Sheila Brooks from DigitalEdgeMarketing.org emailed and asked if her team could collaborate with me on a post about mental health and well-being. She let me pick the topic. My choice . . . Protecting Teens from Social Media Health Risks. I’m glad I took a chance on Sheila. Her team came up with some great tips for you and me. Living in this constantly budding era of new media technologies and information overload can be challenging to navigate, especially if you are a parent to a teenager. With the rise of social media networks over the past decade, it’s important to stay aware of how these websites and apps operate in order to keep your children safe online. Teaching yourself and your teen how to engage in proper online social etiquette can help prevent negative experiences on the internet, and can even improve real-life communication as well. Tip #1: Peer Pressure Awareness: While there is a lot of funny and educational content available for engagement on social media, unfortunately, there are also corners of these websites that lean toward participating in unsavory and unhealthy behaviors. Videos and posts that encourage or celebrate teen drug abuse, bullying, and romanticizing unhealthy coping mechanisms flourish online, especially on youth-centric social media sites like TikTok. If your teen is thinking of making a social media account, be sure to sit down with them and discuss the realities surrounding peer pressure. When you encourage your teen to appreciate their unique selves, they can feel more secure in themselves and their own online presence. Part 2 – Teach Your Teen About Algorithms As social media websites have continued to develop and change since their inception, so have the ways that content is displayed on these networks. In the early days of sites like YouTube and Facebook, the most recent posts from accounts you were friends with or subscribed to were shown on your personal homepage first. Nowadays, most social media sites rely on targeted algorithms that push “stickier” forms of content to the top, which typically leads to posts with inflammatory subject matter. Teaching your teenager about the way that these algorithms operate will help them see those patterns in action on their social media homepages. Hopefully, by knowing that the algorithm is fishing for engagement, your child can make better choices about which posts to interact with, and which ones to ignore. Part 3 - Setting App Timers Because of how easily accessible the internet is nowadays, sometimes the biggest social media health risk is not the content itself, but the amount of time spent on the apps in general. Spending multiple hours a day on social media can cause physical conditions like eye strain and interrupted sleep schedules, potentially affecting school and mental health. These apps are highly addicting, especially for developing minds, and setting timers on mobile/personal devices can be helpful in curbing the overuse of social media. Talk to your child about how much time they want to spend on social media, and find a happy medium between your expectations about online time and their desire to stay connected. Modern parenting means staying updated on what can enter your child’s life experience, especially in the unfiltered online world. Finding a balance between setting clear boundaries and letting your teen experience social media on their own can be challenging, yet highly rewarding for you and your child in the long run.
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Did you watch college football on Saturday? I did! The Buckeyes were playing so I had to watch. I also had to shop, especially after that first quarter . . . YIKES! It’s how I help my team 😊 Did you catch the commercials during the game? I didn’t know, until I started working on this post, that there’s a new set of commercials to promote the Big 10. If I saw their commercial once, I saw it two dozen times. I didn’t mind . . . it made my toes tap every single time. And it brought back memories of my days as an OSU student in the Shoe. Funny, I discovered I love the commercial, and I only like the song. There’s a difference . . . Hmmmm . . . Part 1 – The Fall Out Boys: I’ve heard of them, but they’re not one of my favorite groups. I looked them up this weekend . . . actuallly I looked up the song title. You can too. If you want to hear the Fall Out Boy’s video, look for a link with Shazam on the end. Sorry, I can’t share the link. It’s probably copyrighted which means Shazam would want money if I shared it. But, I can share the screenshot . . . that’s free. If you play this video, don’t expect the football commercial. The Shazam video doesn’t even come close, but look for the one that’s linked to football, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. (I’ll show you how to find it tomorrow) Part 2 – The Commercial vs The Music Video: This was the last screenshot I captured. . . it’s the one for the commercial. I googled ‘here comes Saturday night commercial.’ When I checked tonight, I found two more versions. Scan down the page to find them. Why is the commercial better? It’s shorter, like 30 seconds, a minute tops. It showcases the chorus, the part that repeats. Add in a video, and you’ve got a hit that features the best things about Big 10 College Football like . . The Players . . . The Cheerleaders . . . The Marching Bands . . . My photos are flat, but the commercial lives and moves. Every time I hear it, my toes tap, and I celebrate the BIG 10! If you don’t know what colleges make up the Big 10, take a look below. Did you notice there’s more than ten teams? Now, there’s fourteen! Here comes Saturday Night and the Big 10!
PS –There’s more!! Coming in 2024, four more teams. . . USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington! Finished 8/30 I bought this book back in 2011, and I’m still fascinated by the way Nell Gavin wove it together. I didn’t know it was her first book, but it’s a unique story that I could never write. It begins with the death of Anne Boleyn. Then it takes a step I’ve never seen another historical book take. It sends Anne to the afterlife where she must examine her choices across time, then choose her next one. I still don’t know after rereading it so many times, if this is a reincarnation story or one of purgatory. A spirit/guide helps Anne examine each life. Her job – to determine what she did well and where she fell short. She sees patterns through time – her mouth, her dislike of baby girls, her love of Henry, and after her last life as Anne Boleyn, her fear and anger with Henry. Another pattern she finds across lives – the same people appear – Henry, Catherine, Princess Mary, and Henry Percy to name a few. The ending leaves me wondering in their latest reincarnation in 1970, if Anne and Henry can finally resolve their issues, or if they’ll have to return and try again. Don’t forget to read the back matter. This book may be totally fiction, but Nell researched the characters of Henry and Anne in depth during the Tudor period, and she also researched the other time periods she put them in. THIS is a remarkable book. Amazon’s Description: Threads, a reincarnation fantasy, opens with the death of Anne Boleyn (second wife of Henry VIII), whose execution appears upon first sight to have resulted from her inability to produce a son for the king. As Anne reviews her life, and several previous lifetimes, she learns about the true depth of her relationship with Henry VIII. Furthermore, she learns that she has been given a hard task: to forgive him. William Faulkner Competition finalist for best novel. Finished 8/15 This is the 3rd in a series of books. The best part – getting to meet a different part of the real Jane Austen in each one. In the 1st one I met a young Jane. She’d imagined and written in the real church records three married names. The third one becomes a lost love in this new novel. It’s used to explain why Jane stopped writing from 1801-1804, and later it explains the idea behind Persuasion. It makes for a great story, and it fits the private side of Jane. She really asked her sister to destroy letters/manuscripts after her death. Maybe, some of them were written from 1801-1804. In the 2nd one I met an older Jane. This novel was about sisters – her real one Cassandra, and the ones she wrote about, like the Dashwood sisters. The 2nd novel added a modern pair of sisters who connect them altogether. As a writer, there’s always a piece of me in each story, and I was fascinated to find this piece of the real Jane in Sense and Sensibility. And the final book, we discover the first draft of Pride and Prejudice. Imagine finding something like that – incredible! But it might also take something away from the real final story. I discovered Jane did have a real first draft that was titled First Impressions. It was written sometime after she met Tom Lefroy. Much of this novel revolves around that first draft. I can’t imagine writing a first draft or any other version of a Jane Austen story, but by following Claire Prescott through this novel, I got a sense of how the real Jane Austen might have changed over time, and how that first draft grew into Pride and Prejudice. Amazon’s Description: Claire Prescott is a sensible woman who believes in facts and figures, not fairy tales. But when she agrees to present a paper to a summer symposium at Oxford on her ailing sister's behalf, Claire finds herself thrown into an adventure with a gaggle of Jane Austen-loving women all on the lookout for their Mr. Darcy. Claire isn't looking for Mr. Anyone. She's been dating Neil -- a nice if a bit negligent -- sports fanatic. But when a tall, dark and dashing stranger crosses her path, will the staid Claire suddenly discover her inner romantic heroine? Her chance meeting with a mysterious woman who claims to have an early version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice -- in which Lizzie ends up with someone other than Fitzwilliam Darcy -- leads to an astounding discovery about the venerated author's own struggle to find the right hero for Lizzie Bennett. Neil's unexpected arrival in Oxford complicates Claire's journey to finding her own romantic lead. Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart is the story of a woman who finds that love isn't logical and that a true hero can appear in the most unexpected of places. Finished 7/31 This is the 2nd book in this series. I bought it back in February of 2012. I liked it, but I didn’t love it . . . so I never looked for book 3 until I started rereading the series this summer. This time, I’m surprised. I like this book a lot more than the other times I read it. Why? I’ll try to figure it out as I write tonight’s post. This story takes up after the first one. Mrs. Parrot and the Formidables are back. Ellen and Mimi Dodge are the new main characters. They travel to England to fulfill their mother’s will. Their job, to take a walking Austen tour of England and find the right spot for their mother’s ashes. SHE was a HUGE Austen fan. Their mother also sends Ellen a package. She’s the older sister, the responsible one like Elinor, the big sister in Sense and Sensibility. Inside the package – ready – Cassandra Austen’s journal! Can you imagine?! The best part – the 1st line says this is Cassandra’s private journal. To be read only by Cassandra. Then the journal says . . . That means you, Jane! That sounds right, like how a pair of sisters should sound. And the younger sister, Mimi, she takes on the role of Marianne in this version, and I think that’s what caught my attention this time – the interplay of the original book, the modern sisters, and the Austen girls. Along the way, I got to know Jane and Cassandra Austen as real people, and I also learned how their relationship affected Jane’s writing. It turns out some things about sisters are universal, no matter the century. That’s what made me buy book 3, and it has Mr. Darcy in the title. I had to read it, even though this version is a paperback, not an eBook, and I’m a Kindle kind of reader! Amazon’s Description: Following Jane Austen Ruined My Life and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart, Beth Pattillo returns with her new novel. Inspired by Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwood Sisters Tell All follows two modern-day sisters as they set out on a walking tour of Jane Austen's England and uncover what might actually be Jane's long-lost diary. Ellen and Mimi Dodge have never been close, but their mother's dying wish sends them on a walking tour of Hampshire, England, that follows in the footsteps of Jane Austen. Their mother also left them something else: a diary that belonged to Jane's sister Cassandra. These pages shed light on the secrets that nearly tore the Austen sisters apart and inspired one of the greatest love stories of all time. They also bring Jane to life in a way that no one has ever seen before: through the eyes of her sister. As the Dodge sisters embark on their walking tour, they too are drawn together in ways they never expected. They also discover that Cassandra's diary holds secrets, and someone doesn't want Ellen and Mimi to discover the truth. As they stumble on their way toward love, the women learn how Jane and Cassandra Austen inspired the original Marianne and Elinor Dashwood and come to realize that despite their very different personalities, they are a vital part of each other's happy endings. Finished 7/14 I bought this book back in 2010 because it caught my attention, and it kept it . . . I reread it every couple of years. Emma Grant was betrayed by her husband, and by Jane Austen. Now she’s out to get her life back by tracking down Jane’s letters. They’d been hidden away by the Formidables. BTW – that’s the nickname Jane and Cassandra were given by their siblings, nieces, and nephews. Lucky us! We’ll travel with Emma to the places where the real Jane lived – her father’s vicarage at Steventon, London, Bath, Chawton Cottage, and Lyme Regis. At each destination, the current Formidables handed Emma a task that gave a fictional twist to Jane’s life. Along the way I got to know the real Jane through Emma’s eyes, but the trip to Chawton changed mine. Jane sat at a simple table with her writing desk. That’s where she wrote, edited, and revised all her novels. It sat between the family dining room and sitting room. I decided then and there that if Jane could write in