I admit I’m a sucker for anything true crime. I love to watch A & E’s City Confidential, Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files just to name a few. Any story seems more interesting to me when it’s true. Even if it’s just about the neighbor across the street. This profile about James “Whitey” Bulger was no different. However, I found it even more interesting because this wasn’t just some story about the life and crimes of a regular mob dude. This was a criminal that did absolutely horrible things, who killed many people at for some time was #1 on the FBI’s most wanted list but due to various reasons (I won’t spoil the book) the FBI not only turned the other way when it came to apprehending him but at times even gave Whitey information to avoid capture. To be a regular law abiding citizen who for the most part belies in justice and the truth will prevail and all that, this was the element that kept me up late reading so I could finish this book.

The story is interesting and the pace at which it is written is great. It told the entire story without bogging down due to too much information. It unraveled in such a  way that kept me shaking my head not believing at times what I was reading. I found myself Googling Tom Foley, John Connolly, and several other key players because I wanted even more background information.

I would recommend this book. I give it 5 stars!

Laina

We all have it. Well at least I like to think that we all have it. I was looking around the house today, at the clutter, thinking about ho I needed to do something about it. Not only is it annoying, I don’t want to see all this crap lying around, but for anyone who has read self help books you now that to declutter your space and your mind allows for new, even better things to come to you. So here are the things that are taking up space, the clutter, that I just can’t bear to part with.

1. Boxes of books. Not only do I have book shelves full of books but I have totes in the garage full of books. I’m not talking about expensive books or collectors editions, I’m talking about paperback Janet Evanovich books or Stori Telling by Tori Spelling. I just love books and hate to get rid of them but the reality is I rarely read a physical book these days. I read ebooks on my reader, my laptop, or my phone so do I really need all those?
2. Clothes. I have clothes I haven’t worn in years, cloths that are “fat” or “skinny” that again haven’t worn in at least a few seasons. Clothes with the tags still on that I hate to get rid of “just in case” just in case what? They take up so much space.
3. Notecards and other paper products. I love to buy notebooks, notecards, fun paper and again I have totes of the stuff that I have every intention of using but I keep buying more so I never have the chance to use it all.
4. Misc crap. Such as a zillion USB adapters, old phone chargers, a heated coaster for my coffee mug that I haven’t used in years, and things I’m not even sure what they are.
5. Kids stuff. Where is the limit here? I don’t want to toss all my kids artwork and drawings out but I am not a scrapbooker so I just have boxes of the stuff. I feel so guilty tossing it out.

I know if I go with my first instinct on what to get rid of it will declutter fabulously and I will never miss the stuff. But then there’s that “what if” what if three years from now I need it?

I never used to be like this. I used to systematically go through my house every six months and toss what very hadn’t been used or thought of within the last six months (not counting seasonal stuff) but after many life changing events I just am not as willing to get rid of things. Silly but true and something I really need to get over. I read something in a book that said “holding on to things you don’t need allows you to hold on to what you were, not embrace what you are now.” I definitely need to embrace the now!

How do you deal with clutter?

What would be the first thing you would do if today was your last day?

That’s easy…I would climb in bed with both of my girls and cuddle with them.
What’s your own definition of happiness?

Happiness can be summed up in one joyous sound…my girls’ laughter, especially when they are doing it at the same time!
What do you do in your free time?
Free time?  What’s that? Seriously though, I am 100% committed to my career in corporate America but I also love to write, share, and connect with others so I have my entrepreneurial side as well which limits free time.  That being said, I adore baking with my girls and helping my oldest practice her Irish dance steps.  In terms of just plain old me time, nothing beats heading to the salon for some girl time with my bestie!

What tv shows do you like?

I love watching shows where there is something to learn.  I know, kind of boring and maybe I could be accused of being nerdy but then again, I have always been a bit of a nerd.  I love the Discovery Channel and I often find myself watching the History Channel too! J

Where do you see yourself in “5,10″ years?

I try to have a general vision in terms of moving in an upward trajectory no matter what the path but I intentionally avoid trying to be overly specific.  The reason is that I don’t want to pigeon hole myself by looking at opportunities too myopically.  As long as I am moving forward and upward, then I’m good.  Then again, some days I think it would be great to sell it all and live on a beach somewhere serving tourists cocktails.  I guess only time will tell!

