Christmas Get It Organized book review: 12 Days of Bookmas / Blogmas

 

Ready to get organized and have a relaxing Christmas? It's not too late! This book will help guide you and provide you with recipes to make it happen!

Kindle

Softcover 

Do you find yourself dreading the Holiday season? Does the word Christmas make you cringe? Christmas…Get It Organized by Deanna Martinez provides easy steps to be ready for the Holiday without all the stress, crowds and expenses. Learn easy ways to stay organized, spend less and have more time to spend with the people you love, doing the things you love. 

Deanna will show you how to make lists, shop ahead of time, have parties, bake treats, create drinks, add new family traditions and much more. Gifts do not have to be things we buy. They can be things we make or time we can give.Put Deanna’s organizing ideas into practice this year and find yourself laughing instead of crying this Christmas. Simply click to purchase and download your copy of Christmas…Get It Organized, now!

What is Blogmas? 

Book release: Picture This

Funny Farm: Why do I love this movie?

Have you ever seen, Funny Farm? It stars Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith and was released in 1988.

Basically, it is about a couple who moves to "the country" so that the husband can write a novel. They have a variety of strange events that occur and make them second guess their decision of moving from the city to the country. The move pushes them apart and then ultimately pulls them back together.

I said all this to say, that for some odd reason, this movie encourages me as a writer. I'm sure we all have certain music, movies, and books that encourage us to do what we do and this is my movie of encouragement.

One of my friends on Instagram proposed a question yesterday, "What songs do you listen to when you write?" To her question, I responded that I will often have, Funny Farm playing in the background, but I prefer to write in silence.

Now it is out...I'm apparently a quirky writer. But aren't we all?

You may be wondering right now... What is the purpose of this post? And to you I say... I have no idea!

Author organization tip: Writing down your ideas 

Christmas Organizing book 

Author Organization Tips: Writing Down Your Book Ideas

Writing down ideas, what is that? I know most of us rely on electronics to keep up with our ideas, schedules, contacts, basically our lives.

Call me old fashioned, but there is something about writing down ideas that help me stay organized. I always have a little notebook that I carry with me so that I can write down any ideas I have while I am out and about, pertaining to the book I am writing or project I am working on.
You never know when an idea will come to you. If you don’t have a notebook handy, by all means, make a note on your phone. But, be sure to transfer the info to your notebook later. Having all of your book information together in one place will benefit you in the long run. You can refer back to it or add on to it as needed.

I buy a new notebook and a colorful pen each time I start writing a new book. Anything I think of relating to that book goes in that notebook. As I stated, it helps me stay organized and keeps me from having to remember all the details. I don’t know about you, but my brain doesn’t always remember all the details! Some days it is all I can do to remember to wear socks that match!

Tips for writing down ideas and staying organized:

• Purchase a notebook (colorful pen optional)
• Carry the notebook with you
• Keep all of your book information in one place
• Keep a special notebook for each book you are writing

This is an article about writing down your book ideas, but as you can see, organization is also important for a writer. They go hand in hand.
Write down your ideas and stay organized!

Christmas organizing book 

Organizing your books

Book organizer: Wordy Writer

To the lady who handed me her dirty tissue...

free Adobe images

Oh, the joys of working at a fitness center! In addition to writing books, copy editing and social media management, I also work part-time at a local gym. It's an easy job, scanning membership tags, doing laundry and some easy data entry. But, the customer service aspect of this job gets me in some way, shape, or form every day.

Take today for example...

When someone walks up to the counter, I automatically extend my hand to take from them either their key tag, car keys or locker key. It is a natural reaction for me to reach out as someone approaches the counter.

I was busy chatting with a colleague as a lady approached. I stopped talking and reached my hand over the counter and this lady proceeded to hand me her dirty tissue! I can't even make this stuff up. First of all, why? Second of all, with all the worry over the big, "virus" going around, why? Thirdly, why?

I realized what was happening just before I touched her snot rag and pulled my hand away with the quickness of Spiderman. I looked at her like she had three heads and her response was, "I didn't see a trash can."

I pointed in the direction of the trash can, which was all of three feet away. I was disgusted! What if I would have touched it?

To the lady who handed me her dirty tissue: Why?

More from Author Deanna Martinez: 

Easy book writing tips

How to stay accountable to writing

My interview: The Average Joe podcast

Christmas Get It Organized is now available!

Hello friends! I have good news! My new book, Christmas...Get It Organized is now available for purchase through Amazon in Kindle and paperback!

