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Jen Singer was a mom blogger before the phrase was even coined!

In 2003, she launched her web site, MommaSaid.net, in her basement during naptime.

Now, seven years later, she’s got a three-book series emblazoned with her web site’s logo and a TV crew from the Today Show in her kitchen.

What is MommaSaid.net? 

It’s Jen’s little corner of the Internet where moms can go to get a good laugh about motherhood, find information to help them become good mothers, and get needed validation that they really are good moms. 

Jen says, “What mom doesn’t want to hear from somebody who cares that trying to be a good mom is important even in a world that so often forgets why good even matters.  I am that voice of reassurance.  And I love to make moms laugh, especially on those really long days when the kids are hanging from your belt loops, the laundry is piled high and the cat appears to have brought inside a furry little friend.”

While some mom bloggers dream of becoming authors, Jen Singer is an author, five times over.

The third book in her Stop Second-Guessing Yourself (HCI) parenting series is due out in May. She recently won a coveted 2010 gold Mom’s Choice Award for her parenting series, an added honor to her web site’s Forbes Best of the Web distinction. Her previous books, “You’re a Good Mom (and Your Kids Aren’t So Bad Either)” (Sourcebooks) and “14 Hours Til Bedtime” have earned high praise from American Baby, Parenting magazine, and more.

 “I’m an overnight success…that took seven years,” chuckles Singer. “People don’t realize the amount of work – blogging, writing and building brands – that it took to get here. And yes, I’ve thought of quitting more than once.”

The success of Jen’s website caught the attention of publishers and product managers years ago.  In 2007, Jen was offered the opportunity to write a MommaSaid-branded book series by HCI, the publishers of the famed Chicken Soup for The Soul enterprise. Her books have recently won a coveted gold Mom’s Choice Award for 2010.

In the corporate community, Jen is frequently tapped to be a spokesperson for Fortune 500 corporations, including Hershey’s, Pfizer, Coinstar, SC Johnson and Kimberly-Clark, where she has served as a Pull-Ups Potty Training Partner for five years.

I’ve helped translate a variety of corporate messages into the language of moms. I reach moms through print, on the radio and on TV.  Online opportunities have evolved to include hosting Twitter parties, making Skype guest appearances, and serving as the keynote at company events on Facebook fan pages. And it’s a whole lot of fun.”

Be a MommaSaid fan on Facebook. 

Longtime client and friend, Jen wrote the foreword to PR THERAPY by Robin Blakely!

The Inside Voice by Therese Crowley

THE PROBLEM:  Recently I had the opportunity to travel to a new place where there were a bunch of people who had the surprising notion that I was ‘famous’ and that I ‘had made it’. It was all very flattering and wonderful in a funny new way.  I mean, they thought I was SOMEBODY.  Somebody BIG.  But I found that it took me off guard and I got a little scared. I quietly made sure they hadn’t mistaken me for someone else.  Even when I saw my own book in their hands, I still wondered if they had me mixed up with somebody else.  I’ve been so busy writing, it never occurred to me that anyone would think I had “made it.” 

Will I ever feel comfortable in this situation?  If I buy-in to this assessment, will I get a big head?  What can I even say if this ever happens again? 

THERESE CROWLEY:  Welcome to your success. They like you! They really, really like you!  You have a public now, which requires a certain new attitude.  This, too, is a part of the job. 

Right now, you are akin to the swimming swan, or more comically, the quacked-up duck – gliding across the pond seemingly effortlessly, but paddling like hell underneath!

They have no idea how hard you’ve worked. But something within you, some kind of fire, and lava, and love, drove you to create, and now your creation is complete.  No need to be scared about the acclaim.  That’s a weird kind of pride in reverse, which we’re all subject to. It’s a false echo on the navigational radar, a lie of the negative ego that says, ‘I have no right to be brilliant.’ But, it’s still a lie….you do have a right to be brilliant.  

Accepting love and acclaim requires the graciousness of letting people give to you, without complication. The ultimate complication would be to resent your biggest fans.  Can you just let them fawn over you in ignorance, while you smile like the sphinx? 

Imagine yourself as Lindsey Vonn, winning her first alpine Gold Medal at Vancouver. You know, God knows, your best friends and parents and partner know how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve given up–no one else has to know. No one but your peers, in private. (And one day, perhaps, your biographer!)

You may feel tired, and frustrated, and fried.  But grace under pressure shines and shines. Try one of these responses…

Keep it simple:  Thank you!  I’m so glad you liked it!  Or, I worked really hard, but it was a labor of love!

Or, be inspirational about your hard work:  I learned in my younger days, persistence is the key to writing!

Or, be humble:The parts of it I like the best–it’s as if it was written thru me, not by me–I’m honored I got to write it, and I’m glad you liked it too!

