Archive for February, 2012

Just Answer ~ Canada Law

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

By Sue Ricketts

There have been huge paper books created in the past which try to tell you and explain about Canadian law. The problem with them is that each of the provinces and territories have their own interpretation of the law and federal law is separate to them all. The other problem is that almost as soon as they are printed the book is out of date. They capture one place in time and to update you need to purchase a new book.

Now if you have a computer you can get the advice and help of someone who has spent four to six years learning about the law and passed an examination to be admitted to the Law Society. Not getting advice from Uncle Joe the barber or your best friend’s cousin twice removed. Many people go into panic mode when they think of hiring a lawyer (money fleeing out the window). I’m not sure why we have allowed ourselves to be frightened of paying the cost for expert advice in any field to help us find the proper solutions we need. The do-it-yourself way has led to lots and lots of needless expense and time wasted as well as physical damage.

There is a website called Just Answer: Canada Law where you can find a legal expert in many different fields online day or night. The cost is quite reasonable and you can be comforted with their 100% guarantee.

The price for using a legal service to help you prepare your Will and Powers of Attorney is small when you compare it to what the governments and courts will charge if you die intestate. It’s very small if you consider that your heirs may contest the will and pay court costs to decide what you really meant. What’s really more important? Pretending that you will not die? Pretending that you won’t be ill or injured in the future before you get around to writing things down? Or making sure that the people who depend on you and whom you care most about get the things that you want them to get, both quickly and efficiently?

At the JustAnswer.com site you can also find doctors, vets, mechanics and other who will answer your common questions and point you to a solution. These types of services are a great boon to busy people who don’t know where to start their search for answers. Always use the tools you can find wisely. If in doubt you can ask another expert another day but you can find them easily online.

Thank heavens that in this age we can get up-to-the-minute advice quickly and easily without having to go anywhere. The age of information has brought us many things, some things we didn’t really want to know, some which we did, but we now can’t claim ignorance as an excuse. Now as long as we use these tools for the good of all, we can make great improvements in our lives and in our futures. It makes me feel alive again to think of the possibilities if we only try.

How to Feel Alive Again By Jane Herman

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

Jane Herman When was the last time you said to yourself, “I feel so alive”? Or do you more often find yourself saying, “Why do I feel so numb? I feel like a robot. I feel like all of the “highs” have been edited out of my life.” The slide from excitement and anticipation of each day to boredom and dread happens over time and is often so subtle that it is hard to notice. Yet when you have arrived at the “dead zone” you know it and wonder how you got there.

The good news is if you are ready to wake up and reclaim your rightful sense of openness and wonder there is one clearly identifiable thing that can help you get back what you lost – and it’s called “living in the present moment.” Sure you have heard of it – but have you ever really thought about what it means or how to do it? Let’s explore together.

Why is living in the present so important?

Life happens in the moment. In fact our lives are made up of millions of present moments, but most of the time we are not actually there experiencing them, we are mentally somewhere else – in the past (rehashing old moments) or in the future (anticipating future moments). When we withdraw our attention from the present, we limit our experience of it – we lose the richness of it in the “now” and as a result also store only colorless versions of it in our memories, if the impressions even make it into our memories at all. When you think about what you did last week or last month, how many moments really stand out? Can you re-imagine them with vividness and pleasure? Can you retrace your reactions and emotions of those moments? Feel their texture or significance in your life?

When you shut down your attention in the moment, you find that you can recall no “standout moments” as you look backwards over days, weeks, months, sometimes even years. Now you may be thinking that standout moments must involve momentous events (e.g., getting a new job or promotion, a birth or death, or a graduation of some sort) or involve a radical departure from your normal routine (e.g., a vacation to an exotic location), but such is not the case. You have the potential to create standout moments simply by bringing the full focus of your attention to the present moment, allowing all of your emotions their full play, and drawing that experience into your being as you would welcome a cherished friend.

“Yes!” you say. “I would like to experience the energy, involvement, and excitement of living in the moment, but it just isn’t happening. Now What?”

