Idea Girl Consulting

Writing Researching Challenges for 2012

jan 25 2012

one of the things i never thought i'd be doing would be deciphering an "alien" radio signal from 1977. But that's exactly what i've been working on since Dec 2011.

It didn't just fly out of the sky and into my head. It came in the form of a dream and a mathematical equation.

Turns out it meant something.

In 2011 I started my web tv show on the idea girl says youtube channel and i was gettting tired of it and bored...

now this series of 100 or so videos isn't boring, it's a learning experience.

details about satellites, rockets outer space, new planets, galaxies, alien dna discoveries found on earth and now crop circles.

I never really paid much attention to any of it before.

Never heard of this WOW signal until 35 years after the fact...

but the reality is this.

I'm finding stuff on google sky that looks like habitable planets and UFOs

i'm looking up data to build a
UFO engine and learning as I go along.

So far it's been loads of fun and a real intellectual challenge for me.

doing ancient math equations has really caused some major headaches at times but others well lets just say it puts a big smile on my face when something turns out to be right ( a guess or an intuitive thought)

Pete's Pizza - Idea Girl Consulting "You Did Not Make Me Smile Award for Poor Customer Service and False Advertisement"

Nov 28, 2011 ratings restaurant reviews linda randall - the idea girl

pete's pizza ordered extra cheese didn't get it nov 28 2011 linda randall

i ordered pepperoni and double cheese as you can see there's hardly any cheese on this pizza at all!

but i didn't complain about that till now.

my beef was the 18 wings instead of 20.

the attitude of the person answering the phone on sat nov 26 2011 after 7 pm.

the lack of responsibility shown by the manager by not coming to the phone and addressing the issue with me (i was told he wasn't there yet I knew he was because we were there 2 minutes earlier and he was there)

the lack of apology for not advising us at the time of order that it was by the pound.

we were told 3 xs that it was a good special with 12 slice pizza and 20 wings.. not 18.. not by the pound.

I'm making a big deal because this restaurant has given this SAME excuse to me for the past 3 months.

i asked this time are you going to change the pricing on the sign and the wording? the flyers and the coupons you mailed out this week?

the answer was NO.. they didn't care and I advised them I would be blogging my story for my restaurant review section.

this is to save customers some grief. you will not get the specials for 10, 20 or 50 wings.. you will get whatever equals a pound or two.. nothing more..

you will not be given an apology or the feeling that the customer is always right.

you will be hung up on if you complain...

and the manager himself will be rude to you if you confront him face to face about anything wrong with your order.

last time we got a pizza with hardly any cheese on it and we'd ordered double cheese that time too.

i just want restaurants to be accountable like stores, retail and other businesses.

if you advertise something then you have to STAND by your prices or choose to lose good paying long time eating there customers.

ive ordered pete's pizza now for about 20 years (usually the one ontario st and merrit st depending on where we lived at the time) so I really was ticked off to be treated like that

and when i told the guy i'm going to blog it he laughed.. like he didn't give a rat's ass about my opinion..

i'm sure he will now..once he realizes i mean business.

i go after people that rip customers off and make them eat their words..

i make them stick to what they promise..

it's called excellent customer service

i'm so tired of getting crappy customer service here in canada i decided i'm going to do something to help change it.

it does help in the long run.

i can educate you as the consumer to stand up and stick up for yourself.

those companies wouldn't be in business if you didn't buy their stuff.

they also ruin a "franchises" name by not sticking by the standards provided to them.

people have to be accountable for what they do, and being disrespected as a restaurant reviewer really pisses me off sometimes.

so i let them see what the power of blogging can do, maybe next time we ask them to give us what they promise, they will...

this complaints been registered with the better business bureau (false pricing and advertising) with the solution being that pete's pizza be made to change all coupons going out in the mailers, their flyers, their advertisements in all newspapers and the menu pricing inside of the restaurant to reflect what they are giving to their customers.

i don't think it's fair to the staff either. i'll bet they get yelled out every hour on the hour because of this manager's or owners nonesense of changing his wing orders from 20 pieces to lbs.. is it 1.5 pounds? 2 pounds?

i should have weighed them to see...

pete's pizza flyer evidence

nov 28 2011

petes pizza flyer 286 bunting rd with 12 slice pizza and 18 wings problem linda randall

when i signed up my complaint with the better business bureau and the consumer rights they asked for documentation and proof.

since they never give us receipts from that store all i have is the flyer and photos of the food itself.

as for proof.. we had someone drive us there to get a pizza.. so they are a witness to us being there as well.

petes pizza flyer advertises the wrong item and pricing

nov 28 2011

petes pizza flyer 12 slice pizza 20 wings 22.99 complaint about 18 wings nov 28 2011 linda randall the idea girl

menu states 20 wings.. period.. not 2 lbs of wings..

pete's pizza 18 wings instead of 20 286 bunting rd st catharines ontario canada 905 688 1234 on sat nov 26 2011 after 7 pm

nov 28 2011 yelp, bbb, consumer rights complaints have been updated along with the idea girl says youtube and my world travel restaurant blog the calamity girl word press travel and tourism news site

pictured here are the tasty 18 wings we got instead of 20 with our order on nov 26 2011 from pete's pizza 286 bunting rd st catharines ontario canada.

this business has been awarded the "you did not make me smile idea girl consulting award" for poor customer service and false advertising.

a flyer was received in the mail coupons earlier this week, their store flyers, the window on the store front is painted with it AND the sign hanging up in the store all say the exact same thing.

nothing about wings being sold by the pound. we were told that it was today's special 3 xs from the guy behind the counter.. 20 wings and 12 slice pizza was a good deal.

winner's certificate nanowrimo nov 25 2011 Grammy's Magic Space Ship Author Linda Randall Twitter @theideagirl

nov 27 2011 12 07 pm est

I got this award on nov 25, 2011 for completing the nanowrimo national novel writing month challenge of creating a manuscript of 50,000 words or more within 30 days during the month of november.

I've participated in the nanowrimo challenge since 2008 but that year i failed to upload my manuscript because I had computer problems. I've got certificates from 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

it was fun and much harder this time around. I've been suffering from a neck, head and spine injury from a car accident (two of them one was back in sept 2006 and this one was in aug 2011) it was harder to deal with this time because when i was typing i was putting words completely backwards at times.. like this ebyam instead of this maybe

i couldn't believe it!

I didn't notice it until i started editing the manuscript for Grammy's Magic Space Ship.

So instead of waiting till January to start editing it, I started right away. I actually wrote this novel and typed it up in 6 days. So it' was done on Sunday Nov 6 2011 in mid afternoon. I gave myself a week off (7 Th ill 13 Th) then started editing the novel after November 14, 2011.

I'ts now Nov 27, 2011 around 11 50 am est and so far i'm up to page 150 in the manuscript. On my second round of editing where I'm rewriting as I go along.

I have a major snag in my story from pages 140 to 150 where my three agents get mixed up about which research team they belong too.

I changed it during my first set of editing and realized i've goofed up a few sections in my story.

so I'm putting yellow stickies on my editing notes. (i'm doing a full edit this time strictly on the computer)

once i get it to a half decent state (oh my god i had thousands of typos this time because of my hands and arms aching from arthiritis I almost gave up but the doctor was kind enough to give me some extra pain killers to help me get through it and the insurance company got me a decent lumbar support office computer chair (it's amazing from Staples.. buy a chair from there.. they are the BEST!) so that I can get back to blogging and writing my novels. ;)

Even though I had this car accident and had many xrays and exams.. I was so upset about not being able to blog and write for weeks.

the accident happened aug 1, 2011 and I really couldn't do a thing until i got this new chair. my back still aches like hell and my pain killers (morphine) make me really really DOZY... so some days i'm so jumbled in my brain i don't even bother to try editing.

other days i can think clearly for about 2 hours then it goes fuzzy again.

so i keep track of my fuzzy and good times.

i found out that my mornings after a good nights rest i can think straight for about 4 hours and then i get a headache.. like NOW.. :)

so i've learned to pace myself accordingly.

every day i work for 1 to 2 hours on the manuscript edits.

then i take a few hours break, do some walking, errands and reading and writing ideas that come to mind and i go back to doing some blogging for about an hour to 4 hours depending on how good i feel.

I get up every hour, put my new little heating pads that i made for myself (you can see the how to make white sock heating pads for under $5 on my web tv youtube channel the idea girl says) for about 15 to 20 minutes and I lay down and snuggle with daisy, and watch the news or weather channel for updates. or i'll watch a tv show that i like - big bang theory is great, seinfeld or something funny to put me in a good frame of mind and take my thoughts off of the pain.

even though im taking about 1800 mg of pain killers each day i still have pain.. crazy isn't it?

oh well c'est la vie..

i decided this week i'm going to go for it.

in 2012 i'm going to work my ass off to become a well known published author and try to figure out how to get on the new york times best selling list. lol

it may be fiction that i write or non fiction.

i'll have to see what the "universe" tells me to do during my meditation which I will do just after january 1st.

i was excited about yalichat.

i've been praying for a children's young adult literary agent to come my way.

i hate looking for stuff it exhausts me.

ive been looking around on google for months.

I did send out several synopsis and cover letters to test the waters and the rejections I got back were VERY positive.

basically they don't do my sort of genre (i need to learn how to pay better attention to that sort of thing) and that i needed to keep looking until I found the right one.

I liked that kind of response.
I was also thankful that most of the agents who state on their blogs they do not "personally" note anything back to anyone.. they were kind enough to write me a note in a sentence or two to encourage me on my quest to be a fully published canadian literature novelists.

big words there but that would be the coolest thing. Not to only be recognized as an author but a Literary author with some sort of an award.

you know that linny here loves her little awards..

i do a happy howl when i get a certificate from nanowrimo or script frenzy or a trophy from squidoo or elsewhere.

this month i took some time to check out my online novels.

chick lit - the calamity girl series got about 489 views (thumbs up)

the historical romance novels on my authors blog - linda randall word press average from 50 to 70 readers per chapters (thumbs up for old style of writing that normally doesn't appeal to people so i've been told lol)

the children's books have 40 readers for 1 chapter.. he he he

i'll have to tell you this.. out of the 19 novels i've written so far, I'd have to say the Grammy Lilywind children's young adult fantasy series was the MOST fun to write and it's the best story lines according to my critics (harry, paul and clyde)

none of the READ novels at all. So they like the stories and think their cool (i always create my own little panel of critics)

now I've joined a women's group where there's about 50 to 100 women... so...

i might print up a copy of the manuscript and go have a meeting with a bunch of them.. and get their input.

they too don't read any books..

see if i can get a non reader interested in a story, then a avid reader will be a piece of cake :)

so that's my updates for "the idea girl" linda randall :)

NaNoWriMo Kick Off Party Boston Pizza oct 29 2011

oct 30 2011

i had a great time and met 6 other writers from the niagara region who plan to participate in the national novel writing month challenge.. some have been in it for four years, while others are starting fresh.. our youngest writer started last year and she was 13 then, now at 14 she's writing her sequel and it was a pleasure talking to the girls and sharing our writing tips with one another.

