Logical Expressions Blog

Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and this week, I've been thinking about the many things I'm thankful for that make me happy right now. Sure they're small, but here in no particular order is stuff that made me smile this week. 1. Flannel sheets. After spending 2 weeks in Arizona, crawling into non-flannel sheets the night we returned caused a screech of frozen agony. It was time to switch to flannel in such a big way. 2. James' artisan bread-baking hobby. (Well and James himself too, but that goes without saying.) The smell of baking bread...

November is my least favorite month of the year. It is the time of my "November Pout" which is my cranky way of welcoming (not!) the onset of winter. Although I do enjoy the change of seasons here, I like winter going into spring a lot better than fall going into winter. When it's gray and dreary, I find it more difficult to retain perspective. As this week's article points out, when you have the blues (or in my case a "November Pout") it's a good time to focus on what you have, instead of what you don't...

We did a survey recently and a large percentage of the respondents said they dream of writing a book, but they haven't. They used phrases like "I've been meaning to for so long" or "I've wanted to for years." It seems like there's a lot of talk and no action among aspiring authors. Why is that? This week's article explores why people don't actually do the things they say they want to do. Enjoy! Why Don't People Do The Things They Say They Want to Do? by Susan C. Daffron Whether you want to...

As noted in the article, I have returned from my latest trip. Never in my life have I done back-to-back traveling like this before. Let me just say that air travel is not as much fun as it used to be. Even though getting there (and back) was not half the fun, my experience at the No More Homeless Pets Conference and the subsequent visit to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary  was incredible. (I'm even in the closing video - http://video.bestfriends.org/media/p/1347.aspx) I realize it has nothing to do with publishing, but if you are an animal lover...

I often wonder if I worry too much. As a consumer myself, I want our customers to be happy purchasing the things we produce. I've had enough buyer's remorse in my life that I don't want to inflict it on anyone else. Obviously, not every client we've ever had loves us, since people don't always get along. However, we do try to represent the products we sell accurately. I think that is why we've only had two product returns in the five years our online storefront has existed. In both cases, people simply didn't read the text explaining what...

Right now, I'm listening to the peaceful sound of canines snoring on the floor next to my chair. Apparently, one dog is having a groovy dream, given all the little woofs and paw wiggles. Today's rainy-day tranquility has only been interrupted by the occasional phone call. I had a great time talking to a client, but other than that, today's calls have been annoying B2B telemarketer calls. So in addition to the writing advice below, I offer you my husband's best writing productivity tip: "Don't answer the phone." Although I have a difficult time not answering...

Fall is definitely here. We shut down the garden, and I've been taking dogs to the veterinarian for their fall checkups. (So far, everything seems fine with the all-furry team!) In the midst of all this activity, we've also been plotting out activities for next year. I'm pleased to report that the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) will be a sponsor of the Self-Publishers Online Conference in May. Yes, SPOC 2010 is coming! You can keep up with all the details by signing up for SPOC News at: http://www.SelfPublishersOnlineConference.com/ In related news, I also...

Today, I'm thinking about reading. I got a shipment of books from Amazon this afternoon, and now I'm in a hurry to get this done so I can dig into my new cache of books and learn. People underestimate the power of simply reading books. Actually having the patience to sit down and read a book cover-to-cover is a tremendous and often under-appreciated competitive advantage in business. "Read books!" is also the first advice I give to aspiring writers and publishers. Countless written resources about entrepreneurship and publishing are available that cost nothing or next to...

I've been spending a lot of time dealing with email related to the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) Web site. As I've mentioned, I'm now the president of the association and I recently rebuilt the Web site at www.spawn.org. Another little piece of the fall-out related to the massive Web site overhaul was discovering problems with the newsletter lists. So I moved them all over to AWeber, which is the email autoresponder service I use for this Publishize newsletter as well. In any case, I've spent a lot of time explaining to people why this switch was...

Today, I'll be brief because I feel icky. I think I'm getting a cold. We've had three sets of houseguests in the last month and one of them infected James with a germ. He, in turn, seems to have infected me. Anyway, since I was not exactly inspired to write, I looked back at an old Publishize survey, which indicated many of you are interested in copywriting. And thus the subject of this week's article was born! Enjoy! How to Write Copy for Your Book Website by Susan C. Daffron A few tips...

Tomorrow I'm doing two free "sneak peak" webinars for Best Friends Animal Society. Mine are called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fundraisers" and they are based on information in my book Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups. You can read more about the Webinars and access links to sign up here: http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/lasvegas/news.aspx?pID=12876. This webinar and the speaking opportunity at Best Friend's upcoming No More Homeless Pets Conference in October came about because of book marketing activities that I performed literally months ago. The value of marketing consistently over...

Today, I’m writing this later than usual. We had a serious need to can 50 cups worth of veggies before it was too late. We now have 23 pints of food that we'll be eating for months to come. When the garden is in power produce mode, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. This week's article talks about coming up with writing ideas. Enjoy! Finding Topic Ideas for Your Blog, Articles, or Even Your Book by Susan C. Daffron When you are trying to figure out what to write, don't worry about what...

Sometimes you realize that the right time to do something is right NOW. This morning, even though I had about 100 work-related things to do, I realized I couldn't put off harvesting my basil and my garlic. You know fall is approaching when the basil starts to get weird, and you have to just rip out the plants. It was a harvest it, or lose it moment. Many heads of garlic are now hanging in the woodshed curing (drying). I also spent a peaceful half-hour sitting in my garden de-stemming the basil. The leaves spent most of the day...

For those who have been wondering about all my nerdy comments on Facebook lately, at long last I feel comfortable revealing what the "Big Web Site" project is. I'm now the President of the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN), which you can find online at http://www.spawn.org/. I've been a member for years, and I'm thrilled to be working with such a great group of creative professionals. Redoing the Web site was my first task for SPAWN, and it's mostly done. I haven't quite finished the private member area stuff yet or implemented the new ecommerce store,...

Even though it's only Wednesday as I’m writing, this week has been one of those emotional roller coaster weeks with extreme highs and lows. I started off by committing a serious "reply to all" email faux pas. (Yes, admit it, you've done it too!) Then on Monday, I had not one, not two, but three clients with technical traumas. One person had a "meltdown;" another professed to be "going insane" dealing with a printer. However, I resolved them all, so by Tuesday, I was riding high and feeling like a techno-goddess. That high continued through my NAPRP teleseminar...

Some of you may remember that author Shel Horowitz spoke at our Self-Publishers Online Conference in May. The other day, Shel told me about a great deal he's offering on his book Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. This self-published book is actually the basis of a new book he's working on for a traditional publisher (Wiley) called Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, which he is co-authoring with Jay Conrad Levinson. The new book will contain quite a bit of information from Principled Profit. Once the new book comes out, Shel is prohibited by contract from selling Principled Profit...

This week, I'm slowly recovering from my 10-day vacation/conference on the East Coast. Everything went incredibly well. The airlines and weather gods cooperated and everything went off without a hitch. (Those of you on Facebook can check out pics of everything from wild horses to the henna tattoo I got at the Ocean City boardwalk.) At the conference, someone who purchased my new book Funds to the Rescue on the first day of the show told me the next day that she'd "stayed up all night" reading it. A couple of people also came up to our booth...

This week, I have been picking strawberries from my garden. Picking organically grown strawberries right from your very own patch is one of life's most joyful summer experiences. In much more nerdy news, we've updated the  Self-Publishers Online Conference Web site with information about how you can get the entire 2009 conference on CD or as individual downloadable audios. Check out the product information on the SPOC 2009 page at: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/spoc2009.aspx I'd be the first one to tell you that putting on a conference like SPOC was a lot of work, much like publishing...

