Yvonne Perry's New book is Now Available!

Do you feel like a misfit in your own life and body? Maybe you awoke from a strange dream too vivid not to be real. Have you survived a near-death experience, had an out-of-body occurrence, or dissociative episode, or soul exchange? Others may have noticed the change and made comments like, “You act like a totally different person.” Inwardly, you may be confused, overly sensitive, or so anxious it feels as though your nervous system has been hooked to an electric power line.

Perhaps your soul has received a download from an ascended master, or your twin flame has merged with your energy. Might that explain the ascension symptoms and sudden changes?

Regardless of what has happened, you may need help integrating these higher frequencies that are now available to you. Shifting into Purer Consciousness can help you manage the physical and emotional symptoms associated with rapid spiritual progress.

Read the foreword to the book now!

You may be one of the millions of people who are spiritually growing faster than your body can tolerate. What you are experiencing is a normal response known as ascension symptoms. What if a multidimensional form of yourself—from a realm with a purer consciousness—has arrived to guide you through the challenging times we are facing?

Read reviews for this book now!

In Shifting into Purer Consciousness, Yvonne Perry will share her story about how she learned to integrate the accelerated energies of a more evolved version of her soul that merged with the soul that originally incarnated in her human body. Once she learned to manage the human experience of spiritual transformation, she became active in working to anchor her light body and help the earth and others ascend.

Listen to author interviews about this topic now!

While this book can benefit any spiritual seeker, it is intended to help those who are fearful of the future due to having been indoctrinated by fear-based religions that teach a dreadful end of time. So many of these dear ones are having experiences that do not align with their religious dogma and they are searching for answers. Shifting into Purer Consciousness provides support for those who want to take their spiritual path up an octave. This book will be filled with tips on how to make the ascension process easier and quicker.

Purchase the book now!

See other books by Yvonne Perry at http://weare1inspirit.com/bookstore.htm

Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience will be launched with a blog tour in June and an ascension training telesummit in July.

Shifting Time is Almost Here!

In her latest book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience, author Yvonne Perry shares how she has integrated the accelerated frequencies of several quantum leaps she has taken on her spiritual path. Once she learned to manage the human experience of rapid spiritual transformation, she became active in working to anchor her light body and offering coaching to help others on their journey. You may learn more about Yvonne and her book at http://shiftingintopurerconsciousness.com.

Here is the back cover blurb for this amazing, life-changing book:

Do you feel like a misfit in your own life and body? Maybe you awoke from a strange dream too vivid not to be real. Have you survived a near-death experience, had an out-of-body occurrence, or dissociative episode? Others may have noticed how you’ve changed and say, “You act like a totally different person.” Inwardly, you may be confused, overly sensitive, or so anxious it feels as though your nervous system has been hooked to an electric power line.

What if a multidimensional form of yourself—from a realm of purer consciousness—would arrive to guide you through the challenging times we are facing? Perhaps your soul has already received a download from an ascended master. Might that explain the sudden changes you’ve experienced?

You may be one of the millions of people who are spiritually growing faster than your body can tolerate. What you are experiencing is a normal response known as ascension symptoms. Regardless of what has happened, you may need help integrating these higher frequencies that are now available to you.

I will be participating in Yvonne’s book launch by hosting her on my blog during her two-week virtual book tour. On the tour, you will find nearly twenty blogs featuring written Q&A interviews, videos, book reviews, radio show interviews, excerpts from the book, and articles like these:

• How Human Energy Affects the Earth
• How Yvonne Published Book
• Signs of Spiritual Awakenings
• Why Yvonne Wrote the Book
• How to shed personal and collective structures and belief systems that no longer support the highest good of humanity
• Why we send love and light to people
• Embracing divine feminine energy

I invite you to follow this author to discover more about the ascension process or great shift in consciousness that we are experiencing as we enter the Age of Aquarius. Find Yvonne on Twitter: @WeR1NSpirit; Facebook; or her website: http://weare1inspirit.com. 

