I’m a Stinker!

I was going to call myself a stinkin’ cheater, but I combined it into stinker. Why? Because I am so gonna cheat on a blog post today.

It’s been a busy week, but I got a pack of PLR out and another one almost ready. And I discovered this morning that my baby girl is coming for the weekend.

My cheat is to link you to other things I’ve written.

My post at Blogging Tips today was a Blog Round Up where I shared some of the best stuff I read this week. Go check it out!

And my next cheat is a link to the PLR I released today. It’s in the personal development niche. If that’s your thing, go grab it here.

Better run. I still haven’t done much housework. It’s not bad, but Kevin is a bit pickier than I am and he may freak because it looks like we live here. ROFL. No, that’s not an exaggeration, he is that OCD sometimes. :) But, I adore him.

Have a great weekend!

What Do You Say?

Some days it’s hard to decide what to write about. You want every post to be your best. You want to give your readers some valid and valuable information, but it often eludes you as to what to share this time. Lynn Terry  recently shared a blog post about being consistent with your content. It seems that many of us have trouble in this area because we often leave our personal lives out of the equation. It should not be this way. We are real people. We scrub our toilets just like everyone else. Well, unless we hire a housekeeper to do those things. I’m not there yet. I still scrub my own toilet and mop my own floors. It’s not always a glamourous life. There’s also a lot of days I sit here thinking the only thing I have to tell people that day is I’m jamming out with Billy Squier or Iron Maiden, but I don’t do it. Would people really want to know that? Well, yeah, I think they do. It’s no secret that I’m an 80′s metal head who also listens to Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven.

I’m also the kind of person that feels completely blessed when I have a spoon and a jar of peanut butter. I don’t have to have a steak dinner every night. In fact, there are many nights when I have a spoon and a jar of peanut butter and call it dinner.

Do you want to hear about these things? My mundane day to day life? Well, if you don’t then you probably don’t want to follow me. I want to bring more socializing into my blog. It is my blog, has my name on it. I can do that. If you follow me on social media you already know that I don’t share biz-related stuff very often. I have a mixture that I’m happy with. I would say it’s about 60% inspirational, 10% of my silly self, 10% of my business related stuff and about 10% of promoting other people’s stuff. I know, that’s only 90%. I reserve 10% to be opinionated and for weilding my duties as a grammar nazi.

I often give advice over at Blogging Tips about being yourself and adding yourself into the marketing mix, but I don’t always practice this consistently. People really do want to know you. That’s how you create friendships and a following. At least that’s my opinion. In all my years online, I’ve rarely ever followed just a name. I follow people. People have faces. They share the bad times and the good times. That’s the kind of people you want to follow. I even follow some of the richest people in the world. They have funny kitchen mishaps and pet problems and share real life things too.

So, as part of my New Year goals, I will be more personal. If I can’t share the latest and greatest gadget, I’ll share my life. Okay, I’ll skip the bathroom cleaning, but otherwise I will show me and my life on my blog.

What’s on your agenda for the week? Any great plans? I love to hear about your life and business too. Just leave a comment and feel free to be you. :)

New Projects and Testing

Hey guys and gals,

Just a quick note to let you know about some things I have up my sleeve. I’m starting a new newsletter, but I’ll get to that later. The first thing I want to talk about is something I’m testing.

It’s a WordPress plugin called WP Super Popup. I’m not overly fond of pop-ups, well, not the ones that irritate me. I’ve got this one set to only show on your first 3 visits and it has a delay of like 2 minutes before it pops up. Now, if you clear your cookies you will have to go through the 3 visit process again.

I’m hoping it’s not too intrusive, but I wanted to test it to see if it gets more sign ups for the newsletter. If it doesn’t, then I will probably remove it at some point, or lower the times people actually see it. I don’t know yet.

The newsletter:

I’ve wanted to create one for several years and always came up with a gazillion reasons why I shouldn’t or couldn’t. I finally ran out of excuses, it is something I’ve always wanted to do, so I’m going to do it.