This week, I took a drive down south to Spirit Lake for a photo shoot with Cami the Wooly White Dog. If you're on Facebook, "friend" me and then you can check out a few of the pictures from the shoot. Cami has quite an expressive and occasionally hilarious face:  http://www.facebook.com/susandaffron. In other news, James just returned from a bike ride down to the mail box and brought back a package for me from the Apex Awards. It turns out Publishize won an Award of Excellence in the Books & Ebooks category. This award is the second one...

Some things require a bit of patience... Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Great 2009 from All of Us Here at Logical Expressions, Inc. and the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals Here's hoping you and yours enjoy a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2009 ;-)    ~ Susan Daffron and James Byrd Technorati Tags: daffron,logical expressions,james h. byrd,cami,happy hound,holiday,christmas,antlers

James and I will be participating in a free teleseminar with Donna Kozik, where we will explain the information you MUST include on your book's Web site. Ideally, you should put up a Web site before you have even finished your book. In fact, our Publishize site was up for at least 6 months before we released the book. In fact, almost as soon as I got the domain name, I put up a site. Even a simple site with basic information is better than nothing because you can link to it and give the search engines time...

The proof has arrived. I just need to log into Lightning Source and approve it, since the book looks great. All my agonizing and reviewing printouts has paid off. I'm thrilled ;-) Sagittarius, we has arrived... (Extra credit points for anyone who knows what song that is from. Other than James that is.) Technorati Tags: publishize,book,publishing,daffron,logical expressions,self-publishing

Sometimes people are so rude, you sort of don't know what to make of it. Today, someone bought one of our Timesaver Templates. We've sold tons of these over the last several years. Each one is a simple Word template without any graphics. You get a document framework with styles set up, so you can put in your own text. The pages in the shopping cart explain exactly what files you receive. The description even says, "Although the template includes styles and the overall framework, it does not include graphics. You need to provide your own photos and...

This week, amidst quite a bit of client work, I've also been finishing the last pieces of the Publishize book puzzle. I wrote the back cover copy and spent a ton of time fiddling with the cover artwork. I made some strides, but sometimes the creative gods are not willing. It was time to just close the file and try again tomorrow. The good news is that the text of the book is complete and currently in final spousal review. It's headed to Lightning Source next week, and as you authors out there might imagine, I'm really excited....

Today was a good day. I got stopped for speeding and found out my dog has blown out her knee. Yes, it's been one of those "it's all in your perspective" days. I've been worried about my fuzzy black dog Leia. She's 12 now, so she's a bit of an oldster and when she started limping, I worried that it might be cancer. However, today I took her to the vet and learned that the problem is a torn cruciate ligament, which although not good, isn't life threatening. I'm hoping for more years with my gimpy black dog. ...

I've been so busy working on the Publishize BOOK, that I haven't had time to post here about some of the recent articles that have appeared in the Publishize newsletter. Here's the latest with lots of good information for all you self-publishers out there: Do a Blog Tour or Virtual Author Tour - Unlike a traditional book signing, which is generally used to increase sales, a virtual blog tour is about increasing online "buzz" about your book Enhance Your Book's Listing on Amazon - Get your book listing correct on Amazon and take advantage of the extra tools...

This week, I discovered that the online version of the Redbook article (with me and my photo in it) has appeared online. You can check it out here: http://www.redbookmag.com/your/letting-intuition-guide-you The article is called "Trust Your Gut. Change Your Life." The description is: "Tap into the power of your intuition to make your dreams happen. Learn how these five women used theirs to change their lives." My story is on page 2 of the online version: "Listening to her gut led to...A life-changing move" The article goes on to describe how 14 years ago, James and...

I'm back from my journey to Washington, D.C. Along with going to the beach, exhibiting at the Taking Action for Animals conference, and seeing my family, I got to endure the reality of air travel. Here are a few photo highlights from my trip: My sister and I walked from Fenwick Island to Bethany Beach, Delaware (and back), which according to MapQuest is 12.44 miles. These are beach umbrellas at the Sea Colony. We were able to get off the beach via the Colony, but the snotty old bat at the kiosk wouldn't let us back...

If you tried to communicate with me in the last day or so, you might have had a problem. Our hosting company is located in Eastern Washington, which had a huge series of thunderstorms yesterday. Something related to the storm caused our dedicated server to take a dive. When you have as many Web sites as we do, putting them all back online takes some time. Sadly, this is not the first time James has had to rebuild our server after a crash. It's just as unpleasant the second time around. However, once again, we did have backups and...

James has been doing a lot of chipping lately because a lot of trees didn't make it through the winter and I want chips for my garden pathways. The other day, while he was chipping one of the piles of tree branches, he found a litter of four baby snowshoe hares. James has large feet, so it's a miracle he didn't stop (or worse, chip!)the little guys. I was out in the garden and James came over and said, "you have GOT to see this!" Although I have been dealing with a seemingly never-ending fencing project to keep snowshoe...

Today, my friend, Sheri McConnell is doing a book promotion for her new book called Smart Women Create Membership-Based Businesses. Sheri McConnell is the Founder and President of two national organizations, National Association of Women Writers and the International Association of Web Entrepreneurs. I know about the book because I edited it. So I'm proud to report that I'm one of the first people who actually got to read it ;-) If you are interested in creating any type of membership-based business, the book is a great overview. (Of course, it wasn't available, when I started my organization...

On Friday, I mentioned that I updated the special reports that you get when you subscribe to our Publishize newsletter. You now get two reports "The Nine Lives of Content: How to Turn Just One Idea into Multiple Products That Promote Your Expertise" and "7 Steps to Self Publishing Success: Create a Print Book that Establishes Your Credibility and Positions You as an Expert (But Doesn't Cost You a Fortune!)" One thing I forgot to mention is that I also finally compiled a complete list of all the things we give away on all our various sites. It's...

In a great flurry of writing activity this week, I finally wrote down the basics of our Publishize Book publishing system. The result is: "7 Steps to Self Publishing Success: Create a Print Book that Establishes Your Credibility and Positions You as an Expert (But Doesn't Cost You a Fortune!)" This report explains the seven steps you need to take to self-publish a print book. It's the same process we went through to produce 8 books in less than 18 months. I also updated our other special report: "The 9 Lives of Content: How to Turn Just One...

I have been sort of lax in my blogging efforts lately, but I wanted to point out that we've written a bunch of nifty Publishize articles late. Plus, my husband James Byrd has been contributing, which is great. He is the co-author of two of our books (Vegan Success and Web Business Success) and brings a different voice and perspective to the whole book writing process. Evaluating Your Print Options for Your Book Project by Susan Daffron Whether you plan to lay out the book yourself or hire out the task, take the...

Okay, this just rocks my world. Within two weeks, Oprah decides to try veganism and in Canada, Kentucky Fried Chicken decides to offer vegan (yes VEGAN, not just vegetarian) options at the fast food chain. Yep, it's true, the 461 Canadian KFCs have agreed to sell a fake meat called "unchicken" to get PETA off their back. Finger Lickin' Tofu: KFC Goes Vegan Is it becoming trendy to be vegan? After being considered a "weirdo" because of my vegan eating habits for the last 14 or 15 years, it feels odd to suddenly be in vogue....

I just found out that my new radio show Take Me Home is featured this week on iTunes. The show is all about pet adoption and pet rescue. Every week on "Take Me Home," I talk to guests from animal shelters and rescue groups about pets that may have been overlooked for one reason or another, but still need a loving "forever home." Here's the link on the Pet Life Radio site: Take Me Home Radio Show If you go to the podcast section, in iTunes, you'll see the Take Me Home is featured this week!...

Once again, I'm a little late in mentioning this, but the new issue of Computor Companion magazine is online. (We were on vacation, so blogging wasn't really on my "to do" list.) Anyway, the new issue has these articles: Demystifying Nerd Words (all about misused and confusing terminology) How to Create a Postcard in Photoshop (based on my experiences creating promotional postcards for our books) Digital Photos 101 (Dian Chapman gets graphic-y) How to Set Your Retail Pricing to Meet Your Financial Goals (complete with cool online calculating tool) Q&A on a Weird Excel...

