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By:  Mark Kimball Moulton, Josh Chalmers, and Karen Good
Publisher: Schiffer Books
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-0-7643-4238-7
Pages: 32
Price: $16.99

Schiffer Books
Buy it at Amazon

Small acts can’t really make a difference – can they? They sure do! In fact, kids can even change the world through random acts of kindness and social responsibility.

Eating wholesome and nutritious foods start the day off right. Cleaning a park, cheering up a sick friend, visiting the elderly and housebound, and raising money for the less fortunate are just some of the actions encouraged by this book. With colorful and fun illustrations, these ideas generate excitement and enthusiasm for doing good deeds just for the sheer joy.

Kids have tremendous power to make positive changes in the world. And learning these skills early in life will guarantee they will be practiced well into adulthood, for the betterment of all. I highly recommend Change the World Before Bedtime.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Author: Jim Randel
Publisher: Rand Media
Genre: Self-improvement
ISBN: 978-0-9852818-2-3
Pages: 112
Price: $9.95

Author’s website
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Whether you’re working for someone else, or self-employed, the biggest product you have to offer is yourself. So why not be the best you can be? In You, Inc., Jim Randel presents 50 points to ponder in creating the value of You.

This little book touches on important ideas like handling failure and adversity, working on your people skills, providing more value than the customer expects, persistence, productivity, and integrity. As always, Randel provides a bibliography of additional reading for researching a topic in more depth.

As the creator of the “Skinny On” series, Randel knows how to chunk a big concept down to manageable bites, and this new “..and a whole lot more!” series follows the same premise (minus the stick figures.) If you want to learn how to improve your business and life skills quickly, you’d be wise to read You, Inc.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Author: Richard A. Singer, Jr.
Publisher: Marvelous Spirit Press
Genre: Self-improvement / Inspiration
ISBN: 978-1-61599-114-3
Pages: 252
Price: $19.95

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Those who desire success have learned that starting the day off on a positive note sets the tone for the rest of the day. One way to achieve this is by reading inspirational material.

Each day, Your Daily Walk With the Great Minds provides a meaningful quote from some of the great teachers, both past and present, along with a meditation regarding the subject presented. A question is also posed for personal journaling. These are meant to help us think about our own life and how we could make it better.

Although the subject matter of this book is good, I felt it lacked a personal touch. The author shared none of his own experiences, and also provided no examples of others who have used its guidance. Stories of others’ successes, or even failures, when following the advice given would have had a much stronger impact on me.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Author:  Jim Randel
Publisher: Rand Media
Genre: Self-improvement
ISBN: 978-0-9818936-9-4
Pages: 204
Price: $14.95

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Why is it that some people are more successful than others? Is it possible that there is a formula for success? If there is, are you willing to read all the books written on the subject to find out what it is?

Jim Randel, author of The Skinny On series, has done the hard work for you. In The Skinny on Success, he brings us the best ideas on how to become successful, shown in stick-figure drawings. We meet Billy and Beth, who each have encountered a problem in finding success. Randel counsels them with wise advice pulled from some of the best success books written.

This Skinny may look like little more than a comic strip, but this powerful little book takes about an hour to read and is packed full of helpful information. Sure, you could read all the books listed in the bibliography if you want to be successful, but why not save some time and pick this one up instead?

Reviewer: Alice Berger

This is a guest post by Tania Dakka.

Three projects due today. One tomorrow. And you intended to send out LOIs this week, too.

You’re on the verge of burnout, but you can’t stop now. Missing a deadline isn’t an option. Your reputation is at stake. This is your life. Every day. Every week.

Business can’t go on like this.

When you’re trying to build your business, all you can see is “get more clients, get more clients, get more clients.” You do everything you can to get your name out to your right tribe. You spend your “free” time on social media trying to network with people in and out of your industry trying to make connections that will grow your livelihood.

The rest of the day is spent trying to produce work for the clients you do have and keep them happy. (We won’t even go into the condition of the house and those beautiful kids sitting at your table, not-so-patiently waiting for dinner!)

The life of a freelancer is hard. Really hard.

You didn’t know starting a business that would allow you to work from the “comfort of your own home” would be so taxing. But it’s beyond taxing.

That’s why your health is so, so important.

You carry a tremendous amount of weight on your shoulders doing what you can to help with family finances, but you have to be able to bare that load or the whole thing will tumble down on your head.

