"No Glass House" by Lydia Phillips

Lydia Phillips has written an incredible fiction novel, "No Glass House." I really enjoyed all of the twists and turns that she wrote into her plot. The story is mainly about the intertwined lives of ten key people. These characters are either friends or relatives. Over the years their relationships have evolved or disintegrated. Events that are currently taking place force change into their lives. Some of the changes are positive; the other ones are forced due to betrayals.

As the characters adapt to their new situations, they experience some tremendous emotional growth. Ms. Phillips left no stone unturned; in this story she includes tons of infidelity including statutory rape and homosexuality, temptations, and racial issues. What is really scary is how, on the surface, the characters seem so normal. But underneath it all, they have their bad habits. The perfect husband with the wife and two children is gay. The sister of the couple with the not-so-good relationship has a husband who is having sex with her fifteen-year-old daughter. The husband of this sister married his wife because she was pregnant and now has affairs to get his needs met. The drama goes on.

What makes it scary? This seems to be how it is in real life. We fool ourselves with the illusions that things are how we would like them to be, yet underneath it all, things are pretty messed up, especially when it comes to betrayal in relationships. In reality we see so many relationships that appear normal falling apart due to infidelity. "The Perfect Couple" turns out not to be so perfect. It is scary because this happens so often. In "No Glass House," Ms. Phillips has these issues appearing in her story and they are frighteningly real. Life has taught me about the realities of these situations. What I loved about this book is that each woman in it survived the situation and got stronger. That is very empowering.

I highly recommend "No Glass House." You will definitely appreciate the strength of the woman and their friends that comes from the pages. If you think that you have the perfect life and are in denial about the realities of the issues in this novel, then you will just enjoy it for its fictional qualities. It is an awesome story. I think it would also be perfect for women's reader groups.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People - Revealed - How You Can Use Your Time Most Effectively

How are you spending your time? Do you feel you are using it as effectively as possible? Are you achieving your life goals? Or are you stuck in a rut? Understanding the principles of time management as explained in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" will help you to maximize your use of your time.

The Four Quadrants of Time Management

Stephen Covey talks about the four quadrants of time management.

It may help you understand the powerful ideas behind Stephen Covey's concept if pick up a pen and piece of paper and sketch out a square divided into 4 quadrants. Write importance on the left of the square and urgency underneath.

As we go through the 4 quadrants, write a description of the activities in your life that fit into each quadrant in the squares.

Starting with the greatest time waster:

Quadrant 4 (bottom right) This is the quadrant of not important and not urgent activities, many of your favourite time wasters and diversions can be found here: trivial tasks, "busy" work, inconsequential phone calls, television. It's ok to spend some time here if it's part of planned downtime – time when you're refreshing yourself.

Quadrant 3 (bottom left) This is the quadrant of not important but urgent activities. You'll find things like phone calls from people demanding answers, interruptions from colleagues, short term urgent stuff and fixing minor problems around the home. Ask yourself "If I don't do xxx, what would be the consequence?" In many cases the main result would be that you save time for something more useful!

Note: sometimes you end up spending time here because you've let things get out of hand and now it needs urgent attention.

Quadrant 1 (top left). This is the quadrant of important and urgent activities. This is the quadrant of flying by your pants crisis management, deadline driven project and fire fighting. Everyone ends up spending some time time here, it's just that some spend more than others.

In fact you may be like many people who get a real buzz out of operating here. You could end up choosing to spend a lot of time in quadrant 1. I know, I've been there!

The downside of this quadrant is that after a while you end up going round in endless circles going nowhere – the same crises just keep re-occurring. The stress keeps growing and you're at great risk of burning yourself out. This is not a good place to operate in the long term!

Quadrant 2 (top right). This is the quadrant of important and not urgent activities. The stuff that you really need to do but always gets pushed aside by the quadrant 1 and 3 activities. Examples are: planning, preventing quadrant 2 and 3 crises, building relationships, looking for new opportunities, purposeful recreation (remember those quadrant 4 activities – they can be turned into something valuable!).

You are a smart reader and you have probably guessed that the key to success espoused by "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is that you should focus on spending as much time as possible in Quadrant 2.

If you are successful in spending a significant part of your time on the long range planning and prevention activities in quadrant 2 you will prevent the quadrant 1 and 3 crises from eating up your life in ineffective activities. You will also be moving towards your life goals.

Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People teaches us that we should spend as much of our time as possible in important non-urgent activities such as planning, avoiding future crises, building relationships and looking for new opportunities and ideas. How are you spending your time?

Do you want to find out more about the 7 habits of highly effective people ?

