Marketing a Law Firm | Creating a Referral Network

Before I get started on today's topic - creating a referral network, I wanted to thank all of you so far who have submitted your starting a law firm stories. So far they have all been great, I'm looking forward to posting them, and I appreciate your generosity. Keep them coming!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif



Now, the topic of the day - creating the referral network, or, in a nutshell, how to market a small law firm. A lot of this information was created during a discussion I had today with a guy named Henry. Henry works for RJon Robins, who owns a business called "How to Manage a Small Law Firm. The best way to describe these guys are as business coaches. They help you get your hands around managing a law firm, marketing a law firm, and building a successful law firm. I've talked about his services before (see this post on law firm coaching), but since this information came directly as a result of that conversation, I wanted to mention them again and encourage you to check them out.



Okay, on to the meat of it - building a referral program for your business.



You don't have to be in business long to know that referrals are like gold for law firms. In most cases the people come pre-qualified to sign up with you (they already in some ways know, like, and trust you) and are excited to gets some help. They typically pay on time and in full (they don't want you running to their referral source and chewing them out) and are happy to have your help.



But referrals don't grow on trees. They have to be cultivated. To maximize your referral base, just like everything else, you need to have a system in place to make sure you are cultivating all of those wonderful resources. Here's one system that I've discovered (though I have yet to implement - that was the point of the call) that makes a lot of sense.



To start, you're going to need to make a list of basically everyone you know. This would include former clients, current clients, attorneys, car repairmen, plumbers, family, friends, enemies, competition, everyone. Just make a huge list. Then you are going to go through each person and divide them into three groups.



Before you start dividing up I'd encourage you to put this information in some kind of a spreadsheet so you can keep track of it. The idea is, over time, to move people from one group to another. Just trust me on this - use a computer.



Group one we'll call the "Top 20." Though it doesn't necessarily have to be 20 people, and when you start out it won't be 20 people (it might not be any people), these are the people that have given you two or more referrals in the last year. At least that's what makes them top 20 in my business (and as an aside, criminal defense is one of the hardest markets to build a referral base from - the clientele are simply more limited). It may be three or more or it may just be one, depending on your line of work. Bottom line - these are your star referrers.



Group two is called the farm team. These are like the minor leaguers of your referral network. These people have tried to refer you business in the past and it hasn't work out or have referred you business but they haven't cracked into your Top 20. I wouldn't put any time limit on this for when they referred you the potential business.



Group three is simply who you know. They haven't sent you business and aren't in the Top 20. You just know them.



Once you've done that (or before if you want) you should make a list of all of the categories of people that may be potential referral sources to you. This list should be specific. For example, lawyers would not be a good category for me, but family law attorneys and personal injury attorneys probably would (a lot of access to individual clients, etc.). For me, the criminal defense lawyer, the kinds of categories that I came up with were:bar owners; bail bondsman; college students; family law attorneys; bankruptcy attorneys; small business lawyers; personal injury lawyers; union leaders; and employee assistance program managers. It took me ten minutes to come up with this list and there may be more.



Once you've got your categories, go down your list and categorize people. If they don't fall into a category, give them one that describes them well.



Don't look now but you've just put together a pretty legit referral list!



But it doesn't stop there. Now that you've got this list, you're going to want to do one thing immediately - get in touch with your Top 20 and thank them for being a part of your law firm business. Take them to lunch. Let them know you appreciate them. Then in a month or two do it again - put it on the calendar so you don't forget.



After you've done that you're going to use this list to help you market your law firm. The idea is to move the people in the "who you know" category into the "farm team" category and the "farm team" people into the "Top 20" category all the while increasing all of the categories! Sounds easy right? Well it is! You just have to do the work!



Once you've taken out the Top 20 and thanked them for their help, take a look at all of the categories you have. Now, look at the farm team. You know these people are interested in helping you - they've already sent you business. Do any of them have contacts in any of the categories of people that are good referral sources for you (or are they in one of those categories)? They do?! Great, then get an introduction and let them know how you can help them look great by being a great referral source. (Obviously you should do this with the Top 20 too, and for that matter the "who you know" people). Go meet those people and include them in your list.



Believe it or not, you've just created a referral network for yourself. You're welcome.



The hardest part of this, like with everything in life, is getting started and getting it going. It's going to throw you out of your comfort zone a little, but that's okay. That's actually amazing. Give it some effort and the returns will be ridiculously high.



Now, for one final thought, the last thing we talked about in our conversation, and something to think about when you are marketing a law firm, are the 6 strategies for successful marketing of a service business, in order of importance:

1. Contact and follow up with past, current, and prospective clients;



2. Network and referral building;



3. Public speaking (live, webinars, podcasts, etc.);



4. Writing and publicity;



5. Promotional events (sponsoring stuff); and



6. Advertising.

As you might expect, absent some very special circumstances, the return on investment drops off dramatically after number 3.



Hope you enjoyed the post and learned a little bit about law firm management. I'll put up someone's story tomorrow and comment. See you tomorrow!

Keep plugging

Dear Readers,

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m performing the How To Write Badly Well live show at three different festivals in the UK:

Sat 2nd July, 8pm – The Page is Printed Literature Festival at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre in Taunton.

Mon 11th July, 7:30pm – Poetry Café at the Frome Festival (also, I’ll be on the panel for Writers’ Question Time on Sun 10th, 2pm at Frome Library).

Sat 16th July, 5pm – The Literary Salon at Latitude Festival (I’ll also be compering over in the Poetry Arena all weekend – come and say hello).

I realise this is only geographically relevant to around 15% of you, but if any of our American or Australian friends would like to hop on a plane and come along, I’ll buy you a drink when I see you.

As always, the show is available in its entirety on YouTube for those of you too lazy and/or foreign to come along and see it.

All the best,

Joel

Explain how clever you are

I was perambulating unassumingly along the boulevard (this being the correct term for the particular, almost arbour-like (although not, it must be pointed out, arbouresque), thoroughfare upon which I was located) on a solstitial morning in June (I mention the precise month only because I fear my peracute polyonymy might bamboozle you by dint of sheer perspicuity) when I happened upon (or, indeed, happened to happen upon, depending on the degree of predestination or otherwise your own philosophy, dear reader, allows you to countenance) a particularly dentigerous (which is to say, imbued with a denticulated maw of considerable significance) specimen of Canis Lupus Familiaris (of the order Carnivora, the class Mammalia, the phylum Chordata and, as I am sure you have ascertained by this point, the kingdom Animalia). This, as you will shortly realise, was a chance happening (again, the question of fate in this scenario is, as you might put it, “up for grabs”) imbued with a not inconsiderable semiological heft. For now, though, do not overtax yourself with interpretive endeavours, dear reader; all (inasmuch as such a term can be applied to the, I’m sure you can find no way to adequately deny, infinitely fractured world in which we reside) shall be revealed.

