Swept by History by Margot Justes

I spent a long weekend in Alexandria, Virginia visiting my daughter. I took my granddaughter with me, and I must say she was incredible. I  plan to make this an annual event with her. She said she loved it, even though she got a work out.

It was hot and humid and the little munchkin didn't complain. A few stops at Starbucks along the way helped, bottles of water and hats were required at all times.

We walked all along King Street, took a boat ride to Mt. Vernon and visited Washington's home. My granddaughter is interested in American History and she certainly got quite a glimpse.

We spent a day in DC and visited the Vietnam Memorial. It is one of the most poignant and profound memorials I have ever seen. 

The Lincoln Memorial is nearby and we climbed up and paid a visit, and the view of the Washington Memorial is quite amazing from that site. We walked by the White House, and she took many pictures through the fence.

The Smithsonian was not left out, we stopped at the National Gallery and daughter Dina introduced me to an amazing portrait done by Chuck Close. A marvelous, huge portrait of a remarkable, worn, feisty and spirited face. Truly an astounding piece. Finger painting at its best. I will have to visit again. I'm making plans to go back end of September. After all, I have to visit my daughter.

To round out our history lesson, we stopped at the American History Museum.  

Cheers,

Margot  Justes
Hearts & Daggers
A Hotel in Paris
Hot Crimes Cool Chicks
www.mjustes.com

Are blogs effective by Margot Justes

Blogs take a bit of time to write, at least for me. I know that marketing has to be a factor in sales, and that name recognition goes to marketing and sales.

A midlist author needs that crucial name recognition to build a readership, and so it goes. E-book sales are a huge business and growing rapidly, and many of us are taking the plunge and going indie, and trying to build on that name recognition.

How to do it? One way is to blog and post all over e-net creation. That is an upside, our name is out there. There is also a downside. How many read all the blogs that are posted?  People are busy with everyday life.

Are blogs effective? Do the readers really get to know us through them? Is a shorter version of communication better? There is Facebook and Twitter, and many other social networks that take far less time and are a faster way to communicate.

What do you think? Are blogs effective, or have they outlived their usefulness?

Cheers,

Margot  Justes

Hearts & Daggers

A Hotel in Paris

and coming soon Hot Crimes Cool Chicks

www.mjustes.com

Words on Paper and Time by Margot Justes

It's been a while since I've blogged. Time has a way of disappearing. There is work, the one that actually pays bills. There is family and somewhere in between there is solitude. The type you need to put words on paper. The solitude where you escape to a world of your own creation. Somewhere in between there has be time to do errands, take care of house and make time to read.

Then of course, it's time for bed and you realize the day is done. Time has flown.

That is what happened to me the last few weeks. I have a deadline for my short stories.

Amy Alessio, Mary Welk and I are back together for a short story anthology.

Coming soon to a Kindle near you, Hot Crimes Cool Chicks.

I have a request for a full submission for my paranormal manuscript, and have to wait until my editor is ready-should be end of this month. Have to work on another novella due in September, and so it goes.

The one thing I have learned is time is precious, and anytime I can spend with family, is always my priority. Except for today, got an afternoon call from Solonge (older daughter) and she asked if there was time to go boating-I said no. She caught me in the middle of cooking-yes indeed-I was actually in the kitchen making chili.  A dear friend is ill and I promised him some homemade chili. It's actually quite excellent, if I say so myself. It was something small but important for me to do. I gave Solonge an option for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Back to my point, I really have one. Time is short, we need to pick the things that are truly important to us and do them first, and if there is time, well then we go on to the next item on the list.  I think we'll find that no matter how hard we think our life is, there is always, always someone worse off. Enjoy your life and make time meaningful.

Cheers,

Margot  Justes

Hearts & Daggers

A Hotel in Paris

www.mjustes.com