I’ll have to update you on my plans to have a Japanese tea party with my daughters yesterday. Well, it didn’t quite happen like I’d hoped. After school, I had two hours to prepare a meal to take to a friend’s house whose toddler just came home from nearly a month in the hospital. So I was busy every minute.

Yet because I’d blogged about the Japanese Doll Festival, I remembered to pour the girls apple juice in pretty teacups. I couldn’t sit down with them because I was making my usual poppy seed chicken and a few side dishes. While I chopped and stirred, we talked about this Japanese celebration, and I asked if they remembered my small origami Hina Matsuri craft.

“Do y’all remember?” I asked. “It had a little drawer that opened, with candy inside?”

“Oh, yeah. I remember. I ate that candy that had all the swirls in it.” my second grader informed me.

So, it’s confirmed. One of my children has eaten ten-year-old candy and lived to tell about it.

We did eat with chopsticks last night — probably because the rice I made turned out a bit clumpy, and my son noticed it would be easy to eat with chopsticks. Actually, he got out the wooden shishkabob skewers and ate with those. The girls used my pretty painted chopsticks that are made of plastic — but the rice is more slippery to eat.

My kindergarten-aged daughter lost her first tooth yesterday. I ended up pulling it before dinner. She had me laughing so hard — every sentence she said throughout the afternoon included something about her loose tooth. Here are some examples:

“My tooth got loose today at school because I ate an apple … I hope we’re not having apples for supper because I have a loose tooth … I think I’ll look like a first grader if I lose my tooth today … Will the tooth fairy come visit me if I lose my loose tooth? … Does a loose tooth hurt when it comes out? … Do you think Daddy knows that I have a loose tooth? … I better call Daddy and make sure he knows I have a loose tooth.” Etc. Etc. About 900 more times.

You know, I just realized we don’t have a Daughter’s Day here in America. We have a Mother’s Day of course in May. But why not a special day to celebrate daughters?

I found this little Japanese song that is enjoyed on Hina Matsuri. I got out my dictionary to look up some of the words, then I found a translation online. I would translate it a little differently:

Akari o tsukemasho bonbori ni. Let’s go light the Japanese paper lanterns.
Ohana o agemasho momo no hana. Let’s offer the peach flowers.
Go-nin bayashi no fue taiko. Five musicians will play tamborines and flutes.
Kyo wa tanoshii hina matsuri. We enjoyed today’s Doll Festival very much!

What do you think, Momkori-san?

We enjoyed our Doll Festival very much too! 🙂

I think you must know by now that I’m completely hooked. If I’m not blogging, chances are I’ve got about five posts running through my head, and I’m wondering when I’ll get a chance to write them down before I forget.

So, I was out grocery shopping — in the frozen food aisle picking out juice — and I thought, Today’s March 3rd! I’ve got to blog about Hina Matsuri! But then I thought, I’ve already blogged once today … people are going to KNOW I’m really obsessed if they check back and see something new.

Then I finally decided, I don’t care. I want to show everybody a picture of those dolls!

So here’s my news: today’s a really special holiday in Japan celebrating the JOY of having daughters! Now, I apologize to my Japanese readers who may have already read my blog today and think I’d forgetten. How many hours ahead are you? About 12? You must be asleep by now. (Gomen nasai — sorry!)

Anyway, when I lived in Japan, every family with a daughter had some sort of display set up for this happy celebration. People loved telling me about the dolls — each one has a very special meaning and place to be set up. Some of these elaborate displays are worth thousands of dollars and have been passed down from generation to generation.

Here’s a picture:

Here’s some information I’ve copied verbatim from this beautiful website:

“The Doll’s Festival, also known as the Peach Festival, Momo-no-Sekku, takes place on March 3. Hina matsuri (hina means dolls and matsuri means festival) is a time to pray for the well-being of young girls.

Most homes with young girls will set up a display of hina ningyo (hina dolls) like the one you see above. The dolls were originally handmade, but have since become mass produced. Around the display peach blossoms, rice cakes, special colored and diamond shaped rice cakes called hishimochi and white sake are placed as offerings. This festival has been celebrated in Japan since the Edo Period (1603-1867).