And when you sit at your desk sipping latte after latte, throwing crap down your throat instead of nourishing foods, not exercising, not taking care of your body, you weaken the very foundation on which you’re trying to build that awesome freelance service.

I know, it’s just easier to function like that, right?

It’s easier to say “I don’t have time!” than it is to rearrange a few things and make time. (Honestly, how much do you need to rearrange for 15 minutes? I mean, you spend that much time playing with your inbox in the morning.) And the idea of expending more energy is as draining as actually doing it! So you make your excuses.

You can do it.

All you need is 15 minutes every day. That’s it. When you think about it, it’s not an optional investment when you invest your life in your freelancing career. It’s just a part of business.

When you stop looking at being fit as a way of life, but more like a way of business, you’ll make time for it. Because, you know, business is all there is. Right?

The secret to making lasting change in the way you run your business:

Make a promise to yourself, your family, and your business that you’ll invest 15 minutes in ANY exercise EVERY day and KEEP it. Maxing your heart rate for 15 minutes is best, but some days (especially if you’re just starting to establish this routine), you just won’t feel like starting.

But once you do, you’ll find you won’t want to stop. Many, many, many times I’ve stepped on the treadmill or turned on my Youtube boxing playlist with the mindset that I was only going to do it for 15 minutes, but then I didn’t even want the time to finish.

You see, exercise has this awesome way of making you feel good, but if you give in to the limiting belief that you don’t have the time or the energy, you’ll never give yourself the chance you need to find that out.

Stick to it.

You’ll eventually get into a rhythm where you find that you NEED that 15 minutes of exertion.

It works like this: Do i

Our free teleclass Become a Confident Writer last Friday went great! We had our biggest turnout ever — more than 110 people on the line, and our attendees asked some super questions via Twitter chat.

Diana and I discussed how to get over writer snafus like perfectionism, fear of rejection, fear of pitching, underconfidence, and more.

Missed the class? Don’t worry — you can listen to the recording here. (Unfortunately, the file isn’t downloadable, so you’ll need to listen to it online.) I hope you enjoy the class, and please drop by here and let us know what you thought!

Also: Don’t forget that Diana’s Become and Idea Machine and my Write for Magazines e-course start on Monday, April 9…that’s one week from today!

Diana’s students have broken into some impressive magazines with the ideas they generated in her course, including the New York Times, Parenting, Saveur, and Woman’s Day. And my students have landed assignments from publications like Spirituality & Health, Today’s Parent, Working Mother, Weight Watchers, and E: The Environmental Magazine.

Want some of that success for yourself? Check out our e-courses and sign up today! [lf]

I have my mentoring clients fill out a form for each session. Many clients tell me that what they love most about the form is answering the question, “What did you accomplish in the last week?”

Why? Because many days we feel like did nothing but spin our wheels, but when we write a list of what we got done, it’s always more than we think. Nothing boosts your confidence more than feeling productive!

I was talking about this with a client today and she came up with the idea of a daily “What I Got Done” list. Instead of simply crossing things off your to-do list as you complete them, you would enter them into your special “What I Got Done” list.

I thought I’d try it today because, funnily enough, I felt like I was putting out fires all day and getting zero done. I started work at about 10:30 am, and here’s what my “What I Got Done” list looked like by the end of my day at 4 pm:

* Answered e-mails.
* Sent source bio to my editor.
* Prepared for two mentoring calls.
* Did two 45-minute mentoring calls.
* Discussed new teleclass with Diana Burrell.
* Wrote up teleclass schedule.
* Reserved space on the teleconference line.
* Wrote up copy for the Renegade Writer website teleclasses page.
* Posted on the Renegade Writer blog about the teleclass.
* Sent an e-mail about the teleclass to more than 2,000 e-mail list subscribers.
* Fielded dozens of RSVPs for the teleclass.
* Went for a half-hour brisk walk.
* Cleaned the house. (Except vacuuming — that’s hubby’s job today!)
* Scanned the Freelance Writers Den for new questions and answered a question.
* Discussed new assignment with editor via e-mail. (Yay!)
* Wrote this blog post.

Wow…I felt a lot better after writing that list. A day I thought was wasted was actually quite productive.

I invite you to add the “What I Got Done” list to your to-do list and see if it improves your mood, confidence, or productivity.