It’s completely free, at least for now. I may charge for it at a later date, but no worries, if you are already signed up when that time comes, it will remain free for you. However, I do have a little “catch” to it that I’m pretty excited about. I would like new subscribers to be able to get past issues (once it gets rolling good.) But the catch is, if new people want past issues, there will be a small fee for them. But the really cool and exciting thing is that ALL of that money will be donated to Make-a-Wish Foundation and Make-a-Wish International. I will rotate them from month to month so each organization receives donations.

If you want to get on board with the newsletter, go ahead and sign up. The first issue will be out on December 8, 2011.

That’s it for now. Have an awesome day!
Patti

Theme Junkie

I admit it, I’m a WordPress theme junkie. I wish I had the time to have blogs for every theme I like. But that will never happen.

I love the theme here at my personal site and it’s the same one at my Sassy PLR site, but I would really love to update to Thesis on my PLR site. I’ve even signed up for several contests where people are giving it away.

In fact, I just found a new contest and thought you might be interested too. Here’s the details.
There is a great giveaway going on at the Traffic Generation Cafe Blog where you can win your own copy of Thesis Theme, as well as a 30-minute consultation with Ana Hoffman. Participating is very easy! Visit Thesis Theme giveaway page for more information.

So, are you a theme junkie too? What’s your favorite theme? Leave a comment with a link to your blog so we can all see your favorite them.

Writer to Marketer – A Natural Progression?

If you’re here, chances are you’re a writer. It’s what we do. We write, we get paid. We get a new gig or assignment, we write it, we get paid. It’s a great way to make a good income, but is that all there is to it? Just writing every day with no form of passive income or no multiple streams of income? I don’t think so. I follow several marketers. They all started out writing to earn extra income and have since built up great marketing and affiliate marketing businesses. It seems like a natural transition to me. And yes, I even know fiction writers that are marketers, so don’t think you can’t do it just because you prefer fiction over freelance.

I’m new at marketing, but I know it’s something I want to follow. I don’t know much at this point, but I am learning. I know much of it is trial and error, but isn’t everything in life that’s worth doing?

I’d love to share this journey with you. From time to time I will post about things I’m learning, things I’m finding and people I follow. Sometimes I will use affiliate links. That simply means if you follow the link and decide to make a purchase, I will earn a little bit of money from it.

That can turn a lot of people off, but it’s also one of the great things about being a marketer/writer. These people have grown their business by paying other people to promote them. It’s much the same as the advertisements you see in newspapers, magazines, on TV and radio and even the ones you see online. However, the money isn’t so important that I would ever promote junk. I only promote products/services that I have used and approve of or have been highly recommended to me by a very trusted source.

If you’re here for the writing, or for my personal wisdom/silliness, you will still see that. If you’d like to follow me into the world of marketing, you’ll find some of that here.

If you’re a freelance writer and want to create passive income so you can make money even when you aren’t writing–then lets take this journey together and share what we learn.

Thanks for being here with me.

To your success!
Patti

Big Things in a Sometimes Small Mind

I have a private blog that I write in once in awhile. No one can see it except me and I think one other person, but the point is it’s private.

I was looking through it today and found something I had written in August of last year. I should (wish) I had read it on a weekly or even daily basis. But that’s okay. I just wanted to share it with you today. Hope you enjoy. :)

My private blog is straight out of my head – I don’t edit the posts, so if you see something horrible, just cringe and keep reading. LOL

Here it is:

 

I’ve had some pretty BIG “Wow!” moments today. This post is mainly just some ideas I need to get written down..no particular order and possibly not even proof read.

Why don’t we think big?

Why do we think small?

Why are we conditioned to think small?

Who conditions us to think small?