How do you balance work and life?

I think it’s important for us to change our perspective on how we view balance.  As opposed to trying to assess the balance in one’s life over days and weeks, it is my belief that it should be evaluated over months and years.  If at the end of the year you can look back and say that you feel good about the time you gave to your work, your family, and yourself I think you can say that you have found balance.  It is, however, something that is very subjective.

Now that I have that out of the way, here is a piece of practical, actionable advice.  I think that no matter how busy one is, it is absolutely necessary to schedule time for you.  If you don’t, I strongly believe that you will not be able to be as effective in any of your roles as a mother/spouse/friend or employee/entrepreneur.   The key word here is “schedule”.  Put it in your calendar the same as you would any other appointment for work and make sure to keep it.  Schedule everything else around it.  You will be much better off for it!
What do you say to your fans?

I try to just be myself.  As an author and a writer, I am my own brand and therefore, if I’m not genuine with my fans it would be very obvious.  Whether I’m writing blog posts on my website or writing tips for www.30secondmom .com, I am who I am and that’s pretty much all there is to it.  If you read my blog, the posts are geared towards families with working parents.  (After all, the number one rule of writing is to write what you know.)  Looking at my author page on 30Second Mom, it’s a bit all over the place with regard to categories but there is one consistent theme and that is streamlining your life and trying to find ways to be more efficient.

How did you come to write Mommy & Daddy Work to Make Some Dough?

Our oldest, Rebeca began questioning why my husband and I dropped her and her baby sister off at pre-school every day. As I began to think of how I would respond to her, I was reminded of my own trials and tribulations as a five-year-old starting kindergarten. The first few days weren’t that bad considering I was super excited about my new clothes and my Buster Brown shoes.  However, the tearful days that followed culminated with my mother finding me on the front porch of our house crying my eyes out. I had actually walked home from school, alone. She had dropped me off one morning at the front door but I never made it all the way to my classroom.  I turned around and made my way back home, sure that I was never going to go back. Obviously, I did end up returning to kindergarten, thanks to my teacher sharing with me the story of The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, and the words, “I think I can, I think I can”. That book became my security blanket of sorts.  Remembering how helpful that book was to me at that age, I began my search for a story that would help me to answer my own daughter’s questions in a simple, yet entertaining way. Shockingly, I found the children’s picture book market to be devoid of stories about families with two working parents.  The rest is literary history!

When was the book released?

It was released in April 2011.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced since your book was released?

Quite simply, the biggest challenge is getting the word out.  Since I am a first-time author, I am still working on building my credibility with my niche audience to get my name out there and that takes time.  The process would be faster if I was able to promote the book full-time but as I mentioned, I am very much committed to my career so I can’t devote the time I would like.  That’s why I am so incredibly grateful for opportunities like the one you have given me here.

What advice do you have for other businesswomen?

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to make your intentions known and to go for it.  Study after study has shown that men are more likely than women to let their career aspirations be known.  The reason this can become a problem for a woman in business is others cannot champion you or sponsor you if they don’t know where you would like to go, thus placing you at a strategic disadvantage compared to your male counterparts.  The reason I say to just go for it is there are always going to be reasons why you shouldn’t take that next step or go out on a limb and try to make a go of it on your own.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be prudent in our risk taking rather, I suggest using a T-sheet.  Draw a T on a sheet of paper and on the right side of the line down the middle, list all of the positive things that could happen as a result of whatever change you are facing.  On the left side of the line, list the potential negatives.  The important part here is to share it with a trusted friend or colleague to get someone else’s perspective.  It’s a great way to add some science to the process as opposed to just going with your gut.

Jennifer Pereyra has sought balance between her career and home life. Working as a Regional Account Manager for one of the largest manufacturers of health care products worldwide, Jennifer and her family have successfully survived two corporate relocations, no small feat with two young children.

Currently serving on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Jennifer has one foot successfully and solidly placed in corporate America.

She is also a mompreneur who sought publication of her recently released children’s book, Mommy & Daddy Work to Make Some Dough. Since being published in April 2011, Jennifer has received numerous accolades as her book truly meets an unmet need; helping the children of working parents understand why their parents must work each day.