the midst of her family, I could to, and I still do. Amazon’s Description: English professor Emma Grant has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should -- a respectable marriage, a teaching job at a good college, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author Jane Austen might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions a la Austen are exposed for the foolish dreams they are. Denied tenure in the wake of the scandal and left penniless by the ensuing divorce, Emma packs up what few worldly possessions she has left and heads to England on a quest to find the missing letters of Jane Austen. Locating the elusive letters, however, isn't as straightforward as Emma hoped. The owner of the letters proves coy about her prize possessions, sending Emma on a series of Austen-related tasks that bring her closer and closer to the truth, but the sudden reappearance of Emma's first love makes everything more complicated. In the end, Emma learns that doing the right thing has very little to do with other people's expectations and everything to do with her own beliefs. Laced with fictional excerpts from the missing letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who uncovers the deeper meaning of loyalty. Finished 6/30 I loved the first book, and when I found out there was a sequel, I HAD to buy it. I love parts of the new one, but I didn’t quite love it all. Something just didn’t work. I think the beginning and the middle are a little off, for me. My guess why – it’s when two other characters take the lead. They worked in the first book, but they didn’t this time. Caitlin’s husband Thane pops in to tell the story. I think his part could have been written differently, to keep the action/plot with Caitlin. She is the star of the story. The other character is the villain, Pamela. She tried to kill Caitlin off in the first book, and she’s hatching a plot in this one too. It totally works at the end. Thane’s part does too. But before that, they stopped me, and I had to push myself back into the story. Nothing’s worse for a reader! I wish Pamela had been injected in, in a different way. What I did love, a lot . . . this story takes place after the happily ever after, which wasn’t quite so happy. Caitlin didn’t become the perfect wife or countess. She even believed her husband wanted to take their toddler, so she took him first and ran. Her next problem – to hide, so that her rich, well-connected husband couldn’t find her. Caitlin’s solution – to get a job at a haunted castle. The owner – a necromancer. I guessed what he was, but I looked it up, to be sure. The earl is a sorcerer. He can communicate and command the dead. He summons their spirits, then won’t let them go. The worst part – his wife died giving birth, and he’s trying to bring her back, when he should have let her go. The other worst part – he won’t acknowledge his own son for reasons you’ll have to read for yourself. I may not have loved the beginning or the middle, but the author stuck the ending. Stay with her when Thane and Pamela interrupt the story. It’s worth the ‘fireworks’ of this ending. Really! Amazon’s Description: The long awaited sequel to For Sale: Old Manor House (free ghosts included) tells what happens to the newbie countess, Caitlin McLeod Edmunds, when life tosses a serious glitch into her plans for a 'happy ever after' ending. With bank accounts and credit cards frozen by her furious husband, the Earl of Eastwythe, she is forced to look for anything that might support her tiny troop of runaways that includes her toddler, Colin and long time friend, Margaret. Desperation has them answering an advert in the London Times, asking for live-in staff at Moorcrest Manor, the most haunted manor house in all of England and the family seat of the Earl of Dunwellen, who is reportedly in league with Satan. Equipped with her previous ghost hunting skills and believing in her spirit protectors, Caitlin talks Margaret into giving it a try. Finished 6/16 I bought this book back in July 2011. I’ve read it a couple times since then. I love a good ghost story, and this one is great. It reminds me of Ghostbusters, only from the Midwest, not New York City. Kaitlyn sees ghosts so she starts a ghost busting business with her two best friends. Moira is a Goth girl, and Wendell is into anything electronic. His specialty – inventing gadgets that can find and record ghosts. Their business is pro bono, and they can prove whether your house is haunted or not. Usually it’s not, but if it is, they’ll help the ghosts – to move on, find peace, or if necessary, they’ll help you make a quick get-away! The plot reaches light-speed when the ghostbusters get an all-expense trip to the United Kingdom. Then, things get interesting. I’m rereading the sequel. Keep your eyes open for that post sometime next week. Amazon’s Description: Gothic collides head-on with 21st century high tech in the isolated Cornish manor house hunkered on the cliffs above the restless sea, where the dead have their own plans for the living, as American paranormal investigator, Caitlin McLeod, is about to find out, when she accepts the assignment of ‘debunking’ a haunting at Mor Alys Manor. Growing up with paranormal entities in all shapes, sizes and species in the Victorian mansion of her eccentric Aunt Penelope Trevelyan, who probably would have been burnt as a witch in another time, Caitlin had been told countless times that she was fated to travel to Cornwall “when the time is right” and find? Her aunt had said it would be love with a happy ending, but Caitlin had her doubts. So far, she hadn’t found any man she was willing to spend more than a few hours with let alone a lifetime. But when she opens the letter from Thane Edmunds requesting her help, she feels a strange, intense pull that shoots a shiver of awareness through her entire being. Deep down, all the way to her toes, she knows the time was finally “right” and destiny had come banging on her door. Caitlin’s knack for ghost hunting had started in her college years, when she founded North East Paranormal Investigative Services, largely to protect her Goth friend and then roommate, Moira Smoot, from her own inept dabblings in the occult…something that had almost cost her more than her life. Since then, rules had been set up to help guard their safety in a setting, where anything could happen. Rules an excited Caitlin seems to forget, when she arrives in Cornwall ahead of her team and disregards NEPIS’ first rule of ghost hunting….”never go in alone”… by driving out to the site for a quick look around before night fall. Expecting a caretaker, she is disappointed to find the dilapidated manor locked up tight and no one there, at least no one living, for she senses more than one pair of ghostly eyes witness her arrival. Circling the outside, listening to the pound of the surf on the rocks below the cliffs, she finds the lock broken on the kitchen door and enters. Looking around the fast darkening, cavernous room, she notices that a cot had been set up in one corner and the swing door to the rest of the manor both padlocked and painted with a crudely drawn red cross. Knowing that can’t be good…knowing she should get her