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social media, Writing

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social media, Writing

For Sale!

I’m doing things a bit backward today. But every now and then, that makes life a bit more exciting! I wrote this post for my Facebook author page this morning, so I’m sharing it on here. Usually I post on here and share it to Facebook. Really exciting…huh? Thank you all so much for your support, likes and comments!

My seventh book, When Love Grows will be available in just a few days. 😍This is pretty exciting for me! I have also started working on the third book in this series…which is also…fantastic! Writing is something I love to do. Marketing is not. 😣 I am not a salesperson, and I really need to be to a certain extent to get my books out there.
 
I have so many very talented people in my life. It is amazing to me when I see the items you have made, whether it be art, quilting, building, writing, etc. I would literally love to be able to support each and every one of you by purchasing your product, to give you encouragement, to support your business, and to show you that I really DO care about what you are doing in your life. But I cannot. I try to show my support by reading your posts, liking them, loving them and commenting. I don’t know if that helps or not, but it is time I invest in your lives. In some ways it seems sad that our lives have come down to interaction such as a smiley face, or a little red heart…but it is a way to communicate and show support.
 
As I said, I probably need to be more of a salesperson. But I am not. I don’t like to be hounded, and I know others don’t. I dislike to try to read a post or article and have pop-ups asking me to buy or subscribe. Therefore, I don’t do that to others. I dislike chain messages asking me to show I care. I do, or I wouldn’t comment, like, love your posts. Because my family has asked me not to share some things, especially items about their children on social media, I do not. And I do understand and respect that. Because I write, I have my settings to public to reach my readers.
 
My books are works of fiction, but my life experiences are woven through each one of them. I’m sharing what I’ve learned, the mistakes I’ve made, and the respect and love I have for my Heavenly Father. I pray this speaks to my readers.
 
Please share this post with your friends. Please share the post I’ll have in a few days promoting my newest release. And if you’ve read any of my books, please, please review in the places that you can. This is a huge encouragement to me! This writing life is all new, and it has a huge learning curve. Please let me know if I can reach you in a different way, if you’d like to hear more or less from me. You can always interact and have discussions on my group page about my books. I would LOVE that! https://www.facebook.com/groups/216963165342784/
A Quick Thought

Around the World…in seconds

Yesterday I had the most views here that I’ve ever had! How exciting! I love to see all those little flags lined up, showing all the places people visited from. Wondrous world that we live in!

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Thank you to everyone that stops by, reading my posts, liking and commenting. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you!

And I am just one ‘like’ away from 100 likes on my author Facebook page! That’s pretty exciting as well. Follow this link if you’d like to make it officially 100 likes and above.

https://www.facebook.com/deborahanndykeman

I know for some of you this is probably not a great accomplishment. I read your blogs and after only a few months, you have a couple thousand followers, and thousands of hits. It hasn’t been that way for me. I started this blog back in May of 2015, and it has grown, but it’s been slowly. It can be discouraging at times. You wonder what you’re doing wrong. I admit it’s been hard for me to know what to focus on here. I’m kind of out there with a lot of different stuff. So I’m thinking on that. But I have met some wonderful people…encouraging people, through this WordPress community. And it’s so much easier than sending a message in a bottle, hoping it lands in some faraway place! 😉

Thank you all for your support. If you have any tips on how to make this better…I’d love to hear them. Meanwhile, I’ll keep reading your posts and learn all that I can. Have a great Wednesday!

Parenting 101, social media

Begging Is Good!

Okay, not really. I always told our children, “If you beg, it’s not going to happen.” Ask me once, I’ll consider it, ask me twice, it’s a missed opportunity. I can’t count how many times I’ve been shopping, (and this was ages ago, when I had small children, because you have to drag me into a grocery store now), that I have seen small, and not so small children writhing on the tiled floor. Now there’s a sentence for my editor! 😉 Usually this agonizing event, (for the shoppers), embarrassing event, (for the parent), and demeaning event, (for the child), took place over a box of cereal, or candy in the check-out aisle.

Maybe this didn’t happen for our children for a couple of reasons. I rarely purchased boxed cereal. It was expensive, and not really a great option for breakfast in my opinion. Granola wasn’t packaged nearly so pretty! Candy was also a rare treat. Again, expensive and not high on the food pyramid in our house. But I really think it had more to do with that second sentence I mentioned above. I had no toleration for begging.

So, I’m going to blame this on my O.C.D., which has not been diagnosed. And I am in no way belittling this. I know many people struggle with this mental disorder, and it is real. Extreme cases can keep a person from living a normal life. But in our house, I am the poster child for this. If I eat cookies, I have them in pairs. I group items in my mind. I stress about things like turning off the iron, the stove or a light when I’m several miles down the road. I find it difficult to sleep if I have the washing machine started…I want to finish that load of laundry! For me, the laundry is not done until it’s hung in the closet, or folded neatly in the drawer. I go over and over…and over checklists in my mind. And I know many of you can sympathize with some of this. Much of mine can be related to fatigue, and probably just getting older and forgetful.

