Category Archives: Integrity in Business

Gardens Heaven Scent

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“ Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero 

Doesn’t it feel good when our heart sings? That is the result of being involved with things we are passionate about.  

On Saturday, I played guide for the Strings in the Mountains Kitchen & Garden Tour. The home I was assigned to was a little slice of Vermont right within the city limits of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The lush green gardens were filled with most of the same species of plants that my extensive gardens inVermont contain. 

When I first arrived at the gardens where I was to volunteer, it was as if the names of the perennial flowers had been filed away in the archives of my brain. I had to dust off the files and dig back into the records of my mind, to remember the names of a few. Once the names of all my favorite flowers were brought to the fore, there was no stopping me. The names all came spewing forth. I had identified each type of bloom before it was time to leave. 

There were Master Gardeners at the site, and I was in heaven for just a few hours, talking the language that plant aficionados find so fulfilling to speak. We talked botanical names vs. common names, climactic zones, acidic soil, shade plants, sun lovin’ plants, invasive species, succulents, ground covers and so much more. 

It has been two and one half years since I have returned to my home in Vermont. This weekend was heaven sent. I  visited Vermont without having to travel and I nursed my dire need for some garden talk, all at once. 

How grateful I am that I have lived in two beautiful nature-inspiring, mountain communities. One is as magnificent as the other, in very different ways. Thanks to the folks that organized the Kitchen and Garden Tours www.stringsmusicfestival.com  for assigning me to this most appreciated locale. I was able hear my heart strings sing, very loud and clear.

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When Art Strikes

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“All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up.” ~ Ranier Maria Rilke 

Three years ago, at Arts in the Park  in Steamboat Springs, Colorado I came across an artist whose photography really struck me. Ever since I laid eyes on his work, it has been on my mind. The visceral response that I have to his images is very intense. Finally, after visiting his exhibit booth for three summers in a row, I decided I could not be without an image from this artist. 

What in this image has such an impact on me? 

  • Reflective qualities of the water
  • Illumination of the face
  • Dramatic peaks in background
  • “Twin” cormorants communicating their special language to each other
  • The disparity between darkness and light 

I’d be interested in knowing what title the artist would attach to his image. Most painters give their paintings a name. It seems that photographers ought to do the same. The title of the work often gives the viewer reason for further contemplation and insight into the emotions of the creator. Sometimes the title of a piece of artwork becomes synonymous with an artist’s name. 

Perhaps I’ll contact the photographer to inquire if he were to name this image, what title would he give it?  But, in the meantime, I am going to name the image myself.

  “Twin  Avians Basking in All Things Fulfilling” 

Kenny Tong, www.KennyTong.com  I will enjoy your photography for many years to come. I know you can think of a better title for your stunning photographic image. Let me know if you name it, so I can write it down and substitute it for the one I’ve got.  And do return again toSteamboat Springs,Colorado!

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A Way Around Nashville

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“If  Nashville wants to put up roadblocks, we’ll build a by-pass” ~ Alan Shephard, Sr. 

There are ways around everything in this day and age of independent publishing! Alan Shephard, Sr., has seen enough talented country western musicians to know that Nashville doesn’t have them all. This radio DJ, lyricist, light and sound man and radio co-host for WBTN  decided there needs to be other ways for gifted artists to be found. He is fulfilling that need through his newly formed Independent Country Music Association, LLC.  

Independent Country Music, LLC is helping to promote independent country western artists who have talent but need a break in getting started by setting up a database where musicians can be located, getting promotional CDs of it’s members out to other radio stations around the world and providing assistance with setting up concerts. 

All in the same spirit of how other independent publishing associations are helping writers, filmmakers, photographers, professionals and non-profits become visible in the marketplace. I support this idea! For more information on ICMA, please visit the website http://www.icmanet.com/.

Roadblocks are only roadblocks if we don’t work around them. With any independent publishing project  persistence,  courage and creativity will help you attain your goals. Alan Shephard seems to have found a helpful way to detour the traditional path.

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Looking Out for Others

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“In my life, I had two Mothers, Macedonia who gave me birth and America who adopted me.”  ~ Stoyan Christowe 

Have you ever made friends with someone who is a stranger from a strange land, yet they reverse the role and make you, the American, feel more at home? 

Two and a half years ago, I moved from my 35 year Vermont residence to the West. I came to this town, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, site unseen and had no idea what to expect. Within a few months time, I met a woman, about my age from Macedonia. Heretofore I had never known a soul from Macedonia, and was not even sure where the on the map the country lies. 