keister out of there, but fast, and head back to the safety of the village, she finds herself battling an inexplicable compulsion to spend the night…and losing. All alone in the dark, she begins to think she may have made a “horror”ble mistake, when she senses not only the usual ghosts and spirits that go ‘bump in the night’, but also the distant presence of Colin, the long dead fifth Earl of Eastwythe, now a restless incubus who plots to ensnare her in his delicious web of dark sexuality, since feeding his lust has been his sole antidote to an eternity he finds both “ducedly boring” and very lonely. But, listening to Caitlin moving about in the kitchen from his attic lair, he feels a twinge of conscience and decides to leave her “unmolested”…at least for the night. And so Caitlin, wrapping herself in the comforting memories of the past…cold…hungry…and more than a little scared, waits out the long, dark night unaware she has been given a short reprieve. One that Colin already regrets. But when Thane Edmunds arrives in the morning, and hears Caitlin knocking out the hinge pins in his kitchen door in order to satisfy yet another compulsion to see the rest of the manor before she leaves for the village, the atmosphere heats up quickly in the old manor. Confronting an angry Thane on the opposite side of the door, Caitlin manages to hold her own somewhat shaky ground, until the door falls inward and she finds herself just inches away from the most ‘beautiful man’ she has ever seen….a dark mix of fallen archangel and pirate…with a very disturbing way about him! Do you recognize this song title? I started another post with that same question. Last time I asked, it was about an Amazon Prime Ad. The song playing in the background, Say a Little Prayer for You. Here’s the link for that post: Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/say-a-little-prayer-for-me Well, it’s back! The commercial, that is. It features the same young couple that broke up. They forgot once again, that they share an Amazon Prime account. The song changed, but the directors picked another one, from the same old songwriting team, Always Something There to Remind Me. Part 1 – Songwriting and a Demo: Do you remember this song? If not, google it, pick an artist, and give it a listen. Or, you could wait for the Amazon ad to come on. Just like the other ad, Amazon picked another song written by the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They decided they needed a demo to sell it to a record company back in 1963. Can you guess who they picked to record it? This is Dionne Warwick in 1966. She was a star! But back in 1962, she wasn’t. She was singing background, and Burt noticed her voice. He asked if she’d be interested in recording demos (demonstration recordings). He needed them to pitch his songs to record labels. He offered her $12.50 per session. In 2022 money that was $120. Dionne took it! I would too! It was a perfect fit for both of them. Dionne got record executives to listen to her voice, and Burt got a singer whose talent allowed him to compose the kind of challenging tunes he wanted to write. Dionne was so good at understanding what Burt wanted, she could usually record a song in 1-3 takes. That’s fast! If a song took 3 minutes to sing, Dionne would knock it out in 3 to 9 minutes. Impressive, AND cost effective for Burtt! And no matter how long it took, Dionne still got her $12.50 per session. Burt and Hal sold the song. It was covered by five other artists from 1963 until 1995. But when I remember it, I hear Dionne’s voice in my head. She has a style all her own. Part 2 – The Five Artists Who Covered This Song: After Dionne recorded the demo for Always Something There to Remind Me, five other artists and their record companies picked it up. I checked. Dionne never had a Top 40 hit with this song. 1. Meet Lou Johnson. His version of Always Something There to Remind Me reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 1964. He sang soul, played piano, and was a recording artist during the 1960s and 70s. 2. Sandie Shaw found the song thanks to Lou. Someone heard his version and sent it to her. She released hers in September of 1964 and got it on a pop music TV show in the United Kingdom. It worked! Sandie took it to #1 in the UK that year. She also released it around the world, and it was a top hit everywhere, except in the United States. Lou Johnson hung onto his #49, and Sandie only made it to #52. 3. The next version didn’t come out until February of 1970. The singer, R. B. Greaves. I’m sorry. I don’t have a photo of him, or of his album, but his version did better than Lou’s or Sandie’s. It reached #27 on the US Top 40 and #3 on the US Easy Listening charts. 4. Fast forward to 1983, and Always Something There to Remind Me appeared again, 20 years after it was written. Peter Byrne and Rob Fisher recorded it in a group of demos that landed them a recording contract. Their name – Naked Eyes. Their version peaked at #8 in the Billboard Hot 100. Pretty good for an old song! 5. The last hit so far, came out in 1995. That’s when Tin Tin Out, an electronic music duo, recorded their version of this old hit. It went to #14 on the UK Singles Chart and #1 on their Dance Chart. That makes this song a classic! Over all those years, with all those artists who recorded their song, do you know who got paid for every single version? The songwriters! Burt Bacharach and Hal David own the copyright to the song, and every time someone records or plays it, Burt and Hal get paid in royalties. That means money! And when Amazon used the song on their commercial, they had to pay too. Burt and Hal are both dead, but their royalties still get paid to their estates and to their families. It pays to be a creator! Photo Sources:
1. Burt in 1972 - By ABC Television - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18250433 2. Burt in 2013 - By Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK - Burt Bacharach, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79102167 3. Hal in 2011 - By Pat Padua - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ppad/5713457890/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29999116 4. Dionne in 1966 – By Anefo - http://proxy.handle.net/10648/aaff1fba-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65537939 5. Lou Johnson - By John E. Reed - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source: http://indeepmusicarchive.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Lou-Johnson-At-the-piano-BW-Pic.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73213794 6. Sandie Shaw - By Pye Records - Discogs, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56938537 7. Naked Eyes - By The single can or could be obtained from its said copyright holders., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10831799 8. Tin Tin Out - By Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu - https://www.discogs.