After putting off redoing our Logical Expressions corporate site for quite a while, we finally bit the bullet, gutted it, and started over. The new version is online here: Logical Expressions, Inc. Corporate Site In addition to changing the design and clarifying our message, with information for people who want to: write a book, publish a book, or promote a book, the new site also has a number of new pages that better showcase all the stuff we do. Now we have pages...

Because I'm on so many marketing and business-oriented email lists, I tend to have a good notion of what books are coming out in the business realm. Recently, Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer have been promoting a new book on Information Marketing. I surfed over to Amazon because it looked like a book that I might be interested in...until I read the reviews that is. A lot of people didn't like it, particularly folks who read a lot (like me). But imagine my surprise as I'm scrolling through reviews to find our OWN book recommended over...

I found out that Connie Weiss at the My Pet Street blog wrote a review of Happy Hound. Here's a snippet: "There are lots of behavior and training books available, and most every one I've read leave me feeling totally incompetent as a pet owner. As much as I follow the prescriptive advice, problems still persist: barking, marking, and terrorizing the cats, to name just a few issues. Susan's clean writing style and total honesty about the ups and downs of finding the right balance in living with a pet conveys the feeling that you're sitting at...

This week, it became apparent that I could no longer wait until the weather "gets better" to wash the dogs. The weather stinks and so did the dogs. So Saturday, I had to embark on Doggie Maintenance Day. With four dogs, maintenance takes a while. I brushed them, clipped their toenails, and washed them. As you can see, post-bath, they all look a little miffed: Leia doing her imitation of a wet rodent: Tika keeping an eye out for more cleaning activity: Cami (the Happy Hound cover dog) looking somewhat...

I was looking at the weather report this morning. The map shows that we have yet another "Hazardous Weather Outlook." In other words it's probably going to precipitate in some loathsome way today. Like most people in this area, I am weary of this winter that just won't go away. Today is March 30, and in the last week, we've had two rather unpleasant winter storms. One dumped 11-inches of snow and the other about 4. At least we didn't lose our electricity anyway. By the end of March, I really lose my sense of humor about snow....

Those of you who read my newsletters know that I've been working hard on the member benefits and private member area of the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals web site. I'm proud to report that I actually met my self-imposed deadline and it all went live on March 20. (The first day of spring!) Today I did a press release about it: New Pet Rescue Association Offers More than 160 Customizable Forms, Pet Care Articles, and Information to Help Humane Professionals Save More Lives If you're involved in rescue work, you probably can imagine how...

As usual, we've been busy writing articles. Here are the latest ones from the Publishize newsletter. Anatomy of a Book Layout As a self-publisher, you should learn a few conventions before you lay out your book Six Key Elements of a Book Web Site To market a book online, the first thing you must have is a Web site Which Tasks Should Self-Publishers Outsource? Sometimes the best person for the job is not you, so save your sanity by outsourcing tasks you don't like or...

Since we have been working hard on new private membership area of the NAPRP site, I am just now posting links to the great folks who agreed to run my "guest posting" about the importance of spaying and neutering pets, which we did the week of Spay Day (February 26). Check them out ;-) For the Love of Animals - http://4theloveofanimals.com/blog/2008/03/03/spay-day-guest-post/ The Blog Pound - http://www.theblogpound.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/guest_post/ Easy Vegan - http://www.easyvegan.info/2008/02/26/spay-day-usa/ Thank you for helping me spread the word!   Technorati Tags: naprp,daffron,dogs,cats,spay,neuter,humane,logical expressions,adopted pets,animal shelter,dog rescue

Mary White over at HubPages let me know that she wrote a review of our cookbook Vegan Success. Check it out: Cookbook Review: Vegan Success She says, "this book is sure to be a great addition to your collection of cookbooks." It's certainly an addition to our collection; we use it all the time. In fact, I made Tempeh Stroganoff again the other night, which is one of the recipes in the cookbook. I noticed that the page is, ahem, a bit food stained. (Gotta love those 'shrooms!) Technorati Tags: vegan success,cookbook,vegan cooking,vegan recipes,logical expressions,daffron,publishing

I did an interview on why people should consider adopting cats from animal shelters and humane societies. In the interview I talk about concerns people may have, adopting kittens versus adult cats, tips for good adoptions, and selecting a shelter. Of course, I also mention Happy Tabby and the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals too ;-) Plus, I explain how I got involved with all this critter stuff and share a dopey story about me, my cat Troi (the cover model for Happy Tabby), and a very intrepid local rodent. Check it out at the...

We've been getting a lot of subscribes to our Publishize newsletter lately. I'm finally writing down a lot of the stuff that has been in my head for the last few years about book publishing, and our Publishize readers benefit from all this hard-won knowledge. Plus, the price is right, since hey, it's a free newsletter ;-) In the last month, I've written these articles: Recycle Your Book into Multiple Products Once you have gone through the effort to develop enough knowledge and expertise to actually write a book, think about how you can reuse...

It's been a long cold winter and our cats have developed a serious attachment to our Quadrafire pellet stove. For those who don't know, a pellet stove burns small wood pellets that are made out of sawdust. Unlike a traditional wood stove, the metal body of a pellet stove doesn't get really hot. It does get warm however, which is why it is a cat magnet: This is Troi, the cover model for our book Happy Tabby doing her imitation of a meatloaf atop the stove. Our other cat Alia likes to stare into the glass...

We did another sort of mini-blog tour in the vegan realm last week. I wrote a couple of guest posts about our book Vegan Success. Check out: The Easy Vegan blog - Susan Daffron's Recipe for Vegan Success World Vegetarian and Vegan News blog - Guest Blogger Susan Daffron Thanks to both Kelly and Tony for letting me expound on the joys of vegan eating! Given the massive beef recall recently, vegan eating doesn't seem like such a bad idea now does it? Frankly, I'm really glad I don't have to worry when...

Today we went to take our dogs out for their daily constitutional and discovered that the snow finally came off our woodshed. It hasn't shed all winter and we were a little worried, particularly since over the last few days, there has been a really long snow curl hanging off the back that refused to break off. Imagine our surprise to discover that all the snow fell off at once in a giant chunk. We were so shocked we just kind of stood there for a minute staring at it. (The dogs started barking , since the giant snow wall...

In honor of Freelance Writers week (which is this week), we are running our first writing contest! If you love dogs and love to write, this is your chance to tell us your best dog story. I know I love writing about my dogs, so I figure other people have great stories to tell too ;-) There is no entry fee; the only stipulation is that you have to use IdeaWeaver for your entry. Because the IdeaWeaver site has a free 30-day trial copy available, the cost to enter the contest is exactly $0. The winning essays will...

This week, I have been frustrated by the fact that people don't return phone calls. Frankly, I don't understand why it's such a problem. I mean, the reality of email today is that you may or may not get a response because of filters and any number of other technical snafus. But the telephone is pretty basic. With voice mail, it's not like people don't get the message. Anyway, I was thinking that I need to come up with a new voice mail message that's like a headline...full of benefits that make people want to call me back....

After a whole lot of planning and work, on February 1, we launched a brand new association called the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals. We just finished the Web site, and you can find it here: http://www.naprp.com Basically, we are setting ourselves up as a resource for rescue groups with lots of information, tips, tools, and documents they can use to help save more critters. The member part of the site with all the documents, forms, templates, forum, and other goodies will be available on March 20. (But...

This winter we have received more than 14 feet of snow. Clearly winter is here. And so is the winter issue of Computor Companion magazine. This issue features these articles: Customize Word 2007 Document Themes Lay Out Your Book in Microsoft Word Create a Photo Calendar in Publisher Banish Bullets from a PowerPoint Presentation Understanding Disk Partitioning Which Blogging Tool Should I Choose and more... We've also decided to open up advertising to outside advertisers. This press release describes it... Award-Winning Content Web Sites Now Accepting Outside Advertising ...but basically,...

