Getting rid of stress

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Who loves classical music these days? My six-year-old granddaughter does. And Mozart is one of her favorite composers. She plays his music over and over again. The other day, she pulled my hand. “I love it. C’mon, Nana, let’s dance.” Dance? It’s not salsa, I thought. I smiled and shuffled a bit, trying to follow the beat and move with grace. But not my little princess. She twirled, jumped, wiggled, stomped one foot, then the other, and moved from here to there. Then when it was over, she was out of breath but said, “Let’s do it again.”

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Developing Your Author Brand

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Greetings from Jackie M. Johnson! Most people are familiar with “brands” for products and services. For instance, a can of Campbell’s soup (the original line) is always red and white with the name in a unique cursive font. It’s instantly recognizable on a grocery store shelf crammed with different brands of soup. As an author, your brand is essential too. First, you need to know who you are and how you want to be perceived. Then, get your message to your readers—and do so consistently. By being immediately recognizable, you are in a better position for readers to find you,…

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Letting your Faith Skyrocket to Supernatural—by Christine Lindsay

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From my living room couch I can look into my kitchen and see the glass door to my pantry. Just me, a cup of tea, my Bible, and God. From this cozy spot I can either look through the window to the backyard trees, or glance at the glass pantry door and see a reflection of those same trees and flowering shrubs moving in the breeze. Often this reflection in glass strikes me as a doorway to a magical place, giving me the same sort of feeling a favorite book does—like Heidi inviting me up to the Swiss Alps, or…

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Are You Stuck? Be Counterintuitive!

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Hi, Dave Fessenden here to talk to you writers out there for this Friday’s blog. One of the most painful experiences a writer can have is the feeling that your writing instincts have betrayed you. You encounter a writing problem, such as a nonfiction concept that seems to defy explanation, or a fictional character that is hard to describe. All your standard, tried-and-true writing techniques seem to fall flat, leaving you frustrated. While it often helps to set this kind of problem aside for a few days, if you are on a deadline you may not have that luxury. Even…

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WRITERS WHO SPEAK – QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

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After an unusually cool spring and month of June, our typical Texas summer has come in with the fireworks of the 4th of July this past week. But those of us who have grown up in Texas, are used to it, and we get through it every year. Some may feel like the fireworks fly when it comes to the Q&A time after one has delivered one’s talk. Well, I have a confession to make …

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Stephanie Reed

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During her childhood, Stephanie Reed’s family would often pass through Ripley on their way to her grandparents’ home. The signs she read there about the Rankin house were what prompted her to write this story. After working for nearly a decade with the Dayton Metro Library, Stephanie is currently a volunteer spotter for the National Weather Service. She lives with her husband and two children in Dublin, Ohio. To learn more visit http://www.turboflanges.com/reed.

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