Erin Sands on How #Writers Become Better Through Exposure & Feedback @TheDunesBook #AmWriting

FROM IDEA TO AUTHOR

We have all heard someone throw out the, “I should write a book” line. Heck, I’ve even jokingly said it myself whenever a friend asked me about a subject I felt pretty well versed in. I should write a book, five little words that are easy to say, but those of us who have dared to plunge into the deep and surfaced with book in hand have learned that the journey from idea to author is no small feat.

The most important aspect of any book is good writing. Whether you are an indie writer or a best selling author, the litmus test remains the same; is the book well written? The answer will be found on page one of your manuscript, which is why every author must get comfortable with a very simple truth. A first draft is merely that, a “first” draft. Excellence comes from writing, re-writing, re-writing again and then re-writing some more after that. There were many times while writing The Dunes that I would give a draft to my husband and he would shake his head indicating that it was not good enough yet. As infuriating as that was, he was absolutely right. It made me go deeper, search for better words and a clearer vision of how to share my ideas with readers. Writers become better through exposure and feedback from editors and people we trust. It is a part of the process that should never be avoided. http://bit.ly/1pwryZK

The aesthetic design of your book is also essential. The cover of your book is your first “hello” to the reader. It is your 3-second commercial and it needs to give readers insight into your story at a glance. Finding someone who is able to graphically illustrate the heart of your book is key. I worked with my cover designer for months before we finally settled on a cover that I believed masterfully articulated the beauty and the transformative nature of The Dunes. Getting the interior design of my book just right was also an integral aspect in my publishing journey. The choice of font, the font size, the layout and page color are all things that can make your book flow seamlessly in the readers mind or be disruptive and jarring. It is important to take the time to make sure that those choices compliment your book and allow for the experience you want your readers to have. http://bit.ly/1pwryZK

Another important aspect of publishing is one that I am still learning, the necessity of marketing. Finding unique ways to spread the word about your book requires creativity and tenacity. These days, utilizing social media is paramount, but a “following” isn’t born over night. It is important to be consistent and patient. This process is indeed a marathon. Also, never discount the grass roots approach. Networking with other authors and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth are still priceless tools for any author.

http://bit.ly/1kO8xOR

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in the Bay Area of Northern California, Erin grew up with an innate love for dance, theatre and the written word. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Erin began her career in the arts as an actress and choreographer. After booking several notable roles in television and film, Erin began to use her gift of writing in blogs featuring political and social commentary, as well as developing content for theatrical use.

Although The Dunes, is a divine departure from Erin’s previous writings it is by far her most cherished work to date. “I wrote The Dunes initially as self therapy because I needed to release some painful experiences and disappointments from my past. I had this thirst to walk in the complete fullness of life with joy as my constant companion. I had no idea what effect it would have on other people. But when I saw people read it and be released from fears that had held them back for years…when I saw people forgive and be able to walk in the freedom forgiveness brings…when I saw people commit and serve and how those things opened up new opportunities in their life, I was just humbled. Humbled by the awesome power of God and humbled that I had been allowed to go along for the ride”.

When asked why she writes, Erin pauses and reflects on the truth of her heart. “I write because although I am only now beginning to truly love the process, I have always loved the outcome. Like a composer, words become my notes. I string them together in song eliciting the response of my reader, grafting a picture of my soul. Where besides the written word can you effect change so utterly and so succinctly? What besides the written word can pierce the universal collective mind? Everything begins with a thought, but it isn’t until that thought is articulated in written word and those words passed down can life changing movement happen. It must be written, it must be expressed on tablet, and when it is, we all become greater, whether the writing be genius or fatuity, it has evoked thought and debate. Why wouldn’t I want to be apart of that phenomenon? Why wouldn’t I want to share my story, give my testimony…add my paradigm to the mix? Whether it is a novel, a poem, an essay or an article, it is humanity visited. An insight into a new or sometimes shared truth. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. And with that I live my life”.

If there was a journey that could masterfully change your life in seven revelations...would you take it? 