How to upload a video onto your facebook

oct 21, 2011

got a request on how to do this so here goes ;)

log into your facebook account

click on photos (left menu)

top right - click on + upload video

create a new video options - ###file upload (from pc) , mobile video (cell phone), record video (if you have a camera attached to your pc)

on vista under libraries videos your files usually automatically go there unless you have it saved on a flash drive then you click on that drive to look at your files

if you download a file from your email (right click on it to download or click on download this file) it will probably go into your "my documents" and open that up and look in "downloads" or "videos" if not there check pictures..

if all else fails.. go into search or find on "c" drive or "flashdrive" the name of the file your looking for.. right click on it when you find it and click on my properties to find out where it's hiding on your computer.

i usually click on it, "copy" and make a new folder under my name and another folder under that for "photos" or "videos" so i can find it ;)

after you find your file/video/photo

click again on choose this file

and it will upload it automatically for you

a data box comes up

Enter the following info while you wait for your upload to finish.

type in names (facebook tags people that show up in the video)

then the description

then click on save

Please wait while your video is uploading.

LinkedIn - How to Add a Photo to your profile

Oct 21, 2011

had a request on how to do this so here goes.. :)

log into linkedin

click on profile tab

click edit photo (square there)

click on upload a photo

click on choose a file

now your photos can be in - my documents or pictures or downloads

click on the photo you want

click on upload photo

save settings

at the top in green is a check mark - "your settings have been changed"

** before you start this, make sure you have a photo saved onto your computer**

if downloading from the internet, right click and pick save as

make sure you put it into a file folder where you can find it again

if not, go into your search or find tool on the start up menu and type in the name of the file your looking for

most photos are in .jpg or .png

once you find it, right click and pick properties to find out what folder it's saved in.

The idea Girl Says... Linda Randall begins to Video Blog and Film Local Community Events

Oct 16, 2011

all this time i've been taking photos and adding music to it and now i'm regretting that style of film.. Youtube put this little message on my account letting me know i can monetize my videos, the only problem is because i do not own the rights to the music i used i cannot do it. so i've started a new account called the idea girl says and it's my new web tv program where i travel around the niagara region, filming local community events in music, movies, arts, and entertainment news.

i'm also video blogging about my participation in the yearly event of nanowrimo - national novel writing month which starts november 1, 2011 and ends november 30th. We are given 30 days to write, create a 50,000 word novel, upload it and get a certificate upon completion of this challenge. I've participated in Nanowrimo since 2008 and so far i've written around 17novels (maybe more...)

in April i participate in Script Frenzy which is a different type of challenge. yOu have 30 days to write a 100 page screenplay and that's loads of fun. I've written 3 so far. :)

time out to recouperate from surgery and a car accident

aug 26, 2011

i've been taking things easy since the end of july when I started the summer with an abscess tooth and ended up getting my head, neck and spine hurt in a car.

I put everything on hold and I've been going to doctors and dentists for various appointments.

little walks here and there, some shopping and basically reading and taking care of myself.

things are getting better.

got my oral surgery done on wednesday and the pills keep me in la la land in some ways.

hope to get back to normal for september!

Editing Novels, Photography and Youtube Videos Summer 2011

july 24, 2011

I can't believe how fast this summer is passing us by and the heat is unbearable! Thank god I have air conditioning. It makes sleeping comfortable. I have a bad toothace and now I have to wait until September to get the teeth pulled out. It's abcess at the moment so I'm taking lots of pain killers and antibiotics to fight it.

I hope I'll feel better in a week. I also had to get distance and reading glasses. I find I'm getting more headaches this summer and neck aches from editing "Grammy's Magic Cottage."

I am enjoying the story very much and I love how my imagination plays around with words. I can't wait to share it with all of you. I think it's the BEST story that I've written so far.

I'm also writing a pitch for Harper Collins Contest (they sent me an email from authonomy site) that has to be submitted by August 1st.
I forgot about it this week while working on editing the book!

I hate it when I get so busy doing one thing I forget to do another. :)

I have been taking thousands of photos and making videos and posting them on my two youtube channels - ideagirlconsulting and igcentertainmentca.

I've also been reaching my twitter goals!

I wanted 4000 followers, and now I'm shooting for 5000 :) (only 300 more to go)

Green Cut Guy is Launched!

June 25, 2011

We finally got our business going this week and I took some videos and photos of our first customer in st catharines ontario canada. Harold was having fun with a 20 year old lawnmower. That thing can move into super drive. I'm thinking it would be fun to make a hilarious video with Harold chasing a lawn mower and having a cape on. Just for a joke = viral video.

The two videos I made yesterday were garden shots (gorgeous wish I had one like that) and Harold doing his lawn cutting business. I was trying to hand out flyers but we had forgotten to clip the tear off sections and I forgot to bring scissors with me. :)

I did drop off a flyer down there but I'll have to go back and do some more canvassing in the area.

New Projects June 2011

june 24, 2011

This month I created a business proposal, flyers and business cards to help start up a new company.
My sweetie wanted his own landscaping business so I gave him a hand. We even bought uniforms. :)

I'll be busy during the summer helping him with paperwork, marketing and sales. I find all the walking rather exhausting, so much so that I don't have the energy to do my blogs at night.

I will try to keep most of them updated as best as I can.

My traffic's dropped about 7,000 hits per week, but that's okay it's summer time.

get out there and enjoy the sun :)

Dollarama Make Your Own Business Cards - 80 Studio Paper 05-0503228

june 9, 2011 microsoft word, create new, business cards, templates

There's several steps to making your own business cards. I will try and show you how I did mine.

10 cards on each sheet, 10 sheets per package gives you 100 cards.

I always design my business card templates first.

Then I print it out on regular paper (US FOLIO) setting for business card.

Then you hold the paper up behind the cardboard paper you plan to print on

line up the edges and hold it up to a window or light

you can see the writing from behind the paper

make sure everything lines up okay

you don't want it getting cut off by the perforated lines.

Remove the top perforated line of material on top of the business card paper.

In Microsoft Word Choose Page Layout - US Folio (Paper is 8.5 by 11.5)

Change Layout Height to 5.08 (for each cell on your template)

Print with one sheet at a time with paper to be printed on facing upwards.

Don't put any paper under it, or it will jam in your printer.

I have a Samsung ML 2010.

Templates

Microsoft Word, Sign, Pick Create New Document,

Business Cards.

Download Template into My Documents

Create a new file folder with the name of your company.

Save AS Document Template with new information on it into the file folder.

All you do is highlight the existing letters, symbols or pictures and paste or type the new stuff on it.

Don't delete it then try and type, it won't let you!

Best to work on one thing at a time.

highlight a picture and paste your new pic overtop of it.

I found that works the best.

I find the templates a pain in the arse to work with.

They jumble this way and that when trying to make changes.

So do the top two cards individually

then select the whole two cells

copy and paste them one at a time, down the page.

do a save as each time!

if you plan to send a document to a printer you'll have to save it as a PDF file for them.

I do both, I save as a word 97 - 2003 document and as a pdf file.

Now lately Dollarama has not been selling this paper, so you may have to pay $10 - $15 for it now at Walmart, Zellers, Staples , Office Depot Stores.

Make Me Smile Customer Service - Rod - The Lunch Box 431 Welland Ave St Catharines Ontario Canada

april 11, 2011 - restaurant, travel, writing, linda randall, the idea girl

I'm awarding Rod my "You Made me Smile Customer Service Award from Idea Girl Consulting"

for outstanding customer service, and serving etiquette at his restaurant.

always friendly, organized and works hard to please his customers

I like that!

Script Frenzy Starts April 1st and ends April 30th, 2011

March 29, 2011 - writing, music, arts, entertainment, the idea girl, igc entertainment canada, idea girl consulting

On march 29th, 2011 I posted instructions on all 10 of my wordpress blogs on what to do for script frenzy. Each blog is tweeted on twitter and on facebook. If you missed it, you can go to the calendar on each blog and pick that date.

good luck !

challenge is writing a 100 page screenplay (typed rough draft) in 30 days. :)

I blog music for 20,000 people to listen to from THAT event. I have my regular blogging fans visiting (about 250,000 per month up to 1 million visitors depending if school - university is out)

so there you have it.

I hope to reach all goals on all blogs and hit over 10 million views for 2011. ;)

music is being blogged here:

script-frenzy idea girl consulting linda randall the idea girl twitter igc entertainment canada the calamity girl the munroe series.

Canadian Music Week 2011 Toronto Canada Nikki Sixx Motley Crue Interview Press Pass

March 17, 2011

I posted the interview notes on my authors blog on word press and the videos on both of my youtube channels and on the main entertainment sites on word press.
It was fun going to toronto ontario canada and visiting the royal york hotel on front st. A splendid looking place, the decor was breathless to look at. I let out s squeal of joy in the ladies room for there was a lounging couch and plush chairs in it.

It was like walking into a marble palace. Then the conference was really cool with Nikki Sixx being interviewed by Jeff Woods about the novel he is writing called SIX:A.M.

I loved what Nikki had to say about his friend Steven Tyler from the Rolling Stones, "Steven is wonderful as the American Idol Judge. He has a sense of fashion and has all the right connections in the music industry. Everyone can learn something from him."

It went something along those lines.

You can see his photos on my photography blog on the igc entertainment canada blog spot blog.

Meditation to Guide Career Foot Steps

Feb 26, 2011 - writing, linda randall, the idea girl, igc entertainment canada, music, movies, youtube channels, writing

In 2010 I concentrated on writing 17 novels and 2 screenplays. I also made about 100 youtube videos.

In 2011 I'm working on the film, animation, music, and idea girl consulting entertainment canada ideas that came to mind last November 2010.

It was during my meditation where i was thinking about what I really wanted to accomplish on my "bucket" list and as a person.

What would I like to be successful with?

Writing a novel and selling it yes.

But that takes lots of hard work and so the author's platform has been reached.

Next is getting a name for yourself.

Be it writing articles, making youtube videos or the media.

Find a way to expand the authors platform by doing something that you love.

I love music and movies, so I combined the two into the idea of expanding "idea girl consulting" into "IGC Entertainment Canada"

written out in full it's too long for a website name or business card.

today I took some book marks (from the dollar store) and stapled the business cards that I made myself with microsoft office.

It took me 2 years to figure out how to use the printer with some business card paper I got from the dollar store.

now they no longer sell the stuff and I finally figured out how to use the printer properly LOL

Before my friend Angie and I were cutting 1/4 inch off the top and bottom of these stupid things to get them to fit into the printer.

No idea what the name of the setting was.

Now if that company who made the sheets 8.5 x 11.5 would have put some sort of instructions on the wrapping they probably would still be selling their product.

I tried to find the directions online, Nothing!
I always go to youtube first to see if there's an "instruction" video for me to look at.

When I wrote up the "business proposal" about my ideas for this company and took it to an actual professional consultant he has never seen anything like it.

I'm a pioneer on my own, forging my way.

So with meditation, prayer and looking at what doors open for me, I'm walking down a new pathway - a new career idea.

i still have no idea where I'm going to end up but I am enjoying learning NEW things.

That's awesome for someone born under the "Gemini" sign. ;)

When I was asked to fill in a report to get Media Accrediated for Canadian Music Awards I had no idea what kinds of doors it could open.

Funny Jim Carrey's movie "Yes Man" kept coming up on television and I watched it over and over again.

