Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S., my favorite holiday. No gifts. No services. No dressing up, no stress. Just family, friends, food and football. Yes, my family loves watching the Dallas Cowboys play on Thanksgiving and having a late lunch.

No matter where you’re from, I’m thankful for your time in stopping by here, commenting, contacting me, sharing posts with others. Those in the U.S., I hope you take the time to take in the day and relish it. Those outside of the U.S., I’d love to hear about your traditions or a day that just lets you be with folks you love without stresses of fulfilling duties.

Brain food …

• 10 Insanely Awesome Inspirational Manifestos. Great round up. I hadn’t seen these before.
• 5 Gobbles for Twitter this Thanksgiving. #4 is the biggest reason why I love social media.
• 100 Questions to Help You Write, Publish, and Sell Your Ebook. Title explains it.
• How to Craft Editorial Guidelines for a Guest Blogger. Here are the guest post guidelines  for this blog.

And for fun because we’re allowed …

• 9Gag. Found a lot of great comics here.
• Book Art That Will Melt Your Brain. Incredible details. That’s art I’d display on my shelf.
• 10 Amazing Facebook Facts You Probably Don’t Know (or Don’t Care). Facebook causes 1 in 5 divorces. Seriously?
• Dear Photograph. “Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.”

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Joel Capparella asked a great question in Twitter. “After you’ve read a book, do you purge it or keep it?”

My reply, “Purge fiction. Keep nonfiction.” Of course, if I hated the book, out it goes.

@RobertHruzek: I keep it if I like it. I’ve still got books from forever ago!

@Vanessa_LW: I’ve been purging a lot more lately. Or better yet, getting from the library.

@elisapr: Keep!

@stenoknight: I keep it; books are my favorite element of home decor. Also, if book is worth reading once, it’s often worth rereading.

I like what @stenoknight said because it’s true in my home. My small home office squeezes in one tall bookshelf. The newish add-on loft is more of a library (and dumping ground for kid toys). AND we still have bookshelves in each kid’s room and one in the game room. I also organize the books. (You’ll see two bookshelves in the picture, but that’s not how it’s set up anymore.)

I rarely buy fiction books. Most of my fiction books from library book sales, or borrowed from the library. Besides, I read little fiction with the work I do with non-fiction books. I don’t like to read a book twice as I have too many waiting for me. Instead, I refer to a non-fiction book again as needed.

For book club reads, I buy them cheap as I don’t want to worry about library due dates. Besides, I prefer the feel of a retail paperback and hard cover over the library covers. This may sound weird, but I love how a book feels in my hands especially those with the soft paperback covers.

I’ve been making an effort to use the library more often. My son brought home the Scholastic Book Club catalog (I managed to not go crazy buying too many as it had a lot of goodies this time), and he circled a book I would love for him to read. The book was hardcover and more than I wanted to spend (almost as much as I spent for the entire order). So I’ve put in a request through the library’s online system.

When I came across a book title about applying to college (I have a 10th grader), I reserved that through the library and read it quickly. The college application process changes so much in a short time, so it’ll probably be outdated before kid #2 (5th grader) starts the college hunt.

Now that I have a Kindle, I pondered this question further. Do you keep all your Kindle (Nook or whatever) books loaded and then purge if you run out of space? How do you manage them?

I also wonder how people decide what ebooks to buy, if they still read pbooks (print). I browsed the Kindle catalog and can’t decide how to handle this. It’s a shame you can’t send your print books to Amazon in exchange for the ebooks that you want to make notes on, or some way to receive an electronic copy of the pbooks you own. This would not work fairly for the other way around as paper, ink and printing process cost much more than creating ebooks.

Children’s books are another story. I move books from oldest to youngest as they outgrow them or grow into them. I’ve moved books that the youngest has outgrown to another shelf in another room. I’ll sort through them later to decide what to keep. I bought children’s books long before I had children, so they won’t all disappear.

P.S. I just returned from the library where we checked out books for my son’s book club

“Tuned in” explains the difference between Apple Newton’s failure and iPod’s success. Apple wasn’t tuned in when it created Newton, but when it promoted “1000 songs in your pocket,” Apple solved several problems: giving people a way to carry their songs in something small, making it easy to get songs from computer to iPod and creating a product that is easy to use.

Not all stories in Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs come from big and innovative companies like Apple. In fact, we learn about a tuned in magician (one-person business), niche camera (not a well-known brand), StubHub and a company’s newsletter.

Many companies fail to ask prospects what problems they need solving. Instead, they create a problem and a solution that they think people need. An excellent example comes from Magnavox. Did the company think people needed more features on their TV sets?

