The LAST Word

  We are coming up on the spring season. This is a wonderful season. It is as colorful as fall, but plants, trees and animals are coming alive, not dying. You will see purple, pinks, white, yellow, light green, blues, red, orange and lavender. Spring is a time of renewal on the Earth and in your soul.  But, with spring also comes the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. This is a system we do not need and should outlaw. First, the name is incorrect. We aren't "saving" daylight. We are moving it to be later in the day, but the number of hours that are bright is the same in EST or EDT. During June, it is about 12-14 hours of daylight whether that day starts at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Second, it was started for farmers and to save energy, but most of us live at our computers inside an office instead of on the farm. I would also argue that farmers would prefer light in the morning when they have to get up to milk the cows. I would also argue that we use the same amount of energy by turnin...

  It started when libraries banned Dr. Seuss . This is violating the 14th Amendment. Now, "Sensitivity Committees" want to rewrite Roald Dahl's books to make them "sensitive" to today's audiences. How can they know what Dahl wanted his characters to be. They are his characters. Only he knows what they are thinking and doing. No one can say, "It was meant to say this." That is the first problem.  The second problem is that if "Sensitivity Committees" rewrite characters and books, they are making everyone the same. That will read quite boring. In the real world, people say negative things, do negative things, do not care about being sensitive or politically correct, and act whatever way they want. Most people know what is right and wrong. Therefore, fiction should reflect life. That is why these stories stand the test of time. They reflect life, and readers can relate because they know people like the characters. The third problem is rewri...

When you are looking for ideas for stories, blogs, poems or press releases, you should consider holidays, such as Valentine's Day or Presidents Day. You can find ways to use them in your writing or business marketing.  You might be surprised to know that I write romance novels but hate Valentine's Day. This might seem odd. I write about love, but I don't like the day dedicated to love. The reason I don't like Valentine's Day stems from being alone in high school and college. In high school, one of the fundraisers was to sell heart-shaped lollipops with messages on them. It was hard to watch many of my friends get messages and I didn't. In college, everyone on my floor was given something for Valentine's Day except me.  To me, Valentine's Day is set aside to make those without a significant other feel bad about himself or herself. Even after I met my future husband, I asked him not to give me anything on Valentine's Day. To this day, he will give me ...

  Business owners and writers all have to market their products or services. Often, they throw mud against a wall hoping something will stick. This strategy works when you are trying to find new opportunities that you did not know previously. However, if you are trying to get your message across to potential clients, then you might be throwing money at a problem without knowing what the solution is. Writers know that they have to write to the person who is likely to read the book or novel. They are not writing for everyone. They are picking a person or type of person and writing to him or her. Business owners should adopt that strategy too and be persistent about it. They should define their message before they post on social media, in blogs or in printed materials. Here are some tips to help you define your message and earn more profits . 1. Know Your Potential Client -- So much is said about avatars and narrowing the demographics to figure out who is likely to buy from you. An ...

 I noticed that I have not been posting a regular blog. This has made me think about being persistent in marketing . Whether you are marketing books , a writing business or another business, if you are not persistent in how you market , you are probably going to not be successful. You want to use all your resources available to you , including blogs. I have been remiss in keeping up my blogs, which has been hurting my business. Sometimes, it is hard for writers to promote their own business when they are helping other companies and authors . This year, I plan to write my blogs more often even when I go on vacation . Here are reasons why you want to be persistent in your marketing. 1. Google Rankings -- When you are persistent in your marketing, you will consistently be on top of Google in search results. Regular and fresh content on your Web site is one of the criteria used to establish who comes up when people search. Without regular and fresh content on your Web site, you mig...

  Recently, politicians have attacked our freedoms and rights in the name of public health. The most recent was the removal of the intellectual property on the vaccines against the coronavirus disease. The idea is that it is available to all, but already, the vaccine is given freely to Americans, but pharmaceutical companies should be allowed to protect their formula so they could license it to other countries or companies. It was removed to protect health, but it sets a dangerous precedent and authors should be outraged. If pharmaceutical companies could lose their intellectual property, authors could too, namely their copyrights on books or cookbooks .  The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to pursue property. Intellectual property is still property. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, software coding, music, art, formulas and much more are protected and should be allowed to be retained. In Sept. 11, 2001, we started losing rights in the name of security. Now, we ar...

