Multiple Use Of Material

I got an interesting e-mail today from a friend. She was talking about a three-part class that she was going to offer as a series of webinars,with the handout in workbook format. She was going to encourage her students to place the handouts in a three-ring binder, to keep the work for future reference. She went on to chat about taking the webinars and turning them into CD's for sale. I was impressed - she already has three products here from one source - the webinar itself, the workbook that her students will complete during the webinar, and the CD that can be purchased. This is certainly best use of time, energy and resources!

I have always read that story ideas should be treated the same way - that they should be able to be used at least three different ways to be truly useful. The material could go into a short story, a full length book, or even an article or two. If we get all that we can from our material, from our research, then we are making best use of our primary resources - our time, and our ability to write.

I am looking forward within the new year taking the material from my book "Tarot, Birth Cards, and You" and presenting it in different formats, so that readers will be able to use it in a manner that is comfortable for them. I may have the Fool chatting with each of the Birth Card pairs, I may have the Birth Card pairs themselves ruminating on the theme of their lifetime, I may even have a panel discussion with each of the Birth Card pairs contributing. What would you like to know about your Birth Cards?

(c) November 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

Tidying Up Life

For writers, November is NaNoWriMo - the one month out of the year when we try to write 50,000 words in one month. Many people accomplish this, some do not. I tried it last year, and it was a disaster! I opted out this year - we have to know when we need to walk away from something. I spent this whole year trying to decide what to do with the material that I wrote last year. I tried using it as is,and simply "finishing" it. That did not work. I decided to change the local, and tweak the characters. That did not work. I finally made the decision that I should have probably made in the first place - let it go and start over. After the first of the year I will begin anew on my cozy mystery - with a good chance of finishing it this time.

In the meantime, I am trying to keep my book that was published this year - "Tarot, Birth Cards, and You" fresh through my Face Book page for the book. At the same time, I am steadily working on my second Tarot book, due out, hopefully, in the spring of 2013. To keep myself fresh, I am doing webinars on several different esoteric (and not so esoteric) subjects with Mary Nale. (The schedule can be seen here. Mary is giving a series of three classes herself that I highly recommend - they are all about setting up a personal blog, and what you can do with it. Her link can be seen here.

I am certainly feeling the affects of the conference that I attended with my sister last weekend - the Millionaire Mind Intensive. How we feel about ourselves has a lot to do with how we feel about our money. The conference sent us away with a myriad of tools of empowerment, and I for one am very happy that I attended! It will help me in every area of my life, for which I am very grateful.

One last thought - and I am going to continue to harp on this - please click on the 1+ icon when you are Googling a site, and please use the 1+, "like" and "share" buttons on the sites and articles that you visit. It will benefit that site, it will benefit your followers, and it will benefit you in that if you put out that energy for someone else, they will do the same for you. If you want to get really excited about life, you might even want to leave a comment!

(c) November 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

Millionaire Mind Intensive

The picture above is of my sister, Becky Lundin, standing in the outdoor seating area of the restaurant in the hotel that we stayed at last weekend (the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, in Burnaby, Canada). Why were we in Canada? We were attending the Millionaire Mind Intensive, given by Peak Potentials.Why were we doing that? To reset our financial mind-set, and free ourselves so that would be open to financial success. And why is this on my author's blog? Because my goal is to open myself to multiple streams of income,with my writing being only one of them..

I am not going to go step by step through each of the three days - they were looooooong days, and you wouldn't want that! What I will say is that we met some very nice people, heard some amazing stories, and were introduced to a company (Peak Potentials) that is very family oriented (we had three ten year old children that attended the Intensive with their parents).

We got to examine our beliefs surrounding money, and went through exercises that helped us to let them go. My sister and I are both implementing the "jar" system for resetting how we deal with money. Monthly finances are divided into several different categories, with a jar (or container of some kind)for each category. What a great way to use the remaining glasses that I have from a set that I bought when I was twenty-one years old!

