Sonia Marsh - Gutsy Living

Life's too short to play it safe

Promoting is like breathing, you can never take a rest from it or you might die.

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Over the last few months, I’ve spent countless hours listening to CD’s, reading books on book promotion and social networking, and I’m starting to feel like a bride who might cancel her wedding–just kidding!

In Belize, my days were filled with cooking everything from scratch, including bread, shopping for food, or perhaps–going out on a scavenger hunt for food is more like it— and boiling pots of stinky well water to (pretend) wash our clothes, which never failed to reek of sweat. Yet time went by just as quickly in Belize. I felt like I’d stepped back fifty years and my previous hectic life of the 21st century, was in the past. No one was in a hurry, not even the expats.

Now I’ve relocated to the land of continuous PR, where promoting is like breathing: you can never take a rest from it, or you might die.

Recently, at my friend’s book launch, all unpublished writers were hungry to learn the steps. “Should I be twittering? What is it really for? Should I be on Facebook? Should I be blogging?”

I listened to a literary PR agent talk about the need to start promoting your book, at least one year before publication. What’s all that about? If I still lived in Belize and wanted to promote my book, I’d have another rum and coke, listen to some Bob Marley, and say, “No worries Mon.”

So what I’m asking all you writers today (Yes, bloggers are writers since they publish online) Do you feel pressure to be a PR specialist? And to those of you aspiring authors, if you knew how time consuming book promotion would be, would you still write?

I know the arguments that we write because of a strong desire within us, and that not writing would make us sick. But being an author is so much more than writing. You become a business, at least that’s what all the conference CD’s, I’ve listened to recently, tell me. You promote yourself 24/7, you’re constantly selling, even on vacation.

Do you want to be doing PR 24/7?

I think it’s time for another rum and coke, under my palapa. Belize, here I come.

Please comment or I’ll feel like my PR and social networking have failed me and I’ll run and hide in my fishing boat in Belize. Oh my! That sounds tempting right now.

Eco-travel in any Economy–Kimberly Keilbach/Guest Author

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Kimberly and I have known each other since our middle sons started preschool, almost fifteen years ago. We both love adventure, travel and writing. Throughout the years, we’ve enjoyed numerous cups of coffee sharing stories about raising our boys, living in Orange County and our dreams. I’m so proud of Kimberly. Not only did she complete the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California, but she is now the author of Global Warming is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making a Profit While Saving the Planet. She offered to write about eco-travel as a guest blogger, and I thought that would interest all of us in today’s changing world. Please check out her website, and blog.

Eco-travel in any Economy

When I think about taking an eco-vacation, I imagine roughing it in exotic places that are teaming with wildlife and a rich cornucopia of plants and trees. Then I look at my budget and sigh. I live in Southern California, home to some of the hottest tourist attractions in the world, yet my idea of the perfect vacation spot is anywhere but here. The reality is that my chances of taking an eco-vacation in this economy are probably slim to none. At least that’s what I thought until a week ago.

My trip to Northern California began as a business/pleasure trip. I planned to attend the Green Business Camp in San Francisco for one day and to stay the night with old friends whom I haven’t seen in far too long. As the author of a newly released book on business and the environment, the irony of jetting up to the Bay Area to discuss eco-friendly topics with others was not lost on me. I began to feel guilt about my carbon footprint, which slowly morphed into a kind of decision—or maybe it was more of a dream—to go the whole trip without a car.

I realize that in many places, going without a car is no big deal. But this is California, and Northern Californians love their automobiles just as much as Southern Californians…even if they do drive Priuses. It took several hours of pouring over Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) maps and Municipal or MUNI bus schedules to figure out how to get around town. I thought I had everything down, but things looked a whole lot different on the ground.

I got off the plane in Oakland International Airport and made my way to the AirBART to go into town. I only had one day on my own, so I wanted to make the most of it by seeing the Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. I made it from the airport to the main BART line, no problem. So far, so good; however, my first BART stop was at 16th & Mission, which was not an area I would want to be in after dark…or during the day, for that matter. Maps tell you where you can go; they don’t tell you where you should go.

Heart pounding, hand clutching my rolling suitcase, I avoided eye contact with some of the more vocal characters and made my way to the corner bus stop. There, an elderly Chinese couple, a young Hispanic mother with her child, and two young African-American youths stood next to me, their various dialects and languages ebbing and flowing around me in a tide of humanity.

When the bus arrived, I was carried up and onto its steps by a rush of people, intent upon being the last to squeeze on board. There I stood, like one of an eclectic mix of sardines, standing in the middle aisle. No need to hold on; there was no room to fall. Suddenly, I no longer felt threatened by these strangers; I felt like I belonged. That’s when I had my first epiphany: If you want to feel the pulse of a city, then ride the bus.