I read today that the governor declared a state of emergency for the northern counties of Idaho. That would be us. For those who may wonder how much snow is "a lot," here is a glimpse from around our house (click for slightly larger versions). This is the view out our front door (note that we have stairs up to the front of our house): This is the wall of snow, I see out my office window, which is underneath our back deck: This is my nemesis the "tractor garage." I...

I forgot to post this last week, but this week's issue of the Publishize newsletter and podcast is on ISBNs, which seem to be a tremendous source of confusion and angst for publishers. What is an ISBN and Why Do I Need One for My Book? Enjoy ;-) Technorati Tags: publishize,publishing,isbns,isbn number,business,daffron,logical expressions

There's an interview with me on the Virtual Woman's Day blog, which is owned by the Women's eCommerce Association (WECAI). The blog's tagline is "Where Women Connect Virtually to Share Their Stories, Promote Their Products and Make New Friends." You can read the interview with me at this link: eMonday Woman Interview with Susan Daffron (Among other things, you'll find out why we moved to Idaho and about the inordinate number of books I have sitting on my nightstand!) Technorati Tags: web business success,online business,business,daffron,marketing,idaho,logical expressions,ecommerce,wecai

I was interviewed by Nan Russell for her Work Matters Internet radio show on WebTalkRadio.net. I am the second person on the interview, which was about how we managed to escape the city, move to the wilds of Northern Idaho, and make our business actually work from out here in the middle of nowhere. Nan is a great interviewer and I had fun talking to her. Check it out at: Work Matters Week 3 Show This link may change, but you should still be able to get to it using the Podcast link on this...

In our newsletter survey, an overwhelming percentage of people wanted more information on how to write copy. So, I decided to start with a basic truth that many copy experts seem to sort of gloss over: know thy customer. Write Compelling Copy with Your Customer in Mind Enjoy ;-)   Technorati Tags: publishize,daffron,copywriting,writing,publishing Technorati Profile

Today we packed up all the Logical Tips books that people bought during our pre-order sale and took them off to the post office. (In fact, the response was sort of overwhelming; we actually almost sold out of all the books we ordered!) Anyway, the packing and shipping process was the source of great excitement among the canine team. Our golden retriever Tika thinks these books should go in a flat-rate box. These books seem to pass the sniff test. All that packing is hard work! ...

As some people know, I have a "hoop house" for my garden. It's the only way I can grow tomatoes with our short growing season. You can see a bit of my garden in the "Vegans Go Hunting" video on the Vegan Success site (or on You Tube). Anyway, I'm not particularly tall, but I can stand in my hoop house in the summer. The hoop is on the left in this summertime picture. I can easily walk inside, since the top bar is about 6 feet high. Here's what it looks like today...

I had the opportunity to be a "guinea pig" for a new program Marcia Yudkin is running. She has revamped her Marketing for More site and now is offering members the opportunity for marketing help via "Feedback Feasts." I was the "feastee" for the first call. The topic was how to position our book Happy Hound, without using typical copywriting "scare tactics" to encourage people to buy it. Since my goal with the book is to promote adopting pets from animal shelters, the last thing I wanted to do was write a bunch of negative copy that...

With the release of our new Logical Tips books, we have now published eight book ourselves (the four Logical Tips books, Happy Hound, Happy Tabby, Web Business Success, and Vegan Success.) This week's article in the Publishize newsletter offers a few reasons why we have opted to take the self-publishing route, after going about it the "traditional" way: A Few Good Reasons to Self Publish Your Book Enjoy!   Technorati Tags: web business,web business success,vegan success,vegan,pets,happy hound,happy tabby,publishize,logical tips,daffron,writing,dogs,cats,cookbook

Many people online seem to think that everything in cyberspace is just there for the taking (or more accurately the stealing). A friend of mine was outraged one time when she discovered a teacher actually had plagiarized her writing. It's no wonder kids seem to think that writing papers is basically an exercise in copy and paste. If you're a writer, your words are your livelihood, so this week's article in the Publishize Newsletter discusses issues related to copyrights. Be Careful with Your CopyrightsTechnorati tags: web business, marketing, online business, publishize, daffron, writers, writing, publishing

The thrills of pet ownership are ongoing. Troi, the cat on the cover of our Happy Tabby book, has been digestively challenged lately. We took her and our other cat Alia to the vet for a checkup. (If you're going to listen to one cat yowl all the way into town, you may as well listen to two.) Alia got a clean bill of health, which is impressive, since she's almost 15 now. Little Troi doesn't seem to have anything obvious wrong, but is now on a lovely concoction of liquid antibiotics. Getting the pink goo into the unwilling...

Yet another study showing why our "weirdo" vegan diet may not be so weird, after all. High Meat Consumption Linked to Heightened Cancer Risk Apparently, NIH and the AARP analyzed health data from 500K people starting in 1995-1996. They found: "elevated risks for colorectal and lung cancer with high consumption of both meat types along with borderline higher risks for advanced prostate cancer. High red meat intake was also associated with increased risk of esophageal and liver and a borderline increased risk for laryngeal cancer. And high processed meat consumption also was associated with borderline increased risk...

I forgot to post about last week's Publishize article. Last week, we had a huge snowstorm, and on Monday we woke up to a power outage. Then it rained, so the 3 feet of snow we had on the ground turned into 1 foot of heavy, slushy mush. Now we have ice. Anyway, it wasn't the greatest week for getting big work done, which is why my article was so timely. We sold products while we were shoveling snow and digging out  ;-) Earn Passive Income with Information Products To subscribe to the newsletter or the podcast, check out...

This week, we got our first snow, and the canines are totally and completely thrilled. Watching them bound joyfully through the snow is good for the soul. Another thing that makes you feel good is donating old clothes to charity. This week in the Publishize newsletter and podcast, I ponder cleaning, evaluating, and recycling and how it all relates to marketing. If you'd like to read the article online, please use this link: http://newsletter.logicalexpressions.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=144 Enjoy!Technorati tags: publishize, dogs, daffron

After a bit of a delay, the Logical Tips books are headed to the printer this week. After feedback from a number of long-time loyal Logical Tips newsletter subscribers, I finally figured out a way to get the words "Logical Tips" into the title. Today, I sent the titles off to the Library of Congress to get my LCCN numbers, so they are official. The 4 books are: Logical Tips for Mastering Your Computer: Quick Shortcuts, Tips, Tricks, and Techniques to Help You Use Your Computer More Effectively Logical Tips for Mastering the Internet:...

Periodically, we get email from someone who downloads the free trial of IdeaWeaver and really "gets it." The other day I got not one but TWO emails from a fan. (He sent through two different contact forms, just to be sure.) He said, "Wow! I've tried probably every outliner that previously existed and currently exists. What you have created is not just a variant of a standard outliner but a remarkable new way to approach writing. Additionally, you have designed it so that it is very user friendly. My kudos to the person(s) who came up with the idea and those...

Like a lot of people, I have some articles posted on the Ezine Articles site. Unlike most of my articles, these ones are free for anyone to use in their newsletters or on their Web sites as long as they include my bio at the end. This week, I had to redo all my articles and resubmit them because my bio reflected newsletters I no longer do. (Now they all direct people to the Publishize newsletter and podcast.) Anyway, all my articles are back online. I'm an "Expert Author" again ;-) You can see them all using this link: Susan Daffron - Expert AuthorTechnorati...

I'm a member of the National Association of Women Writers (or NAWW). The folks over there offer a discount on our IdeaWeaver writing and creativity software as one of their membership benefits. Over time, I've gotten to know the NAWW founder Sheri McConnell through teleseminars and email. Anyway, Sheri has a new learning and coaching program for people who want to move to the "next level" in their business. If you've ever thought "gee I'd like to be a millionaire" this is your chance to learn how ;-) Her new company My Millionaire Friends is launching on January 1, 2008. This...