No. Instead, Magnavox interviewed customers to find out what problems they had with their TVs. Sometimes customers don’t know that answer and it’s up to the tuned in company to help them figure it out. Through this process, Magnavox stumbled on a problem we all have (including my own household) — we lose our remotes on a regular basis (as hard as I try to teach my kids to put things back, they conveniently forget to do it).

So what does the company do? Added a button on its TV sets to locate the remote. Now I wish I knew about this before I bought my last TV. And this feature should become a standard for ALL TV-related products that come with a remote.

Some employees think talking to friends and family helps them tune in. But really, it doesn’t. They can’t always be the dream customer for a company’s products and services. Here’s where knowing customers enters the picture. When a company knows its customers well enough, it knows where to find them and interview them to tune in.

The book could use more examples especially of one-person or very small business stories like the magician who found his niche. The start of the book captivates, but then it drags by the middle as it falls in the trap of what some business books tend to do and starts spending too much time on its framework. The examples draws the reader in more than anything else.

For the most part, the Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs is a fast and breezy read offering valuable insight into the six-step process for tuning in by using real-life examples.

• Title: Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs
• Authors: Craig Stull, Phil Myers, David Meerman Scott
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISBN: 047026036X / 13: 978-0470260364
• Date: 2008
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Cover Price: USD: $27.95 / Amazon Price: $16.77

Painting the Digital River takes a view of art by comparing digital art and classic art. Author James Faure Walker makes many points as he gives value to both art forms, discarding neither as less legitimate than the other. Himself an artist, Walker knows that many artists are confused as to what it means to be an artist and expert at what they do. He says that artists must know about painting, its past and its present, and possess some knowledge of the digital form.

Walker discusses the classical way of learning to draw and paint, and then looks at the tools available for artists today. Just as canvas, brush and pigment all come in many qualities; the digital world offers a variety of hardware and software to enhance the finished product of the artist’s vision.

[ Read more ... ]

From the sponsor:
Neil Young’s Heart of Gold movie is coming to theaters on February 10.

I’ve had this book since my daughter was a baby. In 1994, my childhood tutor gave it to her as a gift when she was born. All three of my kids loved it at some point — in fact, the youngest has been taking it out a lot lately. It’s worn and has been through a few things. So I wanted to get a cleaner and newer copy of the book, but no such luck! It’s the first thing I can’t find on the Internet.

(click to view larger image in a popup window)

Yes, I tried eBay and even have it emailing me whenever the author or the book title is posted. I tried the publisher and even got a reply. Tried to find the author. Tried used book stores, both online and off. Tried its ISBN. Even learned that Grange Books PLC published through Binky Books and La Coccinella Editrice. The book was printed in Italy, but in written English.

Title: What Can I See?
Author: Stewart Cowley
ISBN: 1856274748
Illustrator: Roberta Pagnoni
Printed in Italy – 1993
La Coccinella Editrice – 1988
Grange Books PLC – London SEI

(click to view larger image in a popup window)

It’s a basic book that talks about the things a child uses from when bottles as a baby to when she becomes independent. Yet, it has drawn all of us. I find the UK English writing endearing.

Word from sponsor:
I went to the card store to get 40th birthday cards for Paul and saw a load of Valentine’s cards. Looks like it’s time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day flowers.

I’m a member of an online book club and one of the neatest things — though I don’t participate — is the conference call with the author of the book we’re reading. Turns out our book club leader wasn’t one of the few who came up with the great idea as according to USA Today, it’s becoming popular.

These calls are a great opportunity for book clubs and authors. Book clubs get closer to the author and feel a personal connection while authors gain sales, publicity, and goodwill. HarperCollins makes it easy for readers and authors to connect with its Invite the Author.
(more…)

As previously reported, I went back in the hospital on Friday due to severe bleeding. Had to go to the OR for stitches to stop it since other measures did not work. Apparently, a blood vessel had broken open and sprung a leak. Stayed over on Fri and Sat nights. They wanted to watch me to see if I needed a transfusion.

My hematocrit count was 40 before surgery (36 – 44 is normal in women), 30 when admitted to ER, 27 three hours later in ER prior to an attempt to stop the bleeding, and then 22 on Saturday (before and after the surgery). I would’ve had a blood transfusion at 18 or earlier depending on how I was behaving.
(more…)

Book review of Seth Godin‘s newest book, Free Prize Inside, is posted. Man, he is good. The book has not even reached shelves and look how well it ranks in Amazon from pre-orders.

WWDN was fearless in writing Dancing Barefoot, so I returned the favor in the book review.