How about you…do you like to write down what you got accomplished each day? Why? [lf]

Thanks to everyone who participated in my webinar The Secrets to High-Energy Living! We had a great group who offered very insightful questions and comments.

For those of you who weren’t able to make it, I have a recording up at SoundCloud. The webinar is about 30 minutes long. You can download it or listen to it right on the website.

I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!

Linda

Author: Kathy Caprino
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Genre: Personal Growth / Business
ISBN: 978-1-57675-559-4
Pages: 237
Price: $16.95

Author’s website
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Although it’s been well documented that many men go through a midlife crisis, women have only recently recognized a similar life transition. When a woman suddenly finds herself stuck in a career that no longer seems to fit and she longs for something more, she often has no place to turn. Breakdown, Breakthrough was conceived when Kathy Caprino found herself in the midst of her own professional meltdown, and provides answers for women facing these struggles.

When a woman feels out of control in this stage of life, she needs to be empowered to make the right choices. Four areas of empowerment are covered in this book: with self, with others, with the world, and with the higher self. In all four areas, the reader is invited to step back to explore what might be causing the problem, let go of something that just isn’t working, and say yes to something new that might work better.

Caprino shares the wisdom she’s collected from women who have been through some dramatic changes that improved the quality of their lives. In addition to sharing their stories, these women offer advice and affirmations to guide us on a similar breakthrough. Action steps and probing questions are also provided.

A resource list of reading, websites, and groups is included, and Caprino suggests that you may need the support of a life coach or therapist, if you feel you can’t make these changes alone. But the most important thing you can do now is to recognize and take action to make your life the best it can be. Breakdown, Breakthrough can provide the expert assistance you’ll need on your journey.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

I have had a streak of excellent reads the last few months! Only one book I reviewed did not make this recommend blog. Maybe that supports my theory that the best writers are writing for YAs.

Robin's first book, Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature, was a 2008 BBYA book, and FAT CAT is on the fast track to be a winner for next year. Catherine, Cat, is a brilliant teenager with a knack for scientific inquiry, which is put to the ultimate test during a yearlong science project to be judged at a high school level fair in the spring. Through the luck of the draw, Cat draws a picture from which she uses herself as the primary scientific experiment and observation. This project is anything but ho-hum. Amanda, Cat's best friend, is beside her all the way. I want Amanda for my best friend. Along the way, Cat discovers that she has become a "guy magnet" and has a crash course in repelling guys. Cat has to face a four-year hurt by her former best friend, Matt. She cooks her way into the hearts of all around her. But does she win the competition? Does Cat understand what has happened to her?

I liked Cat; her focus, her commitment to herself. And what does her story come wrapped in: a funny, well-paced story that YAs will love reading.

ENDERS' Rating: *****

Robin Brande's Website (I suggest following her website if you are a writer).

Author: Towanna B. Freeman, CDC,DD & Barbara H. Pellegrino, CEC
Publisher: iUniverse
Genre: Self improvement
ISBN: 978-1-4401-6387-6
Pages: 148
Price: $24.95

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

It’s hard to have a goal and not be able to achieve it. Unfulfilled dreams keep us frustrated, always knowing our lives could be better if we only knew what to do. Purposeful Action was written for women by two women who believe they may be able to help. In this book, Towanna B. Freeman and Barbara H. Pellegrino offer guidance in reaching your goals.

In the first section of this book, several questions are addressed. What will make you happy? What can prevent you from achieving your goal? And when do you want to accomplish it? A life balance wheel is provided, and maintaining balance is strongly encouraged. The last section is their suggested seven steps to fulfillment. These are presented as a cycle: celebrating, affirmations, contemplation, visualization, acknowledgment, gratitude and asking.

Both of these women are life coaches, and they share some insights from their clients’ experiences. They also suggest you may benefit from your own coach, in working through this process. If you’re looking to make important changes in your life, you may find this workbook helpful in clarifying your vision before you take action.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Today I interviewed the treasurer of a local university for their alumni magazine, and at one point in the conversation he said, “Your processes are geared towards getting you the results you’ve been getting. If you don’t like the results, then your processes are no good.”

I love this. It makes a lot of sense for the freelance writer: If you’re not getting the work you want, then you need to tweak what you’re doing.

The statement also resonated with me personally. Lately I’d been wanting to attract new magazine clients and mentoring/e-course clients, but felt stuck. How could I expand my business? My usual M.O. wasn’t working as well as I would have liked.