Here are seven key things you can do to bring yourself back to the present:

1. Allow yourself to experience sensations

Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell – these are how you experience the world outside of you in the moment. But how much are you really noticing and how much is really registering? When you fold the laundry do you really smell how clean it is? Do you feel the warmth of the fabric through your fingers? When you wash the car to do feel the coolness of the water or notice the glint off the chrome? Why do you care?

With so much information coming at us, we tend to filter out much of it to prevent processing overload. And maybe it’s okay to filter out the sensations associated with folding laundry or washing your car, but ask yourself the following: if you are not paying attention to these things, then what is it that your mind is focused on? Is it something else more important or enticing you are noticing about the world around you? What senses are you using and what sensations are you experiencing in the present moment? Most likely, almost none. Most likely your attention is focused in your head – on thoughts you are creating and rehashing – and most likely these are thoughts about what you have already done or need to do – not what is happening right now. Most likely you are ignoring your senses and living in your mental gymnasium.

If you hope to find your way back to living in the present you must begin to direct your attention back to experiencing sensations in the moment. The good news is that you can willfully direct your attention. Ask yourself “What is my favorite sensation?” Then find a way during your day to take moments to really experience that sensation. Better yet, find ways to really dazzle that sensation.

2. Reclaim your right to your emotions

As we are raised and socialized we are often taught to ignore, rein in, or deflect our emotions. Clearly this instruction is not all bad. There are many situations where it is nor productive for others to be exposed to the full range of our emotional swings. Yet in learning to temper our emotions all too often we go overboard – learning to dampen not only disruptive emotions, but also any intense emotion (even the highs). We tighten the screws on our “emotional dampers” and keep them operating full force in all situations and environments (even when we are by ourselves) until our emotional lives flatline.

Our emotional lives are meant to be rich and satisfying, but to many people emotions feel like strangers. Some people even believe that they have no emotions – but in reality there are feelings and emotions attached to every single thought you have. Feelings and emotions are a natural and spontaneous part of your experience of the present – that’s why it is so important to reclaim your right and ability to feel and express them.

A second key step to living in the present is to reconnect with your emotions. Doing so requires that you recognize the difference between the “present moment” emotions of pleasure and pain and the secondary or manufactured emotions of anger, guilt, shame, depression, etc.

Deepak Chopra in his book “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind” says that the cycle of emotion begins in the present, where only pain and pleasure are felt, and ends up with complex feelings centered exclusively in the past, such as guilt and depression. He describes the cycle of emotions as follows:

Pain in the present is experienced as hurt.
Pain in the past is remembered as anger.
Pain in the future is perceived as anxiety.

Unexpressed anger, redirected against yourself and held within, is called guilt.

The depletion of energy that occurs when anger is redirected inward creates depression.

If you have a burden of stored hurt, it will disguise itself as anger, anxiety, guilt and depression and color the nature of your emotional reaction to things that happen in the present moment. To truly reclaim your emotions you must do what you need to do to clear yourself of past hurts, and then learn to experience, process, and release your emotions in the present as they occur so that you don’t create new layers of pain that insulate you from a full experience of the present.

3. Get back to what’s real

I read an interesting statistic the other day – it said that about 76% of the people polled said they want to retire in the country or in a small town (i.e., out of their current urban surroundings). What is missing from people’s lives that so many seek a major change in environment for retirement? My sense is that these people are looking to get back to “what’s real.” Back to a pace of life where rich experiences are possible. Have you ever thought about “what’s real” for you? Living in the present means being able to create your real life here and now – instead of waiting until retirement for your real life to begin. Ask yourself what makes your current life “unreal”, “superficial”, “constraining,” “dehumanizing” and then ask yourself the opposite question: What would make my life more “real” in the present? Is it a different pace? A more natural and pastoral physical environment? Different activities? A different social group with a different set of values? Most people don’t have the resources to reconstruct every aspect of their life to make it “perfect” – but everyone has the power to make adjustments to their actions and environment to bring them more in line with the reality of what is important by their personal definition. Retirement for you may be 5, 10, 20 or more years away. What can you do right now to make your life “more real?”