Quietness

Beloved quietness


My closest friend


Peaceful tranquility


Delightful serenity


No need for noise


To aggravate me


Infuriate and frustrate


Pressure and penetrate


Give me the fortress


Of curious quietness


Captivating thoughtfulness


Apart from people clamorous


Troubling nothingness


Quietness is my bliss


Full of inner tenderness


By which myself I kiss


Nurture and nourish


Awaken inner brilliance


Resurrect with resilience


Overcome painful defiance


Pushy people who torment


Waste my precious life


To foolishly be spent


Upon their own aims


Frivolous pursuits


With quietness I refute


Am most resolute


Ready to engage all


Wise enough to shut out


All outward distractions


Pathetic seductions


Evil devilish attractions


Fight for my splendid focus


Every minute and fraction


In quietness is satisfaction


Creativity to awaken


Potential in an instant


Transcend needs to wants


In quietness with thyself


You may be most blunt


Bold and forthright


Putting small talk


Far out of sight


In quietness all wrongs


Are eased and made right


As your inner self talk


Gets you through the night


Overcomes every plight


Causes life to be bright


Quieting every fight


Lovingly hold thyself tight


Ah yes, quietness my friend


With me until the end


Whatever end my come


How it shall be I know not


But surely quietness I've got


This marvelous and majestic


Inner sanctuary of the soul


Wherein I when weary rest


Am miraculously made whole


As I partake of the fruit bowl


Of my thoughts and meditate


Countless emotions wonderfully arise


To feed me and my appetite satiate


Time is unimportant. I'm never late.


Whenever I want it, I go deep within


Far better it is than a bottle of gin


When jittery or feeling fragile


I never need to hesitate or wait


Spending quiet time is a great date


Feasting with quietness is most great.

The Efficiency of Audio Books

Instead of listening to the radio or sitting in complete silence on the way to work, more people are turning to audio books to entertain themselves. With a variety of titles and genres, you are sure to find something that appeals to your individual interests.

While adults appreciate the way audio books help to pass the time, parents enjoy the educational opportunities they provide to their children. Whatever your listening needs, you will be sure to find a company or website that specializes in the type of audio book you prefer.

One of the most popular ways to get audio books is to search online. With a plethora of titles available, it's almost impossible not to find what you're looking for. Many of the audio books online can be directly downloaded onto your computer or portable media player.

Others, are available for ordering on compact disc or in cassette tape format. Downloads are often less expensive, and sometimes even free, depending on the website you use and what you are searching for. Many sites, like free-books, offer free downloads of your favorite informative or educational audio book. Fiction books are often available for a discounted rate.

Another popular feature of audio books online is that you can rent an audio book in much the same way you would rent a video. Several companies offer a subscription-based service where customers can pay a monthly fee and have access to an unlimited number of audio books online.

Websites, like recordedbooks and jiggerbug, offer members unlimited rentals for a low monthly fee. Similar to the Netflix video rental service, members do not have to pay late fees or shipping charges for their selections. This is a great way for book lovers to expand their reading possibilities because they can try new books and genres with no risk.

Audio books are not only available in a wide variety of formats, but you can also find a huge selection of titles and genres to fit your individual preferences. If you enjoy fiction, you are sure to find a variety of websites that offer downloads of the most popular fiction audio books.

If you enjoy history, you can find many websites that specialize in great history writings. For your children, you can even find hundreds of educational audio books to supplement their learning. Websites are constantly adding new and exciting titles to their list of selections.

With hundreds of websites dedicated to providing audio books in different formats, you can undoubtedly find the book that you want in the format that you prefer. The internet adds the convenience of being able to shop from your home without needing to go to the library or bookstore to find what you need. The internet has transformed the way many industries and companies do business and the audio books industry is no exception.

Promote Your Books Locally

Using your local community is a great way to promote your books! First, visit some of the local shops in your area. Ask to speak with the manager and explain that you're a local author. Then, ask the manager if he or she would be willing to place a few copies of your books in their store to help you out. Most local shops will accommodate you, because you're an author from the area. Although, some may require you to place your books in their shop on consignment only. Consignment is where you buy a few copies of your books and take them to the shop owner. If any of your books sell, both you and the shop owner will spilt the profits. There can be an advantage to selling on consignment as well. If your book sells well, the shop owner may later decide to order your books directly through Ingram instead of you providing them. The advantage: no more out-of-pocket expense.

Another way to promote your books locally is by renting a both space at local events such as festivals, carnivals and etc. You will have to purchase a large quantity of your books to display, but it could work out in your favor. You can also create a poster to display at your booth. In addition, to help build your mailing list, put a list on your table for readers to sign up on. Give them the option of signing up for e-mail or snail mail (which ever they prefer). When renting a booth space to promote your books, you may need to invest in a couple commercial folding tables to display your books, poster and mailing list on.

