Bri Clark the "belle" of Boise: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Inside my head is a scary place...

I’ve come to the conclusion that my head is a scary place to be, mainly because I think my brain is out to get me. I’m pretty sure of this, too. I’m sure those of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about. Those moments when you think about something and you can’t let it go or you’re writing a scene to your short story or novel and you’re so far into it that you feel as though you’re the one it’s actually happening to. It seems to happen most when I’m writing a particularly horrible scene---like a death, an argument that spirals out of control, physical violence, that sort of thing. And when I finally remember to breathe and push away from the computer, I realize that I’m still stuck in some dark place and I can’t get out. I float around in a daze, brain-numb and off-kilter, as if I’m caught in some weird half-awake/half-asleep limbo. It makes me wonder if that’s why there’s such a heavy association between writers and booze. I mean, writers can either use booze as a shield or a catalyst for that dark place. Me, personally, I’ve tried writing while drinking (or drinking while writing) and I can’t concentrate.

At all.

But even when I’m not writing or drinking, my brain is still lying in wait for me. Case in point:

My mom and I were bridal-shower-shopping at the mall. We made the decision to split up---she went to Boscov’s and I went to JCPenney’s. We actually do this a lot; it makes the chore of shopping a little less like a torture device. The sooner it’s over, the better off we are.

So as we went our separate ways, we agreed to meet back at Boscov’s in an hour, by the downstairs escalators.

An hour of painful shopping ensued until finally, finally , the hour to meet up was near. I arrived at our rendezvous. I didn’t see my mom anywhere so I waited, thinking that she probably got hung up in the purse department, which she has a habit of doing. (Truthfully, those purses are as bad as my brain when it comes to ensnaring.)

Minutes ticked by. Then more minutes as I waited and waited.

And waited some more.

Thirty minutes went by before I called her cell phone.

“Where are you?” I demanded with barely restrained annoyance.

“Where do you think? I’m by the escalators,” Mom said, indignantly. “Where are you?”

“I’m at the escalators too!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Ma, I’m at the escalators in Boscov’s and I don’t see you anywhere.”

“Dear,” she said pointedly, her tone matching mine. “If we’re in the same place how could we not be seeing each other?”

“I have no freaking idea,” I began to snap as I looked up.

My brain short-circuited out.

The signs hanging above my head…

The bags that the shoppers carried as they jostled around me…

They all had a big red star on them.

My jaw dropped to my feet. “Oh my God,” I murmured.

“What?”

“I’m in Macy’s.”

“Macy’s? How the hell did you end up there?”

I slapped a hand to my forehead. “I thought I was in Boscov’s.”

I walked out of the Macy’s with my mother’s hysterical laughter ringing in my ears.

Oh yes.

My brain?

Has a target on my back.

Hahaha! You are hilarious Melissa. While I'm no drinker I am sometimes absent minded and easily distracted when invested my brain isn't tethered. Thank you so much for having the gumption to share that.

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Friday, March 30, 2012

Sassy Women Are Welcome Here

Please welcome Lisa Orchard. One of my APsistas whom I just adore. Being with Astraea Press is truly one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

Hello! My name is Lisa Orchard and I’m guest blogging today. I want to thank Bri for allowing me to visit. Since Bri is kind of a sassy lady. J I thought it would be appropriate to mention another woman who is considered sassy as well. Her name is Gloria Steinem. She’s a pioneer in her field and recognized as a leader of the women’s liberation movement, and guess what? She’s also a writer!

According to Wikipedia, Steinem actively campaigned for the Equal Rights movement in addition to other law and social reforms that promoted equality between women and men. Her actions helped strike down many long-standing sex discriminatory laws, such as those that gave superior rights in marriage and denied women equal economic opportunities.

In 1972 she became the founding editor and publisher of Ms. Magazine, which brought feminist issues to the forefront of society and the media, quickly becoming the movement’s most influential publication. This pioneering woman definitely has some sass!

Speaking of sassy women and sassy characters, check out the blurb and excerpt below from my debut novel, “The Super Spies and the Cat Lady Killer.” These young girls fit into the sassy category also.