4. Put your habits in reverse

Habits are an efficient way to operate. Rather than having to think through each step of an activity, over time we can delegate our actions to our subconscious mind and allow the activity to proceed, once initiated, with little thought or attention. The downside of habits are the same as their upside – they are unconscious. If you are living mostly “by habit” you are not truly living in the present – you are running on autopilot.

I have heard the process of forming habits described as a process of moving through the following stages:

Unconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence

To really live in the present you must be willing to backtrack one step – to move some of your activities back from unconsciousness to consciousness. One easy way to do this is to perform a process or activity you know well in some slightly different way (e.g., by using the opposite hand than you normally use). This will help you to heighten your experience of activities that have become hum-drum habits and bring you more fully into the present.

5. Pare back your huge To-Do list

Being able to experience the present moment requires that you have the mental bandwidth to focus on, and appreciate, what is happening right this minute. I read another intriguing statistic the other day. It said that 80% of what we think about each day is exactly the same as what we thought about yesterday. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this statistic, but it feels about right when you realize how much of most peoples’ mental energy is spent doing things like continuously rehashing their To Do lists. Massive To Do lists are huge enemies of living in the present. The first step to escaping the tyranny of your To Do is to get it out of your head and on to paper. Writing it down will release your mind of the duty to remember it all. The second step is to review your To Do list in the light of your commitment to live more fully in the present. If you really do want to be “more present” you simply must have less looming over you. Keep what is important, meaningful, or fun for you and then be willing to do, dump, or delegate the rest.

6. Stop multi-tasking

Simply put multi-tasking makes living in the present completely impossible. Experiencing the present moment requires that your mind and your attention be focused on what is happening right now. Each time you switch between tasks you move from one goal to another and your brain must recall how to do each new task. It takes time for your brain to reorient and disrupts your ability to stay deeply engaged and in the flow. Research shows that multitasking is inefficient and potentially dangerous (depending on the nature of the tasks being time-shared in your brain) and it also keeps you mentally juggling versus really experiencing the depth of the moment.

7. Change your relationship to time

How you perceive time is a big factor in how “present” you are able to feel. If you are constantly focused on the scarceness of time – if you believe that time is limited, that time is running out, that time is the enemy – then your experience of each moment will feel pressured. We all know that the pace of our lives feels like it is continuously accelerating – with ever more to do and more deadlines. But there are environments that you can be in, and activities that you can engage in, that will remind your brain that time can expand, flow, and even appear to stand still. Here are two examples. When you step out into nature (e.g., take a hike in the hills, walk on the beach, bike in the mountains, or kayak on a lake) you immerse yourself in a place where a different sense of time exists. The natural rhythms of nature do not feel rushed or forced, and they help realign your internal clock. Also, when you engage in activities that you truly love, and do them at depth, you subtly teach your spirit that you need not always skim along the surface and move as quickly as possible to the next thing. As you experience delving into the depths and getting absorbed in a process your sense of time will slow or disappear from your consciousness. Such “timeouts,” if you allow yourself to take them, will help to change your relationship to time and allow you to live more fully in the present.

In summary:

If you can reclaim your ability to live in the present you will be much more likely to be able to say with enthusiasm – “I feel ALIVE!”

Check out Success Tools with Jane Herman

Tracking Shadows

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

By Regan Black

For those who like crime stories this is most certainly one. There is a criminal boss who is the Slick Micky of Chicago. He runs a group of mules, mostly female, from a completely secret location which is rumoured to be impenetrable. The difference here is that this is 2029 in a different America. Here the government has banned things like sugar, fat, coffee as well as cigarettes, booze and prostitution. The nanny state has arrived with a vengeance. The Slick Micky’s mules usually deal their wares all around the city and there’s a rich living to be made from satisfying people’s tastes.

In exchange they get to be part of the Family. They live safely, eat well and don’t have to be in fear all the time. Everyone is trained in self-defence and other specialities which keep the whole group from harm. For this, the Slick Micky is adored by his Family.