Most recently, Jennifer joined a team of select contributors for the launch of a new website, 30Second Mom A stream-based mobile website and app tied into the leading social networks, 30Second Mom’s goal is to provide mobile moms with quick and helpful tips from other moms – each in about 30 seconds or less – delivered straight to their phones.

Whenever possible, Jennifer enjoys speaking to other working parents about the challenges they face while attempting to “do it all”. She has been quoted in numerous articles of varying topics ranging from issues facing working women to raising bilingual children. In addition, Jennifer was recently featured on ABC6 Philadelphia news.

Jennifer and her husband Ignacio currently reside in Columbus, NJ where they are raising their two young daughters.

Make sure you stop over and visit Jennifer’s blog where you will find posts that will be of particular interest to working mothers.

Working mothers and working fathers, finally there is a children’s picture book that you can use to explain to your children why you both work.

Rebeca doesn’t want her parents to leave every day. But then Mommy explains why she and Daddy must go, to make a living and provide for their girls. Young children will love the fanciful rhymes and find reassurance when they understand why Mommy and Daddy Work to Make Some Dough. Jennifer Pereyra’s charming tale is an excellent story for the children of working parents.

I have had several people ask me about the blog tours I’ve done and if they’ve been worthwhile. I would say yes they have. Maybe not financially but in terms of exposure they were great. I spent the money on having someone organize them for me as I didn’t want the headache but I also know many authors who have organized their tour themselves to great success. Here is a good article.

Original post here.

Original post by Nava Atlas on She Writes.

The blog book tour is one of the most economical and potentially high-impact publicity tools, but the sad truth is that in this age overworked publishing employees, your publisher won’t have the time or resources to organize one for you. If you want to avail yourself of the benefits of a blog tour, you’ll have to organize it yourself, unless you or your publisher want to pay for an outside entity to do it for you.

There are probably a multitude of approaches to organizing your own virtual book tour around the blogosphere to coincide with your title’s release date; I’ve gathered these tips from my own personal experience. I’ve organized a handful of blog tours for myself, and they cost nothing but time, a few books, and if you’re handling the shipments, some postage. If you’re lucky, your publisher will offer to ship the books for you, but this is less likely once it’s a backlist title.

Your goal is to have your book covered (in a review, excerpt, or interview) on a good number of blogs with decent traffic, within a month or so following your book’s official release date. Organizing a blog tour doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are the basic steps:

1.If you’re not already connected with a blogging community that relates to your area of expertise or your book’s topic, you need to do a bit of research. If you’re starting from scratch, go to Google’s Blogsearch.Putting in search words or phrases related to your topic, say “cupcakes” or “women traveling alone” will not really narrow the list to blogs about exclusively about cupcakes or female travelers, but blogs that have mentioned these words in a posts. Still, a place to start. You might also search in Technorati in the same manner.  Once you have a handful of top blogs in your subject area, a great way to find others is to click on links to other blogs listed in the blogrolls of good, relevant blogs.

2. Once you make a list of possibilities, how do you know which to choose? First of all, you’ll want to select blogs that people actually visit. You know this if posts get a decent number of comments, say, 8 or more. The more, the better, of course. If there are no comments on posts, or just one or two, this blogger is doing the cyber version of an online personal journal.

Second, you want to choose a blog that is not solely dedicated to the blogger’s own content. Some bloggers use this forum to develop a book, so they are unlikely to want to interject someone else’s content. You can also get some idea of a blog’s (or site’s, for that matter) popularity by putting its URL into the search function on Alexa. This ranking system is not foolproof, but if a blog’s rank is 2 million, you shouldn’t bother. Anything 750,000 or lower is promising.

If your book is a novel aimed at general readers, there are tons of general book blogs. Again, a bit of legwork and investigation is called for; search the term “book blogs” and you’ll come up with many ways to start searching. Note, though, that the most highly ranked general book review blogs are highly competitive, and these bloggers are inundated with requests to review books.

3. I recommend starting with a list of 25 to 30 good possibilities and aiming for 10 to 12 blogs for your tour. If you get more, so much the better, but 10 is very solid. Most bloggers have contact information somewhere on their site, usually in their profile. Some bloggers actually don’t have contact info, and the only way to reach them is by commenting. It’s not really cool to ask a blogger if they’ll deal with your book in a comment, so those you will just have to skip. Some bloggers will answer right away, some after a while, and some not at all; that’s why I suggest starting with more than you’ll need.