Four Levels of Learning--From Unconscious Incompetence to Unconscious Competence

I am sharing a post I wrote last summer, because my Madeline Island retreat is coming up again in July, and I remembered this wonderful experience we had there. If you're interested in learning more about the retreat, click here. One spot just opened up for the July 18-22 retreat and four spots are still open for the July 25-29 retreat this year.  Writers who went there last summer still write me about how their books suddenly came together, just from the supportive community and great atmosphere of the retreat.  It's hosted by Madeline Island School of the Arts, which provides lodging and most of the meals.  Our classroom is large and airy, there's plenty of writing time, and you get feedback for your work.  Feel free to join me--it's truly an amazing week.

At my book-writing retreat on Madeline Island (Lake Superior) last July, we were joined by a man who summered on the island. He was retired from a very successful sales career and as he was a last-minute addition to the group and hadn't taken my book-writing workshops before, I wondered how he would do.

One sunny morning midweek, the class was struggling with the learning curve of three-act structure. Suddenly Pete raised his hand with something
to share.


There are four levels of learning, he told us, and they are used in sales training. Salespeople have to face a lot of learning curve, plenty of rejection, and still have enough detachment and confidence to make the next day's calls. Pete told us about these four stages and how we were struggling because we were moving from one to the next.

These stages are the brainchild of Abraham Maslow, the renowned American psychologist who was the first to study human potential. I'd studied the stages before but never applied them to the book-writing journey, but they describe it perfectly. They help me every day: recognizing where I am in my learning stage lets me feel less of a failure, less at the mercy of my Inner Critic.

The four stages are: (1) unconscious incompetence, (2) conscious incompetence, (3) conscious competence, and (4) unconscious competence.

Unconscious Incompetence
In the first, unconscious incompetence, the writer doesn't really know how she's doing. Often she's at the very beginning stages of writing and may experience a huge flow of words. To her, they may feel amazing as they emerge, but really she's writing them down to hear herself, to begin to recognize her own creative voice. They are not yet a conversation with a reader, but more the writer talking with herself. This is an oh-so-important stage, because unless we can communicate with our own inner worlds and our own thoughts, we can never communicate with others effectively--our writing will never be authentic.

When I first began writing fiction, for example, the ideas just flowed out. I had plenty, they were easy to access, I wrote like a mad person. This is the realm of the freewrite, the wild writing that is also called stream of consciousness. We have no idea if the writing is good or bad. It doesn't actually enter this stage's equation.

We don't really care; we're just creating and it's beautiful to us.

As I said, unconscious incompetence is a very worthwhile and necessary stage of learning to write. But some never progress beyond it. The key is whether the writer has a nudge inside to begin to include the reader in the conversation. Maybe there's a sense that the writing could serve another, interest or educate or inspire. That's the first step on the bridge to stage two. But it often requires asking for feedback.

Conscious Incompetence
As we ask for feedback on our writing, we enter the second stage of learning, Feedback tells us what's working, yes, but it also shows us what's not quite as wonderful as we imagined.

There's a sinking feeling: We are now conscious of our incompetence.

A writer's ability to cope with this stage, her ability to not get down on herself because she's in it, determine whether she'll go on to the third stage. The trick is in how she deals with the Inner Critic.

In this second stage, the Inner Critic reigns. Oh, does it have a field day. We know we are terrible writers, we know we don't have what it takes to get published, and on and on. Are you listening to this maladjusted voice, this proponent of self-criticism? If you can acknowledge its purpose--it's only trying to make sure you don't get fatally embarrassed, shamed, or hurt for your efforts--and go forward anyway, you begin to learn.

This is often when book writers sign up for classes. How often have I heard "I have all these pages and I have no idea what to do with them"? That's conscious incompetence--the writer is saying, "I know that I don't know, but I want to know." Good. That's a very teachable place to be.

The learning is steep between stages two and three, I find. There's so much that we don't know, so much to absorb about writing. It doesn't seem fair--we speak the language, we majored in English, why can't we manifest a publishable book? Conscious incompetence says, It's OK, I can learn, I'm willing to learn, I'm willing to be a beginner again.

Conscious Competence
It's exciting to reach the third stage. You know what to do to make that chapter sing. You have your checklist and you work it: checking the storyboard, three-act structure, the characters and dialogue, the plot, the main points. It's hard work, all this checking and rechecking, and the checklist is so long! The writing is harder now, because it feels like real work. You long for that first stage, perhaps, when you could freewrite all the time and not worry about whether it was good or not. Now you know it wasn't that great, and your awareness is the burden you carry.

This isn't a fun stage, even though it turns out better writing than any of the other stages so far. It's what my MFA teachers used to call the "slog." We slog through the writing now, not really lifted up by it, not really energized. But, at the end, we have something pretty darn good.

And if we do it enough, it begins to get slightly easier. Maybe the second rewrite goes a bit more smoothly than the first. Maybe, if we're lucky, there's a sense of flow again. That's the sign that we've moved into the fourth stage, unconscious competence.

Unconscious Competence
I love this stage. I crave it, it's what makes me slog through stage three, it's the light at the end of the tunnel, the dessert at the end of the meal. Writing is truly fun again.

Usually, in my book-writing journeys, I reach this stage in final revision. Theme begins to appear organically, I begin to notice the book is speaking with its own voice which is not exactly mine (a thrilling moment), and I find I've added some beauty in places I didn't even remember working on. This is where you put your manuscript down for a few days and when you come back, it's as if someone else wrote it--someone who writes really well!

But it was you. A glorious feeling. Why we writers write.

Where are you, in these four stages? Can you recognize yourself in the stories above? You may be perfectly content with where you are in your writing journey. Some writers enjoy all four stages. But most of us suffer, thinking we're not quite where we should be. It's only when we realize that everyone is on the learning journey that we can relax and accept our place, move forward from it.

In the Madeline Island workshop, Pete helped us all move forward. His simple reminder that they are stages of learning, that they are necessary pathways in the journey toward success--in any arena, not just book-writing--made me grateful for Pete's presence in the class. His lift of hand to share his wisdom that day, gave all of us the lift to a higher perspective.

This Week's Writing Exercise
1. Think about where you are, right now, with your book project. Which stage are you in?

2. Take 20 minutes this week to write about what you need to do to move to the next stage. Maybe it's an internal step--of accepting the stage you're currently in, letting it reside in you and teach you. Maybe it's an external step, an outer action, such as finding a mentor to help you move ahead with a stalled project.

3. Plan one action step--internal or external--and try it.

How to feel better

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. It started from being sad about Atlas departing, but has carried on to a general flatness and loss of interest in things that usually excite me. I also feel a little burnt out and detached from others.