Yet, Slick Micky is lonely and given to melancholy moods now and then as he has no one to share his good fortune with. He has always enjoyed the challenge of getting to the top of the criminal world and staying there. His rivals who tend to deal in old style gambling, prostitution and booze more than anything else are jealous of him and continue to conspire to unseat him.

The latest idea is hiring an assassin to rub him out. This one turns out to be a woman who has a strange and uncanny ability to make people believe in the mental illusions she creates. Trina Durham has accepted a huge fee and plans to retire when this job is done. She does have principals and has taken this job because she wants to rid the world of all criminals who exploit others. Especially the Slick Micky who killed her only true friend in a horrific explosion many years ago.

Regan Black has written a whole series of books about Shadows – those living in them. SThis is book four in the series but you don’t have to have read the others in order to enjoy this one.

Billionaires Among Us ~ Or Where to Become Rich

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

By Sue Ricketts

Remember when being a millionaire was really something? Well it seems that’s middle-class today if you believe the newspapers and tabloids. I recently ran across some interesting statistics while reading an article about the 20 Richest people in Canada. This led me to more information about moneyed people around the world.

No matter what, it seems that democracy and capitalism help to create more billionaires than any other system in the world. The United States of America has 412 billionaires, the most of any country, out of a population of 316 million people. That’s 1 very rich person for every 767 thousand people.

The second country with the most billionaires is China with 115 billionaires out of a population of 1.3 billion people. That’s 1 for every 113 million people. Although they are producing more moneyed people every year, statistically there isn’t a lot of chance to get ultra-rich there.

The third country is Russia where they have 101 billionaires and a population of 1.4 million folks. That’s 1 for every 1.4 million. If you believe the rumours though, they are mostly crime bosses. I have no idea if that’s true or not. Could it be that some folks are jealous?

Number four? Well that’s us here in Canada with 61 billionaires to a population of 34.7 million people, or 1 for every 569 thousand people. Not bad for a shadow above the USA.

The fifth country in the list is India with 55 billionaires to a population of 1.19 billion people, or 1 in 21.6 million. Germany is a very close sixth with 51 billionaires per 81.6 million. That’s 1 for every 1.6 million population.

Based on those statistics where in the world is your best chance of becoming a billionaire? North America by a long shot -and surprisingly Canada by population. Maybe we benefit by not having such a long history as the rest of the world. We aren’t as tied to old traditions or habits and adapt better to change. Followed by second place USA where they have traditionally trumpeted the ability for anyone to succeed.

Third place goes to Germany where people know from experience and life lessons about the importance of money. They did lose two wars and have a terrible depression in between which taught them just how important money can be.

If your interested in checking out some of these statistics go to the following sites and do your own analysis.

http://bit.ly/zgPhkN

http://bit.ly/wjWxlL

Mi6 is looking for a few good spies… in the newspaper

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

By Jeff Beer | February 16, 2012

Ever wonder how James Bond got his job? If movies have taught us anything, covert government operatives are recruited on college campuses, the military and through other less-than-traditional means. But earlier this month Britain’s famed Mi6, or Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), did something very un-Hollywood: it placed a want ad in the newspaper.

The unbranded,, copy-heavy ad, created with London ad agency M&C Saatchi, appeared recently in the London Evening Standard and the Sunday Times. It has the look of a secret file freshly pulled from a weathered manila envelope and teases the reader to not balk at all the words. “You’ve read this far. You’re in a minority. Only 17% of people ever read adverts past the headline. Assuming, of course, this is an advert. There’s no logo, no obvious contact details and no product. You’ll have to read on to find out more….”

Further down, it offers, “Your peers see you as dynamic. Your bosses may have you earmarked for promotion. But there’s something missing. A nagging feeling that you could be doing something more worthwhile. Something more rewarding, but not simply in a financial way.”