I brought home some very interesting business cards from this event. I would like to share the following links with you:

The Authentic Adventure
Sites By Zenith
Cards Made Fun

While this Intensive may not be for you, thin k ab out what you want to do to expand your business, and allow yourself to live the lifestyle that you imagine!

The link below is to my sister's "Peak Potential" page. No, I get no money from this referral, it is simply something that I want to share with you!

Millionaire Mind Intensive

(c) November 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

New Laptop - I Am Getting Too Old For This!

I just got a new laptop - as in it hit my doorstep last Thursday! I had been using my mother's laptop for a few weeks - mine was acting too badly to try and use for an extended period of time. Sounds easy, yes? Pay the people, they format and send the laptop, you plug it in, and you are good to go. Let's just say that isn't even close to reality!

Now, there is nothing wrong with my new laptop - it works beautifully, including the "Z" key. (That key died a while back on my old computer.) I made the mistake of not ordering Word to be installed ... thought I was saving myself a few bucks. I did - I saved a few bucks. Got excited when I saw that the laptop came with a basic version of word - then found that it was hard for me to work with. Got done what I had to get done that day, then the next day I downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.3. That works wonderfully, and will be fine until I can get a "proper" version of Word installed.

Also downloaded Skype, and installed my scanner and printer. Not hard, but time consuming. Downloaded Google Chrome - the Google browser was already there! Next came all of the sites that I visit every day, including Twitter, both of my Face Book pages, My Space, and Live Journal. Had to enter user and password info into all of them. That's done. Then there were my bank and credit card sites that I needed to reassure that I was who I was, even though they did not recognize my laptop.

Thanks go to Anna Burroughs Cook for nudging me towards using the Google image feature. How quick was that!

The upside - I have a built in web cam and mic, and they work perfectly! I had my first webinar using this laptop Saturday am, and it went perfectly!

Soooo ... How has your week been going?

(c) November 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

Happy Halloween!

I am very much looking forward to Halloween (Samhain). I will be carving my pumpkin today - just a small one this year. I have absolutely loved having the Halloween decorations up all month - it is such a happy month!

I have a webinar coming up on Saturday November 4th - Journeying With Your Birth Cards. Information can be found here - Journeying With Your Birth Cards. I hope that you will join us!

I ran across quite an interesting post that I would like to share - it is a project done by an African American ballerina - The Black Swan Diaries.

Of interest to writers - the Wall Street Journal is going to debut e-book best seller lists! I was riveted by this because I want to present my work in e-book format. More information can be seen here - WSJ - E-Book Best Seller Lists.

Thanks to Joanne Mathews, I am going to be taking my four part Flash Fiction series "The Night Has Eyes" and presenting it as a whole. I will do this after people have had a chance to read Part IV, so stay tuned next week for that link!

Last, but not least, a link to the Writer's Knowledge Base, an Internet resource for writers: Writer's Knowledge Base.

(c) October 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

Upcoming News

It's October - I could not resist the cat and the pumpkins! I have a small pumpkin sitting on a table outside my front door - I will carve it on All Hallow's Eve morning. I have to have at least one carved pumpkin to burn a candle in. The Halloween decorations have been out since the last day of September - I love them so much!

I got my EDL (Enhanced Driver's License) in the mail, so I am definitely going to Canada for the seminar on money management with my sister. Definitely looking forward to that! In the process I ordered my birth certificate, which got here in record time, so I can now also start the process of applying for a passport.

I will have some very exciting news Monday - stay tuned!

Having a great deal of fun with Flash Fiction. I did a pseudo scary dark side oriented story that is turning into a series (that you to all those that encouraged me to do so!). The series can be found here - "The Night Has Eyes" . Right now I am looking at four parts, with the final story going up on All Hallows Eve.