The main dolls used in the displays are Odairi-sama, a prince and Ohina-sama, a princess, who sit at the very top tier, surrounded by their courtiers.”

Please go visit here if you’re interested because she has tons of links and adorable craft ideas.

Here’s another site with gorgeous paintings of Japanese holidays from the book, Floating Lanterns and Golden Shrines. On May 5th, the boys will have their turn. This is called Kodomo no Hi, and families with sons will display samurai warriors and carp flags. I’ll have to remember to blog about that in May.

On a personal note, I recently discovered a miniature Hina matsuri orgiami craft that someone had given me years ago. It was packed away in a box with all sorts of treasures. In this display, a tiny little drawer opened, and inside was some colorful candy, which I’d never eaten. My kids found it and wanted to know if they could eat the candy!

I wonder what I can do today to celebrate having daughters. Maybe I can dig out one of my Japanese tea sets that’s been packed away, and we’ll have an apple juice tea party in honor of all the little girls in the world. (Now see, if I hadn’t blogged about it, I wouldn’t have thought of this.)

How about you? Do you have a daughter? Tell her you love her today!

Well, I normally post about FlyLady on Fridays, but I’m going to have to hold that thought until next week. EXCEPT! The “Shoe Controversy” is still raging, so if you haven’t left your preference, please click here and tell us whether you like wearing shoes at home or not while you’re working. You will have to read comment #11 to see who visited here on Wednesday. I was FLABERGHASTED!! In complete AWE! And she DOES NOT wear shoes!

Today, I don’t have anything to say that can compare with the comments left yesterday — and I’d like to keep that discussion going if possible. I’m so sorry I seem to have a hyperactive moderator; I turned off my comment moderator several weeks ago, but for some reason it held the comments in moderation all afternoon. I didn’t get email notification until this morning, so I didn’t know these were waiting.

So, let me step aside today … and let you wise moms talk amongst yourselves.

I know many of you are parents of teenagers, and I’m sorry I haven’t had much to offer you here since my own kids are still years away from that stage. Yet I’ve been seeking out some “experts” whose advice I highly value. Recently, an author contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing her book, which deals with the adolescent years. I thought this was perfect timing!

But when I looked through her press materials, something struck me. In a list of tips, she cautions parents:

Don’t snoop to find out about your tween’s love life … violating privacy by reading diaries or on-line blogs will build a wall, not a bridge of trust. Without trust you cannot effectively guide your tween through the risks and revelry of adolescence and romance.

Now maybe I’m way off here, but I feel like a paper diary is NOTHING like a blog. A diary that is kept private is one thing — but if a teen is writing online to the public, I think parents have every right to see what their teen is telling the world.

What do you think?

This whole issue began to bother me. Is it good for teens to be chatting in the blogosphere? For one thing, whatever is published in a blog is out there permanently. In real life, people grow and change; they get older, wiser, and move on to a new chapter in their lives. But if they’ve kept a blog, their 16-year-old thoughts will forever be cached in a search engine somewhere. (The same goes for adults blogging, but that’s a whole different topic.)

What if a teen later wants to interview at a prestigious university or apply for a scholarship? Will a high school blog help or hinder? Later in life, there may be job interviews, promotions, award applications … any number of opportunities. Yet if a potential employer checks the search engines, will those teenage words reflect a positive image?

So, I felt like it would be better for me to find a Christian expert to answer my questions, someone who looks for Biblical solutions to issues that parents face. I’ve approached an author who has published hundreds of magazine articles and several popular books for and about teens. She also travels and speaks to thousands of teenagers a year. I’ll be reading one of her books soon and interviewing her, so I’m looking forward to sharing her ideas with you here.