Save your frustrations and fears for your pillow talk. 
Don’t be upset by the public who loves you.  It’s okay to simply be thankful.  And, then,  just enjoy the shining. Because pretty soon, you’ll have to get back to work…

I have spent most of my life in and around music and even had a professional musical career when I was younger.  I have found that while it’s never too late to begin learning how to play an instrument there are a few things that must be understood up front by any student who is old enough to be considered a ‘more mature’ musician. 

(Boomers and Gen-Xers, that so-called ’more mature’ musician includes you, not just your parents .)

Learning how to play music really is tougher than it looks, but it’s not impossible. 

Expect to encounter a learning curve.  If you want to write your own music, it’s necessary to learn how to read music and it helps to understand music theory.  Plus, you’ll soon discover there are some unique physical demands on the body (your fingers, mouth, arms and legs) that will be required to actually produce the musical tones for the many different instruments. 

Adults learn differently than kids.  We start children on the path towards a good musical education because their young brains are able to absorb so much information, their dexterity is greater, and we know that their skills can develop and be trained as they grow.  If you missed your musical calling as a kid, I would never tell you now that you can’t become a great musician.  I do think the odds for greatness become more stacked against you as you age because it really does take years to build the skills to be a top musician. 

But, who says you have to be the best in the world?  And, who says you can’t be great, if you relentlessly focus your talent and drive?

If you are a ‘more mature’ student of music, realize that it does take the brain a bit longer to process new information and to learn new physical skills.  The time table for success is on the side of students who don’t have a job to go to everyday or who don’t have other responsibilities that interfere with their practice schedules. 

So, set your goals accordingly.

Music is a very enjoyable hobby and can yield a great deal of satisfaction if you are able to get to a place in your studies where you can play with other musicians.  You can seek out community orchestras or bands.  Or you might find people at your day job who are looking for someone who just happens to play bass, guitar, drums or whatever other instrument.

If you have always wanted to learn how to play an instrument and you have the desire to learn the language of music and the skills necessary to produce the notes, my best suggestion is to head on down to your local music store and find out if they have a teacher who will get you started on your instrument of choice. 

The rest is up to you. 

Once you make the decision to become a musician, your success depends on how much time you are willing to devote to your practicing. 

If you are really motivated to become a good player then you might find yourself practicing many hours a week.  The words from one of my daughter’s first music teachers still ring in my head, “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.”  It’s a bit of a twist on what we all learned as kids that practice makes perfect, and I have found this new version really does go a long way towards helping to motivate the student to becoming a proficient player.

So, tell me, what musical instrument have you always wanted to master? What’s stopping you?

Over the years of working in homes and offices with clients I’ve realized we tend to over complicate our filing system. Sometimes making the system so complex that we can’t maintain it and we end up with a pile of papers to be filed and a filing cabinet too full of outdated papers to file anything else in the drawer.

Sound familiar?

Make filing easy with this three-part file system:

File type #1 Active
These are the files you are currently working with, such as client files. These are the ones you need to access daily, weekly or monthly. These files belong in a cabinet near your desk; preferably so close you don’t even have to get out of your chair.

Short on space? Try a rolling file rack that you can wheel up to your desk to access during the workday and roll away at the end of the day.

File Type #2 Research
These are the files where you store ideas, clippings, professional articles, journals and other types of reference materials.

These need to be handy but not necessarily right next to your desk.

File Type #3 Archive
These are the files that you need to keep for backup purposes like taxes or past clients. Since you won’t need to have access to these all that often these files can be boxed up, clearly labeled and stored away.

A filing cabinet is not the best place for these since they’ll become outdated within months and you’ll have to weed the cabinet.

Working just a few minutes a day to organize these key files means in no time at all you’ll be able to find what you need when you need it and those “to be filed” piles will disappear!

And all I can say is it’s about time we had a simple system for all those papers!

But, wait a second.  Don’t forget the rest of the story.  PR THERAPY has some critical messages that writers need to integrate into their writing consciousness this year:  Writers also write to make a living, promote a cause, or sell a product.  Your work entertains, informs, and is provocative. Whether you write novels or nonfiction, blogs or poetry, you express what others think, touch hearts, and help expand minds. 

That is your work.  So, why do writers find it so difficult to promote themselves?  How can writers reach a balance between artistic integrity and business acumen?  Who can writers turn to for encouragement, answers, and insight when the sheer act of writing is actually done alone in front of a computer? 

You can start here!   

 

Rebecca Forster

PR THERAPY welcomes Rebecca Forster and her new column Write Now.  She will help members of the writing community forge ahead in a wildly changing landscape during an exciting era of publishing transformation.  

Agents, editors, published and unpublished writers, bloggers, bookstore professionals and Rebecca Forster - a working author whose passion for both craft and promotion has not waned in over 20 years (and 22 published books) -  will offer insights about the changing life of today’s writer. 

