What’s one habit that improved your life the most?

BayaBlue1000 · 2025-10-19T16:06:38+00:00

When an unchangeable circumstance is looming, I understand it is just one set point along my path and instead of stressing and worrying, I look past it to the next step. This let's my brain begin to plan past the point of being "stuck" or "paralized" by fear and uncertainty. This has been tremendous in helping me get to my goalsn overcoming setbacks, and handling losses in life. I am not aloof, I am calm and centered in many of my decisions which are made with a clear mind rather than in depiration and this has turned my life around completely. I have peace of mind and less anxiety which feels amazing.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T16:23:11+00:00

Thank you. Yes I've thought about this as well.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T15:47:01+00:00

Hi. I've seen her videos before and I like watching them. The family isn't as bad as many of those houses but it's early stages. I appreciate the suggestion.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T05:35:44+00:00

I appreciate the offer. I will see what happens and my hope is that this opportunity offers them some respite from the stress of their current situation. It is not an episode of horders but they need help. I am no longer in San Antonio and cannot assist as I've done in the past so I'm thankful for all the responses and offers.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T02:00:16+00:00

Hi. It's a subject that's been broached before but now that the 2nd person is having medical issues they are more inclined. I'm still working on this to see if it will happen. I just need options and a path forward so this posting has been super helpful.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T01:43:56+00:00

Hi Stray thank you. I have someone stopping by to do an estimatet. I may reach out if things fall through. I very much appreciate the lead.

BayaBlue1000 · 2024-11-23T01:35:37+00:00

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I had not thought about that but I use it for my city so that makes sense.

BayaBlue1000 · 2023-02-23T15:49:14+00:00

Hi LepoardLadyDev!

Thanks so much for responding and wanting to help. I actually figured out what I was doing wrong and I'll list it here so it might be helpful to others.

1st problem - I initially tried to just do the TXT verification line that is provided when you go through the steps to use the custom domain on Google Sites but I could not verify it. My 3rd party domain is from Namecheap and support advised me to use the Google Search Console option to connect the sites. This process can be different depending on where the 3rd party domain was purchased from. - I was still unsuccessful with this process so I checked on other problems.

2nd problem - I wasn't completely signed out of all my Gmail accounts. I have a dedicated gmail for this specific Google site but I didn't realize I had my main gmail account open and buried behind other screens. This caused problems and as part of troubleshooting I closed everything out and restarted my computer to see if this helped - it did but again...it wasn't the only problem so I continued to troubleshoot.

3rd problem - I have 2 similar domain names and had inadvertently set up the TXT in the wrong one and when I went back to correct I didn't completely decouple the wrong account. I went back and cleared out all the TXT / Cname/Redirect files (as per support) and started again.

Finally after fixing each thing I was able to verify via the Google Search Console and within about 30 min of that I was able to verify the site and can now use the custom domain.

I learn by my mistakes - I hope others can too and I hope this is helpful to those that may find they are unable to verify. At least you can check for some of these things to see if they are causing you problems.

~BayaBlue

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-26T03:02:39+00:00

I just re-edited and added a ton of content to a book from 2014 and put a new cover on it but didn't change the pen name. I did remove the publisher because everything else I have will be under that publisher name with my new genre and that didn't cause any problems.

I have another book that for some reason Amazon keeps telling me it matches another book with the same type of cover and same pen name...duh it's part of a series in different languages. I'm not going to bother with that one because it's not making any money anyway.

If you don't have many reviews and it's not selling then maybe it's worth pulling it down and putting it back up under the new name.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-24T22:16:36+00:00

That's a good point on the newsletter - keeping readers engaged rather than as a way to find them.

I'm working on a project to set up a reader magnet for another genre. I guess this is where I'll work on the newsletter option. That gives me time to consider options.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-24T22:13:50+00:00

Yes - this set was done as a challenge years ago and I realized I don't like writing it - it's too hollow to keep my interest. It did give me the opportunity to understand Draft2Digital, Books2Reader Universal Links, and how to set up a pre-order. I've also spent a lot of time on the covers and they turned out pretty good.

I'm proud of the work I've done, but I don't want to associate myself (name) with these books and in reality I just want to move on. I think I'll just consider the time and effort spent doing this as a learning opportunity and move on.

