Almost Famous By De's Fault

Life Has No Remote Control...

2012-02-15T13:57:00.001-08:00

Just Saw BIG MIRACLE!!! FABULOUS! Go See It!!!

2012-02-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

LOVED BIG MIRACLE. It's a must see. I remember the true story very well. Re-living it "on the ice" with the rescuers was quite the experience!

In Memorium: Charlie and Braden Powell--RIP...

2012-02-11T18:52:00.001-08:00

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11495505-funeral-remembering-charlie-and-braden-powell

The Gig Goes Very Part Time Starting Next Week--Hallelujah!

2012-02-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

Live and learn.

The gig I took to bring in more has money ended up costing me literally hundreds of dollars (I estimate close to a thousand in just two weeks) because I wasn't able to spend each day online reliably watching for writing projects. I lost some projects that were offered to me because I didn't respond promptly to the invitations, so the clients assumed I wasn't available or interested. I lost others simply because I wasn't available to quote on the projects right away as they came in, so the buyers chose another decent provider who was ready to rock and roll.

I discovered, during this fiasco, that my understanding of how my online writing career works was off the beam by a bunch. It turns out I have to be present and vigilant on at least an hourly basis to get as many writing projects as I do. I can't take on other gigs without losing others--and it's the writing gigs that pay best. Who else is going to pay me $50 to $70 an hour (legally, ethically and morally)?

I'm glad the other gig is winding down. If it weren't, I'd have to quit it altogether.

Well, at least now I know what I need to keep doing: what I've been doing for the past five years: writing, writing, and writing! How's that for confirmation?

Uh-huh!

2012-02-09T20:58:00.001-08:00

DeForest Kelley "I Want a Cowboy" Video

2012-02-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmicWZborc

Check Out My Interview re Raising a Serval at Writers in Business!

2012-01-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

http://writersinbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/01/living-with-wild-animals-read-serval.html

Let me know what you think. SHARE SHARE Share!

OK--Breathe In and Out... All is Well Again!!!

2012-01-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

I landed enough writing work this weekend to feel good about keeping the other gig, too-- as long as every weekend ends up being as lucrative as this one is. If not, I may get nervous again...but hey...let's not go there mentally. That way lies anxiety and madness.

I'm writing a new book in my rare spare time. I won't finish it before mid-year or toward the end of the year, but it's underway, so I know it'll get done. My publisher has already sais she wants it. (I sent her the first 3200 words.) The working title is, "Settle for Best: Why Settling for Less Sets You Up for..." (disappointment, despair, to lose) or something like that. That's the gist of the whole book. It's about following your bliss and not settling for less in your career or in any other realm. (I learned this lesson the hard way, so I'm an expert on it!)

YIKES!

2012-01-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

Unless something happens real soon, I've made a gigantic blunder!

I accepted a low-paying, part time, customer service gig recently, figuring I could always write and continue to earn the "big bucks" during the balance of my waking hours. As it turns out, unless I'm actively looking for writing projects all the time, I'm missing out, every day, on many of the ones I'd get-- including ones I'm invited to bid on--because I'm not bidding on them right away.

So instead of making additional money--which was the whole idea--I'm making less--a whole lot less!!! This cannot continue, so I may have to bail on the new gig.

As a copywriter, I can make in 45 minutes what it takes me six hours to earn working the new gig, so the choice of which to forego isn't even close. But because I committed to the gig, I'm monitoring the situation for a few more days to see if I get enough writing work for this to make sense. If not... ARGHHH! I'll have to bail. And I'm sad about it because I'm really enjoying the new gig. A lot! I didn't think I would, particularly, but I do. I really don't want to bail but it looks as though it may be necessary...

Live and learn. God really, really, really must want me to stick with writing! I'm sure He'd make this all work to my advantage if He were in accord with it. Unless the new gig leads me miraculously to a new client who wants me to produce copy for them, I don't see this avenue bringing me what I need to keep my head above water, and that's certainly not a good thing! My part of the mortgage is due on Tuesday and I don't have it, let alone the money for health insurance that I'll need in a week or two... Grrrr... This was a BIG mistake, but I'm not wanting to 'fess up and bail out. Sadly, I may have to...

What a fiasco!

Keep me in your prayers. I need 'em! Thank you!

DeForest Kelley: Good'un!!! Enjoy this YouTube Video!

2012-01-26T08:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bZT_eHCYSY

2012-01-21T18:20:00.001-08:00

Now Reading: Napolean Hill's THINK AND GROW RICH

2012-01-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Napoleon Hill's THINK AND GROW RICH. I've read so many self-help books that this one seems to be saying many of the same things.

Of course, that's because this is the granddaddy of all self-help books, written just after the Great Depression; a lot of writers since then have excerpted and paraphrased it.

I'd love to rewrite it in today's vernacular; although accomplished in many ways, Hill was (sorry to say) not a very good writer by today's standards (or else the person who wrote it for him lacked the ability). Perhaps he was considered a good writer back in the day, but today it seems pedantic and dated. The way he wrote slows it down and makes it more tedious than it ought to be.

That said, it's a valuable, valuable treatise about why only some people succeed greatly while hordes of others fail, even though all Americans have access to the same ability to gain great wealth (unless there is something amiss at birth where mental faculties are concerned). I've come to learn, reading it, that the professional (writing) success I've had would have been predicted by Hill--and my financial insecurity, too! It's a great primer on what it takes to succeed in life in all ways, not just financial.

My chief shortcoming is that I've never pursued great wealth (money just hasn't been that important to me unless I've had too little of it and, to me, "too little" is too darned little! I can't tell you how many times I've had under $100 to my name in the past few years!). Hill makes it very clear that unless you pursue financial security (or anything else, for that matter) the way a suitor pursues a prospective mate, you're highly unlikely to ever attain it! I just have to make "earning lotsa money" as pressing a goal as "being a great writer" if I ever want it to happen... and I do... I do.

So I'm nurturing the idea seriously now. It's time. Dont'cha think?

In Other News:

It should come as no surprise: it's snowing here in Tacoma (at long last). What's surprising is that there has been so little snow here for the past several years. This is the first time this year it has stuck to the ground (in fact, I don't recall seeing any this year until now)--and there isn't much of it. I'd call it a dusting where I am...

It was a little dicey getting to church this morning to supervise the nursery. There was more snow then, and our road doesn't get plowed unless there's a lot of it. I avoided the hills by going out another way, but by the time I came back, I was able to travel the hilly way without incident--it was wet and clear until I got back to my road, where it got dicey again.

I'm glad it isn't slated to last, and I'm glad Jackie doesn't have to work tomorrow (MLK Jr Day) so she won't have the worry of chaining up if the temperature drops tonight and we get more snow.

What else? I bought my two geriatric kitties some seriously-expensive food yesterday. They're 15 1/2 and one of them, Archie, was beginning to lose a little conditioning...so I decided to go whole hog and get him a top-of-the-line dry cat food (and a few cans of quality canned food, too) that has no grains whatsoever in it. He wolfed it down for a half hour (off and on) when I got it home, as did Ashley. I've been feeding them grocery store cat food for several years--not the expensive stuff. (You get what you pay for.) I figure they'll be with me a couple more years (God willing) so I'd better spring for the good stuff if I want to be sure I'm meeting their nutritional needs 100%.

Laverne and Shirley: The Continuing Saga

2012-01-13T21:58:00.000-08:00

Today, because it was decent weather, I decided it was a good time to trim the goats' hooves. The problem: Laverne didn't think it was a good time. (She never does.)

When they were kids--25, 30 pounds tops --trimming their hooves was relatively easy; now that they weigh close to 200 pound each, it's still relatively easy...with Shirley! She's an easy-going sweetheart who knows I would never do anything to hurt her. I reckon that's the nature of Boer goats, because she has always been the sweet, easy-going one. She'll tuck her head into my shoulder or neck and let me pet her. When I was putting up the fence this summer, she followed me the whole way, "helping" me by putting her head between my arm and my body so I could pet her every few minutes. It took longer to finish up that way, but it was waaaaayyyy more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. (I just love an appreciative "apprentice".)

But Laverne is a red goat--I swear she's at least half Kalahari goat, because I saw a photo of a Kalahari goat and she looks exactly like that one; her horns even curl the same way (differently than Shirley's). Laverne is probably at least ten percent heavier than Shirley and half a hand taller. And she has always been the comedienne of the two. She figures out ways to make me laugh every day. But she's a big problem when it comes to hoof trimming.

I can trim Shirley's hooves without putting a leash and collar on her. All I have to do is put apple slices or grain in her bucket and she lets me work on her because, let's face it, hoof trimming doesn't hurt one bit.

But I have to put a collar and leash on Laverne and then tie the leash to a heavy vertical beam because she'll drag me all over hell's half acre if I don't. She's just convinced I am about to amputate her foot at the knee. Even as closely-tied as she is to the beam, she darts and ducks and spins and bolts and rears and crashes to the ground trying to avoid having me pick up her feet. I have to cavort with her in this bucking bronco way for three or four minutes before she decides to let me pick up her feet. Then, when I do, and I finally get her all taken care of she becomes as docile as a newborn lamb. She stands there regarding me with gentle eyes, allows me to pet her and run my fingers through her thick winter coat. It's like she suddenly realizes what Shirley knows from the get-go: Just because I pick up a pair of hoof clippers doesn't mean I have lost my mind and become Jack the Ripper.

Needless to say, by the time I get both goats' feet taken care of, I'm easily as worn out at Laverne is! We both sit there (well, I sit; she stands) looking at each other. I'm laughing; she would, too, if she could.

I sometimes think she isn't half as scared as she's pretending to be. I think she just enjoys giving me a run for my money. She doesn't pant or cry out at all; she just acts "flighty" -- as if I'm a coyote about to eviscerate her, even though she knows I won't.

It's just part of what makes her unique. I don't know if all Kalahari goats share this trait, but I can say that I'm glad I only have to wrestle ONE of my goats to care for their hooves!

Elephant Huddle---Awwwww!!! Thanks Nancy Graf for Sending Me This!

2012-01-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Copywriter/Wordsmith for Hire -- by the Hour, Day, Week or Project

2012-01-11T14:37:00.001-08:00

Click Ad to read better!

PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR BUSINESS-OWNING FAMILY & FRIENDS!

January Update

2012-01-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

You'll probably see less of me (here on my blog) for a while, but there's a good reason. I'll still be right here (so email me if you need me!) sitting at my work station, I just won't be blogging much...

I'm going to be multi-tasking like crazy for the next several months. It's all to earn extra money, but eegads--it's going to be a serious challenge!

I'll have my usual church gig two days a week (very part time) and possibly an additional part-time church gig, too (creating marketing copy and fliers for the church's youth group).

I'll be critter-care taking (checking in, petting, and litter box duty) for a nearby friend who's going on vacation.

I'll be working on my usual freelance copywriting gigs.

And I've accepted another part-time, non-copywriting gig that'll take upwards of 14 hours a week through late-April.

With any luck at all, all of this will result in a significant boost in my income.

It's going to be a real juggling act! Of course, my priority is always my main source of income, copywriting. But the work, although steady (I land projects every week), hasn't been heavy enough for me to re-build my emergency fund, so that's why I'm going to extraordinary lengths to find more (virtual) work. (Do you have any good leads for me along these lines?)

Slowly-but-surely, I'm building a copywriting clientele locally (in addition to the work I get via the Internet), but I'm not yet in a position where I can survive (reliably) solely on copywriting income (although I've managed to scrape by, by the grace of God, for four years now 99.999% on copywriting income). I anticipate it will happen this year (2012), but until it does, I'm accepting other virtual opportunities that come my way as long as I'm sure I can do them well while continuing to serve my clients in an exemplary manner.

One new copywriting client found me by doing a search on "copywriter Tacoma." That was a first for me, so I tried it myself and there I was, on the first page of Google "above the line"! That was a nice surprise! I guess I'm just "chatty" enough online, and have enough keywords on my Facebook copywriting page, to get decent Google rankings. WOO HOO!

This past year I've also discovered what DOESN'T work when it comes to advertising. Little Nickel, NOT! Facebook ads, NOT! Adwords, NOT! Craigslist--occasionally. Blogging--yes! Facebook outreach--yes. Writing articles--yes.

I also have a new ad (I posted it here not long ago) on a TV screen at two Forza coffee shops in Lakewood and an ad in a Baby Boomers "aging in place" magazine that I believe will result in additional income. I got both ads at a significant discount, so they're worth the cost ($50/$55) even if they lead me to a single client each. (I expect they'll lead me to more than that!)

I've written two guides to copywriting that I haven't offered to the public yet. I still need to do that to garner additional "passive income." Two--occasionally three--of my books earn some passive income. If I'd do more outreach for them, I'm sure they'd do better! I have to put that on my work schedule!

Which reminds me: The Authors Show (theauthorsshow.com) is re-running my SERVAL SON interview right now. You can also hear it right here to the right of this blog, up top, any time you want.

Here in Tacoma, my nose is to the grindstone right here in my home office, 24/7/365 (when I'm not asleep). Being an enterpreneur isn't for sissies or anxiety-driven souls. It takes guts and waaaaayyy more than a little faith--but it's a terrific way to make a living if you have a service or a product that other people are willing to pay for!!!

If you're looking for work and not finding any, think about what you can do that you LIKE to do that others are willing to pay for, and hang a shingle. The work you get will help you feel better while you wait for the economy to recover--and you MAY find that your new self-employment is "just what the doctor ordered" for the balance of your career.

Where is it written that you HAVE TO put your neck on the chopping block for employers to hack off whenever they feel the "need"? That's just one way to make a living. This country was founded by entrepreneurs who ran their own businesses. Go for it.

Again: it ain't easy, but it's worth it!

The Face of an Angel... ALPHA ROSSETTI -- Gone 28 Years, Never Forgotten!

2012-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

ALPHA ROSSETTI:

MORE THAN A SCHOOL TEACHER

(AND I REVERE SCHOOL TEACHERS!!!!!)

For many of you, this is the first sight you have of the woman who first believed in me as a writer. I received this photo today from her daughter, Susan , who has also been a school teacher for many years. (I'm happy to report that the apple didn't fall far from the Alpha tree.)

