Hello,

I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  For us, it was a great day spending time with the family.  

Not only today, but every day I am thankful for my family and friends, achievements and challenges, food and clothing,  and to laugh and to love. 

I have said this more than once to my readers but I will continue to say it - thank you for all your support.  This week I sold my 100th book of Don't Stand Still.  I am carving out time to write.  I can't wait to share my next book with you.

Happy Holidays,

JoAnn

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What a great feeling you get when you reach a milestone, don’t you agree? My goal was to publish a book but then after that I set a few milestones to proceed that day. 

This weekend I reach one of those milestones – my first book signing.  To be honest, I am nervous and excited at the same time.  I’m looking forward to speaking about – the process, the book, the future and best of all, the feedback. 

How am I going to keep calm? I have my supporters, my friends and family, who reached out to me to tell me they will be there by my side even though they already read the book.  BUT also I get to make new friends.  These are the reasons to remain calm – my supporters!!  Thank you.

I have so much to say at this event which I will share with you all in my next blog post.

What are some ways you deal with anxiety during presentations?

​JoAnn
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Hi, All!!! It’s been awhile since I wrote a blog post. Hope you are all doing well.  Can planning be healthy?  Well you all have heard the saying – too much of anything is not good for you. 

I have always planned out my work day, my night time activities and even my cleaning schedule. I recently realized that all of my to-do items were things that I had to get done.  I started to feel like I was constantly rushing from one task to the next, which by the end of the week would put me in an exhaustion state.

This week, I started something new that I wanted to share with you.  I printed up a monthly blank calendar and wrote down some personal things to do each day of the week.  These are small tasks besides my normal daily action items.  These small items ranged from playing a game with the boys to cleaning my car to scrapbooking.  Some other items on my calendar are my passions - reading and writing. 

What did this do for me?  From the time I wake up each morning, I have to work (which has been very hectic, managing various projects), come home, take the boys to karate, soccer, etc. then back home to clean the house, and more.  I am able to stabilize myself at the end of the night doing one of these smaller tasks to decompress.  What do you to decompress? How are you at planning some personal time for yourself?

JoAnn

​P.S. Don’t get me wrong, I still have many to-do lists/spreadsheets J
Hope to see you all at the book signing on November 14th!

When I was a child I always tried to take the opposite way.  My goal was to not only overcome challenges but to enjoy each moment through the process.  I now look back to some interesting memories.

One memory I wanted to share from middle school was about choosing “sides”. There was a dispute between opposite neighborhoods.  I could have taken the safe route and “walk” to one side but that wasn’t me.  I had friends one both sides and no dilemma was going to change that.  I continued spending time with both groups.  Walking can be stagnant; Hopping can increase your energy, which increases your positive mood.

Regarding my writing path, I try to break down the challenges that are presented.  How do I do this? One, I remain positive regardless of the negative situation. Two, I break down the challenge into steps on how to resolve. Lastly, I appreciate what I have today.

Don’t walk, Hop, it’s fun – heck run!

Share your thoughts!

​JoAnn

PS. First Book Signing will be November 14, 2015, 1:00 at Somerset Public Library
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This weekend I attended a funeral and the pastor reminded everyone to enjoy each moment of every day. “Live your life to the fullest.” He stated.  This made me think.

A few years ago, I was a member on a work project and we had to list all of our needs (essential to have) and wants (nice to have).  I strongly feel like we should all take a few minutes to write such a list for our personal life.  Many of you know me, I am a list writer but this list will give you perspective on your future.

I wrote this list and my “want” list was triple in size compared to my needs.  The needs are required to live but I am going to make a conscious effort to take action on both of my lists.  I even made columns in my wants – personal things I want to do, places I want to take my children to do, wants for the house, etc. What would your list look like if you completed this exercise?

My goal is to never look back to any regrets. Yes, life is short. Our children will grow older right before our eyes. We will grow older; we will retire and so on.  Each day, we should laugh, call a friend, sit on the floor to play a game with your child – push that laptop aside.

Live, Laugh, Love!

JoAnn

PS ~ a friend of mine wanted me to start including number of books sold on each blog – see below.

Don’t Stand Still (68)

Are you working towards your dream job?  A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting with my department and a human resources representative.  I work in the corporate world, which I do enjoy.  In this session, we were asked a few questions as an ice breaker exercise.  One question was “What is your dream job?” I looked around the class and thought to myself, could anyone answer this honestly? Should we all say it is what we are doing today? Will the answer be held against us? My co-workers were honest in their responses, which ranged from a sailor to opening up an ambulance/rescue for animals to even a cupcake taster.

I love my current full time job as a Communications Manager/Project Manager.  But is it my dream job? I feel confident that I can answer this honestly without feeling guilty – no.  My dream job is to be more available to my children while writing books.  I have a list of ideas for novels but it is finding the time to actually sit and write them.  I will, though.  My dream started small – it was to write and publish one book.  Now, I desperately want to continue. I financially need my full time job but nothing will stop me from following my passion.  Dream Big is my advice for my children!

I have marketed my book on a radio show, newspaper article and social media.  Starting this weekend my focus needs to switch to finishing my second book, Good Intentions Bad Decisions.  You may have noticed on Facebook the mention about a contest.  Well here it is – with my focus switching, I need your help!! I would like to continue to see my first book, Don’t Stand Still, still grow.  I am offering a prize to the first 20 people to share on Facebook  - the title of my book (and a link to it), your review and tag me to this status. The prize will be a sneak preview of Good Intentions Bad Decisions by September 18th.  You will learn about the characters in the book and touch on the plot.

Thank you for your support,

JoAnn

The definition of an obstacle is a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress. When something interrupts your journey, what happens to you? I wish I could say that 100% of the time I keep on moving but that wouldn’t be true. 

The bumps in the road normally motivate me to reach further, try harder and prove I can achieve sometimes what would be impossible.  But this weekend I learnt that sometimes it is ok to just STOP and think through the challenge that is presented before you.  Develop the issue into a problem statement and solve, then move on. 

One thing I can promise my friends/readers is an obstacle, challenge, issue or whatever it would be called at that time, will never hold me back from my dreams.  

Recently, I have reached some important goals in my life.  I am excited to say I was able to cross off two of them – running a 5K and publishing a book. Since those were removed I added additional ones.  I want to become fit/eat healthier by October 1st and have all my credit cards paid off by November 1st. 

What goals do you have? How do you overcome challenges?

JoAnn 

PS Don’t Stand Still is for sale now!

What’s Next?

“What’s next” is the question I heard frequently this weekend.  I can answer what I know in the near future – I will be going on a radio station, Thursday at 10AM (1480 AM WSAR, Women’s Intuition) to promote my book. I plan on reaching out to the local newspaper as well to assist with promoting Don’t Stand Still.

It feels great that the book is out there for everyone to read.  I can’t lie I do have some anxiety waiting for that first person to tell me what they thought about the story.

But in the meantime, I am continuing to write my second novel, Good Intention Bad Decisions.  This book will be much different from the first one.  It has many twists and is suspenseful with a romance of a different kind.

What’s next in the future for me? I wish I could answer that question with confidence but I don’t quite know yet.  I feel close though! But what I do know is that I will continue to write. The feeling I have inside when I am put the pen to the paper is unexplainable for me. I almost feel like I am in another world outside of this one.  A world I want to continue to share with you all.

Don’t Stand Still is for sale now, get your copy https://www.createspace.com/5570788

JoAnn