I’ve never had proper depression but from time to time, right back to my teens I have had the occasional bout of mild melancholia. It’s also mid-winter here so that may have something to do with it, even though I normally love the cosiness of winter.

I know it will pass with time, but meanwhile I’ve been doing the following to help it on its way.

Being gentle with myself, not doing too much if I don’t want to. Rather than a whirlwind marathon housework day (which I just don’t have the energy for at the moment) I do the basics and spend some time pottering, sewing, reading and relaxing.

Having early nights – I start winding down about 9pm and am in bed reading well before 10pm lights out. I’ve been sleeping like a log thank goodness. I also find I feel worse in the evening, so it’s nice to wash my face good and early and hop into bed. I think my body needs lots of good, pure rest. One night last week I made noises about heading off to bed. ‘But it’s only 10 past 8!’ my husband said incredulously. That was quite funny. I managed to last until 9.

Not medicating with food and drink, but following my WW propoints guidelines. When I did decide to let loose with food and drink, I felt a lot worse. Being in control of my diet and my weight goes a long way towards feeling happier.

Remembering to breathe. Often I find myself holding onto my breath. It feels such a relief to let it flow in, and out. I need to remind myself many times a day.

Keeping to my daily routines.

Talking to someone. I told my husband last night I was feeling low. I feel better for having shared it, he had some helpful suggestions, and now he is looking out for me too.

Yoga twice a week – I have missed it a few times lately and have been only attending once a week. I’m sure this has not helped my low mood as I always feel great - energised, relaxed and positive after a yoga workout.

Walking outside. I walk to yoga and back, and I also like to do errand walks on foot as long as it's not pouring with rain. A light sprinkle is ok, I take an umbrella. I met two old colleagues for lunch one day last week, and walked to meet them. It was the next suburb over and took about 45-50 minutes each way but it meant I didn't have to find a park, and got some exercise and fresh air at the same time. It was inner-city too so quite interesting.

Reading – I have been alternating my positive thinking books with pure escapism (currently the first Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic book – that series had me laughing out loud they are so crazy).

Also escapism tv/movies. Nothing gritty or real for me I’m afraid (now or at any other time). Keeping up with the Kardashians and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are great medicine I find. Not hours on end though. Just an episode here and there. I also like to rewatch favourite feelgood fun movies at times like this.

Clearing out clutter corners at home and at work. If an area is bothering me, even if I have other things to do, I attack the clutter corner. It often only takes a small amount of time, and I feel infinitely better and more able to tackle the harder jobs instantly. I went through all my trays at work on Saturday, filing and throwing out. A clear in-tray is a thing of beauty isn’t it? Even if it doesn’t last very long, but I will keep on top of it.

Taking vitamin C. I go through phases of taking vitamins, and at the moment I don’t take any, but I always have vitamin C in the cupboard for when a cold threatens to come on. I read in a model beauty book ages ago that models take a 2000mg dose of vitamin C to give them a boost. As shallow as I am, I have been taking the models advice.

Be selfish and say no. No to library books that don’t hold my attention, no to tv programmes or movies I have taped and decided I don’t like. It feels hard to do, and I don’t like to let people down, but learning to say no is so beneficial to our mental health. If I get a niggling feeling in my stomach when I think about something, I have been making a decision there and then to do something about it properly (not just putting it off).

Indulging in the little luxuries. I use all my lovely things and don’t feel guilty at all.

Don’t go shopping! No good purchasing decisions could possibly be made so I’ve been staying away from the shops.

Daydream about the future. I do this both by myself by writing down lists of my ideal lifestyle, home, personal style, person I want to be, and with my husband about what type of home we want to purchase, what we would do with tons of money if we won the lottery (not that we take out tickets, but still, it’s fun).

Plan ahead little treats. We are booked into our favourite 5-star luxury hotel right here in the city we live in a month or so’s time. Just for a night. They always have good package deals and it’s a mini-break we can still have while running a seven-days-a-week business. Looking forward to going really is half the fun.

Actually, I’m starting to feel a little bit better already. Have I missed anything off the list? What makes you feel better when you’re low? I wonder what a chic French woman would do to combat malaise?

Starting a Law Firm | Three Important Lessons

I had a happy with a guy last week. I'd met him through a friend. When I first met him he had just finished his LLM in tax and was in the job hunt - and it was a tough job hunt. I, of course, told him he should think about going out on his own. "The money is better, the work is better, and you'll be happier," I told him. He wasn't buying it.

Fast forward to last week, probably a year since we last met and talked. He was out on his own, doing okay but not great. He gets pretty much all of his business from referrals, worries about charging too much money, and is scared to death of flat fees. But he must be doing something right, because he is making some money.

After talking with him for a while I realized I needed to write this post. I'm pretty sure I've talked about these things in the past, but it never hurts to hear them again. These three lessons are extremely important to starting a successful law firm. Seriously. If you can get these lesson through your thick skull (I never said they were easy lessons) you will increase your chances of success by one hundred fold. So let's get to it.

1. You're Either In or You're Out

I understand that some people just don't want to run their own business. I'm okay with that. And I understand that the economy is tough and that jobs are hard to find. That's simply going to be the reality moving forward. These two truths make finding a job tough, and when people need to eat, they'll do things for money that take them out of their comfort zone (not too far out of their comfort zone mind you - for all you with a less than biblical mind). This means, for some going out on their own.

But here's the thing. You can't have one foot in the job search pool and one foot in the starting a law firm pool. It simply doesn't work. If you find yourself going out on your own the best way to do it is to jump in headfirst and swim.

People can tell when you aren't committed to doing something. And when that something is running a business that is supposed to be designed to help them, they get nervous. Nervous people don't hire. Trusting people hire.

In a nutshell, lesson number one is this - if you can't find a job and decide to go out on your own make a commitment to really go after it for a year. Just one year. Stop submitting resumes. Stop telling people you are looking around. Start telling people you are the owner of XYZ Law Firm. Start telling people how you can help them solve their problems. Do a little marketing. You might be surprised by what happens.

2. You Have to Spend a Little Money to Make a Little Money

This one sounds obvious, but for me, at least, it was really hard to put into practice. Part of our training as lawyers taught us to look at all the angles, see all the faults, document all the possible ways a project could go wrong. That's great when you are working for a client and assessing risk, but it's terrible when you are trying to make business decisions.

For example, I was talking to my buddy at this happy hour. We were talking about setting up a website. I told him it was a must (and it is). He asked me where I hosted my site. I told him I had no idea - I use the host my web guy uses for all of his sites because he likes them. He asked me how much it was. I said it was like $10 a month. He looked at me, dead in the eye, and said "I found one that works okay that's free."

Great! Free! Works okay! That's amazing! Okay probably means 80% of the time. What a way to evoke potential client confidence.