Two years into our friendship, my friend told me a story of an immigrant orphan from Macedonia, Stoyan Christowe, who arrived in 1897 in my “adopted home” state of Vermont. He started a new life and eventually became a Vermont State Senator, journalist and author. http://bit.ly/n94kTO . He lived out the rest of his life in America and during that time, he six published books including “This is My Country.” 

A film is currently being produced about the life of Stoyan Christowe by the Macedonian Arts Council. http://bit.ly/pPj1SC. I look forward to seeing this film and I hope it well captures the feeling that Mr. Christowe expressed about his native land and his adopted country. 

Today, I celebrate my Macedonian friend’s birthday. She made such a positive difference in my life. She helped me to assimilate into a new community nearly effortlessly. I can think of no better way to say Happy Birthday to her than to tell her how deeply grateful I am for her kindness and her help. 

After many years of living in the U.S., she and her family have returned to her Motherland. Although the distance between us is now great, I can not help but feel our two countries of the United States and Macedonia, have grown just a little bit closer by the fulfilling friendship and bond my friend and I have formed. We hope to continue our friendship for many years to come. 

Happy Birthday, Vesna!

Enter my Universe

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Ok, so after yesterday’s blog, She Writes Home, I am in the doghouse!  So many of my friends, family, acquaintances and business associates e-mailed me back to say the details of what I have been doing in Colorado are too flimsy!  

  • “What have you been up to?” They inquire.
  • “We don’t hear from you enough!” They say.
  •  “We read All Things Fulfilling, but we want to hear your voice!” They demand!
  • “We still don’t understand  all of the  hullabaloo about “non-traditional” publishing that you write home about! We want to know more!” They state! 

Ok, ok, I will reveal! I do admit I have been on the fast track since I arrived in this State of Colorado and I do owe an explanation. I will  give you all a good glimpse into my world – especially for those of you who are green to independent publishing!

Who Can Attend?  Anyone around the world who is fluent in the English Language! 

Where?  STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! ON THE WORLD-WIDE-WEB 

When?  RIGHT NOW! 

How? CLICK ON THE LINK AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS !http://bit.ly/oIkV2g.

Hope you will enter  my universe and join in on an event that will open your eyes to a new world that is changing the lives of so many people all over the globe! Come along on this  fulfilling  journey of  possibilities and entrepreneurial spirit for every individual, business person and non-profit organization, no matter where you reside.

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She Writes Home

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“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” ~ Anthony Robbins

 

The other day, I began to think about the consequences of the digital world with regard to personal communication. I think back to my college days of long ago – leaving my family and my high school friends behind. Long distance calling was not cheap, nor was it a daily or weekly occurrence, so I wrote a prodigious amount of handwritten letters to my friends and family, all about the fulfilling life I had rebuilt for myself  some 500 miles from home in the Green Mountains of Vermont. 

Sometimes I tried to be creative. I’d send my family and friends a token from Vermont. A pressed, dried wildflower or single frond of fern, tucked flatly in the envelope. I often walked to the college grounds, through the woods, from my off campus housing. I was always on the look-out for large treasured pieces of peeled birch bark to be used as an alternate source of stationary. Sustainability was not the buzz word back then, but, I did realize on some level that I was recycling and re-using a natural resource. 

Sending handwritten letters on beautiful stationary, envelopes sealed with stamped wax, have nearly gone by the wayside. Now with instantaneous digital communication, people reserve handwritten notes and cards for special occasions – Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Birthdays and Anniversaries. E-Cards have reduced the need for “Belated” cards because you can deliver electronic cards, PDQ! 

It has been a while since I have sent a heartfelt letter through the mail home. Next time I do, I’d like to enclose a sprig of prairie grass, sagebrush, New Mexico privet or maybe a small branch of Apache plume, will do. But I am reminded by the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins: 

“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

On second thought, I think I’ll just send an e-card, that way I can design the page with any flower or plant that I want. http://bit.ly/q89tj7.

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“Explosive Growth” says Bowker

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“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes 

We are breaking away from our Friday film routine today because finally, I have found what I have been looking for. The storehouse of all publishing statistics, Bowker, has finally released their numbers for the year 2010. And it is indeed fulfilling news! 

Traditional publishing grew a 5% last year, whereas, “non-traditional publishing” continued along its path of “explosive growth” says Bowker. There were 1,033,065 non- traditionally published books put out into the marketplace in 2009 and these figures more than doubled in 2010 to 2,776,260, thanks in part to the availability of print on demand. The majority of these non-traditional titles are sold and marketed over the internet and are about “micro-niche” subjects. One can safely say, people are looking for publications that are different and unique. To read the entire Bowker report, please go to http://bit.ly/mBW02G. 