Because of the pandemic , the media's panic-inducing headlines and the lack of in-person social connections, the number of mental health cases has already increased and is expected to jump even more. Students are feeling the pressures. They are not able to learn they way they like. For example, my daughter does better in a classroom setting than with online classes. My son is just the opposite. He thrives in online classes. Writers, who usually work from home, worked alone before the pandemic, but now, so many of them are afraid to leave their personal space. This can lead to panic attacks, stress, anxiety and depression. They will begin to doubt their abilities in writing and editing their books. Here are some ways to address mental health issues. Write as Therapy – I have discussed this previously. If you have emotions, you would want to get it on paper or on the computer. I always use writing a therapy when I am sad or lonely or joyous. I write poems, storie...

During this time, Americans are stuck at home. Even though many states are allowing stores and other businesses to open, people are not flocking to the gathering places. They are still afraid to catch a virus or disease. Many people are bored and trying to come up with things to do . Here are some tips for you. Home Projects Now is the perfect time to tackle those home projects. You could do spring cleaning and declutter your home. If your project involves more than cleaning, you also could order from Home Depot online or another retailer and get materials for your projects delivered to your door. If you want to put up new shelving in your closet, you could get the materials and begin hammering away. Just avoid making disasters in your home. Discover New Things So many videos are available online that you could learn almost anything while you are at home. You could learn a new language or a new skill. I want a patio for my back yard. I am not handy. Neither ...

In northern states, changing the clocks ahead allows for more light in the evenings, which makes people more productive in spring and summer. People in the north like to go out in the sunshine after spending winters locked indoors. Southern states don't have much of a winter. Although it might be cold, it doesn't snow and is not dark on a daily basis. They have sunshine all the time. I have lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Arizona and Florida. In Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I felt the benefits of Daylight Savings Time although it still hindered my inspiration and writing. More on that later. Arizona doesn't change the clocks. It was great not having to worry about changing clocks, but I noticed no difference in the light without Daylight Savings Time. I don't agree that Florida should change clocks. The state has so much sunshine that it could be similar to Arizona and feel the same whether clocks are changed or not. Becomes False Benefi...

My daughter was working on her computer. She came across artificial intelligence that is writing books for people. She told me about it and said to research it. AI is entering the world of books. Savvy writers should take advantage of it because it could be the future. Also, it could make writing books that much easier. Here is what I learned. Text Sounds Human In the past, machines would collate tweets and articles and compile into a semblance of a book. However, today, new machine-learning models trained on billions of words have given AI the ability to produce text that sounds human. They use human speech patterns and basic structures of grammar. They can generate sentences and paragraphs that are readable. They still don't create intentional meaning in the paragraphs. OpenAI GPT2 was released. It allows users to create specific styles, such as New Yorker or Georgic poetry. More to Come While, at the moment, it can't write a novel, the technol...

Most people tend to look at the new year as a way to start fresh. They begin new diets, exercise more, plan vacations they’ve always wanted to take or invest in opportunities to be smarter with their finances. But what about your business? Have you ever thought of trying something new, but didn’t know exactly how to start? Have you ever wanted to motivate your employees, have closer relationships with your customers or learn to use social media to your advantage, but didn’t know where to begin? While I can't help with many of those issues, I could show you how to promote book events this year. Many business owners and authors believe all events should be promoted the same way, but as there are different types of events, there are different ways to promote them. Some examples of events are: online events, meetings, grand openings or book launches , seminars and workshops, conferences, book signings, book-selling opportunities and networking events. Now, how do you go ...

You can find a lot of books about empowerment. Writer's block often is connected with low self-esteem. You might not feel qualified to write a book. You might feel that you have nothing to say. Therefore, you stare at the white page on the screen or in your hand. These feelings are normal. Remember, you are the expert in what you do. Write a first draft even if it is horrible, it is an accomplishment. It can be edited . Take this advice to feel empowered and avoid writer's block. Whether your goal is to inspire others or publish your fiction novel , you will need to be uplifted somewhere along the line. That's when you want to find those authors you prefer to help you remember that you are great at what you do. One person not liking your work is one compared with the hundreds who do . I will not let the setback get to me. You shouldn't either. Remember to keep plugging away at your writing. Otherwise, you will not want to finish it. Avoid Writers'...