Victim politics gave us pro-Hamas activism and a powerful reaction in the form of Donald Trump, argue Shelby Steele and his son, Eli.
Tunku Varadarajan
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Tag: author
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Gov. Newsom signs bills to make it easier to provide shelter beds, build more ADUs
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed two bills that tweak existing shelter and ADU laws in an attempt to boost supply and make a dent in the state’s housing and homelessness crisis.
One of the bills, Assembly Bill 3057, focuses on something called junior ADUs — units created within existing houses that can be up to 500 square feet and don’t need their own bathroom.
Under the new law, junior ADUs — like larger ADUs — will be exempt from requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act that can add time and cost to projects.
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City), called the exemption a “a small but significant technical change that offers Californians more accessible and efficient options to build affordable housing solutions.”
The second bill, Assembly Bill 2835, was authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino). It makes permanent a set of temporary rules that have made it easier to house homeless individuals in privately owned hotels and motels for longer than 30 days.
Local governments, including Los Angeles, have increasingly turned to that strategy to get people off the streets, at times relying on state funding.
“The homelessness crisis demands immediate and innovative action, not the status quo,” Newsom said in a statement. “With these new laws, local governments have even more tools to provide housing. I urge them to fully utilize the state’s unprecedented resources to address homelessness.”
Andrew Khouri
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My Biggest Goal of the Year
My biggest goal of the year is to get my friend’s book published.
Listen to learn more about my motivations, strategy, gameplan, and potential future.
I’ll keep you guys updated on the progress of this goal as we get further into the year.If all goes well, I’ll be announcing our big accomplishment in a future episode. If we don’t succeed, then none of this ever happened…
Related Links
- My Timeline – My goal timeline for the year, including a breakdown of the goals mentioned in the podcast (plus other ambitions).
- Goals Timeline (PDF) – Create your own goal timeline for the next day, week, month, year, and decade. This is the most important exercise you’ll ever do.
- Self-Improvement Coaching – Reach out to me for motivation. I’m especially interested in helping other creative types to finish any projects they’ve been procrastinating on.
Enter your email to stay updated on new content on self improvement:Steven Handel
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Weird Facts
In 1963, a 16-year-old sent a 4-question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English tutor that writers don’t intentionally add symbolic content to their books.
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Speech is freer in California than in Florida, watchdog warns ahead of Newsom-DeSantis debate
WASHINGTON —Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is due to debate California Gov. Gavin Newsom later this week about whose state offers a better model for the country, is leading an “assault on free expression in Florida” that is “almost without peer in recent U.S. history,” a watchdog warned in a pair of reports released Tuesday.
Pen America, which defends the rights of authors and others around the world to write and speak out without fear of government reprisals, has written detailed reviews comparing the two states’ recent policies and proposals on campus speech codes, book bans, curriculum fights, diversity and inclusion, internet freedom and other 1st Amendment issues in the interstate feud between DeSantis, a Republican, and Newsom, a Democrat.
The two men, whose states wield outsized influence on the right and left, are set to debate on Fox News Thursday night. DeSantis is hoping the debate jump-starts his flailing presidential campaign while Newsom has been trying to maintain his national stature amid speculation he will run in 2028.
The Pen report finds fault with both states’ policies but reserves its harshest judgment for DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination as a culture warrior on the slogan that Florida is the state “where woke goes to die.” The states’ policies have implications beyond their borders; most of the bills the report analyzed have been adopted in other states, and California is home to tech and entertainment industries with global reach.
“Florida is setting an agenda of unprecedented censorship, rigging the system to favor the speech of those in power and silencing dissenting voices,” the Pen report states.
Authors, journalists and others who care about free expression have to pay attention to both states, in part because of their governors’ ambitions and willingness to push barriers at a time when states are leading most of the big culture war fights, said Suzanne Nossel, Pen America’s chief executive, in an interview.
“If you want to see where free speech is headed in this country, you have to take a close look at what they’re doing,” she said.
The report details several bills that have been proposed or passed in the Florida Legislature in recent years, most of which were supported by DeSantis.
They include the well-known bill that critics label “Don’t Say Gay,” which limits discussion of sexual orientation in classrooms, rules limiting the discussion of race in public colleges and universities, bills making it easier to ban books based on parental objections and those targeting mass protests with enhanced criminal penalties and drag shows.
Some of the bills have been blocked by courts, but the report argues that they still represent a threat to free expression because they create an immediate chilling effect, could ultimately withstand court challenges and are already inspiring new laws and proposals in Florida and elsewhere that could accomplish the same goals.
The drag show bill, which broadens the state’s obscenity law to apply to some live performances, was temporarily put on hold by a federal judge in central Florida this month after a restaurant sued.
“Regardless of how the courts rule, the Act has already chilled LGBTQ+ expression in the state,” the Pen authors wrote, citing canceled pride events in southeast Florida and central Florida and the dissolution of a drag storytime chapter in Miami.