Meanwhile, I was browsing yesterday and discovered a few answers to my questions at the most amazing place! I ended up visiting Agent Tim Online, a blog written by a teen who is helping to launch a new organization called Regenerate Our Culture. Here’s what he says:

Regenerate Our Culture is an organization with the goal of regenerating our nation’s worldview away from the post-modernism holding it and back to the Christian worldview it was first built on. We believe that America is the most Godly nation on the face of the earth, but it can’t be denied that many in our nation have turned away from God in politics, religion, and their everyday lives. Our vision is to help bring about a positive change in these three important areas, and equip others to do the same.

When I read through some of his posts, I began to realize that teens who are writing with focus and a mission can have a positive impact online. Their writing can serve not only to help others; it can also enhance their own future opportunities. Yet Agent Tim offers caution to his teen readers about the potential hazards of sharing too much online. I encourage you to read this whole post, which is carefully researched and written. He says:

What is scary for many of us is this: our friends all have a MySpace, which [are] easy to find, easy to read, and sometimes easy to hack into if you know them well enough. I decided to go in and do a little investigation. My mom has done a lot more than I have, but here’s what I’ve found.

Almost everyone…no…everyone, puts a picture of themselves on their profile. Usually fine, yet it can pose a problem, especially when you consider the fact that most of the kids post not only their pictures, but also post their city, state, and country. Others post their telephone number, their school name, their full names and their friends full names, wonderful details about themselves, and other things that just shouldn’t be there.

Wow. As a parent of future teens, I find this downright scary. I’m glad those of you who are ahead of me are pioneering a path for those of us who will follow you.

Another one of the Regenerate Our Culture founding members wrote an insightful post about the use of Xanga among teens. She says:

One of the most used blog sites for teens is Xanga. Over half of my personal friends have Xanga’s and even more are getting MySpaces. While these are fun to read, there is no real purpose. When I used my Xanga, I didn’t do anything but ramble. It’s not productive.

Later she continues:

I’ve also noticed that many people who use Xanga also are disrespectful to parents and/or those in authority. It seems to be a breeding ground for irreverent thinking.

So for now, all I can say is — if you’re a parent of a teen, you should be aware of the prevalence of MySpace and Xanga — and I think you should most definitely know what your teens are writing online. I would also encourage you to find places like Regenerate Our Culture, which is launching soon and will support a whole community of talented teen leaders. (You can also sign up to become a “launch sponsor” and get this colorful button on your site as well.)

I’d love to offer my Comments section as a forum today for any of you who have concerns or ideas about the whole topic of teens in the blogosphere. What do you think? Are parents snooping if they read online journals? What are the pros and cons? Where can parents go for answers to their questions?

If you’d like to email me privately with questions for the author I’ll be interviewing, please feel free to do so. I have a policy that whatever you email me is kept private, unless I ask for and receive your permission to publish online.

My husband told a friend yesterday, “Heather is happy in Blogland.” So I had to clarify, “It’s not Blogland; it’s the Blogosphere!” And yes, I’m pretty happy getting to know all of you here. It’s an interesting, most-of-the-time friendly place.

Well, I hope you’ll take a few minutes and click over to visit Just Marla who is hosting today’s Carnival of Beauty. She’s done a wonderful job of gathering 14 posts sent in by women bloggers writing on the topic, The Beauty of the Bible. I’ve already read a few, and I’m feeling greatly encouraged.

I also want to say hello to several OLD (But not OLD) friends who have discovered my site lately. I’ve been getting a steady stream of out-of-the-blue emails from people I haven’t heard from in years, some even nearly 20 years. That’s what happens when you put your thoughts out there for everyone to read — you never know who you’ll connect with.

My high school class is in the planning stages for putting together our 20-year reunion (now you know how old I am), and we’re emailing each other with this big list of names. So I invited everyone to visit me here, and it’s been pure JOY to reconnect with friends I’d lost touch with. We have so much in common now that we’re not stuck in those silly teenage clicks anymore. Most of my friends also have a house full of little kids (one sweet, soft-spoken friend has a daughter and FIVE sons! I would NEVER have dreamed that!)

Along the same lines, several college friends have discovered my site lately as well, and I love hearing from you and catching up with your lives too. We’re spread out all over the world — yet we can stay in touch better than we could in school when we had to see each other to pass notes. I’m hoping some of my old friends will join me here in the Blogosphere soon — though people are still asking me, “What’s a blog?”

