I don’t have an Amazon Kindle, but with the newest round of Kindles and Kindle prices especially ($139 for WiFi only, $189 for 3G + WiFi), I definitely want one.  And, honestly, nope, I don’t want a Barnes & Noble Nook because, even though it’s pretty, I think Amazon will (and does) have the larger selection of books.

One of the biggest issues with publishing books electronically is it allows for pretty much anyone who wants to publish, CAN self-publish to their heart’s content in Kindle format.  So, instead of agents, editors and publishers slogging through the slush piles on their desks, you and me, the readers, have to figure out what to read and what not to read.

This is a revolutionary change–and it can be both good and bad.  As a reader, I’m not sure that I want to sift through the masses of unprofessional self-published books out there.  I don’t want to buy and read books that I simply want to discard afterward.  Or books that I feel were a waste of time after I finish reading them.

There is still a stigma self-publishing has to overcome and, while the advantages of traditional publishing are monetary, advertising and distribution (and more!), self-publishing is indeed picking it’s reputation up off the floor, dusting it off, and working on bringing itself up to pace.

Well, on Fridays, starting next week, I’m going to start going through books, fiction and nonfiction, offered for the Kindle, I find of interest on Amazon’s website.  Amazon, sweethearts that they are, allows Kindle users to download a short sample of most books so you can determine whether or not you want to read them.  I find myself using this feature A LOT, even when I know I’m not going to purchase anything at that time.  It’s like walking into a bookstore and just perusing the bookshelves… in the privacy of your own home.

Being slightly agoraphobic and antisocial, I like this idea.

So, this next week, I will be choosing a sample from a novel I find interesting and will review the sample only to determine whether or not I would purchase the book from that sample.

Any suggestions?

(Oh, one last note: sometime earlier this year, Amazon made the decision to remove all the Colorado affiliates from their website due to new taxes on Internet purchases, so NONE of these reviews will have an Amazon affiliate link, sadly to say )

From the article in the Seattle PI, June 28, 2008:

1. What you see is what you get. Outer and inner are connected, parts of one whole.

2. A person who has basic integrity honors commitments and keeps promises. If they say they will be there, they are. If they promise to do something, they do it.

3. A person with integrity is truthful. You can trust what they tell you.

4. Consistency. Someone who has integrity isn’t your new best friend one week and then next week doesn’t seem to know you.

5. Integrity doesn’t mean that a person never makes mistakes. But a person with integrity accepts responsibility for his or her own mistakes or failures and does what’s in his or her power to put things right.

6. Related to No. 5, people with integrity are slow to blame others for their problems or frustrations. They aren’t whiners.

7. People of integrity care about the work, the mission, or the product and about a job well done, and not just about what they personally will get out of it in terms of money, recognition or advancement.

8. While receptive to learning and change, people of integrity are skeptical of simple answers to complex problems, and not inclined toward fads or buzzwords.

9. A person of integrity minds his or her own business. I don’t mean isolation. I mean paying attention to your own responsibilities and work rather than freely inserting yourself into the responsibilities of another.

10. People with integrity know that they aren’t perfect and that sometimes in this life it’s not possible to avoid disappointing or hurting others. Because of this they are able to forgive and they recognize their own need for forgiveness.

Abandoned.

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Instead of words, let me give you pictures today.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been discovering more and more information online about creativity.  Currently, it’s one of my favorite topics to research and review.

Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online is a treasure trove of information about living your life to the best of your ability and doing the things you most want in life.  Marelisa Fabrega has created a wonderful resource for those who want to learn to live your best life, to be more creative, and to have fun while doing it.

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So, what inspired you to start Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online?

When I was working as an attorney for the Panama Canal, one of the Canal pilots mentioned a book to me called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.  The book sounded very interesting, so I ordered a copy through Amazon and I read it.  At the time, all of my income came from earning a salary.  That is, I was making linear income.  “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was the first book that really introduced me to the concept of passive, or residual, income.

