First Word

I haven't been blogging much on the personal side of my life. Maybe as I transformed my life for just this once I decided it didn't need to be on public display. Now that I'm on the other side of the transformation and floating nicely in the current of my life, I'm going to open up. When I share my personal life, it's an endeavor to help enlighten others. If I can give back to the world through the lessons of life experience hopefully you'll either avoid the same pitfalls or nod and laugh, thinking, "Yes!" Something important happened in the last year. Something quite literally "mind altering". After falling into the depth of depression and suffering some major life changes and losses, I woke up. I looked at my life and I wondered, "How did I get here?" I was broke, heart broken, and depressed. I had allowed negativity to take over my positive outlook. I had allowed the negative to cloud the positive. I was living in perpetu...

I have increased my outreach with this newsletter is my pedal-to-the-metal tactic to build and grow my business 3L Publishing ( www.3LPublishing.com ). My commitment is to continue to make not only my dreams a reality, but your dreams come true, too. I've recently been marketing my way through an uphill battle to stay competitive in a business being diluted by self-publishing tools and gimmicks that mislead people into devaluing the publishing profession. As a result, I have to market against cheesy self-publishing gimmicks and K-Mart prices. When I saw on my Music Choice channel that a cheese ball ad was running about selling publishing solutions, I groaned. Now as a professional with years of experience, education and skill I'm supposed to go up against $500 publishing packages that are like putting the creative process on an assembly line and expecting something creative, unique and professionally done.   Just so you know we don't publish publications...

My company 3L Publishing releases a weekly newsletter designed to provide information, intelligence and insight to both entrepreneurs and authors. Below is a sample of the current issue. It's cheeky, fun and insightful. To be added to the mailing list, send your email address to info@3LPublishing.com. Hello First Word Friend-Os. I bet you’re thinking, “What is she doing now?” As I’ve mentioned these last few months, I keep playing with my newsletter release day. My open rates dropped so I’m trying to spark some new readership by not doing the same old, same old. So, here I am on a Thursday just typing away and releasing it today to see what happens. The market is a fickle place. You know sometimes Friend-Os are busy. Sometimes Friend-Os just think this Friend-O maybe isn’t relevant anymore. Who me? Not relevant? Ah, no … I’m always trying to stay abreast of what’s going on in the real world vs. the bubble I’ll call my office. Speaking of keeping up with ...

I will be giving a presentation to the Happy Hour with Dr. Lance Casazza on July 22nd from 7pm to 9pm on the following subject: I will give a presentation based on my award-winning book Second Bloom, 10 Steps to Reinvent Your Life . The discussion will review the 10 step planning process featured in the book. This planning process is based on the method used to do annual strategic plans. My inspirational presentation will teach participants that any kind of change, big or small, can be accomplished. Second Bloom was the winner of the Indie Excellence Awards in the self-help category and runner-up in the Indie Book Awards, Writer's Digest Indie Awards and Franklin Awards. Location to be determined. Please contact info@3LPublishing.com for details.

I have been working on a self-help book soon to be released by my company 3L Publishing titled Step Aside and Get Out of Your Own Way by Syndee Hendricks . I've also been working on a new program of meditation and hypnotherapy, which ask me sometime about. Hypnotherapy should never be discounted. I have several success stories about it. The sub-conscious mind is amazing. Anyway ... back to Syndee's book. She discusses drama queens and kings in the book. I would have to say that as I've gotten older, more grounded and rational, and aware I've been able to discern these personality types much better. I don't like or invite needless drama into my life. And the more I don't invite it, the less it comes to me. How is that you ask? Drama people cannot knock through what I'll call the "grounded" wall of cool observation. When you learn to ground and stay grounded you are far less prone to provide the necessary response or "fodder" the drama ...

The New Year is upon us so I thought I would give my pep talk. I always like the phrase "the world is my oyster" -- and it is! Anything can happen ... if you let it. I don't know what is true, but I do know that it's possible to do whatever you set your mind to do. It might not like look like how you expected, but with persistence, determination and a lot of go-to spirit, you can achieve your dreams. The story of how 3L Publishing came to be is the best example of dreams coming true -- not just how I expected. After years of doing everything in the professional writing industry (magazine features, screenplays, custom publications ... you name it), I finally decided to write a book. The product of that decision was Second Bloom published in 2009. The self-help book about reinvention went on to win several awards. Authors suddenly took notice. I was asked to publish their books. Becoming a publisher was the easy part (actually), but the rest was a lot of hard work ...

Eight years ago on my 40th birthday (my birthday was yesterday), I had quit my corporate executive position. After spending my final year in corporate working for the absolute boss-from-hell who was literally crazy and used to send me a hundred emails overnight during her insomnia hours, I quit the rat race. I had come unglued in the nightmare of the 9-to-5 and working for people who either didn't appreciate me or treated me like a personal slave put on earth to make them money. I was quite literally mentally exhausted and ready for my "next" in life. So on my 40th birthday I started my own business -- and here I am still thriving! I never imagined I would own a publishing company (www.3LPublishing.com). I had been in this business since I graduated from college. I am passionate to this day about every single book we produce. I love what I do. I thank the passion gods for leading me in this direction. Yes, I've had a few tough times, but the key is I survived thro...