Go back to school. Talk with the principle there and let him or her know that you use to attend school there. Once you have their attention, ask him or her if the school would help support a former student, by purchasing a few copies of your books for the school's library. Or, if the school has a book club, you can discuss your books with the book club's president. Another option: maybe the English teacher would be interested in making your books an assignment for the class to read and do a book report on.

Send a press kit to your local library. Like the local shops, most libraries also enjoy helping local authors. And once you know your local library has copies of your books on their shelves, you can run a small ad in the local newspaper letting your community know they can pick up a copy of your books from the library. Furthermore, if the local stores purchased copies of your books, you could also mention which stores in your area have copies of the books.

I sent a press kit to my local library as soon as my book ("Help From Above") was published, and approximately one week later the librarian called me for information on where she could purchase a copy of my book. I directed her to the correct place and thanked her for supporting me.

If there's a mall in your area, call to check the price on renting a booth space some where in the center of the mall. All you really need is your books, a commercial folding table and a couple chairs -- a chair for you, and one for a friend who could go along to keep you company. Malls receive a lot of foot traffic so if you pick the right spot, you could sell quite a few copies of your books. Don't forget to autograph them.

Promoting your books and yourself locally will allow you to be recognized in your community, and it gives the locals a way to buy your books without having to search for them or wait on them to be shipped. Wishing you many sales!

Book Review of Plainsong

When one picks up Kent Haruf's novel, Plainsong, the title may be misleading. While the meaning of plainsong is "any simple and unadorned melody or air", the novel is far from plain. In fact, it is intriguing and demonstrates a depth of complexity in the characters and the storyline.

The book offers us a glimpse of the ordinary and the extraordinary, the mundane coupled with the heroic. We are presented with real characters living real lives in ordinary ways. Yet this book illustrates the extraordinary; the effect and impact that each of us can have on another person.

While the book may appear fragmented in the beginning, you soon come to realize that there is interdependency amongst the storylines. Though separate narratives, the lives of the characters later become weaved together in various ways. There is the mother who emotionally and then physically abandons her husband and two young sons, the pregnant teenager deserted by her mother and boyfriend and the two elderly brothers contentedly living an existence of solitude and unattachment.

The theme of desertion is a recurrent one in the novel. Yet what stands out is the way in which the lives of the characters in the novel are intertwined, entangled, and intricately interwoven together. At its very core, it is not desertion but interconnectedness as a theme that weaves the parallel stories together.

This is also an illustrative depiction of small-town America. While it identifies the small-mindedness of some, it also demonstrates the unifying nature of community and of coming together for the greater good of others. It also shows the depth of inter-human relations. In the face of adversity, when family fails you or abandons you, it is the relations we turn to who can sustain us even more.

No where is this more evident than in the example of the two old brothers, who are more connected to mother earth than to others in their community. While they are naïve to the ways of the world, they open up their home and heart to a young pregnant teenager. In the end, the reader is left questioning who has benefited most from this unique arrangement. It serves to illustrate that what we think we need is not always in our best interest.

As a caution, there is some sexual content in the novel. While not gratuitous in nature, it helps the characters on their journey of discovery and maturation. Our sexuality is one component that comprises our nature.

No man is an island and no where is this truer than in Holt County.

Act Like a Best-selling Author Part 2 - The First Step to Finding Your Market

After reading the article "How to Publish on a Shoestring Budget" by Sid Smith*.
According to Sid Smith, if you are wonder about the best way to publish your book, then...

"Write an outstanding, must-read book that is unique, provocative, controversial, a literary masterpiece, or is endorsed by someone like Oprah. No, really. That's the best way to publish a book."

While this may very well be true, it is not necessarily the road traveled by many first-time authors or authors who really want to self-publish his or her work. However, as I continued to read his article some particular facts jumped from the screen. One particular piece of information I was lead to ponder as a writer was...

"Even if they do ask how to publish a book, they're still thinking in terms of publishing their best seller before they've even determined if there is a market for the book!"

As writers, we tend to believe that if we write a book, of course there is a market for it, and as a Success Coach, I must slightly disagree with the statement..."if there is a market for the book." The truth is we live in the information age. Even if we write a book about buying the best kind of scrap wood for birdhouses, there just may be a market for it. However, the questions that come to mind are many and this is where we tend to fall short.

1) How big is the Market?


2) How do I reach the market?


3) How big is the submarket?


4) What distribution channels will work best?

So, as I get ahead of myself, I realize some important factors that must be on the forefront of every writer's mind if he or she wants to act like a best-selling author. That is...do the market research before you publish the book, especially if you are writing a non-fiction book.

In fact, to explore this further, I would suggest to every writer who self-publishes to develop a book proposal as if he or she were going to send it to a big name publishing company like Harper-Collins. Don't short change yourself. Write an excellent book proposal and from that book proposal you will have answered the above question and many others.