Here is the tour schedule for Shifting into Purer Consciousness:

• On Saturday, June 16, Carolyn Howard-Johnson (@FrugalBookPromo) will host Yvonne with a book review on The New Book Review http://www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/ as well as offering an article titled “Authors Must Learn to Sell What They Write” on Sharing with Writers http://www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/
• On Sunday, June 17, Jacqueline Stone (@JaqStone)  will share an article titled, “Sending Light to Others” on her blog, On the Journey. http://consciousnessjourney.blogspot.com
• On Monday, June 18, Shelly Wilson (@consciousjourny on Twitter) will host the tour stop on her blog, Journey into Consciousness, with an article: “Embracing Divine Feminine Energy.”
• On Tuesday, June 19, Pat Bertram will share a Q&A written interview on her blog, Dragon My Feet: http://dragonmyfeet.wordpress.com 
• On Wednesday, June 20, Shelly Wilson will host Yvonne as a guest on Journey to Consciousness Radio Show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journeyintoconsciousness.
• On Thursday, June 21, Barbara Techel (@joyfulpaws) shares a video clip and her book review for Shifting into Purer Consciousness on her blog: http://joyfulpaws.com.
• On Friday, June 22, Carol Lawrence (@intuneparenting) hosts the tour on Social Media Help 4 U with an article titled “How Human Energy Affects the Earth.”
• On Saturday, June 23, Janet Riehl (@riehlife) shares a video on her blog, Riehl Life.
• On Sunday, June 24, Carl Bozeman (@CarlBozeman) opens the blog door at Spiritual Intuition where he shares his book review for Shifting into Purer Consciousness.
• On Monday, June 25, Doreen Pendgracs (Twitter: @wizardofwords) will share an article about how Yvonne published her book. See Wizard of Words: http://doreenisthewizardofwords.blogspot.com 
• On Tuesday, June 26, Karen Gonzalez (@FolkheartPress) will present “Why Yvonne Wrote the Book” on her blog, http://folkheartpressblog.blogspot.com 
• On Wednesday, June 27, Denise Demaras (@ddemaras) will share her review of Shifting into Purer Consciousness on her blog, Works in Process: http://blog.denisedemaras.com 
• On Thursday, June 28, Alpha Chick Mal Duane (@alphachickbook) will share an article titled “Signs Indicating a Spiritual Awakening” on http://alphachick.com/blog 
• On Friday, June 29, Lisa Molinelli (@bluedragonfly8) shares an article: “How to Shed Personal and Collective Structures and Belief Systems That No Longer Support the Highest Good of Humanity” on her blog, Empowering Minds.
• On Saturday, June 30, Dr. Caron Goode (@IamHeartWise) shares a media release and an excerpt from the book on Live-Spirit.
• On Sunday, July 1 Maxine Thompson (@Safari61751) shares her book review of Shifting into Purer Consciousness on her blog, Maxine Thompson Books, http://maxinethompsonbooks.com/blog/  Maxine will also be interviewing Yvonne on The Maxine Show:  http://www.maxineshow.com/.
• On Monday, July 2, Irene Conlan (@ieconlan on Twitter) will host Yvonne Perry on The Self Improvement Blog by presenting a review of Shifting into Purer Consciousness.
• On Tuesday, July 3, Lynn Serafinn (Twitter ID: @LynnSerafinn, @SpiritAuthors, and @GardenOfTheSoul) will interview Yvonne on Garden of the Soul Radio. She will also share her Q&A written interview. See http://lynnserafinn.com/ for details. 
• On Wednesday, July 4,Shelagh Jones (@SpiritusShelagh) runs an article in Spiritus Spiritual Marketing Directory about how Yvonne published her book.
• On Thursday, July 5, Callie Carling (@MoonPoppy) will share an article: “How to shed personal and collective structures and belief systems that do not support the highest good of humanity.” Her blog is http://createavity.com/musings.

Blogs by Yvonne Perry

Yvonne Perry's New Book

Have you survived a near-death event or other spiritually-transforming or life-changing experience? Maybe you awoke from a dream too vivid not to be real and now you feel like a different person. Regardless of what has happened, you may need help integrating the higher frequencies that are now available to you.

