2015 and Smart Phones

Welcome, I'm Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, contemporary romantic fiction that honor spiritual practices that nourishes the soul and celebrate the journey from relationship to romance.

What are my goals for 2015?

One of them is to learn to use my ‘smart phone’ more effectively.

It’s humbling to know my phone is smarter than I am in some ways. I’ve now figured out how to set the alarm, add appointments to the calendar but will also admit to being irritated when it reminds me of something I know about.

I’ve also resigned myself to the reality that the phone function is Not its primary purpose. I can more easily check my emails than make a phone call!

How does this fit in with Dr. Glasser’s concepts?

When something is working, we keep doing it.

When something isn’t working, we look for other ways.

But there’s another concept at work here. We all have beliefs about the world around us and our place it. One of my beliefs is that I’m curious, intelligent and capable. Seeing so many people pulling out their smart phones and tapping in appointments, lists, etc., I decided to try it out. See what it’s like to be paperless (not really because I still have my paper system) but if this is a system that would work for me.

To be honest I really can’t see me totally giving up my organizational process. But I have begun to use texting as a way to communicate – usually easier than making that phone call.

I check my emails on my phone more often than on the computer – fast check only. I seldom answer through my phone because typing the answer this way takes waaay more time than when at my computer.

However, there is a problem with checking my emails this way. I can only check three of my 5 accounts. For some reason the phone will not sync to the 4^th address I regularly check. My option to “fix” this is to spend time on the phone with the Comcast technical center to see if they can lead me through a process to connect this last email account to my phone.

My other idea is, when I pay my dues to the William Glasser Institute is to change that email address to a gmail account. Google plays nicer with Samsung than Explorer does.

What do you like best about your smart phone?

Do you have functions you wish worked better than they do?

Time Warps and To Do Lists

Welcome, I'm Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, contemporary romantic fiction that honor spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrate the journey from relationship to romance.

Does anyone else live in a time warp or is it only me?

In my memory, time used to be more consistent. Now it seems to zip by at warp speed or creep by.

It is the Monday before Christmas when I write this. Less than two weeks until 2015. A time for reflection?

What have I accomplished in 2014?

I’ve still a few tasks still on my To Do List but for the most part, major items are crossed off.

I will admit to being an inveterate list maker. I have a list of my 2014 writing goals next to my computer. Each week I write out my daily goals. What’s sort of cool is I have every week’s list for the entire year! I used to keep a daily organizer to keep track of appointments. This year I changed my practice to this weekly list. I think I’ll keep it for 2015.

What does this have to do with Dr. Glasser’s concepts?

Remember “All behavior is purposeful” and if something is working for us i.e. we find it helpful, we keep on doing it. I like the practice of sitting down on Sunday and writing out on a piece of paper what I want to accomplish the next week.

To be honest, what I like most of all about my practice is the crossing off of each task as it is completed.

OR

I circle the task and draw an arrow to another day. Sometimes a task transfers to another week.

However, when I finish it, I go back and cross it off wherever it was listed. Very satisfying for me.

How do you organize?

Are you a paper and pen/pencil person?

Do you use an electronic calendar (computer, phone, etc.)?

Check out my website 
I also blog the first Friday of the month at http://romancingthegenres'blogspot.com
My author page at Windtree Press

And The Winner Is!!!

Hi, I'm Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that feeds the soul and celebrates the journey from Relationship to Romance.

Last Friday I wrote a Blog Post "Help! I Need Help With Branding at Romancing The Genres asking for help in strengthening my brand. Anyone who commented was entered into a drawing for a $5.00 Starbucks (or Burgerville) gift card.

Drum Roll!!!!!!!!

And the winner is:

Terri Reed

I got some excellent suggestions and will be revising and refining and unveiling my new tag line and introduction on Friday, January 2, 2015. 

How does all this tie in with Dr. William Glasser's ideas? 

Very simply. 

I have a picture of myself being a successful published author. I've definitions and timelines to categorize my success. One of the things I've learned as I've traveled the publishing road is the importance of being visible, of having name recognition.

Readers buy books because they know the author and like the stories that author tells or there is something else that draws them. It could be the cover. It could be the title. It could be something on the author's website. It could be the consistent few sentences the author uses to identify herself (or himself).

That means an author's tagline, how she describes herself to the reading public is critical.

One major step for me to take to match my real life with that picture of myself as a successful author is to make sure the first words I use to introduce myself to readers are the best ones I can think of.

Thanks to Terri and the other people who shared their ideas with me. 

Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women's Circle series

Romantic Fiction that Feeds the Soul