In answer to the last question, it starts with our parents. They really didn’t know any better so they teach us about scarcity and limits and self limiting doubts and beliefs. As we get older and start watching TV, listening to the news—which I suggest you ignore at all costs, the media, the government–they all know the “Secret” and want to keep you in that small thinking conditioning mentality. Just look at the bullshit you’re being bombarded with on TV, in movies—almost everywhere. It’s depressing, it makes you believe life is not supposed to be big and grand and full of abundance and blessings. It’s literally bullshit! God is so much bigger than that! God wants to prosper you and bless you. He does not want you planted on the couch watching that garbage on TV. Trust me on that one! :)

I’ve been tuning into coaches and training that teaches you to think big, to use the secret, to create a life of abundance and to give gratitude to the creator. It’s all been sinking in slowly and I know God is leading me in this, but I just haven’t found my place quite yet. Today I ran across two women–one I’ve seen before, the other is totally new to me and the message I received from both of them was…

to do something bigger with what you’ve got. Something that will change people’s lives and REQUIRE ALL the belief, knowledge, skills and gumption that you can muster… and then more.

Every person has something inside of them that will make the world a better place.  EVERYONE.  Even you, especially you.  It lives inside of you as a dream, a book idea, a song, or a special gift or talent.

Yes, that’s the basic message I got from both women—to think bigger, to live bigger, to stop limiting myself, to achieve bigger things and to not care what other people think. God has given me a purpose for as long as I can remember and it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve listened and started paying more attention. I still haven’t “gotten” it yet and I still run scared—what can this little gal do to help people grow and change their lives, what can I do that has a lasting positive impact on the world? Well, in my small thinking I can’t do anything. I believe God is telling me to reach for bigger and better things—to take the first step and truly commit and He WILL be there to catch me and guide my feet.

Am I scared? You bet. This is like a whole life changing experience for me. But I know that sooner or later I have to truly listen and let God guide me and use me. I don’t know if that scares me, or if my own self limiting beliefs make me think I’m too small to take on such a big task. Even though I know God is bigger than it all–I’m still fighting the human side of my mind. But I do feel I am on my way to great things—as long as I am obedient and give Him ALL the glory.

What big things do you have planned?

What limiting beliefs do you still have?

Heads Up for 10K Day! Awesome Fun!

Here’s some information from the Fear of Writing Website. All content is copyright by Milli Thornton – Fear of Writing/The Word Nerd, unless otherwise stated.

Fun Dates:

Wednesday March 23
Saturday March 26

 

THIS DAY IS for you, so do what works for you. But here are the rules that have proven to produce the best results:

1. No editing or rewriting.

2. No looking back over what you’ve written during the 10K Day.

3. No rummaging—either in notebooks or in your computer files—for writing you did some other time.

4. No research. Make it up.

5. Don’t fuss about the rules of writing. Just write.

6. Don’t fuss with structure. You can format, add chapter headings (or whatever) some other time.

7. No struggling. (“Allow yourself to be crappy.” — J.R. Turner)

8. Take a 15-minute break every two hours. Use this break to refresh your body, brain and spirit.

9. Report to your writing companions during your break. These “check-ins” should be kept brief.

10. No agonizing over your word count. Yes, the goal is 10,000 words, but not at the cost of your peace of mind. This is not a competition—not even with yourself! Have fun instead.

Adapted from 10K in a Day by J.R. Turner


HOW TO RSVP *

We hold two 10K events each month—the first one on a Wednesday and the second on a Saturday—generally around the third week of the month. To RSVP, click on HOME in the menu above and look for this month’s dates in the upper right sidebar.


WHERE TO POST YOUR CHECK-INS *

A special blog post for check-ins is created for each individual event. You can see an example of that here:

10K Day: Live While It’s Happening!

If you have any questions, Milli’s email address can be found by visiting the Contact Us page.


WHAT’S IT ACTUALLY LIKE? *

To get an idea of the wide range of results (and how the important thing is the spirit of the day, not the actual word count) go here:

June 18’s 10K Day Beat All Records for Massive Writing Fun!

 

10K Days at Milli’s!

Hi Everyone!

I’ve promised Milli I’d get an announcement put up. My server is having severe issues lately as you can tell by the bad formatting of my posts. The host is aware and (supposedly) working on it.