Just as there are all types of people, there are all types of blogs — and many of my favorite bloggers are gathered over at Marla’s, so go visit her Carnival of Beauty and enjoy reading!

P.S. For those of you who’ve asked, my wrist doesn’t seem to be broken, only badly bruised. I fell “up the stairs” on our back porch Monday afternoon, though thankfully I wasn’t carrying our baby. Our back stairs are actually a rock and a cement block because we haven’t had the finances to hire a carpenter to build us steps. I never tripped while pregnant, but now that I’m wearing my FlyLady lace-up running shoes every day, I’m trying to get from here to there too fast. Thanks for your concerns — it’s an ugly, painful bruise.

This week’s Carnival of Beauty is hosted by Marla of Just Marla, and our topic, of all things, is “The Bible.” As I’ve given this some thought during the week, I keep realizing how much I need the Bible as a mom. Are there other people like me, who feel like they’re dry and thirsty without daily refreshment from the Word?

I periodically look through my list of key phrases people type into search engines to find my site. It sometimes baffles me how a certain phrase will lead someone here. This past month, I noticed these phrases among many with the keyword “mom/mother:”

— frustrated mom blog
— bone tired mother
— advice for moms raising teenage boys
— frustrated mom of preschoolers
— christian words of comfort to a mother who is having a hard time with a teenager trying to discipline

I imagine what led a woman to her computer to type in one of these phrases. Perhaps she had a long day of work — either away from home or AT home with her children; she drove her mini-van to the grocery store or Stuff-Mart at least once during the day to pick up some necessity, kids in tow; she prepared at least one meal for her family, though possibly all three, including snacks (semi-healthy of course); then she drove her kids to all their activities and kept up with the other moms; she oversaw her kids’ homework; helped them with baths (if they’re still young); read them a bedtime story (or three or four); listened to their prayers; and tucked them in bed. Of course, somewhere in all that, if she has a husband, she shares time with him, discussing the day, planning for the next day, maybe even having a real conversation once the kids are in bed.

At some point during the day, she taps into her computer, “Bone Tired Mother.”

This is what I imagine, at least. She’d be even more bone tired if she’s a single mother, with no one to help share the load, and financial strain weighing heavily on her mind.

So what can I say to encourage these moms?

What I’d like to say is that there was another woman, in another time, who was also bone tired, exhausted from a fast lifestyle that made her feel cheap and used. She felt unloved and unworthy. When she went to draw water from a well in her city one day, a man who was there asked if she’d also get him some water.

“How can you ask me for a drink?” [she questioned Him.]

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said. “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” …

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:9-13 NIV).

A spring of water … doesn’t that sound refreshing?

These verses are what I want to pass along to the bone tired, frustrated mom who is trying to manage toddlers or discipline teens. Dear mom, I hope you will find a few minutes today to read from the source of the well — maybe even opening up your own Bible to read John 4 and underlining or circling the phrase “living water.”

Then, if you want to see how the Word of God can change someone’s life, I have to send you to a powerful testimony I just discovered yesterday. Over a period of several years, through friendship and sharing Christian books, Carol of She Lives shared Christ with her housekeeper, who has now discovered Living Water. I know you’re busy and you have so much else to do and read, but if you have a chance to read She’s Got a Housekeeper (in three parts), this is what life is all about! Thank you, Carol, for sharing that with us!!

When the Samaritan woman at the well met Jesus, she couldn’t wait to go tell everyone else the Good News! I think that’s why many of us blog — we want to do the same thing in the 21st century.

When we’re thirsty, God’s Word is a well, always offering us a continual source of refreshment.

Let us drink deeply, sisters.

Were any of you glued to the TV set over the weekend watching the Olympics? Ice and snow are truly exotic to our children, so we all relished the skating and skiing.

We loved watching the Italians capture the gold medal in last night’s cross-country event. The Detroit Free Press describes Giorgio di Centa’s victory with this great sentence: “The horde of Italian fans lingered, savoring one last moment of Olympic triumph.” (I love the words linger and savor, don’t you?)