In life, sometimes the kernels of wisdom and the richness of revelation can be found in the most innocent of stories; and so it is with The Dunes. Join one man and one woman in an exquisitely simple yet remarkably profound journey as you discover with them that the mountain you must climb in order to live the abundant life of your dreams is located squarely within your heart. 

Illuminated in seven revelations; The Dunes carries the reader on a journey to not only examine the obstacles that are holding them back in life but to conquer and over come them as well. With each revelation The Dunes intimately calls on the reader as the journey companion to face a challenge…a dare if you will that requires an uncompromising commitment to change. In the family of faith-based self help books, The Dunes stands alone, simultaneously taking the reader from fiction to life and back again, equipped with a tailor made journal for the readers inner most secrets and reflections. The Dunes is part allegory, part testimony and part journal, but the best part is the healing it offers your heart. When you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone and step into the miracle of your life…The Dunes awaits. 

CAUTION: Readers of this book are subject to significant changes for the better. Side effects may include frequent smiling and enjoying life in every season.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Non-fiction

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Erin Sands on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.thedunesbook.com

Kent Burden on Deciding What to Write About @KentBurden #WriteTip #AmWriting #Wellness

I often get the question “how do you decide what you’re going to write about?” it’s a pretty valid question, unlike someone who writes fiction I don’t have to come up with a story or a plot I just have to come up with a subject, but what subject? As a health and wellness expert my choices are endless, exercise, stress reduction, weight loss, nutrition and all the sub categories that go along with healthy living. But how do you decide what to spend your valuable time and energy writing when we all know that some books will sell and some won’t. How to chose a topic that people will want to buy and will be something I want to delve deeply into. I’ve written 7 books (and counting) and I’ve chosen subjects based on key word searches, surveys, market research and a coin flip. But sometimes a topic just chooses you.

 A few years ago while working at a high end California spa,  I was sitting at my desk in my office reading a popular men’s magazine (I was on my break– I swear) when I came across an article that said new research proved that sitting for extended periods of time increased your risk of getting diseases like diabetes, heart disease obesity and certain forms of cancer and that doing 30-60 minutes of exercise a day wasn’t enough to counteract the damage that sitting did. The article even claimed that as far as negative health effects were concerned, sitting was just as bad as smoking! To top it off it stated that people who sat more during the day were heavier than people who moved around and spent more time standing during the day regardless of how much they exercised.

I remember sitting there feeling like I had just been kicked in the crotch by Chuck Liddell. This is not what they had taught me in my six years of college. It’s not in the literature they give you for your personal trainer certification and no one was talking about this at fitness conferences. This had to be complete and utter bull s#!t. So I did some research myself and what I found shocked me, and the deeper I dug the more I began to think this new discovery might just have merit. 

The first thing I did was go back through my records. As a trainer you always have clients that trouble you. They work hard in their sessions, say their doing all the things you tell them to do on their own, insist they are sticking to their diet program, but never can get to the goal weight loss they set or they can’t seem to get their blood work numbers were they need to be. I always chalked it up to the “they think they are but there not syndrome”. Many people fool themselves into thinking they are doing things that they aren’t actually doing, you’ve seen it. The person who says they eat healthy but over the course of the day eats 20 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from the office candy dish and then scarf down half a quart of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey Ice Cream while watching Game Of Thrones just before bed. But maybe I was wrong, maybe they had been doing everything I had been telling them to do but what I was telling them to do just wasn’t enough. Low and behold when I checked all of my trouble clients had jobs like accountant, lawyer, software designer and author all jobs that had them sitting all day long.