Of course, for those of you who grew up in Cle Elum during the same time I did (and in the decades before and for a decade or so after), you know, remember and revere Alpha Rossetti every bit as much as I do. She was an institution in our town. Her husband Mike was the mayor of Cle Elum (more than once, as I recall). With only 1600 people in the little burg (at that time), we were scarcely more than a village. Everyone knew everyone.

Ten years after I graduated from high school I went back for a visit. Mrs. Rossetti asked me, then, to call her Alpha, but I was never able to do it. To me, she earned the august title "Mrs. Rossetti". The familiarity of Alpha just never felt right to me. There are some teachers who inhabit their titles. She did.

Susan tells me her mom loved me. I have a feeling she probably loved a lot of her students. But I know she loved me. I absolutely do. She wasn't obvious about it, of course. She wasn't even "obviously" Susan's mom in class! She was a Teacher. Back in those days (the 1960's), Cle Elum High was "old school", scarcely past the knuckle-rapping days of yore. Teachers were Teachers. You didn't mess around. You Respected them. And because we did, we learned a lot. Our school's scholatic rating was always among the highest in the state.

But back to the major thread of this story...

While my dad was telling me to "get my head out of the clouds" and stop being so foolish as to think I would ever make a living as a writer, Mrs. Rossetti was telling me I was an amazing writer and buying me subscriptions to THE WRITER magazine. She did this, I suspect, because one time when she told me I was a very good writer, I asked her, "Teach me how to be better!" She told me that great writing wasn't something she could teach. (I get that, now, but back then I thought any English teacher could be a great writer if they decided to sit down and write: they knew all the rules and had stories to tell. What more did great writing require?)

She told me, "I can't teach you how to be better. I'm not a writer. But I'm a reader--and I know good writing when I see it."

I reckon my request preyed on her mind. Not long after this brief exchange, she handed me a copy of THE WRITER magazine. I have no doubt my eyes flew right out of their sockets!

Then she said, "I've paid for a two year subscription for you." (We were a poor farm family. We could no more have afforded a magazine subscription that only one family member would read than we could fly to the moon.) This was her way of teaching me how to be better--the only way she felt she could reliably!

I practically memorized every issue.

She also loved me enough to set me straight when my teen-age personality begin to segue from sweet to sour. She took me aside one day after class to advise me, not unkindly, "I don't like your new personality."

OMG! OMG! OMG! Red Alert! The very thought of losing Mrs. Rossetti's high regard for me catapulted my racing heart into my throat! I quickly regained my sanity. She never spoke of it again.

There are some people who become so much a part of your heart that you know they're sitting in heaven just waiting for you to beam up. These are the same souls you're half-compelled to go AWOL from life to see again, sooner than God has scheduled your leave-taking.

Alpha Rossetti is one of those. I simply cannot wait to see her again. But alas, I must. Until then, this new photo will sit to the right of my flat screen monitor, smiling at me...

She has been gone 28 years. In 28 years I'll be gone--probably sooner. And that's okay with me. I've got great friends over yonder that I'm missing like crazy. And a Savior I'm aching to embrace.

Cowabunga. It's going to be great!

My Ideal Client--Thanks to Michael Port (BOOK YOURSELF SOLID) for This Valuable Insight!!!

2011-12-31T15:39:00.000-08:00

In a few more hours (from here on the west coast of the USA) we'll be entering 2012. I'm doing everything in my power to make this a breakthrough year: the year I get up on my water skis (metaphorically) and get tugged around by the strides I've made in previous months and years to get the word out in a big way about what I do.

I just wrote a document called "My Ideal Client." Michael Port, who wrote Book Yourself Solid, espouses the notion that until you carefully identify who your ideal client is, you'll be spinning your wheels and finding the wrong clients. I've been awfully lucky to have accepted projects that are within my passions and niche, but I noticed that a lot of potential clients invite me to quote on their projects when they have no idea what I charge, the topics I tackle, or the topics I avoid, so they were losing precious time seeking me out and I was losing precious time explaining why I was declining their invitations: their budgets were too low, their topic not in my realm, etc.

Now that I've taken the time to profile my ideal client, I should start hearing from folks whose projects will inspire me to do my absolute best for them...and they'll know, up front, that I'm not amenable to entry-level copywriting fees. I'm not asking exorbitant rates at all; many clients have told me I charge too little for the value they receive, but I'm not in this field to gouge people: I'm in it to earn a decent living while making sure clients receive more than they expect for the money they pay me.

I'll post the document here. By reading it, you may be able to think of businesses and non-profit foundations that can use my services, instead of having to think "generically" about who to introduce me to. And remember: if you refer someone to me, and they let me know you did, I will send you 10% of the total project when it's completed. So there's something in it for you, too.

I hope the following helps you help me--and the friends and acquaintances you send to me!

Here we go:

Kristine M. Smith, Copywriter and Editor

My Ideal Client—Thumbnail Sketch

My Ideal Client is...

1.) Passionate about a benevolent cause (human, animal, environment)

A few examples:

Clean water and other resources, global warming

Elder Care Options

Head Start

Life Coaches

Business Coaches (Brian Tracy, et al)

Self-Help gurus (Anthony Robbins, et al)

Inspirational Speakers (Zig Ziglar, TD Jakes, et al)

Animal welfare and humane education (not “animal rights”)

Habitat for Humanity

Religious causes (non-violent only: missions, inter-faith pursuits, introductions to other faith traditions)

Natural Resources causes (Clean Energy, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, et al)

NASA

Progressive candidates for public office

Christian writers and pastors

Clients who need to have e-books written, ghosted, improved or proofread

Clients who have products or services that truly improve their customers’ lives or businesses (apps developers, spas and salons, weight loss clinics, et al)

Clients who need on-hold messages written for their company phone systems or telemarketing scripts for their in-house or off-shore marketing teams

2.) Driven to help others, with the ability to pay what exemplary copywriting is worth based on long-term ROI

Has researched professional fees for exemplary copywriters and understands what the profession entails and appropriate fees for various services; expects to pay an appropriate price for a professional copywriter and exemplary result. (Example: High- profile copywriters charge from $1.00 to $1.65 or more per word. This is not a typo. I don’t charge anywhere near that much, so the ideal client knows they’re getting a heck of a deal when I charge just $75/hour and produce at least 500 words every hour after I’ve reviewed the source materials and am ready to rock and roll.)

3.) Insecure or unsure about his or her own writing or communications abilities because of unhappy experiences in school English, business communications, and other communications classes or because of ESL difficulties, dyslexia, etc.

Although great at what they do for a living, most business owners aren’t well-trained writers and haven’t the time (or the inclination/passion) to become copywriters for their own purposes. Some sweat bullets writing a memo; others fret only when writing for their customers.

4.) Too busy running a business to be involved in the day-to-day aspects of public outreach via written communications: sales pieces, web content, brochures, flyers, slogans, taglines, articles, blogs, Social Media outreach, etc.

Self-explanatory.

Projects I rarely accept include: banking, finance, IT, real estate, insurance, tele-communications industry writing. If I’m not able to find passion for a project, I won’t engage in it because clients deserve a passionate provider who will invest his or her heart 110%.

Saw Our OIder Sis This Evening for a Few Hours! ZOWIE!

2011-12-29T23:05:00.000-08:00

Seeing my older sister is always a rare, chance occurrence. She lives and works in Rochester, 50 miles south of here, and when she does have any spare time (which is rare) she usually heads south, not north, to see her daughter and grandson in Portland. So it was a rare treat to see her today for a few hours.

I'm multi-tasking this week: I'm critter-watching two households while the critters' owners are at the beach. They'll be back tomorrow, which is a good thing. I love watching critters, of course, but I know they prefer to have their own people at home and not me! It has been fun, though, to drop in on them and take care of their needs and spend time petting them so they don't feel abandoned.

On other fronts:

I've met with a fellow who is going to design a new website for me. I'm going to write it but he's going to make sure it ranks very high at Google and other places so people who are looking for freelance writers, ghostwriters or copywriters can find me fast. He's very, very good at what he does. If you need someone like him, let me know and I'll refer you to him. You won't be disappointed and he's very reasonably-priced for the value you get. Seriously. I spent two hours with him yesterday seeing his many sites and their rankings at Google and I was blown away.

Guess that's all for now.

Saw WE BOUGHT A ZOO! Terrific Movie for All Ages

2011-12-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

Don't blink...or you'll miss the serval in the movie. I was so surprised and pleased to see one in it...

Very enjoyable movie. Go see it. You won't be disppointed. Take a hanky, though!!!

FROM GODVINE--Get a Hanky!

2011-12-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

Can You Smell That?

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery.

Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency caesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one."

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say.

She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

As those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted. Though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero.

Five years later, Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"

Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God does when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of the first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it was His loving scent that the little girl was remembering.

God is not a knife edge to carefully balance on lest one falls into the abyss. God is an infinite plain, no matter which way you fall, he catches you.

Just Saw Spielberg's WAR HOUSE -- It's a MUST SEE!!!

2011-12-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

WAR HORSE is possibly the best movie I've ever seen. I expect nothing less from Steven Spielberg, of course, but I think he has out-done himself this time.

Go see it. Take a hanky.

Now I'm going to have to get the book, too...

Kris

Copywriter/Wordsmith for Hire -- by the Hour, Day, Week or Project

2011-12-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Click ad to read more easily...

Busy, Busy Weeks Ahead

2011-12-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

"Ask and ye shall receive."

Boy howdy!

My next several months are going to be crammed full. I'm going to be working waaaaaaaayyyyyyy more than 40 hours a week on numerous projects and commitments. Networking is helping; word of mouth is helping; referrals are helping; my marketing materials are helping.
I pray for the strength to get through the next weeks with full energy, resilience and a sound mind!

Right now I'm working on a project for a local gentleman who wants to release his book about growing up in the Ozarks many years ago. He has written a real keeper. I'm also finishing up another local lady's book about growing up in the deep South before and during the civil rights movement. She was smack dab in the middle of it, on the receiving end of the animosity. If you've seen or read THE HELP, you have some idea. This women's story, too, is riveting.

Both of these folks have photos to accompany their words, which makes their manuscripts all that much more riveting: readers get to see the privations with their own eyes. I hope both books help explain and describe what growing up "dirt poor" really means. I hope it shows, too, the nobility of these folks to keep putting one foot in front of the other, day after weary day, to keep a roof over their heads, heat in the stove, and food in their stomachs. Both books make me want to stand up and salute!

I have a feeling my publisher may want both of them...

Battle Hymn of the Republic Done RIGHT!

2011-12-22T12:15:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Nancy Graf for forwarding this to me...

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Battle%20Hymn/index.htm

WHY I LOVE GOATS!!! Thanks to Nancy Graf for this WONDERFUL LINK!!!

2011-12-21T10:47:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/b4_EdJ-XkUA?rel=0

Picked up Some New Clients Today at a Networking Event

2011-12-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! I picked up a couple (perhaps three) new clients today at a networking event at Forza in Lakewood. And at least twelve of today's attendees agreed to post my copywriting flyer (the one with tabs; I sent them to some of you) where they have businesses so I can get some local clients. (All of my clients currently are virtual clients in other states and countries.) I will pay the flyer posters 10% of any project I get through their efforts if they put their names and phone numbers on the back of each of the tabs so I know who refers new customers to me. The same goes for any of you reading this who are willing to post flyers for me. I've already paid Matt Leger $25 for a $250 project he referred to me, so he can confirm the veracity of this offer.

I also am getting a TV-quality static ad designed by a professional, one that can be posted at Forza for very little per month. I'm looking forward to having that happen just after the first of the year. If you'd like the same deal, contact shon@defaction.com. Tell him I sent you. He's really good. I've seen his stuff. I'll attach what he did for me right here:

A lot of the people at the network meeting have had him do their business cards and other printed materials.

2012 is going to be my breakthrough year; I can feel it. I'm going to put myself out there in a big way (locally) and see if I can get off the online freelance websites for good this year. They are catering to people who don't care if they get great material as long as it's cheap. I don't do "cheap". What I write works. It resonates and converts. That's what matters most to reputable businesses.

Some start-ups don't know what good copywriting is or what it costs, so they make mistakes and get burned by bottom feeders. THEN they come to me. I listen and counsel and salve wounds; then I explain the obvious: you get what you pay for. It's as true in copywriting as it is in any other industry. Pay low, expect to have to replace it sooner. (In the case of copywriting, expect to replace it almost immediately unless you want to cripple your business!)

I re-wrote an insurance agent's site a couple years ago. I usually don't do insurance sites but I felt so sorry for this fellow, I just had to. He got ripped off royally by an off-shore ESL (really crappy) writer; I couldn't even understand many of the sentences that were on his website, they were so poorly written. It was just pathetic. He didn't know what to do. I did. And I did it. He practically genuflected (virtually). He was SOOOO appreciative. I think it's one of the few times I got a bonus on a project; he was simply amazed by the difference. It wasn't easy making a silk purse out of that particular sow's ear, but it felt great to do it.

Do Well By Doing Good--Help Hungry People all Year Long

2011-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Thansks to Garry Stutz for this link...

http://garry.networkgoodness.org/

Read is and Celebrate God's Love (Through His Sons and Daughters)

2011-12-19T09:25:00.001-08:00

http://www.foxsportshouston.com/12/18/11/Joyful-day-for-Marines-widow-at-Texans-g/landing_texans.html?blockID=629146&feedID=3714

FROM GODVINE--Get a Hanky!

2011-12-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Truce (Thank you to Godvine.)

This is a true story. Perfect to share for this time of year.

It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War I. German, British, and French soldiers, already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front (a crime punishable by death in times of war). German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."

"You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of troops streamed across a no-man's land strewn with rotting corpses. They sang Christmas carols, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared rations, played football, even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed to warn each other if the top brass forced them to fire their weapons, and to aim high.

A shudder ran through the high command on either side. Here was disaster in the making: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous and subject to court martial. By March 1915 the fraternization movement had been eradicated and the killing machine put back in full operation. By the time of the armistice in 1918, fifteen million would be slaughtered.

Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce. On Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston Globe mentioned that a local FM radio host played "Christmas in the Trenches," a ballad about the Christmas Truce, several times and was startled by the effect. The song became the most requested recording during the holidays in Boston on several FM stations. "Even more startling than the number of requests I get is the reaction to the ballad afterward by callers who hadn't heard it before," said the radio host. "They telephone me deeply moved, sometimes in tears, asking, `What the hell did I just hear?' "

I think I know why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be and says, "This really happened once." It reminds us of those thoughts we keep hidden away, out of range of the TV and newspaper stories that tell us how trivial and mean human life is. It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really could be different.

Need proof this really happened? Here you go. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-christmas-truce

Laverne and Shirley

2011-12-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Arghhh! Trying to get Laverne and Shirley to "focus" on food long enough (off-leash) so I can trim their hooves is ... insane. But that's what I tried to do today because I hate tying them to a post and upsetting them. (Not that they get all that upset tied to a post, but I like to do what I have to do with the least amount of wrestling I can get away with.) I got three hooves on both trimmed; I'll try to get the last two (one each) done tomorrow or sometime later this week.

I cannot believe we are just eight days away from Christmas and fourteen days away from 2012. I'm not in the Christmas spirit yet; it isn't cold enough or dreary enough outside to warrant this date! I hope the wee ones' Christmas pageant will kick me into high gear... I'm also slated to go see OLIVER at the Lakewood Playhouse this week. I'm looking forward to that! The rest of the family (sis, niece and grandkids) all went to see PETER PAN live last night at the Tacoma Musical Theater. I declined; two plays in one week won't work for me. I need my beauty rest... for what it's worth (not a helluva lot, judging by gazing into the mirror!).

I hope you're warm, cozy, ready for Christmas and very, very happy.

Good News...

2011-12-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Good News!!!

I'm slated to be making a lot more money from January to mid-May (in another realm) in addition to being a home-bound a copywriter. That's all I'll say about it, but I am really jazzed.

I can put away most of the money I make during that time toward an emergency fund while getting my (one) credit card squared away. How cool is that? Best of all: if I do a good job--and of course I plan to--I'll be able to land the same gig every year for as long as I want it!

Thank You, Jesus! It is a real blessing and a dream come true!

Spread the Word--The Keystone Pipeline is a Disaster in the Making--Call Your Representatives NOW!

2011-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

asknreceive1-1054310 wrote (prophetically)

The Keystone Dirty Tar Sands XL Pipeline is a disaster in the making. Millions of Americans have been on top of this project and screaming from the top of our lungs that more study needs to be done on the value vs. ultimate cost spectrum of the equation. Anyone who tells you the project will employ 20,000 American workers is flat out lying. Anyone who tells you it's going to be the proverbial Messiah for our economy is flat out lying.

The most workers projected for this environment trainwreck of a pipeline to ship oil from Canada all the way to the refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast is estimated at 6,000, and most of those workers will either be current employees of the Canadian oil company in the form of engineers, inspectors, etc. and then they'll give a few Americans the honor of digging the massive hole through the ground. The project has a timeline and then will end.

More importantly, once the crudest of all crude oil is running through that pipeline, it will be an enormous hazard for carcinogens in the air and in the ground waters where the wastewater will pollute the water used for irrigation of crops, for herds and for the people relying on that water for drinking purposes. Yes, let's ask Canada to explain how the First Nation people who are already victims of Keystone feel about doubling of diagnosed cancers in their communities.

Let's also ask those same people how they feel about moose having 450+ times the acceptable amount of arsenic in their meat. Yes, let's ask those who are already victimized by Keystone to speak up. Wait! They already have, but you won't hear that in the news.

Let's ask the 20 million people who will be directly affected by this pipeline project how they feel about a dirty tar sands oil pipe running under their rivers, lakes, aquifers, through fault lines like the one in Oklahoma where they just experienced a 5.6 magnitude earthquake just 30 miles from the planned pipeline route, and everywhere in between.

Let's also ask them if temporary work for a REAL projected number of no more than 6,000 people on a pipeline that is guaranteed to not only RAISE their oil prices but is also guaranteed to push nasty crude to the Gulf of Mexico where it will be refined, as best it can be, and then shipped off to Europe or elsewhere. Don't believe me? Do the research.

There are already tar sands being funnelled here and refined here, but we haven't seen one red cent returned to us in either gas price decreases or. . .wait for it. . .jobs.

I find it always helps to dig deep into such important matters before I start parroting anyone like Boehner, who has told you a big ugly lie as it relates to the prospect of 20,000 jobs. If he and they lie about that, what else do you think they haven't told you?

I'd like to help by providing a link to information about the First Nation people who are fighting for their lives and for the lives of all others who will be victimized if this legislation is approved by Obama, but Newsvine doesn't allow that. Just Google daily kos first nations herculean fight to stop the canadian tar sands project. . .read the truth of how ugly TransCanadas tar sands pipelines are, and read further to understand this oil was NEVER meant for you and me.

Even if Obama decides to rubber stamp this rubbish, even he must still go through the State Department. I'll be praying for saner heads to prevail. Peace be with you all, Fellow Americans.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/05/1042257/-The-First-Nations-herculean-fight-to-stop-the-Canadian-tar-sands-hydra

BRRR!!!! Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2011-12-12T23:27:00.000-08:00

Goodness! 32,632 visitors to this blog since its inception. I am blessed! THANK YOU, ALL!!!!

Laverne and Shirley are woolly this time of year. Putting my hand on their backs is like placing my hand on an Alaskan parka: plush, deep-piled and soft. They don't act even remotely cold, even though I often have to break the ice that's in their water trough so they can partake. It's amazing how different they feel, winter to summer. Good thing!

I'm feeding the birds and squirrels that are still lingering in the area. The temps are reaching 40 degrees in the daytime here. The sun comes out, and the critters come out looking for something to eat. I put out hardened corn and pumpkin seeds for the squirrels and suet and bird seed for the small birds. I put out anything else that the crows will eat.

Every time I head out to the goat shed, Ashley (my rescued-as-a-kitten 15 1/2 year old long-haired grey and black cat, a Persian) accompanies me. He watches to be sure I get out and back safely this time of year.

Of all the cats I'd expect to find in a "barnyard," Ashley is not one of them. He looks like he belongs in a Fancy Feast commercial. He's exquisitely gorgeous. I think of Eva Gabor in Green Acres whenever I see him ambling out to escort me to the goat pen:

"New York is where I'd rather stay
I get allergic smelling hay
I just adore a penthouse view
Darling, I love you but give me Park Avenue."

You are my cat!
Goodbye to all that!
Green Acres, we are here!
(thump thump)

Ashley is the world's scared-iest cat--very timid. But boy howdy, if something goes awry--if a goat accidentally steps on me and I yell, "Ouch!" Ashley becomes a feline battering ram: he immediately assaults whoever causes the insult. One time I accidentally stepped on his brother/litter mate Archie. Ashley came out of nowhere and threw his body against me, trying to get me OFF him before I could even react and step away. He's a security guard to beat all security guards! I love him to death for it, too.

On another note: The Winterfest event (charity Christmas event for 500 under-privileged families in our county which my sister co-hosts at PLU and shops for every year ) was fabulous again this year. I served as a greeter/family router (pointing them to people who could check them in and give them their big empty bags, which they fill with clothes, toys for their wee ones, toiletries and other goodies) for the first two hours and as a host at the "Gifts for Parents" table for two hours. I spent four hours helping set up and an hour helping clean up, too. We forgot to take cameras this year or I'd have some photos to post here. Sorry about that.

I haven't had enough income this month again, but I brought in more than enough last month, so I'll be okay (except that I can't buy gifts--bummer!) in December.

I have an interview on Friday; if I get the additional gig I'll be well-enough employed to cover all my basic expenses for the next several months and everything I make as a copywriter can go into savings so I'll have an emergency fund built up by mid-summer again. I may also be tapped to do the youth marketing at church from home here(God/church council willing) so that will pay an additional monthly stipend, too.

Multiple streams of income is the watch word of this repressed economy, so I'm looking for ways to make it happen from home. I'll have book royalties every three months, too, so... little by little, it's all coming together! I feel very blessed.

What else? I watched Jamie practice basketball tonight. It's such a kick watching seven year old kids play sports. Jamie and Casey (age 11) play sports all year long: soccer, basketball. Wendy keeps them busy and active; they aren't an ounce overweight. I want to get (or build) a Trek desk so I can say the same thing a year from now. I'm going to ask George Rebar (Wendy's dad) if he'll build me a desk that a treadmill will fit under so I can walk (slowly) while I work. I hate being this sedentary; it isn't good for me. I've been thinking about this for a year now. It's going to happen in early 2012. I'm determined that it will. I can get a used treadmill at craigslist for a song.

I guess that's about all for this time. I hope you're enjoying this festive, sacred season. I don't know how it got here this fast, but it'll be gone before we know it... so enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

Memories...

2011-12-08T23:52:00.000-08:00

I was 12 or 13 years old the first time it ever occurred to me that my thoughts weren't all-but-broadcast to everyone around me. It was quite the revelation. I've never forgotten what a shock it was.

I remember the occasion very, very well. I was in the old house in Cle Elum (the one that had been a two-story stagecoach stop a hundred years before; alas, it was later torn down), thinking truly noble, wonderful, worthwhile thoughts--which I did quite a lot at that age--when it hit me: "No one can hear what I'm thinking!"

Then I began to consider what my family did hear from me whenever I opened my mouth: mostly reactionary or inane crap... never ever noble, worthy thoughts!

I was horrified. It was no wonder they didn't seem to think I was worth listening to! MY real life source was all inside my head, or written down on paper in some notebook or journal! It wasn't that I was being secretive; it's just the way I communicated best. It always has been. Why?

My home was a boisterous, shock-and-awe kind of place. Dad was a Tasmanian Devil kind of guy--always whirling, twirling (not literally--emotionally), commanding, demanding... loud, profane, not interested in anyone else's opinion or druthers. He was large and in charge. No one ever finished a sentence in our house--someone else "got" what we were saying (or couldn't care less about what we were saying) before we reached the end of our sentences and interrupted with their next thoughts. It was insane! I likely became a writer early on so I could get complete thoughts and sentences down without being interrupted or minimized!

What's sad is I'm all too often guilty of the same thing--saying only inane, reactionary things--when I open my mouth these days. I still keep the loftier thoughts locked up. What people hear are momentary reactions, fleeting concerns, reactions to the latest stupidity spouted by politicians.

Unless I take the initiative to plant myself in a chair and describe what I'm truly feeling and thinking--which takes time and enough "time out" to allow myself to respond (as opposed to simply "reacting")--what comes from me is mostly small talk... small indeed. And I loathe, loathe, loathe small talk. Always have. Talking about "nothing much" bores me to tears. Hearing about "nothing much" bores me to tears. All too often, Facebook and Twitter bore me to tears;I'm thinking of signing off from both of them. I don't enjoy chit-chat. I care about what matters. But what matters often upsets me because no one is listening to anyone else anymore, especially in the political realm. Mostly what seems to be happening there is mean-spirited vilification. Talking heads are making us all crazy, making us all feel we have something to lose by listening to the other side. It's like we have our own Cold War between the red and blue states; the other side is somehow un-American. What a bunch of malarkey.

From an early age I've always wanted to talk about the stuff that really matters. My fondest memories are of lying in (or atop) sleeping bags on the front lawn in Cle Elum, looking up at the stars and pondering galaxies, God, alien life forms, and why it all seemed so impossible and yet so probable! My brain was on fire. Nothing was off the table on those nights--my cousin Tim, or my friends from down the road, would lie awake till 4:30 talking, thinking, pondering...planning. There was nothing we couldn't imagine and nothing we couldn't do. We'd landed on the moon, for gosh sakes! Nothing seemed impossible anymore. I was lying in front of a stagecoach stop built in the 19th century looking up at a moon that had been walked on by a human being. It was insane! Insanely wonderful.

These days I wonder what we can do if we'd just stop taking pot shots at each other and start building something together. You know, infrastructure...clean energy factories...vehicles that run on something others than gasoline...families that spend time together...business and other relationships that are win-win for all concerned...

I know it's do-able. We're bright critters. If a golden retriever can rescue a bag of kittens from a highway; if a German shepherd will wet-nurse tiger cubs, if a gorilla in a zoo will care for a child who has fallen into its moat, why on earth can't human beings live up to the fine, upstanding title we've given ourselves as "apex" animals, as image-bearers of God?

I do think it's possible. I'll never stop believing it's possible. But like Mark Twain, I'm beginning to think it's not going to happen in my lifetime--and that upsets me. Twain wrote, "People call me a pessimist in my old age, but I'm not. I am an optimist who did not arrive."

I get that. We can do better. I know a LOT of people who ARE doing better. It's time to put these people on the air and oust ones who are doing nothing but denigrating and belittling others to make themselves seem more righteous.

I'm tired of the small mindedness I see scattered across the airwaves. We're better than that. We deserve better. Let's start acting like mature grownups and tackle the issues that trouble us the way we tackled landing a man on the moon--with optimism, mutual assistance and perseverance. We can solve every problem we have because we've created every problem we have. Nature is for us. God is for us. We have to be for ourselves as a species and as a chief architect of the future of this beautiful orb.

Let's stop being so cranky and get cranking on what matters most.

Merry Kris Smith to All and to All a Good Night!

2011-12-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

At a church Christmas Party two years ago (maybe three!)

Jamie and Casey feeding "reindeer" Laverne and Shirley last year

Flashback: Casey and Kris circa 2004 or 2005 at Christmastime

Holiday Gift: SERVAL SON AUTOGRAPHED BY AUTHOR -- SPECIAL OFFER

2011-12-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

Order SERVAL SON direct from me before December 18th for $20 and I'll personalize the copy(ies) to whomever you want and ship them directly to you (or the gift recipient) as long as you both live in the United States. (Please Note: Christmas delivery NOT guaranteed unless you order by December 12.)

