Sunday Post #amwriting #amjoy

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Today's post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelve, Reader Book Buzz  for weekly updates

           LOOKING FORWARD TO FEBRUARY

Today I have a special guest, Ayesha S. Ratnayake with me. She's here to talk about her new book: ‘Cheat Sheets for Life: Over 750 hacks for health, happiness and success.

Ayesha, what is your newest book about?

‘Cheat Sheets for Life: Over 750 hacks for health, happiness and success’ is essentially the data-driven ‘manual for life’ that I genuinely believe should be thrust into the hands of every newborn baby. After decades spent consuming hundreds of non-fiction books, I put together a quick and practical guide summing up what science says about how to succeed across 17 dimensions of life – from health to wealth to love to happiness.

What made you want to write a book about Health, Happiness and Success?

I didn’t initially plan to publish a book. I was just trying to answer the question ‘What does science say about living a good life?’ Thanks to the magic of audiobooks and 10 hours a week spent commuting, I was able to tap into hundreds of books about happiness, productivity, relationships, and more, in my effort to answer that question. I took copious notes and categorized them. Soon, I realized I was building the book I had been seeking my whole life – a handbook for life based on data and research. As it took shape, I felt I couldn’t keep it to myself. Everyone could use this information.

 

Did you do a press release, Goodreads book launch or anything else to promote your work and did it work?

I used book promotion websites such as Buck Books and Reading Deals, and the reach of avid readers and reviewers – the influencers of the book space – to promote my book. It did work! Cheat Sheets for Life became an Amazon Bestseller in the categories Pyschology Research and Science Education Research and got fantastic reviews within two weeks of launch.

 

What is your favorite motivational phrase?

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"Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being?" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 

Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

I was a Copywriter many years ago, so I do have proofreading and editing experience. Regardless, it’s valuable to have a second pair of eyes on one’s writing, so I ‘hired’ my erudite aunt, Nalini Rodrigo, to do the job of editing. She approached it with a level of enthusiasm I couldn’t expect from a paid editor, ensuring every last dot and dash was just right. She even measured the gaps between chapter headings and body text. I also had a team of beta readers who gave me invaluable feedback on my early drafts.

 

Which writers inspire you?

I am inspired by writers who offer priceless factual insights with practical simplicity. Richard Wiseman, Chip and Dan Heath, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler and James Clear all come to mind. These writers put in the effort to provide useful and science-backed guidelines for dealing with common yet crucial challenges. They have all influenced my thinking and writing.

Thanks Ayesha For joining us.

Thanks for having me.

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TYQ4HH8

http://cheatsheets.life/

 Author Bio

A Sri Lankan born in Fiji, Ayesha S. Ratnayake (MBA, Chartered Marketer) has 10+ years of experience in marketing and management. She has served as CEO, Director and Shareholder of a technology firm where she led the development of an enterprise software product. She has also served as Co-founder and Director of a marketing communications agency. Ayesha is a startup mentor and a mental health advocate.

CURRENTLY

From the Author of this blog

 On a side note I took a few clients to work.  I didn't realize I was in bonus mode and earned an extra $80! 

I networked a lot this week with people for our channel.  There's a meetup group that discusses YouTube and how to engage with viewers and it was exciting to see so many YouTubers. 

I pampered myself with some coffee drinks and tamales 

Loving this home swap novel.  At first I was loving the American's take of living in Britain, but then I started loving the other characters. It really examines a lot of angles.

 truth is simple. The more simple you are and the more you seek for simplicity, the nearer you come to truth.

   from  https://wahiduddin.net/mv2/XIV/XIV_2_8.htm

OUR channel Disability Landscape interview Tara Innmon

Share your comments below.

Sunday Post #amwriting #amjoy

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 Today's post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelve, Reader Book Buzz  for weekly updates.

           LOOKING FORWARD TO FEBRUARY

This week got a little warmer, whew!  It did snow some but not much.  I learned that it also snowed in New York, from some people in a writers group who told me a bunch more fun facts about New York including the irrigation system and how bad it smells on the subways.

I also gave some more thought to my a possible ride share book and sharing it on Amazon.  It takes a lot of research to self publish but thanks to YouTube there are tons of tutorials. 

Lastly, I got my taxes done.  This is always an effort so I'm glad I got that taken care of.

More fun ride share talks:

“I’m ninety. It’s not easy getting old.” My passenger said after I stuffed her walker (that would not collapse) into the passenger seat of my car.

I pointed out a man bicycling up a hill in thirty mile per hour winds.

“That man is asking for a beating,” she said.

                       

Upcoming Twin Cities Shows

DIGITAL, (Feb 25-March 6) is a pixelated performance by Emily Michaels King that uses MacBook Pro, iPhone, and Zoom to explore identity and bloodline. This inventive and disorienting collage of camera curation, screen sharing, choreography, and image manipulation is an archival assemblage of memory and the detritus of one’s life, digital and otherwise. Made with and for the virtual realm, DIGITAL is bizarre and familiar, like swimming in the technicolor oil slick of our subconscious. 

tickets to this virtual show https://www.emilymichaelsking.com/tickets

Disability Landscape featuring Brittanie Wilson We have a great conversation with our new Brittanie Wilson was on our YouTube channel. She is a local disability rights activist who keeps tabs on the MN state legislature.