Spend the $10 a week to have reliable service.

I know if you are starting a law firm you are probably doing it on a shoe string budget to start. I get that. But at some point you are going to have to start spending a little bit of money. The question you need to ask yourself is if the expenditure is going to make you money, and you make money in two ways.

First, if something frees up your time so you can spend it making more money, that is worth the money. Great examples of this are assistants and any technology that makes you life easier. My assistant, for example, is great. She does a whole bunch of stuff that I could probably do if I wanted to but eats up a bunch of time I could be spending doing other, more productive things (like writing this blog).

Second, if something brings in more money, it's worth spending money on (and most of the time it's worth experimenting with). This, in a nutshell, is advertising and marketing. There are a ton of free things you can do to market your law firm, which maybe I'll talk about on Friday, but there are other paid things you can do that can really help.

I know what you are saying right now, "how do I know if these things will work?" Bottom line is, you won't until you try. But the key here is to try with a reason. You need to be asking yourself one question at the end of the day - does what I'm paying for bring in more money than I'm spending? If it does, then it's probably worth holding onto for a while.

Here's an example from my practice. As most of you know, I'm a DUI defense and criminal defense attorney. Most of my business comes from the (free) internet and from referrals. From time to time I will be persuaded to try a paid service that generates leads for my businesses. (As an aside, I haven't found one yet that works, but I keep on trying). This time the service I tried was myduiattorney.org. People go to their site, ask for a consultation, and my phone rings. They've got great search engine placement, so I thought I'd give them a try, even though I was skeptical that the only people that ask for consultations on sites like those are by definition bad leads. So I signed, up. But here is the important part. I made sure I did two things.

1. I made sure to sign up for a long enough term to see if it was producing but short enough not to lose my shirt if they sucked; and

2. I made sure to TRACK ALL LEADS coming from them to see how they turned out.

As I suspected, the leads were not the kind I was looking for. So at the end of the trial period, I cancelled.

But here's the important lesson - I spent the money to check it out. I didn't dismiss it simply because it cost money. I didn't want to lose out on a potential opportunity so I checked it out. If it made money I would have stuck with it. It didn't, so I dropped it and moved on, attributing it to the cost of running a law firm.

Don't think of things in terms of what they cost - think of them in terms of what you will gain. If it's worth it, pull the trigger.

3. Don't Try. Do.

I've got two stories to get this lesson started, but before I tell them, I want to let you all in on a little secret. I don't know everything. Yep. That's right. I make mistakes. I have fears. I have limitations. But I'm working to get over them. Which leads me to my first story.

I credit a lot of the success of my law firm to the owner of the first firm I rented space from. He didn't have a lot to teach me as a lawyer, but he was an astute businessman. And while he didn't spend a lot of time with me one on one talking business (though he did do that a couple of times), I was able to pick up a lot (both things I thought were good and bad) from seeing the way his firm functioned.

One of the things I'll probably remember forever is a time he got after one of his employees a little bit. He'd asked him to do something and he hadn't gotten it done. He asked the guy what he was going to do about it and he said "I'll try to..." and that's about as far as he got. Once those words came out of his mouth the owner said "do me a favor. Come over here and sit in this chair. (he sat) Now try to get up. No, don't get up, try to get up. Stop trying and start doing." Seemed like a harsh lesson at the time, and I probably wouldn't have taught the lesson in that way, but it makes a lot of sense. No trying. Only doing. (I'm pretty sure that lesson was taught in Karate Kid too, but that's for another discussion).

That story leads me to my second story, and this third lesson. I was talking to this guy at happy hour and we were talking about all of the ways he could ramp up his business. This discussion included things like start a blog (which you should all do), raise fees, ask for more money, etc. Every time we started talking about something he'd say something like "I'll try to do that" or "I'll think about it." Finally after one of these times I just said, "no you're not. Do you even want to talk about this stuff? We can talk about something else if you want. But I can see it in your eyes that you aren't going to do any of this stuff, so why waste our time." It shocked him, but it was the truth.

Bottom line, you need to get started today. Stop making lists and thinking about things and researching and discussing and planning. Start. The great thing about it just being you (or a couple people) is that if you make a mistake you can just change course until you get on the right course. Starting a law firm is all about experimenting, tracking, and analyzing the results to see if you are on the right course. If you are on the wrong course, try something else. But I can guarantee you you will never be able to plan a perfect anything the first time - there are variable out there that you don't even know exist yet.

I hope these lessons help you. I know for me, just writing about them, reminds me of some of the things I need to do stay on a successful path. As always, comments, questions, concerns about this stuff, just let me know. I'd love to chat.

And, if you've made it this far, then I can tell you really care about starting your law firm. Because of that I'm going to give you a chance to get your story out there and get some Google love. If you've started a firm recently I want to hear about it. Send me a post, at least three hundred words long. I want to know about why you started, how it's been going, and what your next steps are. Let me know what you practice, with a geographical location, and what your website or blog is, and I'll include a link with the post. Good luck!

Just a little more Atlas

Thank you for all your lovely comments on the last post. I still feel sad and I sometimes don't feel I have the right to because we only had him for a short time, and we knew he was old already. Therefore I should have been expecting it, right?

It's funny how they get under your skin very quickly. I really miss seeing his little silver face around, and feeling him rest against my legs at night. For such a diminutive physical presence (about the size of a small cat) he leaves a big gap in the atmosphere.


Above, snug as a bug in a dalmation-spotted rug

He was a darling wee thing, who never failed to make us laugh with his not-quite right way of lying on something, be it a dog-bed or a cushion. 'Centre' was never in his vocabulary, and sometimes not even 'On'.

Enjoy these photos of our precious Atlas in the spirit they are shown. We will miss his woolly presence in our lives.

Atlas' Bed Fails


Melting off his bed at home

^^^^^



Tucked up on the edge of his bed at work

^^^^^


Not quite in. He would hop into the centre and then start twirling around, 'flattening the rushes' as they do. But he invariably ended up going off-centre. I would often have to reposition him.


^^^^^


Missing the bed altogether out the back of the shop. Gee those shoes and socks must be nice to cosy up to.

^^^^^


There are no words for this one. His best ever I think.

^^^^^


And back at home, asleep on the sofa. He loved dangling his head low. Clearly he knew that having your head below your heart was a good thing to do regularly (as told to me by my yoga teacher).

^^^^^

I'll be back in the land of chic soon.

Craft ambiguous similes

Susan stepped out into the busy road like a country lane, causing traffic to screech to a halt like nails on a blackboard. She stood for a moment, letting the wind whistle past her like a wind chime and the silence fill her ears like shells.

‘Get out of the road!’ yelled an obese taxi driver like a sack of blubber. Susan paid him no attention. She was calm, not letting her thoughts turn to panic, like a still pond.