DeSantis has accused critics of falsifying his record and creating “political theater,” insisting, for example, that he has expanded African American history requirements in Florida schools, even as the state placed limits on teaching about systemic racism. In the case of the drag show bill, he said it was targeted at “sexually explicit” performances.
“People can do what they want with some of that, but to have minors there, I mean, you’ll have situations where you’ll have like an 8-year-old girl there, where you have these like really explicit shows, and that is just inappropriate,” he said at a May news conference.
James Tager, research director of Pen America and co-author of the reports, said it was important to be “clear-eyed” and “send a warning signal” about Florida’s direction, given DeSantis’ political ambitions.
“Florida holds itself as a blueprint for a more of free way of living, championing the rhetoric of liberty,” Tager said. “Several of their significant proposals, the primary effect is to degrade and winnow down free expression rights in the state.”
Though Florida took the brunt of Pen’s criticism, California’s laws drew more limited scrutiny.
The report credits California with “unambiguous wins for free expression” for passing laws to protect journalists covering protests and restricting the ability of courts to allow rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials.
But it faults the state for what it labels well-intended misses, including a law that requires social media companies to produce regular reports on their content moderation to the state attorney general. The authors argue that the law, though ambiguous in defining the attorney general’s role, could give the government more power to regulate speech.
The report also cautions that a law intended to protect children on social media and other online platforms could chill free speech because it “requires businesses to predict any content or practice that lawmakers could consider to be ‘harmful’” to children. Tech industry and publishing groups have also opposed the law as overly broad, warning it could hinder content intended for adults.
Newsom said when he signed it that the state “will not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation.”
The report also criticizes the state for a policy approved last year by the Board of Governors of California’s community college system that would evaluate college professors, in part, on their commitment to teaching anti-racist ideas untended to foster “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The policy has drawn a lawsuit from a group of professors.
“There is a difference between protecting a school’s or faculty member’s right to include DEI programming, and mandating that they do so, especially in higher education,” the authors wrote.
The organization labels the policy a “gag order,” arguing that it limits a professor’s academic freedom by forcing them to adopt the college system’s viewpoint.
Noah Bierman
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Ross Gay Stays Connected With Internet Reprieves and Foraged Apples to Share
Partway through Ross Gay’s The Book of (More) Delights—a year’s worth of short essays on quotidian pleasures, reprising a project from 2019—the author finds himself on a coffee shop porch, the first to arrive for a meeting. The latecomer sends an apology text, and Gay taps out a five-word reply.
“No sweat take your time, though what I really meant was No sweat take your sweet time. Bump into a friend. Take a call. Get down on your hands and knees and smell the hyacinths. I’m grateful you’re late.”
The anecdote is from the book’s 48th entry, bracketed by the first (“My Birthday, Again”) and 81st (“My Birthday, Again”), and that morning’s delight is the gift of time. Gay, who lives and teaches in Bloomington, Indiana, proves himself to be an ever-buoyant observer, floating from one appreciation to another: a pair of students discussing the slang term Gucci, or lunch at a “not quite but almost disheveled place that had the feeling of someone’s house.” But in this particular essay, he admits that everybody has limits. In a parenthetical aside—as if careful not to dampen the book’s joy—he recounts an interminable spell in a doctor’s waiting room. A Jerry Springer type was on TV; fluorescent lighting cast a sickly pall. “I walked my early ass out of there,” he writes. “Nothing’s always anything, I guess I’m trying to say.”
Gay is in the car, headed to the airport for the South Dakota Festival of Books, when he picks up my call. His voice sounds much like his writing: bright and warm, not exactly confessional but certainly unguarded. Our conversation, bridging a distance of some 780 miles, summons a line in his three-day wellness diary, below, about a gas station clerk’s “alienation device.” How does Gay, with so apt a description of a smartphone, navigate this technological age for himself? “My alienation device only does phone calls and texts,” he says. That means, in lieu of a palm-size screen, he likely has one of his notebooks in hand. Days begin not with a mindless scroll but with a download of sunshine. I bring up how these routines sound like prescriptions from modern-day wellness experts: morning pages à la Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, sunlight upon waking as the Huberman Lab would recommend. Gay more or less sidesteps any association with the broader wellness set, as suggested by his diary. A one-word entry—”Nap.”—marks a rest for both his head and his pen. A workout after tagine-making gets no further elaboration. “Exercise, it’s part of my regular life,” he says. “But the fabric and the depth, the deep care, is in the community.”
That much is clear as the author’s days unfold. Surplus vegetables circulate among neighbors; he cooks welcome-home black beans for his partner, Stephanie; a friend even supplies loaner shorts. (That’s what happens when two men share a similar build—Gay is a lanky 6’4”—and one of them is so prepared with just-in-case clothes that he’s able to lend a pal some essentials.) Wellness in this way is about these “matrices of care,” says Gay, who, in sharing this worldview, brings readers into this larger network. There’s care in the noticing—the book’s near-daily writing practice is a timed 30 minutes in longhand—and in the refining. By the time of publication, the essays are “really, really, really revised,” he says, to “get to the kernel of the question.”