Those who read our Publishize Newsletter via email know that this last week was filled with technological challenges. My satellite Internet went belly up and I spent a lot of time troubleshooting an email problem my assistant was having. (Yes, I DID finally figure it out!) Anyway, the fact that my computing biorhythms were clearly at a low ebb, makes it all the more amazing that this week we also launched the Publishize Your Way to Success podcast. In addition to sending out the newsletter via email, now we also have entered the realm of audio. Check out the site: Publishize Your...

Out here in the sticks, we can't vote in the city races, but that doesn't mean we don't care. The city elections have an impact on those of us in outlying areas too. This morning I saw the election results and was pleased to note that the candidate I wanted to win actually DID win the mayoral seat for our town. The current (now outgoing) mayor has the distinction of being the only local elected official ever to have sent a "flame" email to me, after I wrote a letter to the editor that he didn't like. Perhaps he did that...

As usual I am delinquent in mentioning that we put up a new issue of Computor Companion magazine last week. This issue has a lot of helpful articles. Check them out: Back Up Your Computer Regularly and Reliably   Use Word Bookmarks   Add an Index to Your Book with InDesign   Consider PowerPoint for Digital Scrapbooks   Customize Your QuickBooks Invoices   Q and A: How to Open Docx Files Here Comes the Bride-zilla   No TV? No Problem! As always, a big "thank you" to all of our authors, some of whom have been contributing to CC since the very beginning way back in 1999. We love...

A couple weeks ago, Ryan over at VegBlog wrote a review of our Vegan Success cookbook. Triple Cookbook Review In general, he seemed to like the recipes. The only troubling thing is that he wrote that making our Blender Hummus recipe actually broke his food processor. I can't quite imagine how cooked, canned chickpeas could break a food processor. But I felt kinda bad. The good news is that it gave Ryan an excuse to buy a new "14-cup behemoth" to replace it. Realistically, for recipes like Blender Hummus we always use our Vita-Mix. For those who don't know a Vita-Mix is...

...and we've got the press release to prove it! New Book Shares Tips for Raising a Happy and Healthy Shelter-Adopted Cat or Kitten We have books here and the web site is done too. As I noted before, the book is also available on Amazon.com. If you are a pet journalist or cat lover and would like a copy of the book for review, please contact us. As a pet-adoption advocate, I'm also available for interviews about humane education or pet care. As with Happy Hound, we also are offering this book at a substantial discount to shelters and rescue groups who would like...

As the author of two books on rescued pets (Happy Hound and Happy Tabby) and a person who spent years volunteering at animal shelters, I think the whole Ellen DeGeneres "poochgate" fiasco is depressing. Her weepy actions on TV may have set back the efforts of other rescuers around the country by portraying them in a bad light. Rescuers are not the "bad guys" here and the fact that the rescue group is getting death threats is sickening. I can see why the Mutts and Moms rescue group have the contract they do. Ellen DeGeneres admitted that she didn't even READ...

We just got back from vacation in McCall, Idaho. The aspens were in full color and it was an incredibly relaxing week. We did some hiking along with a lot of eating, reading, and general goofing off. Before we left, we went to the library and filled an entire suitcase with books. I read a powerful quantity of junk novels. It was great. In any case, we're back and now having blazed through my less serious reading material, I'm trying to get back into gear by reading a few business books. This week's article in the Publishize newsletter was inspired...

Over the weekend, I was quoted in New York Newsday. I found the article online. I'm quoted on: Page 2 of the Technobabble Battle Basically, the article is about dealing with "geek speak." As usual, I <ahem> have an opinion and suggest that people avoid endless jargon. Here's what I said: "Use simple language that people can understand, says Susan Daffron, president of Logical Expressions Inc., a book and software publishing company in Sandpoint, Idaho. "Grandpa Joe wants to put photos or videos of his grandkids online so everyone can see them," she wrote in an e-mail. "He doesn't want to hear about jpeg...

Although I haven't finished the Happy Tabby web site yet, the book is already available for sale on Amazon.com. If you click the link below, you'll see our cat Troi sitting smugly on the cover. (What a face!) Happy Tabby: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Cat or Kitten As with Happy Hound, our Happy Tabby book is specifically for those who have adopted from animal shelters. It's all about the special needs of living with a "cat with a past." It also has various stories about our own tabbies Alia and Troi. Both of whom are currently snoring on a...

In the Publishize Newsletter, I wrote an article that touches on a topic that we seem to discuss a lot. Many people wonder how we managed to move away from "the big city" to the wilds of Idaho. Setting and Achieving Big Goals It all starts with an idea. If the idea is powerful enough and it involves something you want bad enough, you start taking steps to make it happen.Technorati tags: publishize, web business, daffron

In one of the forums I'm in, there's been a lot of discussion on selecting a shopping cart. One point I made seems obvious, but maybe isn't as obvious as I thought. The person who was looking into a new cart posted a link to the sales site for the cart she is considering. One thing that jumped out to me immediately was that the Web site had no links to live stores. In evaluating a shopping cart, I think the first step should be to actually go through the process of buying something from a site using the cart software. When...

Like a lot of people, I have a Google Alert set up on my name. (If you are wondering how to set up an alert, check out this page for more information.) With an alert, I often know when people are quoting me somewhere on the Internet. For example, I was quoted as the author Happy Hound on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel site in the Animal Megnetism blog. Check it out: What's In a Name? I always get a little thrill when I see my name in print. This week I also was interviewed for an article that may run in a major...

This week we added some new articles to our newsletter site. James wrote one called: Why Prioritizing is a Waste of Time ...which is based on his years working as the Internet Development Manager in charge of a $100M ecommerce site. Basically he asserts that when it comes to setting priorities, the only thing that matters is what you are going to do next. I wrote an article called How to Write When You Feel Like You Can't ...which is based on my years of wrestling with the various permutations of writer's block. The key is to figure out exactly WHAT is keeping you...

This week we sent out the first issue of our new Publishize Newsletter. The tagline is "Transform Your Words Into Dollars" and its designed for people who want to make money from their writing. The first issue has an article titled: Why Should You (or I) Write a Nonfiction Book? which answers a question I get a lot. I've now written quite a few books and I have good reasons for doing so. But writing a book is definitely not for everybody. We also put together the newsletter archive site and pulled in a bunch of relevant articles from some of our other sites. There...

On our Pet Tails site, a while ago I wrote an article called: Soothing the Savage Beast (or Not) I mentioned that music sort of sends our cats into spaz mode. Play a little rock and roll and they start zooming all over the place. However, it seems that to cats not all rock and roll is created equal. I have learned that T-Rex seems to promote a particularly spazzy response from the feline team. The song Bang a Gong makes them particuarly odd. Perhaps they have the teeth of the hydra upon them. Whatever it is, they definitely get weird.Technorati tags: cats,...

...the more they remain the same. I just read an interesting report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report basically looks at what Web 2.0 really is and if we should care. Riding the Waves of Web 2.0 They ask: "As researchers, we instinctively reach for our spreadsheets to see if there is evidence to inform the hype about any online trend." Their conclusions seem to mostly be no. For example, the biggest thing most people really do with the Internet is send email (53%). They also compare the concept of Facebook to Geocities circa 1996. Clearly personal pages are...

As I've become involved in publishing, I've read countless statistics about how the number of books being printed rises every year. Partly the number is increasing because of new technology like short-run "print on demand" options, which make it a lot less expensive for people to publish books. The bad news is that according to a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, fewer people actually read. Apparently, 1 in 4 adults read NO books last year. One in Four Read No Books Last Year I have wondered for a while if readers are a dying breed. Realistically, my husband and I are some of the...

I love my cats, but this news article came as no surprise to me: Feline Memories Found to Be Fleeting A new study measured how long cats can remember information. The answer is 10 minutes. Case in point: yesterday, my cat Troi was sitting staring at the baseboard that runs along the bottom of our living room wall. Apparently a bug had run under there at some point. She did seem to remember why she was there for a while and was looking quite attentive. Until she started falling asleep that is. I guess it's easy to forget stuff, when you have to...