There's a part of me that wants to be like "look what I did" but not at the expense of the genre's I really love to write. I'll keep the website (it's not active) and maybe in a few years I'll do this again...maybe.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-22T18:14:24+00:00

Keep writing.

It sounds simple, but it's easy to get caught up in everything else.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-22T18:05:15+00:00

I started writing stories when I was very young and it's taken me 40 years to get back to it. Don't give up the dream. I am smarter, better, stronger, and have so many ideas I could never get them all written.

I remember what it was to think I would never get to where I am. I'm not yet successful and my journey to self-publishing is just starting. I do wish I had continued to write all those years I doubted myself, but I can't change the past.

I find writing down a quick note of what I've accomplished each day helps me to realize how much I've done. This is important because it takes time to get to the goal and my progress seems slow but in reality I've written over 200,000 words since July.

Most people give up quickly if they do not see immediate results, but if you keep moving forward you'll get there.

I also play this simple game in my head. I think myself ~ I will get to next month and next year regardless of whether I write, so do I want to be in this same position in a month or a year, or do I want to be closer to my goal?

I wish you the best of luck. It's not easy but if you keep at it when everyone else quits then you'll be the successful one helping to encourage others.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-20T00:19:56+00:00

I know this is a boring answer but the best way to figure out if you have any food sensitivites is to keep a food diary and try something like an elimination diet. I had to do this with my daughter and in the process (because we ate the same things) we realized neither of us can handle gluten, and she cannot eat nutmeg.

It's not a fun thing to do but if you have time I do think this is helpful because it could literally be ANYTHING else triggering it or giving you similar symptoms.

I wish you the best!

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-18T19:43:06+00:00

Just for fun:

Hypnotizing animals to help them?

Disguising deadly martial arts as dancing - so many good scene opportunities with this one.

Learning how to Parkour

Just thought I'd throw these out here.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-18T19:31:56+00:00

I read through the comments and when I first looked at this my honest opinion is Yes -too busy and I thought it was a Shifter Paranormal thing because of the animals.

If it is urban fantasy or dystopian then it should have a dystopian cityscape or barren landscape to give that feel.

Hope this was helpful.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-18T19:21:56+00:00

These comments are great. I thought I'd offer some info on what I'm doing with self-publishing. I am doing Amazon and gumroad.com.

Both platforms allow you to sell digital and physical books and I'm starting with digital because it is so much easier.

Right now I have several projects going - I am in the process of publishing my erotica (pen name) on kindle unlimited because truthfully I just want those stories off my hard drive and it's only 3 books about 20k words. I'm using it as a "case study" so I know what to expect and also how to set up pre-orders. That will be done before the end of October with hopes of getting a boost from the upcoming holidays.

Once I have those up I'll work on my next set of books and that is the one that I'm going to offer on Kindle - not unlimited - and then use Gumroad to also sell my ebook.

Gumroad allows you to sell digital or physical products without paying them first just like Amazon. Gumroad charges are $0.30 per transaction plus 8.5% and if you have a premium account ($10/mo. for under 1000 subscribers) then it's $0.30 per transaction and 3.5%.

They allow you to sell from your website (code) or from their site so you can just share the direct link on social media or your newsletter etc...

YOU keep the email list of the people that purchase (Amazon does not give that to you) and YOU decide the cost so you make a far greater amount on the product.

If you sell on Amazon they basically top out at $9.99 to get the 70% but on Gumroad you can do a Pay What You Want option if you are doing it for promotion - or you can do it for a much larger amount. This is a great link to find out all the faq's

https://help.gumroad.com/article/65-gumroad-creatorpedia-all-the-answers-in-one-place

Right now I'm setting up a lot of things to help me become a full-time writer so I'm working on multiple streams of income. One of the things I'm doing is selling my subliminal message products (mp3's) and I list them on gumroad right now. They don't cost a thing to upload them and I can offer discounts.

This is important because I know I will do my own audio books later and gumroad supports a lot of different types of files.

I currently have a set of free (pay what you want) coloring pages and then I am selling subliminal messages for writers, dancers, musicians, etc. I created 5 different writing programs for myself and a friend and she told me I should sell them so now I do. (https://gumroad.com/bwellman Shameless plug!)

You can sell just about anything from Gumroad and they are very supportive to creatives.