Passive income is when you spend a lot of time and effort creating something—a business which you set up so that a manager runs it for you, writing a book, creating something which you can patent, and so on—and then you begin earning a continuous stream of income from that initial effort.  If you do a good job, you can really leverage your time and get a lot of return for the initial effort that you put it.  I decided that I wanted to create a source of passive income for myself.

A short while after that I left the Canal and started working as a solo-practitioner.  During my spare time I created a web site and started selling affiliate programs from the site; as I said before, I wanted to create a source of passive income.  I read that blogs were a good way to draw traffic to your web site, so I created Abundance Blog.  Then the blog started generating a good deal of traffic.  In addition, I started participating in the blogging community and got to meet a lot of really great bloggers.  An added bonus was that people would leave comments on my blog and send me emails letting me know that they enjoyed my articles and found them to be very valuable.  What started out as a means to earn passive income turned into much more than that.  Now I can’t imagine my life without my blog.

On your About page, you state, “Simplify your life by identifying authentic desires, and be more productive by doing less while achieving more and by embracing creativity.”

I love this and am probably going to snag it for my “inspiration” section.  It really feels that this statement is what your blog is all about.  But, as you may know, life is crazy–it seems that we are very much a complicated society, always on the go, and the busier we are, the more productive we’re supposed to be, right?

How did you come up with this statement?

I came up with that statement in response to a request that Darren Rowse–from the blog “Problogger”—made to his readers; he asked his readers to submit a sentence explaining what their blog was about, in 140 characters or less (Twitter-style).  I was thinking about the topics that I wrote about, and how I could synthesize the core of my blog in just one sentence, and that’s what I came up with.  To me simplicity isn’t about going without, it’s about deciding what you really love and find useful, and getting rid of everything else.  In addition, being more productive isn’t about getting better at squeezing more and more things into your schedule, but about prioritizing what’s most important to you and concentrating on that, and taking the most direct route to accomplishing what you want.  And, of course, anything you do, creativity helps you do it better.

In your biography, it states that you are both a Qigong and a Reiki practitioner.  Can you tell us a little about what these practices are and how they have helped you succeed?

A lot of our energy is lost through negative emotions.  If you’re angry, upset, frustrated, anxious, or worried, those feelings are sucking up your energy.  On the other hand, feelings such as contentment, joy, and passion for what you’re doing give you energy.  Qigong helps me to balance out my energy so that I can release negative emotions and access positive emotions.

I practice something called Spring Forest Qigong. It’s a home-course I purchased several years ago.  The course teaches you a simple routine which is very similar to Tai Chi.  I try to do it for 20 minutes each day.  The shift in energy that I feel after a Qigong session is simply amazing.  I feel lighter, energized, and it puts me in a really good mood. This helps me to focus a lot better on whatever I’m working on.  The movements are very simple, easy to learn, and gentle on the body.

Reiki is a Japanese energy healing method.  In order to be able to channel Reiki energy you need to get an attunement from a Reiki master.  I met a Reiki Master here in Panama about ten years ago and I received an attunement from her.  Reiki helps me to relax at the end of the day.  I usually watch a little TV at the end of the day and I give myself a Reiki session while I watch.  This helps me to sleep better, so that I can be more productive the next day.

Your newest ebook is called “How To Live Your Best Life–The Essential Guide for Creating and Achieving Your Life List.”

I have a copy of the ebook and am currently working my way through it.  It’s definitely thought-provoking.  I like the idea of having exercises to work through–for me, writing things down on paper or in a journal helps me keep my thoughts straight.  I can also go back and reorganize, adjust and rewrite when things change in my life or even see where I was a few years ago.

Do you think you are living your own best life?  What was the most difficult lesson you had to learn in order to get to where you currently are?

I devoted a lot of time and energy to the job I had working for the Panama Canal; a lot more than I should have.  I was working insane hours, and I gained a lot of weight since I wasn’t exercising and I would stop at McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s on the way home each night.  I completely neglected my self-care and I often felt stressed and drained.