This book opens in a small town in Michigan where fifteen-year-old Sarah Cole is stuck spending the summer at her Aunt and Uncle’s with her sister, Lacey. She’s not happy with the situation until she befriends a girl named Jackie. The three girls stumble upon the ruthless murder of a reclusive neighborhood woman. One of the officers investigating the crime believes the girls are responsible for her death. Fearing that this officer will frame them for the murder, the girls organize their own detective squad. They become the Super Spies and start their own fact-finding mission. The Super Spies can’t understand why anyone would want to murder the “Cat Lady” until they start digging into her past and discover a horrible crime that happened thirty years ago. They uncover a connection between the two crimes and attempt to bring this information to the police, only to be reprimanded for meddling in the inquest. Not only are the girls upset by the admonition, but they also struggle with the fact that their exuberant investigating could provide a legal loophole allowing the killer to go free. To make matters worse, the police don’t even believe them. Frustrated by this turn of events, the Super Spies realize it’s up to them to snare the Cat Lady killer, or die trying…

Alarm bells rang in Sarah’s head—this has to be out of character for someone who never leaves their home. She turned back and whispered to the other girls. “Hey!”

Jackie poked her head out. “What?”

“The storm door’s open.”

“So?”

“So…what do I do?”

“Duh…Ring the door bell.”

Sarah shrugged and pushed the doorbell. It let out an irritating buzz and she had the feeling it had been broken long ago and never fixed. She dashed down the stairs. The cats scattered, alarmed by the sudden activity. Reaching the shrubs, Sarah hid with her sister and Jackie.

Gasping for breath, Sarah waited for a reaction from the old woman. Her heart pummeled her ribs and she pressed her hand to her chest to calm it.

After a few minutes, Sarah started to pace. “Well…nothing’s happened.” She peeked out from behind the shrub and saw the screen door hanging ajar. “I bet she’s not even home. I’m going to try again.”

Jackie shrugged. “Be careful, remember she’s a witch.”

Sarah shook her head, and then peered out from behind the shrubs. Once again, she climbed the stairs. She was braver this time and it didn’t take her as long to make it to the door.

She looked inside, her heart lurching in her chest. She tiptoed to the picture window and peered through it. Gasping, she ran back to the entryway. Pulling it open, she lunged inside.

Sarah stared, unable to tear herself away. Shock ran through her body like an electrical current as she eyed the scene before her. The crumpled form of the Cat Lady lay on the living room floor, just inside the door. No life flickered in the old woman’s staring eyes. Her mouth gaped open in a silent scream and her hands were up around her head as if she were warding off blows. Turning away from the Cat Lady’s body, Sarah gagged as the coppery scent of blood assaulted her. There was blood splattered everywhere, on the wall, on the carpet and under the Cat Lady’s body.

Suddenly, Sarah’s throat constricted and she gasped for breath. Fearing she would faint, she stumbled back out the door and collided with Jackie and Lacey on the porch.

Jackie grabbed Sarah’s arm and shook her. “What are you doing? Are you crazy? I never said to go inside!”

Sarah didn’t speak—she just stared blankly at the porch.

Jackie shook her again. “Are you under the Cat Lady’s spell?”

Lacey whimpered. “Hey, Sarah….can you hear me? Sarah?”

“She’s under the Cat Lady’s spell,” Jackie said waving her hand in front of Sarah’s eyes.

“Oh my---,” Sarah moaned and clutched Jackie’s arm.

“What is it?” Jackie shook her again. “Speak…say something!”

“Th-th-the C-C-Cat Lady, sh-sh-she’s,” Sarah stuttered.

“She’s what?” Jackie demanded.

“Sh-she’s dead.”

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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Secrets of the Acquisitions Editor: 5 Steps to Getting Your Novel Published

As my guest poster today I'm thoroughly impressed. When asked to describer herself Erin Lale wasn't pulling any punches "Acquisitions Editor at Eternal Press and Damnation Books and Editor and Publisher of Time Yarns and an author published both self and traditionally." See what I mean.

Secrets of the Acquisitions Editor: 5 Steps to Getting Your Novel Published

By Erin Lale, Acquisitions Editor at Eternal Press and Damnation Books, and Editor and Publisher of Time Yarns

If you want your novel published by a publishing company, there are five important steps to ensure success. These steps are based on the five most common reasons why I reject a manuscript submission from Eternal Press or Damnation Books.

