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Oh dear!  I haven’t written in my blog since June!  There is NO excuse for that!  Yes there is…broken fingers? No…I could use my toes.  Um, computer crashed?  For 3 months?!!!  I don’t THINK so!

Hmmm…o.k. I’ll just own up to it, I’ve been too pre-occupied with other things in my life to keep my “journal of opportunity” updated here.  Between social networking and blogging, it takes some time, especially if you want to be funny, or say something that makes you look good to hundreds of social networking people, who also compete to have the cutest, funniest, or most bizarre thing to share with those who post. And we can’t forget about the chat rooms we may belong too as well. 

While it is IMPERATIVE that we network, I figured out I was spending an awful lot of time being “social” and not as productive as I should be, as I visited all the twittering, and faces, and linked ins.  Then I finally admitted to myself, “Mary Beth” you talk to much!  Take a breath! Take a break from the social world of networking… so I did…for 3 months!    That’s the best tale I came up with yet, isn’t it?!

In truth, I have just been busy with health issues which I will have fixed at the hospital tomorrow as I go under the knife!  Amazing thing that surgery does for you…lest it be the LAST thing you do…you do have to go tell all those you hated, you forgive them, and yes, you have to ask them to forgive YOU (even though you know it was their fault, the higher power just may not think so!).   

Next, you keep going back and forth on those darn “Living Will” pages and wonder if you REALLY want to leave your “power of attorney” for BREATHING or staying alive, up to a relative…what if they really didn’t forgive you, they just said they did…revenge can be so sweet!

Then of course, while you appreciate that the surgeon prays with you prior to surgery, you are reminded that HE is not God who is going to fix you, be HE is praying TO God to HELP him …man ya gotta have faith!

Lastly, you wonder if you need to get someone to take over your clients for awhile…for coverage, or at least do some blogging for you – so it’s NOT 3 months again, (please, I got it covered, don’t write and ask for work!) and then you realize, your compassionate and LOYAL friends and clients will wait for you – awwww.

So, I bid adieu as I write this final blog today…until next time.  And if by some strange fate I don’t make it back, you will know that my final act was writing my blog…you see, if you don’t have anything to give to people in your will, you can always be rememberd for your blogging!  I envision the priest standing at the altar and saying, yes, one of the things that Mary Beth was soooo good at, was her blogging!  We will sorely miss her written words…amen.

I was just going along, minding my own business the other day, when I went to my Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) Forum to see what “kewl” things were going on. 

Now this association is the greatest thing that ever happened to work at home moms or solo entrepreneurs.  The 8,000 + membership, provides everything you would possibly need to know, about running a business; PLUS it offers the networking opportunity for people from all over the world. VANA not only helps bring YOU business, but you can also do business with  the other Virtual Assistants as well.

Anyway, I go there often to either chat, network, or sometimes, just because I’m nosey and want to know what is going on with everyone!

Now, among the offerings at this forum, is an award center that recognizes a VA for their hard work.  Oddly enough, I have a VANA toolbar that takes me straight to the Forum; it has a dropdown menu that gives you “caps” of the latest news.  Well, I immediately spotted the VA Award Catagory, and quickly started to click on it, while saying to myself outloud, “now that’s what I need!”

I opened it, and you guessed it, there was my name as the VAccolade recipient!  Chills made the hair on my arms stand up; I couldn’t believe I had just thought, “that’s what I needed,” and like magic, there it was! 

Now, while the award is magical in itself, and I’ll tell you about it in a second, I immediately analized how this association was just like that…magic!  The founder, Tawnya Sutherland, first built this organazation that promoted support for Moms in starting a business.  She promoted and supported women to the point that they could become self-sufficient right there in their own homes.  Tawnya gave membership and opportunities to thousands of women all over the world.  She gave the tools and tips needed for women and men to become successful in their own right.  I can’t believe that Oprah or Good Morning America, hasn’t scooped her up yet to show that even from another part of the country, women (and men) CAN and Do unite and it works!  This classy lady, from Vancover, British Columbia, has done no less than Oprah, Suzie Orman, Martha Stewart, and even Hilliary, from the standpoint of being a woman and building a business, a following, and being a pioneer in the business world that promotes women at home in business.

