A Few Random Thoughts

Some times in life things happen that you can't control. Now don't misunderstand. These things aren't all necessarily bad. Sometimes they are wonderful carmic events that change your life for the good.

When times get tough and the road long, always remember you have to reach your destination eventually. It might seem endless and fully of bumps and pot-holes, but it's there nevertheless.

Lately, I've been questing what's important in life. I've been pondering the way I think about things. It's possible that my thoughts hold the power to either encourage or discourage my health, happiness and general well-being.

Isn't it interesting that our own mind, just ours and ours alone, has such amazing power? If we can know that, why is it so difficult to reverse any negative thoughts and flood our brains with only goodness and light?

The answer is simple...

Because we're human! Unfortunately, it is in our nature to be skeptical. It is also normal to live occasionally by the "glass is half empty" way of thinking.

The problem comes from letting ourselves drown in the sorrow and self-ptty that attempts to take us over. It's easy to give up and crawl into the hole and hide forever. It's much harder to stand up, dust ourselves off and keep going.

The second example is worth it however. The rewards for sticking to the positive are endless. People who don't let themselves get caught up in the everyday drama that insists upon dragging us down.

So my call to action is this...

Try this for one week. Force your brain to eliminate the negative and embrace the positive. When you feel yourself getting sucked into the darkness, pull yourself out and run away as fast as you can. Keep telling yourself that you are worth it and you can do it.

If this doesn't help after a week, you haven't lost anything. That's the beauty of it. You have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. So try it, and let me know in the comment section or personal message how it works for you.

Help Support An Author

Do you love books? Seriously can't get enough of them? Have you ever wondered how you could shout from the roof tops about your latest favorite author? This post will give you some ideas.

If it wasn't for authors, you wouldn't be able to sate your craving for good literature. They are what feed your addiction and give you amazing books to charish.

Whether an author is new or an established celebrity of the literary world, they still need all the support they can get. One of the best ways for them to market is through their readers.

Let's just say Jane reads a book. When she's done she loves it and wants more. So she jumps on her computer writes a review on Amazon raving about the novel. This will show other readers the book is worth picking up. Many people trust the word of a fellow consumer over the word of a top notch reviewer in a big name magazine.

So... there was way number one to support an author. Review... review.... review! If you loved it go write a few sentences about why. What was your favorite part? Who was your favorite character? Did you enjoy the plot and dialogue? What about the writing style?

Next Jane figures if she's going to write a review on the retail site where she purchased it, she might as well keep going. So, she clicks on through to Good Reads and puts her fabulous review there. Good Reads is one of the widely used social networking sites in regards to books. If you haven't been their yet, what are you waiting for? It is a great community of authors, readers, reviewers, bloggers, etc. It's basically like Facebook, but for books.

There are other great sites that are similar to Good Reads. It's all a matter of preference. Choose one that's right for you and sign up. They are a lot of fun.

This of course was way number two...

Next Jane decides to hit up all her other favorite social networking sites. She logs into places like Facebook Twitter Tumblr Dig and of course the list goes on and on and on. There are oodles of networking sites out there. Jane decides to plug the book on all the one's she's registered with. She tells all her friends to check out the book.

Well, if Jane has a hundred friends, she just marketed the book to all of those people. If even one person likes or shares Jane's post, then they've just marketed it to all of their friends. It turns into a chain reaction and suddenly the word gets out to thousands. Now, all of these wonderful people can enjoy the book Jane loved and help an author at the same time.

That was way number three...

Along the same line of logic... An authors page on Amazon, their blog, Barnes & Noble, etc all will more than likely have some kind of social networking button. You can like it, share it, pin it and lord knows what else. If you're not a social networking goo-roo it will probably have an option to send it to friends in an email. This is a great way to show your support. Authors will love to see you are a fan and in some cases, will even chat with you about the book if you like.

This was way number four...

Last but not least, use your words. When your at work, a coffee shop or grocery store, tell people. Spread the word. I'm constantly telling people about my favorite books.

Hopefully I've given you a few ideas. Even if you don't want to go as far as Jane, hop on over and press the like button on a book or author page of your favorite retail website. It only takes a second and it would mean a lot to that author.

Not sure you can? How about we practice?

My Amazon Author Page
My Facebook Page

If you can master these two... you can do anything:)

But seriously though, I really would appreciate the help too. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this:)

Furthering Site Accessibility Furthers Your Reach

I have discovered the coolest feature that can be added to a blog. Thanks to the site Odiogo bloggers can now make their blogs more fully interactive and accessible for all readers. It makes every blog post you write or static page you create an audio file that can be listened to. The service is free and easy to incorporate into your site.

I found it via another blog on blindness. It is called Beautifully Blind It is ran by a creative and insightful woman named Robin. The only thing I had to do to sign up for the awesome service was enter my site address and Email address. After that it prompts you to implement an Odiogo widget to your site to finalize the set up. That process took just a few minutes. Once all that was done check your site!

Depending on the amount of content on your site, it might not be completely done. But chances are you will be able to at least see that some of the audio files for your blog posts are done.

Sure it is a compute rated voice reading my words to the world. But, it is a voice that in my opinion is much better than the voice of JAWS. I think readers will like this option very much.

The other cool aspect is that people will have the ability to subscribe to the audio files. HA how cool is that? Now not only you are a blogger but you are a podcaster too! Once they subscribe they can have access to your blog posts off the computer. For instance, if a person subscribes to your podcast via ITunes, every time they sink their device to the computer your latest masterpieces will be available to them.

This means your readers will have yet another way to enjoy your words on the go. Thus, furthering your message to the world.

I am so excited to have found this feature and hope that my readers will love it as much as I do.

To subscribe to my podcast simply look under the heading “Subscribe to My Podcast” and follow the link. It will take you to the page that will allow you to do so. If you run a blog and are interested in the service you can check it out at Odiogo

How To Create The Copyright Symbol

Have you been pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to create the ridiculous little copyright symbol for your book? Have you stared at your keyboard for infinite amounts of time only to find that the only character similar is the @ symbol? Well have no fear Nicole is here! I am going to show you how unbelievably simple it is to create the © symbol for the copyright page of your masterpiece.

You don’t need any special programs or any specific gadgets. It’s not even a matter of copying and pasting. All you need is a standard computer keyboard. Just make sure you are using a keyboard that has a number pad. This is the numeric key pad to the right of your keyboard. NOTE: The number keys directly above your letter keys will not work for this!

Have you breathed a sigh of relief yet? Do you have the proper keyboard? Great! Now follow these easy steps…

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Make sure your number lock key is turned on. This allows you to press the numbers on the num pad and actually achieve numbers.

2. Press and hold the ALT key. You can find this key on either side of the space bar key at the bottom of your keyboard.

3. While still pressing the ALT key, press 0169 on your num pad. REMEMBER, it has to be your num pad and NOT the number keys at the top of the keyboard!

4. Release the finger that’s pressing the ALT key

!****TUH DAH****!

Hopefully you are now looking at your very own © symbol. ENJOY!

If you’ve followed these steps and you still have questions please feel free to leave them in the comment section of this post. Don’t forget to read about my upcoming novel Clandestine that will be released in the near future. Stay tuned more teasers for Clandestine!

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