You may be one of the millions of people who are spiritually growing faster than your body can tolerate. What you are experiencing is a normal response known as ascension symptoms. Learn how to manage these symptoms and anchor your light body while you help the Earth and others ascend.

Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience shares how to integrate the accelerated energies that come with spiritual transformation, make your ascension process easier, and anchor your light body as you help the earth, yourself, and others spiritually evolve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A graduate of American Institute of Holistic Theology with a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics, Yvonne Perry is a metaphysical teacher, coach, host of We Are one in Spirit Podcast. She is the author of Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those around You, which is designed to help highly-sensitive people manage emotional energy, and More Than Meets the Eye ~ True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife, a book that sheds light on various topics regarding death, the dying process, and spirit visitations from the Other Side.

Update on Yvonne's Book Launch

Yvonne Perry here with an update about the progress on my upcoming book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience. This book is filled with tips on how to make the ascension process easier and quicker.

Here is a brief description of the book:
 
You may be one of the millions of people who are spiritually growing faster than your body can tolerate. What you are experiencing is a normal response known as ascension symptoms. What if a multidimensional form of yourself—from a realm with a purer consciousness—has arrived to guide you through the challenging times we are facing?

This book will be a cohesive follow up of Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for more information about that book.

I plan to launch my book with a virtual book tour in June 2012. It's not a typical book tour that travels from one bookstore to another, with the author signing copies of the book. Instead, it is an online blog event and you are cordially invited to come along with me as I drop by more than twenty blogs. At each stop, I will leave audio clips, video clips, written interviews, links to radio interviews, book excerpts, media releases, and content-rich articles. Visitors get to read something new each day as they follow the book tour from blog to blog. If you would like to be part of the blog tour, please let Katie [Katie@writersinthesky.com] know you would like an article that you can post to your blog on a particular day.

The tour will be followed by an ascension training telesummit in July. Featured panelists include Dr. Caron Goode, Harriette Knight, Sondra Ray, Kristen Ann, Dr. Susan Allison, and other experts in the spiritual shift we are experiencing as we develop our souls and planet to a new level of consciousness.

I've gotten several really encouraging endorsements thus far and look forward to sharing the book with you soon. If you would like to write a review, I can send you an advance PDF copy of the manuscript.

Editor’s Corner April 2012

Welcome to spring! It came early much to everyone’s amazement but what a grand surprise it is! Beauty is abounding everywhere I look and I’m thrilled that my garden is growing well. All things fresh and new this time of year, it’s congratulations to WITS team member Kristen House, who gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Harper on February 26 at 11:10 a.m. The baby weighed 6 pounds and 13 oz. and was 19 inches long. She will soon be writing her first novel! Hahaha!

Sweet Dream Makers, is a new book of poetry authored by a group of friends who connected on Facebook last year. Authors Irene Brodsky, Dennis Martin, Robert Champ, Oneal Walters, K'Lynn Ragsdale, Vada Wolter, Lora Mitchell, and I (Yvonne Perry) contributed original material to this compilation. We encourage everyone to go to this link http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Dream-Makers-Irene-Brodsky/dp/1105424340 and purchase it (or at least click on "Like".) You could also post the link on your Facebook page or blog as well as Tweet it, email it, and send it to everyone you know. We want to get the word out because ALL of the proceeds are going to St. Jude’s Children's Hospital.

The children’s literary critiquer for the WITS team is Rachelle Burk. Her website, ResourcesForChildrensWriters.com, was named in Writers' Digest Magazine's 2011 Best Websites for Writers. Past commendations include Top Creative Writing Blog award by OnlineEnglishDegree.com, and "Truly Useful Site" award by Preditors and Editors website. Rachelle's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children have appeared in national magazines such as Highlights, Scholastic Scope, and Pockets, and she is a regular contributor to Scholastic Science World classroom magazine. Her picture book, Tree House in a Storm, was released in 2009. Rachelle visits schools and libraries as an author, and provides critique and editing services to other children's writers. Learn more about Rachelle at http://writersinthesky.com/meet-the-team.html#critique.