The California Academy of Sciences was as amazing as everyone said it would be. The living roof was truly spectacular as was the rainforest exhibit. I spent the better part of an hour walking up a spiral ramp that wound three or four stories from under the water up to the canopy at the top of the rainforest.

When I was done, I made my way back via bus and BART, no longer intimidated, to the Danville exit, where my friend Julie picked me up to hike the hills around Mt. Diablo.

The next morning, I carpooled into the BART station with my friend John, who routinely uses this as his way to-and-from work. I was not the only person to take the eco-friendly path in to the Green Business Camp, which was held at the GreenV Sustainable Center in South San Francisco. Some carpooled, others walked or rode their bikes. On the way back, I decided to take a stroll along a beautiful little bike path with green grass and wild flowers, which somehow ended at the depot. The wind was blowing slightly but the sky was a brilliant blue scudded with fluffy white clouds that played hide-and-seek with the sun. I almost forgot that I had to meet John at the Walnut Creek station to carpool home. That’s when I had my second epiphany: You will get where you are going, even if you forget to rush.

The following morning was full of rain, and Julie and I got a cup of coffee on the way to the airport. The flight home was uneventful and boring. My husband picked me up on his way home from work up in LA. That’s when I looked in my wallet and realized that I had virtually all of the cash I’d started out with. In fact, except for the dinner I bought for John and Julie and the entrance fee for the museum, I didn’t spend much at all. That’s when I had my third epiphany: It is possible to eco-travel in any economy, and you don’t have to go to some exotic locale to travel richly on a sustainable budget.

greenhotels.com Green Hotels Association:
Before you leave
*Turn the water heater to its lowest setting
*Unplug appliances
*Turn your thermostat down or off

When you travel
*Use e-Tickets rather than paper tickets whenever possible
*Walk or use public transportation
*If you do drive, turn your engine off rather than idling to see the sights
*Throw trash away in trash bins (this seems obvious but it’s always amazing where people chose to throw their trash when they’re not home)

If you stay at a hotel
*Tell the cleaning staff that they don’t have to change the bed linens or towels every day
*Turn off lights and appliances when you leave the room
*Turn the thermostat down or off when you leave
*Ask the hotel to recycle complimentary newspapers
*BYOB – bring your own bar of soap and let the hotel keep their little amenities

If you eat out
*Avoid Styrofoam and carry your own water bottle or cup when possible
*When offered napkins or condiments, take only what you will use
*Reduce fast food consumption (I always like to experience the unique tastes of the city you are visiting)

Other
*Take only those maps and brochures that you will use
*Use a digital camera rather than a disposable

Kimberly B. Keilbach is the author of Global Warming is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making a Profit While Saving the Planet. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Entrepreneur Program and Master of Professional Writing Program, Kimberly writes about innovation, creativity and people’s responses to change. She is also a member of the International Eco-Tourism Society.

Visit Kimberly on her blog at kbkeilbach.blogspot.com.

BELIZE BUZZ Wednesdays-GOSSIPING RESULTS

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I discovered from all of your wonderful comments that we need to distinguish between two types of GOSSIP: GOOD GOSSIP and NASTY GOSSIP. Or as AspiringWriter said, “There’s always gossip in small communities – some healthy, some not so healthy.”

We don’t seem to mind the good kind. It’s the NASTY GOSSIP that we want to avoid and not participate in.

Please excuse me if your name isn’t linked, as I had to copy and paste each link with the before and after code, manually. My blogger link button was on strike today. I apologize if I didn’t place a link to your comment.

LadyFi commented
 “I find it interesting that it was the ex-pats that liked gossiping in Belize… I would have thought that it would be the locals gossiping about you. Or did they do that too? ”
Your’re right. Everyone gossiped, expats and locals. I’ve had time to reflect on your comments, and perhaps GOSSIP isn’t the right word. You see, when I talk about friends and what they’re doing, it isn’t considered gossip here in California. Whereas if I did the same on Ambergris Caye, it might be twisted around and distorted into gossip later.

Brenda pointed this out clearly when she said, “Is it gossip? Or is it just a way of understanding our world?” She continues to point out another difference, “When I first moved to Latin America I found the gossip a little suffocating, but then I came to understand that it was not harmful, it was a necessary part of community living.”

Caroline also brings up the same valid point, ” I feel that there are different types of gossip. There’s the conversational gossip (which happens a lot in the village I come from in Norway) and then there’s nasty/catty gossip which I have witnessed a lot where I lived in SA. I guess many of us, including me, uses the term GOSSIP, as NASTY and CATTY, like Caroline said. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part.

