by kathilipp | Aug 9, 2010 | Uncategorized |
I was having a conversation with an acquaintance recently who was convinced that she had a book that was going to change the world. It was a literary masterpiece and was going to turn the publishing industry on it’s ear.
The only problem? She hadn’t written it yet.
You see, she was a stay at home mom (although her kids are in school from 8 – 3 from September through May,) and she is just so busy.
- She volunteers as a room mom.
- She is on the PTA.
- She is on the steering team of her MOMs group.
- All three of her kids are involved in sports.
- Two of her kids are involved in a theater group.
- Her entire family is involved in various church activities.
So the life-changing book is going to have to wait until she has more time.
I hear this almost anytime someone asks me, “So, what do you do for a living?”
Everyone wants to write a book, but nobody has the time.
What I want to tell people who are convinced that they must write a book is that they are never going to see that happen unless they stop working for other people and start working for themselves.
- Don’t Answer Your E-mail (or at least some of them.) Just because someone sends you a piece of e-mail doesn’t mean you need to read it. When I subscribe to a newsletter or an email group, I don’t use my main e-mail address. I have a free yahoo account for all those things I am interested in reading, but, if the week is busy, I don’t feel bad if I just delete the whole list of e-mails. None of them are waiting for a personal response from me. This saves me time in sorting through my own e-mail box of things I have to respond to. (And hey, If you ever want to change the address of where you receive my e-mail newsletter, or even if you want to -gasp- stop receiving my emails, there is a link at the bottom of each one that tells you how to do that.
If you receive a lot of the same kind of e-mail, you may want to have a form letter. When people ask me how to become a speaker or author, I have a standard e-mail I send – not because I don’t care about the person, but because if I gave a personal answer to each and every one, I would never respond to anyone.
- Agree in Advance on What You Say Yes to My husband and I talk an awful lot about what we will say yes to when it comes to time spent outside of pursuing our own goals. Want to take me to coffee to talk about marketing your book? Meet me at Starbucks. Need me to bring you a meal because you broke your ankle? I’m your girl. Want me to help you move? Dude – I’m 43 years old. Be a grown up and hire a mover. Make sure you have someone to hold you accountable so you don’t say yes, when what you really mean is, “I don’t want to, but I don’t want to hurt you feelings by telling you no.” If you can say, “My husband (mom, friend, accountability partner, boss,) and I agreed I wouldn’t say yes to anything that wasn’t (part of my job description, related to photography, discussed in advance).
- When Your Kids Say Yes, that means You Say Yes You are not a bad parent if you kids are not signed up for every activity that the school, community center, church offers. Just say no.
Question for You: have you done anything recently to create time for yourself and your goals?
by kathilipp | Aug 8, 2010 | Me, The Husband Project, Uncategorized |
As you probably know from the kind of books I write, I am pretty crazy about my husband.
But, just like every other marriage, unless I am intetional about letting him know it, I can sometimes forget that little fact.
I have certain things that stress me out in our relationship:
- Traveling Together
- Directions while traveling
- Traveling with kids
(Do you see a pattern here?)
It can be hard to remember all the reasons that Roger rocks my world on a regular basis.
So instead of silently pouting and waiting until it all gets better, (because really? I was the one with the attitude this weekend…) it’s time for my campaign to let Roger know that I love him.
So here are three simple things I am going to do to improve my relationship with my man, today.
- Leaving a Post-it Y’all know I have a deep affection for my office supplies. When I can combine my love of all things form Office Depot with my love of my man, it’s a beautiful thing. So I’m going to let Roger know – via sticky note – one of the reasons I love him.
- Make Him a Treat Baked goods always make Roger feel loved. I have time today to make him something (OK – so it will probably involve a mix, but still…) but if I didn’t, there is no reason I can’t get him something from Safeway.
- Brag on Him It takes about two seconds to think of something great about Roger – but that does little good unless I share it. Sometimes, I need to share it with Rog, but it is way more effective to let someone he knows how much he rocks.
So today, I want you to join me in a love-a-thon. Will you do one thing to let your man know he rocks? tell us what you did (or are going to do) and I will enter you into a drawing for one of my favorite marriage-enhancing books:
Red-Hot Monogomy by Bill and Pam Farrel.