Gee, this was going to be about me and my award!  I guess you can see who should get the REAL AWARD here.  O.k. I will make myself at least tell you a little bit about the award I got…it’s the least I can do since you let me go on about this fantastic founder of VANA!

here is the letter I received:

You have been selected to receive the VAccolade Business Entrepreneur Award from Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) at VAnetworking.com for demonstrating your professionalism on the web.

Startling facts were discussed on BlogTalkRadio, The Puddle People Hour where I am a Co-host along with Pam Sargant. We had the honor of having as our guest, the Former First Lady of Utah, and wife of Michael Leavitt, Former Govenor of Utah.

Jacalyn S. Leavitt, is the chair of the IKeepSafe Coalition where governors wives all over the states have joined her in bringing startling statistics to Parents of Youth and Teenagers using the Internet.

Here are some of the stats compiled by the Coalition:

99% of Teens use the Internet
54% of teens receive requests for personal information (12% of that figure is from “tweens” (8-12 years of age)
42% have posted personal information online
30% reported that they have talked with a cyber-stranger about meeting in person.
27% have talked to strangers on line about sex.
1 in 7 children (ages 10-17) receives a sexual solicitation or approach via the internet in a one year period.
77% of tens have a personal profile available online, 40% of which say it is viewable by all persons.
80% of students are aware of cases of cyber-bullying which is very destructive to teens.
94% of students admitting to cyber-bullying did not tell an adult.

Frigtening statistics to say the least. A new statistic just coming out, all the data is not available yet, is that MANY students in college are flunking out of school, due to becoming addicted to playing video games instead of studying, and being too tired in class.

The internet is a wonderful, yet powerful technology. It can offer so many opportunities to learn, to interact with others, to provide goods and services, and conduct business. But it has also destroyed youth who were unable to handle the pressure of kids playing jokes and bullying them to a point where one child in Vermont even committed suicide due to a rumor started about him. It’s one more thing that Parents MUST help their kids with…teaching responsibilty and monitoring their kids, just as they do when teaching about driving responsibly, or teaching them the golden rule of all things in moderation for a healthy balance in life. The computer, the video games, and all the new technology, can be a wonderful vehicle that this generation is the first to witness and be a part off. They must be reminded however, that it can be as dangerous as drugs, drinking and driving, and ruining their whole lives if video games and computer become more important than what they can learn from the technology, and about real life experiences in a positive way.

With the US celebrating a Memorial Day Holiday this last weekend in May, we normally bring out all the flags, the servicemen, the bands and parades.  This year will be no different.  However, the cemetaries may have more visitors, and the sentiments may run even deeper, for the service men and women who have served in the Armed Forces and have lost their lives in war.

Many people challenge the need to be in this war, and the opinion of one or the other really doesn’t matter; the fact is, there are people at war and people losing loved ones no matter who is fighting or who the innocent are.

Not to bring morbidity to the issue, but I’m of the opinion that there should be a National Rememberance Day for Victims of Crime as well.  With so many losing their lives to senseless crimes.  We wake up one day, like any other, and not even a hint, that within the minute or hour, any one of us may fall to victimization. Possibly from a weirdo at a university that took aim; or just minding our own business driving along when suddenly, a senseless accident due to a drunk driver may occur.  It could be somthing as simple as someone using their cell phone and losing control of their car.  Even the use of a cell phone can take a life…amazing, huh?

These unsung hero’s who die for naught ought to be remembered beyond their familes and friends.  Like those from 911,  those who die everyday trying to save others, like our firemen or policeofficers who fall victim to crime as well.  The ten’s of thousands, who die silently every day because of a principal, or idea, or right, or money…but, usually, through no fault of their own.