You may be one of the millions of people who are spiritually growing faster than your body can tolerate. What you are experiencing is a normal response known as ascension symptoms. What if a multidimensional form of yourself—from a realm with a purer consciousness—has arrived to guide you through the challenging times we are facing? My next book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience, is due to be published May 14, 2012. This book is a follow up of Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for more information. It is filled with tips on how to make the ascension process easier and quicker.

I have sent out a dozen copies of my upcoming book in order to garner endorsements. Now I'm ready for readers to contribute reviews that I may use in my marketing campaign. If you are willing to write a review and post it on Amazon.com, I will send you a complimentary PDF of the book now. Hurry, though! This offer is only good to the first fifteen people who inquire! Please contact me to let me know of your interest.

By the way, my book will be launched with a blog tour and a telesummit. If you would like to be part of the blog tour, please let Katie (Katie@writersinthesky.com) know you would like an article that you can post to your blog on a particular day. 


Yvonne Perry

Book Tour Participants Wanted

Do you need more traffic to your blog?

Would you like more exposure for your blog without spending a dime?

Then, being a host on a blog tour is the perfect solution!

I am planning a blog tour for my new book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience. I will be visiting 14 blogs—one each day for two weeks between May 15 and June 1st—as a guest writer.  I would love to drop by your blog and answer questions and comments regarding the article I will send to you.  I will be tenaciously promoting all the blogs willing to serve as a stop on my tour, which means you get free publicity just for posting my article on your blog on your assigned tour day.

If you are interested in being part of my blog tour, please contact me to let me know of your interest.

I'm also looking for readers to write reviews that I may use in my blog tour and throughout my marketing campaign. If you are willing to write a review and post it on Amazon.com, I will send you a complimentary PDF of the book now. How's that for free and fun networking?

By the way, my book is a follow up of Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for more information. 

Book Reviewers Needed

My new book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience, is almost ready; it's is now in the editing stage. I have sent out a dozen copies to garner endorsements and hope to get those into the manuscript so I can upload the file by April 15.

Now I'm ready for readers to contribute reviews that I may use in my marketing campaign. If you are willing to write a review and post it on Amazon.com, I will send you a complimentary PDF of the book now. Please contact me to let me know of your interest.

This book is a follow up of Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for more information.

A New Book of Poetry by Facebook Group

Sweet Dream Makers, is a new book of poetry authored by a group of friends who connected on Facebook last year. Irene Brodsky, Dennis Martin, Robert Champ, Oneal Walters, K'Lynn Ragsdale, Vada Wolter, Lora Mitchell, and our own Nashville Writers Meetup member, Yvonne Perry, contributed original material to this compilation.

Please go to this link http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Dream-Makers-Irene-Brodsky/dp/1105424340 and purchase it or at least click on "Like". You could also post the link on your Facebook page or blog. Tweet it, email it, and send it to everyone you know. We want to get the word out because ALL of the proceeds are going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

This Blog Has Moved to Another Online Location

Writers in the Sky Podcast has moved to a new blog: http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com/. Feel free to subscribe to that blog to continue getting notices about our upcoming guests.

Whose Stuff Is This? Audio Book

Whose Stuff Is This? is now an audio book!

You may have read my book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. Now you have an understanding and are working on managing your energy.

Knowing you are empath makes sense to you and you’ve tried to explain to your family members why you are so sensitive at times. Maybe the one person, who really needs to understand you, is not the type who would sit down and read my book, but perhaps they would listen if someone read it to them.

Whose Stuff Is This? Audio Book is the answer to your dilemma. Recorded in MP3 format, it will explain the psychological aspects of empathy and help others understand the psychic ability you have been blessed with. The audio bookis nearly five hours long and contains all 12 chapters of the best-selling book for empathic people who want to wisely manage their energy.

Listen to the MP3 while you travel!
http://dld.bz/a6Fee

The 7 Graces of Marketing by Lynn Serafinn

New #1 bestselling book asks: Can we heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell?

Buy the book before Dec 21st, and receive an impressive collection of bonus gifts at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book

This week was the official book launch of the brand new book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell by my friend and colleague, Lynn Serafinn. I wanted to share this news with you, because this book truly stands out as a title many are calling "ahead of its time". 

