Brummet's Conscious Blog

 -- World Of Writing -- * Today's guest is author Maggie Tideswell , who lives with her husband, Gareth, and their cat, Felix, in Johannesburg, South Africa. They have 3 grown-up children and have been blessed with 2 grandchildren. The paranormal has always interested her and she finds ghost and questions like why some people linger after death and others not fascinates her. Alternative religions has been of particular interest to Maggie. For these reasons, South Africa and particularly the southern Cape region, paranormal and the craft all have a place in her writing. Tideswell has 2 published books, Dark Moon in 2011 and Moragh, Holly's Ghost in 2013. There are many more to follow. Find out more about Maggie via: http://maggietiedeswell. blogspot.com/   - & - https://www.amazon.com/author/ maggietideswell      Q: How have your books gotten published? I was looking for an agent when I heard that it was easier to find a ...

-- Quote of the Day --  " To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. " ~ Helen Keller Eco-Village - Attempting to create a natural balance for the environment * Today's article was written by Stuart Hopes who shares information here about how an eco-village is kind of like a mini society that focuses on permaculture, ensuring a balanced relationship with nature, micro-systems, human traffic, community, buildings, and more.  Further information can be found at: http://ecovillage.com With the aim of creating and presenting to the world an outstanding example, of what it means to be alive in contact with nature and in a sustainable way, then in this regard the global eco-village network concept is developed. This helps in auditing and provides the measuring rods for every individual and also for the existing villages and for communities, in comparing their current st...

-- Gardening events --  Growing Vegetable Seed in Northern Ontario Thursday August 14, 2014 Thunder Bay, ON Integrating Seed Production into Market Gardens Wednesday August 20, 2014 1350 Highway 54 Caledonia, ON For information check out http://seeds.ca/events

--  Book Marketing Guide --   Some of you may recall that Dave and I have a published book marketing guide available that discusses virtually every aspect of marketing and promotion, offers tips, ways to save time and money, avoid mishaps and a myriad of resources and quotes from people in the industry to help writers feel less alone and comforted when stressed. ** Look for part 1 of this discussion published on August 11th. Purple Snowflake Marketing - How to make your book stand out in a crowd A Word About The Media - Part 2: Doing a little research about what people go through in various positions in the media via online publications, reading a few articles, joining a few forums and discussions or listening to a few interviews via audio (podcasts, videocasts, online radio) is well worth the investment of your time. Knowing their time-lines, the publications needs, specific requirements and guidelines and also the contact's name are key to any ...

-- Quote of the Day --  "Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live." ~ Sébastien-Roch Nicolas -- Positive News --  In our Trash Talk - It's Easy To Be Green book series we have a section that focuses on clothing... there are so many ways to reuse, repurpose and even recycle clothing! And as a consumer we can buy used or buy new clothing with recycled content. I was recently reading an article (  http://tinyurl.com/q95mmg6 ) about the Die Kop Swop Shop  a new business that focuses encouraging recycling through a clothing and stationery exchange. The store staff and volunteers show participants a variety of items that are made from recyclable products, creating dialogue about the importance of recycling. Women and children bring in recyclables that they've spent time collecting around their homes, streets and neighborhoods and in exchange are given blan...

--  Book Marketing Guide --   Some of you may recall that Dave and I have a published book marketing guide available that discusses virtually every aspect of marketing and promotion, offers tips, ways to save time and money, avoid mishaps and a myriad of resources and quotes from people in the industry to help writers feel less alone and comforted when stressed. I'm going to share a brief 2-part excerpt here today (August 11th) and the 2nd part on August 13th. Purple Snowflake Marketing - How to make your book stand out in a crowd A Word About The Media - Part 1: Publicity through the media is actually the most affordable and a fairly effective marketing endeavor. "Media" can come in the form of print publications (magazines, newspapers, newsletters), online publications (e-newsletters, blogs, e-zines), and audio/visual (radio, TV, you-tube).  Newspapers usually have various columns that discuss websites, businesses, press releases, events and bo...

-- Used oil and its effects on the environment --   * Today's article was written by: Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors - a knowledgeable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman Motors has supplied reliable used cars in Austin and the surrounding . For more information please visit www.gregchapmanmotors.com .   Motor oil leaked from individual vehicles—or outright dumped by homeowners and commercial garages inevitably finds its way into local water bodies. Topsoil and natural vegetation would ordinarily filter many of these pollutants out, but the impermeable pavement that covers much of the surface where these pollutants originate carries it right into storm drains and into streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean where it can poison marine life—which we might eat—as well as entire riparian or coastal ecosystems. This pollution also finds its way into underground aquifers that supply our drinking water, s...