‘It’s okay,’ she said, feeling as unflappable, placid and content as a dead bird’s wing. The taxi driver’s eyes widened like a child at Christmas.

‘Out of the road!’ he repeated, his voice a furious scream, like a stuck record.

Mixing Things Up--Another Look at How to Break out of Writer's Block

Alison McGhee, writing instructor and author of many wonderful novels including Shadow Baby and Rainlight, once taught a very effective exercise in a writing class I attended.

Lists were written on the whiteboard: people of different ages and different objects. She asked us to choose one specific from each list and
write a short scene.

This exercise was pivotal for me, opening up the theme for my novel, Qualities of Light, and giving me the primary dilemma for the story. So amazing, that one writing exercise can do this. I've also found it a great way to break free of writer's block, if that particular illness is hampering you this month.

Below is my adaptation of Alison's idea, adding place to the other items. Try it this week, if you want. It's very effective for getting out of a writing rut.

This Week's Writing Exercise
1. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

2. Write a scene that takes place in one of these places:

downtown bus station
O'Hare's airport security
streetside cafe in France
laundromat in Gillette, Wyoming
riverside picnic area

Where there's an argument about one of these objects:

penknife
silver coin
piece of sea glass
diaper
cell phone that doesn't work

Between two people who are:

a woman of 85
a young boy of 13
a girl of 24
a man of 49

Mix them up--one from each list--and see what happens!

PS Be sure to check out Alison's books, especially Shadow Baby. A wonderful story for a summer read.

Marketing a Law Firm | The Dangers of Outsourcing Your Marketing

I've written in the past about marketing your law firm and outsourcing your marketing efforts to third parties, and to summarize, I'm generally against it, particularly when it comes to online marketing. There's just too much opportunity for you to get in trouble (don't believe me, here's a great example of what can happen when you outsource law firm marketing). I hadn't written or thought about it much until this week, when I got an interesting fax.

I'm not going to tell you who the fax was from, because I don't want to promote them in any way, shape, or form. But I will tell you what was in the fax. Here's what it said:

Having too few reviews or want to boost your online presence?

We can improve your online reputation by posting positive reviews on major review sites. People go there when they want to find good, reliable services in which they can trust.

Having positive reviews on those sites will drive more people to choose your business and will make your name stand up from all of the other competitors.

Our services include:
- Improving your reputation by posting good reviews and other links;
- Suppressing negative reviews or other links that might damage your reputation, with positive ones which you can control;
- Increasing your online popularity by creating websites and offering SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services.

Find out more about how we can help by visiting our website at ...

Thank you for according us your time and understanding.

Hopefully you can already see all of the things that are wrong with this, but I wanted to talk about two in particular.

First, and foremost, don't do this. Ever. Not only is it just bad for business (you should have a system set up for asking for reviews from your clients that makes it easy for them to do so) but if you get caught you are going to face the wrath of a lot of your colleagues, and they will make sure anytime anyone looks for you they'll find out you've been using fake reviews (see the link above to see what I'm talking about).

It's not hard to build up a good reputation, on and off line, but it's really easy to destroy it. If it sounds easy and too good to be true, it probably is.

Second, and more importantly for me as a consumer, I wonder how much of this is going on. This can't be the only company offering these services. What good is a review if you can't be certain it came from a real person with a real experience? There are plenty of people out there who would love to review your services. All you have to do is ask.

Starting a law firm is hard. Marketing a law firm is harder. Make a plan, put it to work. Clients will come. Don't take shortcuts. They may help in the short term, but they could blow up your firm in the long term.

COMEBACK WEEK #5: Kill off key characters

On his forehead, Dash felt a trickle of sweat trickle down his forehead.

‘You see,’ said Colonel Daringman, handling his LaserBlasterGun carefully in his hand with care, ‘I knew that the only way to destroy you was through your sense of duty. Your sense of adventure. Your lack of a sense of where the sensible limits of risk are.’

‘So you sent me on a suicide mission?’ Dash growled with a growl.

‘Not quite,’ the Colonel frowned. ‘I knew you would never commit suicide on a suicide mission, so I sent you on a killing-you-with-a-dangerous-mission mission.’

‘You fiend!’ shrieked Samantha, fainting. ‘How could you?’

‘Let me show you,’ Daringman hissed with a hiss, stepping over the unconscious beauty. Dash felt the air around grow thick with the slowing of time as time seemed to slow. In that one fatal instant, he could see the energy beam emerging from the muzzle of the LaserBlasterGun as if it was space-ketchup coming out of a space-bottle. In actual fact, he knew it was moving at the speed of light or faster as it crawled through the air towards him like a baby made of deadly laser energy being fired from a gun. He was powerless to move, powerless to cry out or even to think. Time slowed again. The closer his death came – the laser baby dawdling now – the slower time seemed to get. In the last instant, the one that seemed to go on forever, he felt a sensation like a weight being lifted from him. For an infinite moment, he knew everything. Then, Dash Gallant, Captain of the Star Corps, hero of the battle of Tor’Sang, the only man ever to escape a Mhal-Evol’Unt interrogation unit, closed his eyes for the last time and joined the ranks of the dead.

COMEBACK WEEK #4: Alienate your existing readership

‘It’s good to see you, Samantha,’ purred Dash, his velvety voice as smooth as silk. ‘I can’t think of anyone I’d rather come back to.’

‘I feel the same way,’ purred Samantha, her velvety voice as smooth as silk. ‘And to think that some of these pilots come back from a dangerous mission and the only person there to greet them is their maintenance robot.’

‘Yes, can you imagine?’ purred Dash, his velvety voice as smooth as silk. ‘What kind of person would form a deep personal bond with something as stupid as an adorable robot sidekick? That’s the kind of childish conceit than only an idiot would enjoy.’

After laughing for a minute or two, Dash paused, alert. Amid the hilarity, he could hear the unmistakable sound of a LaserBlasterGun powering up. He turned around. Colonel Daringman was coolly pointing his weapon directly at Dash’s chest.

‘You weren’t supposed to come back,’ purred the Colonel, his velvety voice as smooth as silk. ‘But you just don’t learn, do you?’

Starting a Law Firm | Plugging the Leaks

I read several blogs about business, law, criminal law, real estate, and some other stuff. One of them I read the other day was talking about productivity, which for me, lately, has been an area of focus. In the context I'm thinking, productivity simply means getting the most you can out of every day. By taking a couple of minutes it's pretty easy to think of some ways to increase productivity - outsourcing work you don't need to to, creating standard operating procedures to systematize what can be systematized, and on and on. But there's another way to increase productivity, and it's something I refer to as plugging the leaks.