While Lynn is known as a leading online marketer, this book is definitely NOT a "how to" book on how to "do" marketing. Rather, it's a book about how we can "be" with marketing, both as business owners AND consumers.

A bold, holistic and often spiritual examination not merely of the world of advertising, but also of our entire worldview, The 7 Graces of Marketing reveals how our relationships with Self, others, our businesses, our economy and the Earth impact every aspect of our lives. Addressing both the conscious and unconscious mechanics of marketing, Lynn shows the impact consumer culture has upon our health, our economy and the delicate ecological balance of our natural world.

The book is intended to be a starting point for discussion, hopefully leading to global changes in the world of commerce. Here are Lynn's poignant opening words from the book:

This is a book of questions, not a manual of answers. And I shall make no apologies for the fact that you are quite likely to have many more questions after you have finished reading this book than when you began...Instead of needing to find all the answers, let us agree to engage in the free dialogue of ideas. Let us unlock any barriers that may lie between us. Let us see and respect each other for what we all are: sentient, intelligent beings, who are made of the same 'stuff' and who share the same planet. Let us see and hear each other. Let us allow ourselves to be seen and heard. And now, with that in mind, let us begin with the first question of this book, and the one that will underpin all the other questions to follow: 'Is marketing making us ill?'

From this point, Lynn invites us to dive into a fascinating dialogue spanning 400+ pages of extensive research, historical examples, a wide variety of philosophical and sociological perspectives, refreshing humour and masterful storytelling, as she takes us on a compelling exploration through "The 7 Key Relationships", "The 7 Deadly Sins of Marketing", and ultimately, "The 7 Graces of Marketing".

Within hours of its launch on Tuesday December 13th, the book shot to the top of the charts, becoming an international #1 bestseller. Surely that is a sign that this is a much-needed book for our times.

The 7 Graces of Marketing has been receiving a lot of critical acclaim from other authors and speakers from the world of business and marketing, who are earmarking it as "the new paradigm" for the future. Here are just a few samples of what some of them have said:

*  *  *  *  *

"At last--here's a brilliant reframe of marketing and selling. Lynn Serafinn offers a brave new world, where competition and scarcity give way to collaboration, abundance and greater connection among all humanity--and we still profit and prosper as we help each other. I love it!"
~ DR. JOE VITALE, author of The Attractor Factor, Buying Trances

"The world NEEDS this book! Lynn is ahead of the curve, and leading us toward how we will ALL look at marketing in the future."
~ RICHARD S. GALLAGHER, author of How to Tell Anyone Anything and What to Say to a Porcupine

"This is what the world has been waiting for! Finally a marketing book that guides us out of fear, lack and limitation into love, prosperity and abundance."
~ DR. ERIC PEARL, author of The Reconnection: Heal Others, Heal Yourself

"An amazing book…It's so ahead of the times, and is the kind of book that can set a new paradigm altogether."

~ WILLIAM GLADSTONE, Founder Waterside Productions Literary Agents, author of The Twelve, co-author of The Golden Motorcycle Gang

"Natural, fresh and original, The 7 Graces of Marketing is the defining organic approach to marketing…"
~ LIZ GOODGOLD, author of Red Fire Branding: How to Create a Hot Personal Brand to Have Customers for Life!

*  *  *  *  *

Buy The 7 Graces of Marketing at

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book

When you buy The 7 Graces of Marketing before December 21st, you can receive dozens of personal and professional development gifts from Lynn's friends and colleagues, as well as the complete set of MP3s (over 10 hours of audio) from Lynn's 7-part "7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit", with 24 world-renowned guest speakers discussing all of the "7 Deadly Sins" and "7 Graces" of marketing. Nearly 2000 people registered to attend this exceptional live event which took place last week, and now you can get the complete audio set as a gift, simply by buying the book, along with nearly 50 other free gifts.

To pick up your copy of the book (in paperback or Kindle)

 and claim your bonus gifts, go to:

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book

I hope you'll check out The 7 Graces of Marketing by my friend Lynn Serafinn this week, so we can begin the dialogue for a more connected way of doing business and marketing that will serve both humanity and the Planet.