My email address is kristinemsmith @ msn DOT com (all one word). E me and I'll provide my snail mail address so you can send the $20 OR if you prefer to pay via Paypal, we can make those arrangements, too.

Use this link if you want to order direct from Amazon WITHOUT having me inscribe it: https://www.createspace.com/3654743 (You'll save $5 because the book won't be autographed.)

This offer is good until December 18th or until my home stash of SERVAL SON disappears. (I don't keep a lot of copies on hand.)

Tell your animal-loving friends about this offer, too. SOON!

Thanks!

Happy December 1st--Whatever Happened to January-November?!

2011-12-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

I do not know where this year went. It just flew by. That's what happens, the older you get. I know why, too.

When you're five, you have to wait one fifth of your entire life for the next Christmas. When you're sixty, you only have to wait 1/60th of your life!

Christmas seems to come and go every few months now! This would be okay if I had enough disposable income to invest in my loved ones, but alas... I don't... at least not this year, or last, or the six or seven immediately past. I expect 2012 will be a lot different, but it has been a long, dry spell, pretty much ever since returning to Washington State from California.

But would I go back to re-capture the moolah? Not on your life!

This has been one of the most wonderful nine years of my life. I've reconnected with my sisters, and especially with Jackie and her family. Laurel lives 50 miles away and, like me, owns her own business, so we only see each other about twice a year, but that's still a lot more often than I saw her during the entire 14 years I lived in Hollywood!

I have two goats I love, which wouldn't be the case if I still lived in a condo. I have new friends, a wonderful part-time gig as a nursery supervisor two days a week for a few hours each time, my own business, so little stress it hardly bears mentioning... It's just way cool, all the way around!

A funny thing happened at church last weekend. Jennie was telling the wee ones the biblical story about the sheep and the goats. Of course, all the kids in her class know my goats, so they thought the goats got the raw end of the deal in the story! When Jennie told me about it later, we both laughed. She said, "It didn't go over real well. You should have sheep!"

The goats always got the shaft in biblical days. Remember the "scapegoat"? The one the Israelites placed all their accumulated sins on and then sent out into the desert to be eaten by lions? Exactly! The sheep were shepherded, led, corralled, protected (at least until the day the perfect ones were sacrificed!); the goats just hung out. Oh, well... I'm making up for their rough treatment, big time!

My goats are so spoiled. Whenever I step into the back yard they come screaming down the hill in my direction as fast as they can, bleating for attention. They're "out to here" in goat goodies (carrots, onions, apples, broccoli, whatever I find at the store that's on sale) in addition to hay. They look pregnant, especially Shirley. She's my "worker bee" in the blackberry field. She's still out there looking and nibbling, and there isn't much out there this time of year. Laverne is more selective-- and less wide as a result!

Jackie has my cold now. (Or something worse. She has a really bad sore throat, too, which I didn't have.) She stayed home today and is actually sleeping a lot. (To get Jackie to lie down during the day is usually a miracle. She cannot seem to sit still at any time, unless she's collapsed and exhausted at day's end.) Poor thing... She has a big gig she's responsible for next weekend, too, so I hope she gets over what she has a whole lot sooner than I'm getting over what I have. It was nasty... I'm almost recovered now, but it has taken--what, two weeks? At least!

Busy Busy Busy Again!

2011-11-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

The past week I've been busier'n a beaver writing copy for clients at Elance and via Paypal. It has been truly amazing. An awful lot of the business (all new clients!) has come just recently, and one of the newbies wants me to write/edit/copy-enhance scads more for him, HALLELUJAH!

My plan is to stash away as much of this boon as I can so I'm never again as strapped as I have been recently. It has been no fun, no fun at all!

I raised my rates to compensate for the extra time and expense it's taking me to find decent, interesting projects at Elance. I think that has also cued the businesses who are looking for good writers to look more closely at me. Strangely enough, I think my rates were too low for anyone to deem me worth their consideration. Savvy businesses know what a good copywriter can charge on the open market and wonder why we'd ever charge less. I charge less because I don't think I have to make a killing to make a living; I don't believe in charging businesses more just because I can!

I've been very croupy all week, too, with a terrible cold. (I mentioned this in an earlier blog, I think.) I had to farm out last week's mid-week church nursery gig; managed to make it there on Sunday, but it was a struggle. I'm still fighting the tail end of it...

I've missed two networking events that I really, really wanted to attend, but I was afraid I'd infect everyone in attendance, so I stayed away. (Didn't have the energy to get dressed up, anyway. One great thing about working from home is you can do it in jeans and a t-shirt... or jammies and a robe. There's nobody to impress; my copy speaks for itself!)

Guess that's about it for this time. Just thought I'd better check in and let you know I'm still alive.

Hope your Thanksgiving Day was terrific!

FROM GODVINE--Get a Hanky!

2011-11-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

A Lesson in Love

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake.

Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us.

He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?"

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure," with a malevolent little smile.

As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him..

Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. "Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet.

Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. "Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday." His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you doing?"

"I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately," came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose.

This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water.

When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done.

Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches.

As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

"Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time." The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

"What's this?" Carl asked.

"It's your stuff," the man explained. "It's your stuff back, even the money in your wallet." "I don't understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?"

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned something from you," he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate." He stopped for a moment. "I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back." He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say.. "That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist.

Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church.

The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden."

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: "Person needed to care for Carl's garden."

The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door.

Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. "I believe this is my job, if you'll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl.

He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him."

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done.

In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, "My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. "That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?"

"Carl," he replied.

INTERSEX: DIFFERENT--NOT DEFECTIVE

2011-11-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

INTERSEX: DIFFERENT—NOT DEFECTIVE

THIS COMMENTARY MAY BE REPRINTED FREELY AS LONG AS THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND THE BYLINE/TAGLINE AT THE END REMAINS IN THE PUBLISHED PIECE.

Intersex is the last “hidden shame.”
It’s time to acknowledge and celebrate what makes us unique.

Since turning 60, with recurrent frequency I’ve been asked, “Have you ever been married?” “Why didn’t you ever marry?” by friends—sometimes even by casual acquaintances who linger long enough to wonder why I never mention a husband or children.

Back in the day, I’d just lie. I’d joke, “Never found anyone I could put up with 24/7/365!” or “Never found anyone who could put up with me!” Or I’d say, more seriously, “I’ve seen too many failed marriages—or even successful ones—that I’d never want to be part of.”

The reason I lied is because I never realized, until just this past year, how many people “like me” there are in the world. As soon as I understood the phenomenon and how frequent it is (it occurs as frequently as natural red hair, which I also have; I seem to have won the Lottery of Oddities!), I thought it ridiculous that society would elect to sweep us under the rug rather than acknowledge that we’re here in number and we’re every bit as viable as the rest of y’all are.

I’m not gay. I don’t think a lot of today’s gays are actually gay. I think a lot of them were “repaired” shortly after birth because frantic parents didn’t know what else to do with an ambiguously-sexed infant and wanted to give it the most normal life possible—and, as the less-than-classy saying goes in surgical wards, “It’s easier to make a hole than to entertain a pole.” (It’s easier to excise external maleness and raise a baby as a girl so “she” never has to suffer the consequences of living with an ever-present “birth defect.”)

I’m Speculating Here

When it comes to my own birth condition, I’m speculating. When I contacted Intersex Allies to find out how to determine whether or not I was an intersex baby, I was told it would cost thousands of dollars in tests, unless I could find my medical records from infancy—but that IF I found my medical records, they wouldn’t necessarily be trustworthy, because many were altered (just as intersex infants were routinely altered until about 20 years ago, when it became apparent that assigning gender doesn’t work mentally and emotionally over the long term for most patients.)

A thoughtful, warm, concerned psychiatrist at Intersex Allies wanted to know how I would feel if I did discover I was altered at birth. I said, “Relieved.” He seemed a bit surprised. He inquired, “Not angry?” I said, “I don’t think so. Maybe a little robbed. But I know that parents want what is best for their children, absolutely. I just don’t think they always know what’s best.”

He asked if I’m depressed or negatively affected in any other way by my gender identity concerns. I said, “No. I guess at times I feel LONELY—like I’m the only one out here who’s like me.” He assured me I’m not: something like one in every 300 babies is born with the condition.

He inquired further: “What would you do about it if you discovered you were altered?” I said, “Nothing. There’s no way I’d put loved ones through the anxiety of having to relate to me in a different way—not at my age. I’ve seen what transgendered people have to put up with; I’ve watched what happened to Chaz Bono and to a friend of mine who simply had to ‘fix’ what they felt was ‘wrong’ about them. The level of hatred (ignorance, really) in this society for people with gender identity issues is intense. I’d never volunteer for that. I’m at peace with who I am, despite the isolation it causes.”

He told me, “Even if you took the tests, they might be inconclusive. So you might end up back at square one. Your internal orientation is your best gauge. If you’ve felt this way your entire life, you’re not wrong. Your experience is your experience. It’s as legitimate as anyone else’s where gender identity is concerned.”

Family Matters

After I had this conversation with the Intersex Allies psychiatrist, I began to revisit my childhood. A lot of dots began to connect. It was a dizzying eye-opener.

The fact is I have never felt female. I was appalled when my chest budded into bumps, then breasts. I was horrified when I got my period. Until these atrocities came along I was completely happy imagining I would grow up to be a cowboy, a bronc buster, a fireman, an actor. My favorite toys were trains and plastic horses. (My plastic horses were always “humping” other plastic horses.)

When my hormones kicked in, my sexual fantasies were male-on-female: I was always the male. When I started (what adults considered) “falling in love” with actors—Roy Rogers, Jack Lord, Robert Preston, Jerry Lewis, and others—my fantasies surrounding them were that I was them, that I was inside their bodies experiencing their lives from their points of view. I never fantasized them as being my lovers.

Other clues

Dad told me that when I was born, “at first we thought you had a birth defect.” When I asked why, he hesitated briefly and then changed the subject: “You weighed just five pounds [I was a full-term baby]; you lost two pounds right away. The doctor said not to name you because you probably wouldn’t live. You fit inside a cigar box. Your butt was the size of the tips of two of my fingers.” What Dad described was “small” and “at risk” but in no way “defective.”

When I was about 22 I did something (I don’t recall what, now) that made Dad enormously proud. He lit up and proclaimed, “That’s my boy!” The moment he said it, he blanched and apologized; he was nearly apoplectic! I told him, “It’s all right, Dad.”

Of course, it wasn’t all right—not then. He and Mom had raised me as a girl. Even so, I felt it was the confirmation I’d been seeking. It just felt right to be called his boy.

Now, a lot of people may say that my gender identity issues are entirely my Dad’s fault, that he must have signaled to me that he wanted a boy. I don’t think that’s it. Mom and Dad had a third child. She was named after Dad (Jack LeRoy/Jackie Lee). If anyone should have felt pressure to “be Dad’s boy,” it would have been Jackie. So as far as I’m concerned, Dad’s off the hook. I am convinced that my gender identity was established inside Mom’s womb by God.

I never asked my parents about this. Sadly, I didn’t know, before they died, how common intersex is, or I might have.

I have told my two sisters about this. One says, “It doesn’t surprise me.” The other totally rejects the notion, saying: “You’re one of the most female women I know. And Dad would never have allowed doctors to alter a son, even if it meant surgery down the road (to remove female parts].”

Really?! 60 years ago? I think Dad would have done what the doctors believed at the time to be in the best interest of his child and all concerned. (Doctors no longer respond this way to intersex births, thank God!)

These days when people ask me why I never married, I ask them if they’re ready to hear the truth or whether they want my standard lie. Most want the truth. So far, every person I’ve told has accepted it; none have ever mentioned knowing anyone else like me. That’s how hidden the condition is. I suspect every adult knows at least one intersex person; they just aren’t aware of it. People all too often assume unmarried people are gay, anti-social or neurotic. What many of us actually are never even occurs to them.

We’re often lonely—on the outside looking in—but we’re loving, funny, and completely, utterly human. Those of us who have accepted our fates are as normal and contributory as you are. Those of us who haven’t are struggling mightily.

Here’s a common quote I embrace: “Find ways to be especially kind to everyone you meet. Everyone is facing some kind of battle.”

My battle (with regard to my gender identity issue) has ended. These days I tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. And you know what? It feels good to be loved for exactly who I am. Hiding in plain sight sucked.

Kristine M. Smith is the author of six books and a well-regarded freelance copywriter. She is available for interviews or forums on any subject matter she writes about or has written books about. You can reach her at kristine m smith AT msn DOT com.

Freelance Copywriter Rates in the U.S.

2011-11-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

If you ever ask yourself why freelance writers in the U.S. charge so much for their work:

we don't get paid vacations

we don't get paid sick days

we don't get bonuses for outstanding work or for Christmas

We don't have insurance plans

We don't qualify for unemployment when work doesn't materialize

We live in a very expensive economy and can't compete with developing country rates and continue to provide high-quality work

Please remember all this the next time you're tempted to wonder or complain.

Although we enjoy our work...(sadly)...enjoyment doesn't pay the rent.

This is one of the few businesses still in existence where you can still Buy American! So please support your fellow Americans!

Repost if you're a freelancer or love one.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

It's so easy to get "down in the dumps" in the world we're presently living in. Add to that a nasty head and chest cold--and it's even easier.

I've been sleeping, coughing and sneezing when not writing for clients for the past two days...and it doesn't look like it's going to get any easier in the next day or so. I may even have to stay home for Thanksgiving! That would be so un-cool!

I've already bailed on my nursery duty for this week at church. It's just one day, but I hated doing it. That's when every one of the people who volunteer with me there stepped in and said they'll pinch hit for me. It took a load off my mind, for sure...

Getting that enthusiastic response led me to think of other ways I'm thankful.

I'm thankful I have a passion/skill that is carrying me through this recession. I've been so busy writing this week (after a brief famine) that I'm going to be okay again this month. (It's a month to month thing.) I don't have any "discretionary" income, so there'll be no holiday gifts from me this year, but the people who love me couldn't care less about that. I'm thankful for that!

I'm thankful for those of you who contact me on Facebook, by email, by phone, or right here to let me know you're thinking of me and praying for me.

