By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. I dread doing my annual income tax return. Not that I actually complete the forms myself, I merely need to gather the needed documents to give to my accountant. He does all the actual work. Still, tax season is a source of anxiety that I approach with much trepidation – […]
I like working but not finding work. I like writing but not finding a publisher. Unfortunately, there are similarities. Consider these parallels: 1. The Search For a job, we need to find where to apply. This means looking through help wanted ads, researching companies, and networking with people we know. For writing, this means scouring […]
After you write and publish your book, the next step is to promote it. This requires a platform. However, don’t build your platform around a social media site. You can’t control that. Overnight they could change the rules, limit your reach, make you pay to be seen, or even summarily turn off your account. Then, […]
Most jobs include vacation time, usually starting at two weeks a year and going up from there. Though I’ve never been a fan of taking a two-week trip, I used to look forward to those vacation days off from work to have a break, catch up on personal projects, and make shorter vacation-like excursions. However, […]
When I read a book and catch an error or spot something questionable in the layout, I generally overlook it—the first time. When I catch a second oops, I turn to the front matter and see who published the book. If produced by a traditional publisher, my tendency is to overlook the errors. After all, […]
By Peter LyleDeHaan, PhD As I announced last month, TAS Trader begins its sixth year with a new look to meet readers’ changing needs. With more people reading emails on their smartphones than not, the old PDF format of TAS Trader has been retired in favor of this new mobile-friendly version, ideal for smartphone and […]
The opinion of some writing instructors is to only write what you know. Is this good advice or bad? Is it wise or limiting? Actually, these are trick questions. Let me explain by turning this one phrase into two pieces of advice: This covers everything. Of course, as soon as we learn something we don’t […]
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Our Actions Are Nothing to Sneeze About
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD A few years ago, I had a strange realization. It began when I sneezed. My sneeze sounded just like my dad’s. Not that there’s anything wrong or strange about how he sneezes, just that it’s distinctive. At first, I chalked this up to heredity. But why did it take four […]
A friend recently asked how to find a writing mentor. Yeah, I’d like one, too! One of my graduate classes was on mentoring, albeit focused on Millennials and spirituality. The principles I learned, however, apply to any type of mentoring, for almost any age. The reality is those good mentors are hard to find. The […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Does your call center have a mission? If you don’t have a mission statement, now is the time to develop one. Start today; don’t delay. A practical mission statement will support and guide your staff; don’t let them flounder. Remember the proverb, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” […]