I attended just two colleges. For my undergrad degree I went to Saginaw Valley State University for a degree in Secondary Education with a Major in English. Later, I went to the University of Phoenix Online twice. Both times were for Master Degrees. One was in Adult Education and Distance Learning, and the second one was in Education Administration and Supervision.
I do play in my daily life. To me, as an adult, playtime means mindful relaxation and exercising fun time. We should all have time to ourselves or with others when we are having fun outside of our work life. Yes, some say work can be fun, but I’m not talking about work.
Now, what is playtime according to me? Outside of work playtime is putting a jigsaw puzzle together, playing a game on my phone, taking a walk, game night with friends, and taking a trip somewhere. For example, on December 8, 2025 we took a long drive through and over the mountains to see Crater Lake. The beauty was out of this world gorgeous. Also, every so often we invite friends over to play board games or card games. Putting a jigsaw puzzle together and going for walks helps clear my mind.
When there is something we as individuals are trying like mad to sell, it is easy to get caught up in advertising and marketing by doing what everybody else is doing. As a result, nothing sells. Why not? The strategies used worked for others but not for you. What did you do wrong? Sound familiar? Yep. Sounds familiar to me, too. That’s when its time to take a step back. Relax. Take a deep breath and look at what you have. Look at ‘what’ you are doing. Do you ‘sound’ like everybody else who was able to make sales? You don’t want to sound like someone else. You want to sound like you. You can do what others do, but do it your way. You could even add something only you can.
The key is to stand out. So, how do you do that? Well, it depends on ‘who’ you are. What are your likes? What are your hobbies? How can you incorporate them into your marketing strategies? Here’s an example. Sally Seller makes jewelry, and she writes books. In her books she features certain gemstones, such as sapphires, emeralds, jade, and lapis lazuli. The typical marketing strategies she had been using for her books were not working, so she ‘took a step back’ and thought about what she had been implementing in way of marketing. When she did this, an idea hit. She could cross promote her jewelry with her books. Here is her idea.
What happened when ‘Sally’ implemented these strategies in real life (on two occasions now)? Her book and her jewelry sales went way up and more than tripled.
In the photo below is my author email address. I welcome email from my fans, and I do read them. However, many emails I receive are from marketers and those sending scams my way. If you would like to send me an email at the address below that is fine. I will read it and answer you. If you are a marketer or scam artist wanting money from me, do not bother to send me an email. This email address is for fans only.
I can honestly say I have never met anyone famous or infamous. As human beings we are all the same. No one person is any more important as another. It is what we do in life and what we become that makes us famous, and it’s God’s Will behind it. It’s important to note that, once we are granted the status of being famous, we remain humble throughout.
I would relive my teenage years. There are mistakes I made I would like to set right. At the same time, if I had not made those mistakes, I would not have learned all that I had. It’s when we don’t learn from them that keeps us down.
Great moments I would relive are all the times we played baseball with the neighborhood kids and parents. Sometimes we would turn it into a hot dog roast.
Family vacations I would also like to relive. I am from Michigan, USA by the thumb region. Many of our instate vacations were in the northern parts. Those places are Sue St. Marie, Mackinaw Island, Mackinaw City, Boyne City, Lake Charlevoix, Tahquamenon Falls (just to name a few). In 1971 we took a trip out to Oregon, USA (west coast). There, we visited my Aunt Hope and Uncle Jim for a week. At the time I was homesick, but I still remember having a great time.
If you are writing a book series, be sure your information from one book to the next is consistent. Readers dislike when information differs from one book to the next. It is even worse when it differs within the same book. This goes for any type of writing you are doing.
One historical event that fascinates me the most is the Russian Revolution. My grandfather was a body guard for Czar Nicholas II and was able to escape. This escape was by the pure grace of God. The option presented to him was to join the Bolshevik army or be shot. So he escaped. It wasn’t easy. His journey was hard because they had his name. He was on their list. But here is a piece of information I just learned. He had changed the spelling of his last name to the German spelling.
In WWII the Germans over ran the Russian village he grew up in, and he was told there were no survivors. Prior to this event he and my grandmother corresponded with his family in Russia all the time. I have a difficult time accepting that his whole family was wiped out during the war. So I started searching on ancestral websites and the internet using my grandfather’s last name. For years I couldn’t find anyone with that last name. Then in one search online I found out why. The name he used after leaving Russia and from that point forward was the German spelling and not the Russian spelling. I found the Russian spelling and found a whole slew of relatives dating back to the late 1800’s. So, to keep himself from being found by the Bolsheviks, he changed the spelling of his last name.
Don’t get me wrong. He still had some difficulties along the way. In one instance he had to disguise himself as an old man because it wasn’t an old man they were looking for. The disguise worked. In another instance, he hid himself in plain sight by going up to a Russian officer and starting up a conversation in Russian. Again, he didn’t get away by himself. The Lord was with him every step of the way. If he hadn’t gotten away, I would not be here.