I'm thankful I have friends, near and far, who go to bat and "defend" me when I can't (or won't) do it myself, even when they're a little or a lot over the top and I have to reel them back in!

I'm thankful for my faith. Without it, I'd be anxious almost non-stop trying to make a living in the only way available to me right now--and in the only way I've ever wanted to make a living: via the written word.

I'm thankful for healthy pets and a loving family.

I'm thankful for a gazillion other things, but I need to lie down again. Just thought I'd take a moment to wish every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're every bit as blessed and thankful as I am and as you deserve to be. You've blessed me: I hope you reap what you sow a hundred times over.

Hugs!

Holiday Gift SERVAL SON SPECIAL OFFER

2011-11-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

If you'll order SERVAL SON direct from me for $20, I'll personalize the copy(ies) to whomever you want and ship them directly to you or to the gift recipient as long as you both live in the United States.

This offer is good until December 15th while my home stash of SERVAL SON lasts.

Yes, you can get the book for less at Amazon but it won't be personalized.

My email address is kristine m smith AT msn DOT com (all one word). E me and I'll provide my snail mail address so you can send the $20. OR if you prefer to pay via Paypal, we can make those arrangements, too.

Tell your animal-loving friends about this offer, too. SOON!

Thanks!

"SERVAL SON" TOTALS: UNKNOWN AT THIS POINT!

2011-11-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

Some folks are waiting with 'bated breath to find out how many copies of SERVAL SON have sold. I'm not sure I'll ever know the answer to that on any given day because the sales come in at different times from different channels.

I guess it's sufficient to say I will not be retiring on royalties from the book, or any of the others I have written, even in combination! The books (in combination) give me a mini-boost every few months when royalties roll in, but the boost is by no means substantial. If I had to rely on my books to sustain me, I'd have gone under a decade ago!

It's my copywriting gigs that keep my head above water... and in this economy, sometimes they're so few and far between that I have to take huge gulps of air to survive between surfacings!

But that's the way of life for most Creatives.

You're used to hearing about the Big Guns who can command Big Bucks even before they've put a single word on paper. They're the ones "crowned" by mass media and given free and frequent access to the hallowed halls of television studios. The rest of us get by working hard to put the word out into cyberspace in the hopes that those who buy the book will review it, chat it up, and help us keep the word going around that (like the Whos in Whoville) "We're here! We're here!"  Wee'uns like us need Hortons (like you! Bless you all!) who hear us and then carry our message to the powers that be...

I'm still just squeaking by. But I'm happy, I'm challenged, and I'm not stopping.

Who knows how soon I'll get fully up on my water skis and be able to stand without the heavy flow of water pushing them into my feet and legs? However long it takes--or if it never happens at all--I'll still be here doing this, because it's what I was born to do.

Stringing words together is my passion. It always has been; it always will be. If there's no need for it in heaven, I'll be miserable there! (But not as miserable as I am here when nothing comes in to do. I won't have the cloud of insolvency hanging over my head in heaven! That will be a huge relief!)

Books don't sell like hotcakes unless authors get mainstream publicity. Although SERVAL SON reached #2 and #4 in two niche categories (animal welfare/rights and Nature/Fauna) on the day it debuted, it was never in competition with the likes of Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Bill or Hilary Clinton, and that gang of bestseller celebs. That would be expecting a lot more of it than I was--although Stephanie Ealy seems to think that when (not if) the right producer in Hollywood sees it, it will catch fire and become the next Marley and Me. (From her pen to Hollywood's ears!!!)

So, in answer to your question, "Are you rich yet?" I will respond, "Ha ha ha ha ha."

In answer to your question, "Are you worried?" I'll answer, "Only infrequently--because I know Who has my back."

In answer to your question, "Will you ever consider 'getting real' and going back to a real job?" I'll confess (blush), "I've tried, hundreds of times these past few years, but nobody's pounding down my door."

But you know what? Even if I did go back to 9 to 5 (or whatever else I could get), my evenings and weekends would still be devoted to stringing words together. I'm addicted. Writing lights up my brain the way cocaine or ??? (whatever else!) lights up addicted folks' brains. I get high when I write--100% naturally!

And because no one I've applied to has shown any interest in hiring me (although I certainly qualify), I take that to mean that God is happy that I'm doing what I love, too.   It's 10-12 hour work days plus evenings and weekend looking for writing work, 2-3 hour days actually writing (on average), but... I'm happy!!! Try explaining that to a non-Creative!

Zanesville Ohio Insanity-- A Commentary

2011-10-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

Zanesville Ohio Wild Animal Killing – The Real Tragedy

THIS COMMENTARY MAY BE REPRINTED FREELY AS LONG AS THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND THE BYLINE/TAGLINE AT THE END REMAINS IN THE PUBLISHED PIECE.

I am reeling with sadness. Although I understand the necessity to protect the public, I hurt beyond expression for the innocent animals that lost their lives after a distraught owner turned them loose and then killed himself.

Having worked in animal sanctuaries and as a wildlife rehabilitator I know that, with the right body language and attitude, a person known to the freed animals could probably have safely recaptured more than were captured but, in the heat of the incident, the only body language and attitudes the animals saw and felt were law enforcement officials on high alert ("predators out to get them") rather than "caretakers out to help them." The animals went into "fight or flight" mode as a result. That is what made them especially dangerous and unpredictable.

I don't know if there was anyone around that the animals knew, or could feel safe with, to step up to the plate and offer their services to "corral" them; if not, there was probably nothing else that could have been done once the folks with weapons arrived.

That's the tragedy. Something else could have been tried before the call was made to destroy the freed animals, but no one in charge seems to have known that. That was the first tragedy.

I'm not adamantly opposed to wild pets, but I am adamantly opposed to anyone who gets them for the wrong reasons and to anyone who won't do 110% right by them.

It's obvious that the wildlife owner in question had "issues" (a recent jail sentence among them) that signaled he should not be given a license to house large, dangerous wild animals (or even potentially dangerous domestic ones). But the rules are lax in Ohio, so apparently anyone can get a wild animal there. THAT'S WRONG!

Wild animals as pets are an unparalleled commitment, no matter how many other kinds of pets you may have owned before. Very few people who want them should have them. My guess is that less than 1/10 of 1% of the people who want them should get them, because most people have no clue what the commitment entails or how hard they'll have to work to do right by the animal they adopt.

Perhaps it was the costs and the responsibilities of owning so many animals that drove the Zanesville man to suicide; perhaps not. But turning them loose beforehand seems to indicate something darker and more sinister.

I don't think he was "freeing" the animals before he died. I think he may have been "loosing" them on the forces he considered responsible for his past and present misery: law enforcement officers.

Unhappily, the predictable happened. In the man versus beast realm, man always wins. Animals, innocent though they be—pawns in the game—always lose.

My heart cries out. Those lifeless, bloodied bodies haunt me.

Justice has not been served. Something wicked happened, but the folks who shot the animals out of concern for human welfare are victims, too; victims of an animal owner who betrayed his own creatures.

#
Kristine M. Smith is an animal behaviorist and advocate with decades of combined experience as a wildlife rehabilitator, captive animal caretaker and humane educator. Her newest book, SERVAL SON: Spots and Stripes Forever, is available at Amazon. You can reach her at kristinemsmith@msn.com

HEAR "SERVAL SON" INTERVIEW ON DEMAND ANYTIME FROM MY BLOG

2011-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

SERVAL SON INTERVIEW BEING REBROADCAST ON 'THE AUTHOR SHOW'!!

2011-10-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Kristine M. Smith,

Your interview on The Authors Show is again being broadcast. To listen to it simply go to TheAuthorsShow.com. Our show brings you great exposure and we encourage you to let all your contacts know of your interview which can be listen to on the web from anywhere around the world.

Enjoy the rebroadcast of your interview J

Nancy Villella
Production Assistant - TheAuthorsShow.com

SERVAL SON IS AVAILABLE ON KINDLE NOW!

2011-10-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

All you Kindle lovers, now's your chance to get SERVAL SON for $7.99! ENJOY!!! The photos are all in color in the Kindle version.

My Hand Procedure Went GREAT!

2011-10-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

My hand is so minimally sore this morning that it hardly bears mentioning. THANK YOU Dr. Huang and Team for providing this amazing alternative to serious hand surgery!! What a godsend!!!

From SOJOURNERS--

2011-10-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

We’ve seen a new movement rise up in the United States during the past few weeks. People are gathering all over to challenge the direction our nation is going.

Occupy Wall Street protesters are giving voice to millions of Americans who are fed up with a rigged economic system and a political process that does not hear their concerns or reflect their values.

The protesters have started a national conversation about our country’s priorities and values, one that many of us have been having for months: a conversation about jobs, budgets, wars, and corporate greed.

We will see images and hear things from Occupy Wall Street demonstrators -- likely some that will offend us and some that will inspire. We’ll hear demands that we agree with and some that we don’t.

But we should all learn from them: It is time to speak up and change the direction of our nation.

•Write Congress and tell them enough is enough.
•Send a letter to your local paper explaining your ideas for a moral economy.

When you’re done, find ways to support the protests in your community and across the country: Donate some food, send messages of moral support, and most importantly, pray for God’s will to be done.

Hand Surgery Tomorrow--Please Keep Me in Prayer for a Great Outcome!

2011-10-12T13:54:00.001-07:00

That's all, folks. Just keep me in prayer for a great outcome and warp speed recovery. I can't afford to be off work for more than a couple of days...

THANKS!

PLEASE DON'T DEFEND ME IF YOU CAN'T DO IT WITH CIVILITY

2011-10-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm espousing civility and decency but my influence isn't rubbing off on others. That's become readily apparent recently.

Yesterday a remote advocate/supporter of mine (I've never met her, don't know her) tied into a detractor of mine at Amazon with such mean-spirited vitriol that I had to email her and ask her to back off. She ultimately deleted what she wrote, while proclaiming her First Amendment right to say anything she darn well pleased!

That might work with public figures (who would go broke suing slanderers every time they were misrepresented), but it doesn't with private citizens. She herself could have been sued for the character assassination she was responsible for, so I'm doubly glad she deleted the posts.

Unfortunately that leaves the detractor's response to her verbal diarrhea, so I had to introduce myself into the circus to defend myself, point by point, against the original writer's accusations/ assumptions/misrepresentations. At the end, I also reminded that lady that she was treading on thin ice and in danger of being sued for defamation of character. (I reported her post to Amazon with the hope that they will require her to retract it. They may be equally-responsible for disseminating the recent slander if they don't. I'm looking into that...)

Had my "defender" let this sleeping dog lie (the detractor's low rating of DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories has been there for years with an occasional diplomatic letter of support for me from others) there would have been no follow-up "defense" of her position... and I would not now be tarred-and-feathered by accusations I feel compelled to counteract point by point.

I'm telling this tawdry story simply to throw a spotlight on the ugly fact that too many people have become absolute monsters to people they don't even know.

They attack others' characters as part of a daily ritual.

The vitriol they contain must make them ill inside physically and mentally.

I just don't understand it.

Why would a person give away their power like that? Why would they allow another's opinion to rile them to a point where they're willing to come across like ogres themselves simply to make the other person look worse than their own words already confirm?

I think much of the world has gone insane. I know we live in a fallen world but it would seem to me that our charge is to get back up and try again with a more level head and a renewed heart. That doesn't seem to be happening.

I don't get any joy in castrating or castigating others, even when I disagree with them. I don't understand how anyone would. Verbal violence is an alien idea to me since I grew up and decided to become an adult. Causing each other spiritual harm is not in my playbook.

I hope those of you who follow and/or support me will do so in ways that reflect well on yourself, on your God, and on me. I don't need the support of people who are going to treat others like pond scum. That only exacerbates an already-festering sore. It heals no one, raises no one, blesses no one.

You reap what you sow. Remember that and this blog post will have done its job.

If you can't defend me with love and diplomacy, don't defend me at all. That's all I ask.

HEAR "SERVAL SON" INTERVIEW ON DEMAND ANYTIME RIGHT HERE

2011-10-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

http://almostfamousbydesfault.blogspot.com.

ENMASSE EVENT: HEAR SERVAL SON INTERVIEW ALL WEEKEND ON DEMAND

2011-10-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Simply click on the radio button to the right of this blog post. It's just 15 minutes long. PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK WITH YOUR FRIENDS. Thank you!

Check Out This New Book from a Friend of Mine, Chandel L. White!

2011-10-07T08:46:00.001-07:00

https://www.createspace.com/3487814

Befriend Author Chandel White on your Facebook page and help him get the word out to your Christian friends.

Thanks!

Personalized Holiday Gift SERVAL SON SPECIAL OFFER

2011-10-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

If you'll order SERVAL SON direct from me for $20, I'll personalize the copy(ies) to whomever you want and ship them directly to you or to the gift recipient as long as you both live in the United States.

This offer is good until November 15th while my home stash of SERVAL SON lasts.

Yes, you can get the book for less at Amazon but it won't be personalized.

My email address is kristine m smith AT msn DOT com (all one word). E me and I'll provide my snail mail address so you can send the $20. OR if you prefer to pay via Paypal, we can make those arrangements, too.

Tell your animal-loving friends about this offer, too. SOON!

Thanks!

SERVAL SON WILL BE AVALABLE ON KINDLE WITHIN DAYS

2011-10-03T09:07:00.001-07:00

Just to let you know, SERVAL SON will be available on Kindle within days. It will be listed at $8.99, so if you're been waiting until now to get it, you can get it for less if you have a Kindle.

Find Freebies Here!

2011-10-02T20:49:00.001-07:00

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/your-money-today/video.aspx?vid=f4d5e276-5f43-b685-fbd8-2325fb1f04be&from=en-us_msnhp&gt1=32083

Brigitte Thompson Publishes My Newest Article on Making a Living as a Virtual Freelance Writer

2011-10-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Brigitte, for featuring me in your blog this week!

