Starting Summer 2017 with something new feels great!

Artwork titled: First Day of Summer, artist not known to Alicia Rose.

Greetings! I know it has been quite awhile since Autumn 2016 when I last published a blog on this site. A lot has happened during my hiatus! I have many new plans and goals for the rest of 2017. Some will overshoot into 2018. I am figuratively jumping up and down in my chair filled with excitement for all I foresee to be accomplished in the next few days, weeks, months and rest of this year! Very electrifying! 

First, this is what I have achieved since my last WordPress blog:

1. Winter of 2016, I added on my official author’s website Alicia Rose Shares a new page titled Special Offers Just for YOU! The adorable white dog doing healthful Yoga stretches on this particular page is my dog-nephew Sam who lives in Texas. This dog loving Aunt couldn’t resist using this picture of Sam! I love my dog-nephew very much. Earlier this year Sam visited us with my brother-in-law. I loved smothering Sam with affection and lots of pets. Sam enjoyed all the attention he received from my husband and I. We were accused of spoiling Sam “rotten” by my husband’s Texan brother who has a great sense of humor.
2. January 2017, I became a member of Netgalley. This website gave me a Professional Reader badge since I review books professionally. Definitely an honor to receive! On June 6, 2017 I posted my first review on Netgalley.
3. May 2017, I added a new page to Alicia Rose Shares, as a way to introduce my new official primary blog site, Alicia Rose Online. This took me months to get ready for I was using a new site vendor and had to learn their way to set up pages and add content. Changing venues for this project started off a little rocky, but I did meet my set goals for my new primary official author’s blog. Felt wonderful! Love goal setting, helps me stay on track. Highly recommend writing down (as a list) short, medium and long term goals as a way to stay focused.
4. I tried some new online money making opportunities. Some like CashCrate worked out, and I am still participating. Enjoying the extra cash I received. Some of the new business ones I tried January 2017 to May 2017 did not work out for me; my expectations were not met. Two of them became the kind where one feels like they are siphoning money from one’s bank accounts, kept asking for more and more and more. I put a stop to those and managed to get half of what I put into those programs reimbursed. My fault, in two cases I waited too long to quit. Still am a little upset at myself for not watching the calendar as closely as I should have.

Word of advisement: if you feel overwhelmed by a cost of an opportunity, cancel. The majority of opportunities will give you your money back (for trying their program) during the first 30 to 60 days. I stalwartly read the fine print (terms of service) to see how long this probationary period is for reimbursement eases the pain of disappointment.

Fortunately, one of the new tried opportunities introduced me to something I truly needed! A website that could help me with my marketing needs. Yes, even authors need to succumb to online marketing in order to generate book sales. I also needed to market my online published works via HubPages, etc. I was elated for the introduction to GetResponse for this site would also be able to help me create a much needed newsletter and market it online too! Very exciting! My online footprint will be increasing very soon in a more delightful way than I had thought possible. Great to spread one’s wings! Can hardly wait to soar higher than before! Looking forward to being my newsletter’s Editor-in-Chief.

I have, as you undoubtedly have noticed, discontinued some pages for this site. This is due to revamping Alicia Rose at WordPress into my secondary official author’s blog. I will be covering the Author Lifestyle, how much fun it is and share what I am doing as an author online and off. Just like I am doing in this blog. I plan to share a lot of what I learn professionally; seeing this as a fun and helpful share.

The remaining pages on Alicia Rose at WordPress (here) have been updated, as I felt was needed, so some elder content remains while new has been added. The content that was on the pages unpublished from this site, was transferred to Alicia Rose Online. Half was placed on the page Meet Me under my introduction of myself. The rest was put on the page Tips, Ideas, Offers.  I also added a lot of new content on Alicia Rose Online so if you get the chance, please visit my new primary official blog.

Regarding how often I will be blogging on Alicia Rose at WordPress, well that probably will continue to be seasonally (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). If I do get the opportunity to blog more often on this site, I definitely will.

To everyone who reached out to me during my hiatus, it was great to hear from you. Appreciated you checking to see if I was still alive, plus your gifted words of encouragement. Makes writing this blog worthwhile. Truly appreciate all of YOU!

Thank you to all new visitors and those who continue to remain loyal to Alicia Rose at WordPress I began in 2010 (my dear readers) for taking the time out of your busy day to read this blog. I am truly grateful!

Great Summer to everyone! It definitely is the sunny season for barbecues and picnics! First day of Summer (June 21st) this year lands on a Wednesday. Enjoy the longest day in the year!