1. Follow instructions. Read the submissions guidelines and follow every requirement. If the guidelines say to submit your manuscript in doc or rtf format, don’t submit it in a different format. If the guidelines say to include a marketing plan, then do so. “Market plan: whatever will sell millions of copies J” (yes, that is a quote from a real cover letter) is not a marketing plan. If you don’t know how to write a marketing plan, it’s OK to ask for help. An author’s marketing plan is just a list of all the types of publicity and marketing in which the author is willing and able to participate. An example would be doing a guest blog post via email, like this one except about your book. Not following instructions is the most common reason why I reject a manuscript submission.

Distractions, Roadblocks, and Naps

My blog had some kind of freaking tantrum and I couldn't post anything. But I digress...please welcome D.G. Glass. She describes herself as an author-wife-mother-eclectic personality who sometimes lets her adhd get in the way and gets distracted easily. But I have to tell ya DG is my girl. I"m a napper myself. 2pm 6 days a week.

Distractions, Roadblocks and Naps by D.G. Gass

Once upon a time, I told folks that Franklin Covey was my friend. Not that I'm personally acquainted with Stephen Covey, the author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. It's just that there was a time I lived and died by my day planner. Sounds silly I know, but the scheduling and the planning had allowed me to get into routines. Routines allowed me to get things finished. When things got finished, life was less chaotic.

Am I a little OCD? Probably.

That was before I began forgetting where I placed my precious binder that had all my dates and tasks that needed to be accomplished. To alleviate that, my husband bought me a Hewlitt Packard Ipaq, palm pilot kind of thingy. It was great. I could just automatically up load the contents from Outlook and there it was, available to grab from my purse. Being a bit of a tech geek, I loved it. I coveted it. I forgot to charge it. Since it required being shipped away to have the battery replaced, it became a paperweight that mocked me about missed appointments and uncompleted tasks. It sat on the desk for several years like that, until I finally found the heart to get rid of it.

I reverted to Post It notes. You know the colorful little squares of paper that stick to things. I was actually taught this method in a Lean Sigma Six Delta something or another workshop. They were great. I had an excuse to feed my addiction to hoarding colored paper. The only problem was more often than not, they would end up sticking to the cat's hind legs after the beast rubbed up against the computer, the desk or my pant legs. I never really am sure how the paper ended up on my pant legs.

Getting into a habit is important, no, essential to me. Especially since I became serious about my writing. Few writers are afforded the ability to focus on their writing full-time. There's jobs and families to attend to. Free time is often a juggling act between adding a few extra hours to get a few thousand words typed up and trying to squeeze in that nap. And it get's worse when you try to add in those little luxuries such as eating and sleeping.

Then there's the distractions. The family members wanting to talk when you're in the middle of writing up that great dialogue. The cats wanting attention by walking over the keyboard. The squirrel on the windowsill taunting you because it knows he's teasing the cat. If there's a dog involved, that's the time they want to take a walk. Of course it doesn't help that they have to walk around the spot for the next thirty minutes deciding whether or not they really want to go there.

Yet, we're our own worst enemy. In a way, I can see how it may have been better to use a typewriter. I know, with the advanced technology we have, it's made it easier. No backspacing and strikeouts. No white-out. No ripping the sheet of paper out from the carriage for do-overs. Easy access to dictionaries and a thesaurus.

Still, I've found it difficult to maintain focus at times. Usually this comes when I have to bring up the browser to verify spelling or find a synonym. I'll just blame the subliminal messages hidden in the songs that are playing on Pandora telling me to check my emails and statuses on all the social network sites I belong to. You'd think that having been in the military, I'd be a little more disciplined.

While it may seem that being distracted or being thrown off my routine may be the biggest threat to my writing, it actually isn't. It's frustration that comes from using other writers accomplishments as a benchmark. It would be the doubt that might come if I thought I should be putting out so many words a day. Or if I hit a wall and can't get through it at that moment that some how, I failed myself.

When I was writing “Ghosts of Arlington”, everything that could sidetrack me, did. I procrastinated. I allowed myself to get distracted. I allowed myself to get thrown out of my routine. What didn't happen, though, is important. I didn't allow myself to give up or quit. When the voice of self-doubt tried to divert me, I told it to “bite me” (yes, those were my exact words).

It's difficult, I know. I had years of practice telling myself my writing was garbage, that was until I found out people actually liked reading what I wrote, whether it was a blog or a poem. I'd use that encouragement from time to time to help keep me writing.