It goes on to detail the ideal candidate’s ability to, among other things, “integrate seamlessly into the day-to-day society of a different country.” Hmm. And then the kicker: “By reading between the lines, you’ve probably guessed what we’re after…. You may even consider applying. You may feel like talking to family and friends about this. That’s completely natural and will end your application process before it’s even started. So if you want to discuss applying, discuss it with us and no one else.”

Comments

By Sue Ricketts

Would you think this ad was a spoof if you saw it? Most people would wonder who has enough money to put such a large advertisement into major daily newspapers if it’s a joke. And spend that money on only 17% of the paper-reading populace of England? Is this a sign that colleges and military personnel are not working out well for government spy agencies? Are they now willing to enlist “lower class” riff-raff as world spies? Maybe they need some cannon-fodder as they’ve been losing too many spies around the world lately? Would you be thinking of applying to such an ad?

The Ronin’s Mistress – A Sano Ichiro Mystery

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

By Laura Joh Rowland

This is the fifteenth book featuring the Shogun’s most honourable investigator at the beginning of the 18^th century in Japan. He has been demoted back to his investigative duties, down from Chamberlain of Japan. His perennial enemy, Yanigasawa, has returned from exile and through his son has wormed his way back into the good graces of the Shogun. Both father and son still plot to become heirs to the Shogun so that they can rule the whole country. They also plan to ruin Sano and either have the Shogun order him killed or exiled to some far-off part of the country while his family will be forced to stay in Edo to ensure his good behaviour.

Again we meet the familiar characters of Sano’s family and his retainer Hirata’s. They all live together in the same somewhat cramped compound which keeps happenings very close. Sano’s son is now eleven years old and his wife Reiko is busy trying to find him a wife. In that time young men married early but being betrothed would add the safety and protection of another family for him. Sano has lost much esteem due to his change in position and the constant battle to line up allies at the court is vital to their survival. Their daughter is now eight. For those who have read the earlier novels, we remember their births and have followed them and Hirata’s children as they have grown.

The tale begins with forty-seven Ronin, masterless samurai, sneaking into a daimyo’s residence, killing many of his retainers and then cornering and beheading the master who is non other than the Shogun’s Master of Ceremonies.

Sano is dispatched immediately to search for them and strangely enough is able within a few hours to trace them to one of the largest temples in Edo, the capital city of Japan. They give him no resistance and claim they are awaiting orders. According to Bushido, the Way of the Samurai, it was their duty to avenge the death of their master which occurred nearly two years before. It is also their duty to then commit sepuku, ritual suicide.

The investigation begins as to why they have not done this. Who’s orders are they waiting for? Is there a plot against others involved? Is the Shogun threatened? Will Sano be able to regain his position and the respect of his peers and the Shogun’s good graces?

While these events must be unravelled Hirata, Sano’s chief retainer, is still looking over his shoulder trying to discover the person with a super-strong aura who has been following him now for a long time. He is distracted by fears an attack upon himself or his family. Although he has become the most renowned martial artist in Edo he still doubts whether he is strong enough to battle such a strong adversary. While assisting Sano, he must keep an eye out for the expected confrontation for which secret clues are being left around the city.

Another page-turner from Laura Joh Rowland who knows her Japanese history very well. She is able to make the times and the people come alive in our minds. Her descriptive skills help us to draw pictures of what life must have been like in that time. These stories only make the reader want to learn more.

Your final loophole

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Don’t think for a second that the taxman can’t find you in the afterlife.

By Andrew Wong | From MoneySense Magazine, December 2002

There are two things in life you can count on — death and taxes. You can also count on dreading both of them, especially when they join forces. You know the effect that kryptonite has on Superman? The death-and-taxes duo is known to wreak similar injury upon even the most carefully guarded personal finances.

Fortunately, there are some strategies that you can use to keep as much of your estate as possible out of Canada Customs and Revenue Agency coffers. Because these strategies can vary depending on the size of your estate, what I’ve assembled here is, by necessity, not a comprehensive guide, but it is a good start. For ideas that suit your specific situation, consult with your own accountant or lawyer.