The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 11 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Lynn Serafinn whose book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell launches on Amazon on Tuesday December 13, 2011.

Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC is a certified, award-winning coach and teacher, marketer, social media expert, radio host, speaker and bestselling author. Her eclectic approach to marketing incorporates her vast professional experience in the music industry and the educational sector along with more than two decades of study and practice of the spirituality of India. In her work as a promotional manager she has produced a long list of bestselling mind-body-spirit authors. Passionate about re-establishing our connection with the Earth, she supports the work of the Transition Town network in her hometown of Bedford, England.

Yesterday, Lynn visited Gregory "Coach" Fernander at http://coachatgregory.blogspot.com , where they talked about the subject of responsibility in marketing & in life.

Today, I'd like to share with you a recent podcast interview I had with Lynn when she speaks about the 7 Graces of Marketing.    I hope you enjoy it.

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I hope you enjoyed this interview with Lynn Serafinn and that you’ll check out her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Here's why:

The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

A FREE 7-Part Online Happening!

December 6th-9th, 2011

Register at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

When you visit the page at the link above and request a "launch reminder", you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Lynn's 7-Part online happening “The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit” with an illustrious panel of 24 bestselling authors and world-renowned speakers and media experts on society, business and marketing coming together to discuss how we can bring ethics and values back our business and marketing practices, and restore balance to our health, our economy and our natural environment.

Here's the spectacular list of guests speakers for the event:

Dr. Joe Vitale * Greg S. Reid * Dr. Eric Pearl * Dan Hollings * Pamela Slim * Liz Goodgold * Allison Maslan * Suzanne Falter*Barnes * Tad Hargrave * Misa Hopkins * Richard S. Gallagher * Ward Vandorpe * Barbara Altemus * Andrea Conway * Renee Baribeau * Renee Duran * Michael Drew * Chris Arnold * Jeffrey Van Dyk * Tanya Paluso * Kate Osborne * Shelagh Jones * Paula Tarrant * Lynn Serafinn

You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast.

                                        

If you are reading this after Dec 9th, 2011 you can still access the playback for a limited time when you register at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

This telesummit is a completely free
"no purchase necessary" gift from Lynn

FREE GIFTS

When you buy Lynn's book on Tuesday December 13, 2011, you can ALSO receive the MP3 download of all 10 hours of this historic telesummit, plus a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe including one from me;

An audio book titled: Bliss in Divine Oneness

To claim your FREE pass to the 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

and read about the free gifts, go to:

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Lynn tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Tambra Harck, who will be interviewing Lynn on how can consumers help biz owners behave with more Grace? To visit that "stop" on the tour, go to http://theartofwellbeing.typepad.com/the_art_of_wellbeing/

Using "I" As a Conceit

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success

I don't know when I learned the word "conceited." I was raised in Utah where most of us didn't use "conceit" in the sense of an elaborate or strained metaphor but rather to mean that someone thought they were extra-super special. The little girl across the street who snubbed me because I didn't wear long stockings with garters (which was an immediate tipoff that I was not her kind) was "conceited" rather than prejudiced. The kid who was quick to make a point of how bright he was when I made a mistake was "conceited" rather than arrogant (or insecure). Gawd!I loved the word "conceited." I could apply it to so many situations and avoid learning new vocabulary words.

Of course, in a culture where being extra-super humble was valued, I soon noticed that our English language is, indeed, "conceited."

I'm speaking of the way we capitalize the pronoun "I." None of the other pronouns are capped. So what about this "I," standing tall no matter where you find it in a sentence? Recently as I tutored students in accent reduction and American culture I noticed that some languages (like Japanese) seem to do quite well without pronouns of any sort. I did a little research. Some languages like Hebrew and Arabic don't capitalize any of their letters and some, like German, capitalize every darn noun. So, English—a Germanic language at its roots—just carried on the German proclivity for caps.

