Gratitude Post – Hug Edition

                                                    Hugs by Claudia H. Blanton

 

As I am sitting here this morning, trying to think of what  I am grateful for, I must admit, I was taken out of the momentum, by losing my connection and having to crash my computer. It was easy to practice gratitude from the point of preparation, but moving through the unexpected occurrences and annoyances of living here, and dealing with issues I would not have to deal with, where we still living in Tampa, undid the state of mind, I so carefully constructed for myself.

But is that not a part of life, wanting to stay in the moment of gratitude and appreciation, staying upbeat and following the laws that govern us to be happy in the now, even when life happens?

Inhale Love, Exhale Gratitude

Within the moments of disruption is a chance to practice our vibrational alignment  to gratitude, a fact alone that we should be grateful for. The lesson within is important – no matter what the perceived reality is bringing toward us, we can stay in a constant stream of appreciation.

In that sense, that is what I am –  this week, this morning grateful for – the chance to practice my alignment to gratitude and through that to what I seek.

– What are you grateful for this week? Why not share it with our blog hop and connect with us via our wonderful host Lexa Cain! We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Blessings

Claudia

End Of Summer – Are You Ready For Holiday Sales?

Dear Print On Demand Artists, it is time to get ready for the upcoming holiday season! And I do not mean just Fall, Veterans Day,  Halloween, and Thanksgiving, but also Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years!

Revisit all of your seasonal products from last year, and see where you can make an improvement. How about adding new designs, just make sure that you place them on a variety of products in order to cover the various needs of your customers.

Fall and Winter are a perfect opportunity to create and sell stamps that reflect the colors that correspond to the upcoming holidays. While most people rely on electronic messaging, those are traditionally the times of the year where snail mail is still in use, so take advantage of that!

Here is a quick calendar to remind you of the exact dates you need to be ready for (remember to place your products a few weeks ahead of each holiday)

Holiday	Date
Halloween/Samhain	10/31/2015
Veteran’s Day	11/11/2015
Thanksgiving Day	11/26/2015
Hanukkah	12/6/2015 – 12/14/2015
Christmas Day/Day After Christmas	12/25/2015 – 12/26/2015
Kwanzaa	12/16/2015 – 1/1/2015
New Year’s Eve	12/31/2015

Also, keep in mind the lesser known Holiday of Yule/Winter Solstice, which occurs this year on Dec. 22nd.

Happy Creating!

Gratitude – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

It has been way too long since I have participated in the “Celebrate The Small Things” blog hop, even though I think it is one of the most positive link ups around. So without further ado, this shall be remedied today.

There is so much to be grateful for anyway. We are finally getting over whatever this viral infection was, that the entire family suffered from for almost two weeks. It feels good to be able to breathe, without coughing my lungs out. I am very grateful for that.

My dog (the hyper- allergic one I wrote about before) is getting her fur back! That took a while, but it is all coming back now, finally. She has made such a tremendous improvement since we went all crazy and changed, well just about everything, including me making her dog food from scratch.

I am grateful for the fact that the design part of our business is working well. I got more ideas than I know what to do with (which is a normal state for me), and I am itching to implement every single one of them.

I am also grateful that I am writing again like crazy, not just flash fiction and haiku, but also on the trilogy, but I know better to even try to come up with a publication schedule until after the move. While I do not mind taking on a lot of work, I know better than to overdo what I put upon myself. After all, we still have the transportation aspect of our business to run, and I do homeschool both of my kids.

I am grateful that I have come across so many different cool bloggers over the last  few weeks, and I had a chance to learn so much from them. Implementing these lessons will take me a little while, but that is okay. There is always something to learn, isn’t there?

So, now I am wondering what you are grateful for? What have you come across this week, that made you appreciate the world around you just a little more? Oh, and check out the other bloggers participating in this link up here! 

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Blessings

Claudia

Persistence And Passion – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

There is always something to be grateful for. This week I am focused on the fact that I am grateful to have found my passion in life. I know I have a lot to learn about writing, and a lot to learn about creating meaningful content, but I am grateful for every day, I get to write, to explore a story or an interesting subject through words.
I am also grateful to have witnessed the power of persistence. I have seen people I know, finish their books, worked through the difficult parts of creating a story and emerged at the other end victoriously. Thanks to them, I am inspired to do the same, and repeating the process, until I reach the desired success.

Passion and persistence are the key ingredients to making it in any field. It is what makes my husband go work with passion on our business, overcoming all of the obstacles that come with being your own boss. It is what carries you through sleepless nights, and long hours – knowing that you are doing what you love. I hope you take the time to explore what your passion is and that you find the strength within yourself to be persistent, to see it through.

Check out this link to find what the other participants of this blog hop are grateful for this week.

I Remain A Dreamer – A Haiku

after all that’s left
I will remain a dreamer
working for my chance

Claudia H. Blanton 2014

Camp NaNoWriMo

Anyone else exited about Camp NaNoWriMo? For those who are not familiar with this writer’s version of summer camp, here is the short version of what it is:

Camp NaNoWriMo is associated with the National Novel Writing Month, which occurs every year in November, trying to aid and motivate writers to finish their books, by giving advice, and peer motivation. The associated Camp happens every year April and July, and allows writers in a more open environment do the  same, not limiting the projects to novels, but also including scripts, non-fiction or collections.

This year will be my first year, I will have time to participate. I am planning on updating the process of the work on the Camp website, but also here.

The Project For This July’s Camp Session:

The Keeper – Book One of the World Walker Series – An Urban Fantasy

A Short Synopsis Of The Series:

We are People of Magic. We live amongst you, hiding our abilities from your sight, because you choose not to see us as we are, unless you need our help.

We are much like you, some good, some evil, but we are also not the same as you. Our abilities scare you, you fear our powers, you tell stories about us, in the dark, shadowy nights, frightening your children, forcing us to hide our true identity.

Then the turmoil began.

Now it is time to tell our story, the story of The Conflict that changed everything.

Before The Conflict began, we were simply two magical families, two of many, the Historians, collectors and keepers of the knowledge of our kind and the Guardians, meant to protect us. But that role is no longer enough. Hunted by some of our own kind, hiding from those who do not understand, we changed, we evolved, we learned.

We became The World Walkers.

We have not abandoned you. We will not allow those of our kind, with bad intentions to harm you or one of our own. We will hunt them down, bring them to justice.
One after the other.

This is a war – a war we did not choose. A war that chose us.

A war we will win.

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2014

Are you participating in the Camp NaNoWriMo this year? What are you writing about?