Yet I had this strange realization as I watched the dazzling figure skaters while humbly wiping down crumb-covered countertops. It finally sank in that I will NEVER be in the Olympics! It’s too late — I’m not good at any sport and now I’m too old! I mulled over that idea for a while as I watched the athletes experience their lifetime moment of glory.

You see, when I was growing up, I just knew that I was bound for the Olympics. It wasn’t a matter of IF; it was a matter of WHEN! I was quite serious about gymnastics when I was in elementary and middle school, and my teammates and I all had Olympic aspirations. In fact, we figured there would be some year in the 80s when the whole Olympic team would be our squad!

I turned in school homework assignments covered in Olympic-ringed doodles. My friends and I made medals and certificates for each other: Gold Medals on the Balance Beam and Floor, Silver on the Bars, and Bronze on the Vault (never was very good at that.) Those were my childhood dreams!

But just as I was feeling a bit disappointed, I happened to visit one of my favorite blogs, Simplifying Motherhood, written by Trish Berg. She’s come up with a whole new set of Olympic sporting events in which participants must all be moms. One new event she proposes will be “The Laundry Marathon:”

Each participant will be given twenty-four hours and two tons of dirty, stained clothes, unsorted. Their goal will be to sort, wash, dry and fold as many loads of laundry as they can in one twenty-four hour period. The winner is the mom who finishes the most laundry by tonnage, and who can still see straight.

I’m in training for that one now, as well as another Olympic-worthy thrill, “The Speed Shopping Commute:”

Each mom will be given four obnoxious kids (not hers of course), all under eight years old. She will have to load them into the minivan, head to the grocery store, and buy everything on her shopping list. Then, she has to get the kids and the groceries back into the house safely while walking on a sheet of ice in her driveway. Points will be deducted for every bag of M & M’s she gives the kids to keep them quiet at the store, and for slipping on the ice.

You’ll have to visit Trish’s site to read the rest of her hilarious post, The Motherhood Olympics. And while you’re there, stop in to say hello! Trish is an expert at making me feel better about myself, about mothering, and about life.

P.S. I gotta thank Kelsey at Holy Mama! for my new Bible Promise graphic in my sidebar. I followed the link from her site and discovered that I’m known as a “webmaster.” Someone has made it simple for you to add a customized daily scripture box to your site. My daughters helped me pick out the colors — although of course they wanted bright magenta and violet (sorry — didn’t look good on my site). The fun thing is that the scripture changes every day! And I don’t even have to do anything! Thanks, Holy Mama!

Here’s the new Christian Bookseller Association (CBA) list of bestsellers for March 2006. I find this list pretty interesting. You can go to their site and see who the publishers are. Thomas Nelson and Zondervan seem to have the most top-selling books this month.

There are definitely more nonfiction books than novels on this list — why is that? I know personally I read very little fiction (unless it’s for children), though it’s about all I read growing up. Now, as a mom with five kids, I love reading nonfiction books that give me new insight or inspiration — because I GIVE a lot; I also need to RECEIVE a lot from reading (with the Bible being #1 of course).

I guess a lot of people thought The Five Love Languages (#2) made a nice Valentine gift. That’s a long-running bestseller! I know one of my blog readers in Japan says she loves this book.

I have NOT read Captivating yet. I’d like to — has anybody else read anything on this list (or not on this list) you liked recently?