But the question remained. Why only the "I?" Why not "them" and "you" and all the others. Caroline Winter, a 2008 Fulbright scholar, says "England was where the capital "I" first reared its dotless head . . . .Apparently someone back then decided that just "i" after it had been diminished from the original Germanic 'ich' was not substantial enough to stand alone." It had to do with an artistic approach to fonts. The story goes that long ago in the days of handset type or even teletype machines little sticks and dots standing all alone looked like broken bits of lead or scrappy orphan letters.

Then there is the idea that religion played a part in capitalizing the "I." Rastafarians (and some others, too) think in terms of humankind as being one with God and therefore— one has to presume—it would be rather blasphemous not to capitalize "I" just as one does "God." Capitals, after all, are a way to honor a word or concept.

Which, of course, brings us back to the idea that we speakers of English are just plain "conceited."

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's world-renown Writers' Program, and author of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers including The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. It is a USA Book News award-winner as well as the winner of the Reader View's Literary Award and a finalist in the New Generation Book Awards. She is the recipient of both the California Legislature's Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award and is a popular speaker and actor. Her website is www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.

This blog is moving to http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com. If you are subscribed to this blog via RSS feed, please resubscribe at http://feeds.feedburner.com/writersinthesky to get the same material that was once published on this blog.

Learning to Love Passive Construction

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Editor

Writers of fiction, and nonfiction for that matter, are told to avoid passive sentences for a variety of reasons. After all, they tend to tug on the forward momentum we are usually after. But passive construction can be used effectively, too. Like all love, we need to accept passives, try to utilize what they’re good at and, at the same time, recognize their flaws and make an effort not to let them into our lives.

A good editor may help you avoid passive constructions by suggesting changes that will make them active. Try doing it yourself with the three examples below.

1. "I was offended by the President's proclamation."
2. "Catherine was being watched."
3. "Catherine was being silly."

Here is your cheat sheet:

For the first example you would, of course, make it "The President's proclamation offended me."

For the second, you'll have to provide the intended subject. It might look like this:

"The fuzz watched Catherine."
(So, maybe you'd be more formal (-: and call them "coppers!" ).

The third example might throw you a curve.

That's because it isn't a passive sentence. Here's the thing. We tend to assume a construction is passive when we see helper verbs and "ing" words. But these are not always passive indicators. That's one more thing for you to figure out in addition to deciding whether you want to avoid a passive construction anyway.

There are reasons to love the passive. I mean, language develops out of need (among other things). So we sometimes need the passive and when we do, and recognize why we do, we can grow to love it. Here are reasons you might want to intentionally use passive verbs:

1. You want to slow down the movement in a saga sent in the 19th century

2. You're using passive construction as part of a speech pattern used by a particular character.

3. You’re writing political copy and you want to avoid pointing a finger at, say, the FBI because you don’t want to get put on the dreaded US No-Fly list. So instead of saying “The FBI is watching Carolyn.” You say, “Carolyn is being watched.” No blame that way.

We need to know not only how to make verbs active and when to leave them alone, and, yep, when to use them to our advantage. That way we can learn to love them.

-----

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This Is the Place, won eight awards and uses the passive voice liberally because it is set in a slower time, a different culture. An instructor for UCLA Extension's world-renown Writers' Program, her book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't is recommended reading for her classes, and was named USA Book News' "Best Professional Book." It is also an Irwin Award winner. Her second book in the How To Do It Frugally series is The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success is also a USA Book News award-winner as well as the winner of the Reader View's Literary Award in the publishing category. She is the recipient of both the California Legislature's Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award. She is a popular speaker and actor. Her website is www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.

Join us for a Conversation with Author and Philosopher Robert DeFilippis

Can't we all just get along? Author and philosopher Robert DeFilippis asks that very question on this week's WITS podcast. According to DeFilippis, the world would be a very different place if people on both sides of the religious v. science argument realized that the two standpoints are not mutually exclusive.

DeFilippis' third book, Faith, Stirred Not Shaken: Exploring the MIRACLE between Science and Religion, breaks down the debate and explains that not only do theology and science coexist, but are interwoven into an incredible tapestry that created--and continues to sustain--our world.

Robert DeFilippis spent 45 years traveling the world as an organizational development consultant and executive coach. Through his work he met people of different cultures, religions, and educational backgrounds, but they had all one thing in common: they questioned what it meant to be human. His interactions with these people continue to inspire his writing career.