It's just too bad that the news I have to share is discouraging these days. Gone are the days when I could encourage people to hang a virtual shingle. It's MUCH harder these days to stay afloat without multiple sources of writing income.

http://writersinbusiness.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-living-online-as-copywriter.html

Try a listing at wordworker.com and the free listing at yellowpages.com. I'm trying them now. Let me know what you think of them. So far I haven't had any bites from them yet, but I'm new at both places...

I'm putting an ad on multiple craigslist sites, too. My friends across the country are posting the ad for me and I'm getting some clients that way. The ad I'm posting closely mirrors the home page of my business website (kristinemsmith.biz).

The UFO De Saw...

2011-10-01T22:55:00.003-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ER0aaxsHg

SERVAL SON WILL BE CATALOGUED in the PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM SOON

2011-09-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hurray! I just learned yesterday that SERVAL SON will be catalogued in the Public Library System sometime very soon. As soon as it is, all library systems in North America will be able to order it for their various branches. This is HUGE!!!

The cataloguing will be done in Issaquah and copies will be ordered for five of the King County (Washington State) public library branches: Shoreline, Burien, Bellevue, Renton and... Seattle? (I can't remember the fifth branch. Grrr...)

I hope those of you who have read and liked SERVAL SON will call your local public and school libraries and ask them to order the book when it appears in the catalogue. That would be fantastic! Many hands make light work.

I can't do this alone. It takes a village.

Amazing Grace

2011-09-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

"For I know the plans I have for you...

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

-- Jeremiah 29:11

I reconnected with a former boss as a result of the debut of SERVAL SON. I didn't even know if he was still alive. I found out he was because one of the people who endorsed my book told me he was, and that he would probably enjoy receiving a copy. I got the man's address from the endorser and dutifully sent off an inscribed copy.

Just a few days ago I received an envelope with a brief, hearty thanks for the book, and kudos for how well it was written. I emailed him a thank you for his thank you. Since then, we've been emailing every day.

Today, out of the blue, he asked for a candid critique of his leadership and management style. I hesitated briefly, then took a leap of reckless faith and answered truthfully. I told him I didn't like (a short list of things); I did like other things (a shorter list); but that, all things considered, I loved working for him and consider it a major highlight of my unbelievably diverse resume.

I told him stuff about myself I have only told five other people in my entire life. I felt I owed him the truth because at one time he was seeking a relationship with me and he didn't fire me when I turned him down. He probably thought I was crazy or a lesbian (he was a very rich man at the time), but he didn't fire me. I was grateful for that.

The upshot of all this is that he somehow discerned during our brief correspondence (unless he's cheating and reading my blogs!!!) that I'm essentially running on fumes until the royalties start arriving in a few months, so he's sending me a sizeable check.

It's an outright gift. I am utterly flabbergasted. As a result, I'll be able to pay my part of the mortgage. As a result, the two days I'll be off work after my hand surgery in October won't be as disastrous financially as they would have been.

God has my back. There is no other way to explain this. It happens all too often, whenever I get down to brass tacks, for it to be mere coincidence.

What a blessing to have a God Who inhabits other peoples' hearts and brings them into (or back into) our lives when we least expect them and most need help and/or encouragement to keep on keepin' on.

Amazing grace...

Nail-Biting Time Again...

2011-09-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

Being a Creative is frequently nerve-wracking. DeForest Kelley told me this, even as well-advanced along the line as he was after STAR TREK. "You just have to proceed on faith," he counseled.

Boy howdy... I don't know how people without faith could survive. (Maybe that's why the rash of suicides, chemical dependencies, and so forth among Creatives.)

Right now I'm running on fumes despite being up day and night looking for more projects to tackle. Royalties for SERVAL SON won't come my way for another two months or more, and I'm in the same boat with sales of my other five books--even if the sales have picked up as a result of SERVAL SON: I won't see residuals on those until December.

That leaves me with Elance clients--few and far between these days because the project descriptions are nearly always so incomplete (and it doesn't make financial sense for Elance to help anyone write a decent project description, apparently) that I'm not willing to pay a connect fee (bid) to find out if the project is something I want to tackle at all.

I'm doing other outreach beyond Elance, but it isn't bringing in enough to compensate for what I used to get at Elance... so I'm floundering. I feel like Diana Nyad--swimming like mad and getting stung by jellyfishes all along the way!

As mentioned in the last post, I was just ripped off by a former client I'd been doing business with for years. That was $100 I desperately needed. With the economy going south, even formerly solid and reliable citizens are behaving like thieves.

It's getting to be a living nightmare.

RIPOFF ALERT. WRITERS: GET YOUR MONEY BEFORE YOU DO THE WORK.

2011-09-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have more than a handful of regular clients but one of them (a long-time semi-regular) just lost his access to me entirely. He told me to spend ONLY two hours on a brochure and then decided he wouldn't pay for it because he was dissatisfied with the results.

I should have refused the project the moment he directed me to spend just two hours: I wanted to, but I didn't want to disappoint him; he has been a good customer and a fun guy to work with. I knew that rushing an important job like his brochure was stupid: rushing a project doesn't produce excellent results unless the project is a no-brainer (and brochures are BIG brainers)!

I'm actually "madder" at myself than I am at him. I was trying to give the guy a decent product on his budget; almost 3/4 of what I did was great; about 1/4 was not up to par, because I ran out of time.

And I got the shaft for it. I got NOTHING for it. I could redeem it, given another half hour or 45 minutes, but he'll probably do that himself--or have someone else do it--and then get a 100% great brochure that converts like made for NOTHING.

This won't happen again. Not to me. That's for sure. I'm going to get hard-nosed even with regulars and demand the money before I put fingers to keyboard and head to task. That's the way Elance and other freelance websites work. I have to be that way, too, it looks like, for reasons like this. You can't even trust the people you've done business with for a couple of years, it occurs to me now. (Sadly!) (He actually owes ME some services that I haven't redeemed yet.)

I need the money. I spent the time he allotted, not a minute more (after rounding down other projects I'd done for him previously to save him money).

What has just happened is a disgrace--but it's not my disgrace, except that I trusted someone I shouldn't have. THAT won't happen again!

Countdown to my Dupuytrens Contracture Outpatient "Surgery"

2011-09-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

I'm just weeks away from having my right hand taken care of. I drove to the University of Washington Medical Center today to get everything squared away and scheduled, then called my sis to confirm that she can get away that day to drive me up and back.

The procedure involves a few injections of numbing solution into affected areas and then the cutting of the cords that are causing the contractures. The cords will only be cut 3/4 of the way through because vital nerves and blood supply run directly below the cords and the surgeon doesn't want to go anywhere near them.

What this means is that, once the cords are scored and severed most of the way through, my hand will be manipulated (bent backward) until the cords break all the way through. (The doctor says I will hear them snap but shouldn't feel any pain at all during the process.)

My hand will be very sore later for several days, but I'll be able to use it the next day off and on (which is I good thing, because I can't go for days without making money).

From Day Three on I will have physical therapy for a while and for three months after I will have to wear a splint to bed that will hold my hand wide open (in fact, a wee bit concave) while the cords recover. There will be no soaking of my hand in water at all for at least two weeks until the surface heals completely. When I bathe, I have to keep my hand out of the tub. I can wash my hand, but I can't submerge it until the skin is completely healed.

I'm looking forward to getting it over with. Then I can go out and finish the goat fence before it gets too cold without fighting a funky hand. I did a pretty crappy job of putting the rolled fence up because my hand is so contracted--I wasn't able to use the tool very well, and I'm next to useless left-handed. So I need to go back out and make things tighter and put more metal ties in. My goats have been very good not to push their way out. If they tried hard enough right now they could do it, but they've been allowed out behind the fence all summer and haven't felt enclosed. By the time we need to enclose them for winter, the fence will be sturdy enough to contain them. Eventually I want to replace the rolled fence with the panels we started the fence with, but that will be down the road a year or more... The panels look so much nicer and work better--there is no way the goats can push them down or lean them over...

I'll be presenting to school librarians in less than a week to see if they'll deem me worthy of talking to language arts students about the writing life. I'm hoping they'll say yes. A friend got me the invitation to speak to them, so I'll take copies of my books along and give them my spiel and see what comes of it...

I've presented a copy of SERVAL SON to the county library and hope something will come of that, too. Haven't heard back yet...

What else? Guess that's about it for now. (That's plenty, isn't it?)

SERVAL SON UPDATE

2011-09-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

The reviews at Amazon, and the emails I've been getting about the new book, are gratifying. Even the one so-called "critical" review on Amazon is not critical...although Amazon deems it so (I guess because it isn't five stars), as did one stalwart supporter, Jim Loveless, who took it on with the tenacity of a wildcat protecting her young! I had to step in there and take the sting out of his response.

The noteworthy thing about the one critical review is that the reviewer didn't read SERVAL SON before writing it--and I don't know if she has since. I know this because my publisher knows exactly who bought the books during the first few days, and this lady was not among them. So... as much as I find her review helpful in making my own point (that everyone is inexperienced when they get a wild one for the first time, no matter how many other animals they've raised) why she rated the book a 3 without bothering to read it first is of some concern. So I think Jim's comment that this lady may have had a chip of some sort on her shoulder is spot on. That said, I don't consider her "review" terribly amiss in its detail. She must have been psychic to write it, though, since there is no way she could have read it at the time she reviewed it. Odd.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

On another animal note, I have sad news to report. My little teacup poodle/shih tzu/peke mixed breed dog, Buffy, was snatched up and carried off by an owl or a coyote when she went outdoors to go potty on Saturday morning at about 4 a.m. We're still in mourning and living with regret over that.

I have a kitty door that leads outside to a fair-sized, knee-high fenced yard which the three little dogs used (past tense, after this incident!) as their "relief" yard.

Since the ambush, Jackie's two dogs go out only under very close supervision, since we don't know if the attack came from above or ground level.

I don't worry as much about my cats: they're too heavy for a bird to lift and are extremely alert. They never venture through the door to their outdoor litter box unless they're 110% sure the coast is clear. The dogs aren't/weren't like that: they just bolted out anytime they had to use the yard. Buffy bolted out whenever she was given a treat so she didn't have to compete with the other two dogs to keep it.

Whatever happened to my little sweetie, I hope it was immediate and painless. Apparently she didn't even have time to yelp. (I sleep near the back yard and can hear what goes on there.)

The other dogs knew something happened and raised the alarm, but by the time Jackie jumped out of bed to investigate, the deed had been done: Buffy was nowhere to be found.

WARNING: Small breed dogs that weigh under 3-4 pounds can be picked up and carried away easily by eagles and owls. I always considered the possibility remote, since the fenced-in "run" was so close to our back door, but not anymore.

I doubt it was a coyote that took her because the entire perimeter of our back yard (1/2 acre or more) is completely fenced by a 5' tall goat fence that is coyote-proof. Unless one came in from the front of the house (unlikely but not impossible), it would have been hard for it to get out again without being seen when Jackie flipped on the light to the back yard and then stepped out to see why the other two dogs were so upset. An owl could ascend that fast, but I don't think a coyote could run that fast.

At any rate, it was a sad lesson, learned too late, and my heart aches over it.

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED BUSINESS AND BOOK WEBSITE kristinemsmith.biz

2011-09-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

http://kristinemsmith.biz/

SERVAL SON YOUTUBE VIDEOS--My Nieces Have Spoken!

2011-09-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

To my complete surprise, my two grand nieces, 7 year old Jamie and 10 year old Casey, prefer the longer version of our two SERVAL SON YouTube videos.

That surprises me because I was thinking the shorter, "flippier" video would appeal greatly to the younger set. When I asked them why they preferred the more sedate version, Jamie said, "It touches my heart better."

***awwwwww***

Now I know why so many advertisers take time to gather and listen to focus groups! What we think someone will prefer is often based on the broadest of assumptions.

Kids want to feel something, too. It isn't all about razzle dazzle and cutaway shots.

I thought the song BLESS THE BEASTS AND THE CHILDREN would create the emotion. I thought that because Karen Carpenter is singing about beasts and children in the song, kids would prefer it.

All righty then. I stand corrected.

I really don't know which of the two trailers I like best. Except for Casey and Jamie, no one else has let me know which is their favorite. I wish y'all WOULD. Then I would know which one to show in public. I have them both on DVD.

Right now I just alternate them every 10-15 minutes or so.

Will you give me your opinion? Teens and adults are my target audience for the book, so I hesitate to move based on my grand nieces' preferences! I need some older folks to chime in and let me know your favorite of the two...

Ready, set, go! I stand by to note your responses. And if any of you feel you can do a better job, I can give you access to the photos and my One True Media account and you can have at it. (There's no payment. I want to make that clear!) That would be cool!!!

SERVAL SON TRAILERS

2011-09-15T01:56:00.000-07:00

"Bless the Beasts and the Children"

"The Way We Were"

CATCH MY INTERVIEW ABOUT SERVAL SON AT WWW.THEAUTHORSSHOW.COM

2011-09-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.theauthorsshow.com/

Scroll down in the playlist until you see the SERVAL SON title, then click on it...

CLOROX VERSUS PEROXIDE

2011-09-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

CLOROX VS PEROXIDE

This was written by Becky Ransey of Indiana (a doctor's Wife), and I want to share it with you. She was over recently for coffee and smelled the bleach I was using to clean my toilet and counter tops. This is what she told me.

"I would like to tell you of the benefits of that Plain little ole bottle of 3% peroxide you can get for under $1.00 at any drug store. What does bleach cost? My husband has been in the medical field for over 36 years, And most doctors don't tell you about peroxide. Have you Ever smelled bleach in
a doctor's office? NO!!! Why? because it smells, and it is not healthy! Ask the nurses who work in the doctor's offices, and ask them if they use bleach at home. They are wiser and know better!

"Did you also know bleach was invented in the late 40's? It's chlorine, folks! And it was used to kill our Troops. Peroxide was invented during WWI in the 20's. It was used to save and help cleanse the needs of our troops and hospitals.

Please think about this:

1. Take one capful (the little white cap that comes with the bottle) and hold in your mouth for 10 minutes daily, then spit it out. (I do it when I bathe.) No more canker sores, and your teeth will be whiter
without expensive pastes. Use it instead of mouthwash.