Then something told me during a mediation... just say yes!

to possibilities.

to new ideas

this is scary starting something i know nothing about.

but the good thing is I can learn as I go along and help others become stars :)

and that's something i've always wanted to do.

Be a team player

Help others to be successful

then I feel successful as a person because I'm doing a hobby that i love as a career now...

Feb 26 2011 Goals - Youtube Videos - Twitter The Idea Girl Reached - Media Accredation CMW 2011

linda randall, writing, music, arts, travel, niagara region, st catharines ontario canada, idea girl consulting entertainment canada

Feb 26, 2011
good news for me!

Media Accredited received for Canadian Music Week in toronto ontario canada march 9 to 13, 2011 - pass into events, interviews and more.

Twitter - the idea girl reaches 4005 followers at 10 am est on Feb 26, 2011 (goal for the year)

Youtube videos

idea girl consulting channel - 238 made so far.

igc entertainment ca - 35 videos made so far

Setting Goals for 2011 - Jan 3, 2011

writing, idea girl consulting, linda randall, the idea girl twitter, igc entertainment canada, blogging, music, arts, movies, reviews, books

I haven't taken the time yet to create my two lists. One is the bucket list of things I want to accomplish, second is my short term goals for 2011.

we (harry & I ) made up a list of things we wanted to accomplish for 2011 and guess what?
we've done all but one, in nov, dec 2010 LOL

how's that for setting goals and reaching them.

Its all about discipline.

I will take some time this month to figure out what those new goals are going to be.

I have two already.

Develop a funny and informative web tv program for my new youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/igcentertainmentca

and make a movie of sorts and post it.

happy that youtube's extended my video play time to 15 minutes now, sweet!

people are excited cause they can do interviews and post little excerpts in 15 min segments.

not sure how VIRAL those go...

i've been trying to make a viral video now for months..

still haven't figured out how to do it. LOL

as you can see on new years eve I didn't bother to dress up

because crystal told me she was doggie sitting..
there was no dog..
i could have dressed up (bought several new outfits for the occasion too!)

anyways next year we are going to go somewhere fancy so I can dress up LOL

Grammy's Magic Cottage - 2010 Nanowrimo Winner - Author Linda Randall

Nov 30 2010

Here is the book cover I created for my new young adult fantasy novel Grammy's Magic Cottage.

here is an excerpt of the novel:

Samantha said, "I want you to go first Daniel. Tell the suitcase who you are by giving it your first and last name. Then tell it what color you want it to be. You can decorate it any way that you want. We suggest that you do this in case two people want to have the exact same color. This is necessary because we are travelling with a large group of people."
Daniel looked at Samantha, then at Samuel.
Daniel grinned and said, "Cool. My name is Daniel Jenkins. I want navy blue with a yellow airplane on it."

They watched as the suitcase transformed into what Daniel wanted.

Samantha said, "Very good Daniel, now after you have packed up all of your things into the suitcase. You will close it up using both of these latches here on the front of the suitcase. After that, you will tell it to go into your pocket when you are ready to travel. The command for this is simply the word, "Pocket." Now Daniel I want you to open it up for a minute."

Daniel reached down and opened up the latches on his suitcase.

Then he thought for a moment and groaned, "Dad I forgot our superman comic books at our house back in Fergus. Do you think we could go and buy some new ones?"

No sooner was it out of his mouth when suddenly Daniel's suitcase began to fly around and it shook and sputtered and then there was a puff of smoke and inside appeared two new brand new superman comic books.

Daniels said, "Oh how cool, these suitcase have magic just like the cottage, our bedrooms and our tree house."

nanowrimo certificate 2010 winner Linda Randall

Nov 30 2010

i received my certificate as a winner for grammys magic cottage for the 2010 nanowrimo - national novel writing month challenge. I wrote a 50,000 word young adult novel for it.

My Motto - Idea Girl Consulting - Linda Randall

August 17, 2010

I had a DREAM

I MADE it my GOAL

I am SUCCESSFUL

NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month Nov 1 - 30th, 2010

Oct 23, 2010

Hi everyone

I don't plan to be online much from now till the end of November 2010. Between having issues with my computer not turning on and needing to get a new one. I want to participate in the NaNoWriMo writing challenge.

I'm given 30 days to write a 50,000 word count rough manuscript for the challenge. So I'm going to work on that. I'll probably write it by hand like I usually do and then take two weeks to type it all up.

This year I hope to find some software where I can talk to it, and let it do all the typing for me. That would save me so much time!

If you can recommend some, send me a message on Linked In (idea girl consulting) or on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/ideagirlconsulting

I'm asking everyone to ONLY send MUSIC videos from now till the end of November.

Only Hollywood Movie and Music Producers will be posted for November.

New movie interviews with the stars, new films, tv shows then yes I'll take the time to post it.
Otherwise I just want 6 blogs of constant music for 200,000 writers to refer to if they want to.

It's a great way for me to get the word out about my typing tunes blogs.

Now since I'm not posting much, you can all click on the calendars on each blog and go back a year and start there if you want.

Each day has a different style or theme of music, arts, and entertainment, so enjoy!

Linda Randall
Idea Girl Consulting

writing ghost stories - remote viewing visions - psychic investigations that come true

Oct 3, 2010 @ 1 00 pm

It's interesting because something that a "psychic" told me is finally coming true. I was going to start writing my experiences with ghosts, telling their stories and people would read it.

I was working on developing my intuition and gut instincts while learning the art of remote viewing. Sure I went to the library and guess what, not ONE book on it? I find that amusing since people are really interested in how it all works. Many poke fun at you and call you names, until it starts coming true then they tend to stop bugging you about it.

that's what it's been like for me for the past 40 years of my life. I knew how to do something but people always shot me down, told me I was nuts or crazy, until it came true then they didn't say much. Or they would say, "It was just a coincedence."

My mom was pretty religious, so if I tried to do anything like that she told me I was of the devil. So for many years I stifled the gift that the Universe gave me. Now that she's gone I'm trying to learn how to do it again with precision. Grant it, it's been a year now being "public" about it. As for practicing it, it's been about 6 years I've been doing it on my own without actually telling anybody.

You could say in this regard I came out of the closet. But only because I was told too by the Universe. My only goal with this is to help families find peace, find their missing loved ones and for me to get some sleep.

I have so many cases on the go now, that my head will spin sometimes.

Their energy drains mine but then I've learned how to refill it.

Meditation, and quartz crystals, along with some good "vibrational" tunes helps to restore the mind and replenish strength to an exhausted body.

I was getting such terrible headaches before, now that I've learned how to let the energy flow through the body, it's much better.

I still get cranky because I'm not getting enough sleep, so forgive me if I act like a snapping turtle sometimes.

Before I used to just write random thoughts down, things I can understand and then all of a sudden I got an audience.

They started to suggest I write legible notes.

OH, well, Okay.... I'll try but sometimes my thoughts are so jumbled...

so in my latest "psychic-investigations" lens I have slowed things down and put things into categories
so that my "readers" can understand things better "as requested"

I do have my JUMBLED THOUGHTS still but it's labelled, just that, so you know that's my "little space" of thoughts that only my brain can decipher.

All these years I've always found that I'm not the smartest person in public but my brain processes at a high rate of speed and it does it's own thing when it comes to this remote viewing stuff. Even I don't understand how it works, but I knew that there was something strange about me years ago.

I used to have a problem everywhere that I worked. When I got angry my computer terminals would start doing freaky things. Lines and flashing lights on them. People never believed me until one day I demonstrated it to a whole group of people. They never bugged me again about being "weird" cause it scared them. It scared me, I didn't understand that it had something to do with my magnetic field affecting the screen.

I still don't know why things get zapped around me, electronic gadgets. It's a nuisance when things no longer work. I find if I get angry now, I stay away from the computer, the tv and my cd player, I go read a book and meditate until I'm peaceful again.

It's the only way to be, mindfulness is a wonderful thing to practice in your day to day life.

I'm sharing this with you because my tweets are showing the cases that I work on and people are asking me what is this?

So now I'm letting you know, I do a lot of blogging about music, movies and writing, and now I'm going to expand my blogging into the psychic, remote viewing stuff so that YOU can learn how to HELP with missing person's cases as a community.

When I create the new lenses I'm going to be asking questions about job descriptions, places, things. Many people are scared to give information to the police. IF you see something, please share it. We don't need to know who you are, we just need to hear your story.

I hope you help as a community, people, families are suffering. They miss their loved ones and you can bring joy or peace to someone's life. Just remember the golden rule, karma - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

So it means when You HELP someone out, the UNIVERSE in turn will have someone THERE to help you out when the time comes.

that is all...

Signed First Copy of my book as an author

August 17, 2010

It was exciting this weekend to sign my first copy of The Power of the Platform Speakers on Life and give it to a guy named "Paul."

I told him there's stories about people recovering from brain injuries, financial ruin and messages of hope about changing careers after losing one's job.

Paul seemed very interested in the book, so I signed a copy and gave it to him as a gift.

I was wondering a few weeks ago what my motto should be during my meditation and this is what came to mind.

I had a DREAM, I made it my GOAL, I am SUCCESSFUL.

So I'm putting that here on this blog and I think I will add it to my bio pages as well.

I just spent about 3 hours making a book / movie trailer and youtube won't let me use the music.

I did 6 clips of songs LOL

Practice makes perfect... sigh.

anyways it felt really WEIRD signing a book as an author

but then it felt cool and I thought to myself...

I can get used to this.. :)

Linda Randall

"The Idea Girl" on Twitter

Authonomy - Vote For Me to Get Published - July 16 2010

linda randall, the munroe series, the calamity girl series,writing, blogging

read my novels http://bit.ly/bxN72C on authonomy.com

I've written the rough drafts for 5 of the munroe series novels and posted the first 10 chapters of each book for you to vote on.

Once I get to book #10 I'll have all of them online to look at and then I will go back and slowly edit them to perfection before sending queries to agents.

I have 2 more books to write for the calamity girl series.

I have 1 children's novel that i started 4 years ago to finish.

And I have some ideas popping into my head for a good crime drama action screenplay :)

Linda Randall Robin Jay - The Power of the Platform Speakers on Life - July 8 2010

writing about a mentor, the idea girl says wordpress, blogging, author

It was exciting when I received a knock on my door and had my books delivered to me this week. Opening up the box and there was my book! I'm in the introduction of The Power of the Platform - Speakers on Life.

I wrote an essay about the power of a mentor for the body, mind and soul. The article in the book is a short form of the one I originally wrote. I can be long winded at times. I was so proud of myself. I can finally say that I am a published author now. :)

Thanks to Robin Jay and the Las Vegas Speakers Convention Bureau for making it possible. I'd also like to congratulate the other 24 authors in this book for being a part of the third anthology.

I did some blog postings about my book reviews for the power of the platform speakers on life.

http://ideagirlconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/02/robin-jay-power-of-platform-speakers-on.html

In September I plan to start blogging about the first anthology - The Power of the Platform - Speakers on Purpose and once that's
done I'll start working on the latest book.

It's backwards but that's me...

I figure there's a hundred websites talking about the new book right now.

In six months time when things die down ... I'll be blogging it as FRESH material (to google) and then people will read what I have to say LOL

the book isn't up on Amazon yet (sales go directly to the publisher from that site)

I have a few copies of my own if you would like to order one please contact me on facebook.