I had been viewing social media as a distraction to be used as little as possible, but by chance Eric got me a book called The Zen of Social Media Marketing from the library. As I read it, I realized that this is what I’d been missing. I can connect with people through this blog, but the way to bring people to the blog is to actually, you know, get out there and build my expertise on other platforms. I definitely need to keep tabs on the amount of time I spend on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but I’m excited about this change in direction and look forward to connecting with writers in new ways.

I call situations like this, where you suddenly take a leap into a new way of thinking and working, mind shifts. It was a mind shift in the summer of 2009 when I decided to cut my workweek down to two days (while maintaining the same income), and it was a mind shift two years ago when a coach talked me into offering phone mentoring (when I was previously scared of the idea).

Sometimes mind shifts come on of their own accord, but there are ways to help spur a mind shift when you feel stuck. So if you’re having trouble finding article ideas, thinking up new markets, or dreaming up new ways to sell your writing, here are some ways to force a mind shift.

Meditate. Sometimes we get stuck because we spend so much time running around putting out fires that we have no time or mental space to tackle the big issues. When this happens, I force myself to take a few minutes to lie on the floor and meditate. I often come up with fresh new ideas as, ironically, I’m trying to not attach to random floating thoughts.

Sometimes, opening yourself up this way brings on benefits without your even trying. The other day I was feeling harried and worried about not having enough work, so I shut my laptop and lay down on the floor. When I got up a little while later and checked my e-mail, there was a message from one of my favorite editors asking if I’d like to write a column for her magazine! That night before bed, I did a guided meditation from The Meditation Podcast. When I woke up in the morning, there was an e-mail from a custom publishing company I had written to weeks before, saying they were looking for freelance writers and would be in touch. I checked the time stamp and realized the e-mail had been sent at 10:30 pm the night before — the exact time I was doing the meditation.

Ask a coach. Whenever I feel like I’m stuck in low gear and need a mind shift, I set a session with my life coach. She’s the one who talked me into teaching e-courses even though my initial market research was less than positive. And it was a coach at The Yoga of Writing re

Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, which posits that we can make the most of the 168 hours we have in a week if we examine where our time goes and how to use it more wisely. She also runs the my168hours website.

In 168 Hours, you talk about how it takes people a certain amount of time to ramp up for projects before they become really productive.

With anything there’s accelerating returns up to a point and then a point of diminishing returns. It’s a concept in economics. I think that applies to our work and applies to home. If you were spending only one hour a week with your children, spending another hour would probably do a lot of good and spending another hour would do even more good. But if you’re already spending 40+ hours with them, at some point each additional hour becomes slightly less important.

I think the point of accelerating returns is really relevant to writers because a lot of aspiring writers who want to become full-time freelancers are working around their day jobs or their kids’ schedules, so they’re fitting their work into small bits of time here and there. But if it takes you a half hour to get into the flow with your writing, it’s not very productive to work an hour here and an hour there.

People do get good at seizing 30 minutes when they can — but if you’re good at seizing 30 minutes, giving yourself a full three hours would probably be even better. Partly this is a matter of taking our work seriously. Often people think that freelancing is something you do while the kids nap or that you can just do on nights and weekends. It’s true, you could do some of it that way. But where people really start to see the money coming in and their careers moving forward is when they make it their full-time occupation. The brain focuses on it. If this is how you make your money then you will work harder, you’ll start seeking out new opportunities — and that’s more difficult to do if you’re writing only during naptime or only on evenings after your day job.

So do you encourage people to make the leap into full-time freelancing?

I do. Obviously, there are things you could do to make the leap easier or more safe and secure for your family, like having a couple of months’ worth of expenses in the bank. It’s also good to make sure that you’re making a leap with open eyes, as opposed to just closing your eyes and hoping nothing bad happens. That said, yes, you do just have to make the leap because that’s when you start to see the real returns.

I hear even full-time freelancers say, “I don’t have time to write” or “I don’t have time to market.” Why do people love to feel so busy that they can’t get everything done?

Partly this is a way of showing how dedicated we are to our jobs and our families, and of reminding ourselves that we’re important. If we say we’re busy, that means we’re in demand and that people want our time and therefore think we’re important.

I think we also have a tendency to confuse being busy with doing thing that are important. Often people will take on things that are not necessarily advancing them toward their career goals or helping their families become happier.