2. Let your toothbrushes soak in a cup of peroxide to keep them free of germs.

3. Clean your counters and table tops with peroxide to kill germs and leave a fresh smell. Simply put a little on your dishrag when you wipe, or spray it on the counters.

4. After rinsing off your wooden cutting board, pour peroxide on it to kill salmonella and other bacteria.

5. I had fungus on my feet for years until I sprayed a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and water on them (especially the toes) every night and let dry.

6. Soak any infections or cuts in 3% peroxide for five to ten minutes several times a day. My husband has seen gangrene that would not heal with any medicine but was healed by soaking in peroxide.

7. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and Water and keep it in every bathroom to disinfect without Harming your septic system like bleach or most other Disinfectants will.

8. Tilt your head back and spray into nostrils with your 50/50 mixture whenever you have a cold, plugged sinus. It will bubble and help to kill the bacteria. Hold for a few minutes, and then blow your nose into a tissue.

9. If you have a terrible toothache and cannot get to a dentist right away, put a capful of 3% peroxide into your mouth and hold it for ten minutes several times a day. The pain will lessen greatly.

10. And of course, if you like a natural look to your hair, spray the 50/50 solution on your wet hair after a shower and comb it through. You will not have the peroxide-burnt blonde hair like the hair dye packages but more natural highlights if your hair is a light brown, reddish, or dirty blonde. It also lightens gradually, so it's not a drastic change.

11. Put half a bottle of peroxide in your bath to help get rid of boils, fungus, or other skin infections.

12. You can also add a cup of peroxide instead of bleach to a load of whites in your laundry to whiten them. If there is blood on clothing, pour it directly on the soiled spot. Let it sit for a minute, then rub
it and rinse with cold water. Repeat if necessary.

13. I use peroxide to clean my mirrors. There is no smearing, which is why I love it so much for this.

14. Another place it's great is in the bathroom, if someone has been careless & has wet on the floor around the toilet & it's begun to smell of urine. Just put some peroxide in a spray bottle & spray. In the
blink of any eye all the smell will be gone & the bacteria eliminated!

I could go on and on. It is a little brown bottle no home should be without! With prices of most necessities rising, I'm glad there's a way to save tons of money in such a simple, healthy manner!"

This information really woke me up. I hope you gain something from it, too.

PASS IT ON!

SEPTEMBER 11TH -- NOT a Good Day in History!!!

2011-09-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

T'was Sept 11th, 1996 when I had Deaken (the subject of SERVAL SON) euthanized.

T'was Sept. 11th five years later when terrorists scarred America in ways those of us who were alive and old enough to understand will never forget...

Today I stayed busy at church longer than usual talking to people who wanted and needed to talk: kids, adults. It was a poignant morning.

I wish Sept 11th 2001 had brought us together for far longer than it did. Instead, the decade since seems to have pushed us farther apart. The terrorists are probably happy about that. They like people becoming fearful of "the other"--it serves their cause just fine.

But there should be no "others" in this great land of ours. We should all be deemed worthy of love, listening to, and honoring, even when we disagree with each other. I don't see that happening... I see a lot of fear out there--not of terrorists, of each other!

It began before 9/11 but 9/11 just showed us we aren't ever united for very long. We only huddle and cuddle when we're ALL attacked. Otherwise, we seem to like attacking each other. It keeps life from becoming boring.

It also keeps life from becoming satisfying, relational, and Christ-like.

I will redouble my efforts to disagree agreeably when I do disagree. I will try not to "react" with equal vitriol to the myopic, vitriolic, unfounded and unfair attacks of others. I will try to "turn the other cheek" as Jesus taught.

That's a fitting tribute to 9/11.

Remember to Tune In Sept 14th to THE AUTHORS SHOW...

2011-09-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

My interview with Don McCauley at THE AUTHORS SHOW (www.theauthorsshow.com) will air ON DEMAND for 24 hours on Wednesday Sept. 14th. Don't forget to tune in and let me know whether you think I should buy a copy to post on my own pages and at Amazon to tout SERVAL SON. Do you think I did a good enough job?

Also please send ME a reminder to listen to it. I'm more than a little brain dead after this amazing week and fear I may forget to tune in MYSELF!

Thanks!

Kris

Remembering 9/11 on the Tenth Anniversary Weekend

2011-09-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 09, 2011

Presidential Proclamation -- National Days of Prayer and Remembrance

Ten years ago, a bright September day was darkened by the worst terrorist attack on America in our Nation's history. On this tenth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we lift in prayer and remembrance the men, women, and children who died in New York City, in Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, and we honor the countless heroes who responded to senseless violence with courage and compassion. We continue to stand with their families and loved ones, while striving to ensure the legacy of those we lost is a safer, stronger, and more resilient Nation.

Since that day, a generation has come of age bearing the burden of war. The 9/11 Generation of service members and their families has stepped up to defend our security at home and abroad. They volunteer, knowing they might be sent into harm's way, and they uphold the virtues of selflessness and sacrifice that have always been at the center of our Nation's strength. We pay humble tribute to all those who serve in our Armed Forces, and to the thousands of brave Americans who have given their last full measure of devotion during this difficult decade of war.

First responders, law enforcement officials, service members, diplomats -- the range of Americans who have dedicated themselves to building a safer world is awe-inspiring. We have put unprecedented pressure on those who attacked us 10 years ago and put al-Qa'ida on the path to defeat. Around the globe, we have joined with allies and partners to support peace, security, prosperity, and universal rights. At home, communities have come together to make us a stronger country, united by our diversity, our character, and our enduring principles.

Today, our Nation still faces great challenges, but this last decade has proven once more that, as a people, we emerge from our trials stronger than before. During these days of prayer and remembrance, a grateful Nation gives thanks to all those who have given of themselves to make us safer. And in memory of the fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and friends and loved ones taken from us 10 years ago, let us join again in common cause to build a more hopeful world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Friday, September 9 through Sunday, September 11, 2011, as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance. I ask that the people of the United States honor and remember the victims of September 11, 2001, and their loved ones through prayer, contemplation, memorial services, the visiting of memorials, the ringing of bells, evening candlelight remembrance vigils, and other appropriate ceremonies and activities. I invite people around the world to participate in this commemoration.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

Thanks to Cathy Strote for These! FUNNY!

2011-09-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Noah,

We could have sworn you said the ark wasn't leaving till 5.

Sincerely,
Unicorns

Dear World,

Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendars ends there because
some Spanish dirt bags invaded our country and we got a little busy OK?

Sincerely,
The Mayans

Dear Icebergs,
Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma's a bitch.

Sincerely,
The Titanic

Dear iPhone,
Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words. You
piece of shut.

Sincerely,
Every iPhone User

Dear America ,
You produced Miley Cyrus. Justin Bieber is your punishment.

Sincerely,
Canada

Dear Yahoo,

I've never heard anyone say, "I don't know, let's Yahoo! it..." Just
sayin'...

Sincerely,
Google

Dear 2010,
So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? WTF
happened?!

Sincerely,
1985

Dear girls who have been dumped,
There are plenty of fish in the sea...Just kidding! They're all dead.

Sincerely,
BP

Dear Saturn,
I liked it, so I put a ring on it.

Sincerely,
God

Dear Fox News,
So far, no news about foxes.

Sincerely,
Unimpressed

Dear Skin-Colored Band Aids,
Please make one for every skin color.

Sincerely,
Black people

Dear Scissors,
I feel your pain...no one wants to run with me either.

Sincerely,
Sarah Palin

Dear World of Warcraft,
Thank you for ensuring my son's virginity.

Sincerely,
Parents Everywhere

Dear Batman,
What was your power again?

Sincerely,
Superman

Dear Customers,
Yes, we ARE making fun of you in Vietnamese.

Sincerely,
Nail Salon Ladies

Dear Ugly People,
You're welcome.

Sincerely,
Alcohol

Dear White People,
Don't you just hate immigrants?

Sincerely,
Native Americans

Dear Trash,
At least you get picked up...

Sincerely,

The Girls of Jersey Shore

Dear Man,

It's cute, but can you pick up peanuts with it?

Sincerely,

Elephant

Watch DeForest Kelley In Some Great Interviews Here:

2011-09-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?sk=&sc=1-25&qpvt=deforest+kelley+interview&q=deforest+kelley+interview%20&FORM=msnhal#

UPCOMING SERVAL SON INTERVIEWS

2011-09-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Sept. 8th edition

The Authors Show (theauthorsshow.com) Sept 14th
(on demand for 24 hours between midnight and midnight)

I've Updated My Business and Book Website -- Check It Out!

2011-09-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.kristinemsmith.biz/

Let me know what you think!

Thanks!

UPDATE: SERVAL SON IS #2 AT AMAZON IN ANIMAL RIGHTS;#4 IN NATURE>FAUNA!

2011-09-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

We have two hours on the west coast to take it to #1!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU'RE DOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! YOU'RE MY HEROES AND HEROINES!!!

ENJOY THE SERVAL SON TRAILER HERE...

2011-09-01T19:05:00.001-07:00

http://youtu.be/OfIlFw1TYf8

SERVAL SON IS IN THE TOP TEN AT AMAZON IN ONE CATEGORY/TOP 30 IN ANOTHER! WOO HOO!!!

2011-09-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

...and it's still early--there's seven hours to go until midnight!

Have you bought YOUR copy (copies) yet??? DO IT NOW TO HELP PUSH IT UP THE FLAGPOLE AT AMAZON.

#6 in Books > Outdoors & Nature > Ecology > Animal Rights

#26 in Books > Outdoors & Nature > Fauna

FUNDS FOR WRITERS IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH ME TOMORROW

2011-09-01T12:23:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned. I'll let you know it if happens...

It happened. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fundsforwriters.com%2Fcopywriter.htm&h=BAQBobc9CAQAM1XsjW9xnwz_jHL_g8_ZfqlYkFcI_4l4Dww

NORTHERN KITTITAS COUNTY TRIBUNE READERS: SEPT 8th IS THE DATE

2011-08-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

Because there is so much going on in Cle Elum this week (Miner's Celebration, 125th anniversary of South Cle Elum), the article about SERVAL SON will appear Sept 8th instead of tomorrow.

Buy SERVAL SON Tonight AFTER MIDNIGHT

2011-08-31T16:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to buy the book. Some people have jumped the gun so the book already appears in the Top 100 bestsellers under ANIMAL RIGHTS. If everybody works together, I think we may be able to get it into the Top 10--perhaps even to the Top Spot!
So...please be patient and wait just a little bit longer.

And here's the link for the upcoming RADIO INTERVIEW on THE AUTHORS SHOW. It will air for 24 hours (on demand) on Sept 14th between midnight and midnight; then it will air again on some weekend after that. Let me know how you like it and whether I should buy the rights to put it on my own site. It'll cost me $95 to do that, so I want your honest opinion on whether you think the interview will sell books.

http://www.theauthorsshow.com/

Busy Weekend!

2011-08-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

I spent all of yesterday at the LeMay Car Museum helping my sister and other Altrusa International Ladies host a donut and hot dog stand to bring in money for their charity community events. I was there from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.. T'was a long day, but fun.

I was the designated do'er--the UNgloved one. I was responsible for handling anything that wasn't food. (The gloved ones needed Food Handler's permits.) I scurried around cleaning off the picnic tables and condiments table so that everybody who stopped by for a donut and coffee or hot dog and water or soda would know we took their health and well being very seriously. I tried to keep everything looking like you could perform surgery on the tables. Mostly, I succeeded.

The bad thing is that I never got a chance to actually go and look at the vehicles. I was able to see into one building. It had a series of antique public transportation trolleys and buses. They were all in showroom condition, looking as if they'd just been issued in the year they were made (1920's, etc.). Colorful, nostalgic, absolutely breath-taking. I didn't think I'd be very impressed (I'm not a car buff) but I was. Next year when I volunteer again I'm going to have to actually go take the tour.

This has been a very, very slow month for me, work-wise. That said, I've never worked harder, because every minute I wasn't working, I was doing something to get the word out about the Sept 1st launch of SERVAL SON. What a project!!! I have no idea what kind of success I'll have on Sept 1st, but I must have emailed over 2K places all told--zoos, animal parks, animal welfare agencies, animals rights organizations, animal sanctuaries, ST:TOS sites (since De figures heroically into Deaken's life the last several years), libraries, Facebook friends, off-Facebook friends, camera safari agencies in Africa...

I hope the book does great. I really, really hope that, because my publisher believes in it with all her heart. It would half kill me to disappoint her...

This morning I was in church watching kidlets (my usual Sunday morning routine). Jackie was home, hurting. (She was on her feet from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm working on the LeMay Car Museum effort.)

This afternoon I edited a business plan for a client. Tomorrow I'll be writing a PR for another client and doing something else for another one. That's good news. My estimated taxes are due in mid-Sept and I have to get enough money together to pay for them. It's gonna be a challenge this month.

Maybe I'll sell a lot of SERVAL SON books personally. That would help a bunch. Jackie is going to throw me a book signing party sometime in Sept. She was going to surprise me with it, but then realized she had to tell me because I have to order books for it. She was going to have it on Labor Day. That's too soon. I won't even see the final proof of the cover until tomorrow. (I've seen the innards--they look good.) Even if it passes muster (which I believe it will), it will still take more than a week to get books printed and shipped here... so Labor Day would be pushing it BIG TIME!!!

Bless her heart. Jackie is SO not a reader--but she reads all of my books, and enjoys them. (Let's see if she buys any extras as holiday gifts; then I'll know for sure she liked it and isn't just being complimentary for my ego's sake...)

There Are Times I Just Want to Scream. Today is One of Those Days

2011-08-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Website developers and business owners really, really, really need to talk to the copywriters who are going to be filling their sites with content BEFORE they go to the time, expense and trouble of designing the site.

The sad thing is that most company owners don't know this, so they hire the developers first and then ask the copywriter to fit what they need to say (to convert visitors into buyers) into the available space created by the website developer.

What they don't understand is that copywriting has a form, a function, and a cadence. The cadence can't be interrupted after 20 words so the visitor can click to another part of the website unless the intent of the site owner is not to convert a visitor into a buyer. (Most websites are built to convert readers into buyers, or joiners, or actors of some stripe.)

