Andrea Patten

Jan 182013
 

As the self-taught tech department, I find that each improvement leads to more improvements.  (They also compete with blogging time.)  Here’s a small re-cap about recent changes:

A new e-newsletter provider has led to a lot of site changes and an enormous learning curve for the tech department.  (Guess who???? ) So, if you want to receive our “once in awhile newsletter” hop on over to the main site and sign up.  I don’t spam ~ it comes out once a month-ish. You already know I’m not a high-pressure marketer.  Forwarding my newsletters (with a note) is a great way to help connect your friends with me.  I appreciate it.

What Kids Need to Succeed: Four Foundations of Adult Achievement is now available in multiple e-reader formats including Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Sony Reader and…. [here]

By the way, if you like to read and you’re interested in supporting authors this link will take you to Smashwords where you can join an affiliate marketing program.  Look around.  Sign up.  Introducing your friends, family, team members and readers to new books is a nice thing to do, don’t you think? (It’s a great way to encourage writers to keep writing!)

I’m also proud to announce the arrival of a brand new program created to help people manage negative self-talk  and get unstuck!  Inner Critic to Inner Ally: A Beginner’s Guide is available as an online self-study, with or without 30 days of e-mail support from yours truly. It’s getting great reviews from direct sellers, a management consultant and a few mental health providers.  Although I originally wrote it with direct sellers in mind, I think it’s good for anyone struggling with “one foot on the gas and one on the brake.”

That’s what I’ve been up to.  What’s good with you?

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de...

New "translations!" (Image via Wikipedia)

Thanks for your support, encouragement…. and helping to spread the word.

Jan 182013
 

If you think that the TV ads your children are seeing is “age appropriate” read on.

Parents who are concerned about underage drinking might be interested to discover that youth exposure to alcohol advertising on TV has risen by more than a third (!) since the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth began monitoring this it in 2001.

Why should parents care about this? In 2007 (the last complete data) about 20% of TV ads for alcohol were placed on programming more likely to be viewed by 12- 20 years olds than by people of legal drinking age.

According to a recent Surgeon General’s report underage drinking is responsible for about 5,000 deaths per year. In addition, that office tells us that people who start drinking before the age of 15 (vs. those who wait until they are 21) are 5 times more likely to experience alcohol-related problems later in life.

And advertising works.

Want to find out more about the specifics of this advertising in your TV-viewing ‘market’. Click here and scroll down to the big town closest to you.

Jan 182013
 

Laughing baby videos are one of my guilty pleasures — even when I haven’t been editing all day. (What did we ever do without YouTube?) When I feel like I’ve been chained to my desk all day, they give my attitude AND my energy a must needed boost.

So, having rendered myself sleep-deprived and created all the things that go along with a very, very long editing session I came across this.  (Thanks, Jaellene.)  It’ll have to hold ya’ until I can think again.