Where are we going and how do we get there? Such reflections bubble up with a book that touches on gratitude and aging, but in practical terms Gay often finds himself turned around. “My phone doesn’t do that,” he says of his Google Maps–less existence, “so I have this blessed opportunity all the time to be asking for directions.” Recently it was an older lady’s turn to get him sorted. “I was just noticing how beautifully this woman did this,” the author says, recalling how she periodically closed her eyes in concentration. “She was very thoughtful, and then she went over three times to make sure I had it right.”
Friday, September 8
5:30 a.m.: I drive home early, in silence, as I have become fond of doing these past few years, from one of the loveliest readings I’ve given in a long time, in the restored Alhambra theater in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where bell hooks is from. That makes me a lucky person. It is also, for me, lucky to be driving as the sun comes up. Along the way I pull into a gas station, where I make it into the bathroom, just, and needing a little bit of help with directions, I ask the clerk if they sell maps, who at first kind of brusquely says no, but then maybe realizing she was brusque, and probably that I needed help, I don’t know if I made a face or something, but she changes course and pulls up where I am going on her alienation device and, bless her, does her damndest to make sure I can get where I am trying to go, which I do. I share a very nice smile and wave with a crew who, from the stiff looks of it, has been driving a little while. When I get back to Bloomington, though I should probably just take a nap because I’m a bit underslept, I decide to get a coffee, and the barista tells me about her new dog. She beams to me, I should say, and refers to the doggie as my snugglebuddy.
Laura Regensdorf
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Talk Show Host Harvey Brownstone to Make US Debut by Holding Event at NYC’s Stonewall Inn on June 5
NEW YORK, May 4, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Canadian author and talk show host Harvey Brownstone will be making his official debut in the US by holding an event on Monday, June 5 from 5-9 p.m. at New York City’s historic Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of LGBTQ Liberation, for an in-depth discussion about his life, careers, and his “Interviews” program.Just Who is Harvey Brownstone?
For the many residing south of Niagara’s Rainbow Bridge, the celebrity host with an audience of five million+ may not be immediately recognizable, but his legend and impact are unmistakable. The former Canadian judge — that nation’s first openly gay jurist — made history by marrying countless same-sex couples, earning a 2008 Proclamation by New York State Senator Tom Duane. Most notably, Brownstone officiated at the ceremony of Edie Windsor whose union triggered the Supreme Court litigation ushering in legal marriage for LGBTQ people across the U.S.
During his years on the bench, Brownstone also became a best-selling author with the groundbreaking “Tug of War: A Judge’s Verdict on Separation, Custody Battles and the Bitter Realities of Family Court,” leading to numerous appearances in media, but his lifelong desire to host celebrated actors and writers became a reality only following retirement from law. Since its debut in 2021, “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” has counted Louis Gossett Jr., Linda Evans, Sir Tim Rice, Robert Wagner, Louise Sorel, Ruta Lee, and even the elusive 93-year-old Mamie van Doren among his notable guests. The show is broadcast globally on Brownstone’s own YouTube channel as well as XPTV1 throughout the U.K., among other sources. Honoring the show, the Breakfast at Dominique’s fair trade, environmentally friendly coffee company will premiere its “Talk Show Blend,” suited to Brownstone’s specific taste.
Most recently, Grammy-nominated songwriter Harriet Schock (“Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady”), moved by Brownstone’s “coming out” story, composed “I Am Yours,” a soon-to-be released single by vocalist Gary Lynn Floyd. The event at the Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of LGBTQ Liberation, will anchor Brownstone’s New York City debut with in-depth discussion about his life, careers, and his “Interviews” program. Floyd will fly in to perform “I Am Yours” among other selections, and award-winning mixologist Maria Gentile will be crafting her own version of the Harvey Wallbanger, and further favorite libations.
Event: Harvey Brownstone at the Stonewall Inn
Date: Monday, June 5, 5-9 p.m.