Also Pearl believes that GOSSIP happens in small rural towns, which is the same as living on an island with a small population.

Miss Footloose said, “Gossip can be dangerous, of course, but I have been surprised that among the expat women I knew in Armenia and Ghana there was so little of it, at least not the nasty kind.” See there again, we’re talking about good vs. nasty gossip.

FRIDAY I HAVE A GUEST/AUTHOR BLOGGER. PLEASE COME VISIT.

5) Monday is Belize Day-Gossiping, What Me?

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“Be careful what you say to people, they will instantly judge you.” Those were my husband’s words of warning before we moved to Belize.

Gossiping in Belize is a way of life, and to some, a full-time job. I tried my best to stay away from it but soon realized, the mere act of opening my mouth qualified as gossiping. It was a major source of frustration. In a large city you could say what you wanted and get away with it, but not here. I guess living with the same small crowd, gossip became a form of entertainment.

During our first expat luncheon at a local restaurant, I accidentally critiqued a village close to our hut, stating that it wasn’t safe there because an elderly American lady had recently been attacked at gunpoint by a Belizean thug. An expat rolled her eyes, and in a tone of voice that brought me back to Miss McNulty, my Irish, spinster math teacher at boarding school, she said, “It’s just as safe in the village and for your information, that woman didn’t get robbed in the village.” For the first time since elementary school, I realized relationships were based on first words. They either liked you, or they crossed you off their list. Since being liked was important to me, I tried to make peace by saying, “I’ve only been here a week, so what would I know?”

I’d never lived in a small town before. Lagos, Paris, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Brussels and Orange County, California didn’t qualify as rural. My husband, Duke, said that it’s the same all over the world. As a child, he lived in a small rural village in Pennsylvania, where gossip spread like a virus.

Two weeks after we moved to the island of Ambergris Caye, I discovered that most women seemed to be doing lunch. Flattered when two English expats invited me, I realized that drinks and gossip were the purpose of these get-togethers. I sat between them feeling like an insect under a microscope. Into which species and sub-species would I be categorized? It reminded me of high school where you have to be analyzed and categorized, into a specific group. The “cool group,” the “drinking group,” the “non-drinking group,” the “geeky group,” the “she’s got money group,” or the, “she’s not a threat to us,” group.

I learned to be careful before I spoke. Trust was a word that came up frequently among expats. “It takes several years before you know whom you can trust?”

Do you hear lots of gossip where you live?

Any comments on trust, what it’s like to meet new people, or anything else you want to say?

Let’s exchange opinions. I shall answer you on Wednesday, BELIZE BUZZ day and thanks to Rob-bear for responding to what others said last week.

I’m in the Laguna Beach Independent newspaper today.

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Today, I know what a birthday feels like to a five-year-old. I woke up earlier than usual to check the online edition of the Laguna Beach Independent newspaper.

I was crushed. Nothing. I looked for the article everywhere. For those of you who didn’t see it, I blogged about Dimestories on Easter Sunday. After reviewing my e-mail exchange with Jennifer Erickson, the journalist who interviewed me, I remembered what she said. “Things can always change in the newspaper world, but if all goes according to plan the article will appear in the May 1 edition of the Laguna Beach Independent.”

A couple of hours later, I re-checked, and found the article. If you click on the photo, you’ll see me reading. As Erickson wrote, this was my first DimeStories event, and my name happened to be pulled out of the red tin, first. Unfortunately, they wrote my last name as March instead of Marsh, but I’m excited about the paragraph on my memoir, half way down.

Names are chosen randomly out of a container to determine the order of readers. First-timer Sonia March of Lake Forest started things off at the April event, reading a short selection from a memoir she is writing about moving her family to Belize as a means of dealing with a defiant teenager. A little nervous at first, March gained poise as she read and finished before the timer. She hadn’t planned to be a writer, but kept a journal of her experiences and sent descriptive e-mails to friends who encouraged her to write a book. She’s been taking writing classes, and then learned about the open mic nights through McCormick. “I think this group is amazing, and I’m going to keep coming back because you can learn so much from listening to the other writers,” she said.

This Saturday, May 3rd, at 5 p.m., Laguna Beach Books is hosting the first DimeStories Orange County Showcase, where preselected stories will be read by their authors. I can’t wait to hear them.

What a great present I received today, and good luck to all other aspiring writers.

I know many of you have already published several articles, books, etc. Please share if you’ve been interviewed about your writing in a local, or national newspaper. What about television? I’d love to hear.

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