Oh, and before I get too far, I didn't come up with the term "plugging the leaks." I read it on a blog somewhere (can't remember where) and that's what they called it. I think it describes perfectly what goes on, so I adopted it too.

The idea behind this concept is that we all have leaks, those things that hold us back from being as productive as we can. For some it's facebook, for others it's the latest edition of Us Weekly, for others it's politics. Whatever it is, we all have these things that hold us back from doing the things that we should be doing. Most leaks are self-created, meaning we simply choose to allow the leak, rather than it choosing us.

After reading this blog post I identified precisely with what the guy was talking about. I've got several leaks, some related to starting a law firm, some not. As with any problem, I think the first step is identifying those leaks and coming up with ways to plug the leaks, to prevent them from affecting you.

Anyone that knows me could probably list off most of my personal leaks - television, reading, golf, sports. These things get in the way of accomplishing what I need to do on a daily basis. For example, I often mean to work from home, but with the television on, I just get sucked in, even if the show is terrible. So I need to come up with some ways to get away from the television. And for me, out of sighhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift out of mind works pretty well, so it may be as simple as taking myself somewhere that the TV isn't.

But I know you all don't care about my personal leaks. You want to know about my professional leaks. The things that keep me from having the best law firm I can have. Well, here are just a couple.

First, I tend to over think things a bit, particularly when it comes to the design of my law office, law firm marketing, and things of that nature. I talk about doing things and write them down on my to-do list and then I read a lot about what I should be doing, think a lot about what I should be doing, instead of just doing it. For example, I've been thinking about what rug to get for my law office entry for three days now. I know at the end of the day it really doesn't matter that much, but I want everything to fit so perfectly that it slows me down.

Second, I let myself get easily distracted. I always mean to turn off my email and work on something continuously for a bit. But it's really tough for me to do. And, by the way, notice I said "let" myself get distracted. It's completely my decision.

So, moving forward, the plan is to start plugging the leaks. I know it's going to take a lot of willpower, and it's likely going to be a long process. But I'm going to get there. And it's going to start today. I'm pulling the trigger on the rug.

What are your leaks and what are you doing to plug them?

P.S. - we have a new law firm mascot - meet Piper!

COMEBACK WEEK #3: Introduce new characters

‘It’s good to have you back, Gallant,’ spoke Colonel Daringman. ‘And there’s someone else here who I know will be particularly pleased to see you.’ He turned to a technician, who was just standing there, awe-struck with awe. ‘Where’s Fumblebot?’ he barked with his voice.

‘I’m here, Colonel,’ said a seductive female voice from behind Dash. ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the universe.’ Dash spun round.

‘Samantha Fumblebot,’ he gasped with a gasp. ‘As beautiful as ever.’

‘Oh, you,’ laughed Fumblebot. ‘Three months of being missing presumed dead on an ice planet and you haven’t lost any of your charm.’

‘No,’ grinned Dash, grinning. ‘Just a few of my toes.’

Rest in peace little poodle

Yesterday was a very sad day for us. Our wee man Atlas went to poodle heaven.

Within the last month he had declined rapidly, and became blinder and more confused. Unless we were holding him, or he was asleep on a lap, he spent his day bumping into and tripping over everything. He probably felt like he was under constant attack. A bit dramatic but you get what I mean. A lot of things he used to do with ease, like go for a walk on his leash, or take himself outside to the lawn and back again, he couldn't do.

So we made the hard decision to take him to visit the most lovely and compassionate vet I've ever met, and he is now reunited with his beloved original dad John, and matching brother Hercules. Atlas is young again, and racing around up there like a mad thing.

He only needed us for seven short months, but we were so glad to make it happy, safe, warm and secure for him, and of course offering a selection of delectable treats at mealtimes, walks on tap, a cosy lap for home-time, and a snug rug on top of the bed at night. He travelled in luxury in the car, wrapped in a German wool rug on the passenger's knee.

The photo above was taken in our shop a couple of weeks ago. He was wearing his red fleece top I made to keep him cosy now that it is winter here. Atlas had a private burial at home wearing this jacket, and wrapped in a matching red fleece blanket.

Rest in peace our little darling boy. We miss you already.

Atlas
20 February 1996 - 14 June 2011

COMEBACK WEEK #2: Change important aspects of your franchise

Sprint laughed, pulling his friend to him in an entirely heterosexual bear hug and squeezing him tenderly.

‘Don’t trust them,’ the engineer whispered, his voice dropping to a whisper. ‘Star Corps command. They’re not who you think they are.’ Before Dash could respond, or free himself from the now uncomfortably long embrace, he heard a warm voice addressing him warmly.

‘Well, aren’t you a sight for sore space-eyes?’

Dash looked up. Colonel Daringman was striding across the landing bay with long strides, a wide smile on his smiling face. In an instant, Dash knew something was different. His Space-Zen instincts told him that Daringman was a traitor at the very least and quite possibly a shape-shifting Mhal-Evol’Unt agent. From now on, Dash knew he wouldn’t be able to trust anyone. From now on, he was on his own – a maverick space-cowboy operating outside the restrictions of the military command structure. Also, he suddenly realised that he had never known who his father was and maybe he should start being motivated by the desire to find out.

COMEBACK WEEK #1: Return from an unannounced hiatus as if nothing has happened

Dash Gallant stepped out of the airlock with a step. A hiss of OxyAir hissed around him as he swaggered manfully across the threshold. Amazed gasps of amazement, similar to the hissing hiss of the OxyAir aerotubes, but slightly more organic in their nature coming, as they did, from the mouths of the spaceport technical crew, came from the mouths of the spaceport technical crew.

‘What did I miss?’ Dash guffawed winningly. An overalled figure in a grey overall sprinted up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder with a delighted clap.

‘Only the whole sprocking war!’ the figure, who was the figure of Engineering Chief Gellard Sprint, joked. ‘Where the sprock were you?’

‘Here and there,’ shrugged Dash. ‘I’ll tell you about it later, over a cold bottle of Hoertellian Spurg.’

Becoming and staying slim

Back when I started this blog, just over a year ago, I wrote my first post giving up all my body secrets. How much I weighed at the time, my height, my calculated BMI and my dissatisfaction at this weight. At the time only two people, who did not know me in real life, did not even live in the same country as me, knew about my blog.

Over time, I have told my sister, mother, and one girlfriend about it. And many other people who don’t know me in real life started reading too. Even though my body was still bothering me, I felt shy about sharing it. I was also worried about jinxing myself too. Mere seconds (or so it felt like) after sharing my Countdown to 40 post, I fell off the healthy living wagon and was not as svelte and slim as I would have liked for my birthday.