That's my week.  Tell me about yours in the comments below.

CURRENTLY

I decided to pick up another one of Jean-Paul's novels after reading 'The Reader on the 6-27

I liked 'A Doubter's Almanac.'  It really has nothing to do with an Almanac but its about a character who studies Topography and math, and it explores this character's journey as a professor in math as he solves a huge mathematical problem that won him a place in history.

I Like 'The Biggest Bluff' a lot.  Its nonfiction, and tells Maria's story of becoming a woman poker player. And although its about poker, its mostly how Maria came into the game as she wanted to learn how to master some big issues in her life, and conquer the art of making a good decision.  Maria walked away with a lot of money playing poker but at the end of the day, she's a into psychology and has a degree to study human behavior.

Sunday Post #amwriting #amjoy

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 Today's post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelve, Reader Book Buzz  for weekly updates.

           LOOKING FORWARD TO February

This week was cold and I mean real cold!!!!!!! With that being said, I still got a few things done. I thought I'd post some fun things that my passengers have said to me over the last year or so.

- I told a client I liked to dance and his response:“Oh, I love ‘Just Dance’ on Nintendo Switch-it has over 500 songs. I probably dance two hours a day.”

“Don’t listen to her” my passenger said, referring the GPS.

Someone told me about how they nearly missed their cruise, and how they still remember the ship sound, ‘Honk, Honk!’ Ironically, they also nearly missed their ride share to the airport that morning.

A passenger told me about a time he was watching ‘Caught in Providence’ and a plaintiff had been brought in to contest a ticket. And the judge asked him about his criminal background and he said he was in prison for thirty years for bank robbery. He said “You know the movie ‘The Town’? (starring Ben Afflek) That movie was based on my life.”

Judge 👨‍⚖️ released the guy’s ticket, said the plaintiff is 💫 starting a new chapter in his life.

                                                        Photos from my Week

I loved seeing the elevator on the outside of the building going up ten flights 

The winds make this week super cold.  My feet felt like they were getting frost bit at point from inside the car

That's my week.  Tell me about yours in the comments below.

CURRENTLY 

I'm loving 'Reader on the 6-27'.  At first I thought it was densely written and read a bit like nonfiction but then I got into it and was like Wow! this is one heck of a story and the characters who read made me think of my reading journey

Colombian Betrayal

 Colombian Betrayal By Randall Krzak

Get it on Amazon

Colombian Betrayal tears the cover off the drug trade and exposes the death, and violence behind the twisted connections between governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, and drug lords.

About the Author

Randall Krzak is a U.S. Army veteran and retired senior civil servant,spending thirty years in Europe, Africa, Central America, and the Middle East. His residency abroad qualifies him to build rich worlds in hisaction-adventure novels and short stories. Familiar with customs, laws,and social norms, he promotes these to create authentic characters andscenery.

His first novel, The Kurdish Connection, was publishedin 2017, and the sequel, Dangerous Alliance, was released in November2018. Both placed in the 2018 Global Thriller Book Awards sponsored byChanticleer International Book Awards, with The Kurdish Connectionfinishing as a semi-finalist and Dangerous Alliance being selected asone of seven first in category winners. The third novel in the series,Carnage in Singapore, was released in August 2019, and is currently asemi-finalist in the 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards. He also penned "A Dangerous Occupation," a winning entry in the August 2016Wild Sound Writing and Film Festival Review short story category.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland andageneral Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a MBA with anemphasis in Strategic Focus, both from Heriot-Watt University,Edinburgh, Scotland. He currently resides with his wife, Sylvia, and six cats in Dunfermline, Scotland. He's originally from Michigan, whileSylvia is a proud Scot. In addition to writing, he enjoys hiking,reading, candle making, pyrography, and sightseeing.

Watch as an unholy alliance is formed when the profits of a Columbian drug lord Olivia Moreno, begin disappearing and deadly new international competitors appear on the horizon.

Moreno, head of the Barranquilla Cartel, strikes a deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Little does she know she is signing her own death warrant! FARC has a group wanting a foothold in South America—the Islamic State, and she is in the way.

On the run, Moreno is captured by a CIA team. She spins a tale to use her money and manpower to destroy ISIS in an effort to save herself. Laws and rules of engagement are meaningless to Moreno, her life and her family are her only concern. Will the CIA leader fall for her offer?

Will team leader AJ Bruce strike a deal to turn the tables on Islamic State? Can she stop them from launching an attack on the United States? Or will she be too late?

Is it worth trading control of Afghanistan’s poppy fields with Moreno as a reward for her cooperation? Or is Bruce playing her in an attempt to double-cross her and kill two birds with one stone?