Kindle: Christmas...Get It Organized

Paperback: Christmas...Get It Organized

Here is a description of my latest book:

Do you find yourself dreading the Holiday season? Does the word Christmas make you cringe? Christmas…Get It Organized by Deanna Martinez provides easy steps to be ready for the Holiday without all the stress, crowds and expenses.
Learn easy ways to stay organized, spend less and have more time to spend with the people you love, doing the things you love.
Deanna will show you how to make lists, shop ahead of time, have parties, bake treats, create drinks, add new family traditions and much more.
Gifts do not have to be things we buy. They can be things we make or time we can give.
Put Deanna’s organizing ideas into practice this year and find yourself laughing instead of crying this Christmas.

To view and purchase other works written by me: Author: Deanna Martinez

The Publishing Process: 
I have to say that the self publishing process was not a piece of cake. The digital version was easier to publish than the paperback for sure. But, neither were particularly EASY. I'm sure as I publish more books, it will come easier.
Formatting the text was difficult and to be honest, is not exactly how I want it to look. However, after trying and trying to fix it and make my text begin at the top of the pages, I was not successful.

The cover gave me gray hairs!!! I downloaded the cover I created and it would not fit. Finally, I went into the cover creator from Amazon (that I tried to use at the beginning of the process, but to no avail) and got it to work.

Thankfully, I now have a Kindle version AND a paperback version available for your to purchase. This book is filled with easy tips and ideas to help he Holidays go smoothly. Thank you for your support!

Let me help you create the perfect personal planner / organizer...

I am the Queen of organization. Often times it is helpful, like when I need to find something and at work, but to those who are not organized, I look like a freak of nature. I don't care though...I can find my stuff and they can't.


I mentioned in my previous post that I started a YouTube channel about life as an author. Well, you better believe I created a post about crafting your own, specialized personal planner.

Check out my video where I show and tell about planner I have tried before and why they didn't work for me...

Check out my snazzy socks...don't you love them? I have a new fascination with Instagram. I found a company called:  HAPPY SOCKS and I am head over heals for their socks. I will share my pictures after I make my purchase!  

In the mean time, enjoy my socks and my video.

Finally, a personal post!

Last week, I posted a picture of my new writing space...in our new house, from my Instagram account (as you can see in the picture). I have been posting so many interviews, book reviews and other posts having to do with the release of, "When Life Gives You Lemons, Drink Coffee!", that I haven't shared very much about me. Well, that is ALL this post is going to include...what is happening with ME!

Things are going well. We did move into a beautiful new home. I absolutely love it! We all do...even the dog. He is a 90 pound lab and having a considerably large amount of space to roam, stretch out and sleep has made him a happier pup.

I am working at a local gym as the manager as well as a personal trainer. I absolutely love where I work and who I am working for. In addition to my job responsibilities, my boss encourages me to work on my writing. How many people can say that? "Oh, yes, my boss encourages me to work on my personal business while I am at work", probably not very many.

Take a look at the writing within the frame in the picture above.  Here, let me tell you what it says, "The writer is only free when he can tell the reader to go jump in the lake. You want of course to get what you have to say across to him, but whether he likes it or not is no concern of the writer. ~Flannery O'Connor

This is absolutely my favorite writing quote of all time. This lady knew something about being an author. She also knew something about living life. I have come to learn and accept that not everyone is going to like me. Not everyone is going to understand me. And you know what? That is OK. I am me. I like who I am and ultimately that is all that matters. It has taken me years to realize this and come to the point of, "not caring what other people think". People will continue to judge us and talk about us (good and bad). It's life. How we deal with it (or don't deal with it) is what will give us or take away our peace in life. Not sure why I shared all that, but I hope it helps someone!!!

Happy Thursday all!
Be who YOU want to be! Don't live a life that is pleasing to those around you and lose yourself in the process. Take it from me...been there, done that, not doing it again.

Getting organized in 2014

Those who know me know that I am the QUEEN of organization! 2014 is no different for me. I started this amazing new year with a bang! As in, BANG, let's get everything backed up...just in case.

I backed up all of my photos and documents from 2013, not in one place, but two. I also organized all of my files.

I completed the online Punctuation class I started AND got an authors page set up for myself on Facebook. Please take a look and "like" it if you will. Author: Deanna Martinez-Bey

I also updated my LinkedIn profile, Twitter profile and started a new website: Deanna Martinez-Bey (which is just in its beginning stages...but started and published nonetheless).

There are several other projects I have been working on and will share once I have completed them.

I guess you can say I have been productive and I do enjoy being that way. Now, to finish my book.......
(smile)