Reinventing Yourself - Growing Better (Be a mentor - Share your experience)

You never thought about it before - it always looked so far away, then - S-M-A-CK-  you're there. One day you wake up, look in the mirror and realize, 'Hey I'm 50 - something!'



Some people are so comfortable in their routine they think there is nothing more to learn after they hit the 50's...  but for those who still want to figure out 'what they want to be when they grow up', and those who like change, and want to reinvent themselves, take heart.


Today, age is nothing more than a number.  Who cares if you're 50-something?  What matters most is growing - not old - but evolving into a better person.  We will never reach perfection, but that doesn't mean we can't keep reaching and learning new ideas.


Many baby boomers use their older years to do the things they always wanted to do in their bucket list.  That can be good - but I challenge anyone - no matter how young or old - to do something that will help someone else.  Bucket lists fill a personal need but doesn't reach out to others.

Next week Jan 17th - 19th join the 2nd Annual "Pay It Forward" event and do a random act of kindness.  See you there...   This is one challenge that will help you become a mentor instead of the 'main character', and share your talents for the benefit of another.  This can be an empowering moment for all.

In the meantime, don't worry about your age - Just be honest with yourself.  If you are not happy with your current situation don't be afraid to change - it is never too late to learn something new.  Make yourself useful, for yourself and others too.  Share your experiences and knowledge.


I started writing, not knowing exactly what I was searching for - a new career (at my age, really?) - a change - a channel to be creative.  During my journey I learned new things, added tools to my knowledge base, met new people with fresh ideas (and old ideas too) but mostly I challenged myself every day.


You can't help but grow when you are faced with a challenge.


So don't get depressed if you are like me, getting older - Remember you are still alive and kicking and it's a great big world out there.  Today we have so much information at our fingers, there is no excuse to find something new and invigorating, adding to your quality of life.


Don't be afraid to reinvent yourself - Grow into a better you.



Keep reading - Keep writing!

Bravo Writing Community - Thank you! For your Enthusiasm & Guidance

Yes the end of the road is near...

Soon the eBook version of BREAKING CURSED BONDS will be released, and...

I would love to take a breather, but where one road ends - another begins!

Once the eBook is available September 1st, then promotion will be needed, as well as finishing up on the paperback formatting which will be released in November 2013.  I am a new author and self-publisher, and all this work to get the story finished has been a new experience with a wide learning curve.  Anyone who has a story to share can do it, and if your tool belt is rusty just ask for help.
 
My previous lines of work did not involve the same tools needed to write and publish.  I had a lot to learn.

I turned to fellow authors in the writing community, many who were happy to share their experiences and knowledge.

While every journey is unique, I was thankful for all the marvelous people who call themselves writers and authors.
 
In many business formats, competition rules, often cut throat competition.  One thing I have noticed in the modern world of independent publishing is that while there is still competition - it is more of a community of sharing, and collaborating.  We sponsor each other with blog hops, we promote each other's books, platforms, blogs, websites, and anything else we create.  It is a wonderful thing to be involved in a community so sharing and open.
 
There are now groups that help self-publishers like AiA (Assoc. of Independent Authors) and ALLi (the Alliance of Independent Authors).  Of course not everything is always rosy, there have been a few who chose to write bad reviews to stack the deck, but it is at a minimum.  They get called out by the community protests with their Facebook posts, tweets and blog posts.  As a writing community they will not let abuse go on without the outcry for moral and civilized actions.  The individual is still respected as an individual with a unique right to freedom of speech, we are all encouraged to act responsibly and with care.

This profession of writing is evolving to face the new challenges in the free world.

Since the wide world web has given access to so much, we are experiencing new trends.  So if anyone can give real sound advice to a newbie like me it has to be something like this -
 "Keep your eyes open, watch and learn, because it changes fast, and we need to swim with the tide." 
The bottom line is to keep writing, tell your story, share with the community and be true to yourself.

Keep reading! - Keep writing!

Connectivity - A Relative Concept - Is Speed the Most Important Aspect? or Freedom

 

Are We Really All Connected?