Address: 53 Christopher Street, New York, NY https://thestonewallinnnyc.com
Admission: Free
More Info:
Harvey Brownstone Interviews website: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com
“Harvey Brownstone Interviews” YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaE5NJCAmpqkFvyJRpOpokw
“Harvey Brownstone Interviews” XPTV1: https://xptv1.com
“Harvey Brownstone Interviews” Spotify channel: https://open.spotify.com/show/5uGlhWQ3Z63di2kem431eB
“Harvey Brownstone Interviews” Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/harvey-brownstone-interviews/id1555774578
“Harvey Brownstone Interviews” Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNzE5MTMxLnJzcw==
Gary Lynn Floyd: https://garylynnfloyd.com
Harriet Schock: https://harrietschock.com/#choices
Breakfast at Dominique’s Hollywood Blends coffees: https://hollywoodblends.com
Source: Harvey Brownstone, author & talk show host
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Pioneering the Future of Writing: AI4CES Empowers Authors With Cutting-Edge AI Skills to Pen Novels in Record Time
Groundbreaking Courses Reveal the Secrets to Writing Engaging Books in Mere Hours, Revolutionizing the Publishing Industry
LOS ANGELES, April 12, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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AI4CES, the trailblazer in AI-driven education for authors, has unveiled astonishing statistics that demonstrate the remarkable speed at which AI technology is transforming the book-writing process. In the past, traditional writing practices meant authors invested six months to a year in completing a novel. With the emergence of modern independent authorship, this duration was significantly reduced to approximately six weeks. The introduction of artificial intelligence in the writing process has further revolutionized the industry, enabling authors to craft novels in a remarkably short time, hours in some instances.“Many authors in the indie community write at lightning speed,” explains Jamie Culican, Founder and CEO of AI4CES and USA Today Bestselling Author. “It’s not uncommon to produce a 50,000-word manuscript in anywhere from five to 30 days. However, that has all changed in the last couple of months. We have had hundreds of students through our courses, and we are gathering data on exactly how authors are engaging with AI. This is giving us valuable insight into the most effective methods for combining human creativity with artificial intelligence. This fusion is redefining the possibilities in novel writing and publishing.”
This information was used to develop the ideas presented in their new book, The Future of Writing: How AI and Technology Are Revolutionizing the Writing Industry, released today. Authors Culican and Melle Melkumian highlight the keys to success for authors in the AI era. As Book 1 in The Accelerated AI Author series, this book also marks the launch of The Accelerated AI Author webinar and course, which helps writers deliver a book in five days.
The AI4CES authors are constantly testing the limits of AI-assisted novel creation. Hundreds of students have successfully completed AI4CES courses, leveraging their newfound skills to produce engaging novels at mind-blowing speed and paving the way for sweeping changes in the publishing industry.
Diane M., a Paranormal Women’s Fiction author and student of their inaugural AI4 Authors course, enthused, “The AI4CES lessons have completely transformed my approach to writing, empowering me to create enthralling stories with unparalleled efficiency. AI has helped me with writer’s block, plotting out my stories, and character development. It has been a real game-changer for me. I’ve been able to complete a book in a week!”
About AI4CES
AI4CES, a trailblazer in AI-driven education, delivers cutting-edge courses across a diverse range of vertical markets, including authors, proposal and grant writers, educators, entrepreneurs, and beyond. As a leader in AI education, AI4CES is committed to providing individuals with the expertise and tools necessary to leverage artificial intelligence for expediting their processes. Through in-depth training, state-of-the-art methodologies, and hands-on techniques, AI4CES enables creative professionals in various fields to drive innovation and shape the future at an extraordinary pace.
Source: AI4CES
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4 Reasons Why You Should Join a Collaborative Book Publications | Entrepreneur
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Have you heard of the power of a group when it comes to building your business? Well, now the power of a group is being used in publishing to launch niche, collaborative books.
Multi-author books are one of the biggest publishing trends this year. Also called collaborative books or anthologies, multi-author titles typically work by gathering together a group of like-minded, aspiring authors. The publisher is usually a small, niche publishing house, which charges authors up front to participate in the projects in exchange for providing their services.
There are obvious benefits to the aspiring author. Instead of writing an entire book, each co-author contributes just one chapter, usually 1,500-5,000 words long. The publisher then steps in to organize the editing, formatting, publishing, and collaborative book launch.
These types of books are almost always bestsellers on Amazon because they have 10-30 authors promoting them at the same time. And that is a big draw to potential contributors; You can become a bestselling author without spending the time or money it takes to write and publish your own solo book.
Multi-author books can be a great service for the right aspiring author. But it’s essential to be realistic about the advantages and disadvantages of joining one.
Four benefits to being a co-author of a collaborative book
1. You will get experience as an author. How do you start writing your own book, let alone publish and market it? It’s a complicated and overwhelming process, which is why less than 1% of aspiring authors succeed in finishing their manuscripts.
Many co-authors join these types of projects as a stepping stone to their own solo books. They learn about the writing process, what goes into publishing and especially how to launch and market a bestselling book. By the time you publish your own book, you will be much more prepared.
Related: 5 Business-Expanding Benefits of Collaborative Book Publications
2. You will grow your network. What is your network worth to you? To your business? One of the biggest benefits of joining a group book project is the opportunity to meet, network and collaborate with like-minded peers. Your co-authors will likely be in your niche and have similar backgrounds and professional goals.
If community and collaboration are important to you, then a multi-author book makes a lot more sense than going at it alone.
3. You will expand your reach. It is getting harder and hard to reach anyone, let alone your ideal audience on social media. It is just too saturated. And to top it off, the algorithms are constantly changing. It’s frustrating and can be a serious problem for your business. The key to any algorithm is engagement. And that is the principle behind any group book launch.