I'm in the niagara region - st catharines ontario canada if you have any suggestions on how I can sell this book here please advise.

http://www.facebook.com/ideagirlconsulting

The Power of the Platform Speakers on Life - Linda Randall Robin Jay - May 26, 2010

writing, mentors of the heart, introduction, ebook sales, book marketing

I just received my ebook today. A copy of the third anthology by The Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau called The Power of the Platform - Speakers on Life. I'm in the introduction on Page 7. I wrote a chapter about the power of having a mentor and how they can encourage you and help you reach your goals. In Dec 2009, I found Robin Jay's The Art of the Business Lunch video and that's how we met. Making comments back and forth, lead to emailing and now this.

I'm a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!!!

Thanks to Robin Jay and the LAS VEGAS CONVENTION SPEAKERS BUREAU I can truly say I'm a published author now.

I am working on a way to sell the Ebooks 9.95 and Soft Cover books $19.95 US/$24.95 CAN. Trying to get some help in that department because I haven't a clue what to do. :)

Sincerely
Linda Randall
"the idea girl" on twitter
Idea Girl Consulting

Squidoo Giant Showcase - My Biggest Squidoo Accomplishment... so far by LindaRandall - May 25, 2010

writing, blogger, author, making squidoo lenses, hobbies, fun

Just wanted to say thank you to Squidoo for showcasing me on the Squidoo Giant Showcase page. Just found it tonight in my emails! It's been a busy week for me. Lots of good news and excitement, posting details soon!

The Power of the Platform - Speakers on Life - May 25, 2010

writing, robin jay, jack canfield, linda randall, mentors in life, blogging, the idea girl says, idea girl consulting, screenplays

Indie Producer.Net - May 11th, 2010

screenplays, screenwriters, movies, entertainment, tv shows, directors, producers, movie trailers

I've found a new social network to join that will expand my writing, blogging and movie's. I'm now on Indie Producer.net!
Awesome place to be if you are an artist, actor, writer, director or producer. You will network with the worlds finest in the entertainment business and develop some strong connections in Hollywood for your project ideas. My goal is to share my ideas with Hollywood producers, writers and directors, to enrich the talents of actors and creative works from people on this network. They are already sending me emails and messages from the network and I'm posting their youtube videos and giving them advice on how to do some major SEO Marketing techniques for their projects. If there is anything that the idea girl knows how to do, it's to sell things. With over 20 years of experience as a top sales person, I know what customers want and need. I hope to learn the ropes and find a few mentors in this network, so I can learn something new everyday and become a creative tool in making some cool movies and tv shows.

Linda Randall
Idea Girl Consulting

Synopsis - Screen Play - Forgive Me I'm Not Perfect - May 1, 2010

Linda Randall, Screen Writing, Script Frenzy 2010 Challenge Winner, Movies, Arts, Entertainment

I just finished writing my one page synopsis for my romantic - comedy - action - suspense - screenplay that I wrote and won during the 2010 Script Frenzy Challenge.

I had to keep cutting it back from 5 pages to 1. They say only one page is wanted by movie producers.

I was planning to send it to Universal Studio's but they don't take unsolicited scripts.

So I have to find a Literary Agent that deals with movie screen plays.

They say "good luck" it takes forever to find one that would want anything from you?

Why is that?

A good writer, with some imagination is just what the doctor ordered.

I am tired of the hum drum screenplays out there.

Mind you, I do love some of them, but others, how did they ever get made?

I will be posting messages on twitter the idea girl and on my writers blog the idea girl says - asking people if they can suggest where to start looking for one.
I'll keep ya posted!

Linda Randall
Idea Girl Consulting

Script Frenzy Winner 2010 - Linda Randall - April 27 2010

Forgive Me I'm Not Perfect, Screenwriting, Screenplay, movies, Elevator pitch

Script Frenzy challenge was to write 100 pages of screenplay in 30 days. I started April 15, 2010 and finished my screenplay on April 17, 2010. I used the Celtx Software Program to make my screenplay in the correct format required for the challenge. I won for the Niagara Region and for the Script Frenzy Challenge. I wrote a romantic comedy which is a spin off of The Calamity Girl Series of novels that I am currently writing.

Rachel Tornquist, Michael Ferreras and Jake Ferris meet my characters in Forgive Me, I'm Not Perfect. Sadie Johnson, David Radford (Michael's brother) and Frank Fortino, Professor Thompkins are the main characters in this story. A 21, 738 word screenplay (102 pages of script) that was written to be an action, adventure, romantic comedy. I hope to get the synopsis completed on this story, correct any format errors and start sending queries for this story.

I'll have to have the synopsis ready for the calamity girl - the promotion too. The two kind of tie in together. This is the #3 story of the Calamity Girl - Rachel Tornquist.
Book two is in my mind, and a few notes were jotted down for it and I'll be writing that one soon too.

At the moment I'm working on book #3 of the munroe series.

The Make Me Smile Award Goes To - March 18, 2010

Henley Honda, Alex Digenis, Performance Hyundai, Jim Calzonetti, Jackie Scull, Linda Randall, Idea Girl Consulting

I've posted the link for you to read my two blog posts on The St Catharines Standard Website.

I informed the people involved that I was posting a bad review about their company due to their lack of proper customer service.

As for the company awarded the prize, they were not informed. I intend to let corporate know who won...

Emails to Ideagirlconsulting - the idea girl says - witty woman - March 10, 2010

answering your questions, Ellen Sound, Sean Martin, linda michelle randall, writing, response, business

Hi this is a message for Ellen Sound and Sean Martin (legallysound22@****) from Mountain View, CA - according to your email address.
I get from 600 to 1000 emails in a week.
I always post the answer to a question online for others to read.
Why?
Because I get several people asking the same questions from time to time.

I have received four emails from both of these people and I've replied to their comments and posted a few blog articles in response to my making a website for them.

I do not design websites. I use the free sites , templates online from squidoo , wordpress and today.

In my client referral program I did set up a website here on squidoo so that I would have some business referrals for clients to review.

In the future I may get into webpage designs, I can give you suggestions.

However I always do my correspondence in Facebook or on Twitter.

If your are a registered company you find idea girl consulting on LinkedIn.

It's easier for me to do business correspondence on twitter and facebook because honestly I hardly check my emails unless it's a literary agent or publisher that I'm dealing with.

Because it takes so long to go through 300 emails in one day and half of it is spam, it's just logical to use twitter direct message or facebook direct message.

Some of you post messages on my wall, I hardly look at those.

I look over them once a month because my wall is more for fun and conversation, not business info.

I hope this clarify's the best ways to contact me.

Thank you for your time.

http://www.twitter.com/theideagirl

or you can send an email message to

http://www.youtube.com/ideagirlconsulting

I check my entertainment channel info everyday.

Here are the links to my responses to Ellen Sound and Sean Martin

http://theideagirlsays.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/sean-martin-ellen-sound-from-mountain-view-ca-are-you-on-twitter-or-facebook/

Queries - The Calamity Girl - The Promotion - March 9 , 2010

writing, manuscript, linda randall, rachel tornquist, query letter, literary agents, publishers

I sent out my first email Query to Nelson Literary Agency on March 8, 2010 and within 24 hours I received my first rejection letter, they are not looking for my type of manuscript at this time. I tweeted about it as soon as I read it. Sharing the good points in the letter with my readers. I was thankful that it was polite, and encouraging (suggesting that I keep contacting literary agents until someone says "yes").

I sent Kristin and Sara a thank you note with a request to post their email online. I'm waiting for a reply and I hope they say it's okay to do so. I think it's a great way to show other writers and bloggers what a rejection letter is.

I didn't do too much research on this company. I remembered their name from my Yalichat Group and by a Google search for womens fiction, romance, mystery, chick lit novels. I think I remember reading somewhere that Kristin prefers published authors instead of newbies.
I am published officially as of today in the Niagara Community Newspaper. (to me its a newsletter but thats what they call it).

I haven't seen my article yet in print, so it will be exciting once I see the paper with my clip in it. I'm working on some other projects too. I'm supposed to be published in several online magazines and sites, but I've submitted so many things that I'm a little disorganized at the moment. I've even sent stuff to a UK newspaper.
Why?
Because once I get a book published I want an world wide audience ready , willing and waiting to buy one of my books. I want them to enjoy what I write and have fun reading my stories. I want them to laugh and cry and feel all sorts of emotions, maybe even a little anger, not at me but at a character I've created. In the Munroe Series I'm more apt to get a bigger response in that category, because it deals with social issues from a community. Whereas my women's fiction is light hearted, funny, smart and business oriented.

Rachel Tornquist is an executive in sales and marketing. Her company is downsizing and she thinks she will lose her job. Instead she makes a deal and gets a promotion! Only one catch, someone is trying to frame her for embezzling funds from the company. Rachel must clear her name or end up going to jail for something she didn't do. That's where the mystery part of the story comes in. As we go along in the story, Rachel's world begins to crumble as she finds out that people who are close to her, cannot be trusted.

1 million hits idea girl consulting word press - feb 22 2010

writing, music, arts, entertainment, celebrity, photos, blog, linda randall

I reached my goal today. As of 5 33 pm I now have 1, 004,000 page views on my idea girl consulting word press entertainment music movies celebrity photos blog site. A cause for celebration because it was on my bucket list in january to reach this number by the END of 2010!

Page views are people that have visited the blog, I'm waiting for the numbers of visits to reach the same number. At the moment actual visits registered (i still don't understand how that works) is 808,592.

I'm still working on getting 500,000 page views on the idea girl says - my writing blog.

Blogsplash - Friends of Thaw - Author Fiona Robyn

writing, happiness, women's fiction, literature, blogging, blog tours

Blogger & Author Fiona Robyn - March the 1st 2010 - she will start blogging the entire novel on Thaw.
She would like as many people as possible to hear about the opportunity to read Thaw for free, and so she is asking bloggers to participate in a Blogsplash on the 1st of March 2010.
Everyone will publish the first page of Ruth's diary on their blogs, with a link on the bottom to Fiona's blog so people can continue reading. Find out more and sign up to participate.

http://www.fionarobyn.com/

Writing my novels - Linda Randall - Feb 21, 2010

historical romance, mystery, womens fiction, the munroe mansion, the calamity girl

Robin Jay - Authors Secrets Jan 22, 2010

writing, editing, manuscripts, best selling authors, book sales, marketing

I've been listening to Robin Jay -'s Author's Secrets 4 part teleseminar this week. It has wonderful tips on how to write, edit and publish your book. How to become a best selling author, create a blog, an authors platform and presence on the internet. A Powerful Speaker, Writer and Motivator Robin Jay will spur you on to writing novels, promoting your products, give you some business sense, and how to handle your clients.

I recommend all of her books and products.

Linda Randall
Idea Girl Consulting

Writing, Revising The Calamity Girl The Promotion - Jan 21, 2010

linda randall, womens fiction, romance, mystery, rachel tornquist

Today I was working on the outline. I wrote this manuscript in two days and now because of time line problems I've stopped to sort things out with an outline. So much easier to think when you have a reference tool. With the help of my synopsis, I recreated my story line. I wrote the story in November 2009 for the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Competition (yes, I won!) and now I'm supposed to have it revised within a two month period. It's hard when you don't feel like doing it day after day. I was so discouraged this past week, bored and depressed with the winter weather I had almost given up on doing any more writing. Two days ago I took some time to listen to Robin Jay's Author's Secrets teleseminar and it helped clear my mind. I also did some doodling in One Note and had fun with circles, triangles and coloured lines with arrows. I made up a little story about being down and how I got back up on my feet.