So, keep an open mind. Figure out what strategies fit your personal style, what words lift your spirits, what thoughts inspire you. 

 Above all, relax….and enjoy the debut of Rebecca Forster’s column here on PRTherapy.com!

ARE YOU A WRITER?

“What do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

“Are you published?”

There it is; the rock and the hard place.

All too often, people assume you are only a writer if you are published.  By a publisher they recognize, of course.  In book form, with pages and a cover.  Distributed in their local bookstores. Heck, even my own mother didn’t acknowledge I was a writer until she could physically buy a copy of my first book (never fear, I paid her back).

Even published writers can lose in this game of professional chutes and ladders. I’ve published over twenty books and, yet, when people find out my backlist is now only available for E-readers like Kindle, my previous success is somehow suspect. Instead of ‘show me the money’ the only way to prove you’re for real is  to ‘show them a book’.

So the question becomes, when do any of us become a legitimate writer? I believe it depends on the writer’s own vision of success and level of confidence. I have met people who have kept journals for years but have no desire to publish.  I have met some who have written for publication, never achieved their goals but continue to revise and refine their work. There are others who aspire to selling a screenplay or novel yet find success in magazine work, newsletter writing and advertising.

All of these are genuine writers. They share the critical professional virtues: dedication to  the craft, love of the written word and the determination to make their voices heard. Pretenders are those who do not work at writing. These are the people who sit with you at a dinner party and say:

“I have a wonderful story to tell.”

To which I respond:

“How exciting.  How far along is your work?”

And they assure me:

“Oh, I don’t want to write it. I thought I could tell you and you’d write it.”

And I laugh and refill my wine glass. I have my own stories. I work hard to write them, revise them, submit them. Sometimes they are published and sometimes they aren’t but I work every day. Like you, I am a real writer.

By Jamie Novak

 
We all know that following your passion is a messy business.  Talent and skill means creating clutter. But having clutter and showing it to the world are two very different things.  Having it happens…showing it shouldn’t.

It’s about time to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Trouble is with just about two weeks left, it is really getting too late to do everything you wanted.

Sure, it would be nice to clean and organize before guests arrive— file the bills, clear the dining room table, clean the fridge; unbury the desktop, and, yeah, sort that mountain of magazines and newspapers that you were going to use as research for something.

The astounding truth is 82% of us have at least one room we close the door to before guests arrive.

When there is absolutely no time left to clear the clutter, put on your best PR smile and disguise the mess.

Here are the best hints to hide it in plain sight (no kidding)!

1.       Put a bow on it!
If you have a stack of clutter, such as say this pile of to-read item and some papers, mail and bills…

Take a box and push the flaps inward

Then wrap the box

Slip the box over the clutter

Just about anything looks better with a bow on it, even your clutter. Note to self: DO NOT add a to/from tag, no one wants to be gifted your water bill.

 2.  Dim the lights!

Swap out your bright white front walkway light with holiday colored bulbs like blue, red, or even green. No one will even notice that you forgot to clean the messy walkway or the glass on the storm door.

 3.  Cover it! 
Do you have miscellaneous clutter like this on your kitchen island?

If so grab a holiday themed bowl.

Place all the stuff in the bowl.

And promptly cover with festive ornaments. No one will be the wiser!

 4.  Wrap it!

Fridge shelves get messy, that’s life. Don’t let guests see the mess.

Simply line shelves with decorative paper to disguise the mess.

 5.  Stack it!

Scoop and dump the mess into a few boxes. Then promptly drape a floorlength tablecloth over the whole stack. Add a vase, photo frame or tray with holiday decorations ontop and no one will catch onto your clever trick!   

What NOT to do:  

1. Do not hide clutter in the oven. In a spare second shower? Sure. Just not the oven, or the dryer for that matter.
2. Do not stash the mess in the trunk of your car right before going to pick up out of town guests (and their lugggage.)
3. Do not push more stuff into the already over crowded front hall closet, chances are guests will arrive with coats that need to be hung up.

Try these five clever clutter-concealing tricks. Then sit back and relax, it’s about time you had time to enjoy the holiday with friends and family (after all you’re the only one that will know you have clutter wrapped under the tree.)

Jamie Novak writes the It’s About Time column for www.PRTherapy.com

One thing you can count on from a good PR journey is growth.  Sometimes, as you grow and change, your own environment will no longer be appropriate for who you are and who you are becoming.

At first, you may not grasp exactly what’s transpiring.  So, know this…If you are in the wrong environment, it is common to feel crazy, stupid, or worthless–maybe all three! You may waste a lot of energy and time exploring whether the crazy, stupid, and worthless labels are accurate or not. Don’t bother; the solution to the problem does not lie there.

