I keep messing these two words up.
Paddies is like row of rice. so I try to think of the two ds looking like the kernel of corn in the field.
Patties is like hamburger patties that you cook on the grill. The two TTs can look like a grill with a little imagination so that may help me remember meat is connected to patties.
These are notes from a panel I listened to a year or so ago. I took notes while attending a wonderful SF/F symposium called Life The Universe and Everything. The panels are very educational. The panelists were: : James Dashner, Lesli Muir Lytle, Tyler Whitesides)
– If agents can show that they have sold to NY publishers than they are most likely legit.
– Every agent is unique in personality and working relationship.
– You need to determine what is important to you from your agent and look for those qualities as you look for your agent. One good way to see if they meet those qualities is to check out their web site, what they say on their blog, references or referrals from other professionals etc.
– Your agent doesn’t make a dime until you do. You both have the same objective for you to be a successful author.
– An agent is key when an author makes money from world wide distributions sources and move rights.
– When doing a query, check and rigidly follow the guidelines furnished by the agent or agency.
– When you submit a manuscript make it the very best you can make it including being polished.
– Most publishers in NY will only accept agented material.
– Start submitting to the biggest and most desirable agent you want first and then go down the list from there.
– Check out the book Guide to literary agents.
– You can track your queries with QueryTracker.net and find out excellent information about agents.
– Your success of finding an agent/editor improves considerable by the one on one contacts established at conferences who have agents/guests in attendance.
– Agents are aware that writers will submit their manuscripts simultaneously, just notify the agents when you do so.
If you have an agent, or done research on obtaining an agent and feel like you have some knowledge to share, please feel free to do so. Thanks
I heard most of this from the media. There are different types of things that debt collectors can and cannot do. When calling people to get money that is owed. Here’s a short list afterwards are some links of additional information. I found out. I hope will be of use.
– Cannot contact before 8 am or 9 pm. if do, start making a log. Time, date, who contacted you.
– cannot contact at work after you told them they cannot.
– No threats of violence or harm
– Cannot publicize who hasn’t paid.
– Cannot swear
– Can’t use phone to pester someone
– Cannot identify themselves as government.
– Can’t falsely report they represent a credit agency.
– Cannot be arrested.
– Cannot sell or garnish land/property unless they have a court / summons. If not received summons.
– Cannot post check early.
– A person do a ‘cease and desist’ by phone. Can pay the original debtor not the bill collector
Here are some other resources to check out besides what I heard hear.
http://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/older_consumers/english_brochures/eng_dealing_with_debt.pdf
http://www.har.com/Houston-Real-Estate-Blogs/31575/New-Rules-for-Debt-Collectors
http://blogs.har.com/1277/18459/Houston-Short-Sales:-Is-this-debt-collector-breaking-federal-law
http://www.alabamaconsumer.com/2012/02/radio-interview-on-debt-collectors-and-credit-reports/#
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Collection-Calls
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/If_a_lawyer_says_he_has_taken_over_a_charged_off_credit_card_debt_and_will_sue_you_unless_he_can_collect_should_you_pay_him
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8006200371/11
I hope today’s object lesson to be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, family home evenings and family devotionals.
Items for the object lesson: Get, aneasily recognized, color, family picture or a color photograph of the famous painting. Make a color copy and put each photo in an identical frame. Then present both to your class or family and have them determined from a distance which one is the original. From a distance, they may not be able to tell them apart.
Just like a counterfeit photo can sometimes mislead us so counterfeit freedoms can bog down our lives. Many people are of the impression that living the commandments of God can be restricting. When you are busy keeping the Sabbath day holy, or thou shalt not bear false witness, or thou shall not steal, some people feel that commandments hinder their personal choice. There are other commandments, that may also be perceived as restrictive.
Discuss with the group the consequences of the following scenario. Instead of the family portrait or famous picture being a counterfeit, let’s say that you have a bunch of money that is fake. Not only is one breaking the law for forging such money, but they do have the consequences of paying for the crime of distributing fake money and can go to jail. The fake money does not have collateral to support the counterfeit currency.