Whether you follow religious doctrine or the canons of science, you will surely find DeFilippis' take on the debate fascinating, informative and thought-provoking.

Click here to listen listen


Like what you heard? Buy Faith, Stirred Not Shaken at www.outskirtspress.com/faithstirrednotshaken/
Also available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

Calling for Submissions for December WITS Newsletter

Writers in the Sky Newsletter is now accepting contributions of material from our readers. To share a book review, announcement, or article about writing, editing, or book marketing please email Katie@writersinthesky.com. Our next issue is due to send next week so please get these in as soon as possible.

 

This Week's Podcast Guest: Author and Philosopher Robert DeFilippis

Everyone knows there are two topics you don't discuss at cocktail parties: politics and religion. And given how polarized this country has become on these two issues, this caveat seems more prudent than ever before. When it comes to religion, one of the most fiercely debated topics is whether we should believe the scientific community's "empirical evidence" concerning human evolution and purpose, or whether we should follow religious doctrine on blind faith. It has become long accepted by many of us that the two viewpoints are mutually exclusive.

Well, Bob DeFilippis begs to differ...with everyone. In his third book, Faith, Stirred Not Shaken, DeFilippis explores both sides of the debate and asks all to consider, what if we are all wrong...and all right?

Faith, Stirred Not Shaken explores the probability that religion and science are not actually at war with one another, but have worked together to create--and continually shape--us and the world we live in.

Robert DeFilippis is a retired organizational development consultant and executive coach. During his 45-year-career he traveled the world to work with people of all ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds. His experiences with them have informed and inspired his writing career.

Your Author Platform: It’s Not About You!

by Joel Friedlander

As some of you know I’ve been conducting book marketing mastermind sessions with some top book marketers recently.

Exposing myself (figuratively, of course) to the ideas and practices of these experts has changed my thinking on some topics.

One of these is the author platform, something I’ve written about often before.

And here’s what changed for me: I’ve always thought of the metaphoric platform as something we patiently and consciously build, board by board with our marketing and networking activities.

You write a blog, give talks to groups, establish your authority, authenticity and helpfulness, gathering fans and readers along the way. This foundation becomes your platform.

The Big Change

But what if you thought about it from the other side, so to speak? What I learned from talking to these marketing pros is this:

The platform isn’t about you at all. It’s about the unmet needs of your audience.

That’s the platform that already exists. It’s there for you if you can address those unmet needs, because then you’ll have the platform to sell from, to spread your message or your stories.

The audience creates the platform. What you do with all your activity is try to move yourself onto the platform so that you have a place to speak from.

What does this mean in reality?

For an example out of left field, look at the contest going on right now for the Republican presidential nomination here in the U.S.

For months there’s been a large percentage of Republicans who have been unhappy with the candidates in the race. This unmet need of the audience created a powerful platform for anyone who could legitimately get up there to make their case.

So when someone like the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, got into the race by jumping up on the platform already created, he rocketed to the top of the polls.

Was it his marketing, speaking, or books that did that? Nope. It was the power of all those unmet needs—the power of the platform—that did it. Once people got a closer look at him, he fell right off, but that’s not the point.

Think about your own subject area. No matter how many books have been written about it, there are still lots of unmet needs.

At the Pitchapalooza I participated in a few months ago one of the big hits was a pitch for a book about tree pruning. It turned out the best book on this narrow subject was very old, and had never been modernized or replaced. The person pitching had the exact credentials and the ability to create the new version the market needed. Every one of us on the panel immediately recognized a winning proposition. Why?

The unmet needs of that niche market are what will propel that book to regular, healthy sales. The people who are just waiting for a book that’s been written recently on this topic make up the platform for the author.

I could go on, but I think you can see the meaning and importance of this idea.

Certainly you have to do all the marketing practices you are doing, without them you won’t be able to use the platform you identify.

But look around, it’s a different world. People in all niches and interest groups and genres have these unmet needs, whether they realize it or not.

It’s up to us to find them and fill those needs. Welcome to the new author platform—it’s not about you at all.

Article by Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.