There's a lot of obstacles to achieving a dream, these were (and still are) mine. Every writer has their own unique hurdles to cross. It would be pointless for me to tell a new writer what to do. Even if I had twenty books under my belt, I still wouldn't be able to tell them what will work.

The best I can tell you is this. There's a lot of advice in books and on the internet from other writers. Try it out, see what works for you. If it doesn't seem to help, don't get discouraged. Keep trying until you find the right formula to get you into your writing zone. If it's your passion, if it's your dream, it will come together for you, even if it's not the same way it came together for author X or writer B. If you feel like you stumbled, pick yourself back up and brush yourself off. Achieving dreams is hard work and sometimes found in paths less traveled.

I'd like to thank Bri for allowing me to ramble, I mean guest post, on her blog. And thank you to everyone who took the time to read it. I hope you liked the picture.

About the author:

Inspired by Walt Whitman and Carolyn Keefe, author D.G. Gass, from a young age, has always loved to write. It just took 40-years for her to believe in her work enough for it not to find the trash when she finished. Originally from Jeannette, PA, the Yankee transplant, currently resides in Columbia, SC with her husband and daughter, not to mention, three cats that own her.

A veteran of the US Air Force, whose day job is in healthcare IT, the author has a passion for veterans issues, which is the driving force behind her first book, “Ghosts of Arlington”. When she’s not writing, she can be found curled up with a good book, working on handcrafts, or staring blankly at walls in a catatonic state.

D.G. Gass released her first poetry compilation, “Twilight Ponderings, Midnight Musings” at the beginning of 2011. The compilation is a series of poetry and prose that was born out of loving someone with diagnosed chronic depression.

The author is currently working on several stories for submission to crime noir anthologies and is in the process of completing her second poetry compilation, "Dancing Along the Dreamscapes", to be released the summer of 2012.

Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DGGassAuthor

Website: www.dggass.com

Books available on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Newsletter Formula

Though there is no one specific correct way to build an e-mail newsletter, there are things all e-mail newsletters should contain and basic ideas that should be included if you want to get the most out of the time you put into building your newsletter, collecting a mailing list and shipping it out.

This e-mail newsletter outline is a basic newsletter that you can expound on or trim down. What's most important is the general ideas of the types of things you should be looking to include. For those of you who find yourselves in that all too familiar territory of staring at a blank screen and thinking "Newsletter... okay, what now?", hopefully this outline will give you a good start on producing the newsletter you want.

So where do we start a successful e-mail newsletter? Well, how about with a page?

The first step is to find a good e-mail newsletter template. There are plenty of them around so just Google search and then spend some time looking through them until you find something you like. A two column template is a good idea because it will let you keep information rich articles separate from other resources like links, ads, calls to action, offers or whatever else you include in the 'sidebar'. If you know some html you can customize the template to fit your needs but, if not, don't worry. You should be able to find something that will work just fine for you.

Next we need to consider a banner. If you want you can just take the banner you use for your website and plop it into your newsletter. Or, if you have any skill with graphics or banner creation, you can create something specifically for you newsletter. Whatever you use as a banner just make sure it fits with the style of your website and is easily identifiable as your newsletter. If people can't tell where its from, they aren't likely going to read it and may even report it as spam.

Now we can move to the body of our e-mail newsletter. In the body of the newsletter you want to look to include some informational content. Think along the lines of articles you might use for your website. Three to five articles is usually a good rule here. Try to use catchy headlines and then a line or two that will draw the reader into wanting to read the article, followed by a link to access the full text. Its also a good idea to have a small image accompany the headline to give the newsletter a more professional look.

A good idea for what content to include in the body section is to start with something personal, maybe a message from the 'owner' or 'editor'. Here you can talk about all the exciting things going on on your site or better introduce yourself to your readers. Just try to let them feel they are getting to know you or your site better by being a newsletter subscriber.

Next follow with one to three general articles on whatever topic your website covers. Make sure to keep them interesting and informational just as you would with any content you posted to your site. Then finish with something your readers can use in their day to day lives, like a how to article or a recipe or something you are sharing with them just for being a newsletter subscriber. Fstarting an finishing with more personal types of items will help the newsletter subscriber feel like more of a part of a community than someone you are trying to sell to.