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57077352 Information Source: (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Wikipedia Have you ever checked out my website? I hope so! Unless you visit every day, you’re going to miss something. Algorithms on social media decide what you see, and what you don’t. The only way to be sure you’re reading my posts is to subscribe to my newsletter. It comes out once a week, and it features a brief description and a pair of links for the blog. If you’re interested, click away. If it isn’t your cup of tea, try the next newsletter! Part 1 – Links to My Blogs: The heart image is from the newsletter I’m working on for this week. If you catch this post on social media, you’ll get a head start on everyone else. Its title – What Love Can Do – Inspiring Quotes for You and Me. I found 3 great quotes and the people who thought of them first. My blog link is a great way to take a picture walk through the post, and the video link is a great way to listen while you do other things. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/what-love-can-do-inspiring-quotes-for-you-and-me The vlog link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=615693403939931 The two bat images are from a newsletter I already sent. If you missed it, now you can check out the post. It’s one of my favorites. The title – I Am the Bat Lady, Times 4. Would you believe I’ve had 4 close encounters with bats over the years? Here are my true stories. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/i-am-the-bat-lady-times-four The vlog link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=58517693043825 Part 2 – Links for Great Books: Do you remember the links for What Love can Do – Inspiring Quotes for You and Me? I have two book links from that newsletter to share with you too. The first is a review for Dad’s Camera. It’s a lovely book for families dealing with memory issues. The second I read out loud for Saturday Reads. The title, Bear in Love. If you’ve ever wished for a secret friend, you’ll love this book! Book Review: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-dads-camera Saturday Reads: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=252573211060288 The other post was titled, I am Bat Lady, Times 4, and its newsletter has a pair of book links for you. I reviewed the first, Amara and the Bats, with its bat-loving girl. The second came from Saturday Reads, Beautiful Bats. Funny, I never thought about beauty when I met mine. Book Review: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-amara-and-the-bats Saturday Reads: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=805185557949975 Part 3 – Links to the Future: I don’t write my newsletters right away. It takes time to write, research, and find photos to match the story I want to tell you. Then it takes more time to write a script and prepare a vlog. That’s where I turn a blog post into a video for Sundays. They’re similar, but you read a script out loud differently than you’d read it silently. So I have to write it differently than the original post. It also takes time to find a book to read aloud on Saturday. Then I prepare a quick, short script. There’s more! Time to put all of my links into Pinterest, then into a spreadsheet where I save my most important information. I have to find it later, in case you or I need it. When that’s all done, I’m finally ready to send out that newsletter. This is my post from last week. It’s about the songs that were part of my life, from birth through graduation, and on up to today. I also picked a book to review. Last week it had to be about music, and it had to be a book I love. If I don’t like a book, I don’t review it. This one is about how music can make a difference in a kid’s life. It’s beautiful. I share my links on social media when I finish writing a blog, and when I finish writing a book review. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/my-life-in-songs The book review link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-music-is-a-rainbow I wrote this post over two weeks ago. I found the idea at a baby shower. One of the games had me guessing the baby word in different countries. I added maps to give it more value for my readers, and of course I wanted a book with a baby story. When I looked through my reading journal, I found one about a baby emperor penguin. It’s beautiful, and it’s got so much for kids to learn along the way from the text and from the gorgeous illustrations. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/babies-they-make-the-world-go-round The book review link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-waiting-for-mama You’ll probably see these two posts with a vlog and a Saturday Reads’ book in about a month. Anything good takes time. Their newsletters will come out a week or two after that. If you’re interested in my content, the best/easiest way to find it is to subscribe to my newsletter. I hope you’ll consider a subscription. This post started with a search link that was supposed to find the most popular song on the day you were born. When I finally checked, it stopped working. Bummer! But I didn’t quit. I used the search bar to ask, “What was the #1 song in May of 1959?” It worked! Follow me back in time, and I’ll share the play list of my life. Part 1 – From Birth to Graduation: These three songs were popular in May of 1959. That’s the month I was born. I didn’t recognize the titles, but when I played them, I remembered two – the first and the last. My sympathies to the one in the middle – I didn’t remember it at all. Fast forward to May of 1977. That’s when I graduated from Wapakoneta Senior High, and these were the songs I listened to on the radio. I had to look up two but recognized them right away. My favorites – Don’t Leave Me This Way, Southern Nights, Sir Duke, and I’m Your Boogie Man. They all made my toes tap. Fast forward to May/June of 1981. It was time for another graduation. I’d finished college and graduated from The Ohio State University. I remember every single song, and my favorites have a beat you can dance to – Rapture, Kiss on My List, Morning Train, and Stars on 45 Medley. Part 2 – A Family Affair: My husband and I got married back in June of 1985. It’s hard to believe that we’ll celebrate our fortieth anniversary in two short years. Looking at both rows of songs, most of them weren’t my favorites. Ballads are OK, but I love dance music. I managed to find three oldies and goodies – We are the World, Everybody Wants to Rule the World (No, I never did), and Sussudio. In May of 1987 I was getting ready to become a new mom. One of my all-time favorite songs was I Knew You Were Waiting because I was waiting, to have a baby boy. I also loved Head to Toe and I Wanna Dance with Somebody. They both made my feet tap, but I was too tired to dance. I had a new baby to take care of. My second baby boy arrived in November of 1989. These songs were on the radio, lots of ballads, but I still found two favorites . . . Miss You Much and Blame It on the Rain. There was another song that became an all-time favorite, but it’s not on this screenshot – Nothing’s Going to Stop Us Now by Starship. It’s how I felt about my new baby boy. In March of 1992 I was waiting on a baby girl. No radio in the car . . . I had Disney songs on tape playing for the kids. This screenshot has a lot of ballads, but these three still found their way into my memory – Black or White, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, and