Although e-book sales are exceeding the sales of paperback books, http://huff.to/5f6hAJ, books in print are by no means a thing of the past. Many self-publishing authors and independent publishers (otherwise known as non-traditional publishers) opt for selling both print and e-books, so their presence is known in both digital markets and brick and mortar stores, libraries, colleges and other retail environments. 

So that’s the latest word folks, on this ever changing and fascinating world of publishing in this 21st century. We will see what next week brings.

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GPS for Independent Publishers

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“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”  ~ Ben Franklin 

Over the next few days, we are going to switch it up a bit and share some more technical information about the independent publishing industry, that I hope will be useful to those who are considering or engaged in the process.

The other day I began to think about GPS systems and how useful the development of these devices have been in leading us to where we need to go and what we want to find. 

GPS, in my world of independent publishing, could be used as an acronym for books with “Great Publishing Success.” 

Far-fetched as it may seem, “GPS” for independent publishers is being aided  by the use of  QR codes. The little, square digital code patch is very useful to those who want to know more about great independently published books, films and music. QR codes are beginning to appear not just on realtor signs, in newspapers, and on other flat surfaces.  Quick Response codes, matrix barcodes that are readable by i-phones and other smart digital devices, are even beginning to be placed on independently published books, films and music. 

QR codes will help readers identify, locate and read a review of independent publications or learn more about an author’s website.  Independent publications will become very visible through the use of QR codes. This is fulfilling news for independent publishers who may not have  a big promotion company or huge marketing budgets behind them.

Independent publishers, keep your eye on this latest development! A very exciting time in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers is just ahead. Don’t miss out.

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Finding Community

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“If you don’t have a dream, how can you have a dream come true?” ~ Jiminy Cricket

Finding fulfillment in our lives has varied meanings for different people. City life is an ideal existence for large populations of people but for some, urban living would be enough to make a person go crazy and drink…literally, in every watering hole across town. Others enjoy living in tiny little hamlets, such as the town we mentioned yesterday, Moscow, Vermont. Adaptability to environment is far easier for some than others. Creating a satisfying life for oneself in any environment means embracing where you are and becoming involved in the lifestyle and opportunities that the area has to offer. 

There is a book, hot off the press that speaks to this issue of finding personal fulfillment in the places where we live. Mary B. Kurtz’s book, At Home in the Elk River Valley: Reflections of Family, Place and the West is a personal story about living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, an interesting mix of resort and ranching community. http://bit.ly/iDBj3N. 

Mary’s book addresses the topic of living in places by choice and by chance as well as her children’s struggle as teens and as young adults to find their own identities in the world after having grown up in a community of such diversity. The book also touches upon another subject that young people and even adults are concerned with in this day and age – the necessity of sometimes having to leave the borders of one’s own native state in order to find viable work. 

Through this book, readers may discover something about themselves and their own communities. It is a book about values, balance and perspective in life. Mary’s insight into the ranching lifestyle and how communities change has relevancy to the lives of each and every one of us, no matter where we live. 

For more information on this easy to read, poetic memoir, please visit http://bit.ly/ji9KtU

or http://bit.ly/msK6Ez.

Wings and Roots

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“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. “ ~  Denis Waitley

 

 

Last week’s blog entitled “A String of Summer Memories” elicited a response from one of our most loyal readers, Marie. She voiced her concern about the over-scheduled lives of children in this day and age and the effects it has on children’s ability to know how to entertain themselves and to discover and create themselves. I would concur.

Marie’s remark about creative play led me to remember a scene that I witnessed in a parade years ago, in the tiny hamlet of Moscow, Vermont on the 4th of July.

My happy memory involves not a group of children creatively playing, but a group of over-the-hill women who truly understood the concept of finding their own fun. Dubbed the Women’s Lawn Chair Marching Drill Team, they joined in the parade toting their lawn chairs, in celebration of Independence Day. Just as their own self-created, wild and crazy fun got a little out of hand, they’d tire and stop with precision, perform some drill team exercises, and take to their seats. Their movements were orchestrated by the live audio-broadcast of radio station WDEV. It was a fun spectacle to watch, and it made me remember how important and fulfilling it is for aging people  to have fun, too ! 

For more information on Vermont’s shortest 4th of July parade, please visit http://bit.ly/iKGIUF.  Moscow, Vermont, with a “downtown” of  less than a city block,  located in the heart of the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont, has grown in population more than 14% since 2000, please visit http://www.bestplaces.net/zip-code/vermont/moscow/05662.

 I send my Best Wishes to All of you on this 4th of July. I am proud to live in a country that was born out of the independent spirit. Right now, it is ever more important to keep that kind of energy and attitude alive! It begins with me and it begins with you!

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