Another Friday - another week gone by, and still we are all probably working on our same projects.  Sometimes it feels like we are not moving fast enough, especially in this culture of quick impulses and fast connections.  I was astounded when I read a report that the US has very slow internet connectivity speeds. Check it out here at govtech.com .   Hong Kong was the leader for speed.  It's so funny, because not matter how fast the speed gets I still want it faster - how about you?

There are of course other factors to consider.  We may not have the fasted connectivity but we are the biggest users.  Find out more if your interested - Global Internet Users has been changing.

 

I personally hope as we think about our connectivity to others, our access and speed, that we also think about our freedoms and responsibilities.  We cannot take things for granted anymore.  Everyday we are reminded about the shadow of 'Big Brother' watching (and listening & gathering data)  I don't want to live my life monitoring every word out of my mouth afraid of censorship or worse - but at the same time I do realize I need to be responsible and send out inoffensive content because I don't want to be a negative influencer, but a positive part of the society as a hole.  So we all need to KEEP our FREEDOM in mind, and make sure we never lose our most precise asset of the internet connectivity.

 

 

I will be going on a short vacation next week, to see some of my family, and I will not be as active online.  My travels will lead me into the rolling Berkshire Hills where there is often a spot without any connectivity to be had :(  but the scenery is worth it!  Some may not check FB or tweet at all when on vacation, but I am not so sure I can manage that for ten days.  Still there will be days my hand is forced because there will be no internet access, so it will be an experiment as I walk along and say 'Can YOU hear me now' - here is a short clip about someone's plan to leave - although he intends to never come back!  I will return :)

 

Keep reading - Keep writing!

 

 

See you in the Shire :)

How To Be More Productive (Book - "Extreme Productivity" by Robert C. Pozen)

Every day we are bombarded with meetings, get tons of email and face deadlines.  There are ways to help stay focused, so we can be more productive.
 

First and foremost you must know your GOALS. If you haven't already, write down your long term goals, yearly goals and then monthly & weekly goals. Breaking them down to the smaller element, helps you organize and identify your work.

· Prioritize your work

· Spend the most time on the most important tasks & goals

· Don't watch the clock, manage the clock

When you prioritize your responses to emails, or which meetings you attend, you in essence spend your efforts in the most critical places first. This will help you achieve your goals.

 

Many have used the 80/20 rule. Spend the first 20% of your time getting rid of the smaller stuff, or at least identifying them. Then spend the 80% of your time working on the most important tasks that are prevalent to your goals. 

 

Robert Pozen (lecturer at Harvard Business School)  uses the 80/20 a little differently.  He says you probably have to respond to only 20% of emails, and could disregard the other 80%.  Either way, 80/20 sounds like a good way to sort.

 

We all love to track. We watch the clock and think we spent so much time on something we must have accomplished a good days work. Not always so. If we waste our time working on reports that are not needed, or we spend too much time 'socializing' which sometimes is referred to as building bridges, then we have not always spent our time wisely.

Ask yourself the hard questions –

Will this task help me achieve my goal? Will this task make a difference?

 

If not then stay away and focus your time elsewhere. 

To be productive a person needs to manage their time, not be overwhelmed by tasks.  

Keep the perspective.  Step back and ask yourself the right questions. 

 

 

 Most important, always move forward.

CLASSIC READS - Some Things Never Change

Today more people can communicate their thoughts into words and those words can easily end up in books.  It is a liberating time, a cycle of change and freedom.  In many ways it is times like this, with so much change, that we need our classic reads.

 

 

The past few years have been dynamic for authors. There are more writers being published via eBooks and print on demand (POD).  Exposure of existing authors is heightened with the rampant growth of social media and marketing via author platforms. 

The classics help our society remember what we are gauging our future against. 

Classics are a reference to excellence that we can use as a measure of our own success today and in the future. 

The classics prevail over time and language, with truth exposed in the characters and story.  Some basic human truths make a story appeal over centuries.  No matter the date written, the human spirit is visible in a classic, and is readily identified. 