If you happen to see a multi-author book launch on your social media, take a second to look a little closer. You will likely see an exciting announcement where all the co-authors are tagged in the publication, that it has been shared several times and has plenty of co-author comments, emojis and GIFs below it.
All of these factors tell the algorithm that this is a good post, so it will get shown to exponentially more people across all of the co-author’s networks. It costs a lot of money for solo books to compete with that kind of book promotion within their own niche.
Related: Top 7 Questions About Publishing a Book That Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know
4. You will open a lot of doors. Becoming an author will open you up to speaking engagements, press and media coverage, brand sponsorships and collaborations, and more. I‘ve also seen authors use their books for job hunting, handing them out as business cards and adding them to their resumes.
But remember, you still have to be the one to walk through them. You will need to actively practice author marketing and branding if you want to make the most of your multi-author book contribution.
What being a co-author of a collaborative book WON’T do for you
1. You will not get rich from the book royalties. This is still a shock to many people. They think of a bestselling book, and thousands of dollars in passive income immediately pop into their heads. But it’s not like that at all. Let me explain why.
First, when your book is published on Amazon, you must remember that Amazon keeps a cut of the profits. For an eBook, they take 30-70% and charge a delivery fee per copy based on the total size of the file. For a print book (paperback or hardcover), Amazon keeps 40% of the royalties after the printing cost.
While these percentages might not be so bad for a solo book, when it comes to a multi-author book, you split the work between 10-30 authors, so you split the royalties as well. That’s why many multi-author book publishers don’t even include royalties for co-authors.
Example: If you co-author a $2.99 eBook with 14 other contributors, that amounts to a $2.10 royalty per sale to be split between 15 authors. Each author would get .14 cents per sale. Considering the average non-fiction book sells about 250 copies in its lifetime, that would be only $35 in royalties per author.
There you have it. These are the most important factors to consider when joining a multi-author book project.
The decision to join one is right if it makes sense for you, your personal and professional goals, and if you deeply align with the project.
Related: How to Make Money From Your Book Without Selling a Single Cop
Sara Tyler
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Tamar Adler Powers Through Tennis Class and a Mountain of Homemade Breadcrumbs
A martini dirtied with the last of the caper juice. Egg salad sizzled into fried rice. Sauce for noodles born inside a scraped-out nut-butter jar. Sad greens sorted with a “bullish, unwavering practicality.” The encyclopedic array that Tamar Adler presents in The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A–Z, a follow-up to her poetically instructive 2012 book, spells an off-roading adventure in the kitchen. (“Or, or, or” is a common sentence-ender, signaling untold paths forward.) “Listen to your inner voice and follow its lead,” she writes, a mystical voice on a rather prosaic matter: what to do about moldy jam.
“I do feel like, to some degree, how you cook and serve people is a little bit how you live,” Adler says by phone, taking the proverbial saying—You are what you eat—a step further. There is bottomless creativity in her thrift; obvious deliciousness too. (The author and Vogue contributor, now based in Hudson, New York, previously ran a restaurant in Georgia, alongside stints with the literary-minded chefs Alice Waters and Gabrielle Hamilton.) Adler, whose husband works in the climate sector around carbon sequestration, acknowledges that rescuing forlorn produce from the trash heap could seem to be a thimble-size effort. But as the New York Times recently pointed out, food waste—more than a third of it coming from households—contributes twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as commercial air travel. In other words, the odds and ends add up. Adler, who is loath to toss out a perfectly mendable sweater and saves vegetable scraps for broth, paraphrases Wendell Berry: “His statement was something like, ‘God is a materialist, God made things.’ It’s not that I am a particularly religious person, but the idea that to love things and treasure things, like material things—it’s not bad. It’s just that you have to actually love and treasure them.”
Adler isn’t dogmatic, though. She appreciates the wave of self-forgiveness that accompanied the COVID quarantine era. “So many people were publicly saying, ‘Wow, this is hard. I’m not great at this. I thought I was going to run a school out of my house and now we’re just watching movies.’ Or, ‘My family has been living on peanut butter for three days straight and that’s just going to be okay,’” she says. That spirit weaves into The Everlasting Meal Cookbook, as with her instructions for frying: “You’re not doing anything wrong even if it’s a little painful and a little messy. The way you’re doing it is the one you’ll learn from.” Straightforward directives double as gentle counsel. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I was writing culinary self-help,” says Adler, who logs a Zoom session with her own therapist in this three-day wellness diary. “I’m practicing what I preach. I’m being as kind to myself as I’m counseling other people to be themselves, which is nice to know.”