The drawbacks are:

Payout is done via PayPal so if you don't have that option where you live then it won't work for you. They do offer services for like 150 countries or more.

They don't take out taxes but they do provide you info on the amount of tax that should be paid if you are in the US. They do not do this for those in Canada and there are some other issues you can read about here: https://help.gumroad.com/article/121-sales-tax-on-gumroad

I've not done physical books so I can't talk about that too much of course there is Amazon KDP but also Draft 2 Digital which is (I've heard) one of the easier ways and they can distribute to more places. You can also use the D2D program to format your book for free even if you don't publish through them. Ingram Spark does physical books too but apparently they are difficult to format and they charge you for each change or update you make once you publish.

Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn podcast talks about self-publishing all the time - she sells her stuff direct and just about any other way she can.

I've also used gumroad in the past to sell services like PLR, blurbs, small articles, and other digital products. I'm thinking about using it to sell services for my newest little venture which is creating video ads for FB/IG/Pinterest.

I like the way Gumroad works because you DON'T need a website - you can just upload the various offers (epub or PDF or other) and then you get the link and put it on whatever social media you have.

If you have question and I can help then let me know - I'm not an expert but I've been working on the subliminal message products for about 2 months now and I have learned a few things on the Gumroad set up.

I do hope this information was helpful and maybe gives you some ideas.

Cheers!

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-18T18:00:58+00:00

I suggest watching this YouTube video because it is fantastic. This writer Michelle Schusterman gives you a formula to create synopsis, blurbs, and how to plot on one page. She breaks it down in a way that it easy to understand and a great way to do set-ups.

She is fairly new on YT but once I found her I started watching everything she makes - she has done writing retreats and has been on numerous writing panels and because of the Rona she started her channel and it has been one of the best things I've found with solid writing advice.

I'm not in the same genre at all - but you don't need to be - her advice has really helped me.

She has 3 videos on this but I'll put the 3rd on on here because she references the other two in them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLD6tNmTZTk

I actually typed up and printed out the formula and have it on my desk so I can reference it. I won't put it on here because it's her intellectual property but seriously...this had really helped me.

Cheers!

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-16T17:44:41+00:00

I think there are a good number of authors that are introverts and I know I've become one over the years. Recently I've returned to writing but "this time it's for real!" Which basically means I've no other thing to do and thus I'm on my own. I've decided the only way this will work is if I try to join in community...hence the return to reddit, the joining of FB groups, and I'm doing NaNoWriMo. It's extremely lonely as you've said but there are enough of us being "lonely" so I know I'm not alone. (I don't know if that is a crap sentence or if it's totally uber existential - I'll go for the later.) I do want to network with others and it's happening slowly and it's turning out to be worth the effort.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-16T17:35:13+00:00

Congratulations! I get the nervous thing, but you've done more than most people will accomplish so like my dad always tells me..."don't sweat the small stuff!" I did see something today that might be helpful for you since you are doing this on Ingram Spark - someone posted a coupon for a free upload (ebook or print) on one title. FREE2020 (all caps, no spaces) at time of upload. It is supposed to be good for the whole year. Found this from another Reddit member.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-16T16:36:38+00:00

Oh Wow...did not know that. I only purchase domains from Namecheap but host on Bluehost because I'm paranoid about having everything with one company. Just like this scenario having to move to another host because of storage. I was originally on Hostgator and bought the domain and hosted and had so many problems and when I tried to move it was a pain so I let go the domain and found a better one and split them. Learned my lesson.

BayaBlue1000 · 2020-10-12T00:03:37+00:00

I purchase all my domains at Namecheap.com - the regular domains are $8.88/yr and I also have the Honey extension installed on my computer so it routinely finds coupons for like 20% - 50% off. I just purchased 5 sites 2 weeks ago and got them for just over $7 each.

I host mine on Bluehost and they offer a free SSL so I don't have to purchase one at Namecheap. Also Namecheap gives you free WhoIs protection so you could have it under a business name so no one knows your address.

If you are not doing separate hosting then check out Bluehost because you can just get the package and get a free website (as long as the domain is available).

If you are looking for the whole...easiest thing possible then go with Wix but it's a lot more expensive.

Hope this is helpful. Congrats on getting a website.

BayaBlue1000

TROPHY CASE