    6. Wearing a smile
    7. See people mentored achieve their best potential
    8. Watch movies
    9. Write, ponder, reflect
    10. Decorate the house
    11. Go…

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Strengthen The Writer In You…

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Strengthen the writer in you.

Xavier shouted “I’m starting to get lucky dad”. His father replied “no, you’re learning son”. Isn’t that the same with us? Like a child, we often think that we are getting lucky when it’s really our trial and error when climbing the ladder to our goals that makes us ‘lucky’.

Write. The Journey. The Learning

We improve our best efforts over time. It’s in no way luck. Try, try, and try again. In so doing we make marked improvements …often without even realizing. Let’s take for example a writer.

At first we find ourselves with writers block, sometimes caused by doubting whether we can get to the finish line. We ponder questions such as will I ever finish the blog? That book? How can I write a book when I cannot even write a page? We don’t realize that we get to the end result by first writing a sentence. Then a paragraph. Then 2 or 3 paragraphs until we get to a page. Before we know it, we have written a chapter. Then another, and another, until the book is complete.

Our writing craft improves as we progress. In time our muscles strengthen and before long we get compliments from others about our writing.

Stress is an Enabler

So all in all, we strengthen our best efforts over time. Acknowledge that stress is in fact an enabler. But know that the stress is lessened over time as we get constant practice. Then our confidence rises and we can confidently acknowledge that we are starting to get ‘lucky‘.

Happy Writing!

Cheers!

 

 

South Florida Writers Of Color Literary Magazine, 2nd Edition…

You can. You should and if you are brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free so drink. Drink and be filled.  ~Stephen King

 

The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. ~Dylan Thomas

The Ralph Hogges and Benjamin Cowins, South Florida Writers of Color Literary Magazine. An Online Literary Magazine. Read. Indulge your writing prowess in these editions:

South Florida Writers of Color Magazine 1st Edition

South Florida Writers of Color Magazine 2nd Edition

Hope you are inspired to write.

Cheers!

Writers Writing Place. Indoors Or Out? 17 Confess…

Write. Just Write. 

“Are you most comfortable when you write at home in private or out at a local coffee shop?“ That was the question asked in a public writers’ forum. Curious, I dived in to hear what other writers had to say. Here I share response from writers who feverishly chimed in.

  1. I write anywhere as long as the place is quiet and/or nature is all around
  2. At home, but if the inspiration comes anywhere else I will scratch down the basic idea and pursue it later
  3. Home
  4. I write only at home but read everywhere
  5. I used to think I needed to be some place else in order to truly write but during quarantine, I have learned that I can write at home and be extremely productive
  6. Anywhere so long as I get the inspiration to write
  7. If I am alone then at home. But I’ve also found being out at the bookstore made it almost easier to write and finish a scene
  8. Usually at a coffee shop. I can focus
  9. Both. I write differently given the location
  10. Driving at night when I am alone, I tend to talk to myself and come up with some good details. I record them with an audio file on my phone and plan on some day to get them all typed up so I can put them together
  11. I write in the privacy of a spare room
  12. Either, as long as its not too noisy
  13. Home, unless I am at the library
  14. In Public
  15. A mix. I do miss the neighborhood coffee shops during this quarantine
  16. I like to write at home. I sit at my computer with some thunderstorms on YouTube in my headphone and type away
  17. Anywhere

What’s your preference? Do share. We would love to hear.

Cheers!

 

Writer To Entrepreneur: Top 11 Steps To Success…

You can make anything by writing.”
–C.S. Lewis

Developing your writing craft is not easy. As authors we stick to it because it’s our passion. The zeal with which we are connected is likened to a web but one in which we wish not to escape.

Many are the traditional thinking that authors hardly make money, let alone survive while working on their craft. But what do you say to the likes of Stephen King, Poet Maya Angelou, Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling and countless others. You may say that they are successful because they are well known. Banish that thought and delve into the story of Stephen King who was rejected so many times that he actually threw in the trash his best selling novel. Were it not for his wife, the world would not have enjoyed this story’s amazing work.

So here I share excerpts of my presentation on the topic of “From Books to Bucks”, held at the South Florida’s Writers Book Festival.

Books 2 Bucks

  1. Write Quality Work
  2. Books can have babies. Think of workbooks, series, and so much more
  3. Convert your book to Audio
  4. Create an audience through tapping into Podcast listener-ship
  5. Translate your Book into a different language. Oh the new audience it brings
  6. Convert your book to film, movie, documentary
  7. Written non-fiction? Immense business opportunities exists. Think of workshops, Spoken-Word, how-to events and more
  8. In the arts? Use your book as the stepping stone to fashion and design
  9. Want to develop and grow your passion? Stick with the right people
  10. Become a Conference Speaker. Share your expertise
  11. Don’t sit on it, enter your book for an Award

Want to go from Books to Bucks, Select from the list, focus your craft on the point(s) you believe you will get best win, then promote, promote, promote. Marketing your work is the key to success and it does not have to cost you a ton. Use social media wisely. It can help you grow into something you never thought you could be.

I end with encouraging you to Be Serious about your craft. SHOW UP and promote, promote, promote.

Cheers!

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