The contents of Adler’s double-decker freezer reflect her commitment to the cause. Waffles made with leftover sourdough starter sit next to bagels (gifts from city visitors), croutons, and eight different kinds of sliced bread. Mashed potatoes and sofrito and cheese-less pesto fill a series of ice cube–style trays by Anyday, a brand she learned about while recipe-testing. A blend of chopped ginger, scallion, and Chinese celery—prepped on a particularly industrious afternoon—is earmarked for dumplings. “That’s a reassuring drawer,” she says. “In the past I was looking out for me now, and I think that’s a very self-respectful thing.” Such grace for one’s future self is, in a way, another exercise in sustainability. A line from the book comes to mind: “When leeks look old and tired,” Adler writes, “they remain lively within.”
Wednesday, March 1
6:50 a.m.: My son wakes me up every morning. This is the only way I’ll get up. I’m against alarms unless I have a train or plane to catch. (My husband sets his alarm for 6 then spends like 30 minutes in the shower, but he’s quiet and I usually doze through. He’s away for work this week, though.) Our son is officially allowed in at 7. But he comes in at 6:50 every day, tells me it’s 10 to 7, then spends 10 minutes taking my covers, taking my pillows, and talking loudly about Pokemon cards.
At 7 I get up.
Sometimes I feel like my life is a series of tricks I play with myself. The first of the day is waking up and getting dressed in exercise clothes because it’s actually harder to remove exercise clothes than it is to just exercise at some point before the school bus returns at the end of the day. It usually works. I put on exercise clothes.
I make my son breakfast and lunch—these tasks are usually handed off between me and Pete, but this week it’s me. I sit down with Louis but don’t eat breakfast with him because it’s too early. I drink a mason jar full of half coffee, half whole milk, and maple syrup. I don’t think it’s particularly healthy. But I also don’t think it’s particularly unhealthy. It has what I need for the first few hours of the day—caffeine, fat, and maple syrup.
Laura Regensdorf
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Three Teachers Turned Bestselling Children’s Book Authors Team Up to Help Others Get Published Too
Press Release
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Apr 29, 2022
GURNEE, Ill., April 29, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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Local author and founder of At Home Author Vicky Weber always wanted to write children’s books but thought that dream was unrealistic. One day, she decided to dive headfirst into the industry to see what happened. What she found through her research was a lot of overwhelming and conflicting information…and none of it could be easily found in one place.“It was like trying to put a puzzle together without knowing what the picture looked like. It was defeating at times but I was determined to make my dream come true,” Weber says. Sure enough, Weber became a bestselling author within 9 months of publication and later went on to be published by Disney.
In a conversation with fellow teacher and award-winning author Brittany Plumeri, Weber realized that it wasn’t just her who felt paralyzed with fear and overwhelmed with information at the start of the publishing process. Plumeri had felt that way too, as did countless others in the author community.
“As licensed educators, we wanted to help. We wanted to do what we do best: teach!” Weber states. So in January of 2021, Weber, Plumeri, and Scholastic author and teacher Chelsea Tornetto created At Home Author: a coaching and consulting company specializing in children’s books to help current and aspiring authors navigate the publishing world and achieve success.
Plumeri states: “I wanted to provide a safe place that was lacking in the author community. One that others could trust and know that at the end of the day, they’d walk away with exactly what they need – no loopholes or smokescreens. Just facts and support.”
With Weber as the self-publishing expert, Plumeri as design & social media marketing strategist, and Tornetto as the traditional publishing specialist, the company has already helped hundreds of people write, publish, and market their children’s books – and make them stand out from the crowd.
Connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or their website.
If you would like more information about this topic or arrange an interview, please email contact@athomeauthor.com
Source: At Home Author
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J T Milford Announces the New Edition Release of His Poetry Book: ‘EVOCATION, to Love, to Hope, to Dream’
Press Release
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Feb 8, 2022
LAKE CHARLES, La., February 8, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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J T Milford announces the new edition release of his poetry book, “EVOCATION, To Love, To Hope, To Dream.” (Genre: inspirational and religious.) These poems invite the reader to explore the abandonment of the ordinary for a spiritual quest.“‘EVOCATION: To Love, To Hope, To Dream’ by J T Milford is an engaging collection of poetry that revolves around the themes of past and current times, life in South Louisiana, music, war or peace, marriage, hidden things, and death. The poems look at the nuances, complexities, and fragilities of life and the accompanying emotions in an introspective way, making the poet’s thoughts and feelings tangible to readers. The poems are evocative and the excellent wordplay weaves human emotions, thoughts, and feelings into the changing moods of the seasons, and makes the poems exquisite in their imagery. Love, loss, longing, and the other intricacies that define life have been dealt with aesthetically in this collection, making it a delight to all poetry lovers.” – from a review by Mamta Madhavan, Reviewer
J T Milford was born on Sept. 1, 1929, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, his birthplace and uses his life there as background for his poetry. He practiced public accounting as a CPA for 40 years.
Press Contact:
JT Milford
jbarbmilf@hotmail.comEVOCATION books and e-books are available at evocation1.com, Bookbaby, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other fine bookstores.