With about 6 weeks lead time, decide what you will offer the blogger for your blog tour. You can offer to do a guest post, or prepare an excerpt, or to do an author Q & A. If yours is a how-to book or a cookbook, you can offer a set of tips or a recipe. If you have an illustrative photo to accompany a post, you could offer that as well. If your book is a novel, and you don’t want to just ask to be put on the line for a review, be creative in what you might offer a blogger. Most bloggers have a day job so many are all too happy to post something fresh and interesting that comes their way ready made. Many bloggers appreciate the idea of guest content. Give them a few options.

What about giveaways? They’re awfully popular these days, and do garner more attention, but I really have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, the recipient of a giveaway copy has the potential of continuing word-of-mouth, actual or virtual; on the other, giveaways mean more copies needed, more copies mailed, and may actually discourage spontaneous purchase of your book, as the giveaway participants wait to see whether they’ve won, and there’s no guarantee that the non-winners will purchase, once the moment has passed. I’m really not clear on the benefits of giveaways; my guess it that they’re popular because they work, but it is something to consider carefully.

4. Once you’re ready to outreach, e-mail bloggers with something like:

——————————————————

Hello [blogger’s name],

My publisher and I would really appreciate it if you would consider being part of the blog tour to launch the publication of Swiftly the Sands do Flow. Would you consider either running a brief review or an excerpt from the book on ots publication date [insert date] or within the week thereafter? The excerpt can be of your own choosing, or I can supply you with one and as such, be a guest blogger for that date. Or, if you prefer, I will be available for a Q & A via e-mail.

I appreciate your considering this and hope you will participate. Please let me know at your earliest convenience; send me your mailing address and I will have a book sent to you.

——————————————————

If you like the blog and are familiar with its content, let the blogger know, but don’t sound like you’re just pandering.

5. Follow up: Once you know the book has gone out to the bloggers who have responded positively to your outreach, about 3 weeks before the pub date, contact them again and ask whether they’ve received the book, and if so, if they’d still like to participate in the tour. Ask if they’d like assistance choosing an excerpt or suggestions for a Q & A. If any photos are available, ask if they’d like to use one.

A couple of days before the tour, follow up once more. Be excited and upbeat, and very grateful, with something like: We’re all set for the launch of Swiftly the Sands do Flow! I appreciate your participation in the tour on [date] or within the week thereafter, and if I can reciprocate in any way in the future, please let me know.

6. And after they actually run something, thank them again.

From my experience, I find the blog tour format very effective. Many bloggers link to Amazon.com (I didn’t have to ask them to do this, it’s pretty much automatic—it gives them another way to make a little money from their sites) and my books have gone from umpteen million to within the top 10,000 or better once the tour has started. Then, if you’re lucky, you’ll get the viral effect: Readers of the blogs, many of whom are bloggers themselves, will get the book, and may mention it on their blogs, and on it goes from there.

If this still sounds daunting, you can ask your publisher to spring for a blog tour that’s organized by another entity. It was one thing for me to organize a blog tour in the vegan community, where my name is known, and in which I was familiar with many blogs and bloggers, and quite another to organize one for my latest book, The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life. I thought a blog tour through the writing blog community would be a good idea and asked my publisher to book a very reasonably-priced tour through WOW-Women on Writing.The tour lasted around 6 weeks; and while some of the participating blogs (16 in all) were quieter than others, as a whole it was quite worthwhile and a great value if I consider how much legwork I would have had to do in an unfamiliar niche. The tour launched with an interview in their newsletter, which included most of the tour stops (others were added along the way). Here’s a link to my WOW tour launch.

There are other blog tour organizers; you need just search “blog tour,” but as I’m not familiar with any other services I won’t mention them here. Bottom line: Will your publisher spring for an organized, paid blog tour? If not, would you? Or are you familiar enough with your niche to outreach to fellow bloggers who may appreciate the personal touch. Above all, have fun with the idea of a blog tour. It’s a relatively easy, inexpensive, and potentially very effective way to reach a decent-sized audience that’s just the right one for your book.

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What is the tallest building in New York City?

After the placement of the 100th floor, One World Trade Center surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. When complete, it will stand at 1,776 feet, including a 408-foot-tall antenna.