Stop questioning how you feel. Accept your feelings, and change your focus to the wrong environment part of that scenario.  When you are in the wrong environment, you feel wrong when you don’t fit in. Not because you’re wrong…because the environment is wrong…for you. 

Sometimes your environment does not fit who you are.It can feel as if you unwittingly contributed a box full of rocks to the neighborhood rummage sale.  If you put those rocks out on the sidewalk right where you are, chances are the neighbors will talk. Rocks in a box just aren’t garage sale material. Carry that same bunch of rocks over to the Rock Show and it’s a whole different scenario–rock hounds will wildly appreciate what you’ve got.So, if you’re outgrowing your environment, remember this: Rock On.  You can move on, and sometimes you must move on. 

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!

AUTHOR SIGNING
1 PM on Saturday, Sept 19^th 

1664 NW Chipman Rd.
Lees Summit, MO 64081

AUTHOR: Robin Blakely

BOOK: PR THERAPY: Ignite Your Passion For Promoting Your Products, Services, And Even Yourself! 

If doing your own Public Relations is driving you crazy, you need PR Therapy. Robin Blakely – the PR “idea girl” to multimillionaire CEOs, small business owners, nonprofit leaders, bestselling authors, and creative people across the country —shares field-tested entrepreneurial know-how on building a PR platform that really works…for you.

From starting out to starting over, PR THERAPY helps you feel comfortable and strategic about promoting who you are and what you do.

READ AN EXCERPT….Visit www.prtherapy.com 

Yeah, money is a tough subject for nearly everybody.

You either have it, or you don’t. You either want it, or you don’t know what to do with it. You either think it holds great advantages or you suspect it’s the root of all evil. It helps to know that your personal worth and your bank account’s value are two very different legacies. Don’t confuse the two. Money is simply great, but Great is not simply money.

Money is one of three key resources in which good management is important. If you have money, you can make it work for you. If you don’t have money, you can leverage other resources that you do have to compensate for the lack of money you think you need.

What are two other resources you have to consider?

Time.  If you don’t have enough money to get what you need, you can usually find a way to trade time for what you want and must have. 

People.  It’s commonly said that it’s not what you know; it’s who you know. So start shaking some hands. Get to know who you need to know. Remember, people are the most important part of life. Everyone has a lesson to share with you. Everyone has a gift to offer. And don’t be a stingy gut…it’s not all about what you can get; it’s about what you can give, too.

Money. Time.  People.  All of your valuable resources require careful cultivation, development, and management. That means you need to make money and allocate money wisely. Spend time and invest time intelligently. Cultivate relationships sensibly.

The Good News? Things change when you recognize that money, time, and people are your assets…and do something about it. You can become more successful promotionally and on every other level when you fully understand the nature of your wealth.  It is often a startling relief to discover that by simply doing the basic fundamentals of good resource management, success not only grows…it flourishes.

Okay…you’ve finally built the proverbial better mousetrap.
And, lately, you’ve been telling yourself: “I’m ready and waiting for the world to beat a path to my door. That’s what I want: the world.”

That means everyone. Right?
No, not quite.  

Let’s take a closer look at that build-a-better-mousetrap scenario. It’s exactly what we’re talking about. The rarely considered part of that timeless wisdom is that it’s not everyone who shows up at your door. All those people showing up to buy the better mousetrap actually have something terribly important in common. They all have rodent problems. People without mice aren’t standing in line for a better mousetrap. These folks aren’t buying last year’s mousetrap, either. They aren’t even thinking of mousetraps. It’s not an appropriate buying season for them until they have a need to rid themselves of mice.

Why does any of that matter to you?

It’s critical to understand that everyone in the world is not part of your target market. In fact, it’s not about wanting everyone…it’s really about not wanting everyone. So, before you lump clients and customers into one faceless group called “everybody,” consider this: The “everybody” mindset will undermine your promotional efforts and block opportunities for your success.

Why?

The ‘everyone’ mindset puts you in passive mode. You’re waiting for them to choose you, instead of doing your part to connect with exactly who you want. The truth is you have to define who you want. You simply do not have the luxury of treating everyone as if they are exactly the same. They aren’t the same. Some are ready to buy; some are not ready. Of course, it’s great that you have a better solution to a universal problem. It’s wonderful that virtually everyone may eventually need what you do, but it’s strategic to recognize that everyone’s needs are on different timing cycles.

You can’t control their circumstances, but you can take ownership of yours. You must find ways to manage your time and efforts carefully or you’ll wear yourself out spouting the merits of mousetraps to people who have not yet encountered a mouse or to folks who will never understand the real need for what you’ve got.

Realistically, it’s time to focus on people who can help cultivate your success. The sooner you understand that ‘everyone’ is not your customer, the sooner your success can grow and stabilize.