I have spent many hours this week just watching the water. I’m watching the boats and the cars, the “self-walking” dogs and the people, too, of course. But mostly I watch the water. The tide doesn’t roll in here on the Ria Formosa. (Sorry, Otis.) It creeps in, it seeps in. It subtly edges into…
Details
Blogging isn’t for everyone, but that’s why they make chocolate AND vanilla. Because my clients are authors, I always recommend that they have a blog. But truth be told, not everyone is cut out to be a blogger. Not everyone has the time to blog. Not everyone has the perseverance or patience to keep going…
Details
Moving to Santa Luzia is my fourth move in five months and it should be my final move for at least a year, maybe longer. To qualify for Portugal’s D7 residency visa, I had to have six months of accommodations lined up. At the time I applied, you could have AirBnB reservations or even long…
Details
The idea behind writing a nonfiction business book is not to generate revenue directly from book sales (although that is always nice), but to use the book to generate income for your business. That means putting the book in front of your target market is more important than actually selling the book to your target…
Details
The time to think about how to promote your book is while you are writing it. I do this. I teach this. So I really should have thought of this sooner. I’m working on a couple of books at one time, trying to finish up a series, going back to a book I had almost…
Details
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” Chinese Proverb I found this gem while researching another Chinese proverb for a book I am working on. And it resonated with me because it laid out how I have felt (for the most part) since I moved to Portugal. I am…
Details
Growing up outside of Boston, our American history classes touched on how cobblestone sidewalks and streets came to be. In the 1800s, cobblestones were used as ballast in ships coming from Europe. They were offloaded in American port cities, making room for the cargo that was being exported to Europe. The cobblestones were repurposed to…
Details
You’re close to the end; you’re finally about to finish writing your book. You can almost taste it. And then…Something weird happens. Maybe not to everyone… but to most people. You slow down. Your writing pace slows down. You get writers’ block. You endlessly tweak chapters that are done. There’s a reason for that: You’re…
Details
“But how do you make a living? Are you retired?” I wish I was retired! No. I’ll probably be working in some sense of the word until I keel over. I can only hope that I am enjoying it as thoroughly in twenty years as I am now. Truth be told, even in retirement I…
Details
If you don’t have to fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. –Ralph Lee Hopkins, Wildlife Photographer, Expedition Leader These words of wisdom were imparted many years ago on the stern of the MV Sea Lion, somewhere in the Sea of Cortez. I was working as Purser on a small expedition-style cruise ship (we had flush…
Details