I’m Too Sexy (It made me laugh). My only wish – that I had a special song for my daughter. Part 3 – My Pursuit of Writing: In June of 2007 I started writing, all because I held a bat on a mop in Germany. That experience made me start, and it took me two years to finish the bat’s story. I was still teaching all week and writing on the weekends. I knew the songs on this screenshot, but they weren’t my favorites. There were other songs I liked better. I finished that bat story in 2009. It was exciting, but I’d pushed it as far as I could with my friends. I needed to find someone who could tell me what was good, and what to work on. I took it to Highlights in July. There was something there, but I had a lot to learn about how to write a children’s book. I checked out two of these song titles, but it turns out I knew them all from the radio. They were OK, but my favorite from 2009 was not even on the list. The title – Just Dance. It figures a song about dance would be my favorite. In 2019 I published my first book, Neil Armstrong’s Wind Tunnel Dream. I decided to write it in 2018. That’s also when I decided to self-publish. It was the only way I could get my story out in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It’s my bestselling book so far! There was only one song to make it to #1 over the summer of 2019 – Old Town Road. I’d heard of it, but I didn’t recognize the lyrics or the melody. The other song titles were # 1 in the years following 2019. I wish I recognized them too. There’s nothing better than a new baby, unless it’s a grandbaby. I’m blessed, I have three. The newest one arrived on July 30. I’ve been waiting to use this on my blog since I played it at a baby shower last year. It was tricky! I got one or two right. YIKES! Try it yourself and see how you do. First find each country on the map. Then find the baby word that matches it. Good luck! Part 1 – European Babies: Here are five countries. Guess their baby word, then check your answers below the map. Ireland Sweden Finland Italy Spain bebé vauva leanbh bambino bebis And the answers are: In Ireland a baby is called a leanbh. In Irish Gaelic you’d say ‘Lan-iv.’ In Sweden you’ll hold a bebis. In Swedish you’d say ‘BEE-bis.’ In Finland your baby is your vauva. In Finnish you’d say ‘Va-va. In Italy you’ll have a bambina, a girl, or a bambino, a boy. That’s ‘Bam-be-na’ for an Italian girl, and ‘Bam-be-no’ for a boy. In Spain you’ll hold a bebé, In Spanish you’d say ‘Beb-ay.’ If you’d like to check your pronunciation, just google pronounce and your baby word. Look for a sound symbol and click. Part 2 – Babies from Africa and Eastern Europe: Here are five more countries. Two are from Africa, and three are from Eastern Europe. Guess their baby word, then check your answers below the map. One country has two words for baby. Can you guess which one it is, and which baby word is used twice? Africa (2) Eastern Europe (3) Chad Egypt Turkey Croatia Russia mladenets bébé dijete طفل bebek And the answers are: In Chad a baby has two names. In Arabic a baby is called a طفل [tifl]. It sounds like 'tif-lun' to me. In French it’s called a bébé. It sounds like Be-Be. In Egypt you’ll hold a طفل [tifl], like you did in Chad, and it still sounds like ‘tif-lun. In Turkey your baby is your bebek. In Turkish you’d say ‘ba-Bek.’ In Croatia you’ll have a dijete. That’s ‘De-A-day’ in Croatian. In Russia you’ll hold a mladenets, In Russian you’d say ‘mu-la-D- nyetz.’ In Cyrillic it would look like this младенец. If you’d like to check your pronunciation, just google pronounce and your baby word. Look for a sound symbol and click. You can also try the link below. It has languages listed by continent. Some have a sound symbol, and some don’t. If there isn’t one, try googling. Link: Do You Know How to Say Baby in Different Languages Part 3 – Babies from Asia: Here are the last five countries and a map of Asia. Find each country’s baby word, then check your answers below the map. Don’t worry if you can’t read them. There’s only one word I can read, and I bet it’s the one you can too. India Vietnam China Korea Japan 赤ちゃん बच्चा đứa bé 아기 嬰兒 And the answers are: In India a baby is called a बच्चा. I have no idea what that says in Hindi, but it sounds like 'veh-Cha.' In Vietnam, you’ll hold a đứa bé. In Vietnamese you’d say ‘Lu-Bay.’ In China your baby is your 嬰兒. In traditional Chinese you’d say ‘Ping-ye.’ In Korea you’ll have a 아기. In Korea that’s ‘ah-Gee.’ In Japan you’ll hold a 赤ちゃん. In Japanese you’d say ‘ah-kuh-Chan.’ If you’d like to check your pronunciation, try the link below. The languages are listed by continent, and this time I only picked countries with a sound symbol.
Link: Do You Know How to Say Baby in Different Languages? Have you ever read a Jane Austen book, or seen one in a movie? I’ve loved her novels forever, but I never wondered about Jane. Not until I started reading a series of books by Beth Pattillo. That’s when I looked her up on the internet. Part 1 – Four Portraits: The first Jane is the only portrait of her in existence. Her sister Cassandra started it sometime around 1810, but she never finished it. She used pencil and watercolor. It’s small in size, only 4-1/2 inches x 3-1/8 inches, but you’ll find it in the National Portrait Gallery in London. The second Jane is a watercolor done by James Andrews. Can you tell it’s based on Cassandra’s original sketch? It found its way into A Memoir of Jane Austen that was written by their nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh in 1871. Every other portrait of Jane is based on this one, including the one on the Bank of England’s £10 note. Look below. There's another set of portraits. The first one is a silhouette of Cassandra, Jane’s sister and her best friend. The artist is unknown. The second is a painting Cassandra did in 1804. This time she painted a back view of her sister using watercolors. Interesting – Jane allowed her sister to capture her image from the back, but not from the front. Remember the one Cassandra didn’t finish? Part 2 – Jane’s Childhood Home: This set of pictures came from A Memoir of Jane Austen published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, in 1871. Jane’s father was a minister, and this is the parsonage at Steventon where Jane grew up. It’s long gone, but it once sat in a valley surrounded by meadows. The second picture is her father’s church, St. Nicholas in Steventon. Jane attended services from the time she was born in 1775 until her father retired in 1800. You can still visit St. Nicholas, but its name is now Steventon Church. The Move to Bath: When her father retired, he moved the family to Bath. Their new address: 4 Sydney Place. It was 50 miles away from Steventon, but it must have felt a world away for Jane. She grew up in a quiet country village, but Bath was a busy city. It drew people from all over England. They came for the mineral water, and for the high society. When her father died unexpectantly in January of 1805, Jane ended her time in Bath. She, Cassandra, and their mother were left without a home or financial resources of their own. They were dependent on the charity of Jane’s brothers. Part 3 – Her Final Two Homes: These