I just worked through another indie book, the Ultimate Brag Book About Yourself, by Marla J. Albertie, and I wanted to let you know my thoughts. I love reading and writing, and this book is a great way to prompt you to write and explore some avenues you may not have considered traveling down. If you like question-and-answer prompts, then this book might be for you. Be sure to listen to my review by clicking on the image, and let me know in the comments if you decide to give it some space in your collection of books.
About the Author
Marla J. Albertie has lived on board a United States carrier; therefore, she feels she is unstoppable. As a native of Jacksonville, Florida, she loves to read, travel, and shop. Her travels have been on cruises, as she has taken 16 thus far. Marla believes life is a journey, and we all can create the life we want, so why not; you only live this life once. She is passionate about seeing growth in peoples’ lives and wants others to pay it forward.
As an energetic visionary, she owns and founded the TruthSpeaksGroup LLC, a multi-media company that creates strategies and solutions for work-life integration/harmony (WLI/H). She is also the founder of MJA Notary Services LLC., MJA Publishing LLC., and JEMA Holdings LLC., and Being the founder of I/O for Teens Inc. is her greatest work yet!
Marla doesn’t believe in work-life balance as she believes all areas of our lives can be integrated and we can create harmony in our lives by means of I/O Psychology and Positive Psychology methodologies.
However, harmony cannot happen if we are not in tune with who we are. Therefore “The Ultimate Brag Book” was born.
Marla’s mantra is to #TeachTrainEducate working women who desire to understand their truth and live a life of success defined on their terms.
Marla's one-word philosophy is #Learn.
Marla is a certified professional career, executive, and life coach, trainer APTD (Associate Professional in Training and Development), Certified Chief Happiness Officer, Certified Positive Psychology Practitioner, Director of HR, Instructor, of Psychology, Amazon Best Selling author, and has over 25 years of business, coaching, and training experience.
Marla holds a Master of Education in Adult Education, Bachelor of Applied Science in Supervision and Management, and an Associates of Science in Financial Services. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Marla loves speaking, teaching, and writing. Among the many ventures she is involved in here are just a few: The founder of the Motivational Movement K.I.M. (Keep it Moving), Truth Speaks Academy, an annual Women’s Empowerment Conference. I.M.A.G.IN.E. (I’M Awesome Growing IN Excellence), YouTube Channel featuring the talk show Creating Your Career with Marla J. Albertie which has 36 episodes, and blog TheWorkingWoman.co. She has also published two books and co-authored a third.
Marla is an active member of the Junior League of Jacksonville, ATD, SIOP, SHRM, Blacks in I/O, APA, ICF, IPPA, and NAHSE. She is also a Well-being and Data Literacy champion at Mayo Clinic.
When she is not trying to save the world, Marla loves a good story and frequents the movies to eat her favorite snack, nachos. She loves cruising, shopping, and reading with her family and friends.
Purchase a copy of The Ultimate Brag Book About Yourself on Amazon or get a signed copy on the author's website. You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list.
Here is where you can find her online:
Main Site: truthspeaksgroup.com
Follow her as a writer on Medium
Subscribe to her blog: www.theworkingwoman.co
Take a course at Truth Speaks Academy
Subscribe to my talk show on YouTube: https://youtu.be/faUFIqU8pHs
Instagram: http://instagram.com/tspeaksgroup
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TSpeaksCoaching
I spend most of my time reading non-fiction or business books. When I do break away from those two genres and read a fiction book I am so happy that I did. I have always felt that most fiction books come from parts of somebody’s truth mixed with some spin from other pieces of imagination and collages of life’s mash-ups.
I was delighted to come across this book by Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler. There were so many parts of the book that made me wonder if I had went to high school with her. As you will see on this interview I bring up many reasons why places and things were sparking so many memories of my days of living in rural Virginia.
So I… we… invite you to take a listen as we discuss the behind scenes of Rebecca Wenrich Wheelers novel “Whispering Through Water”, found on Amazon. Please leave us a comment and let us know what your thoughts.
Click on the title or the cover of the book for the video.
By: Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler
Becoming an eco-friendly household can be overwhelming when considering the magnitude of the
climate crisis. Instead of thinking about every possible lifestyle change, start small, and choose one or
two tasks and build from there. Yes, my family is now one with a composter, pollinator gardens, and
solar panels, but it’s not something we didn’t all at once. Whether your family is just beginning on this
journey or has incorporated some eco-friendly practices, reducing single-use plastic usage and
composting are inexpensive places to start.
Reducing single-use plastic
According to plasticocean.org 50% of all plastic produced is for single use. Individual families can make a
difference! First start by surveying your plastic usage and determine what can be cut. Start with one
item. For instance, you might ban plastic sandwich bags from lunchboxes and change to reusable
containers, ditch the plastic straws, or use refillable water bottles and coffee cups. You might also
commit to using reusable shopping bags, and if you do end up with plastic shopping bags, pledge to re-
use them.
To go a step further, you might try refillable soaps and cleaners in glass or aluminum containers. There
are many more options in the refillable soap market than just a few years ago. My personal favorite is
Blueland for hand soaps, laundry booster, and toilet cleaner. And the best part is over time you do save
money, because you are only buying the refill tablets and not paying for yet another disposable
container. I also use Grove Collaborative for dish detergent and laundry sheets, and I went back to old-
school powder dishwasher detergent in a cardboard box.
