Category Archives: book publishing

Twin Abnormalities

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One of the most startling photos of my twin and me was taken when we were about 14 years old. It is included in my newly published memoir. The size difference between us is so dramatic that you have to see it to believe it. It’s almost laughable.

My sister and I are likely a case of Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) which is “a prenatal condition in which twins share unequal amounts of the placenta’s blood supply, resulting in the two fetuses growing at different rates.”

My parents never had official confirmation that their twins had that anamoly since ultrasound screenings and prenatal echocardiograms back in the 1950’s were non-existent. The tools had not yet been developed to diagnose such a condition.

According to the Fetal Care Institute in St. Louis, “the imbalance of blood flow starts to affect the the heart function in one or both babies.  This is seen in abnormal blood flow in the umbilical cords or hearts of the twins.” http://bit.ly/1dSHmEr. 

imperfection and delight

If you are a twin or know twins who are cases of twin-twin transfusion syndrome, my sister and I would be interested in hearing from you to learn whether you ever physically caught up to one another as adults. Please feel free to email me through this website and tell me your story.

Do return tomorrow. This blog is brought to you from the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, by Sue Batton Leonard.

 

Wrap Up: Writing Process

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First Step: “Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing.” ~Melinda Haynes

Last Friday I gave a presentation about independent publishing and my newly released memoir to the Yampa Valley University Women. As a way of concluding my presentation, I mentioned how much I loved every part of the writing and publishing process –

  • the creative

  • the daily discipline of writing

  • bringing the voice of my stellar character alive for the reader

  • the end result of the feelings of fulfillment and satisfaction for having done it

Having a regular writing routine is easier for some than others, but for me I am a very disciplined person, so regular writing was not difficult. Authors have their own ways of motivating themselves to start, stay on task and seeing a project through until the end.

Inspiration-to-writeHere is an interesting article that I came across that speaks to tactics that some very well-known authors have used to tackle the problem of how to be successful in finding time to write. http://bit.ly/1fPjdd0 .

Some people go to all lengths to motivate themselves. I consider myself fortunate. All I have to do is sit down to the computer put my fingers on the keyboard, and pour my heart out. I don’t second guess myself until it is all out on the paper – it’s that easy! Then comes the editing part. Well, if I must be honest ….that’s a different story.

Do return tomorrow. We are going to switch gears.  I have “twin issues” on my mind that I will share with you. This blog brought to you by http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com,

 

Save the Stories

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I’ve got an industrious week ahead! Here’s what it looks like:

Monday, March 31, 2014   Get my audio book posted on the audio book site, so it is ready for selling. Details of how to order the audio book will be forthcoming soon right here on All Things Fulfilling.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014   “Sue Leonard will be speaking with the Young Professionals Network of Steamboat Springs, Colorado about the independent publishing industry, her group We Write Steamboat and the upcoming World Book Night (4/23/14).”

Friday, April 4, 2014 – Yampa Valley University Women, 11:30 am – 1 pm. Selbe Apts, Rollingstone Road, Steamboat Springs. Colorado. Open to the public. Soup, salad and bread luncheon is available for $3. “Sue Leonard will be presenting her book Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”

Your never too youngIt will be interesting to speak to these two groups of people this week because the age demographics are very different. The young professionals are just beginning to embark on careers and trying to figure out what they want to do in life. I want to encourage them to save stories from their life journeys because at some point they may be interested in inspiring, entertaining, informing or educating others through independent publishing.  This group of young people, who spend a lot of time volunteering out in our community, will be part of World Book Night on April 23rd, which I will also be discussing.

The Yampa Valley University Women , a group that I am a member of, has been following my endeavors in the publishing industry and the progress of the memoir. I look forward to finally bringing a perfect bound book to show them and having the opportunity to relate my experiences with with them. This event will be open to the public. The women who belong to the group are well-educated, well-traveled and most are retired. They have a wealth of life experiences, and I wish to convey to them the value of writing to preserve history and culture. Many of them have interesting stories to tell and with the ability to independently publish e-books and print-on-demand, many people are investing their time in writing in their retirement.

Have a great week ahead, everyone.  See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. We will be talking about the origination of a game show that had many women waiting by the telephone, in hopes of having their dreams fulfilled, in the 1940s- 1970s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star Time

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Fulfilling feelings are the best words I can find at this moment to describe how I felt on Saturday as I shared the proof copy of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected” with the attendees of the monthly Colorado Independent Publishers Association meeting.

At each monthly meeting there is “Star Time” – the opportunity for authors to take the stage, with microphone in hand, and make announcements of book signings, accomplishments, new publications and the likes. I am usually the observer. My chance always comes each month when the associate service providers to the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) stand and give a short description of how their company serves the industry of independent publishing. That’s the group I am accustomed to standing along side.