Next time you go to a website, see how many times on the home page you are encouraged to leave it for some other destination. That makes about as much sense as being a fruit and vegetable vendor at a farmer's market and encouraging your visitors, upon their arrival, to go check out the baskets, arts and crafts and jewelry booths before you've made them feel welcome and comfortable with you -- and before you've made a sale!

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that most people don't get this. They want bells and whistles, lots of links to carry a visitor from place to place... That leaves the copywriter trying to address customers with different destinations and expectations. It's completely insane.

I suggest two books to anyone wanting to have a website built from the ground up. They are Net Words by Nick Usborne and Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso. At least by reading these two tomes, business owners will understand what their website should do, and how it needs to do it to make sure it converts.

As a copywriter, being expected to work at odds with what works just doesn't cut the mustard. I just turned down a project because a fellow didn't get it. He says he's visual and that he skips through sites--he doesn't spend a lot of time on the words. Great! I get that. I'm kinda like that, too. But there are all kinds of people in the world. Most people who are asked to spend their money online expect to read some words--words that express, condense and compel.

Nick Usborne goes into a bit of a tirade, talking about how little the powers that be consider the needs of the wordsmith. He contends, as I do, that "if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage." Actors will tell you that outright. Ad agencies pay gazillions of dollars to get the images and the words exactly right. (Don't you just love the new TV ad that's out right now that shows the young guy with his new Kindle downloaded book and the young gal who comes by to ask him to go to the bookstore? BRILLIANT!!!)

I do read the words on every website I visit. Maybe that's because I'm a wordsmith; maybe it's because I want to be an informed buyer. For whatever reason I read the words, bells and whistles DON'T convert me. Ever! It's the words that convert me from a looker into a buyer. You, too?

The look of a site is important; I get that. But that's just the facade, the storefront. Most people want to look inside, kick the tires, find someone they can trust inside that storefront (especially online) who knows their pain and can inspire their trust.

Sites that don't convert don't convert for a reason. Most of it has to do with the way they're written, not with how they look or what's being offered.

I'm just flabbergasted by the number of website owners who don't get this. Elance is filled with projects from company owners who want their websites to convert better. "I'm getting 1K hits a day but no/ too few conversions. Who can help me fix this?"

I can help. But it may require a complete site re-design.

Isn't it smarter to get the copy first and then have a web developer design around that? It's far less expensive...and conversions will be far better.

OK. I've vented. I feel better now. And I hope, if you're a business owner needing a website designed or conversions improved, you'll take this little rant to heart and invest time reading the two books I've just recommended. It'll give you the ammo you need to hire the right people to write and design your virtual storefront. That's worth it's weight in gold, dont'cha think?

NORTHERN KITTITAS COUNTY TRIBUNE READERS: SEPT 1ST IS THE DATE

2011-08-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Lyn Derrick of the NKCT just emailed to let me know her report on SERVAL SON and me will appear in the Sept 1st edition. How's THAT for PERFECT TIMING!?!

Thanks, Lyn!

Waitaminute! I Can Build My Own Trek Desk for under $50

2011-08-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

I just figured out a way that I can build my own Trek Desk for under $50. Way to go, Kris! I'll do that before the snow flies and let you know how it goes.

I Simply MUST Get a TrekDesk!!!

2011-08-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about it for two years now. Have decided getting a TrekDesk is absolutely essential to my wellbeing. It's the first thing I'm going to get with any book royalties I get from SERVAL SON. I just hope I get some royalties by the first of the year.

I also think I'll ask for CASH for Christmas and see if I get get enough between that and royalties to get the TrekDesk and a treadmill for it.

Sedentary women are at much greater risk for disease and illness than are sedentary men, I just read. I sit at this desk, either working or looking for work, more than 12 hours a day, usually six days a week. This is not good news. I need to be up and walking during that time. With a TrekDesk, I can be. What a boon to my wellbeing that would be!

I just have to do it. It's time. It's past time. Next year at this time I want to weight 35-40 pounds less than I do now without starving myself. I want to walk it off. With our hemisphere changing soon to fall and winter, that will never happen unless I get a TrekDesk. So I will.

I will. And when I do, I will blog it to show what it does for me. You can bet on it!

Had a Blast!

2011-08-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Cle Elum classmates get-together was a blast from start to finish. There was not a spare moment--a pregnant pause--during the entire event.

Folks started arriving shortly after 2 and the last ones left at almost 8; none left before almost 7. We talked and laughed, reminisced and caught up on each other's lives non-stop. Susan Rossetti Kelleher took photos and promises us copies on our Facebook pages soon.

The attendees:

Valerie Chase Barrett and her three sons from Ballard, ages eight and 12: Lucas, Joe and Jacob, live wires all. (Yes, I'm including Valerie. She hasn't lost an ounce of spark.)

Susan Rossetti from Ellensburg/Seattle

Rita Morris (not sure what her married name is; sorry, I'll find out!) from the Seattle area

Gary and Joanie Mankus from Cle Elum.

Jackie and me.

We've decided we have to get together more often, it was such a hoot. And an eye opener. And a blessing.

Updates: Writing Clients, SERVAL SON, Radio Interview, etc.

2011-08-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

Just in time to help me big time, I am getting clients (old and brand new) asking me to write for them! Unsolicited!

You'll never convince me Jesus doesn't have my back! I have completely ceased to fret about provisions--God provides! It was a hard lesson to learn (guess I'm not very trusting!) but, once learned, it's just the coolest thing on earth and in the Universe to be able to just put one foot in front of the other as a writer and enjoy the results!

I could work seven days a week right now. I'm not going to this weekend, though. This is the weekend Jackie and I throw my Cle Elum classmates potluck bash in our back yard.

I am SO not a hostess. I've never thrown a party in my life--too stressful. (Remember, I'm shy and still not convinced anyone really wants to hang around me much.) So I begged Jackie to stand by me and help me along. She lives and breathes gatherings. Jackie is a gregarious, dynamic powerhouse in the social realm. She LOVES it! Wish I did.

Knowing my sister has my back is helping me relax about the gathering. I'm not sure more than about four people are coming, but I haven't seen most of them since high school graduation... and (except for plays) I was pretty mousy then. A wallflower. I isolated myself from all but a very few neighbors. So, this is going to be a whole 'nuther experience. I'm looking forward to it even tho' it unnerves me a little. I'm stepping outside my comfort zone on this one, folks! WAAAYYY outside. (I think I'm more comfortable talking about hundreds of De/Trek fans in an auditorium than I will be talking to people I haven't seen in a very, very long time.) I'm sure I'll get over it, though. I truly am looking forward to catching up on peoples' lives.

I got a copy of my book today. (My publisher surprised me with a copy.) *sigh* *sigh* *sigh* *sigh* *sigh* What can I say? It's real. It's solid. I can hold it in my hand. It's magnificent. (I'm speaking aesthetically, here, not egotistically.) There are already reviews of it at Amazon. All 5 star reviews, so far. (Long may that continue!)

The interview for THE AUTHORS SHOW this morning went well. Don McCauley says he thinks it will be a hit. It'll be edited down to 15 minutes. I think we chatted for about 20-22 minutes.

He said my energy level and voice level were great, which is always a concern of his. If I like the result, I can buy rights to it to use in any way I want for $95. I may do that and post it here, on my Facebook page, on my business/book website, or on a dedicated SERVAL SON landing page (if I decide to create one). We'll see. Not sure I'm going to like it as well as Don did. (I'm pickier than he probably is when it comes to listening to myself. It has to be really good in order for me to decide to buy it!)

What else? Guess that's about it. I'm zzzausted. Gonna hit the hay now.

IF YOU'VE ALREADY BOUGHT A COPY OF SERVAL SON (BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT)

2011-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

If you purchased a copy of SERVAL SON before August 18th at MIDNIGHT... let me know...

I have some important information I need to share with you.

The rest of y'all--WAIT TILL SEPT 1st TO PURCHASE THE BOOK!

THANKS!!!

Kris

OMG! When You Google the Title of My Book Tonight...

2011-08-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

When you google 'SERVAL SON: SPOTS AND STRIPES FOREVER' tonight you get 278,000 returns! That PR has done something AMAZING!!!

WOO HOO!

Big Name Animal Advocates Applaud “Serval Son: Spots & Stripes Forever”

2011-08-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

Big Name Animal Advocates Applaud “Serval Son: Spots & Stripes Forever”

Here's the link to the big media release. Please share it with your friends and family--and remember to wait till Sept 1st to buy it... unless you plan to buy more than one copy. By buying it Sept 1st you help send it up the flagpole at Amazon--a very good thing!

THANKS!

GRRRRRR!!!!! PRAY FOR MY RESOLVE!

2011-08-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have this intense urge to order a copy of SERVAL SON tonight. That's right--it's listed at Amazon now--and if I order it tonight I may have it in my hands by Saturday when I'm having a get together with Cle Elum classmates. That would be SOOO cool!

But...but...but... an entire BOX of SERVAL SON is on its way to me as I write this. It will arrive on the 27th or 28th. I'm struggling with myself NOT to pay $18.00 (including shipping) to get a first copy in my hands sooner than that. Isn't that insane?!?! I wrote it! I know what it says; I know what it looks like. I just want one NOW because...because I'm INSANE, that's why!!!

It truly is a struggle. My publisher already has the proof copy and says I am going to be SO HAPPY! She sure is...

I just have to stay away from Amazon between now and the 27th--that's all there is to it. It's nutty to buy it when I already have a box full on the way (at author/publisher cost). They're nearly all spoken for --Tippi wants 20; I'm sending comp copies to folks who helped me early on with the book in some way (proofreading, critiquing, reviewing, getting the word out...)--but a few of them are MINE to hold and smile over and cherish... I just have to wait for them.

I hate waiting. Waiting stinks.

It's going to be okay. I'm better now. I have confessed my weakness and I can handle it now. Unless I logon to Amazon again.

Mustn't...do...that. (Spoken with true Capt. Kirk histrionics).

DeForest Kelley: Your book is ready! Wish you were here to read it, and write a blurb for it. (Oh, wait... You already wrote the Foreword for LET NO DAY DAWN THAT THE ANIMALS CANNOT SHARE. That serves for this new tome, too... Yes!!! Thank you, De!)

All the Bells and Whistles

2011-08-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

At midnight tonight the second PR re SERVAL SON will be released. We've pulled out all the stops on this one: the YouTube video is attached, the book cover is included, a "call out" quote is front and center. It's going out to major media outlets. It's targeted.

My publisher is jazzed. I have Christmas Tree Brain again.

I'm holding my breath. I've never gone "this big" before with any book. It may be that the fireworks in the YouTube video is but a precursor to what is about to happen.

Or not.
We're about to find out--that's for sure!

Please keep holding all good thoughts for the book and me. Thanks!

Kris

Laverne and Shirley--Best Blackberry Bush Eaters on the Planet!!!! Part Two

2011-08-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

I just took some photos and video of the goats eating blackberry bushes. As soon as Jackie gets home I'll find out where the USB download cord is for her PC (I'm using her camera because mine won't download anymore) and get them sent over to Facebook and to me so I can post them here.

They are two very happy campers!

Little by Little, the Money I Need is Coming In...

2011-08-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

After a dry spell of close to ten days, I'm getting work again at Elance and elsewhere. I'm feeling better about things as a result.

I won't see any royalties on SERVAL SON for at least three months so having to spend serious time on the launch has cut into the time I've been available (and sane) to write for clients. I'm glad that aspect of this launch is over. I still have to make myself available for interviews as requested, though... and respond to inquiries... and mail books out when I get them... I'll spend a lot more time promoting the book than I spent writing it--but that's par for the course for any writer who wants to make money. There's a lot to distract interested parties, so staying in their top 10 list of priorities is a never-ending challenge. By Thanksgiving (or a bit earlier) people will begin thinking about holiday gift-giving, so they'll be more amenable to asking for the book (if they want one) or getting the book if they want to give it as a gift. That's good.

You may want to visit my SERVAL SON shop at Cafepress.com and see if there's anything there you'd like to have (or give as gifts). I added some items today that I think you'll find intriguing... Hope so, anyway. So far I'm the only person who has bought anything!!! They came in and I LOVE them. I got a box of 20 note cards with Deaken (the cover photo minus the title, author and blurb). They are breathtaking. I also got a t-shirt to wear when I'm out and about to advertise the book and a beach tote to carry copies of the book in when I do a reading or a book signing at a library, bookstore, hotel, convention, or wherever...

Are there any exotic pet or regular pet conventions locally, I wonder? I wonder if local pet stores would carry copies or let me set up a table once in a while. I'll have to check into that...

I'm tired of thinking about all this. I need a nap. I hope some of you do some of the thinking for me and give me some ideas I haven't already thought of. That would be terrific!!!

I will ask others writers to help me on launch day. That's a good idea. I saw another writer do that and was impressed by how she handled it.

WOO HOO! I'm a Fine Candidate for Needle Aponeurotomy (NA)

2011-08-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

The doctor in Seattle says I'm a perfect candidate for Needle Aponeurotomy (NA) for the curling middle finger on my right hand. Now we're waiting to see if my insurance will cover it. The procedure is standard in other developed countries but sometimes considered "experimental" here, the doctor tells me. If insurance won't cover it, I can't afford it. It would cost $800 for the doc and $3K for the facility use. Outrageous. We need universal health care and a single payer system.

Another thing I learned today. In the vast (and I mean vast!) majority of cases of Dupuytrens Contracture, the sufferers are all MALE! What does this say about me? Hmmmm.... Let's not speculate, shall we?

My book is available to ME now. I'm getting 70 copies shipped to me. 20 go to Tippi Hedren to sell to help care for the Shambala wild ones. 20 go to the people who proofread, critiqued and in other ways supported the project. 20 more will probably go to legitimate reviewers. If 20 don't go, I'll have 10-30 here for when I do a reading or book signing. YAY YAY YAY.

The publisher saw the proof copy and says I'm going to be SOOOO happy. I believe her!!!