When I was younger I wanted security and family. I wanted a good, steady career path. I wanted to find a slow, gradual ascent toward my dreams. Then I hit pesky mid-life. I achieved many, many goals. Yet I found I had many more things to accomplish. In my professional life, I realized I wasn't enjoying the career I wanted. In my personal life, my relationship was lopsided and unsatisfying. Mid-life became not a crisis but a time to make some scary, but important decisions. Was I going to look back at my life with regret? Who wants to regret anything? And why not live the fullest possible life? I never considered myself a risk-taker, but in reflecting on the last several years I realized I am definitely a risk-taker. I started my own company on a shoestring budget, and I have succeeded and stayed in business even during this protracted Great Recession. I also met the man of my dreams. Instead of staying in the status quo and accepting my lopsided and unsatisfying marriage, I decid...

I like to inspire others. Life is a journey loaded with lessons. If we don't learn the lessons, we get to repeat them until we learn. So many people don't understand that basic concept, and I have certainly fouled up enough to express understanding. I am writing this blog today though to say to others that the journey is beautiful even when it's wrought with challenge and sometimes pain. But you have to sit back and figure it out: am I going to repeat the same mistake over and over again or am I going to learn, reflect and change course? In a sense this is also a love letter to the man that I have compromised my own value system and repeatedly made the same mistake -- always with the same outcome. Love is not enough. And sometimes you have to sit back and realize that doing the same thing over and over again will always give you the same outcome. So today I did something painful. I decided to change the outcome. Doing what I had done over and over again; forgiving the m...

Do you ever feel like all you ever do is wait for things to happen? Wait for your life to change. Wait for your personal or professional life to fall into place. This last year, I feel like all I keep doing is waiting and waiting for change. I keep waiting for my business 3L Publishing to go to the next level of success.  I keep waiting for my lover to be with me. I keep waiting and waiting. The frustration mounting each day as only trickles of success happen. It's time to stop waiting and start doing ! Change is about taking action and making changes not waiting, wondering and hoping. In my book Second Bloom , I emphasize the need to take action. Action is the cornerstone to success. Establish your vision! What is your vision? Do you know? Stop and really visualize it. Meditate on that vision. You have to first know what you're heading toward (both personally and professionally). Vision #1 : To exceed my gross income and make first $10K a month followed by incremental in...

“Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.” ~ Paul Coelho I have learned so many valuable lessons on this road of life. You always have to look as your experiences as lessons. What do you need to learn about living, about yourself? In March 2012, I took a major leap of faith with one full swoop and made a HUGE change in my life. Not only that I invited someone very special to me to "take a journey with me," which was a bold, profound move on my part. Sometimes, though, you have to make bold, profound moves to change your life for the positive. I recently realized t...

"Sometimes you have to walk into the unknown to find out the known. Risk is scary and frightening, but to settle for something "OK" in lieu of something really, really special but also scary is to live life with limitations and never fully spread your wings! I like the idea, 'A moment of something really special is way better than a lifetime of nothing remarkable.'" I posted that on Facebook yesterday. I want to say something about risk (in this case personal risk). Most people avoid change and risk. I wrote my first book Second Bloom on personal reinvention. Risk is indeed scary. You don't know the outcome. You don't know if you're going to get hurt. Pain sucks! I think we can all agree on that fact. I got asked once, "Why do you run from the pain; what are you afraid of?" My response, "I won't be able to function if I felt it." And yet despite some real hardship here I am functioning -- more than functioning ... succe...

Since I've been single, I've been given plenty of advice about relationships and how to find, attract and keep a man. I receive this newsletter from a guy named Christian Carter who gives what I think is pretty good relationship advice. He's talks about attraction, relationship management, how to keep the fire burning, how to keep your man attracted, how to get him to commit, how to attract him back if his interest wanes, and on it goes. Now I've been single, married and single -- and now I'm in a serious relationship again and we're getting engaged in the near future. I spent this last year dating and meeting men all sorts of ways. Well, after reading Carter's often interesting and sage advice and reading classics such as Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus and the Five Languages of Love  I realized one critical ingredient to not only attracting but keeping a man. It's not magical. It's not really a secret. Are you ready for it? (And I...