Let’s start by imagining a typical situation for a middle-class Canadian. Let’s say that you leave behind a bank account worth $5,000; various investments worth $50,000; an RRSP or RRIF of $200,000; and a $100,000 life insurance policy payout. What can you do to protect your assets from taxation?

First the bad news. Your investments outside your RRSP will get hammered, because there’s nothing you can do to shelter them. (Selling the investments before you die won’t work, because you’d just end up paying the inevitable taxes sooner.) For tax purposes, investments are considered “sold” upon your death and your executor must report the capital gains, if any, on your final tax return. Just as in life, 50% of the gains are subject to tax at your marginal tax rate. That means if your investments have grown by $10,000 at the time of your death, and you’re in the 47% bracket, your estate must pay out $2,350 in capital gains tax (50% of $10,000 is $5,000, x 47% = $2,350).

Now for the good news. You don’t need to stress about the bank account or life insurance policy you leave behind, since neither is taxable. And if you’re married, it’s easy to ensure that your registered retirement savings are safe, too, at least for the time being. Simply name your spouse as the beneficiary, either right in the RRSP or RRIF documents, or in your will. That way, taxes remain deferred until your spouse decides to cash out, and even then only the amounts withdrawn each year are taxed, year by year.

If you don’t designate a beneficiary, however, the situation isn’t nearly as pretty. The total value of your RRSP or RRIF will be taxed as income, in one giant lump sum. Translation: prepare to lose $94,000 off the value of your retirement savings in a single shot, assuming you’re in the 47% tax bracket.

Protecting your RRSP or RRIF isn’t the only reason to have a will drawn up. With the help of a good lawyer, a will can be a powerful tax-saving tool. Again, the possibilities depend on the size of your estate and who your beneficiaries are, so talk to a professional when you’re ready. For everyone, having a will lets you control how your assets are divvied up, and if you don’t have one, your provincial or territorial government gets to decide who inherits what. That’s a frightening thought, especially for people who want to ensure their dependents and other loved ones are cared for after they’re gone.

Once you’ve taken these steps, it’s up to your executor — the person you appoint to look after your finances when you die — to keep the taxes to a minimum. Since you can’t coach your executor from beyond the grave, sit down and have a serious chat now, using the tips I’ve laid out below as crib notes. But be nice, OK? Being an executor is hard work, and the person you choose may have to file three separate tax returns on your behalf.

The first of these is called the “final return,” for obvious reasons. In format, it’s no different from your regular annual tax return, except you’re not the one stuck doing it. The CCRA must receive your final return by April 30 or six months after the date of death, whichever comes later.

There are several opportunities for tax savings on the final return — provided your executor knows about them. For starters, many people assume that because you cannot claim a net capital loss against other income in life, you can’t in death, either — a common mistake. In fact, on a final return you can deduct net capital losses, minus any capital gains deductions you claimed in the past, against other income. This figure, which should be recorded as a negative amount on line 127 of your return, will reduce your taxable income and, in turn, the amount of taxes you owe.

Your tax bill will be even smaller if the second of your posthumous tax returns, the T3 “estate return” shows a capital loss in the first year after your death. Normally, an executor will sell the assets and investments in your estate to pay funeral expenses, cover taxes on the final return, and distribute cash amounts to your beneficiaries. The sale will result in a capital gain or loss. In death, gains are taxed the same as they are in life. If you have a loss, however, it’s time to break out the boneyard bubbly and celebrate, because although the loss cannot be used to reduce any income earned by the estate (such as interest payments, rental income, etc.), it can be transferred to your final return, where it will reduce your overall income and taxes.

The third tax return that your executor may file on your behalf is called, curiously, a “rights and things” return. Again, it’s the same as a normal annual tax return, except your executor writes “Rights and Things” on the front. This is the place where unused vacation leave paid after your death as well as matured, uncashed bond coupons, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments for the month of your death, and declared but unpaid dividends are reported. If these amounts are small, they may simply be reported on your final return. However, filing return No. 3 is often worth the trouble, because it presents your estate with an opportunity to split income by using the graduated tax rates twice. Here’s what I mean. The more you earn, the more you pay — that’s the dread of our graduated tax system which taxes higher incomes at progressively higher rates. If your “rights and things” income is $3,000, and the income is filed on a separate “Rights and Things” return, it will be taxed at the lowest rate (about 25%, or $750 in this case). If you had left it on the final return, it would have been taxed at your 47% rate, or $1,410, assuming that’s your marginal tax rate. That’s not a bad saving to leave your heirs.