Our obedience to God’s commandments can actually free us in our actions rather than bind us. If we are not been caught stealing then we are not sent to jail for stealing. If we are not caught for lying, then people find they can trust us with what we say and do. We present ourselves as being people of our word in the trustworthy. Breaking the commandments such as lying promotes distrust and a bad reputation. If others can’t have a belief in is believing who we are, can they believe anything at all? Stealing and lying can influence our friendships and our business relationships.
The counterfeit freedoms of doing what you want can give the perception of freedom; but, when we are caught, we end up having to pay for our crimes. When we struggle under the excessive weight of certain addictions, we become enslaved to those addictions. They become our master.
As a group and family discuss specific examples of commandments that appear to be restrictive. Then discuss how following God’s commandments can actually offer you freedom.
If you have some ideas that you think would be useful in improving this lesson. Please feel free to share them. The brevity of this particular lesson is geared so that the class or family can brainstorm more specific and detailed examples.
See the following documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OBhHgnPHKUE
Those who don’t read history are doomed to repeat it.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment
Some complaints:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/obama-the-puppet-master-87764.html?hp=t1
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/the-obama-administrations-abject-failure-on-transparency/252387/
http://www.rollcall.com/news/inhofe_sees_cover_up_in_benghazi-222234-1.html
http://endthelie.com/2013/02/24/former-obama-press-secretary-says-he-was-told-to-deny-existence-of-deadly-drone-
http://endthelie.com/#axzz2LxVLPq00
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2013/02/25/obama-transparency-president-i-want-clear-out-press-so-we-can-take-some-
http://dawn.com/2013/01/23/emotional-clinton-angrily-denies-benghazi-cover-up/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73606.html
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-03/world/35493923_1_foia-obama-administration-freedom-of-information-act
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/obamas-broken-promise-fed_n_500526.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nudge-nudge-wink-wink-how-the-government-wants-to-change-the-way-we-think-2174655.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100167328/a-government-of-nudge-nudge-wink-wink/
http://www.inquisitr.com/541177/dan-rather-president-obama-broke-his-promise-of-transparency-video/
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/11/02/buchanan-the-smoking-gun-of-the-benghazi-cover-up/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/subjects/transparency/
I’ve been blogging for a year now and have various reasons for doing so. One is that as a storyteller, writer and having various passions, I want to promote items I care about. This entry is geared to display techniques I’ve used to make my site unique and useful to potential fans. In my inexperience of creating a website and blog, I thought I would cater to five different subjects that interest me and see which ones may be of interest to my potential audience.
Most of the content on my website is material created for my blogs. I have to admit much of it is self-serving. It is my hope that some of the information may eventually become content for future books. My goal is to establish a fan base for the type of information I share.
Let me give some specific examples.
Having taught in church situations for several years, I’ve created a number of object lessons to help embellish a lesson. Some of my students were often worried of what I would do next. I’m a bit unpredictable. I think they often paid attention because of fear rather than interest
The content of Monday’s blog is also additional content and a continuation of material from a nonfiction book called. I know you THINK this is a Toaster: Promoting Family Values through Object Lessons.
Example: http://www.melvagifford.com/category/teaching-embellishments/page/2/
On Tuesdays, is a blog called Tasks, Errands and Projects Oh My. This is where I create a weekly To Do list. It was quickly apparent that I’m not all-knowing about multiple topics and so I end up doing research on a need to know basis. For example, I needed to fix my fence and thought that maybe I could do it myself (ha ha). I researched it and collected all my links and posted them up on Tasks, Errand and Projects Oh My blog so that if others were interested in repairing their fence, they can access the list I created. Another example is what to look for when buying a washer.
Example: http://www.melvagifford.com/category/tasks-errands-projects/page/2/
Someday I hope Tuesday’s material will be a stepping off point for a future nonfiction book called The Book of Lists.
On Thursdays. I have Speller Beezy and Other Ailments. I’m a notoriously bad speller. So I have a day devoted to how to spell words. Since memorization is not one of my strengths I try to use mnemonics, or visual images. Maybe after a few years, I might have enough content to create a short, spelling e-book.
Example: http://www.melvagifford.com/category/speller-beezy/
As you can see, if I have people following a specific blog, they may be interested in buying a future book on the same topic.
I have not yet figured out a way to have a blog to promote my fiction books, however I heard of a wonderful suggestion. Some authors will post blog entries from their book characters who are very popular with fans. When my career gets to that stage that is something to consider. An alternative will be that when I write my MG book Spell Binders (where the magic system is based on mnemonics) then I can invite fans to post spelling spells on line on the site.