Now, moving to the sidebar, at the top of the sidebar it is a good idea to have links to all the useful pages on your site. Use buttons or some other type of small graphic with a short piece of text to let readers know where the link takes them and include links to your homepage, maybe your most recent article, any special offers you may include on your site and links to partner or affiliate sites or other useful resources for your readers. Its also a good idea to include a link to register for the newsletter here, in case one of your recipients forwards the e-mail to a friend who might want to register.

After the links you might want to include advertising space for others, ads for your own products, an inspirational quote or any other short bits of text that your readers might enjoy. Then, finish up with a small sidebar section where you can place special offers for newsletter recipients or any other type of sale or special or call to action you might presently be implementing.

Now you can either finish with a footer banner or just wrap it up and call it a done deal.

Hopefully, this will at the least be an idea of how to start thinking about constructing your e-mail newsletter and, from there, you can get creative and make your e-mail newsletter something you can really be proud to send to all those who find your site compelling enough to register.

Anissa Wardell is the founder of the The Publicists Assistant a publicity firm based in Utah. She enjoys helping new authors and passionate authors share their message. Anissa is the publicist for the upcoming film Don't Shoot! I'm the Guitar Man by Prodigy Motion Pictures.

ThePublicistsAssistant.com is a consulting and service PR firm for people that want to get famous in the media, without going broke. [http://ThePublicistsAssistant.com]

Wow Anissa! That was a fabulous post. Thank you so much. I myself learned a lot!

Monday, March 26, 2012

A New Release and Writing Community

Bri, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog. I am so excited to start the blog tour of my second novel Raven’s Song on your site. I really get a kick out of seeing you at different book events and following your posts on face book. You have so much energy and enthusiasm for the craft. Sometimes I wonder where you find the energy to do all the things you do. One of these days we will have to sit down to coffee and I will spend a few hours siphoning out your secrets. (Fab Lucinda, congrats. I'd love to sit down and shoot the breeze.)

Spaghetti and The Sentence

“What about you?” Clint asked, his face filled with curiosity. “Do you like to cook?”

Rachel preened and knew it. She was proud of her culinary skills. “I do okay,” she assured him.

“Oh, yeah?” Challenge lit Clint’s eyes. “Cook something for me and prove it.”

“You don’t think I can?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Rachel scowled. “No, but you hinted at it.”

Clint just stood there with a faint smile on his handsome face, so Rachel picked up the gauntlet he had thrown down. “Okay, I will. I’ll cook dinner for you tomorrow night.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Had she totally lost her mind? Why had she done that? She didn’t have to prove anything to Clint Hayes. Well, it was too late to cancel now. If she didn’t cook the stupid dinner for him, he’d think she couldn’t.

She stormed back to the house where she belonged and slammed the door behind her. “Goodness,” her mother exclaimed. “What’s got you in such a snit?”

“Clint!”

Mrs. Amos turned to Rachel and set her coffee down. “What did he do?”

“He manipulated me into cooking dinner for him tomorrow night.”

A faint smile crossed her mother’s face. “And how did he do that in such a short time?”

“He insinuated I don’t know how to cook.”

Mrs. Amos took a seat at the kitchen table. “Sit down with me, Rachel.”

Rachel pulled a chair out and joined her mother. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Honey, you be careful with Clint.”

WRITING AS A HOBBY AND WRITING PROFESSIONALLY

As my guest today I'd like to introduce Empi Baryeh. She's a long time reader but new author. She like so many of us ie authors shares her experience of going from a hobbyist to a professional writer. I have to say her bio and personality really pulled me into this piece and made me want to read her book. I'd say with that impression she's doing amazing in her new endeavors as a professional. See for yourself.

WRITING AS A HOBBY VS WRITING PROFESSIONALLY

Someone once asked me what things I’ve learned as an author that you didn't know when I started out with my writing. I thought that was an interesting question and a topic I’d definitely like to blog on. I’ll turn it around slightly and talk about the difference between writing for fun and writing as a career.

I started writing around the age of thirteen, so there was a lot of learning for me to do, and even as recently as four or five years ago when I started pursuing publication – and in fact before I actually signed a contract – writing was simply a hobby. If I didn’t feel like writing, it wasn’t a huge deal. There were stretches of time that I wasn’t putting too much effort into writing, when I easily allowed life to encroach on writing. I have to admit, though, it was nice to write for a small audience of friends…much safer.