Source: J T Milford, author
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Relationship Expert Daphna Levy Claims Couples Can Reclaim Their Happily Ever After, Releases New Book Valentine’s Day
Press Release
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updated: Feb 6, 2019
LOS ANGELES, February 6, 2019 (Newswire.com)
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While high-profile divorces make headlines, relationship expert and bestselling author Daphna Levy launches her next book, The Secrets of Happily Ever After, out Valentine’s Day 2019. A bold move in today’s world where, in the United States alone, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds. That’s nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year.But Levy is undaunted. Having gone through a sudden and shocking marital breakup of her own in her twenties, she, at last, found her own “happily ever after” with her now-husband of thirty-two years. Furthermore, for the past three decades she has been consulting individuals, couples and families in her practice, now with offices in two Southern California cities, Pasadena and Bakersfield. “I have saved marriages and kept families together,” says Levy. “I give my clients practical tools to fix their relationship and build a strong, lasting bond. And I get results.”
Levy’s client testimonials speak for themselves. Says Karina, mother of two, “We came to Daphna as our last resort. She gave us the tools we desperately needed to open our communication and save our relationship. We’ve learned to listen and understand each other. We no longer have explosive fights. We have discussions.”
One couple, married for 40 years, had this to say following a series of consultations with Levy: “We were able to get back to where we were forty years ago (sweethearts).”
The effects of Levy’s “tools” appear to spread to extended families, as in this testimonial by Liz: “These tools not only helped me with my marriage, but in my relationship with my children as well.”
The Secrets of Happily Ever After promises to reveal the secrets of good communication and how to prevent arguments and fights; methods to help you return to “the way you were” when you first met; as well as ways to overcome personality differences and find harmony in spite of them. It promises to show couples how to defeat “the enemy within,” which Levy claims is the biggest threat to their bond, and give them tools to revive their relationship, rekindle their love and passion and create lasting happiness.
Levy’s first book, Picking Right: The Single’s Guide to Finding the Right Match is an Amazon International Bestseller. It, too, boasts results, as reviews and testimonials pour in. The book’s second edition, published in 2016, features a testimonial and a wedding photo of a reader who attributes finding her “right match” to Picking Right. “The information [in the book] was vital for me because I would always choose wrong,” says Pamela Dicso-Caceres. “Your book made so much sense and gave me clarity on my love life.” And she adds, “Your book put me in control of my life. Thank you so much!”
In a world where divorce is out of control and answers are few, Levy is swimming upstream striving to provide couples and families with real solutions. “The only way to find out if this works is read the book and follow my suggestions,” she says. “If it helps you the way I think it will, let me know. I am very interested!” she adds.
The Secrets of Happily Ever After will be published in both paperback and e-book formats and will be available on Amazon starting Valentine’s Day.
Media Contact:
Daphna Levy
daphnah@earthlink.netSource: Daphna Levy
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Renowned Physician, Psychologist, and Author Visits Glenelg Country School to Discuss 21st Century Parenting and Social Media
Dr. Leonard Sax is the Acclaimed Author of The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-ups
Press Release
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updated: Nov 29, 2017
ELLICOTT CITY, Md., November 29, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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Glenelg Country School (GCS), a leading independent college preparatory school for age two through grade twelve, kicks off its Dragon Dialogues speaker series with renowned physician, psychologist, and author, Dr. Leonard Sax. In his presentation, titled Instagram Ate My Kids: Social Media and the Collapse of Parenting, Dr. Sax will share evidence-based strategies to help parents limit and guide their kids’ use of social media. He will highlight methods that have been shown to improve the odds for girls and boys to develop into healthy, happy, and successful adults. The Jan. 10 event is free to the public and begins at 7:00 p.m. at the GCS Mulitz Theater.The Dragon Dialogues platform fosters communication between parents, faculty, and students on matters that directly affect the education, health, and emotional well-being of students. As a result, participants will be able to apply strategies that will give their children a solid foundation and confidence. Additionally, Dr. Sax will answer these frequently asked questions:
- What do parents need to know about Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat?
- What are kids really doing on their smartphones?
- How can parents effectively monitor this technology?
- Which video games are OK and which are not?
- How much time playing video games is too much?
Dr. Sax has led workshops for teachers, spoken to parents, and visited schools, not only all across North America – from California to Nova Scotia and from Alaska to Florida – but also in Australia, Bermuda, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland. He has written four books for parents:
- Why Gender Matters
- Boys Adrift
- Girls on the Edge
- The Collapse of Parenting – a New York Times bestseller
“Dr. Sax’s presentation catalyzed something very difficult to attain: behavioral change. He brought the key points home with power. I was gladdened and heartened to see a standing-room-only crowd, riveted, spellbound. His message resonates,” said Dr. Patricia Shanley, Princeton Common Ground, Princeton, New Jersey.
Register today to hear him in person on Jan. 10.