1. Cure for the Common Life — Max Lucado
2. The Five Love Languages — Gary Chapman
3. Captivating — John & Stasi Eldredge
4. The Purpose Driven Life: Keepsake Edition — Rick Warren
5. Dinner With a Perfect Stranger — David Gregory
6. Even Now — Karen Kingsbury
7. The Bible Promise Book (NIV) — Toni Sortor, ed.
8. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — C.S. Lewis
9. The Purpose Driven Life — Rick Warren
10. End of the Spear — Steve Saint, SaltRiver
11. The Total Money Makeover — Dave Ramsey
12. The Witness — Dee Henderson
13. Wild at Heart — John Eldredge
14. Love and Respect — Emerson Eggerichs
15. Blue Like Jazz — Donald Miller
16. Battlefield of the Mind — Joyce Meyer
17. For Women Only — Shaunti Feldhahn
18. Come Thirsty — Max Lucado
19. Showdown — Ted Dekker
20. Boundaries — Henry Cloud & John Townsendp
21. The Great Physician’s Rx for Health and Wellness — Jordan Rubin
22. Knowing Aslan — Thomas Williams
23. Every Young Woman’s Battle — Shannon Ethridge & Stephen Arterburn
24. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World — Joanna Weaver
25. The Power of a Praying Wife — Stormie Omartian
26. Unlikely Angel — Ashley Smith & Stacy Mattingly
27. Jerusalem Countdown — John Hagee, Charisma
28. Your Best Life Now — Joel Osteen
29. Mere Christianity — C.S. Lewis
30. What on Earth Am I Here For? — Rick Warren
31. Voices of the Faithful — Beth Moore
32. The Threshing Floor — Juanita Bynum
33. The Maker’s Diet — Jordan Rubin
34. Living the Extraordinary Life — Charles Stanley
35. Heaven — Randy Alcorn
36. The Ezekiel Option — Joel Rosenberg
37. Forgiven — Karen Kingsbury
38. Your Best Life Now Devotional — Joel Osteen
39. Rediscovering the Kingdom — Myles Munroe
40. Wild at Heart — John Eldredge
41. The Quilter’s Daughter — Wanda Brunstetter
42. The Pilgrim’s Progress — John Bunyan
43. 90 Minutes in Heaven — Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
44. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — C.S. Lewis
45. Lies Women Believe — Nancy Leigh DeMoss
46. The Power of a Praying Parent — Stormie Omartian
47. Twelve Extraordinary Women — John MacArthur
48. Captivating: A Guided Journal — John Eldredge
49. The Dream Giver — Bruce Wilkinson & David & Heather Kopp,
50. Sharing Your Life Mission Every Day — Brett Eastman

P.S. Don’t forget to be thinking about next week’s Carnival of Beauty topic, hosted by Marla of Just Marla. Send her your post link by 3 pm next Tuesday, Feb. 28. Marla says, “The theme is the Bible, so feel free to share your thoughts on the whole book, a favorite passage, or whatever else is Biblically relevant.”

We’re back today to finish up chatting with e-book expert Alyice Edrich of The Dabbling Mum, who is telling us how we can write about our passions in an e-book form and build a home-based business — while our kids do their schoolwork or nap.

If you missed yesterday’s interview, you’ll want to read it so you can learn the basics of writing e-books and exploring niche markets. Today, I’d like to learn more details about the selling part (oooh…that word scares me.)

Hi Alyice. Thanks for coming back to tell us more about e-books.

You’re welcome! Glad to be back.

So, if I’ve decided on a topic I’d like to write about, how much do I have to write to be able to sell my ideas as an e-book? How long should an e-book be?

An e-book should be as long as it needs to be to get the point across. Often, people come up with a great title, a great theme, but then leave the readers hanging because they don’t put in the time necessary to write a thorough book.

If you’re writing a book on how to build a tree house, for instance, your book will need to be comprised of things such as: do you need a building permit, how to get a building permit, how to draw up a blue print, how many people will be needed for the project, how to tell if a specific tree is sturdy enough, what types of woods are there and which are best, should you use nails or screws, shingles or cement, etc.

Then of course, you’ll need to decide if pictures should be included and if you use pictures, will they be sketches or actual photos — in which case you’ll need to build a tree house from scratch. Such a book could run 200 pages.

If you’re going to write a book about building a tree house, it does no good to just give a list of rules in 20 pages. People could end up buying too soft of a wood, untreated wood that warps once put together causing a safety issue in the structure, and nails that rust or loosen over time.

So, it looks like writing an e-book is a pretty in-depth process. Is it worth all the time it will take to research?

By taking the time to go into detail, providing more than surface answers, your readers will tell others about your book and you’ll gain more sales through word-of-mouth advertising.