Finally, this month, I was in both line-ups! As a newly published author and a service provider! Hard to describe my feelings of accomplishment! Yay!!!

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Have you recently published a book and are looking for a little “star time?” There is nothing that says “STAR” better than winning a book award. The Colorado Independent Publishers Association is accepting non-member submissions to their annual book award contest, “The EVVYs.” For information on contest rules, and submission fees, please visit www.cipacatalog.com. You have until May 16th to submit! But don’t wait until the last minute!

This blog brought to you by www.AllThingsFulfilling.com. See you tomorrow –  over the next two days I will be sharing stories that are just a little messy. But I may as well take ownership, they are part of my personal history and story.

Roads toward Building Community

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Tomorrow it’s time to head to Denver for Saturday’s monthly CIPA meeting (aka Colorado Independent Publishers Association). This month’s educational focus will be on social media marketing – attendance should be high. There are so many authors and publishers who want to know more about selling and marketing books effectively over the internet. I will be heading up a roundtable discussion on Taking Facebook to the Next Level, beyond the basics of using Facebook to promote independent publications on the world-wide-web. I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge.

I’ve got my work cut out for me on the three hour drive from where I live to Denver. I will be listening to my own audio book recording of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.” The recording has been edited but I’ve not had the chance to listen from beginning to end for any glitches.

helping othersThis is a good time to give a shout out to ColoradoMountainCollege student, Bryan Dow,  who was so helpful to me throughout the recording process. He edited my audio recording quicker than I could have ever expected. It was his first job at editing an audio book, but he has a wealth of experience with the program. Among his already deep curriculum vitae “c.v.” is the title” musician” so uses the software frequently. I enjoyed getting to know this college student a little bit. Someday I hope he tells his own story through an independently published book, film or music or perhaps a multi-media publication. He is working on a fascinating project, while trying to balance a busy schedule of work, study and building a future for himself.

It’s a wonderful thing to have people in this world who are whizzes with technology and can do great things with their hands, creativity and intellectual talents. Thanks again, Bryan, for lending me a hand, and helping me with the production of my audio book (in MP-3 format) “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.” You are a person who can help build community in many different ways with your diverse talents. I am glad our paths crossed.

See you back here on All Things Fulfilling on Monday! This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Oh, To Have Faith

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I have to laugh at my sister. I think she is more excited than I am about my book. Just revealing the front and back cover last week has given the entire family a thrill because I have been very secretive about what’s between the covers.

The other day my twin sent me a link to an article saying “You’ll appreciate this story.  In addition to having common roots in Baltimore along with this featured author, you two share the experience of having been  factory workers. (The link to the story Factory Worker turns Poet wins $100,000 is below.) Yes, it’s true I am now  a published author and I was a factory worker but my prize money has yet to come through!

One summer, when my sister and I were in high school in the late 1960’s we worked in a factory in the middle of BaltimoreCity. The facility handled medical records via micro-film (micro-fiche). My job was to cut and splice the film and stuff the film into plastic sleeves for historical recordkeeping. I worked all alone in a dark room, so that I could see what I was doing.

I was so envious of my sister! She worked in a big bright room next door with six or eight other women. They jived all day long to the sounds of Motown as they labored. So many times I was tempted to ask the boss if I could trade places and jobs with my sister. At the end of the day, my sister kept recounting how the women she worked with got up and danced around the room when a song from the Temptations or Supremes or Four Tops hit their fancy. The women really had heart and soul, evidently.

decision to tryI share this article about the factory worker turned poet who wins $100,000 with anyone out there who has dreams of becoming published:

http://on-msn.com/1cUH8MB.

No matter what you are doing now, it’s possible to add “writer” to your resume. Only you can make it happen! For me, it all started with writing a blog. In today’s world of independent publishing, there is nothing in this world that should stop you.  Dream, take action and find your own personal fulfillment in writing!

Oh, my sister has so much faith in my writing. She says she knows she will love my upcoming publication “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. ” Let me tell you a secret. She will! There are parts of the tale that are uniquely mine but part of the story is hers also!

Look forward to your return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

St. Patty’s Day Creativity

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St Pattys Day Prompts..Happy St. Patty’s Day! Today we are going to have fun with a little Irish creativity. Are you ready to begin your story? When I found this image, I thought “Good lord – how appropriate each one of these writing prompts would have been for my recently completed publication Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfillment in the Unexpected. Any one of them could have aided me in my writing.