two pictures are from Kent. The first is Godmersham Park, the home of Jane’s brother Edward. He was adopted by a wealthy family as their son and heir. Jane started visiting there in 1798. The last time was in 1813. Godmersham Park was her model for great houses like Pemberley and Rosings Park. The second photo is her last real home, perhaps her favorite. Chawton was a cottage on her brother’s land at Godmersham Park. Edward gifted the cottage to his mother and sisters early in 1809. Jane spent the last eight years of her life there. She did her best writing in the country, first at Steventon and later at Chawton. She was a country girl at heart. Jane wrote of her trips to London in books and letters. If you’d like to visit her in Town, click on this link: Jane Austen Goes To London | Guide London Her Final Home and Resting Place: The next set of pictures are from Winchester. The first is a cottage on 8 College Street. Jane had been sick since early 1816, but she refused to give into it, or to stop writing. Her sister Cassandra and brother Henry brought her here for a cure in May of 1817, but it was already too late. Jane died on July 18, 1817. She was only 41 years old. Today her symptoms would have been diagnosed as Addison’s disease or Hodgkins’s lymphoma. The second photo is of Winchester Cathedral. That’s where Jane Austen is buried, not because she’s a famous author. She’s there as the daughter of a clergyman, and the sister of another. That’s what Jane wanted, a private life. When she died, her name wasn’t on her book covers. She was listed as an anonymous lady, the way she’d requested. If you’d like to learn more about Jane Austen, click on this link: Jane Austen - Wikipedia Winchester Cathedral reminds me of a song from 1966. It’s a little quirky, but fun. Here’s the search link. Click, then look for the video, and give it a listen: winchester cathedral song - Search (bing.com) Do you recognize this song? If you don’t, that’s OK. You’re probably too young 😊 It debuted in 1966 when I was 7. I’m much older now ☹ But you might have heard it over the last couple of weeks in a commercial for Amazon Prime. I didn’t notice the ad part. Sorry! I was busy singing along with one of my favorite songs, and now I can’t find the ad information. It was up yesterday, and gone today. Part 1 – Where the Words Started: I Say a Little Prayer started off as an idea in Hal David’s head. He wrote the lyrics to show what a woman was thinking, knowing her guy was far away fighting the Vietnam War. I had no idea when I heard it in the 60’s. I got the woman part, but I never found the soldier in the song. Not until I started researching this post. It puts a whole new spin on Hal’s words. If you’d like to read his lyrics, click on the google search link below. It’s the only way I can share them with you, and follow copyright rules. Scan down the page. Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin both covered the song, but the way they used the chorus was a little different. Either way, put yourself in that woman’s shoes, and think about someone you love who’s in harm’s way. Hal did, and he used those words in this song. Search link: https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=673&q=say+a+little+prayer+lyrics&cvid=08df26e952c040c7be4b82faff1ed4d7&aqs=edge.0.0l9.9652j0j1&FORM=ANAB01&PC=LCTS A Side Note About Vietnam: This is a map from 1954. The war started in 1955, but the US didn’t get involved until 1960. Fifteen years later we got out. It was 1975. I was a baby when it all started and a sophmore in high school when it ended. My husband was a junior. At age 18 boys had to sign up for the Vietnam draft, and at its high point 40,000 young men were picked for military service each month. I hope a prayer was said for each and every one of them. The draft stopped in 1973 because of the huge anti-war movement, but it returned in a new form in July of 1980. Boys had to sign up for Military Selective Services, but they didn’t go to war. My husband never signed up for either draft, but my two sons did, the 1980 way. Map Source: By User: SnowFire - Own work. Based on File: French Indochina Phan Xich Long.svg., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63532416 Part 2 – Burt Bacharach and His Mixed-Up Signatures: I didn’t know Burt liked to mix-up the time signatures within his music. I never noticed it, but maybe that’s what gives it that distinctive Bacharach sound. The verses in I Say a Little Prayer start with eight beats in 4/4 time, then a ten-beat section (4/4 + 4/4 + 2/4). Then he finishes the verse with that same eight beat pattern again. When you hit the chorus, Burt sets it up in eleven beats (4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4). If you’re a musician, this makes sense. If you’re not, just keep reading, and enjoy the music link down below. A Recording Session: Dionne Warwick was one of Burt and Hal’s favorite singers, and they wrote this song just for her. She was a quick study when it came to recording. Usually, she recorded a song in three takes, but she often did it in one. Not this time. Dionne tried ten times, but Burt was never really happy with it. He thought it sounded rushed, like the tempo was too fast. Maybe it never quite fit the version in his head. They made that recording on April 9, 1966, and it sat on a shelf for over a year, until September 1967. Florence Greenburg from Scepter Records wanted it on his album, The Windows of the World. Disc Jockeys at radio stations around the country heard it, then played it on the air one short month later. It was so popular Scepter released it as a single on the A side, the hit side of a record. They put The Theme from Valley of the Dolls on the B side. Dionne sang that one too, and both songs were super successful for Scepter. And for Dionne, Burt, and Hal too. It's odd that the fast pace Burt disliked, became a million-selling hit for Dionne. That was a gold record back in the 60’s. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. And me, I can still sing the chorus. If you’d like to listen to Dionne’s version, click on my search link. If you scan down the page, you’ll find Aretha Franklin has one too. She recorded it in 1968, and it went to #2. Either way, pick a video, and enjoy! Search Link for the music video: say a little prayer for you dionne warwick - Search (bing.com) Tomorrow – How this song from 1967 became part of my favorite movie scene of all time! Photo Sources for Burt and Hal: Burt in 1972 - By ABC Television - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18250433 Burt in 2013 - By Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK - Burt Bacharach, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79102167 Hal in 2011 - By Pat Padua - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ppad/5713457890/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29999116 Part 3 – One of my Favorite Movie Scenes Ever: It’s in My Best Friend’s Wedding from 1997. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. It’s funny. It stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett, but the surprising part is the movie’s soundtrack. It uses five songs from Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Together those things made the movie into one of the best romantic comedies of the 1990’s and beyond. And that favorite scene – it all starts with some kid who has no idea who Dionne Warwick is. If you’re my age you know she’s a singer, but someone at the rehearsal dinner only remembers her because of the Psychic Friends Network. That’s when Rupert Everett begins singing, and he winds up leading the entire restaurant into a rendition of Say a Little Prayer for You. It’s just plain fun! The first time it surprised me, but now every time I watch it, I replay that scene two or three times. It makes me happy! If you’re curious about the Bacharach/David song list, it includes: I Say a Little Prayer for You Wishin’ and Hopin’ What the World Needs Now I’ll Never Fall in Love Again I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself If you want to watch that scene, use this search link: say a little prayer my best friend's wedding - Search (bing.com) Information Sources Where You Can Learn More: I Say a Little Prayer - Wikipedia My Best Friend's Wedding - Wikipedia The Draft (history.com) Vietnam War - Wikipedia Selective Service Acts | History, Significance, & Facts | Britannica Have you ever felt like quitting? I hadn’t, not until last week. That’s when I got stuck, again. I couldn’t write a single word. I tried for four hours. I went back and forth between two chapters, over and over again. Nothing, so I gave up and called it a night. This isn’t the first time I’ve been stuck in the last couple months, but I never, ever thought of quitting. Till last week. Part 1 – The Idea: I was having another sleepless night. That’s when the thought of quitting started. At first I couldn’t imagine it, but the idea, it wouldn’t leave me alone. Then I thought ,what if. What if I quit? I realized I can give it up, even though I’ve been writing since 2007. That night I came up with a few ideas on how to stop, how to tie up my loose ends. When I gave myself permission, I felt free. Free from stress that night. Free to look at my life and the choices I want to make. And finally free, to go to sleep. Now I’m looking back at last week, matching my three experiences with a quote. I hope it helps you if you’re thinking about quitting. And me, I hope it helps if I’m in this situation again. Quote #1: You have to fail in order to practice being brave. Who said it? Mary Tyler Moore Inspiring Quotes found an interview from 1997 that Mary Tyler Moore did. She also said, “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage.” These are two pictures of Mary. The first is from the Dick Van Dyke Show. It ran for 5 years in the 60’s, and it was one of my favorite TV shows. The second is from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It ran for 7 years during the 70’s, and it was another favorite of mine. I thought Mary was super successful, but I guess even successful people have failures too. Sources: This Photo from 1988: By Photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1471176 Quote #1 : Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes Tomorrow - the next morning - how I felt and my decision Part 2 – And the Result: The next day, I felt lighter. I could quit, if I wanted to, or I could continue on. My choice, so I opened my laptop, and . . . I started writing. It felt wonderful! I wrote past the block in chapter 1, then past the next one in chapter 11. By the end of that day, my first chapter was ready for my critique group, and the second, it needed a little fine-tuning. But it was close! I could write that day, but I left the door to quitting open, just in case. Deciding to write, or not to write gave me a freedom I haven’t had in years. For me. For my writing. Here’s the quote that expresses how I felt. Quote #2: A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living. Who said it? Virginia Wolf Inspiring quotes found these words originated from her ideas about the writers who’d published before her. But they apply to everyone. Virginia too. We’re all human – our ideas grow and change. Learning new things, or learning from mistakes, that’s part of the process. We don’t lose integrity because of it. We gain, in both our personal and professional lives. Part 3 – The Next Obstacle: Remember that second chapter that needed polishing? I worked on it, but there was more to polish than I imagined. I ran into an unexpected obstacle on the last two pages. I had too much information, and it slowed down the story. So I cut and polished, over and over again, but sometimes you have to quit, to get things right in the long run. And that’s what I did. I went outside to read and relax. I didn’t plan to, but it’s what I needed to do. I realized I’d pushed so hard to write/revise a chapter in a week, that I forgot to have fun. Here's the quote that applied to me that day. Quote #3: Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. Who said it? William A. Ward Inspiring Quotes researched and discovered that William was a motivational writer. He wanted to inspire people with words. He believed success could start with one small step, like making a plan, or finding start-up money. The important thing – be patient. His advice – find pride and satisfaction in each small step you take. Part 4 – The Obstacle Revelations: I hit obstacles in two chapters on a Monday, but by Friday I worked my way through them. I was hoping the next two would be obstacle-free. They weren’t, of course. That’s when I realized I’ll be facing them in each and every chapter of this manuscript. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever written. Why? I’m doing more research in each chapter than I’ve ever done before. Then I have to pick the facts that work, that move the story forward. If they don’t, I edit/revise until the plot, characters, and supporting details do. After a week of bouncing off story walls, I wrote my way to the end of them, and to this quote. It helped me figure out how I can manage this story, chapter by chapter. Quote #4: To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first. Who said it? William Shakespeare Inspiring Quotes found this in scene 1 from Henry VIII. The set-up – The Duke of Buckingham is complaining about a character who’s manipulating the king. The Duke of Norfolk warms him to be careful, to control his anger. That didn’t resonate with me, but this part did . . . acting in haste gets you the worst results. Norfolk said, step back. Think, and you’ll see the insights and perspectives that help you choose the right way to go. My conclusions, after a week of struggle: 1. It’s OK to fail. Sometimes you need to stop and make a new plan. 2. Change when you need to. When I get stuck, I should take a break. I need fun and family too. 3. When I get stuck, I should step back. Later I’ll see how to edit and revise. 4. Each chapter feels like I’m climbing some steep hills. I need to write at this story’s speed. Sometimes that’s fast, and the story just flows. Other times it’s slow or no-speed at all. That’s when my ideas need time to develop. PS – I’ll let you know how these conclusions work out. |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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