Revising my Women's Fiction Manuscript - Jan 5th, 2010

writing, blogging, entertainment, music, movies, romance novels,women's fiction, chick lit, linda randall, the calamity girl, rachel tornquist

Holidays are over and now it is time to get back to the business of writing. My blogs have been more of an entertainment channel with one liner entries for the past two weeks. I took some time off from revising the novels, and concentrated on promoting my blogs and Squidoo websites by creating over 45 videos and posting them on my idea girl consulting youtube channel.

I went from 12 views to 3409 views in two weeks time on my youtube channel, so it's working nicely as planned.

I also created several links to my bio on The Calamity Girl Wordpress. Not only did I correct that problem, I noticed that half of my blogs and sites weren't even linked! I think I did more hours work, trying to organize everything into one big package deal - media promotions, tweets, submitting urls to search engines and starting chats and answering questions on yahoo answers. It generated a huge amount of traffic to the ideagirlconsulting wordpress blog.

My goals were set and I worked hard to generate traffic to my blogs, without using any seo marketing or paying to bring traffic to my sites.

I hit record highs and tripled my traffic in one month!

Not bad considering a few months ago I was lucky to get 1000 monthly visitors.

I am hoping my new marketing strategies will increase this traffic flow and bring awareness to all the lenses that I've worked so hard to create.

I did notice though that when the students go back to school my traffic drops considerably!

I really want to reach a Million hits within a 12 month period for Idea Girl Consulting Word Press.

As for The Idea Girl Says - My goal is to have 500,000 in a year, but a million would be very cool! :)

Derek Cate - Youtube Marketing Idea Girl Consulting - Linda Randall Dec 24, 2009

Viral Marketing, Author , Media Kit, Writing, Blogging, music, arts, entertainment

I've been blogging and writing novels for the past year and now I'm working on my writer's platform.

My blogs were doing okay but it was at a plateau, I wanted to do something to increase my viewers, collect more readers and fans.

So I've been making Youtube videos!

I've created 28 videos in the past week about Harry Potter, Emma Watson, WWE, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Stephanie Myers, Twilight, New Moon, American Idol, Adam Lambert and Authors from various books and blogs that I've been writing about on The Idea Girl Says.

It's a great way to network with other authors, publishers and literary agents. I add them to my twitter, read their blogs and learn something new each and every day!

Derek Cate was kind enough to offer me some free MP3 music to add to my videos. :)

I reached a goal thanks to my followers on Twitter.

On Wednesday Dec 23, 2009 - 10,384 visits were made to Idea Girl Consulting Word Press - all in ONE day. :)

Increasing Traffic on my blogs using Youtube videos - Dec 13, 2009

writing, linda randall, seo, yahoo groups, blogsurfer, blogging traffic, hits, page views

Site Meter is a great tool to put on your blogs. Not only does it tell you how many visits you've received, it gives the amount for a 24 hour time period. The types of searches, referrers and hot tags or topics that drew the crowds to your blog. You can also use this tool in Squidoo when you look under STATS and TRAFFIC. There are a list of tag words used and if you click on the +- signs you can add it to your tags.

I read about how the tags work on Squidoo. The tags you put in the sidebar draw traffic from Squidoo, so make sure you use the words that are double underlined in green on your site. (this can be viewed on a regular page not in workshop). In your text modules subtitle section, you can post the tags, or key words that Google will pick up from your writing, blogging, pictures and images.

This image of Robert Pattinson went crazy with hits, so I'm going to post it here for a joke and see if it gets the same 5,000 hits it did on Word Press.
On site meter, your left tool bar, click on WHOS ON and it will show you the blogs or pictures that are getting the most traffic to your site.
Use this information to target your readers.

I also look at most popular tags and the links that people seem to come in on. I usually get the same ones, which tells me what site is drawing in traffic.

In most cases it's http://www.blogsurfer.us/ but lately it's been Squidoo itself?

Lens of The Day on Dec 8th, 2009 - Party Time for Kids

Christmas, Winter Birthday, Party planning for kids, invitations, games, activities, music, entertainment, menu, finger foods, e cards

I updated the site about a day or two ago and made lens of the day? I'm shocked, tonight at 12 midnight (dec 8th to dec 9th) I happened to glance at my emails and see comments of Congrats LOTD! I'm like what on earth is that, no it can't be, Oh MY GOD I MADE LENS OF THE DAY!!!! I'm jumping , dancing around, screaming at the top of my lungs in excitement and startle poor Harold out of his deep sleep and Daisy begins to jump up on me and bark insanely while I'm dancing around squealing like a little pig! (thats what it sounds like)
For two years I've toiled for 1000's of hours to reach this goal and when I had given up all hope and deleted 40 lenses, I make it to the top of 700,000 lenses! OMG is all I can say, thanks god, you heard my teary eyed prayer last night (dec 7th, i'm telling you the truth) I was ready to give up on writing and blogging, I was so frustrated.

Imagine spending day and night on something with no recognition or a pat on the back. I worked many hours, struggling to type, struggling to think and finally I reached my final goal for 2009! Guess what!!!

I REACHED all of my goals for 2009 as of Dec 8th, 2009! SWEET!!!

I feel really great now and I want to thank the angels and Giants and LOTD Judges for making my day special by putting Party Time for Kids on the Map and making it lens of the day.

What I can't figure out is...

I had 28 views in total? LOL

Oh well, its all good, everyone is busy Christmas Shopping.

As for getting the ideas on WHAT to put on the lens?

I looked at the tags, searches from Google (found under the STATS section of your LENS) and made note of what people are frantically searching for.

Then I Googled the terms and added the tags within the body of each item.

There's nothing out there for Winter Birthdays!

A total shame, so it's going to be a site I'll be working to develop because lots of kiddies have Winter Birthday's and they must be suffering from sheer boredom.

The games I found on the net were new and interesting and fun!

Some of those games can be played at Teen and Adult parties.

I have two other party sites - Party for Teens and Party for Adults.

QQZY9YWDSE24

Writing Novels - Creating Blogs - Idea Girl Consulting - The Idea Girl Says December 8, 2009

Writing, Novels, Rough Drafts, Manuscripts, Synopsis, NaNoWriMo , Query

Writing Novels in 2009

I started my new career in February of 2009 by registering my company name Idea Girl Consulting. Then I started working on my writing skills, to build, learn and drive myself as an author. I worked for many months on The Mansion on the Hill manuscript which I originally started in 2008. I separated a 130,000 word manuscript that was in ten parts, into ten novels, which I will be working on in the next few years to complete. The basis of the story is there, it's the time lines that were screwed up and brought the whole project to a halt.

I started my blogs in March 2009 on Today. Those lasted until July 2009, then they were shut down because I refused to pay for adds to be placed on my site and they countered it with I was spamming. Actually I copied and pasted some emails from Obama's Green Team, and a Green Stocks Company and that's what was called Spam. Needless to say, I started all over!

I made a new site called Witty Woman in July of 2009 and I barely post to it. I created Idea Girl Consulting in the summer of 2009 and The Idea Girl Says in the summer of 2009. Both blogs have changed in genre, and writing and content, and I plan to keep my audience growing by trying out new things.

I'm still working on finding my niche. I don't like doing the same thing over and over again,although I have done that in the past. Usually if I'm not feeling well, I'll repeat things a little too much, but I do try to keep things interesting and helpful for my readers.

In November 2009, I participated and won the challenge for NANOWRIMO and I was the first person to post for the Niagara Region, we place 43rd in the ratings (competing with over 200,000 people) and I'm a winner, with a badge, a certificate and a promised book from them. (You get one free copy of your manuscript printed up in book form from a company)
I wrote a chick lit romance novel within a couple of days and completed my rough draft within a two week period. It's called The Calamity Girl - The Promotion and Rachel Tornquist, Michael Ferraras and Lisa Winters are the main characters in the story.

In December 2009, I started making my first music, picture videos of my son's band Branded by God, Twilight New Moon's Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristin Stewart, Ashley Greene, The Volturi, The Wolfpack, The Cullens and other vampires and werewolves in The Twilight Saga Series.

I also worked on writing about Fashion News, Designs, Photography, Fashion Shows, International Shows and various artists and Fashion Designers from Europe, Canada and the United States.

My next project is to learn how to write a screenplay and perhaps make a movie.

The Calamity Girl - The Promotion - Rachel Tornquist by Linda Randall

Creating Fictional Characters, Settings and Plots - Dec 8, 2009

Writing this Chick Lit Novel during NaNoWriMo 2009 challenge for November (30 days to write a novel) was the hardest thing I've ever tackled in my life. I'm a girl with millions of ideas, thoughts and projects and I never seem to finish anything. I can honestly say I did finally finish the final draft, and uploaded it within a 2 week period, which I'd have to say is the quickest novel I've ever written. A total of two days to do the manuscript, and another day to make sure the spelling was corrected, then the following week was spent on making sure I had everything making sense and that the plot was good. I'm amazed with what I came up with. I love to write stories by hand, then I take my time typing them up.

My wish is to have my own Editor in the future, where I can write my novel and hand it over for them to type up and edit. Now that would be my biggest dream and wish for 2010.

The Calamity Girl - The Promotion - NaNoWriMo 2009 Winner!!!

Dec 2, 2009

The Munroe Mansion - Update

October 28, 2009

The Calamity Girl - Chic Lit

October 8, 2009

I've started writing a new chic lit blog on wordpress and I'll be adding a new story to it every month.

Eventually i'll do it twice a month but at the moment I'm concentrating on other projects trying to get them done.

This fictional story is in first person and the main character's name is Rachel Tornquist, she's single , in her twenties and dating all the wrong kinds of men!

I will be writing genres in romance, mystery and humor in my chic lit. :)

The Most Hits on Word Press This Year - Pictures of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth- Dec 8, 2009

Pictures, Music, Arts, Entertainment, Songs, Movies, Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, nicholas sparks, screen writer, director, author

Pictures that I posted on my blogs created loads of traffic, over 8,000 hits on Idea Girl Consulting Word Press, when I found several pictures of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth as they were filming the movie "The Last Song." I can't wait to see it!

ACE SHOW BIZ QUOTE: "liam hemsworth twitter miley cyrus kissing liam hemsworth
Photo of Miley Cyrus & Liam Hemsworth: Last Song
A shirtless Liam Hemsworth hoses down his on-screen love interest Miley Cyrus in the trailer for their new movie

First Images Of Miley Cyrus And Liam Hemsworth In The Last Song ... Miley Cyrus and Nicholas Sparks are just about a perfect match
Veronica "Ronnie" Miller,Steve MillerJonah Miller Tybee Island, the small Georgia beach town
beach volleyball player Hemsworth's Will Blakelee
Written by the book's author, Nicholas Sparks, along with Jeff Van Wie, the Walt Disney Pictures' film is directed by Julie Anne Robinson. Joining Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth in the cast ensemble are Greg Kinnear, Kelly Preston, and Bobby Coleman who star as Veronica Miller's father, mother, and little brother respectively. The movie is slated for an April 2, 2010 release date in the U.S."