If you are a writer, or have any kind of business, or advertise to some extent on Facebook, you know how important that ‘like’ button is. You know how great it is to share a post because it gets many eyes on that post. If you have a page dedicated to your profession, your business, etc. you really, really want likes for that page. It’s all about marketing and selling that business. Recently, our local public library had to begin another Facebook page. This library has been wonderful with advertising my books, having events, and just plain great to work with. So, I contacted all my friends on Facebook, that were local, requesting that they ‘like’ the new library page. It was a way for me to encourage this local business and support them. And it didn’t even hurt me financially or otherwise! 😉

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My author page on Facebook has been hovering in the mid-nineties rage for several months now. It’s beginning to poke at me a bit, and I really want to cross that 100 mark! Yes, it is a goal now! To reach 125 likes on my page would be even more fantastic! And even more than that, I would really like you, the reader on here, to be a part of that Facebook group. I promise it won’t hurt! And it won’t cost you a thing. That’s rather rare in this world today! And while you’re at it, you can request to be my friend, too. Isn’t this a strange social environment that we live in today? A bit like kindergarten, requesting someone to be your friend, rather than just letting it happen. Will have to think on that one some more! Have a great Monday, and start to your week!

So this is new content for Tuesday morning. Now look back at that third paragraph, last sentence. Much of mine can be related to fatigue, and probably just getting older and forgetful. Last night, I woke up in the middle of great sleeping, which is rare for me. I remembered that I had not added a link for you to go to to ‘like’ my FaceBook page! Well duh! https://www.facebook.com/deborahanndykeman

All my family will have a great laugh about this one, and I’m surprised that one of my daughters didn’t see that and let me know! I can’t get by with very many mistakes! Now, have a great Tuesday, and I hope to see you over at Facebook!

social media

The Calm Before the Storm

We are becoming a world of ‘likes’ and ‘thumbs-up’. Anyone that sees this symbol, immediately knows what it is, unless you live off the grid, or happen to have a tiny house in the middle of a jungle or Siberia. And then you are dealing with way more issues than whether  or not  someone ‘likes’ something of yours. Food and water might be more of a priority for you.

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I happen  to really like this one. It kind of reminds me of my childhood and a couple shirts I wore.retro-1254589_1280

And if I was in a silly mood, this one would work well. The one on the right would have been great for Christmas ‘thumbs-up’.

Little, yellow, happy faces adorn our social media. There are now some really cute little guys out there. I shared the sun, happy face the other day. It makes me want to smile. The flower brings good thoughts too.

But I can’t help but recall when this little ball of glee greeted you at the door of another huge shopping chain. smiley-1020193_1920

I think the goal was that you saw the little face and you just wanted to snatch everything up within sight and buy it because you felt so happy to be in the store. I needed to have one on the windshield of my mini-van. Then, while driving home I wouldn’t be running regrets through my head of all that I had bought!

The ‘thumbs-up’ symbol also has a different meaning for me and probably anyone that attended school back in the 1960’s and 1970’s. There was this game called, Thumbs-up, Seven-up. For some reason I still can’t fathom, we all thought this was exciting and a great way to spend a few minutes at a Valentine’s Day party, or while waiting to be dismissed for the day. You hid your face in your arms, upon your very smelly desk, and left one hand out with your thumb up. One person was to go around and smash down a thumb. And I mean give it a good hit. No, we were not to do that, and we were told each and every time not to do that. But, we were children and the day wouldn’t have been complete without someone crying and probably sent to the nurse’s office. Honestly, I don’t remember how the rest of the game went. I don’t know if we ever got past that first thumb hit. Please share on here if you can fill in that blank!

So when did our world become such as it is? We have way more ‘friends’ than we ever have. We communicate much more and in so many different ways. But for me, I feel as though I have less-developed friendships than ever. Am I the only one?

Gone are the days of receiving an actual letter in the mail. Do you remember walking to the mailbox with a sense of excitement and anticipation? The feel of the mailbox door in your hand, cold metal in winter, scalding hot in the summer? Pulling out that stack of envelopes and seeing familiar writing on one or two of them? Sometimes you would open it on your way back to the house, other times waiting until you found the comfiest chair or the solitude of your bedroom. And then you would read all about what someone else was doing in their life.

Phone calls were received in the same manner, especially if from someone far away. Long distance cost money, and you planned for a lengthy conversation, or shook your head when you received your phone bill in the mail.

Communication was all about patience, and anticipation whether a verbal, face-to-face chat, letter or phone. You took time for that person. And in return, they did the same for you.

No one can disagree with the conveniences of today, the instant gratification in any area. We no longer have to wait for anything, unless you have a doctor’s appointment. You can even schedule to have a baby on the day that is best suited for you. But as I’ve said on  here before, I miss the slower, more purposeful lives we once lived. We didn’t run around with our hair on fire, our lives scheduled to the limit, sleeping for eight hours deemed a luxury.

As we sit here in central Kansas, waiting for an ice-storm that seems to have changed its mind, things feel a bit more relaxed, to me. Everyone is anticipating what might happen. So let’s all take a deep breath and relish the quiet. Sit down with a hot drink of your choice, talk with  your family, play a game. Really connect with them for this period of time while life is put on a bit of a hold for a day or two. You just might find out how much you like it!