I called a couple of the researchers that had been quoted in the article and came away with the distinct feeling that this was big. I mean the-sky-is-falling big. This was when I decided I HAD to write the book. I pulled together all the research I could find, I talked to all the major players in the field. I collected opinions on how best to counteract the deadly effects of prolonged sitting,  then created movements that could be done anywhere (even in the office) so people could discover new ways to be healthy. For me the hardest part was figuring out how to make all these facts and medical research interesting enough to actually read. The bottom line is I was on fire!  I needed to spread the word and get these simple, effective tools into people’s hands. That’s how my book, “Is Your Chair Killing You? A Healthier You in 8 Minutes a Day” was born. No market research, no key word searches and no coin flips. It also happens to be my bestselling book so far. Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Sitting for extended periods of time is as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes. And exercising for 30-60 minutes a day isn’t enough to undo the damage from extended periods of sitting. Is Your Chair Killing You reveals shocking new research showing that sitting for long periods greatly increases your risk of developing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. Our bodies were designed to move constantly over the course of the day, but most of us sit for hours a day at work and at home! Fitness and wellness expert and award-winning author Kent Burden has created brief, simple movements you can incorporate into your daily life to combat the damaging effects of sitting. These simple movements, done standing for 1-5 minutes each hour will burn calories, energize and refresh you, and you won’t even break a sweat; you’ll even improve your back pain. This book is a how-to for weight loss and disease prevention. Read this book–you’ll be healthier in as little as 8 minutes a day.

Nominated for the Dan Poynter Global Ebook Awards and won honorable mention at the Los Angeles Book Festival

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Non-Fiction

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Kent Burden on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.kentburden.com/

Nina Elaine Borum Shares A Day in Her Life of #Christian #NonFiction #Prayer

Before I wake up, I have probably already slept through 2 alarms. I actually set my clock ahead about an hour because I’m convinced I get more sleep this way. After my body realizes that the alarm is going off I hit snooze at least 3 times. I start praying in my head things like “God I’m so happy to be alive…God I want to go back to sleep! Lord, I’m so thankful for another day….God, can I just stay under the covers for another hour”. After going back and forth with God, I pull myself out of bed. I rarely sleep in past 8am, when I do it’s an extreme luxury.

I go straight to the living room to have my not so quiet time with God. My devotions as of late have included upbeat gospel music and dancing. Then I read a passage either from my YouVersion app or flip to the corresponding day in my One Year Bible.

Then I make a plan for the first half of the day. It usually includes updating my blog, writing an article for a guest post, researching blogs to follow, marketing tasks, planning social media updates for followers, writing some for my new books, writing video scripts, planning podcasts, conference calls, going to networking events, returning calls, emails, and a host of others things before I have to be at work by 1:15.

I use my commute to work as a time of thanksgiving. I turn off the radio and just tell the Lord all that things that come to my mind that I am thankful for. I started this ritual months ago and I am happy that it has become a natural habit. Once at work, I supervise and train staff over several afterschool school sites, oversee programming, connect with parents, have one on one coaching sessions with children and perform various administrative tasks.

When I get home in the evening I call my family in North Carolina, connect with friends on social media and then I crash and do it all again the next day!

Every so often I manage my time well enough to be able to enjoy the gym, read a book for pleasure and spend time with friends. Balance is something that I don’t think I’ve achieved fully but I am working towards it.

You didn’t learn these prayers in Sunday school. Put your armor on, and get ready to see God move!

Do you ever get sick of praying? It’s okay to admit. We all do. It is emotionally draining to beg God without ceasing. Christians often forget that under Christ’s authority, we have the power to command God’s promises to be released from heaven to earth and into our lives.

In Praying for Men of P.O.W.E.R., author Nina Elaine Borum challenges readers to stand confidently and command the promises of God for the men in your life. As someone who has struggled with prayer, Nina believes that God does not intend for his children to feel helpless in praying. His Word has instructed us in how to bring the kingdom of heaven to a world where Satan runs freely. We are all in the midst of a vicious spiritual battle, and Nina hopes this book will help you to fight on behalf of Christian men.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Tate Publishing

Genre - Christian non-fiction

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Nina Elaine Borum on Facebook & Twitter

#Author Carla Woody on How to Tap the Creative Genius of Walt #Disney @carlawoody1 #amwriting

How to Tap the Creative Genius of Walt Disney

by Carla Woody

When you’re writing, you definitely need to tap your creative juices as an ally…and I’m going to give you a tool to do so. It’s a creativity strategy, actually the process that Walt Disney used so successfully. He was able to transform his ideas into an entertainment empire—and touch people around the world. His legacy still does.