This Memorial Day, may it be a united one.  May parades and banners, the music and memories flood all of us across the nation and the universe who fell victim to crime whether from war or any other means.  May we pray for the unknowns, as well as those we knew about.  May we pray for peace in every state and every nation.  And may we pray for a world that trembles through the onslaught of pain and loss.  May God Bless all Victims, and all Survivors all over the world.

Please be safe on this Holiday Weekend and don’t become a victim.  Celebrate life and celebrate the memory of those lost.

HEAR IT READ ON BLOG TALK RADIO! MOM WILL LOVE IT!

Did you know that sentiment can bring out the best in your writing?  Want to know why? Because it comes from the heart. And the heart is pure and honest. Writing it is even better. When you write it, you don’t blush!  You don’t stumble on words. You don’t hold back.  A special thing about writing it, is that it can be read, re-read over and over and cherished forever, in a frame, scrapbox, or treasure chest.

For Mother’s Day, why not write your Mother a letter. Tell her things that you have always wanted to say to her, but were maybe to “embarrassed” to say, or had difficulty saying it outloud.

As a Host on, BlogTalkRadio/The Puddle People Hour/, we are hosting a special segment dedicated to “MOM’s” on May 10th @ 1:00 p.m. EST. We are going to have our listeners write a letter about their Mom and email it to the writingeditor@yaoo.com. My co-host and I are going to read them on the air.   It will be so special for Mom to hear it on the air, and it can be download on the ipod and recorded at the site. She will love it! 

Let’s say your Mom is in the nursing home, can you imagine the joy she would feel if you wrote her a letter and she heard it read over the air or on a recording? Then, plays it back over and over again? 

On a personal note, my own loving mom has Alzeheimers. She is in a nursing home. She still knows her kids, but may forget the names sometimes. The hard part is she lives 550 miles away from me, and is being taken care of by other siblings. I’m going to do a recording that she can listen too,  so when she misses her “eight kids” (yes, 8 kids!) who all live in several different states, she will be able to hear their voices and have a loving letter read to her. Cool idea, yes? 

C’mon write that letter!

Then send it to thewritingeditor@yahoo.com and I’ll read it on the air, to YOUR mom!

I challenged myself last week. I was doing a Poem for a client. Her son was graduating from High School and as the Writing Editor they asked me to do a poem about their sports minded and very talented son.

Well, I happily obliged since I do these all the time, thinking it wouldn’t take long at all. When I do these I ask the parents to send me the info on their child, their bio, if you will, and activities..much like reading a resume..an outline of YOU. Anyway, I got four pages from the Mother and 3 more pages from the Father! I had also requested some action pictures, and I received 8 pictures in my email. Lesson learned by me…be more specific! But in another way, that was the challenge I had too! I was able to fit ALL the info sent to me into the poem, and also had it all rhyme! I picked two out of all the pictures and watermarked them and it came out great!

The point I’m trying to make here however, is that you have to be concise when giving out details, instructions, descriptions, information, directions and suggestions. 

Here is an example of details:

“Please send me information on your son, and since he is good at basketball, provide me some history along with that.”

Now there is really nothing wrong with this request above, but you will get JUST what you asked for.  Pictures and basketball history.  But what didn’t you get?

Next request: 

Thanks for the basketball history and pictures.  Now could I ask you to please send me other interesting facts about him to show the “whole person?”  Was he a leader in school, how were his grades; did he have any honors awarded him? Who is his mentor?  Does he have a favorite sports idol?  Does he enjoy any other activities?  Was he in a school play? Who are his friend?  Does he have a girlfriend?  Who are his grandparents? Where does he want to go to college?

As you can see, the difference between the two requests for information are quite different.  But which one will tell me most about the person?  Which will be the best for what I am writing about him?  Obviously, if it is a sports article for the newspaper, along with stats, the first one would be best.  But for this graduation bio, I need to ask the right questions to get the right answers and the “whole” picture of the subject.

Remember, if you receive too much info from someone, you can trim it down or cut it out.  But if you don’t get enough, it takes more time and wasted effort to go after more.    Now your an investigative reporter!