So I just texted this to one of my 3L Publishing associates fellow writer and book coach Scott D. Roberts. I said that to this day I still marvel over what I get to do for a living. We're both coaching two new books that were submitted to 3L for review. I recognize every single day how blessed I am that I don't dig ditches for a living (not that there is anything wrong with that ... digging a ditch can be a rather Zen experience, too). I am so blessed to own my own publishing company. I have such a great story behind it, too. I get asked all of the time, "Why did you open a publishing company?" The answer is simple: I had customers ask me to open it. It was a no-brainer. Opportunities like this happen all of the time, do you seize them. The difference between me and the other person who marvels over my successes is that I recognized and seize the opportunities. You have to be able to see those chances that pass before you and go for it. I went for it. I've now be...

Some days I just don't know what I'm going to say on this blog. I had some very powerful, spiritual feelings today as I was driving back to Folsom. I looked up as the sun was literally rising, and I thought, "I've got the best life, and I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such love." The sunrise is a new day, and today is the first day of the rest of my life. I have had a really rough year with a lot of loss; but you know what I'm still standing and the fact that I can wake up and hit the road to see such a sight! And to feel truly alive again. Life is full of moments, especially in nature, loaded with such beauty. If you're not paying attention, you'll easily miss those moments. So pay attention. Wake up to the sunrise and go to bed to the sunset -- and live your life to the fullest in between. I am full of gratitude and love for this crazy, beautiful life. And I'm grateful to those who have stood by my side these past months and supported me...

I have a dear friend who is like my armchair philosopher. I love his very mature, seasoned and fantastic outlook on life. He (without effort) teaches me amazing life lessons. Every time we talk casually (seemingly casually) about life and the events unfolding in front of us, he shares something and I feel enlightened. One thing I've learned from him is you can't force things -- and the best relationships in life are those where you go with the flow. Jump into the current and go with it. I have a mind that works 100 mph and sometimes it's hard to relax and go with it. I tend to overanalyze and try to understand and ask the never-ending question, "Why?" Sometimes why is futile. You can't know why. And banging your head against "Y" is like hitting your head on the tree trunk of the "Y" -- and it hurts and gives you a major headache LOL. Maybe that's why the letter has a trunk ;). You have to sometimes let go and not bang your head lest you...

Whether it's in your personal life or business, if you keep doing the same things you will keep getting the same results. We want to get different results yet we often repeat the pattern and yet we expect something different. Think about that, if you're doing anything in business and it's not yielding sales or desired results, why keep doing the same thing? I like to say 1 + 1 = 2 every time. Or I can be cute and say, you can't "sort of" be pregnant. You either are or you aren't ... there is no between. So, if you do X and you get Y and you think you should get Z, ask yourself what in that formula doesn't work? This rigid pattern can only be broken by you deciding to do A to finally get Z. So, let me use a personal example. If you want a different reaction from someone yet you continually do X behavior and you continue to get Y results when you want Z results, you have to stop doing X and take a different approach. Why does this sound so simple yet it...

As writers, we get locked into our little bubble worlds. We focus on the page and the thoughts. We let these thoughts pour out and then we publish them (some of us). We often forget an audience reads our thoughts. I always remember my audience, but when little notes and thoughts about my work come back to me, I am quickly reminded my thoughts went out into the world. I find it exceptionally rewarding and gratifying that some of those thoughts change lives and touch hearts. Never assume everyone out there already knows some of your well-earned wisdom. Once I gave a talk to a room full of women about my first book Second Bloom, and I will never forget the woman who tearfully walked up to me and thanked me for the book and the presentation. She was moved to tears. I felt instantly overwhelmed that my experiences evoked such strong feelings in another human being. The power and talent to do something like that is just overwhelming, which also means you should wield your talent and power wi...

Have you heard that before: we teach others how to treat us ? I had to two major epiphanies today. My lovely operations manager Bo Bradley, whose forthcoming book Hot Mess comes out soon, writes about co-depenency. We were having an in-depth discussion about some of my personal issues. And the topic of self-love came up. Well, I don't want to get into too much detail, but I did not have a lot of "unconditional love" growing up. I've gone on to perpetuate a lot of behaviors and patterns I learned at home. In my new life as a newly single woman, I have found myself in a situation where one of my male "friends" has treated me terribly. With every excuse under the sun that one can imagine, he has continually bailed out or found any dozen excuses not to show up. It has gotten to the point where I expect him not to show -- and not showing up is the rule and not the exception . It hit me today that I taught him it was perfectly okay not to ever show up. He didn...

A little divine inspiration for you all this morning ... Control is an illusion . We don't have control over anyone or anything except our thoughts and actions. We can't control other people. We can't control outcomes. We can't control love. And we can't control situations. What we can do is have a positive attitude . A positive attitude is more likely to help your achieve the things you want in life. If you think positive and act positive you will attract what you want ... Law of Attraction. I like to say to others, do you think an Olympic athlete looks himself or herself in the mirror and says, "I'm going to lose today?" No, successful people think and act positive. Actions speak louder than words . A person's action tell you much more than their words. People can tell you one thing and quiet literally do another. So watch what the person does and not what he or she says -- that is his/her truth. What does it matter when it's over . I...