The Munroe Mansion - Book One - The Beginning

October 8, 2009

I've been busy revising Book One of The Munroe Series and writing in where there are gaps in the story line. I'm on page 219 and I just realized I have written over 200 pages of manuscript in the past month (a total of 8 days) , not bad!

The story is coming along pretty good and now I'm also doing research on various books.

Getting ideas on how to portray a character, a plot, a prop in the story and more.

This month I'm reading Johanna Lindsey books and I just finished her No Choice But Seduction.

I wrote a book review on The Idea Girl Says Word Press today, so If you want to know more take a look at that site.

As part of the book proposals, I'll be comparing my book to Johanna's because we write along the same lines.

She has the Mallory Family, I have the Munroe Family.

She talks about the families, relationships and romances mixed with adventure, I do the same.

she is classified as romance, I think mine will be classified as Paranormal Romance, because I intend to write in a lot of "psychic and spiritual type characters with special powers and how it enriches their lives and protects them from evil."

Michael Jackson This is It Pictures and Music - Most Hits in 2009 - Dec 8, 2009

Michael Jackson, This is it , Movie, Music, Pictures, Rock, King of Pop , Hits 2009

I received over 10,000 hits on Idea Girl Consulting Word Press for my articles on Michael Jackson's Movie - This is it, O-Bee his prodigal son - Omer Bhatti and pictures about Paris, Blanket and Prince Michael Jackson and Family. Both Squidoo and Word Press received honors in the blogging world for this lens and group of articles. I was surprised but after looking at the tags on the site, it wasn't only Michael Jackson but his vocal artists and dancers that were receiving loads of attention.

[source Wikipedia below]
Director: Kenny Ortega , Michael Jackson (stage moves)
Produced by: Paul Gongaware,Randy Phillips
Randy Phillips
Starring Michael Jackson
Kenny Ortega
Orianthi Panagaris
Cinematography Kevin Mazur[1]
Studio AEG Live[2]
The Michael Jackson Company, LLC
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) October 28, 2009[3][4]
Cast

Michael Jackson and background dancers rehearsing "They Don't Care About Us".
Lead vocalist and dancer: Michael Jackson
Choreographer: Michael Jackson and Travis Payne
Music: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Robert Kelly, Quincy Jones, Distributed by Sony.
Keyboards: Michael Bearden, Morris Pleasure
Lead guitar: Orianthi Panagaris
Rhythm guitar: Thomas Organ
Bass: Alfred Dunbar
Percussion: Roger Bashiri Johnson
Drums: Jonathan Moffett
Background vocalists: Judith Hill, Dorian Holley, Darryl Phinnesse, Ken Stacey
Background dancers: Daniel Yao, Misha Gabriel, Nicholas Bass, Daniel Celebre, Mekia Cox, Christopher Grant, Tony Testa, Shannon Holtzapffel, Devin Jamieson, Charles Klapow, Ricardo "Dres Reid, Danielle Rueda Watts, Tyne Stecklein, Timor Steffens
Earth Child: Jasmine Alveran

Deleted over 40 lenses - Holiday, Season, The Munroe Series - Writing, Author Linda Randall

Creative writing, webpage development, squidoo lenses by linda randall, writing, the munroe series - Dec 8, 2009

After spending some time in meditation I came to the conclusion I was spreading myself too thin and getting aggrivated by the lack of traffic on certain Squidoo sites. I didn't feel like updating them anymore and figured they were a waste of my time, so I deleted about forty of my lenses. The Munroe Series - all twelve parts were removed, except for a few that seem to get lots of traffic, which tells me that people tend to like my chick lit outlines rather than my historical romance ones. I was looking at the Writer's Market and decided it was going to be hard to query an agent about a series of 15 books that are all interconnected because they are about three generations of families as they grow and deal with the issues of life. I came up with the idea when I was chatting on Facebook.

Talking about Six Degrees of Separation - where one person does something and it affects a group of people around them. I didn't think it would pan out but then I attended a play called The Inspector at Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake and it was about the same concept. The play was a hit in 1932 and here in 2009, it was a hit all over again! It gave me a feeling of confidence that I was on the right track for writing a story that would appeal to a large audience. My main characters are mixed between male and female. I wanted men to read my book and love it, and I wanted women to enjoy it too!

It had to be mixed with humor, suspense, the supernatural and facts mixed with fiction. I wanted it to be sexual but not tacky, I wanted to address social issues like rape, incest, murder, witchcraft, high and low society back in the early 1900's and follow the generations up to the future year of 2018.

The future will be fun to write, because my main characters will be doing science fiction, space, romance and adventure. I'm also branching it out a Detective Farley Mystery Series from these books and I was planning to do Chick Lit with my movie star character Jesseline Thirkill (1907).

The first draft was created in August 2008, the main books were written during the NaNoWriMo Challenge of 2008 (which I couldn't figure out how to enter the contest so I didn't) and a new manuscript was composed for Book One The Mansion on the Hill - The Beginning in June 2009. The final draft is completed and now it just needs a good editing but I have to work on my story lines for each series of books and that is what I forgot to do (my first novel writing experience) from the very beginning.

It was refreshing to write The Calamity Girl from scratch, with no time lines to worry about because it's probably going to be about three books which take place in about a year.
I have a mixture of genres in several books, which is going to make it a hoot when I actually get them published!

Celebrity Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth - Popular Subject.

October 8, 2009

I've been busy blogging on word press about various celebrities and today I had the shock of my life, over 5000 hits to look at a picture of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth kissing?

I also talked about them dating on my Idea Girl Consulting Word Press site.

I can't believe that I spent a whole day posting about 50 music videos on my site and one lousy picture gets over 5000 views?

Whats up with that! LOL

I think I'll just get a camera, and go join the paparrazi and take some pictures.

I guess people just like looking at stuff?

Or is it because Miley Cyrus is wearing a black bra under a wet white tshirt and all the little boys out there are getting OVERLY excited about it? LOL

The Idea Girl Says Word Press

July 15, 2009 by Linda Randall

The Idea Girl Says is my new blog on Word Press.

I plan to blog a journal of everyday activities and adventures for fun.

I find Twitter doesn't care for my many tweets, so I'll tweet on there instead.

It keeps up my writing, ideas and typing skills and hopefully it will amuse all of you!

Blog Catalog

July 19, 2009

I've been using Blog Catalog now for a month with some amazing results.

My Idea Girl Consulting Word Press site has gone from 100 hits per day up to 1000 within a month!

Sure I get about 300 emails every 3 days, but then I get to look at some awesome websites and do a link exchange.

I post comments on their site with my URLS and they do the same. It works great and I find it pretty entertaining.

I usually do it on the weekends, during my slower times and then I only post a few things on my blogs to keep my readers happy.

I get a lot of feedback from people looking at my sites, and they leave comments, which is great for Google Stats.

Constant traffic will attract the spiders to your site, I am finding that out now.

I've managed to increase my page rank with Google from 0 to 2, with 3 being the average rating for most sites.

My goal is to generate lots of traffic to my blogs as well as find new readers for my sites.

So far it's doing really well, most people enjoy my sites!

The Guys in Perspective had the best comment though, "You have a hip blog."

That made me feel like a million bucks, when 3 guys told me they loved my blog!

Blessed By A Squid Angel - Sunday July 12, 2009

Lens - Writing Words of Wisdom

As part of my Giant Squid list of tasks, I made an acknowledgements lens to thank people that had made a difference in my life, or people that had influenced me in making my Squidoo Pages.

Today I received a Blessing from a Squid Angel! I wrote a thank you on my Writing Words of Wisdom lens.

I feel honored to be so blessed and it was unexpected too!

I didn't even apply with THAT lens :)

Wi Won - Willow's Wonder Squids Win The Giant Squid Challenge for 2009!

July 2, 2009

I am happy to be a part of A Willow's Wi Won Team. We won The Giant Squid Challenge for 2009! Cool that we won a prize and I finally got on the Giant Squid Team!

I'm a GIANT SQUID Now!!!

July 2, 2009

I found out Today that I've been accepted into the Giant Squid club! I had tried out for it about 6 months ago and was told I needed to work on my lenses. it was shortly after that I was invited to become a part of Wi Won Team. They have helped me with my lenses, and made them so much clearer and better. I've even deleted about 3 or 4 of the one's I had, due to lack of interest. I'll be working on some new stuff now, that I know what people want.

Harry Potter - Funny Stuff - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

July 12, 2009

Harry Potter is soon coming out on July 15, 2009, The Half Blood Prince, will be a darker side of Harry, Ron and Hermoine.

I decided to lighten things up by posting creative and funny videos of the Harry Potter Puppets and Comedy Skits on Witty Woman Today.

Pictures, interviews, trailers, gossip about the Harry Potter Cast will be on Idea Girl Consulting, along with fan made music videos of our favorite stars.

Robert Pattinson - Twilight New Moon

July 12, 2009

Robert Pattinson you have an adorable accent, a sweet face and a funny disposition.

I found some wildly funny videos of Robert during his takes on the movie sets, bloopers, interviews and a hilarious music video where he sings about meeting Kristen Stewart.

I've posted the funny stuff on Witty Woman Today and Pictures, Fans videos, interviews and gossip on my Idea Girl Consulting Word Press site.

I know you will love his sense of humor and I've found a incredibly sexy pic of Robert Pattinson with a six pack and tons of muscles, yeah girls eat your hearts out!

WWE SuperStars on Idea Girl Consulting Word Press

June 2009

I've been posting videos, interviews and music videos from youtube. Some are tributes to the WWE Superstars that have died, and others are regarding the current stars. Here you will find John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Batista, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and more...
I've even got some funny DIVA videos with a soap opera theme

The Munroe Mansion On Squidoo

June 26, 2009

Book One of The Munroe Series, is The Munroe Mansion. Set in the late 1800's Joseph Munroe a rake and fiend, leaves London, England after his father passes away and starts a new life at the Munroe Mansion in Place Royale, Quebec, Canada. Little does he know the place is cursed. Joseph meets the lovely Ophirah Ramsbottom and falls in love. But then Lorraine and Elsa Picard come to visit and Joseph is attracted to both of them.

The story is about the secrets, affairs, black magic, spells and lives of the people living in a village called Place Royale.

Adam Lambert - American Idol

July 12, 2009

I found some cool videos of Adam Lambert and Kris Allen hosting America's Top 40 for Ryan Seacrest and posted them on my Witty Woman Today site.

They did an excellent job, and I can see the two of them doing TV Shows in the future, after the Music world is finished with them.

They have both been blessed with a quirky sense of humor, talented voices and a wickedly funny sense of humor!

I have posted some of the material on Idea Girl Consulting Word Press under American Idol

Michael Jackson on Witty Woman Today

July 3, 2009

I've been doing some new blogs under humor on my Witty Woman Today site. I found some hilarious videos of Michael Jackson, David Cook, David Archuleta and WWE. I posted them and within one day I received 775 viewers, yet the site only registered 350 hits? Why can't they measure it by viewers, it would be so much better for my stats!

Two MIchael Jacksons? Nope thats Navi!