I now take much better care of myself—physically and emotionally—and am back to my normal weight.  I’m actually training for a marathon in December!  I also meditate and practice energy healing methods, such as the two that have already been mentioned above (Reiki and Qigong), and am much happier than I was when I was working for the canal.  So, one important, and difficult, lesson that I’ve learned is to make sure to take good care of yourself.

Am I currently living my best life?  To me, living your best life is an ongoing process.  It’s about setting goals for yourself and working toward achieving those goals, while making sure that you enjoy the journey.  There are a lot of goals that I’ve set for myself that I haven’t achieved yet, but I’m working toward achieving them and am having fun along the way.  At the same time, I have a long list of things that I’ve already accomplished which I’m very proud of.  So I’d say that I’m on my way.

Within the past few years, I know that my life list–what I want to accomplish with my life–has changed a couple of times.  Whether this is due to not knowing what my “authentic desires” are or simply just a change in my own desires, I don’t know.

Does your list change from time to time?  Do you find yourself putting something on your list one day and then sometime later, realizing you don’t really want it there to begin with?

Your life list is a living document and it should evolve with you.  Sometimes you’ll put something down on your list because it sounds like a great thing to do, but upon further investigation you discover that it really isn’t something that you want to do after all.  That’s fine.  The best way to discover what you really want to do is through experimentation.  I take out and add items to my life list all the time.  It’s not that I give up on any of my important goals, but, instead, I realize through trial and error that certain things on my list don’t really belong there.

One more question about living life to the fullest.

Sometimes it seems like the more choice and the more freedoms that we have to make those choices give us an inability to hamper down and to focus on one particular thing.  For example: my mother has said she has always known she wanted to go into a health-related field–initially wanting to be a doctor but due to her choices in life, she decided to become a nurse instead.

On the other hand, I have flip-flopped back and forth.  I wanted to be a teacher, then a psychologist, then a computer programmer, then a physicist, and now, a writer.  I will state–I have always wanted to write, but have never truly had the freedom and security to do so without fear.

Why do you think do some of us know exactly what we want from the very beginning and some of us go back and forth until we find what we want?

American motivational speaker Earl Nightingale once said that there are two distinct kinds of successful people: river people and the goal people. He explains that river people are those fortunate people who find themselves born to perform a special task. They know from childhood what they want to do with their lives, and they throw themselves into their river of interest 100%.

The rest of us have to go out on an archaeological dig and search for that avenue of interest that perfectly matches our natural abilities, where we can make our greatest contribution and spend our lives doing work we love.

Why does this happen?  I once heard that the word vocation comes from the Latin word “vocare”, which means “to call”.  That is, our vocation is what we are called to do.  I think that some people are just better attuned to what they’re being called to do, while others need to strain a bit harder in order to be able to hear their calling.

Your previous ebook, “How to Be More Creative: A Handbook for Alchemists,” has really caught my attention, but then I’m a beginning writer who has problems with procrastination as well as occasional bouts of writer’s block.

Within it are many different theories of creativity as well as steps one can take to increase their own creativity level.  You’ve got stuff from Eric Maisel, Edward de Bono, Roger Von Oech and other “creativity gurus.”  It sounds like a “one-stop-shop” for all your creativity needs

Do you have a favorite creativity technique that you learned from your research?  What technique helps you the most with your own life?

One of the things I’m known for is my research prowess—and I did a lot of research for both of my eBooks: “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” and “How to Live Your Best Life – The Essential Guide for Creating and Achieving Your Life List”.  Both eBooks are packed with techniques and tools which you can begin applying right away.  One creativity technique that I find myself using often is creating mind maps.  I like mind maps because they allow you to use both brain hemispheres for solving problems and generating ideas.  I wrote a very comprehensive post on my blog on how to create mind maps; here’s the link in case you or your readers are interested: Mind Maps: Everything You Need to Know.

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Thank you, Marelisa, so much for answering my questions!

Note: the links to Marelisa’s eBooks are affiliate links.