A Historical Sass

Well my dearies I am popping in from my self induced hibernation with my laptop and MS of The Eternal Witch to post today guest blog post. Meg Mims is one of my fave online friends and an APsista.(We are both Astraea Press authors.) And to say Meg knows me would be an understatement because this post just made my day. So without further ado I give you a woman of the past with sass.

SASSY WOMEN BLOG POST

Alice Lee Roosevelt, the only daughter born to President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and his first wife Alice (who died two days after birth), was considered “bohemian” in her day and era.

Since her father refused to speak his first wife’s name after her death, Alice was called “Lee” and primarily raised by her father’s sister. Young Alice clashed with her stepmother, who actually forced her into leg braces and shoes to treat a slight case of polio – which saved Alice from being crippled for life. But tension between stepmother and daughter, plus inattention from her father served to make Alice independent and rebellious. She refused to attend a conservative school for girls while Teddy Roosevelt served as New York’s governor. She promised an act of “shame and humiliation” if forced to go – and he took her seriously. Alice remained free to do as she wished.

Get Off You’re Butt and Start Manifesting your Dreams

Get Off You’re Butt and Start Manifesting your Dreams.

By Jonna Ivin

In 2006 the movie The Secret was released on DVD and people were buzzing with excitement over the idea that anyone was capable of manifesting their wishes and desires. The biggest key was to believe that it was already true, that you already had love, prosperity, good health and anything else your heart desired. All you had to do was believe it to be true and it would be. Sounds easy, right? So why was it so hard?

It was in the believing part that I failed miserably. Sure I could cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to a vision board and as a writer I was an expert at focusing on every pretend detail of my storybook made-up life. The color of the walls in my future kitchen, or the way my future husband’s dimples always make me smile, nothing was left to chance. It was laid out perfectly in my mind. Too bad I never thought it would actually happen.

For years, I read books, took classes and did everything I could think of to try and force The Secret to work in my life. As I sat in numerous mediation and visioning groups, I’d repeat silently, “I am surrounded by love. The man of my dreams loves me.” Unfortunately that nagging voice of reason in the back of my mind would rudely follow with, “Except, I am going home alone to an empty house.” Affirmations declaring my endless prosperity were swiftly dismissed with my thoughts of, “If I’m so prosperous why is my phone about to be cut off?” I couldn’t manifest jack-diddly-squat.

Then in 2008, Hurricane Ike hit the coast of Texas and my life would never be the same. I volunteered for the Red Cross having no idea I was on my way to manifesting the biggest dream of my life. When I arrived in Beaumont, Texas I met a man. He was a 20 year veteran with the Army Special Forces and after knowing him for a short time, and eventually falling in love I heard a whispering of intuition that I was going to write a book about him. Finally the The Secret had paid off and I had manifested the man of my dreams. Not only was he the love of my life, but I was also following my dream of becoming a writer. I’d manifested two dreams for the price of one.

I could never have foreseen the road my life would take with this man, or where I would end up as a result. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this Cali girl would move to the swamps of Louisiana and the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas or that my dream man would turn out to be my worst nightmare. Eventually I did leave the south and this man behind to head to the Pacific Northwest where I eventually wrote my memoir Will Love For Crumbs. It was not the book I thought I would be writing. It was much better.

When I sat down to begin the writing process it was the first time in my life I wasn’t pushing and struggling to try to make something happen. I just knew. I just believed without a doubt that I would finish writing and publish this book. How it would happen or when it would happen didn’t matter. All I knew was that it would happen no matter what.

Finally, after all these years I understood what it meant to manifest. It wasn’t about how hard I could pray, or the thousands of times I repeated the same mantra. It was about seeing the goal in front of me and each day taking one step closer to achieving it. Even when I didn’t know what I was doing or what I would do next, I kept it simple. One task at a time was all it took and yes, the Universe rose up and supported my dream.

I finally understood that there were two components to manifesting your dreams; believing it was possible and getting off your butt to do something about it. One cannot exist without the other. Affirmations, prayer, meditation and positive thinking keep you focused on the right path. Effort and work keeps you moving forward.

Jonna Ivin currently lives in Vancouver, Washington. She is busy working on the film adaptation of her memoir and editing Loving For Crumbs - An Anthology.

An audio book version of Will Love For Crumbs will be released in the summer/fall 2012