There are obvious classics which we have probably all read from Homer’s Iliad to Stephen King’s The Stand.  Some classic writers that quickly come to mind are listed below, trying to find at least one author per letter.  There are many more: 

 

 

 

Agatha Christie	H.P. Lovecraft	John Steinbeck	Sidney Sheldon
Arthur Conan Doyle	Harper Lee	Jules Verne	Stephen King
Bram Stoker	Henry David Thoreau	Kurt Vonnegut	Thomas Hardy
C.S. Lewis	Herman Melville	Leo Tolstoy	Truman Capote
Charles Dickens	Homer	Mark Twain	Udall, Brady
Dan Brown	Ian McEwan	Mary Shelly	Ursula Markus
Dante Alighieri	Isaac Asimov	Nathaniel Hawthorne	Uzma Sadaf
Edgar Allan Poe	J.D. Salinger	Oscar Wilde	Victor Hugo
Emily Bronte	J.K. Rowling	Percy Bysshe Shelley	Virginia Woolf
Emily Dickinson	J.R.R. Tolkien	Philip Pullman	William Blake
Ernest Hemingway	Jack London	Plato	William Faulkner
F. Scott Fitzgerald	James Joyce	Quinn, Spencer	William Shakespeare
Franz Kafka	Jane Austen	Ralph Waldo Emerson	Xavier, Francis
George Eliot	John Grisham	Ray Bradbury	Yann Martel
George Orwell	John Irving	Robert Louis Stevenson
H. G. Wells	John Milton	Rudyard Kipling

I had difficulty finding a classic author for the letter Z.  I humbly hope someday my name may be used to fill in this gap, not presuming classic status on my part. 

Please in the coming year look for my book debut…  

BREAKING CURSED BONDS by Elisabeth Zguta

Happy reading and writing to us all! 

Best of luck in your 2013 endeavors.

 

Enjoy the clip from the 2009 Wuthering Heights - one of the best versions on screen.  The rest of the clips that follow can be found on YouTube - find listed in my channel.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSayPBDIpl739kcswMsFopA

 

 

Reviews.library journal.com Best books-2012-top-ten

Amazon best-sellers-of-2012 books

 

Visit the hoppers!

Participants in the Classic Reads blog hop (#NewClassicReads).

8 Simple Steps to Help YOU Write

The New Year has begun, now two days into it, and already I feel behind. I want to write at least 1000 words a day, but so far I have been doing housework, shopping and organizing. Sometimes I think I sabotage myself by noticing all the things around me that need to be done. It’s only the second day but my mind keeps telling me to get it right from the start. This is a new year with a lot of projects mulling in my head, and I want to make a good effort. I will use a schedule just so I don’t get into the bad habit of wasting time. So here goes:

 

· Write every weekday from 7 am until 1000 word goal is attained or noon, whichever comes last. I will test the waters to see if I can attain that in the allotted time. If I need more time I will adjust. If I am on a roll I will allow myself to continue. Writing new material more frequently is a major goal I have for this year. I am trying not to define it too rigidly but I need to discipline my writing time.

· Monday Wednesday & Friday afternoons are reserved to write blogs & catch up on social media.

This blog will be written on Wednesdays - my other site will have posts on Mondays & Fridays.

 

· On all other days I will edit my current book manuscripts in the afternoon - taking one chapter per day.  So on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sundays, and any other time I can spare in between, I will be editing.

 

I hope my husband understands I have no time allotted for cooking or cleaning. I will try hard to get groceries and do laundry. It won’t be easy and unfortunately I am one who gets distracted easily. I hope the schedule will work because I really want to forge ahead with full steam this year. In order to help myself I will be taking the following steps.

 

8 Simple Steps to Help YOU Write

1. Do not open email until the writing is finished.

2. Do not go on the internet until the writing is finished.

3. Do not go on the phone or text until the writing is finished.

4. Utilize story boards and outlines to help the story stay focused.

5. When stuck and waiting for the right idea – jump ahead and work on another part and revisit the scene later after time to incubate.

6. Do not stop to research a point– instead make a note and jump over that spot to the next lines. Later go back and research and revise as needed. Use the NaNoWriMo approach –keep moving forward and then revise and update the ideas later during the rewrite and when there is time to delve into the research. Use the editing time allotted.

7. Remind myself that good work takes time to develop.

8. Keep a positive attitude.

Happy writing to all!

 

Look for my post on Friday Jan 4th at my other blog site. http://zguta.wordpress.com