Last Friday, I sent out the last regular issue of our Logical Tips newsletter. I got a lot of really nice emails from readers thanking me for all the tips over the years. Since it's summertime and lots of people are on vacation, I thought I'd also post a note here to let subscribers know that you won't be getting a Logical Tips email in your inbox today. This page explains the change and future plans. However as I said, we are starting up a new newsletter in September. So if you want to keep hearing from us, please check out our...

The other day I mailed out a book the way I've been mailing them for quite some time. I weighed it, put on stamps for the appropriate postage, and put it in an outgoing mail box. However, much to my dismay, our letter carrier refused to pick it up and plastered a little note from the USPS on it. In a move that has received little notice, as of July 30, the post office now won't let you mail anything over 13 ounces just by putting stamps on it. So I drove my book down to the post office. The lady...

US Airways aka Useless has one of the worst reputations in the world of commercial air travel. Unfortunately, I forgot this fact when I purchased my tickets to Portland, Maine. I can tell you that I will never fly US Air again. There's a reason they've been in bankruptcy forever. They have quite possibly the worst customer service I have ever seen anywhere. Last week, I had a flight out of Spokane, changing planes in Seattle and Philadelphia, and ending up in Portland, Maine. I had long layovers, so it seemed like everything should work out without too much trouble. The...

The new issue of Computor Companion is online. In the new issue, you find out how to: Create Books and Long Documents in InDesign Use Photoshop to Remove Red Eye Send ECards Safely Measure the Success of Your Email Campaign Get Up and Running with Microsoft Vista Share Your Presentations online and more... Check out all the articles at the Computor Companion magazine web site.Technorati tags: computor companion, daffron

As some people know I have been writing our Logical Tips newsletter for about 6 or 7 years. Recently, I decided that it's time to compile all those tips into books. Of course, technology changes over the years and some tips are now sort of old. So I enlisted some help in testing the tips. She is reading them over first, so I can then go in and update them all to Windows XP and Office 2003. (Note that I'm not going to delve into the land of Windows Vista or Office 2007.) Anyway, today my tip tester said, "I absolutely love...

I just found out that I was quoted in a News Factor Network article. The article is on shopping cart abandonment. What to Do About Runaway E-Shoppers I'm quoted on Page 3 in this section: Ease of Use "Navigation that 'is really cool' to a designer or Web programmer is often incomprehensible for online shoppers," said Susan Daffron, co-author of Web Business Success. "Avoid the temptation to include overly flashy, bandwidth-hogging bells and whistles. Some people may be using slow connections and even those on broadband often cite slow response time as a prime reason for 'bailing out' of...

The UPS's are squealing and the dogs are panting. Yes, it's thunderstorm season. The trees out my window are kind of going sideways. So instead of blogging up a storm, I'm blogging IN a storm. Speaking of blogs, this evening's issue of Logical Tips talks about one of my latest pet peeves: the Snap Preview. I explain how end users can turn it off. Turn Off the Snap Preview I didn't mention this in the article, but I implore all you bloggers out there to disable this awful add-on. Most people hate it and it's probably hurting your blog readership. If your blogging...

There's an old proverb that the cobbler is so busy making shoes for all his customers that he doesn't have time for his own. Sometimes I feel that way about the Logical Expressions web site. When you time working on Web sites for others, it's all too easy to neglect your own site. Plus, after our enormous site update a few months ago, I didn't want to look at it again for a while. However, this week I finally did add a few updates. For one thing, I added in the Web site articles that I've been writing for a local...

This week while my spouse was out of town, I took it upon myself to go nuts and remove 700 tons of obsolete computing technology from our world. This massive office reorganization entailed recycling hundreds of magazines and catalogs and taking advantage of the new computer recycling program Staples has instituted: Staples Computer Recycling Program I've been avoiding dealing with old technology for years. I refused to put all those creepy chemicals from monitors and circuit boards into a landfill, so they have been collecting dust under our desks and in boxes stashed all over the place. It was a good thing that...

Today's big accomplishment was ever-so-slowly backing my car into a friend's fence. Automotively speaking, reverse has never been my best direction. However, my spouse James was tremendously understanding. After I told him of my transgression, he went off and bought some wood, and then carted his tools over and fixed the fence for me. I felt pretty stupid, yet neither the owner of the fence or the spouse fixing the fence made me feel bad. James seemed to have a reasonably good time and even made some improvements to the fence. He also reminded me that I didn't get upset when...

Apparently, this year is the 50th anniversary of the font Helvetica. An article on the Slate site called: The Helvetica Hegemony discusses the history of Helvetica with an online slide show. It's sort of astonishing how many companies have used this typeface, even before the days when you could find it on every computer. My favorite line is this one, which appears on the last slide: "It's the tofu of typefaces: bland in itself but ready to absorb whatever flavors you add to it." As a vegan graphic designer who has seen a lot of both tofu and Helvetica, I was seriously amused ;-) Technorati tags:...

I just got back from two days of babysitting a dog boarding kennel. Now I have "dog walker feet." Over the years, I have met quite a few professional dog walkers and they often complain that their feet hurt. That would be me today. Even with shoe inserts, my feet are sore. Walking many dogs 3 or 4 times per day is a lot more walking than you might think. The end result is that I am tired and ready to enjoy the long holiday weekend. I have a lot of gardening to do though. I hope my feet hold out!Technorati...

Although James and I had a radio show for a while, and I was a DJ in college, today I did my first radio call in as a promotion for one of our books. I talked to Steve Dale about his article on "designer dogs" such as cockapoos and labradoodles. The article contends that shelters are a much better (not to mention less expensive) way to get these dog, which after all actually are simply mixed-breed mutts. In the article, he points out that he has a "King Daley Shepherd" named Ethel. I like the idea of giving my shelter/rescue dogs...

We spent a lot of time picking morels. I wrote about it here: Foraging Fun They're gone now, but it was fun while it lasted!Technorati tags: daffron, vegan

I just found a great article on search engine optimization (SEO): 8 Myths of Search Engine Optimization He basically says what we've been saying for years. SEO is all about words. Everyone seems to want to turn search engine optimization into some mystical voo doo, but basically if you write a lot of good articles, and create sites with clean HTML code, in the end people will find your site when they do a search. Google never penalizes sites with good writing, clean code, and links coming in from other respectable sites. It's boring, old fashioned, and true. However, sleezeball tactics like bogus...

Because of a server problem, our Web sites were down for a while. However, thanks to good backups, almost everything has been restored, including the LEI blog. This post is a test to see if our blog software is working correctly. Cross your fingers... YAY! It works ;-)Technorati tags: daffron, online business

One side effect of all the work we've been doing lately is that we now have a string of products that we sell through our online store. I'd never really thought about it before, but finding product orders in your email is a really fun thing, particularly since for the past few years, mostly what I've found in my in box has been spam. As I've ranted before, spam just infuriates me. Early on, all the nerd gurus said, oh it's no big deal, just press the Delete key. Then everyone started getting not just a few annoying unwanted emails, but...

Check out the new issue: Computor Companion magazine - Spring 2007 Articles include information on: How to Excel in Your Job Search Use Word to Create Promotional Bookmarks Manage Your Life in Outlook Pivot Tables Charts in PowerPoint Social Networking Enjoy!Technorati tags: daffron, computor companion

This week it has finally felt like spring. When spring arrives so do the flowers and all the things that want to eat your flowers. After witnessing some crocus destruction, I decided it was time to take action. Last year's garden was marred by various critters getting in, around (under?) the fence, so this year I've decided to take steps to keep the wildlife away from my plants. For many years, we've put up a 6-foot chicken wire fence to keep out the deer. But the bottom has been deteriorating. Hence the varmint invasion last summer. So we got some smaller chicken...

