Power Networking

I’ve been reading Power Networking: 55 Secrets for Personal & Professional Success, by Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas. I like this book for the most part, especially because it emphasizes respecting and caring about people you try to get to know. It’s not about trying to muscle your way into someone’s life just to get what you want. For anyone who is in business or who wants to launch a small business, this book should be on your bookshelf. It can help you build up the network you already have and meet the people who you need to know. Here’s what the back of the book says.

What’s your networking IQ? Are you a “Power Networker”? Are you a Lone Ranger?

Take the self-Assessment and find out!!

This practical, inspiring book will teach you the secrets of creating a powerful personal and professional network. Packed with 55 proven methods for networking success, it shows you how to:

Put into practice the life-affirming Power Networking philosophy
Eliminate the roadblocks to successful networking
Use the “stepping-stone” method to meet anyone you want
Say good-bye to the Lone Ranger mentality
Make requests that get the results you want
Introduce yourself so people will be inspired to call on you
Generate a continuous flow of referrals from clients and associates
Uncover and activate your “hidden network

 

Whence Came A Prince

I’m in the process of scanning Whence Came A Prince, by Liz Curtis Higgs. This is a book that was requested on the Bookshare wish list. It’s historical fiction set in Scotland in the 1800s. Ms. Higgs has written on a wide range of subjects. This is the first of her fiction titles that I’ve read. She has a lyrical writing style that makes the scenery come to life. I’m most of the way through scanning the book, so now I’ll start reading it and cleaning up the scannos so I can submit it to Bookshare. I wouldn’t have picked this book up on my own, and I’m glad someone requested it. I like what I’ve read so far and think it would be great for discussion in a book club. The Bookshare wish list really does stretch me because as I serve other people, I find some pretty good books that I enjoy myself.

 

Black Mask

I just started reading the January 2008 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and it seems that they’re reviving content from the Black Mask private eye magazine that made hardboiled detective fiction famous from the 1920s to the 1950s. When Black Mask ceased publication in 1951, Ellery Queen started featuring some of its stories in EQMM. That stopped in 1970 or so, and many of the Black Mask stories slipped into obscurity. I’m really glad that EQMM is reviving some of these stories and adding some modern ones that fit within its scheme. I don’t like a steady diet of hardboiled mystery fiction, but I do like seeing history preserved, and I do like some of the stories and novels in that genre.
EQMM is doing a great job of honoring classic mystery writers while embracing new authors too. Edward D. Hoch and Doug Allyn are still my favorites. There stories are like good chocolate. I can’t resist either one.

Speaking of chocolate, I just got a heart-shaped box of chocolate truffles from my parents. Very nice!

 

A Warm Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I’m glad you’ve stopped by. There are a lot of book blogs around, and I’m happy that you’re taking the time to find out what this blog is about. Books are my passion, and I spend a lot of time volunteering for a service that makes print books accessible for people with reading disabilities like blindness and dyslexia. I put this blog together to share news and reviews of the books I’m reading and working on while volunteering.

The only thing better than reading a good book is meeting other people who like to read, so I hope you’ll comment on what you read here and share your thoughts about the books you like. This journal isn’t worth much without feedback from you.

My name is Monica, and I live near Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a mom, freelance writer, and marketing director for my dad’s road service company. I am blind and have been since birth. I use a scanner and speech software to turn print books into audiobooks. Through a project called Bookshare, scanned books can be submitted anddistributed to people who are blind or have dyslexia so they can read books with Braille or with speech like I do. TheAmerican government passed a law allowing us to do this legally so that when one person scans a book, other people with disabilities can benefit. So when I’m talking about reading a book, you’ll know that I’ve either scanned it myself, or I got it from Bookshare after another volunteer did the work of scanning. Either way, I have a little gadget called a Book Port that I clip onto my jeans, just like an old-style Walkman. It plays my books for me while I do the dishes, ride my exercise bike, or sit on my porch swing. Because Bookshare provides textbooks as well as fiction, I can even follow along with my daughter and help her with her homework. In terms of technology, there has never been such a wonderful time to be alive, and it’s only getting better.