That’s true. If customers are happy, they’ll be the ones telling other people about the product. But the whole idea of selling things scares me!

Marketing e-books is just like marketing any other product. You have to develop a business plan. You have to discover your target audience and then you have to pitch your e-book to that target audience.

You can market your e-book through word of mouth, speaking engagements, published articles, advertisements, press releases, radio interviews, etc.

What about online marketing? Do you have any tips on how we can do some marketing from home?

Sure. Here are some tips I shared with an e-book writer looking to increase sales by promoting from her website:

— Find websites that accept articles about your e-book’s topic and submit articles related to your e-book’s theme.

— Find forums where your target audience hangs out. When someone has a question related to your e-book’s theme, reply with a 250-word answer, then include a brief announcement about finding more answers in your e-book in your tagline.

— Volunteer to discuss your e-book, in an organized manner, in chat rooms that relate to the theme of your e-book. Most authors only think of chat rooms that discuss the secrets of writing and selling their books. While that can be a great place to start, your best bet for converting your time into sales is by targeting your target audience.

What about a blog tour? Is there a way we could do this with e-books?

Yes, blogs are wonderful mediums, and people love hearing from authors. You can visit blogs with subject matter that relates to the theme of your e-book. There are a several ways you can do a blog tour. I’ve written an article about it with more detail.

You can also visit appropriate blogs and leave a comment that truly responds to the post, and then link to your sales page. Or you can ask bloggers to invite you to write short content for their blogs.

And here you are! You’re offering all of us Mom 2 Mom readers useful information in case we decide to try writing e-books as a way to earn extra income for our families. And you’re also helping to market your own e-book.

Well, I feel like we’ve just nicked the tip of the iceberg — and I still have a thousand questions. Is there a place we can visit to learn more?

You can visit me at The Dabbling Mum Press and order a copy of my e-book, Tid-Bits For Making Money With E-books.

Great! We’ll also be sure to check The Dabbling Mum website to learn more. Thanks again for all of your help!

You’re welcome.

I want to add a couple of things here: I’ve gotten my own copy of Alyice’s e-book, and it’s fantastic — full of practical research and links that would take you forever to find on your own. She also includes a journaling section with questions to help trigger your thoughts about choosing a topic — which would be helpful for couples to work through together. I also learned that Alyice earns a VERY nice income from her home-based business — in fact, she was able to support her family completely for a few years to give her husband the freedom to finish school.

For those of you who have blogs and would like to invite Alyice Edrich to come tour your blog, you can contact her here. She has a wonderful interview with Carmen at Full Contact Christ-Centric Living about how she organizes her office to make sure she stays productive. You can check out the other stops on her blog tour here as well.

Well, I’m only going to write a short FlyLady post today to tell you I’ve given the shoe thing some thought. It’s part of FlyLady’s morning routine for women to get up, get dressed, and put on lace-up shoes — even if you’re not going to leave your house. (GASP!)

It’s Step #2 of the morning routine:
“Shower and get dressed to lace up shoes, fix your hair and face”

FlyLady believes this is important because she used to work for a cosmetics company from home, and she had to follow the company rule of never making a sales call unless she was dressed — all the way down to her shoes.

Well, what do you think? Many of you are moms who are either running a home-based business, homeschooling, or staying home to raise your family. Do you wear shoes at home? (This is also a cultural thing, I’m aware, as in some countries it’s not acceptable.)

I’ve been trying this out. And here’s what I found:

FLYLADY IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!

I feel 100% better when I get dressed for my “work day” all the way down to my shoes. My lace-up shoes are actually my running shoes — which help me feel like moving faster around the house. I can still wear my slippers before or after “office” hours, but I feel more professional if I’m dressed like I’m working in an office or school. (A very casual office or school, of course.)

On the same note — for me, getting dressed to my shoes also means putting on make-up. Even wearing just a little makes me feel better when I don’t look so scary. Also, it shows my kids that “home” is an important place to be, just as much as going somewhere.

Those are my thoughts on the “shoe thing.” I’d love to hear yours!