For those who love clothes, research clothing companies that use recycled plastics in their fabrics or
even shop consignment. Every little bit helps. Start small; ditch one plastic item, and then see how far
you go! Visit earthday.org for more tips on ending plastic pollution and even calculate your plastic
footprint to help you determine where to cut.
Home composting
Let’s talk about home composting. So why compost in the first place? According to the USDA, food
waste is estimated at 30-40% of the food supply. And most of that waste goes into landfills. Every 100
pounds of food waste sends 8.3 pounds of methane into the atmosphere. Yes, composting does create
methane, but at much lower levels. Landfill emissions are about ½ methane and ½ CO2, and compost
gas emissions are mainly CO2.
About 50% of what goes into landfills can be composted, and that’s where families come in. We’ve been
home composting for almost five years. We purchased a 37-gallon tumbling composter from Target for
about $90. We keep a small stainless steel compost bin on our counter, and when it’s full, we transfer to
the large composter.
The first step is to cut down on food waste and leave as little as possible uneaten. But if you do have
waste, most of it can transfer to home composting: coffee grounds, egg shells, bread scraps, fruit and
vegetable scraps, tea bags, nut shells (make sure to crush for quicker decomposition), paper, cardboard
tubes, cardboard take-out containers. Even some yard waste like grass clippings, crushed leaves and
sawdust can be composted. You do want a balance of greens and browns in your bin. Check out the EPA
website for more home composting tips: https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
Animal fats and proteins should not go into home compost, as it takes a lot more heat than a home
composter can provide to break it down. You’ll get rot before compost, plus animal products attract
pests. If you have access to a commercial compost service, like Compost Now, they can take animal
byproducts as well as the cups, utensils, and bags marked for commercial compost. Also never put pet
waste or unused medicine in compost. Check with your local health department for proper disposal of
medicine.
I grew up on a peninsula, and water was a part of our town’s survival. Not only was it a source of beauty
and recreation it was also our livelihood. I remember being taught about pollution in elementary school
in the 1980s, and those lessons stuck with me. The natural world is infused in all my writing, and
sometimes not even intentionally! My pictures books: When Daddy Shows Me the Sky (released
November 2021) and When Mama Grows with Me (to be released Summer 2023), are about
astronomy, and gardening, respectfully. My novel YA Whispering Through Water is set in a
coastal Virginia town, and the book is filled with water and bird imagery. Whispering Through Water was
released January 4, 2023, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.
Spring is around the corner! If you are interested in watching the evolution of my pollinator gardens,
follow me on Instagram. Blooming will happen soon!
IG: @rebeccawwheeler_author
Twitter: @RWW_author
www.rebeccawwheeler.com
A new year has arrived, and new goals and dreams are often written down in journals and planners. Maybe one of them is writing a book. That goal has been on my radar for a decade (just being frank).
One piece of the book writing puzzle that has put me on a long pause is the publishing side of things. When I was in college, a professor told me I couldn't write. That one comment changed the trajectory of my entire career.
Needless to say, when I think of writing a book, I think of rejection letters and publishers saying "no'! So when I was asked to review Melanie Faith's new book "A Multi-Genre, Insider's Guide to the Publication Process," I was on board. I may be infusing fear into something that 1. Has not happened. 2. It could be a made-up story from my thoughts of the unknown. 3. Knowledge is power, and perhaps I could learn something to combat my fear. So I began reading.
Melanie Faith Author
What is true about this book is that she has submitted her own writing 1,300 times and still has plenty more to submit. In this book, she shares about writing, editing, preparing to publish or not to publish, and teaching writers like myself how to navigate.
The first chapter is titled "First Identity: You Are Who You Say You Are." This was a defining moment for me. It helped me shed away the painful stigma I still carried from that one professor so many moons ago. Each chapter ends with an exercise, and this first assignment was to say by the end of the week to someone, "I am a writer." It was powerful and changed my entire perspective on how I show up.
My day came when someone was reading about my products and asked me, "How do you come up with these names and tell stories?" Without hesitation, I said, "just like you like to cook, I love to write... I am a writer." I felt my chest puff up like a red-breasted robin strutting my stuff. I transformed personally and professionally in one sentence from the very first chapter.
If you want the raw and no-fluff truth on writer versus author, you must take the time to add this book to your resources. I ended my read feeling built up, and options I never thought of were gifted to me. My power to forge along as a writer has been renewed. If you are on the fence about publishing or not publishing, wrestling with imposter syndrome, or needing fresh ideas to get your work in front of many eyeballs, then you want this in your hands.
I will be peering into other books by Melanie Faith; many lessons were learned. This is the kind of book you have to highlight, make marginal references and re-read over and over again, and no doubt you will leave with a fresh gem every time.
What are your writing goals? Please share them below. I would be glad to clap you up.... all the way to your desired finishing line.
Did you say a book filled with stories and how people were able to overcome what could have been a total TKO? I am a sucka for a happy ending and victory dances... hand over a tambourine, and I will give it a few firey shakes. I want to introduce you to my latest read, Rebirth, By Kate Brenton, ED.M.
Read more...