So You Want to Write a Blog

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

By Sue Ricketts

Many of my readers have asked for tips about writing a blog. This is my third year producing a weekly newsletter. I have found it very rewarding for me and from the comments received others have too. After receiving another request for suggestions, I am finally putting things down on paper.

Pick Your Theme(s)

Think seriously about what you want to write about and how often you will produce fresh material. I chose to provide three items each week.

An article – usually written by myself in order to challenge myself to keep on doing what I enjoy: writing.
A Book Review – this way I challenge myself to read a book a week which helps me to broaden my thinking, expand my mind, improve my own writing style and stop me vegetating in front of the TV set.
A Financial Tip – since my day job involves individual financial planning, insurance and investment sales, I like to share my knowledge with my reading audience.

This way I know what I need to produce. I’m on the lookout during the week for news, articles and information which I can use to entertain and discuss with my audience.

Create a Format

If your doing a newsletter you can pick up many “canned” versions online at places like WordPress.com and MailChimp.com. You may want to be original though and if you don’t have experience designing a blog-page (a place to store your writings which matches the theme of your newsletter) then seriously consider hiring someone to do the job. You want to be a blogger – not spend months learning how to create a theme. It will cost you somewhere between $100 – $200 but be well worth it if you want to become original, respected and read. Make sure that you allow for comments and a few new topics as you grow in experience. You may not always want to do the same thing forever. Whatever you decide, make sure that you start with something which you know a lot about. If you’re not an expert on a particular topic you will find yourself borrowing all your content from someone else. Not only are you open to plagiarism (stealing original material) but your not adding anything new to the universe of writing. Copying and pasting is not original work and will not make you stand out in any way. Think carefully about why you want to become a blogger if that’s all you intend to do.

Find an Audience

Never, ever use a purchased list and never send your material without asking first if they want to receive your creations. Most people have friends on Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In. Start by sending a polite request to ask if they would be interested in receiving your output. List the newsletter or blog on your business card and pass it out when you meet new people. Invite them to try for a while to see if they enjoy your ramblings.

On your newsletter and content page make sure to tell readers how to sign on to receive regularly and also how to sign off when they don’t. And here’s something for you, don’t get offended if people opt out of your blog. It’s Okay. They may have moved, got a new job, or had some serious event occur in their lives which does not give them leisure to read your musings. It may not have a lot to do with you. Don’t get discouraged. Others will come.

Many of your audience will come from recommendations from your readers, others will put you on their RSS feeds so that whenever you publish a new article they will be alerted and will read. The way to know if you are being read is to judge by the comments you receive on any article.

Don’t Just Allow All Comments

You can set your comments section to put all comments into the Spam folder for your review. Periodically read through them and allow the ones which make sense. I don’t judge by favourable or unfavourable, but by suitability. Why would you do this? Well, a lot of comments are from people who are selling something, listing their websites and/or are selling medications and porn sites. You will want to review these and most likely not have them posted on your page. There are also a whole other breed of users who think that if they post 500 comments on your site about themselves it will get them higher up in Google ratings because their name is mentioned a lot of times on the web. These comments have nothing to do with your writings, your site, or anything you are doing. Don’t become an advertising board for lazy people.

I also strongly object to postings which have pornographic or sexually suggestive email addresses and just throw them in the trash and delete. That’s just my preference. When there are fifteen comments from someone who sells hand bags, you know it’s spam. Always screen the comments and be sure they are on point, not repeating the same comment over and over and appropriate to the article they are commenting on.