In honor of St. Patty’s Day I am going to craft something that summarizes parts of my memoir but it’s different than from what’s actually written in it. These thoughts may give you a hint as to what’s between the covers.

Using the prompts you can begin to craft your own story.

  • At the end of the rainbow….. my heart echoed.
  • The day I met my leprechaun….I prayed there’d be another to follow.
  • The luck of the Irish wasn’t with me when… my story began.
  • I was just picking up the pot of gold when…I realized it was inside me all the time.
  • I opened my eyes to find a leprechaun…who arrived as a big surprise.

Happy Saint Patty’s Day to All My Beloveds!

“Love leaves a memory no one can steal.” ~from

a headstone in Ireland

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

The Lady in the Choir

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laughing sistersWhy is it that when you have a twin sister, everything is doubly  funny? I swear my sister and I can have more fun laughing at something that might not strike anyone else as being one bit funny.

A good hearty belly laugh is only annoying if it happens in inappropriate places. When we were kids, it always happened in church. My sister and I didn’t dare even glance at each other when the mezzo-soprano in the choir started singing. There was something about her voice that made us listen but we found her inflection hysterical. If we even saw one anothers faces in our peripheral vision, it was all over – we’d lose control and laugh so hard we’d have tears running down our cheeks. Then our little brothers got in on the action.

Somehow our parents always knew exactly what started it and struggled to keep their own joy of hearing us twins laughing together in check and in cheek. Someone had to be the adults and keep order in the family. Week after week we vowed to our parents that it would never happen again, but oh, how we were telling a story.

Since I have been taught that God is love, I knew I’d be forgiven and not be struck down by the devil. Our scolding often came from someone else who you’ll learn more about in my memoir. Whenever she got word of our childish antics, her words had a more powerful effect than anything our parents could have ever uttered.

“Lord a Mercy,” she’d say “What is you? A bunch a heathens, laughin’ in da Lord’s house?” Have you ever noticed how carefully one listens to someone who is speaking a different dialect?

“It was the funny lady in the choir’s fault,” my sister and I’d say, taking no responsibility for our inability to control ourselves. After all, we were just children.

That’s another family story that wasn’t included in my memoir from All Things Fulfilling. This blog is brought to you by www.CornestoneFulfillmentService.com.

An Author to Watch

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“You write in order to change the world … if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” ~ James Baldwin 

I’ve been so busy I haven’t picked up a book other than my own to proofread it for the zillionth time in several weeks. Not having time to read drives me crazy – walking and reading are my most treasured personal freedoms. It’s how I relax and escape.

library hospital for themind. jpgOn Friday I decided I REALLY needed an outlet aside from what I am doing. I caved and went to the library. I found a real honey of a story by debut novelist Natalie Baszile called “Queen Sugar.”http://bit.ly/1nAv4B9. Oh my, how I have enjoyed it. It has not disappointed. Author Tayari Jones describes the book as “a page turning, heart breaking novel of the new South, where the past is never truly past, but the future is a hot, bright promise.” Put this book, published by Penguin, on your To Read List. In my opinion, the author has interwoven important societal messages and cultural values into a well-crafted story.  Natalie Baszile, I’m keeping my eye on you. You are a great writer!

Now it’s back to work. There is so much a head of me to look forward to.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

The Glory in the Challenge

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On Thursday, a very important package was delivered to my mailbox. It was a “proof copy,” the first printed and bound copy of my memoir “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”

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As I opened the package, this is what I was feeling – HAZY!

IMAG0997 In the same blur that has existed for several years now, while the book has been in the making. Writing and publishing a book independently, if I must be candid, takes commitment, persistence, a “can do/will do/nothing is going to stop me attitude. I had determined from the start that I would take on the words of Robert Schuller as a challenge when he asked “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” I was out to answer that and prove it to myself!

Sure, there have been challenges along the way (some big and some small) but I never lost heart in what I was doing because I believed so strongly in the story that I knew one day I’d tell. Every time I got a little disillusioned with my progress, I’d remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who once said “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but rising up every time we fail.”

Here it is – the proof copy. I’m excited but not done yet. Another go round of proofreading faces me.

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You’ll learn more about why I felt it was so important to tell my story when you read it. It has to do with the beautiful traits of a character in it. Although categorized as a memoir, it’s far more than a family tale. There is meaningful value in the universal messages tucked between the covers.

Today, I present to you all my glory……………and by Mothers’ Day, you can share it with me, when you read my story! You can even have it any way you like it – in print from www.Bookcrafters.com and other major on-line booksellers, in an e-book or audio book format. For those who decide on the audio book format – you are in for a very special treat!

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.com. I’m so excited! This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.