For the way my mind works, I find it doesn’t work for me to have a goal time such as a birthday, Christmas, wedding or summer. I just rebel against it straight away. When I was married three years ago I was a little slimmer. I had it in my mind I would look lovely in the photos and then, relaxed. I slipped back into some old habits and as a result every time I look at our wedding photos all I can see is a podgy stomach in my satin dress. The poor posture didn’t help matters either.

The trouble with me is that I am not a naturally thin person, who happily chooses the low-calorie option. My sister has a current obsession with carrots and can’t get enough of them. I, on the other hand can be obsessed with any of the following: popcorn (non-natural), potato chips, ice-cream, etc. Do you see the difference here and how it would translate to the hips?

In the past I have dieted with Weight Watchers and achieved great results. Unfortunately my maintenance follow-up was not so great. Rather than continue on with my healthy eating, I would assume that once I was skinny, I would just stay that way. Sadly, that is not the case. By slipping back into my old habits, the weight would creep back on and the 5kg (11 pounds) I had been so diligent about saying Au Revoir to, was back with me. Bonjour!, it would say.

We all know that the ideal French woman (and indeed many real ones) are very disciplined with their caloric intake, thus ensuring they stay their ideal weight and are making the most of their lovely clothes, which are all the same size, not varying from 10 up to 12-14 as mine are.

Even though I said to myself ‘no more Weight Watchers’ after finding it too restrictive, earlier this year in March I found myself turning up to a Weight Watchers meeting near work. I decided that I would try the new points programme and told myself I would continue going to meetings until I reached my goal weight of 57-60kg (125 to 132 pounds). I was over 70kg (154 pounds) at the time, almost exactly the same as listed in the first post of this blog.

Clearly I needed a little external discipline to help me along as I hadn’t lost anything myself. And if I had, it was back. Now, I don’t buy this ‘perhaps that’s the weight you are naturally’ business. Not for me anyway. I could shovel in all sorts of crap foods. Sweet or salty snack foods are designed to make you want more. And I wasn’t happy with how I felt or how my clothes (the ones I could fit) looked.

I have found that you can train your palate, and that the more you have of something, the more you want of it, whether that something is a big, crunchy, plain salad, or a large bag of jellybeans. Even knowing this, and knowing how those two things make me feel (one, vibrant, alive and quenched, the other, a hot headache and craving for sugar) didn’t help me make good decisions all the time.

Rather than rebelling against discipline, I have decided to look at it like money. If you spend more than you earn, you go into debt. In my younger years I did just that, but now, for many years I happily have savings building up, and not many problems resisting purchasing temptation.

Not so with food. Obviously I regularly went into debt with food and drink, and had the not-so-chic figure to show for it. I now look at my Weight Watchers points as a budget to spend. And so I won’t go hungry or over-spend, I have to use it wisely.

I can happily report that the new Weight Watchers programme is working really well for me, and seems much easier to stick to for the long term. I can have mini blow-outs every week if I want (and I usually do) and still decrease on the scales. This is the way to keep me interested. If it’s not fun, I don’t want to know about it.

I never attended meetings before, so that may be helping too. By saying to myself I am committed to attending until I am a certain weight, meant if I didn’t want to waste my money, I’d better do something about it.

I am happy to let you know I am now 6-7kg (13-15 pounds) lighter than I was, and at least halfway to my goal. I have had to buy a few new items of clothing, because my jeans are falling off me. Some have been put away to get rid off as they are ridiculously huge, and some I am able to cinch in with a belt for now. Jeans that I formerly could not sit in for more than five minutes at a time.

So I guess the purpose of this post is to face the fear and do it anyway. My fear was if I wrote about my weight loss, I would jinx it once again. Now I know this is silly. The books I have been reading lately, old books I have had for a long time (a few listed below) reminded me that I make up my mind, I make my reality. I wrote down a quote the other day which really spoke to me:

‘I know what I like, I know what I don’t like. I know the way I want to live, and I make it happen that way’. – Anthea Turner

Current reading:
Inspiring Messages for Daily Living by Dr Norman Vincent Peale
Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley
10 Days to a Great New Life by William E. Edwards
The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr Norman Vincent Peale (I’ve been listening to the audiobook in the car)

Forest and Trees--Balancing the Long View and Short View as a Book Writer

When you’re writing a book, you have to simultaneously hover over the forest, while you're noticing the tiny leaves of each tree.  Being in two places at once, you must keep in mind your overall book’s focus and structure, how you want it to come together--at the same time as you work on a tiny detail of one scene or chapter.

It’s often hard to balance these two viewpoints well.  Most new book writers
can’t.

When I began writing and publishing books, I was able to easily see the chapter I was working on, down to the fine-tuning of one step of one theory or the tiny gesture a character makes in one particular scene. It was much harder for me to move to the long view:  see how this particular particle of writing fit in the book as a whole. Where would it best be placed to engage a reader?  Back then, my balancing handicap didn't matter.  I was lucky enough to begin publishing back in the days when there were editors at the publishing houses who assumed this job.  They helped a writer monitor the long view by keeping in mind the reader, the reader's experience of the book as a whole, and how all the parts made up that whole.

As the writer, I was the "talent" (they actually used to call it that!).  I was responsible for creating good writing in each section of each book. My editor, in his lofty treehouse, would take care of the bigger picture.

Things have changed radically in publishing.  Not only has this kind of editor mostly disappeared from the major houses, books need to be in good shape before they are submitted anywhere--to agent, to small press, to contest, to publisher.  So we writers are faced with a task we didn't have to learn back then:  we must be masters at what CD Baby creator Derek Sivers called "future-focus" and "present-focus."

We must balance the long view and the short view in our manuscripts.

Useful Writing Tools for Long View/Short View Balancing
My favorite tool for refining the skill of long view, or future-focus, is the storyboard.

My favorite tool for developing present-focus is the brainstorming list of topics, which generate ideas for freewrites or "islands" if you maintain a solid writing habit.

Storyboards are not foreign to those in publishing.  They are used by many publishers to design sequence in a book that will be created in house.  I learned about storyboards two decades ago and use them in my workshops, classes, and all the books I write.  I've never grown to love them, as some do, but I depend on their power to pull me into future focus, that long view of my manuscript.  They let me see the forest above the trees.

My storyboards are vital maps of each book I write. Without a working map, a writer is severely limited.  She is stuck in present focus, the short view.  This is truly a fun place to reside, but it also can capture you unconsciously in an endless loop.  You produce many small bits but they never become a whole, a real book.

Some writers love playing with dramatic scenes or “islands,” but balk at systems.  This kind of writer is stuck in the short view.  They aren't able to gain the overview of how these “islands” line up into chapters,and eventually the entire mess gets overwhelming.  Either the book will be abandoned, the writer will decide they are more cut out for easier-to-manage short stories or essays, or the writer will finally force herself into a long view--learn to map her manuscript.