Anyway, hope you don’t mind Milli, but I stole the excerpt from your page. :)

If you’d like to join us for one of November’s 10K Days—Wednesday, Nov 24 or Saturday the 27th—you can start here by posting your RSVP in the Comments section below.

Please specify which day you’ll be attending.

WHERE TO GO TO PARTICIPATE ON NOVEMBER 24 OR 27

To participate, return to the HOME PAGE of this blog on the morning of your chosen 10K Day.

You’ll find a special post called 10K Day: Live While It’s Happening! and that’s where you’ll be making your check-ins.

You can read the full post HERE!

Happy Writing!

Patti

Word of Mouth Marketing with Twitter

Hi Everyone!

Whether you run a writing business or another internet business, twitter marketing is a great way to gain followers, find new clients and make some sales.

Word of mouth marketing is the most cost effective marketing available to any business. While it is also the most difficult to gauge or measure, there is no doubt, positive word of mouth marketing is more than effective.

The most challenging part of a marketing campaign that is strictly word of mouth is getting people to talk about your business. In the information age this is not nearly the mountain climbing issue it used to be. In fact, it’s quite easy these days. You just have to know the proper venues for doing so.

Well over one billion messages are sent in one day’s time on Twitter, and your business should be contributing its share. Twitter is an instant billboard – A split second public message putting your business in front of the masses to get them talking about you. Using Twitter effectively, efficiently, and regularly creates a direct relationship between you and your customers, and potential customers. You cannot afford to neglect this opportunity.

The first effort to make before fully launching a word or mouth campaign on Twitter is to familiarize yourself with how it works, the common vernacular used, and the etiquette within the Twitter community. Next you will begin to build a network suitable for marketing your business. Twitter has a search engine where you should plug in your business interests, and then you follow the people that show in the results. Soon you will be followed in return. Many are very surprised at how quickly a following is built.

Now you’re almost ready to Tweet. Realize that Twitter is about breaking news and good conversation. Adjust your promotions accordingly. Think about what you offer of value to those you want to become your customer, and brand yourself as strongly as you can. Your best choice is to tweet a blurb about full content you have on the web in another place by posting a link within a personable and interesting sentence about why the reader should visit your site.

You are becoming a part of a community. Everyone in that community is a potential customer. Use it to your advantage. Plan out a strategy, and then dedicate some time each day to interact and talk with your followers, and those whom you follow. This will give the personal Twitter Touch that people love about the community itself. This is social media, the key word being social. If you choose not to utilize this aspect of the campaign, you might as well not start the campaign at all. You wouldn’t think of neglecting customer service anywhere else, so be as diligent to your Twitter customers as you would be to the sales floor.

Finally, a word about gauging the success of your word of mouth Twitter campaign. Open a free account at Bit.ly and utilize it to your greatest advantage. With this service you can shorten URL’s to use in your tweets. This allows you to track how many people actually respond to your tweet by clicking on the link.

Check out this great free report: How to Twitter Effectively. I think you’ll enjoy it. :)

Happy Writing & Marketing!
Patti

Why I Walked Away from Freelance

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to give a quick update. Today’s topic is about why I stopped doing freelance work.

It’s been coming for awhile but I recently made the decision to just walk away for good (or perhaps a very long hiatus.) There were several reasons for the decision, most of them were personal.

#1. I love freelance writing or non-fiction writing, but it’s never been my passion to work for clients ALL day. I want a time schedule that is lenient and allows me to do the things I want to do.

I recently lost my biggest client due to financial problems on their end. I loved the work but when they closed up shop I decided the work of finding a replacement client and writing for hours on topics that I may or may not love just wasn’t worth the effort or the money.

I’m not a go-getter for client work, so the income from it has mostly been spending money for us. We just lowered our spending budget. LOL

I do know many successful freelancers who love the work and make a good living at it. I never loved the work that much. So don’t let that discourage you if you want to be a freelancer. It just wasn’t for me.