Spring is in the air and this week, I celebrated by taking a day off and hitting the road with a friend on a major shopping excursion. As most women will attest, shopping for a swimsuit is one of life's most discouraging experiences. I needed moral support. We were on a mission, so we headed south outta town to the land of many malls and clothing stores. What we found was beyond hideous. I can tell you that apparently, this season's swimsuit color is BROWN. Realistically, I had to go on this shopping trip because the last time I bought a swimsuit...

This week has been monumentally work filled. I spent a whole lot of time staring at HTML. However, the good news is that at long last  the Logical Expressions site is now updated: http://www.logicalexpressions.com We have an entire new line of products and services, so I added a bunch of pages and removed a lot of out of date stuff. In some ways, it's sort of a relief to have actually touched every page on the site again. It's about 270 pages, so updating it is not a trivial task. Plus, with that many pages, it's kind of hard to keep track...

This week I learned that the Emoticon is turning 25 this year: Web Smiley article I think it's kind of cool, since I use emoticons all the time. (In fact, a number of years ago, Diane Chapman wrote a rather popular Computor Companion article about the tremendous variations in emoticons...people can be rather creative with their punctuation marks.) This week I also saw a lot of the less fun side of email. Apparently, many people who are way, way too enamored of their CapsLock key came out of hiding. I think you know what I mean. I'm talking about the people who send...

Our book Happy Hound was written up in an Indiana newspaper! It was a fun interview actually, since the author and I are both dog lovers. We talked for ages about the thrills and chills of living with many very goofy canines  ;-) Check out the article... "A Happy Hound - Having problems with your new dog or puppy?" by Jean Starr, March 3, 2007, The Times of Northwest Indiana " Any lasting relationship requires knowledge of the other being and plenty of introspection. The same is true with making...

Today's hardware failure is brought to you by the letter K. So there I was trying to write an email and type the word "okay." All was well, until the letter K just wouldn't work for me. Sure the letter K may not seem like much, but you really don't know how much you miss it until it's gone. I'd been avoiding the reality that my keyboard was filthy, but I could avoid it no longer, since I had to write an email to a guy named Ken. I yanked off a few key caps. It appears sharing an office with...

I finally got our videos uploaded to YouTube. They've been available on their respective Web sites for a while, but now they are available to a (much) wider audience. Here are the links: Samoyed Songs of Joy (from Happy Hound) Vegans Go Hunting (from Vegan Success) If you are into YouTube, please share them with all your video-phile type friends  ;-)Technorati tags: daffron, vegan, vegan success, happy hound, dogs, puppies, adopted pets

The fact that you can't really open windows in the wintertime can be a real problem. Such as the other night when I was happily spooning out our dinner onto plates. I looked over behind me and noticed that the Gold Dog had "assumed the position" and was committing an act of badness on the kitchen floor. Yes, dinner was somewhat late. In a similar vein, this morning James discovered that the turnips that I had stored in a box in the root room had decomposed and created their own vile compost pile. (Perhaps it should be called the "rot room"...

Okay, so I survived the Follies. Actually it was a huge amount of fun. And it's for charity. The Angels Over Sandpoint do the Follies to raise funds so they can give out scholarships and donations to local charitable organizations. And to prove to people who know me that yes, I really did have the guts to go on stage and make a total and complete fool of myself, here is pictorial proof. I am on the left and Janine is on the right. We were backup singers for the "Queen" (aka Kate, the hostess of the show). The song was derived...

It occurred to me after writing the last post that one cool side effect of not including text in the newsletters that go out to subscribers anymore is that I can say whatever I want. Email content filters have affected my writing for years. Now I can boldly say things like SPAM. Or MORTGAGE. Not that I really want to talk about home loans or spam right this second. But I could. SPAM! Lookie there I did it again ;-) - SusanTechnorati tags: daffron, logical tips

The canines are back in my office after being ostracized for several days. The sleeping has begun. The all-furry team was banished over the last few days because I was sewing a costume for the Follies (http://sandpoint.org/mardigras/), which is tomorrow.   I have very, very tiny bit role as an Egyptian backup singer (except I don't sing). To create my costume, I toddled off to Goodwill and got some fabric, a slip, and a (girl's!) dress that I have very sloppily transformed into somewhat of an Egyptian look. (I'm going to look like Cleopatra's really ugly stepsister or something.) Unfortunately, I'm an...

As I was trolling through the ever-so-boring world of technology news this evening, I realized that I forgot to report that I finally saw Microsoft Vista last weekend. The experience was hugely underwhelming. It left me thinking, "gee, the greatest minds at Microsoft took six years to do that?" We went to Staples where they dutifully had many copies of Vista out on display. A little HP laptop was running the new operating system, so we moused around a bit. It's got more animation and it looks sorta like newer Mac OSs. Big deal. I mean is anyone actually excited about Vista?...

As some people may have noticed, a few of our Web sites now look different than they did a few weeks ago. As you can see... Logical Tips Pet Tails Sandpoint Insider ...now are organized by topic. This organization is different than it was before. When we set them up, the sites were arranged by issue (much like our Computor Companion magazine site is now). With the ezine sites, however, because there are only 2 articles in an issue, the table of contents looked kind of small. Plus, given the comments we were getting, it was obvious that people were not finding the many hundreds...

Clearly I have not been good about adding updates to this blog. However, things should change because we finally got all the Web sites switched over and have figured out how to send updates out via RSS. This change is a big deal in my world; I'll explain it in the next post. But first, without further ado, I must announce that the new Winter issue of Computor Companion is online. Ta da! http://www.computorcompanion.com The new issue has these articles: Use Excel to Get Dates           Fun with Xara Xtreme Pro        ...

All of our books are available and shipping either from our ecommerce sites or Amazon.com. Vegan Success: Scrumptious, Healthy Vegan Recipes for Busy People is a cookbook filled simple recipes anyone can make. This book is available from http://www.VeganSuccess.com or Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0974924512). At the Vegan Success site, visitors can sign up for  free tips for getting a vegan dinner on the table fast or watch a tongue-in-cheek video called Vegans Go Hunting. Web Business Success: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Web Sites that Work is designed to explain the often confusing and hype-filled world of online business in plain English with no "geek...

We posted our first foray into video on the Vegan Success site: http://www.VeganSuccess.com It's called "Vegans Go Hunting" and it shows what happens when vegans are hungry and there's nothing to eat. (It's kind of a large Flash file, so it's only fun if you're on broadband.) Anyway, it has music, narration and features Tika, the Squash Dog. As you can see, she had a really, really good time making the video ;-) - SusanTechnorati tags: daffron, vegan, vegan success

I just got an email that the first delivery of our new book Happy Hound: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Dog or Puppy has shipped. That means my books are somewhere between Tennessee and here. In the meantime, you can read about it on the Web site: http://www.happyhoundbook.com Plus, you can watch a video of our cover model Cami "singing." She's a Samoyed mix and when she has something to say, she utters a Mighty Woo! - SusanTechnorati tags: daffron, dogs, happy hound, puppies, adopted pets

Oops, forgot to mention this too. The fall issue of Computor Companion is online. Check it out at: http://www.computorcompanion.com We went on vacation and I forgot to mention it. It was a good vacation though ;-) - SusanTechnorati tags: daffron, computor companion

Okay, so I haven't posted for a while. We've been busy. And here's proof. At long last, Web Business Success: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Web Sites That Work is available. Check out the brand, spanky new site at: http://www.logicalebiz.com Unlike its predecessor, this is a real print book. Soon, like Vegan Success, it will be available on Amazon.com. Technically, it's in there, since it's been updated from the Ingram database, but it's not showing as available yet. Stay tuned ;-) Susan Daffron Co-author Vegan Success AND Web Business Success Technorati tags: daffron, web business success, web business, online business

For those who may be curious, we have moved our blog from WordPress to Subtext, which is a fork off the .Text blogging system. It's a .NET based blogging system, and so far, I like it a LOT better. I mean a LOT.Technorati tags: daffron

Our very own Computor Companion was mentioned by the BBC this week. Kate Russell has a list of sites in her Favorites folder and we’re among them. BBC World BBC News As a result, Logical Tips subscribes are way up. We’re delighted to welcome all the new subscribers from “across the pond.” Technorati tags: daffron, computor companion

This is too cool. The Simpsonmaker Me as a Simpson Character Technorati tags: daffron

In the continuing effort to promote IdeaWeaver, our creative writing tool for authors, we really wanted to get the product listed on the Windows Marketplace. If you aren’t familiar with it, the Windows Marketplace is where you land when you click your Windows XP Start menu and select “Windows Catalog.” I guess they changed the name somewhere along the way. We were hoping that we could get IdeaWeaver into the marketplace as a side-effect of it being Windows Platform Certified, but it turns out that there is no relationship or requirement there. Any Windows software can be listed on the Windows...