July 12, 2009

I've been writing and putting funny videos of Michael Jackson on my Witty Woman Today site and Michael Jacksons Music on my Idea Girl Consulting Word Press site.

I've had a few good laughs, I never realized just how funny Michael Jackson was!

A man with a tender heart and soul, we will greatly miss you Michael Jackson, RIP.

Adam Lambert, Kris Allen - American Idol - Idea Girl Consulting WordPress

July 3, 2009

Yes I know, I was voting for Adam Lambert too! It was a real let down when Kris Allen won, but then I felt okay when I realized it was BETTER for Adam this way. He's not tied down to any one year contract with American Idol and he's free to do as he pleases!

He's promised to release his new single later this year, probably in November, just in time for Christmas!
He's going to deliver a whole new sound and tunes for us to enjoy.

Hello Elvis Presley, Your Kingdom is soon to be invaded by the Lambert fans!

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince - Idea Girl Consulting Word Press

July 3, 2009

I've been posting some hilarious Potter Puppets and Blooper Videos on Idea Girl Consulting WordPress from the Harry Potter filming crews.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince will be out in theatres on July 15th. I can't wait to see my favorite actors in the new, scary, dark Harry Potter sequel. It's hard to believe that the last movie will be shown in 2010 and we will all be disappointed to say goodbye to Harry Potter.

I wonder if they will find a way to keep the story going somehow? Maybe a spin off? I know we have Twilight New Moon to keep us happy for the next couple of years, then what?

WWE Funnies - Witty Woman Today

July 3, 2009

WWE Superstars, funny skits, comedy acts and videos regarding our loveable pro-wrestlers and divas. Some are parodies of the WWE Superstars and others are the real thing. Witty Woman Today is guaranteed to make you laugh!

Victoria Stafford on Idea Girl Consulting WordPress

July 3, 2009

I've been doing a "psychic" investigation on Victoria (Tori) Stafford's abduction. It all started with me having a few dreams, documenting them and then attending A History of a Haunting. I spoke to two psychics, one told me I would be writing a book based on what ghosts say to me. The other answered my question, "Is Victoria Stafford near Burlington or Woodstock?" Zoltar's reply was, "She be in Woodstock."
Now I don't know if that means her body is in Woodstock or I'm supposed to follow the trail from Woodstock. I've been posting clues, pictures and dreams that i've been having on my Idea Girl Consulting Wordpress site. Look under Category : Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

Is a Website Important for a Business to Have?

May 7, 2009 Written by: Linda Randall

Statistics say that if you have a website for your business, it will increase your sales by 30%. It also lets people know where you are located and what types of products or services that you provide.
If it is a retail store, then people can plan a shopping trip with you in mind. If it's a business service - consulting, management, customer service etc, then they can use Google Maps to find directions and get some general knowledge about your business. It's a great way to market you as well. People tend to trust someone who is "out" there instead of someone who doesn't bother to keep up with the times. There is so much competition out there these days that you have to stay current in order to get ahead.

Find out what the latest tactics are to draw customers your way. Establish yourself as an expert at what you do. People will trust your judgment and believe in you every step of the way. This helps to provide good business sense to your customers and let's them feel comfortable that you provide a stable environment for them to work with.

Idea Girl Consulting Blog on Word Press is getting lots of viewers, so I post articles on there about my Squidoo sites and it has been extremely successful in bringing traffic to the site.

Career Plans - #1

It feels great to finally see my dreams become a reality! I have been waiting three years for this moment in time. And it feels absolutely exhausting! You know dreams can take a lot of work? You plan and re plan and then plan again, and it always seems that "Murphy's law" throws a monkey wrench in your plans and adjusts every single thing.

Even your career plans can change several times over a two year period of time. I know, because I'm living it in the here and now. This past year has been the most difficult for me. Try starting a new career with no money, no education and no idea if your even good enough for the job.

It was a whim, and a desperate thought, that I had to create a new career for myself, with many physical limitations almost impeding me every step of the way. I'm speaking from the heart when I say, "Now I know what those learn to be a writer novels mean by being persistent!"

When everything seems to be going against you, take a step back and look at the big picture. What is limiting you from reaching your goal? Make a list of the things you want to do this year. Then make a list of things you know you will definitely accomplish with no problems or setbacks.

Save the last list for those things you really want to do but you may have barriers along the way. Remember the First thing is this, everything in life in temporal and things are subject to change.

Baby Steps - #2

Secondly, take your goals in baby steps if you have to, every step is closer to achieving that dream of yours.

Reward Yourself - #3

Thirdly, pat yourself on the back and reward yourself with something small for each "little" goal that you accomplish

Network of Friends - #4

The Fourth thing to remember is to create a good strong network of friends, and loved ones, that are backing you along the way. On those rough days, you collect a hug, a kiss and a "I know you can do it" word of advice from your team of supporters.

Journal - #5

The Fifth thing is to note in your day planner, or journal that you have arrived! The goal is completed and now you can focus all your time and energy on the next one. If you find that your meeting a lot of resistance along the way, take a step back, do something easy, fun and enjoyable then go back to achieving that goal.

The Mansion On The Hill - #6

My biggest goal and dream started in August 2008. My goal was to complete a 100,000 word novel called The Mansion On The Hill. It is "Far" from perfect, but I figure a great Editor will be required and since they have to edit it anyways, I'll give them lots of things to edit? LOL I just had to say that

Writing - #7

You know when you're not great at grammar or spelling and even if you have a grade 12 education, it seems you always will need to learn a few more pointers in the world of writing. After many hours of toiling over a computer, writing by hand, having hand cramps, neck aches and back problems, to finally say, "I'm finished my final draft and I'm ready to show the world what I can do."

Then you know that you have arrived. I kept at it, I persisted, and I got it finished, a little late, yes, but it's somewhat ready for the public to enjoy! I wrote at a grade 5 level only because according to statistics, many people out there cannot read.

So I wrote in easy English so that a fourth grade student could read and understand the story I have to tell. It's full of action, adventure, humor and great characters that you as the reader will learn to love and hate. I have posted what I call 17 mini chapters on the website (not actual chapters) but I've created little chapters so that when you're having a coffee and a break, you can log into the site and read a few words here and there

Imagination - #8

There are also pictures (compliments of Google images) so that you can get an idea of what my imagination as conjured for you. These pictures are not actually in the book, but they are there so that you can have fun using your imagination as you read the story that surrounds each picture. A picture book for adults! I thought it would be COOL to do!

I've also created what is called, "Novel Notes" This is where an author will do research on historical facts, times, places etc. So I've shared that and more. It's a great site for researching the early 1900's and I found it quite inspiring to know that folks in that time frame were facing uncertain economic times and went through what was the worst depression in history 1929-1937.

Who knows maybe 2009 will now be deemed the WORST depression Era! You can find my novel posted on my Squidoo site. I do need to apologize, I haven't written in awhile because somehow I actually forgot how to log in. Squidoo tech support sent me the wrong username information, and for the life of me, I drew a blank.

At least I put the time to good use and got the novel out of the way! Or so I thought, now I am rewriting the whole novel and I'm working on the First Novel of the Series, It's going to be called The Munroe Mansion. Now I can focus on doing more articles for you to enjoy and I'm going to be working on book 2 of my series.

Connie Talbot Says - Don't Worry About A Thing

This week I was looking at You tube Videos and came across this very talented little girl named Connie Talbot who sings a song called "Three Little Birds."

I have no idea why I never heard of her before (feeling kind of foolish here) but now I'm a fan.

I love her rich voice, her youth and I'm not a Music Guru but her voice reminded me of Patsy Cline right away. I always wonder about reincarnation, when I see someone who is so young, singing with an "older" sounding voice.

She's never had any music lessons and she was one of the final contestants on Simon Cowell - Britain's Got Talent back in 2007, at the age of 6 years old.

Amazing! Is all that I can say. I look forward to following her career in the years to come and I adore her musical qualities.

Feed The Birds

It was a beautiful sunny day today and once outside, hiking in the green forest with my family, I really didn't have any worries.

I didn't think about any of my bills or the work that needed to be done; instead I just sat back and relaxed for once in my life. We decided to have lunch with a friend, do some shopping at the flea market and feed the ducks, seagulls, swans and geese along the pier.

It was fun! I tossed bits of bread up and the seagulls were catching them in midair! I've never seen it done before. I usually toss the bread down towards the water and they swoop, fight and squawk to catch it.

Think Outside Of The Box

Today I decided to" go outside the box" and toss it up in the air, and I was amazed at the eye co-ordination of these birds as they caught every piece of bread within seconds. The first snap of the beak, the bread was gone. I originally went to feed the geese and ducks, but I ended up having so much fun with the seagulls that they got most of my bread today.

Actually there were three of us tossing the bread, buns and stale bagels up in the air so it was quite noisy with thirty birds fighting for a bite to eat. This has become a hobby of ours.

I was tired of throwing out half a loaf of bread every other week. Sure I'd put it in the freezer, but after a few months it would get freezer burn. Now I save up my bread and once the grocery bag is full, I defrost it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes, then we go to the pier and feed the birds. It would have been nice if I had remembered to bring my camera today.

A video of the seagulls would have been fascinating with some funny music (You tube idea!). There were loads of people there enjoying the show. The moral of this story wasn't just, "Three little birds," it was oodles of birds, bits of bread and lots of laughs!

Organize Your Office - Hat Boxes

I think my hobby of collecting hat boxes and colorful boxes was the best thing I ever did. Not only does it make the room very colorful and pretty but it also is a great way to store things and remember exactly what's in them

Organize Your Office - Clear Storage Boxes

Before I used the rubbermaid containers and they are great for big and bulky things like your summer or winter clothing. I got the clear plastic rectangular containers with lids for my gloves, hats and scarves and purses. They fit nicely under the bed and are easy and accessible to anyone who needs them.

Organize Your Office - Colorful Photo Boxes

I even use the colorful photo boxes to store my pens and notebooks and office supplies in. I found that I kept putting stuff in regular cardboard boxes up in the closet then I would happen to forget about it. This was not cost effective in any way, shape or form.

Inventory - Office Supplies

Now I can open the lid and do a quick inventory every month on what is needed and what may be required in the near future. I still haven't found a container that is meditation related. I find flowers, chic prints and world travel pictures. I collect Paris, London and Italy art work as well as the little boxes.

Office Decorating Themes

I have since created several themes in my home and each has some sort of meaning to me. The desire to write and travel is in my office. My kitchen is of the cafes of Paris and London. The Living room is landscape pictures and works of art. The bedroom is a collection of older works of houses and people. I find I don't look at my walls in my bedroom too much so I put the not so great stuff in there. If I ever get a larger home and more rooms I will put in a modern art area.

Organize Your Office - Venice Art Boxes

I have started with the metal works of art that can be picked up in the clearance section of Home Depot. That's where I've found the majority of my treasures. I love to buy everything on sale. I did buy a Venice case at full price. I figured with only two in stock and the chance that more would not be ordered; I grabbed it because I fell in love with the thing.

Organize Your Office - Collect Souvenirs

I kind of feel like I have travelled and picked up souvenirs along the way, another great place to shop for world wide travel type gifts is in Niagara on the Lake. There are several shops there that focus on Scotland, England and Paris as well as third country works of art

Organize Your Office - Leather Suitcases

It's just easier to work in an organized office if you take the time to do it. I saw a picture of a teacher's office that used old leather suitcases for storage and it looked pretty cool. It was a small room in an attic and this gentleman travels the world and takes all his earthly possessions with him.