I have several webinars set up with the incredible Mary Nale! I hope that you will all join us - the more the merrier! Here are the dates:

November 5th - Journeying With Tarot Birth Cards

December 10th - Guided Meditations

December 24 - Communication With Spirit Guides

January 7th - Shamanic Journeys

January 21st - Creative Writing

February 11th - How To Get Your Book Published

February 25th - Writing Reviews

To sign up for the webinars, stay tuned to Attune Magazine!

(c) October 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

A Conversation Overheard

A Conversation Overheard -

The Devil and The Lovers

I have been trying to think of ways in which I could make the Birth Card pairs come to life. I thought that it might be fun to have a Birth Card pair chatting over coffee or drinks. I was going to work with the gentlest Birth Card pair that I could find, just so the conversation would be, shall we say, a “nice, quiet one” Best laid plans, and all of that. The two individuals that choose to speak were the ones that were the hardest for me to write about – The Devil and The Lovers. They choose to speak over drinks … fair warning!

Scene: Elegant private lounge, with soft jazz playing in the background. Subdued lighting, and service so good that it blends into the woodwork – they are there and gone before you know it, but back at your elbow in a flash if you need something. Two well dressed individuals are seated in leather chairs, with a small table between them. The individual representing the Devil is a dark haired man, dressed in a dark suit, with a cream colored, French cuffed, bespoke shirt, and a conservative tie. He wears a large gold ring on his left hand. Seated opposite him is a stunning blond, with long flowing hair and dark brown eyes. Rings flash on her hands, and she wears pearls in her ears and at her throat. Her dress is from a well known designer, and suits her well.

“Antoine, it is so nice to be able to sit down and chat for a moment. Life can get so hectic!”, Kaitlin said, as she crossed her long legs and took a sip from the snifter in front of her.

“For now, dear Kaitlin, we are in balance. There are no fires to put out, and we can enjoy ourselves.” Antoine sat back, quietly viewing the room and its occupants. The stories these walls could tell! He smiled softly to himself.

Kaitlin's subdued laughter showed that she knew exactly where Antoine was coming from. “I know what you are thinking.” she teased.

“And exactly what might I be thinking?”

“You might be thinking that these elegant walls have some not so elegant stories to tell.”

“Kaitlin, you read me well.”

“It is not by chance that the theme of the lifetimes that we are Gatekeepers for revolves around relationships of all types. How they are handled, and the repercussions from them.”

“LOL I search for structure, while you, dear Kaitlin, simply want to bring opposing qualities into balance. My focus is on the physical/material world, while yours is on the Seeker's internal world,”

“Most people have no clue that we operate together. They run from you, and towards me. Most of the time they do, anyway.”

“I know, but that has a lot to do with the fact that when faced with me, people need to be accountable to and for themselves. If they don't want to do that, if they insist on being mired in the material world, then I need to find new and innovative ways to get them to pay attention. The current technological state of their world does bring these lessons on faster and faster. They have the tools to learn, they just don't use them.”

“Now, you are just a tad bit irritated that the last time you were presenting a major lesson, the individual was smart enough to know that they can call on the lesser energies, if you will. It's all good in the end, Antoine.”

“That individual could have worked through that lesson if they tried. Well, okay, they did try, but they were flexing relatively unused muscles when they brought in the Empress.”

“Well, she handled the whole situation with her usual aplomb. I worked with her a bit, but I let her take the lead. This individual, after all, is one that is meant to lead others. They need to not only be aware of their own strengths and abilities, but they need to be able to use them for the betterment of others”

“With our help, the individuals that we are Gatekeepers for establish solid boundaries, They strengthen the skills and abilities that they came into this lifetime with, and they find their authentic voice. For our part, we have to sometimes call on our darker, hidden skills and abilities to take them where they need to go. Not an easy task, but we learn as they learn.”

“Well said, Antoine, well said. Almost time to go. Paris the next time we meet?”

Antoine smiled. “Yes, Kaitlin, Paris the next time we meet.”

© October 2011 Bonnie Cehovet