But one step at a time, right?
Each of these blog topics may be of interest to a web surfer. If they like the content of a particular blog, they might seek additional content elsewhere on the web page. Maybe they’ll even buy a book or two or may want to attend one of my story telling events.
My webmaster created an analytics report to see which days of the week get the most hits. Now, I need to determine which of my topics stays or goes.
Example:
Day Visits
2/16/2013… 8…. Sat.
2/17/2013… 19… Sun.
2/18/2013… 17… Mon.
2/19/2013… 19… Tue.
2/20/2013… 37… Wed.
2/21/2013… 38… Thur.
2/22/2013… 28… Fri.
Total for the week: 166
One may wonder if this will be useful, but it’s something to try. Many of us bloggers are simply trying things through trial and error. I have attended a couple of blogging panels and have shared some of my notes from panels about blogging on my Rock Soup blog. Rock soup has to do with creativity of storytelling, writing, quilting, music and various other relevant topics. I’ll put some links at the bottom of this entry.
One point of advice I’ve heard from big-name bloggers is that you want to create content that people want to read. I think that’s what many of us are trying to do.
In a future blog, I will touch upon some ideas that I think may be useful for site promotion.
Please feel free to check out melvagifford.com.
Blogging notes from some big name bloggers:
Blog Your Passion: My notes from a presentation by Leigh Anne Wilkes. (3/14/12)
For my fellow bloggers out there, what do you do, to build content and to establish a fan base? Please feel free to discuss your ideas below and provide your web site. Thanks
The following suggestion came from my good buddy Rhonda. It gives me great pleasure to milk off the talents of other people.
Theirs – meaning belonging to them.
Spelled like – The IRS
I love mind tricks like this. What juicy word do you have to suggest?
These are notes from a panel I attended a year or so ago. I took notes while attending a wonderful SF/F symposium called Life The Universe and Everything. The panels are very educational. The panelists were: Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, David Farland, Angie Lofthouse, Eric James Stone.
-A short story is not as complicated as a novel and will not have all the subplots.
– A short story must represent the most important, climatic event in that character’s life.
– The story needs to stand by itself and have its own problem and resolution within that story.
– There are certain stories that can be episodic when they are known characters that have a series of adventures i.e. Sherlock homes.
– amazon shorts is a market for featuring short stories
– Jape stories are short stories that are serious until they get to the punch line ending.
– If you want to write a story for the New Yorker, cut off the last page.
– A literary story is about the journey and the process and the discovery.
– A story can be enjoyable just because of the play of words and phrasing by the author.
– The story beginning is when the character knows there is a problem. The end of the beginning is when the character takes ownership of that problem. The middle is when the character tries to solve the problem by try fail cycles). Every attempt to fix the problem is part of the middle. the ending is when fixing the problem is successful.
– Malu = is when a story is about a time and place. Orson Scott Card would agree that if that is the purpose of the story than concentrate upon the place and time of the world. Examples: wizard of Oz, Crocodile Dundy, Dancing with wolves. Another sample is putting dragons in a previous historical event of world history or Little House on the Prairie, Gilligan’s Island.
– What the story promises in the beginning need to be achieved and be the same in the end. Don’t change the type of story midstride.
– Idea story: may be a story of someone who has been hurl by another and seeks payback so he/she hires someone to perform the task of ruining that person’s life and reputation.
– Event story: a comet hits the earth. The whole plot revolves around that key element.
Romance stories: need to introduce both partners of a couple early.
– Hooks: Specifically plot out your hooks. In a proper formatted manuscript the first 13 lines of the story is on page one. The last line on page one needs to have some hook that will motivate the reader/editor to want to read page two. Page two needs to also have a hook at the bottom of page two and for each page. A strong hook is needed at the end of chapter. a good hook is important in the opening paragraphs beginning of the story/book itself. Stephanie Myer’s vampire books did a good job on this. Even in short stories devise hooks at the bottom of each page.
– Orson Scott Card’s stories often concentrate upon three elements: Faith, Hope, Clarity. Faith: make the character believe it – Oh yeah. Hope must answer: So what? Why should I care? Clarity: huh? Story must avoid making the reader wonder what is going on.