Can you talk about the myth of the time crunch?

There are 168 hours a week. If you’re working 40 hours a week and sleeping 8 hours a night, that’s 56 hours a week. That leaves 72 hours for other things. If you look at time diary studies, people are no

This is a reprint of an oldie-but-goodie post that originally appeared in October 2008.

If you’re thinking of making the leap to full-time freelancing, first take our quiz to find out if freelancing is for you — and to improve any areas you may be weak in.

1. I’m self-motivated. Yes__ No__

When you freelance, there’s no boss looking over your shoulder to make sure you get your work done. You’re the boss. When you have an article due and the TV and laundry and phone are calling your name, what do you do?

If you’re not self-motivated (yet), don’t worry — this is something you can fake with external motivators. For example, you can partner up with a goal buddy who will hold you accountable for meeting your goals. You can also tell all your friends and family what you plan to do, so you’ll feel a responsibility to get it done. Or you can remove home distractions, for example by working at the bookstore (though that provides distractions of its own!). Here are more ideas for getting motivated.

2. I love to market. Yes__ No__

This is a sticky one. Most freelancers hate to market. It’s all about the writing, man! But in order to make it as a freelancer, you have to sell yourself to editors and clients. This means sending out letters of introduction, writing queries, making calls, sleuthing out the names and contact info for potential editors/clients, and maintaining a website. The only advice I can give is to just do it. You may hate it, but as you’re doing it, imagine all the wonderful things this marketing can bring you — the freedom to work where you want, to set your own hours, to write about things you love. If it seems that somehow you always run out of time in the day before you get any marketing done, set aside a certain day — such as Fridays — where you do nothing but market.

3. I can handle rejection. Yes__ No__

Let’s face it: As a freelancer, you will experience rejection. Even the best writers get rejected! You can get upset and lose a day of writing because you’re so angry/sad/frustrated, or you can suck it up and move on. I recommend the suck-it-up-and-move-on method. Just keep in mind that each rejection brings you closer to an acceptance, and, to be clichéd, the only way to fail is to never try. Also, remember that not all rejections are flat-out no’s…a personalized, friendly rejection from an editor is an invitation to send more ideas.

4. I have an emergency stash of money. Yes__ No__

Many experts recommend you have three to six months worth of savings stashed away before you start freelancing full-time, though of course more is even better. If you don’t have enough to get you by as you gear up your writing business, you may want to freelance on the side as you save up money from your day job. When I started out, I had a part-time office job, and I wrote queries and did assignments on my days off. If you work full-time, you can do interviews on your lunch hour, or before or after hours (thanks to sources in different time zones), and write in the evenings or early in the morning.

5. I’m fine with being alone all day. Yes__ No__

As a freelancer, you won’t be gathering with coworkers around the coffee machine chatting about last night’s Project Runway. I’m lucky that my husband is also a freelance writer, so we keep each other company. But if you’re an extrovert and don’t

Author: Mike Cassidy
Publisher: Rand Media
Genre: Self-help / Children
ISBN: 978-0-9824390-1-2
Pages: 128
Price: $12.95

Publisher’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Billy and Beth are best friends. They’ve just turned ten years old and have graduated from elementary school. But attending Stickville Middle School is much different. Now they also have to deal with bullies. And since Gretchen arrived at their school, their lives are becoming more and more difficult, as she bullies them and their classmates.

Bullying comes in many forms, as this stick-figure illustrated book reminds us. While we may only think of bullying as physical intimidation, it’s possible to find it as verbal, indirect and cyberbullying. But there are ways to minimize being bullied and stand up to someone if they’re bullying others. Sometimes even the person who feels bullied can be guilty of bullying, as Billy and Beth find out while dealing with Gretchen. They are also surprised to find out that even bullies sometimes have problems of their own, and a little understanding can go a long way toward everyone getting along better.

Bullying has always been a problem for kids. The Skinny On Bullying addresses this issue in a way they can easily understand. These simple stick figures have expressive mannerisms and sometimes go a bit over-the-top in making a point. And the text provides clear lists of bullying behavior as well as how to handle it, so kids can refer back to them easily.

Reading The Skinny On Bullying will take only a short while, and will feel more like spending time with a comic book. But the powerful anti-bullying message will stick with kids for a long time.

Reviewer: Alice Berger