A Life in the Day

Spent a good portion of the past two days watching documentaries I've had sitting in my Netflix Instant Queue for months (ok, some close to a year... don't judge me) while working on a million things at once. If you've followed this blog at all you know I can't just sit still and often have several things going on at once . Such was the case with the documentary watching. Most of it was watched on my iPad while I helped kids with their homework and housework. (Love being able to lay the iPad down beside me while folding laundry!) The problem with watching so many documentaries back-to-back is that you start to feel like you're starring in your own documentary and find yourself providing commentary for every day tasks. "While brushing her teeth, Saritza checks her to-do list on her iPad prioritizing items before consuming her first cup of coffee." I even had background music playing from my iTunes library on my iPad. The funny thing is I used to do ...

Know thyself. — Socrates I've been on a constant search for identity as I reach my forties and I can safely say it's almost reached an obsessive level. My private journal is riddled with entries where I've asked myself "who are you" or are tagged " self-identity " and in this search for self-identity I've continue to answer: an agent . I'm the representative for a talent to a business who plans to exploit and benefit financially from said talent and I take this role very seriously. I strive to be better at my job on a daily basis and I spend countless hours learning and absorbing information from an industry (who like our economy) is in a constant state of flux. There have been times (many, in fact) where I've felt insecure about my abilities and my knowledge of what I do but the minute I sit down and talk with a client, another agent or an editor, I know, without a shadow of a doubt who I am. I'm an agent! In the beginning of my...

I often head straight for the fiction and literature section in my local Barnes & Noble and scan the shelves. I may pick up a book here and there with intent to purchase but 9 times out of 10 I spend my time looking for author names I know or recognize and seeing what they may have new that I haven't read yet. I may pick up a "new to me" author and browse through the first few pages then head over to to the romance section and do it all over again.  The first thing I look at when I open the book is the acknowledgments page. Who did the author thank? Did they mention their editor and agent? I must admit that when I find a book without that acknowledgement, I put it back and feel a little sad that the author didn't thank them. I don't think it's because I'm an agent because it's a habit I've had all of my life and it doesn't prevent me from buying the book. It's just something I thought about today.  I don't do this when b...

Tree of Life by  Hartwig   HKD   Oprah calls it an a-ha moment. That moment when you "get" something that makes you snap your fingers and say, oh my God, that's it! That's what I've been waiting for! I get it! I finally understand! In his interview with Oprah for her new  Next Chapter series,   George Lucas  said people are always asking him "how do you know what your passion is" and he said, "if you get up to do something in the morning and have breakfast at 7 AM [then look up again only to] realize it's 7 PM then THAT's your passion." What do I wake up thinking about every morning?  In Sister Act 2 , when Whoopi Goldberg 's character talks to Lauryn Hill 's character about singing in the choir when her mother says it's not worth her time, Sister Mary Clarence says, "if you wake up every morning thinking about singing, then you're meant to be a singer, baby!" That quote has stayed with m...

We all do it, right? We scan the shelves at the bookstore, grocery store, or online bookstore and if we don't know the author, we make our decision about a book purchase solely on the cover of the book. Publishers know how important good cover design is and those with a strong budget and staff, hire freelance cover artists whose works can help them sell books. Some have an entire Design department with a  Design Manager overseeing the cover art requests and assigning the work to various cover designers. These folks take the time to not only ensure the cover design is aesthetically pleasing but also meets photo and digital rights requirements as well as marketing scopes which will help sell the book to the right demographic. Not all publishers have the budget or staff allocated to do this but those that do, I've found, tend to sell more books than those who don't. Regardless of whether your publisher has one of these nifty Design department managers on staff or not, it...

As we get ready to say good-bye to 2011 and welcome the new year, I'm grateful for the many new experiences and life lessons learned this year. Most of all, I'm grateful to welcome 2012 with these three gorgeous people in my life. Hubby and I could not be more proud of the young men and woman they are growing up to be. They are the reason we smile (and pull our hair out every day) and the motivating factor to be better people every day. We wish you all a avery happy and prosperous new year!

Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear. - Wikipedia Image by highersights via Flickr If you've ever wanted to learn how to communicate effectively, sit among a group of teenagers . If your words can get through all of the noise around them (literally not just metaphorically as they're usually listening to music while texting and updating their Facebook page) then you may just be an effective communicator. I'm surrounded by teens at least once a week, if not more, as my kids are notorious for bringing their friends over, using my house as a hang-out place or just a place they can come and be "themselves". Hubby and I are very open-minded and encouraging of our kids to look at all of the sides of a situation before accepting anything they hear or see as "fact" and their friends tend to enjoy that about being in our company. Doesn't hurt we have HD TV , hi...