I don’t know what all the hullabaloo is about considering video games and kids. Do Parents let their kids go to x rated movies? No. Do Parents allow kids to Drink before legal age? No. Do Parents allow kids to do drugs, especially when THEY themselves may have done it back in the sixties? No. Why? In the sixties, it was a generational thing; And, now they have learned. It is a traditional thing to find something bad in every good new thing invented..that’s known as being progressive; or is it the other way around..we find something good in newly invented things and that is being progressive…that’s it.

We have high tech kids born today. Do you know any child, say 3-4 years of age today, who does not already know more at that age than you did? Or possibly, even when you were 5-6? Is it because the parents ate the proper foods and now have created robotic techie kids? Don’t think so… Are we worried that traditions will break with the (not so new anymore) technology? Too late. Traditions as we knew them have been challenged..but there is a little consolation in that fact that some important ones remain; Santa isn’t analoged or digital when he visits the kids each Christmas yet.

So, why does playing video games HAVE to be an issue. It is a matter of parental control, that’s the long and short of it. Always was that, and always will be. That is one formula in life that won’t change…ever, even though some parents may exercise it more than others. Parental Control.

O.k. for the sake of argument, let’s say that little Johnny does find his way to a game that is not age appropriate and has violence in it. I believe the animation found in the games, still wins on the basis of keeping it a fairytale; where in real life, on the news, you can find missing and murdered children; kids abused and used as sex slaves; drug rings and gang activity.

If the video games stop, and the shows become more kid friendly, will it stop the gangs and killings and shootings? I think not. Aggression has been around for a long, long time. It’s shown in relationships through abuse and ignorance in how to deal with it.

Perhaps the more powerful stigma, as a result of kids playing these games, could be illustrated by seeing the aggression children feel, for any reason, being cornered by venting it through gaming channels and role playing. Parental Control should be the issue here, not the gaming our techie kids and their generation adhere too. If for any reason, it’s not good for them, they’ll learn…don’t you think parents?

As one of the host’s of a talk show, “The Puddle People Hour” on Blog Talk Radio, it became apparent to me after interviewing several authors, that there becomes a necessary criterion predominant in all of them.  That criterion is based on the writer’s intent to write for pleasure, passion, business or money.

For instance, if one writes for pleasure, it often portrays an author of children’s books where they can become child-like through their characters and illustrate in the simplest of form, their love for writing through the eyes of a child.On the other hand, if an author writes for business, there is absolutely no criterion that allows the freedom of childhood thinking; in fact, the writing must be of the highest degree of professionalism and preciseness.   The author needs only to know the elements of good grammar and practical application.

Now a writer that wants to make money, should probably not give up a day job to write, unless he/she is hired on at a specified salary position, such as a magazine or newspaper, etc.,  Freelance writing COULD be lucrative, but essentially, unless you’re on the top ten New York Best Seller List, there is a good chance your writing could be buried among several million other writers work, wishing and hoping to be discovered. 

However, you can also find the most purposeful and passionate writing from these same authors…why?   Most of their writing is on life experiences which includes family, so the attachments are even more important to their characters.  Who can’t be passionate when they are speaking of family?  Yet, the sincerity that comes from their writing, their characters and their chosen genre can be found in almost all their books.  If this type of writer had to write a business letter, more than likely, the letter would be straightforward, kind, yet firm in the intent…just as if they were talking to a member of their family.  In other words, no matter what genre you write in, no matter what the underlying reason for your writing is, the Pleasure, Passion, Business or even the Motive of money, can combine together based on the authors intent and willingness to make it happen; which is why you will find so many genre crossing authors.  Many of the authors interviewed for children’s books were also Romance novelist.  Now, would that mean that the author’s creative imagination could possess a fantasy characteristic that can be utilized both for children or adult writing?  Most likely, this is why they can be successful in both genres. 

This is the bottom line, I think.  You must be writing for pleasure or you wouldn’t be writing.  Your passion seeps through either because you base your writing on life experiences, family or love in your life, no matter what genre you’re working with.  Business writing is the “sleeping” creativeness of your brain, which will stand tall and be politically correct in everything you write so it is in the best interest of your company or business.  As for Money, well, it’s ALL part of the Pleasure, Passion and Business genres isn’t it?  And yet, it seems also to be the most obsolete of them all!! 