Alicia Rose

dded a new page to Alicia Rose Shares website title

The unexpected can gift better

Summer 2016 is now coming to a close (Autumn begins Thursday September 22nd this year) so I thought it an excellent time to accomplish my seasonal blogging on Alicia Rose at WordPress. The reason behind my being a seasonal blogger is the amount of time required to do the blogging had to come into consideration. Book manuscripts for future publications and online publishing articles do not write themselves. Writing anything takes time and effort. To all of my readers who have encouraged me to blog more often, a great big thank you for your enthusiasm; very heart-warming.

First, before I get into my usual sharing mode, I want to thank all who have given thumbs up for my videos on my YouTube channel Alicia Rose Shares, followed me on Twitter, befriended me on Facebook, bobbled me on BOBL, became a friend on Wazzub Community, plus my posts on Google+, connected with me on LinkedIn, and continue to support my website Alicia Rose Shares as well as this blog. Your positive feedback gifting support has been very inspirational. The unexpected constructive criticism given has also been an excellent help. Thank you so very much!

To those of you who read the multi-topical articles on my columns KnowABit and HubPages, I heartfelt thank you. Truly wonderful to share my interests and reviews with you. Appreciate you taking the time to read what I have written, truly honored by this.

Quite a stir occurred in my world July 2016. It was most unexpected, did not foresee this event. Examiner.com website was completely transformed into AXS.com a live entertainment venue only site July 15, 2016. My Oklahoma City Health and Happiness Examiner column was on this date unpublished, and my brand of Health and Happiness articles were no longer required by AXS. At first, I was upset by this change for it meant losing something very important to me, but now looking back AXS did me a great favor. This change allowed me to determine what was most important, where my passion truly is, and pursue new goals in my field. It was not the stumble back a step or two kind of change in my writing career.

Foremost, I had become too used to being the Oklahoma City Health and Happiness Examiner. I had been it for so long that the title had become an online identity greater than me being an Author, Columnist and Reviewer. When someone asked me how to find me online, I used to say, “Please search under the Oklahoma City Health and Happiness Examiner, that is my column.” I had a brand other than Alicia Rose. Having multiple brands is not unheard of, but can be confusing to those trying to find your work. It took me 1 3/4 months to sort this out plus update my information on the sites I was active. Learned much along the way in the online world. Fortunately, I made a list preventing any site being overlooked. Now I am easier to “search” and “find.” Just the other day I said, “You can find me through my website Alicia Rose Shares.” A much better method since all I do as an Author, Columnist and Reviewer is listed on my official author site.

That was not the only unexpected change this summer gifted. I also had an upbeat one. How can a work related surprise brighten instead of turn the day glum? Well, this one did when I upgraded my laptop from the unfriendly Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 the minute Microsoft let me know via Microsoft Explorer I could do this. Their free upgrade came with a deadline of August 31, 2016. I did not wait even 5 minutes after reading their invitation to upgrade. This turned out better than expected! Upgrading to Windows 10 did not cost me anything. No Explorer and Google Chrome browser favorites or files were misplaced or lost during the downloading process. Nothing was hard to find after this change. Windows 10 is compatible with earlier versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel (Office packages). Considering I am very attached to my Microsoft Office package, I was ecstatic not to be forced into upgrading. I did have to update the Bluetooth driver for Windows 10 and re-pair my devices, but that went fairly quickly. All in all it was the easiest upgrade of its kind I have ever experienced!

The personal assistant Cortana is amazing! The calendar that works with Cortana has gifted me a better organizational method; very user friendly. If you can upgrade to or get Windows 10 for your PC, my recommendation is do as soon as possible! Windows 10 saves time and is faster than Microsoft Vista, Windows 7, XP and 8.1. My laptop runs a lot smoother now than it did on Windows 8.1. A lot of problems and glitches I was experiencing with 8.1 magically disappeared the minute Windows 10 was up and running!

Microsoft Edge, the browser that comes with Windows 10, is better than Microsoft Explorer. This browser comes with some handy features that Explorer does not have. My favorite is the Web Note. The only thing I miss is no language translator for Microsoft Edge. If I want to translate a web page from a foreign language to English, I have to use Google Chrome, which I kept any way because some sites I publish on are not compatible with Microsoft Edge or Explorer. I do use Edge more than Chrome when I am online, because it is more user friendly. Microsoft Edge is working great for me as I publish this via WordPress. I am very glad WordPress’s website and Edge are compatible!

Nothing like a few summer changes to keep one’s mind sharp and keep life interesting. Can hardly wait for the beautiful orange, yellow and red colors of Autumn as the trees’ leaves change into their new Fall look.

Sunny Afternoon by Milen

 

Have a great rest of summer! Barbecue while you can! Happy Labor Day and Autumn Solstice!

Alicia Rose