Make sure you let me know know what it is, here on the blog, by Wednesday, and I will enter you into the drawing.
by kathilipp | Aug 3, 2010 | Shameless Self-Promotion, tips and ideas, Uncategorized, Writerly Wednesday |
Author/Speaker Marketing Boot Camp Saturday August 21st in San Jose, CA
A couple of times a year I get the very fun task of teaching the Author Speaker Marketing Boot Camp for CLASS. (Christian Leaders Authors and Speaker Services.) This seminar is held all over the country, and now, it’s in my hometown.
If you want to be a author, you have to be a speaker (and the other way around). Every publishing house is looking for an author with a platform and want someone who knows how to market their own book. (The days of multi-city book tours and over-paid publicists are a thing of the past.)
If you want a better chance of getting a book published, learning how to market the book, your message, and yourself are critical.
Plus, this workshop is a whole lotta fun.
So if you want to hang out for the day, learn the business side of being an author and speaker, and meet a whole bunch of great writers who are actually doing the whole publishing thing, this is the place to be.
For more info, check out CLASS for the details.
by kathilipp | Aug 1, 2010 | The "What's for dinner?" Project, The Get Organized Project, tips and ideas, Uncategorized |
Everyone I’m related to knows of my deep, abiding love of all office supplies. Sharpies and labels and Post-its – Oh My!
But now I have discovered a whole new obsession in life – Home Depot is the New Office Depot – on steroids.
Since I have been clocking a lot of time in the kitchen for my new book The “What’s for Dinner?” Project I have found a new, invaluable tool for all things culinary – Blue Painter Tape.
While I believe in the classic uses (check out 3M’s great website for some great decorating ideas,) here are six reasons I am now an evangelist of blue tape in the art of cooking:
1. Identification We are big believers in the green bags and storage containers that keep fruit and veggies fresh longer. The only problem? You can’t see what’s in them.
So as I wash and store my fruits and veg, I label the containers with the contents so I know what’s what. I notice that I am more prone to actually cook at home if I actually know what I have lurking in the fridge.
2. Freezer Meal Labels This is also a great technique for labeling your freezer meals. For each batch, I use a different color of tape, so I can tell right away which meals to use up.
3. Use it up or die (of food poisoning) trying My whole family is obsessed with pita pizzas (see my very loose recipe on how to make them here.) They are cheap and yummy and low in fat – a win – win – win.
The only problem? We never knew the vintage of the half-opened marinara sauce containers in our fridge. Now I label anything I open with the date that it was opened (and when you ask why I don’t just write on it with a beloved Sharpie it’s because sometimes it get’s all slippy slidey).
This is not only saving us room in the fridge, I know it’s saving us money. We are not opening up new jars of sauce just because we are unable to identify the age of the three jars that are already opened.
4. Combo Packs OK – don’t laugh. I know this problem doesn’t come up very often – combining slow moving liquids.
But, when you are can’t stand the ANTICIPATION (he he) this is a great way of not having to spend your afternoon waiting for ketchup to drip.
Plus – AGAIN – saving room in the fridge is a beautiful thing. (Obviously, this is a huge issue in my life.)
5. Seal a Meal (or a packet of crispy noodles…) Sealing up opened packages. Not very fancy, but the good thing is you can open it and close it several times and it keeps resealing for a long time.
I’m sorry if it looks tacky (no pun intended) but if it keeps my Chinese noodles nice and crisp – I don’t mind it at all…
6. Posting Recipes (but not on the internet) Finally. If you are like me, one of the main ways I find new recipes is by trolling the internet. I use to stick the recipes up on my fridge with a magnet but the only problem was that the fridge in not located near where I cook. So finally I got smart and taped up the recipes on my cabinet.
I never wanted to do it with masking tape (it can leave goo behind), or packing tape (it can peel paint) but the blue tape is a lot like a Post-it – tape-style.
So – here are my questions for you:
1. Do you have any uses for the magical blue tape that I have yet to discover?
2. Do you have any weird or odd uses for other things in the kitchen when you are cooking? I would love to consider using them in the book…
Photo credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Kitchen_g272-Refrigerator_p91061.html
I was having a conversation with an acquaintance recently who was convinced that she had a book that was going to change the world. It was a literary masterpiece and was going to turn the publishing industry on it’s ear.