– When having a reader critique a work, ask them when they begin to not car about the tory (mark it)
– Often a try/fail cycle might have a dialog/conversation be the first T/F. It is important o try to have that event to have already happened when the story begins. It is part of the back story and starts the story quicker. An example might be someone who has been fired and they ask their boss why. The tory begins after that dialog. This gets rid of the first try/fail cycle.
– Start the story in the middle of the event so that the reader is instantly involved. If you need back story, present it throughout the story bit by bit. An alternative is to write the back story in the beginning of the manuscript so that as a writer you can define the character and story and then delete that section of the story before submitting it.
– Research: It is good to have a research for a story but when you take a lot of time collecting information, don’t force the reader to have read all your hard work.
– Flash fiction: One good submission source is Dailysciencefiction.com which features short stories. It pays 8c a word. People can subscribe to it for free.
– A wonderful source of short fiction submission list is duotrope.com. Start submitting to these markets.
– How to handle details and setting? Just go with what you feel is wright. Follow your gut feeling of what feels right and let your audience/ editor fine you that likes your style.
– Warning: if you start with a description it usually turns out to be a weather report.
– All advices on writings given by Hemingway should be ignored. He intentionally gave bad advice. Everything he said was a lie.
– When reading a magazines, anthology of stores = pay attention to the stories you like not the ones you don’t. See what you like and want to imitate about the stories you like. Don’t try to alter your stories to imitate the ones you don’t like.
– Purchase your domain name now and start your professional author web site.
On a personal note here are some suggestions I offer. Start creating a description journal. For me it begins with certain articles from the National Geographic magazine that talks about different cultures, landscapes and architecture. I hope to have a library with a rich mix of walls, homes, roads; terrain, trees and all kinds of things inspire the little nifty details for my stories and books.
Write a story that is interesting to you. If you’re entertained, you’ll put more effort in the story.
I also remember hearing the advice to enter a scene and exit a scene as quickly as possible. That way you stick to the essentials and climax to the story. I have also received some excellent advice that you want to end a scene at some climatic moment so that people will want to turn the page. I know some writers who are excellent with this ability.
If you have suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comment section of this blog.
Last week I attended a seminar at work that gave suggestions on how to eat more healthy. I took some great notes and thought I’d share them. Enjoy.
– Checkout myplate.com for eating advice.
– Variety in food i.e. different colors of vegetables.
– More raw.
– Eat meal in the morning.
– Portions, healthy fats
– Choose my plate.gov advice on eating, servings etc.
– Get protein from a food source rather than protein shake or bar
– Limit saturated fats.
– Seek out foods that have omega 3. also helps depression.
– Don’t skip meals during the day and having a big meal in the evening. Work on 3 square meals)
– Choosing small meals every 3 hours. Increases your metabolism and trains you into eating small portions.
– Snack ideas (nuts that fill your hand is a good serving size). humus with celery
– Once cup about size of your fist or a tennis ball for cooked vegetables and 1/2 cup grain
– 1 oz. is about the size of your thump
– 3 oz. is about the size of a deck of cards or palm of your hand.
– Half of plate is fruit and vegetables.
– Frozen vegetables are packaged without salt. you could rinse off vegetables for canned.
– Processed foods often add sugar, salt and fat. chose foods in whole and natural foods. i.e.: frozen.
– Use other herbs and spices is a good alternative to salt and they provide health benefits.
– Ingredient list gives you items listed by weight. if sugar listed first in a cereal then its heaviest in sugar. Dash is good alternative to salt.
– Meal samples: vegetable stir fry with beans and rice. meat stew with vegetables and rice.
– Cook extra food to make a lunch meals.
– Tools that can help cook, rice cooker, steamer, .
– Store frozen berries and greens like spinach in freezer.
– Art of eating
1. Sit down for your meal
2. Eat as much color to your plate as possible.
3. Keep snack on hand,
4. Chew food completely
5. Eat with others or eat outside to relax body.
6. Be aware of portion sizes,
7. Increase your physical activity.
8. Chewing foods can help break down food so digestion can observed more of the nutrients.
9. Savor your food as you eat slowly.
If you has advised that you would like to share on things that helped you become more healthy, please feel free to share them thanks.