Get your copy today, and watch this high stakes game of kill or be killed.

Sunday Post #amwriting #amjoy

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 Today's post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelve, Reader Book Buzz  for weekly updates.

           LOOKING FORWARD TO February

I did some sketch comedy this week with a group of people online.  We watched some sketches to get acclimated to this form of comedy.   One of the sketches we watched was this one where the therapist only charges five dollars for every session and he guarantees that no one would be charged more.  (Wouldn't that be nice?) It featured Bob Newhart, I included it below if you're interested.

Otherwise this week I spent some time in book clubs virtually.  One of the clubs had varied opinions of Lilly King's, Writers and Lovers.'  

It got super cold in Minnesota this week, and snowed. I do not drive Ride share when its snowing.  Its too scary.  So at 6 am when the blizzard started I headed back home with coffee in hand.  

My photos

Lots of Snow in Minnesota.  I love how this Tibetan restaurant really looks like its in Tibet thanks to the snow.

This is street art near Cedar

A picture from my trip to Chicago back in September

This is a Starbucks in Downtown, Chicago.  Its massive. It has three floors and bean machines.

Disability Landscape Minnesota channel YouTube clip with KS95 radio host

Bob Newhart 'Stop It' Sketch

That's my week.  Tell me about yours in the comments below.

CURRENTLY 

Reading:

 I heard this is a combination of a memoir and cookbook.   The author was going through a crisis and cooking chicken saved the day.

I'm loving this story.  Adrienne Miller the author, at one point dated David Foster Wallace and there's a lot of talk of his work and what it meant to the literary world.

This book has received

The Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer #amreading #amjoy

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things  received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

LOOKING FORWARD TO APRIL

This week has been pretty eventful, I watched Ready Player One in theater. It was exciting seeing a dystopian futuristic world created by such a fantastic novelist, Ernest Cline  Ever since watching it I've been wanting to read some more fantasy books that revolve around gaming so if you have any recommendations feel free to link them below. 

 I was able to go back to my home of homes, the city of Crystal where most of my writing and fantasizing for many years has taken place. Crystal has this fantastic little library with  isolated rooms patrons can go to and write or do whatever.

There's was also Cinco De Mayo festive that I went to yesterday.  I posted the schedule of events to let people know what I saw.

9:00am            Festival Opens
10:00am          Parade Begins
11:00am          Margarita & Beer Gardens Open
11:30pm          Live Music Begins   |   Caliente Stage
12:00pm          La Costa Taco Contest   |   Demonstration Stage
                          Live Music Begins   |   Family Stage, Fiesta Stage & Viva Stage
                          Kids Fitness  |   Sports Zone
12:30pm          Lucha Libre Live   |   Sports Zone 
                                 Guerra de los Hermanos: Hijo de Black Boy and Black Boy jr vs Air Wolf and Angel Dorado,
                                 and Super Lover vs El Tigre
12:30pm          Car, Truck & Bike Show Begins
1:00pm            Boca Chica Demo   |   Demonstration Stage
                          Zumba  |   Sports Zone
1:30pm            Jalapeño Eating Contest   |   Fiesta Stage
1:30pm            Lucha Libre Live   |   Sports Zone 
                                Black Boy vs Turbo and Hijo de Black Boy vs Valentine Bravo
2:00pm            Bachata Performance   |   Demonstration Stage                          Latin Hip Hop  |   Sports Zone
2:30pm            Lucha Libre Traditional Trios   |   Sports Zone
2:45pm            Hamburguesas El Gordo (Hot Dog Contest)   |   Demonstration Stage
3:00pm            Freestylers  |   Sports Zone
3:30pm            Jalapeño Eating Contest   |   Fiesta Stage
3:30pm            Lucha Libre Live   |   Sports Zone
                               Valentine Bravo vs Angel Dorado and Officer Rob Justice vs James Tapia
3:45pm            Las Palmas Popusas Demo   |   Demonstration Stage4:00pm            Zumba  |   Sports Zone
4:45pm            El Burrito Mercado Elotes Eating Contest   

Thanks for stopping by, please be sure to check out what I'm reading and maybe even leave a comment.

CURRENTLY

Reading:  Paris Letters  (memoir) by Janice MacLeod,The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo By Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren, Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulhurst (fantasy). 

Bonjour Kale: A Memoir of Paris, Love, and Recipes by Kristen Beddard.

(I will be interviewing Kristen about her memoir later this month.)

Listening: Armada by Ernest Cline (author of Ready Player One), Car Sick by John Waters

Watching:  Siren (Mermaid series),The NBA tournament, The Comet (a movie)

ON THE BLOG

What Happened:

This past Friday: Interviewed actress  audio narrator Nancy Wu (narrator of the novel War Cross by Marie Lu) check out post here

Saturday:Weekend Warriors post

Up Coming:

Saturday:Weekend Warriors 

Sunday:Sunday Post

Readers if you want to comment, please do so below.