About Glenelg Country School:
Founded in 1954, Glenelg Country School is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian, college preparatory day school for students age 2 through grade 12. The school is located in Howard County, with bus transportation. The 90-acre campus boasts four academic buildings, a performing arts center, two gymnasiums, a turf field, observatory, outdoor classrooms, amphitheater, saline pool, campus pond, and more. Our balanced, holistic education philosophy and project-based learning programs incorporate multiple disciplines that help children grow into exceptional adults. Visit www.glenelg.org to learn more.
About Dr. Leonard Sax:
Dr. Sax has been a guest for the TODAY Show (five times), CNN (three times), Headline News, PBS, Fox News (four times), NPR, the BBC, and many other national and international media. His essays about a wide range of child and adolescent issues have been published in the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, First Things, and many other outlets including the websites of The New York Times and Psychology Today. His scholarly work has been published in a wide variety of journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), American Psychologist, Behavioral Neuroscience, Environmental Health Perspectives, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Journal of Sex Research, and Annals of Family Medicine. You can watch streaming video of some of the TV interviews, and read some of his articles, at www.leonardsax.com.
Media Contact
Rosa Brantley
Director of Marketing & Communications
410-531-7336Source: Glenelg Country School
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What Does the Future Hold for Testing and Credentialing?
August 8: Global Futurist Jack Uldrich to present his research on the future of testing and credentialing
Press Release
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updated: Aug 8, 2017
Washington, DC, August 8, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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Today, Global Futurist Jack Uldrich will be in Washington, DC addressing leaders in the testing and credentialing industry. Uldrich was invited to give the keynote at Alpine Testing Solutions’ Thought Leaders Exchange 2017 meeting.His keynote, The Big AHA, will cover “Awareness of the top ten accelerating technological trends, how Humility is necessary when considering the possibilities of the future, and how to cultivate and deploy ‘strategic experimentation’ as a fundamental component of any Action plan.”
“The work I do is all about helping organizations prepare for the coming technological changes so that they can effectively navigate and determine the course of their future.”
Jack Uldrich, Futurist Speaker
In his fascinating, informative, and interactive presentation, Uldrich — hailed by BusinessWeek as “America’s Chief Unlearning Officer” — will also explain what technologies will impact their future.
He will delve into how the technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, changing demographics, Big Data and Analytics, the Internet of Things, and new Online Learning platforms could affect test development and credential management technology in the coming decade.
Jack is an ongoing contributor on emerging technologies and future trends for publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired Magazine and BusinessWeek.
Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog, or his speaking availability are encouraged to contact him via his website.
Source: Jack Uldrich & The School of Unlearning
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11th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards Announced
The 11th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards recognize winners and finalists from this year’s competition
Press Release
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updated: May 31, 2017
LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 31, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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The National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) are a prestigious national award contest open to recent English language books in print from small, medium, university, self and independent publishers. The 11th annual judging is complete and the results celebrate a spectacular range of titles.The National Indie Excellence® Awards helps establish independent publishing as a strong and proud facet of the publishing industry. Recognizing authors that put their heart and soul into their work, NIEA is a champion of self-publishers and the small, independent presses that go the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect. Established in 2007, the NIEA competition is judged by experts from all aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters.
“We are proud to announce the winners and finalists whose books truly embody the excellence that this award was created to celebrate, and we salute you all for your fine work.”
Ellen Reid, Founder NIEA
Winners and finalists are determined based on “overall excellence of presentation — a synergy of form and content” in a wide range of genres. Sponsorships and monetary prizes are selected by the jury from the overall group of Winners and Finalists.
To view the 11th Annual NIEA Winners and Finalists, click here: https://www.indieexcellence.com/11th-annual-winners
For more information, please visit: www.indieexcellence.com or contact support@indieexcellence.com
Source: The National Indie Excellence® Awards
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Author E. P. Lee Offers Free Book Download for a Limited Period
Miami Beach, Fl, USA – January 18, 2016 – Following the release of the three books in his Puppy series, American author E. P. Lee now offers his debut novel And the Puppy Howls as a free download for a limited period.
Press Release
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Jan 18, 2016
FLORIDA, USA, January 18, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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Author E. P. Lee offers free book download for a limited period
Following the release of the three books in his Puppy series, American author E. P. Lee now offers his debut novel And the Puppy Howls as a free download for a limited period.
With a rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon, And the Puppy Howls has been warmly received by the reading public. The attached tear sheet taken from the author’s website at (www.andthepuppyhowls.com) contains a range of comments from reviewers and readers.
The e-book is available for free download from online stores such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and the author’s own website at http://andthepuppyhowls.com/free-howls-download/
Having spent twenty years running his own graphics agency in Manhattan, E. P. Lee now resides in Florida where he writes and enjoys the sunshine. And the Puppy Howls is his debut novel, the first book in a three part series…
And the Puppy Howls is the story of being hit by everything modern American life can throw at you, and who, and what, comes next. It is the first of many books to come from E. P. Lee.
Contact:
E. P. Lee
eplee.author@gmail,com
Florida, USA
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