The new Summer 2006 issue of Computor Companion is now online. This issue of CC has a number of cool articles, including info on the upcoming Office 2007, ripping music CDs, and my method for labeling a whole lot of file folders using Word’s mail merge feature.In other big news, we have passed all the criteria and are now official Microsoft Certified Partners with an ISV Software Solutions Competency. ISV stands for Independent Software Vendor and technically, it means we have earned enough points from “tested products” (our IdeaWeaver software in this case) and customer references to become a certified partner. Because...

Count me a fan too! 40 Reasons to Love John Cusack Technorati tags: daffron

As I wrote here, A Book Journey  we have a new book coming out. For all you vegans, vegetarians, and wanna be veggies, I plan to approve the proof and order the first batch of Vegan Success tomorrow. Yeah, I’ve been kinda busy. That’s also why I’ve ignored this blog for a while. (Well, that and pouting about Word Press being sort of a pain to work with.) Technorati tags: daffron, vegan, cookbook, vegan success

I got a number of hilarious responses to this article: No, I will Not Go! about my dog Cami’s ability to get herself tangled up in the forest. One person wrote to me about her Siberian Huskies tangled up with her and their coupler leash in a tree. It’s all too easy to imagine! Technorati tags: daffron, dogs, puppies

This week we found out that our IdeaWeaver software passed independent platform testing at Veritest for Windows Client Software and Microsoft Office. (VeriTest is the testing service of Lionbridge Technologies and performs the Microsoft Platform Test for ISV Solutions.) Passing the software certfication is also our first step toward becoming Microsoft Certified Partners. Note that if anyone has questions on IdeaWeaver, we do have a forum set up for it here: IdeaWeaver Forum Meanwhile, I just put a book into IdeaWeaver that I’m updating. So far, it seems to be working great. Technorati tags: daffron, ideaweaver, writing, writers, publishing

We’ve been working for quite a while on a new software product and last week, we told the world. Yes, IdeaWeaver is now available for free download at: IdeaWeaverSoftware.com We’ve been using it for a while and if you do a lot of writing (or even a little) it’s extremely helpful, especially if you’ve ever been stuck staring at the page wondering what to say. With IdeaWeaver, you can just start entering ideas as they float into your brain and organize them later. So you don’t have to fret about your “topic sentence” or structure, until you’re ready. You can set up topics and...

Is it any wonder people don’t trust the government? Anger Grows Over NSA Surveillance Report In a sign that political opposition to surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency may be growing, a wide range of top Democrats took aim at the program throughout the day and called for immediate hearings to investigate the president’s eavesdropping and data-mining efforts.Technorati tags: daffron

Okay, maybe only graphic designers would think this is funny. I did ;-) Learn to Kern (scroll down to see the picture) Technorati tags: daffron

In the lastest edition of Logical Tips, my non-nerdy musings included a survey on whether or not people like LT the way it is or would like some changes. The response was overwhelming. I promised to answer everybody and I have, but let’s just say I’ve been answering a LOT of email. Technorati tags: daffron, logical tips

We tried the recipe on her blog for vegan feta and it’s not bad. It probably would have been better had I followed the instructions correctly. Oh well. Bryanna’s Vegan Feast Technorati tags: daffron, vegan

Because I create Web sites, I feel it’s my duty to periodically see what “award-winning” Web design looks like. So today I looked at a few of the Webby Award Nominations. Mostly award-winning design looks expensive. I mean, gee Google Maps has a GooglePlex full of programmers on the task. Of course it’s cool. Since that kind of money has no bearing on my world, I’m always more interested in the “personal” categories. However, the monotony of the 20th black background Flash with distressed fonts intro screen really gets me down. I wish this “wow I’m so cool” look would just go away....

It’s up!  http://www.computorcompanion.com Technorati tags: daffron, computor companion

Okay when I wrote this article about the joys of duct tape… North Idaho Repair Tool …I was sort of kidding. But it turns out that Forbes has deemed duct tape one of the most important tools of all time. (And not just in North Idaho. ) World’s Greatest Tool: Duct Tape? The article describes the history of duct tape too, which is kind of interesting. Who knew?! Technorati tags: daffron, sandpoint

In the version of my Thwarting Mister Squirrel article that went out in the Sandpoint Insider ezine, I inadvertently said that Westsoy was the only soy yogurt worth eating. Unfortunately, that was a large brain cramp. I meant Whole Soy. I corrected it in the Web site archive, but apologize to any vegetarian subscribers who wondered what I was talking about ;-) Technorati tags: daffron, vegan

I don’t know if it’s me or the Internet, but I’m finding life online more and more depressing. I get about 70-80 spam messages a day, half of which are phishing scams trying to steal pretty much anything from me they can. And a friend of mine is struggling dealing with people stealing her content. It’s not just the random loser reposting stuff either. Teachers and professionals are ripping her off. These people know better and are justifying it by saying that copyright is just too hard to understand. Actually, it’s not. It’s quite simple. If you didn’t write it, it’s not...

An article in Fortune suggests that even the guy who invented cubicles, Robert Propst, thinks they were a mistake:  Cubicles: The great mistake It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve experienced the horror of a cubicle. And I don’t miss it at all. Technorati tags: daffron

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a couple days. As I wrote in this weeks’ Sandpoint Insider, Sylvie White of TerraPen Geographics let us post some of her maps that show where the U.S. Forest Service parcels are that Bush wants to sell off. This page has the maps: http://www.sandpointinsider.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=300 If there weren’t enough reasons to dispise our illustrious President, here’s one more. I keep reading more and more references to impeachment. Although I doubt it would really happen, no lying, cheating, thief of a politician deserves it more. Technorati tags: daffron, sandpoint

for the information-overload that too much technology has created. Big wigs are even having conferences about it: Information Overload “There’s even a name for the attention deficit disorder some fret the tech industry has created. “Continuous partial attention,” as they’re calling it, is an adaptive behavior pattern many consumers have adopted to cope with the need to multitask and boost productivity in the digital age. ” Here’s a hint people: turn off your stupid cell phone for a change. Technorati tags: daffron

For those who are too busy to pay attention to what the kiddies are doing, now the world has a new technological spy tool named Bob just for you: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6042249.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn  “Bob consists of a timer and a reporter box. A device’s plug is locked into Bob, which is then plugged into a wall outlet. Parents assign their children a certain amount of time on the device by day or week, and when it’s up, Bob cuts the current. ” You just gotta know that the comparisons to Microsoft’s ill-fated Bob will be coming down the pike shortly. Technorati tags: daffron

Okay, am I the only one who thinks this is disgusting?http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,70322-0.html?tw=rss.index Wanting to look like a Romulan or Klingon seems like a sort of pathetic Trekkie dream, if you ask me. Maybe I’m not open minded enough, but even the pictures grossed me out. I can’t imagine doing this to onesself on purpose. Technorati tags: daffron