He has his desk up for sale and gives an interesting story about what his life as a writer and teacher has been.

Be Organized -Text Messaging

I was doing research on writing subsidies and contests through my cell phone. My hand gets sore from clicking on the little buttons so I'm going to suggest they it like the new monitors out on display. Touch and pull and its so easy! I can't wait to get the money to do that.

Touch Screen Monitors - Chapters

I sometimes go into Chapters just to play with the screen and do research on the types of books that are on sale and what will be available in the next month or so. It's a great way to find out reading trends and look at what material is in demand and what is not.

Daisy Wants To Go Outside #1

I find it hard to work when the sun is shining

and daisy starts whining

She looks up at me with her big brown eyes

and pleads for me to get off my chair

Funny Dogs - #2

I look out the window and see the sun out there

calling for me to go for a walk

Daisy, jumps, dances and sings "Aroo"

as she insists that I take her too

Take The Dog For A Walk - #3

So out we go for a walk near the doggy park

little wagging tails and fur balls begin to bark

greetings, wet noses and sniffs to the derrier

my little daisy smiles and flip flops high in the air

Hugo - Italian Greyhound - #4

dashing around the park, it's a race to the other side

I'm getting dizzy here while I watch her stride

She's okay I see even though

she growls letting Mr Hugo

the greyhound know where she stands

Muddy Dog - #5

They come racing back and roll in the mud

an hour later we walk, exhausted and at ease

when she gets home , head to the bathtub please

Bathing The Dog - #6

Scrubbing the mud is not a lark

oh my aching back, so much muck

hard to come off, I groan and moan

I won't take her back, I'll keep her at home

Sun Calls - #7

The next day the sun was there

calling for us to go outside

we went to the park this time

but found a dry dirt trail instead

Daisy Is Happy - #8

Create A Survey

Now I find myself adding funny You tube segments to all of my sites in relation to the subject of the site. In building research sites, they can be rather dry at times, but mixed with humor, not only did I get more traffic to the site, I got some response. I put little mini surveys on the sites asking what age group is reading it.

I use this information to decide on what type of content to add to the site. So far my readers tend to be from ages 30 to 49, so I'm trying to figure out how to get to the younger generation

Homework Help For Kids, Teens And University

Many of the sites I have designed are great research tools for all kinds of school subjects, party planning and family activities.

Squidoo Ratings

Please click on the stars to rate my Squidoo Pages. The only catch is that you have to be logged into Squidoo to do it. I wish they would change that policy!

I guess it's going to be all trial and error for me. In Squidoo, I still cannot figure out how my lens can be #12,000 yet be rated #151?

by 6 people | Your rating:
Ranked #476 in Books, #46,742 overall

Squidoo Addict

I still don't understand it all but I'm having fun and I swear I am addicted to making a new Lens every week.

I hope people will enjoy them and use them.

I figured I'd make life easier for some by building research and information sites.

Where everything you need is in one place, rather than spending hours (like I do) finding sites with relevant information and details that I would need, say to write a good essay on any given subject.

Add To Your Lens Roll

I did find an interesting tool called a lens roll.

After 3 months of staring at it, clicking on it, looking around for information about it and trying to figure out what it was all about, I finally got it today.

Once I looked at the "Lens of the Day" and noticed he had a "Lens Roll of Favorites."

I experimented again and finally added a Lens Roll to my site!

Sign In First - Add A Site To Your Lens Roll

The trick is you have to sign into Squidoo, then open up another window and view various sites, if you scroll down on the right side you will see a happy face that says "Lens Roll" , you click on it and Voila!

That lens is added on your sidebar.

Rate Someone's Site

Also make sure you take some time to rate the sites as well and hopefully they will do the same for you.

You can view all of my Squidoo Lenses under My Bio.

MIDE BISTRO AND YOGA STUDIO - Restaurant Review

By Linda Randall - May 14, 2009 - RATING *****

A great place to take your business clients, friends and family. The service was superb, the waitress "Kaeli" described each dish in detail with such exhuberance and informed me she absolutely adores working there. Now that's what I call good employee morale. The owner Kassandra Hughes came up and introduced herself to me and was very cordial and helpful. She also let me know about a few ghost stories when they first renovated the bistro. Her husband Joseph Hughes is a fine chef and unique as well. He is Native Metis/Ojibwa and uses his Native Ancient ways to prepare his foods. The gourmet chicken sandwich I had today was out of this world. You can read the rest of my review at: http://wittywoman.today.com

RETScreen International - Greg Leng

May 12, 2009 - Written by: Linda Randall Source * St Catharines Standard - Green Team

RETScreen International - Greg Leng
There was an article featured by the Green Team - Matthew Van Dongen and Tiffany Mayer in the St Catharines Standard today about RETScreen International. You can email them at: standard@stcatharinesstandard.ca Subject: Green Team

RETScreen International is Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies. This software program has been used for local water power generators and biomass plants. RETScreen is a federal government software program that evaluates potential renewable energy projects.

For sustainable energy worldwide and has over 200,000 users. Greg Leng is the Director of the Natural Resources Canada Program. The software program was created by Greg Leng at the University of Massachusett's Master's Thesis and it's aimed at professional engineers, planners and architects. But it can be used to estimate energy production, building costs and green house --gas savings for projects of any size.

Non- technical homeowners make use of the program too. RETScreen will tell you if you have enough solar energy in your area to justify installing a solar water heater. It will determine how much energy, and money you'll save and provide a list of product supplies. Larger Product Developers will use the program to cut costs on preliminary research and "screens out the bad projects" quickly.
It was used to determine whether to build a wind farm in Niagara. The question was; Is it worthwhile pursuing this project? In past it might have cost you $50,000 to $100,000 to answer that question. Expert Program will do it for $500 or $1,000. The Program can save millions of dollars for fledgling green energy development projects. Greg Leng said the program has saved about $4 billion over the last decade.

They say that, "Projects associated with RETScreen will keep the equivalent of 20 million tones of carbon dioxide annually out of the environment by 2012."
It's a proven money saver - the Federal Government gives out the software for free. "The goal of the program has always been to remove barriers to a much broader implementation of clean energy, not to store them up," Leng said.
The United Nations, The World Bank and even NASA have all invested in RETScreen over the last decade. The program is available in 35 languages. In St Catharines, Rankin Construction used the program for a "ball park" potential of its proposed hydro power project on the Welland Canal by Engineer Jordan Beckhuis. The company is now finishing the last of the three two-megawatt turbines using canal water to pump out electricity.

This software program is being used in over 170 Universities and Colleges. If you want to check out the program for yourself visit:

http://www.retscreen.net/ang/home.php

You can also watch a 2 minute video at: http://www.retscreen.net/ang/video.php

The Munroe Series On Word Press

July 23,2009

I have created 4 websites on Word Press so far for The Munroe Series.
The Munroe Mansion, The SS America and The Totenmyer Cottage are now posted on Word Press as well as Squidoo.

I haven't gotten much traffic there yet, but I still have to promote the book. I was going to wait until the script was finished before I really push it.

I'm also slowly revising book one which was written in June 2009, a 60,000 word count, it's better then my work from August 2008.

I'm finding the beginning of the script a bit disjointed in speech, with little dialog.

That seems to be my pattern of late, all narration then I flow into dialog and the story seems to flow so much better!

I am not working on the manuscript full time, because it's tedious and boring to edit.

I hate typing, reading and correcting stuff.

If it wasn't for Microsoft Word, I fear my manuscript would be pretty crappy grammar wise.

Oh well with time, comes perfection, right? :)

Victoria Stafford A Pyschic Investigation On Word Press

July 23, 2009

I had to start a site on Word press because my photos are too big for Squidoo!

I should get some sort of photo program (probably already have one) where I can crop the pictures to a smaller size and make them easier to upload!

Even when loading to Word Press or Picasa it takes ages to upload!

I did load a bunch of thumbnails but they look too small!

I will get back to it eventually.

I have many projects on the go at the moment and I'm trying to catch up on my to do list from last month!

Adam Lambert Funny Guy On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

This week I created a new lens and called it Adam Lambert Funny Guy. I've posted sexy pictures, funny interviews and hilarious comedy sketches of Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Ryan Seacrest.

Adam Lambert's new single Want and some details about the controversy around a mini album being released this summer called On With The Show.

Also Fan videos of pictures of Adam Lambert set to great music and funny youtube videos are being showcased on Adam Lambert Funny Guy.

Kris Allen Funny Guy On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

Kris Allen Funny Guy is sexy pictures, music, interviews and humorous episodes of Kris Allen with Allison Iraheta, Ryan Seacrest and Adam Lambert.

Kris Allen's sense of humor is kind of dry and there isn't much "funny" stuff out there with just him.

Most of the videos are with Adam Lambert so they will be put on the Adam Lambert Funny Guy or Ryan Seacrest Funny Guy.

Ryan Seacrest Funny Guy On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

Ryan Seacrest Funny Guy is a compilation of sexy pictures of Ryan at the beach with some hot babes, his Hollywood star and various photo shoots.

Ryan Seacrest hosts various radio shows and interviews Hollywood Stars.

I have showcased a few of these funny you tube videos on the site.

He talks to Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus and numerous others.

Harry Potter Funny Jokes On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

Harry Potter Funny Jokes is full of funny comedy sketches, interviews and fans you tube videos of pictures of the cast of Harry Potter set to music.

Harry Potter Puppet Pals, The Hulk and other Hollywood Stars are featured on here.

Funny sayings, posters and graphics of the Harry Potter Cast.

Sexy pictures of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

Zac Efron Funny Guy On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

Zac Efron Funny Guy has incredible sexy pictures with Zac Efron's six pack set of muscles and dreamy baby blue eyes!

He looks so gorgeous in his photo shoots.

You Tube videos about his sailing lessons and scuba diving instructions while preparing for his new movie The Death And Life Of Charlie St Cloud.

Found some great You tube fan videos with pictures and scenes from High School Musical and other rock tunes!

Smosh Funny Guys On Squidoo

July 23, 2009

Smosh Funny Guys features pictures, songs, funny you tube videos, comedy sketches and of course how to dance like the Box Man!

Your sure to find lots of laughs on their site, plus some cool pics of the t-shirts they sell.

The 100 Squidoo Lens Challenge for September 30th, 2009

August 31, 2009

I finished most of my lenses around the first week of August and reached my 100 mark, now I've made 111 lenses but I deleted a few of them because I named them under something else and changed things around.

I've created a big group of lenses about The Munroe Series based on the fourteen novels I've written and will be revising them as well!

I am also having fun making fictional character profiles, settings, places, with actual pictures of the places that really exist only my story is totally fictional about them.

When I originally wrote the script I was unaware that any of these places existed!

Then when I did a google search for Place Royale ( making sure it wasn't a book title) I found several things from my book actually existed!

Now i'm wondering if I'm writing from a past life, or if my psychic abilities are kicking in and there are really some unsolved murder mysteries from that area!

Who knows!

In the next few years, I plan to travel to Quebec Canada to find out if maybe some of this stuff really did happen and that would be kind of freaky!