You might have heard of Blog Talk Radio…or maybe your a newcomer to the concept.  It’s a great marketing tool, discussion group, networking place, teaching tool, music savy listeners place, and just a great place to talk the talk.

Not to be confused with the infamous Neil Boortz, syndicated radio talk show host, where people either love him or hate him.  He is an outspoken commentator, and author of the book on The Flat Tax,  along with Representative John Linder, in Georgia.  But I digress!  This Blog Talk Radio is for people like us….infamous too, but in our own little world of business, and going about living our lives to the best of our ability and finding a good place to talk about it.

I am a Co-host of a show geared toward Parents and Kids.  We interview author of books, tell stories, teach crafts and the other creater and Co-Host from “The Puddle People Hour” Pam Sargent, will even sing a song occasionally.  It’s a great place for non-profits to talk about their work.  A couple of weeks ago, we discussed teaching signing for the deaf.  This last show, we did a show on Spring Break and discussed things to do and provided many safety tips in lieu of all that is happening to our teens and young adults these days.  The show was well received and the discussion pertinent.

Blog Talk Radio will probably never be a huge money maker place to sell your wares, however, some people do have stores on there…little craft type stores, or music.  But it is a good place to help provide a service, for instance, the Real Estate Market could give ideas and tips on the market.  Interview guests.  Talk to home buyers and sellars. 

Another show on Blog Talk Radio, is a mother/daughter act that just talk about Mom/Daughter stuff.  They laugh, debate and take calls from listeners…it’s a cute show.

Then the music lovers have found the perfect place to listen to hip hop, be bop, or cha cha cha, to whatever they want to hear; they also discuss different topics like bands, concerts, whatever.  It also has some spiritual programming that lends itself to those who wish to discuss their faith or spiritual needs.

Check it out.  It is going to be as popular as blogging very soon…especially when people get wind that they can rest their fingers from pecking on a blogging site and start shooting off their mouth in a talking blog….in good taste of course!

Ok…I’m not going to use this forum to write about the great debate that is going on all over the country these days.  I’m not even going to quote, what “he said”, or “she said.”   Because in all actuality, I am not sure either one of them REALLY ”said” whatever it is they are saying they said!   Did you stay with me on that one?

O.k. The Writers just came off a pretty long strike, right?  Reruns were being aired, there were no new series episodes, and even the comedians had to write their own jokes; ( funny thing, I thought what they said was ALWAYS their own material!  O.k., so I’m a gullable Comedian Viewer!! At least I still laughed at the appropriate time…if it’s funny!!)  So the writers write the jokes and the comedians make us laugh as he delivers them.

Anyway, the writers stopped production for TV…some even for movies, or documentary’s, and in the soaps, well they didn’t even need scripts what with all the bedroom scenes.  Actions speak louder than words, right?

What I want to know is what about the Political Speech Writers?

When we hear that a speech is a carbon copy of someone else’s, well, aren’t they all?  Didn’t speechwriters write the speeches??  The candidates didn’t write them, so it was a copy of  the speechwriters speech, right?

And if “silly season” has started, like a candidate said the other day during an interview, well, who is being silly the candidate or his speechwriter?  Do you think that candidate’s speechwriters sit and have a practice debate over what they wrote in order for it to be authentic?

Here is the main idea with speechmakers and speakwriters. The speechwriters are there to help the candidates support their ideas.  One such speechwriter, was quoted as saying,

“Always write something you believe for someone you believe in, especially if that someone is yourself “.  Bet you can’t guess what speechwriter said that, and who he writes for…a certain President whose speeches have not been applauded for a long, long time now.  Do you wonder what would have happened if the President had written the speeches himself?  Would it have made a difference in how our country is doing?  If it’s the speechwriters who write the speeches,  perhaps THEY should have been elected..it’s their words that are being sold.  Just something to think about..and cry about…and think about.