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Interview With Internet Book Promoter Alexis James

I ‘met’ Alexis online as someone promoting books on behalf of authors. My question was “Wow, you can actually make money helping authors promote books online?” Alexis agreed to elaborate for me and here are some of her answers about how she makes it work.

Promoting a book anytime soon, or wonder how social media types make money online? Read on.

You Tell Me: Legitimate Online Fundraising

So I got an email today from my friend Susan asking if I knew anything about online fundraising for people in need. Here’s the scenario:

My cousin recently gave birth to her first child 11 months early which is scary, but what’s even scarier is that there are lots of health complications, her job isn’t great, if she doesn’t go back to work in 2 weeks (they’ve been with the kid in intensive care for a few weeks now) she loses her health insurance, her husband’s job got “downsized” and they’re almost finished building their house that her husband designed and built with his parent’s help. They’ve been married 1 year. So…their bills are stacking up, they may lose their house soon, and all of us in the family are feeling mighty helpless about the whole thing. How to help? Like many situations, money would solve a lot.

Too Cute Tuesday: Bath Salts

Sarah and Sue make scientific sense out of vague directions.

Ah, Tuesday. It’s the cutest, especially when we make a less labor intensive craft and just drink wine and dish.

Kind of like doing laundry, making bath salts felt like we were passively getting stuff done, if only because Dorrie was doing the heavy lifting and the rest of us were just yaking away. And by heavy lifting, I mean stirring stuff.

How To Date An Anonymous Blogger

So at lunch yesterday, John said the exact thing you never want to hear at the beginning part of a relationship.

“There is something I need to tell you.”

Which Is Better, Buying Salvage or Buying Concious?

So if it's one thing my good friends know about me is I'm a socially concious shopper. I let myself eat fast food exactly twice a year (usually when I'm in the process of moving). I buy local whenever I can, which I'm trying to do as I start my...

The Eve Of My Retirement

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the newspaper. I am throwing myself a small "retirement" party at a local bar/restaurant and invited anyone in the company who wanted to come by and send me off. I've been getting lots of encouraging words and emails...

Fiddleheads: Why You Should Forage For Food

My friend HK used to use the term “forage” for what she’d do in our college cafeteria. Like any cafeteria situation no matter how good, you end up having to look around and create meals yourself with what’s available… you know, unless you like having the same hot meal in rotation every three weeks.

The foraging continues in my adult life, only this time it is inspired by my grandfather. Pepere Bee* is always picking various seasonal crops and sharing them. In the fall, he picks apples from wild trees and potatoes behind the potato harvesters that leave the smaller, though still tasty, ones behind. (Note: You should probably ask the farmer before you do this.) In the summer, it’s strawberries and blueberries. And in the spring, it’s fiddleheads.

Fiddleheads grow near soggy areas in the spring. Essentially they are ferns before they pop open. If you are looking for fiddleheads, make sure you are pretty confident in your identification skills and try areas alongside (clean) riverbanks in places that are harder to access by people. They end up being less picked over that way plus, you know, if you are going to eat something that’s been sitting in water, it ought to at least be clean water.

Here is my foolproof recipe. My friend Jake says it is better then his Memere’s** and my friends raved about them at Too Cute Tuesday.

Fiddleheads A La Nicole

1 pound of fiddleheads
Good butter
2 bouillion cubes w/2 c. water
Sea salt
Pepper

Melt butter in a large pan on medium high. In the meantime, wash the fiddleheads at least three times. You want the water to be relatively clean when you are done.

Dump fiddleheads in the pan and saute for a few minutes.

Add bouillion cubes/water. Cook for 10-15 minutes until fiddleheads are tender but not “limp”. (I think a lot of people overcook them.)

Add salt and pepper. Yum!

Don’t want to forage? They are for sale lots of places around (in Maine at least), including roadsides and at the grocery store.

Eating seasonally: cheaper, healthier, and tastier!

*We call grandfathers “pepere” where I am from.
**We call grandmother’s “memere”. In both these words, the “r” is sometimes not pronouced, making the words sound like “mah-may” and “puh-pay”. Ok that’s all the French lesson for today, folks!

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