He called his process “imagineering.”
NLP developer Robert Dilts studied how Disney did what he did. I’m going to share his findings with you. One of Disney’s animators summed it up like this: “There were actually three different Walts: the Dreamer, the Realist and the Critic.” In other words, he had three different thinking styles. Each one involved a different perspective.

The Dreamer’s job is to think up possibilities. This is the part of you that brainstorms and daydreams. The Dreamer’s best location for the job is in dreamland where nothing is censored. Even though something may seem irrelevant, a piece of an idea may grow legs. So the Dreamer sets the stage by creating this framework: If I could wave a magic wand and have everything I want…what would it be? What would I create?

The Realist’s job is to turn dreams into reality—to ground ideas—by defining the structure. The Realist is essentially a planner who answers these questions: How can I extract the core element of the dream? How does the idea break down into themes? How do the themes break down into piece parts within a theme? How can I convert this data into steps and a plan that is realistic?

The Critic’s job is to play devil’s advocate and to look at what could go wrong. The Critic stands at a distance, scrutinizes and asks these kinds of questions: If this happens…then what? How are others going to react? How does it make me feel? Is it worth it? Can I improve it?

People get into trouble when they don’t incorporate all three thinking styles, or if the process overlaps. If the Dreamer doesn’t work with the Realist, then ideas are just ideas; or consider how quickly the Critic can shut down the Dreamer if he comes in prematurely and trods all over the idea. You’ve probably seen this happen in a group or experienced it yourself. But when the Realist can take the ideas of the Dreamer and put them into form…THEN the Critic can help evaluate and refine the outcome by asking questions back to the Dreamer and Realist AFTER they’ve completed their initial run.

It’s important to guide the process in such a way that you use appropriate language and questions as I noted. Imagine if the Critic said: That won’t work! Why are you doing that? You’re a fool!

Here’s a case in point: Some years back I used the Disney process with a client. He was having a very difficult time dreaming at all. With some encouragement he was finally able to dream…and then broke down in tears with relief. He said that about ten years prior he’d made some risky business moves and ended up with losing his business. His inner Critic became vicious. His Dreamer went into hiding, torn to shreds. It was through this process we did together that his Dreamer re-emerged…AND his Critic learned how to be a viable part of the team.

So this is the process to use in your writing project so that it hangs together well:
1) Allow the Dreamer to dream without interference;
2) Next, have the Realist take the ideas and see which can be put into actual form and sequence;
3) Finally, invite the Critic in to evaluate, to ask questions that will bring clarification from the Dreamer and further analysis from the Realist.

Of course, you can use what I’ve written here as guidelines for any aspect of your life, not just writing. I’ve adapted the content from my mentoring program
Navigating Your Lifepath, which guides folks on how to live through their deeply held values—and thrive.

I invite you to try on Walt Disney’s creativity strategy. Let me know how it works for you in the comments below!

 

"The gift we have been given is the one called possibility, whose intent offers to tie all together, creating strands of a whole life rather than a disintegrated one."

With these words, Carla Woody sets the stage in this groundbreaking guide toward leading a rich, authentic life. This remarkable book not only offers means to engage the paradoxical nature of spirituality, it suggests pointed questions that accelerate transformation and inner peace.

Through poetic stories and teachings, Woody incorporates her many years of esoteric adventures with Peruvian mystic Don Américo Yábar and shamanism, her intensive work with others incorporating NLP, and learning gained by balancing community and solitude.

Navigating through such diverse geography as healing with energy, bliss states, dark nights and the challenges of personal growth, she presents ways to integrate the compassion of the heart with the clarity of a mind made wise. In this honest, explicit accounting, the committed traveler of the Hero's Journey is empowered to develop their own capabilities toward nurturing a direct relationship with the Core Self⎯and the mysticism that permeates everything.

The author donates 10% of profits from book sales to Kenosis Spirit Keepers, a 501(c)3 nonprofit she founded whose mission is to help preserve Native traditions in danger of decimation.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Nonfiction, Spirituality

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Carla Woody on Facebook & Twitter