Guest Authours

When others want to post to your blog, always review it first. Check for grammar and spelling as well as the appropriateness of the article to your theme. Take pride in your blog and be sure that you are in charge of all the content. No matter how well written an article may be, if it doesn’t fit in with your theme, don’t feel obligated to let that article be posted. It is your reputation which will fail if your audience doesn’t like what they see.

If you use others content on your webpage be sure to attribute the article properly to its authour. Just as you would hope that no one would steal your writing and claim it as their own.

Challenge Yourself

There is no point in starting something if you don’t intend to keep it up. In order to earn a faithful readership you need to keep plugging away and not become hit or miss. I like the challenge of creating on a regular basis and take pride in what I produce. I hope this article fits the bill for other would-be bloggers. Comments always welcome.

Plague of Coins (The Judas Chronicles)

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

By Aiden James

Aiden James has always been fascinated by the supernatural and has written many novels about vampires and such things as immortal beings. He lives in Tennessee and when he’s not writing his stories, he spends time investigating haunted places. This interest has brought him some fine ideas and given us some enjoyable reading.

A time-honoured writing plot taken on by some brave authours has moved historical people into another time period and wrapped them in a new existence – time travel. Mr James has taken that step even further.

The novel introduces us to one William Barrow. A seemingly nondescript, thirtyish researcher at the Smithsonian Institute who seems to have a few secrets. The first one is that he occasionally works with the CIA on investigations around the world. The second is that his sixty-one year old father is really his son. The third is that he is in reality none other than Judas Iscariot. Yes, that Judas Iscariot.

And the fourth? It seems that God has a sense of humour. Because he betrayed his best friend Jesus long ago he is condemned to live until he can collect all of the 30 pieces of silver which he was paid for the betrayal. After the events on Gethsemane in Jerusalem he threw the coins away and tried to hang himself. It didn’t work but he was separated from the money. He has spent many lifetimes trying to find them again and has succeeded in collecting 22 when the book opens.

His research tells him that there may be another coin in the Alborz Mountains of Iran. When he books a flight for himself and his son, he suddenly is confronted by representatives from the CIA who have a mission for him in the exact area.

The book tells an action-filled story of how they try to accomplish both the mission and retrieve the coin. A page-turner from start to finish. It is an interesting device to try to make us sympathetic to someone who has been so reviled throughout history. See if it works on you. While looking up the authours website, I noted that he has 3 new novels coming out in 2012. Since this is marked as Book #1 of the Judas Chronicles I suspect there will be more.

In Her Name: First Contact

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

By Michael R Hicks

For those of you who have read either the first three novels In Her Name: Empire, Confederation and Final Battle or the Omnibus edition which told the story of the conclusion of mankind’s 100 year war with the first sentient alien species to be contacted, you will be thrilled to know that the authour has penned a prequel which tells the story of the first contact and the first battle fought between humans and a race who live only for the thrill of killing and dieing in battle by using their wits and only the most basic tools of knives, swords, whips, throwing stars, their bodies, etc.

It took a while for Earthlings to understand that the only acceptable response was to fight back with every once of strength and courage they could find within themselves. The only alternative was the slaughter of every man, woman and child anywhere in the Universe. The race which they came to call the Kreelans, although technologically millenia ahead of their opponent’s, always refused to use their superiority and fought and died equally as often as their opponents.

The Kreelans live to feel and hear the Bloodsong coursing through themselves which allows them to bring Honour and Glory to their Empress. This is how it has been for hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of years. From birth Kreelans are sent into the arenas of the worlds around their ten thousand suns to learn how to fight using every form of personal contact warfare possible. Over their history they have completely wiped out many races never finding one sufficiently able to challenge the supremacy of the Kreelan Way.

The Kreelans can do this because they can feel and hear the voices of every member of their race whether living or dead. They know beyond doubt that if they bring Honour and Glory to the Empress during their lifetime they will live on with all of their kind throughout eternity. Humanity does not have that comforting assurance and thus clings to life as their one and only existence.

These books are a thought provoking tale to make us wonder how we might react when faced with such a choice. Would you be a pacifist? Or a fighter for your right to live? Would you sacrifice so that others might carry on?