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Here’s a podcast I recorded last week with Jeri-Lyn McCrea, Author of Words in Action – A Journal to Inspire Change. Jeri’s major theme in the book is setting goals, and achieving them. In this podcast, we talk about some obstacles to goal setting (real or imagined) and how we can overcome those obstacles.

Stay tuned for a second podcast shortly!

Wow – it hardly seems possible that I’ve already reached the 100 mark, when this revised blog has only been operating as you see it for a few months. Prior to that, I was posting on multiple blogs for similar subjects. This forum has been an exercise in setting personal boundaries.

Thank you to all of you who continue to send me email and comments, online and offline. I really find the interaction very stimulating, not only for my own writing, but for the development and marketing of my clients’ products. My commitment to helping to develop authors on the West Coast of Canada is renewed every time I hear from one of you.

As a blogger who loves what she does, and what I write about, I can offer one piece of key advice. If you glean nothing else from reading about blogging, please know this: only blog about topics for which you have a true passion. Blogging is work, and loving your subject makes it a pleasure rather than a chore. More coming soon!

Join me on Saturday, August 2nd in Langley, BC, Canada, for an all-new version of my 6-Hour Blog Workshop. The class is from 10 am to 4 pm, and participants will set up their own custom blog, live, right in the class. If you’ve been looking for a hands-on class that empowers you with the skills to manage a strategically-developed blog yourself, and you need someone to walk you through each step of the way, this is it.

The class fee of $425 USD includes a continental breakfast, lunch, coffee and tea throughout the day, and all the software and tools you’ll need to put your blog on rocket fuel.

The class is capped at 12 people, because otherwise I can’t be sure that I’m giving all users the attention that they need. Registration will be open on the “Classes” page (link at the top of this page) as of Monday June 23, 2008. Click there now for more detailed information, or call us at 1-866-907-4084 for info in the meantime.

Please note: users are required to bring their own laptop to use during the class, as files will be downloaded and applications set up on their computers for future use. (Don’t own a laptop? Please call us at 1-866-907-4084 for other solutions. We can always work out something.)

This same class will also be offered on Vancouver Island in late August in the Nanaimo area. The date is tentatively set for August 23rd, but this will be confirmed shortly.

See you there!

Thanks to all who came to my presentation on Thursday evening at the eWomen Network on June 12th in Surrey. I’ve just made updates to the Private Resources Page as promised, and will be adding more cool stuff all week – what’s there is really just the beginning. There are two eBooks on the way for certain, plus other valuable items. Click here to see the current updates, and enter your password that was given to you on the white postcard at the dinner. The password is case-sensitive, so please enter it as you see it on the card. (Missing your card? eMail me and I’ll fill you in.)

Didn’t attend the dinner, but want to see the page? Call me at 1-866-907-4084, or email me for more information.

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be delivering a new talk about my company’s use of Social Media Marketing at the eWomen Network’s Surrey Chapter the evening of June 12th, at Coyote Creek Golf Club on 152nd St. in Surrey, BC.

The subject of my talk will be an in-depth analysis of the results of a marketing experiment that I’ve been conducting for the book Words in Action, by local Author Jeri-Lyn McCrea.

The talk is titled: “The Social Media Diet”, after a blog post I made here a while ago, which started a discussion and a number of comparisons to marketing and dieting. (Bottom line: both of them take a bit of figuring, but if you stick to it, the results can be astonishing.)

Here’s the description of the talk that is being promoted to Members: “Social Media Marketing is very trendy right now, and although we’re bombarded by a flurry of terms and tools, the mechanics of it still seem a bit fuzzy. How do you do it, and what does it really mean for you and your business? This discussion documents a live experiment that my company conducted, using SMM tools and techniques to promote a current book on our roster. What we learned was surprising, and these lessons can apply to almost any product or service.”

To make this discussion even more interactive, we’re inviting you to submit your questions about this topic in advance. I’ll address your actual questions that you submit as comments below, here on this page, during the live discussion on June 12th.

To submit a question, simply submit your question as a comment to this blog post. (Click here, or there’s a link below in the grey bar.) All comments are moderated, but they will be posted publicly here as they are approved. We also welcome general comments.

See you on June 12th!

Check out this great item at the Huffington Post by Catherine Specter, titled “The Way We Word”. When you’re done reading the post, check out the rather stimulating comment at the bottom, which was chosen the “HuffPost’s Pick”. (Yes, that comment was written by me – Peggy – the girl who can’t keep her mouth shut.)