#2. A flexible schedule and wanting to spend more time on fiction work played a big factor in the decision. I’ve been away from fiction for five years now–the time I devoted all my writing to freelance work–and I missed it terribly. Now, I’m discovering that fiction is very rusty and the words do not come easy, but with a flexible schedule and no dead lines, I’m free to pursue that at my own pace.

#3. My husband recently changed jobs and he’s on call most of the time. We never know what time of day he’ll be called out on a job. Since his job allows me to ride along, especially for out of town jobs, I wanted to be able to drop anything I’m doing and go with him. Although this is #3 on the list it’s actually my main reason–him and flexible scheduling. We love spending time together and if he has to spend six hours a day driving, it’s just easier to have someone riding shotgun. We usually have a good time too. You pass a lot of interesting things on the road. :-)

#4. I want to get back into marketing–internet and affiliate marketing. I buy a lot of great products that I’d like to share with others, so this is the perfect way to do that and to make a little chunk of change. Lately I spend more time reading than I do working, but it’s all good. The working part of my life is working itself out.

#5. At this stage in my life many things are going whacko. I have good days, bad days, really good days, really bad days–but they never schedule themselves in so I have to go with the flow. The working life I want to create and work on will allow me to go with the flow. If I need (or want) to skip work for a day or two mid-week, I want the freedom to do that. I don’t want to push myself the way I have in the past for client work. I don’t mind deadlines, but I don’t want strict deadlines.

What will I be sharing or covering on The Scribe? I will still cover some freelance topics, fiction topics, awesome products, what I’m up to or whatever silly mood strikes me and possibly some of my getting back into shape stuff.

Be sure to check back Monday when I have another awesome guest post by James Adams. This one is Five Tips for Printing Your Manuscript.

See you then. Happy Writing!

The Scribe

P.S. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am so loving the new look and colors here at the Scribe. It makes me happy. :-)

Directions & Updates

Hi everyone!

It’s Day Five of NaNoWriMo. How’s it going for everyone who’s participating? Mine isn’t going to well word count wise, but that’s okay. I am writing something almost daily so I’m happy with that.

I’m still working on my other ideas for the Scribe and a new site. I was going to focus on my health site a little more, but I’ve decided to narrow that niche down quite a bit. It’s still in the early stages of planning but I’ll announce it as soon as I know more.

I’ve been extremely hormonal lately. With any luck that will all be completely out of my life very soon. If you’ve not experienced that, lets just say it’s hell! I have more bad days than good days now, which is why I’m not updating my sites as often as I’d like to. It happens.

I’ve recently rediscovered something that I found several years ago. I wish I had taken that direction instead of freelance writing–because it’s still going strong. My freelance writing life is not. But after five plus years in the freelance business, I realized it’s not for me. Yeah, call me slow. LOL. I love to write, I love to share information, but I don’t like writing for other people. I don’t have a passion for that part. I did stick it out as long as I could, but eventually we all have to follow our passion. That’s what I’ve been pondering here lately.

Anyway, I’ll be making a few new announcements–soon, I hope–but it all depends on if Mother Nature plays nice–which she isn’t. One day at a time, that’s the best any of us can do.

Have a blessed day!

Stafford Scribe

New Look & New Stuff at The Scribe!

Hi Everyone!

I’f you’ve been by recently you’ve noticed there’s a new look here at The Scribe. It was time for something fresh and new. I love the new colors. Most people want to freshen up in the spring, but I’m a fall gal–not to be confused with “The Fall Guy.” LOL.

I’ve recently gone back to fiction almost full time, not quite, but almost. I still have a few other things I want to do with The Scribe and my other site, Daily Health Now (I will link to it after I get some updates ready.) Both are in severe need of new content and lots of updates.

Kevin and I pulled a major move back in August and so far it’s not been as joyful as we’d planned, but things are looking up. We both gained some weight–on top of what we already needed to lose–so we’ve gone on an eating plan we can live with, feel much better and things in our world are a little brighter. I’m not one to stay depressed or down for very long, but it does happen. It did happen. It’s much better now.

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