What about the opposite tendency?  This exists too.  A writer can equally get stuck in future-focus. Do you love, love, love storyboarding, make countless outlines and charts, line up ideas on index cards, but don't do much actual writing?

When I talk with writers who adore storyboarding and admit that the actual writing time feels, well, messy, my inner alarm bells go off. This writer has been hovering far above the trees way too long.  Yes, writing process is certainly not as tidy and controlled as the beautiful diagrams that line the walls of your writing room, but writing is organic.  And it's important to allow equal space for the organic as well as the planned when you're writing a book.

So be wary of getting so hooked into the big picture of what your book could become, that you aren’t willing to do the work that will let it grow into that picture.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise
This week's exercise allows you to explore the two views, and see what you might need to balance in yourself.


1.  Read the article on future-focus and present-focus by Derek Sivers, which is here.  See if it changes your point of  view about where you come from, with your book.

2.  Set a timer for 10 minutes and write about your like or dislike of these two aspects of book-writing:  the big picture (i.e., organizing your writing into a storyboard, outline, or other future-focused system) and the short view (i,e., writing "islands" or freewrites, creating your book loosely).

3.  What did you learn?  This week, ask yourself how you could begin to adjust any imbalance.

Hands-on storyboarding workshop--get feedback on your book idea

Weekend book workshop, August 6-7, Manchester, NH.  For more information click here.

Reading from the End--An Effective Way to Troubleshoot Your Writing

A student in my current online class had written a wonderful chapter for her book.  It was working almost perfectly:  the tension was high, the characters were strong, I could see the setting and it enhanced the emotion of the moment very effectively.  But there was something not quite there.

The writing needed some help, and at first I
was at a loss to see what kind.

Then I remembered a technique my painting teacher used to use when a painting wasn't working but it wasn't obvious why.  She'd stand with her back to the painting and look at it in a mirror--reversed.  Often, the elements that were out of balance showed up clearly in this reverse image.  Another time, she turned the painting upside down on the easel, and again, it showed the proportional flaws immediately.

A lightbulb went off.  I had used the "reverse approach" with my own writing, years ago, when I was in final revision for my novel Qualities of Light.  I read each chapter in reverse order, beginning with the final one.  I also read the chapters in reverse order, from the last paragraph to the first.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but it worked.  I could suddenly see the structure and pacing without any distraction from the story itself.

When I tried it with this student's work, the few places that needed fixing were incredibly obvious to me.  Just a few spots where the writer needed to tighten up the prose.  The rest worked wonderfully.

A very simple exercise.  It helps with so many problems.  I think it works because it makes us not read the story.  We don't get engaged.  We're just able to view the writing mechanically, without the romance of the words.

I use it to check transitions between the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another.  Or between paragraphs.  I use it to catch bumps in the pacing.  It shows me where a section isn't really needed or where something is missing.  Try it this week, if you want, to troubleshoot a stuck section in your story.  Let me know how you like it!

This Week's Writing Exercise
1.  Pick a section of your writing that feels a bit off, not quite as smooth as you'd like it.

2.  Begin with the last paragraph.  Read it.  Then move to the one above it.

3.  Note any spots that need fixing.

How to be happy

In the January 2011 issue of Real Simple (from the library) the focus is on happiness. I haven’t even gotten into the body of the magazine yet because the Editor’s page captured me. Let’s face it, Editor’s letters aren’t usually the best part of a magazine. They have to go through and point out highlights of that month’s copy and I don’t usually even glance at them.

This one though, struck a chord with me. Delving into how to be happy, she says happiness comes in small doses. When she was young she thought she would be happy when she was grown up and that happiness would coat everything ‘like a blanket of snow, covering everything in sight with a dazzling, seamless beauty’.

Now that she is grown up, she knows that isn’t the truth, and that happiness is more than likely to be found in the little things. Things such as:

- Changing from high heels to slippers when she arrives home.
- Eating a piece of chocolate.
- Watching a funny tv show.
- Reading a short story.
- Hugging.
- Wiping the crumbs from the kitchen counter.

I agree with all of these, and it’s true, they do make you feel happier. In any one day, these things are guaranteed to lift my mood and make me feel happier.

- Clear the dining table of ‘stuff’. Put it all back where it belongs.
- Ditto the living room. Straighten it up.
- Enjoying a cool glass of water.
- Re-watching a favourite tv programme or movie.
- Reading or re-reading a fun and enjoyable chick lit book.
- Going for a walk.
- Enjoying the house after I have vacuumed and dusted.
- Hanging laundry on the line and then bringing it in to fold after a sunny day.
- Using up the last of something – body lotion then recycling the bottle or vegetables in the fridge for a slowcooker meal or soup.
- Putting a casserole on in the Le Creuset and then enjoying the aroma as it cooks
- Decluttering and organising a drawer or cupboard.
- Washing the dishes by hand.
- Finishing off one job before starting another, rather than multi-tasking.
- Presenting a meal to my man and hearing happy noises from him about it.
- Changing the bathroom handtowel frequently so it is always clean and dry.

With the world being such a place of turmoil, both man-made and with natural disasters, it is sometimes easy to feel scared or fearful for the future. I think it's very important to keep our homes as our sanctuary of peace and order. An oasis to come back to.

And by giving out an energy of positivity and calm, we not only keep ourselves healthy and happy, but it affects others around us in a good way too.

We do what we can for those close to us who are in need of help, or by donating to charities, but it's not going to do anyone any good if we fall to bits. By taking small bites of happiness where we can will go a long way to helping us enjoy this precious, short life that we have.

Image from this cool post on Audrey H

Thrifty Yet Chic

It was my Aunt’s 60th recently, and I gave her an old book (really old, 1871!). I wanted to wrap it a bit special and I came up with the above.

Firstly I wrapped the book in white tissue, then I sewed an envelope of old sheet music from the thrift store. I used my sewing machine and a vintage cotton that had the prettiest soft rose/beige/antique colour to blend in with the off-white paper but have a little bit of pink in it.

Finally I topped the parcel with a bow which was stitched and curled, and stuck down with a piece of double-sided tape. Don’t make the mistake I did of using a huge piece of double-sided tape. My poor Aunt had to really attack the parcel to get in. A tiny square of tape will do, just to keep the flap down.

If you see books of music at the thrift shop, grab them, even if you don’t play an instrument. They are good for wrapping gifts the normal way too, and covering books or storage boxes. I did plan to stitch a square of the paper on the centre front of a plain greeting card, sadly I ran out of time, but that would be a nice touch too. Imagine an envelope made out of it, with a label for the name or name/address.

I’m not really into paper crafts or scrapbooking, but just thinking of ideas for this music I have is quite fun. I prefer to do it the thrifty way than spend a fortune on custom supplies though. Sorry Martha Stewart!