Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Reflecting upon the last year, 2012 was a good one. Amazing, in fact! Adopting the 4-Hour Workday (although not always perfectly implemented) and letting go of one career choice in favour of a new adventure have positively changed my energy and my outlook for the upcoming year.

Before diving into 2013, I’d like to share highlights from 2012, many of which are represented in photos.

On beautiful days Darrell and I grabbed our respective cameras and headed out somewhere we could easily get to. These photo wheels became an outside activity we enjoyed together.

One of my favourite photos from the year remains:

What makes me grateful is that, because of the technology – in my case, my scooter, my Gorilla tripod and my point-n-click camera, Darrell and I now have a hobby we share.

Meike and I have been friends since senior high school. Although we don’t see each other that often, we always have fun, have a few laughs and find trouble! (Not necessarily in that order…) This time around it was the Cloverdale Parade and Rodeo (read the full account of our escapade):

Hands down, my favourite place any Saturday afternoon…!

And…there is nothing like saying "Hell, ya!" when an opportunity presents itself…

Thanks to friend and mentor John Foliot, early July Found me in San Francisco and then in San Jose to give two presentations. The first presentation was for a corporate client, where one individual in attendance was the son of the founders of a well-known American coffeehouse chain. Had I known that beforehand, I might have rethought using this photo in my PowerPoint:

In between events, John and I had a bit time to kill and he asked if there was anything I would like to see. I did! I didn’t need to think about the question and let an opportunity go wasted.

His top-drawer service included a car tour of Stanford, Cupertino, and the Apple campus (not necessarily in that order) and then…the Golden Gate Bridge! The weather wasn’t the best for taking in the entire view of the bridge, but that didn’t matter. What did matter is that two friends shared the moment together. (John had yet to see the bridge despite living in the Bay Area for six years.) Sometimes it isn’t the photo that is great, but rather the memory that it represents:

Without any question, Saturday, July 28th, 2012, will be remembered by many for years to come! Thanks to the kind folks at Wish Upon a Hero and many others, I conquered the Rocky Steps in Philadelphia in a mere 7 minutes.

Here’s a brief recap of the day…

Standing between Rocky impersonator Mike Kunda and the inspiration for the Rocky movies Chuck Wepner – an-art-imitating-life kind of moments – was one of my most humbling and awe-inspiring moments…

From Philadelphia I went on to Pittsburgh for ISAAC (International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication). That conference was tough because I went alone and none of my peeps were there, and because I was thrown a few curve balls as a presenter. But I did meet a few new friends:

• Lisa, an Australian Sex Party member, is demolishing the myth “No sex, please. We’re disabled.” Need I say more? We had a great conversation the last night with Proloquo2Go on our respective iDevices until, after one margarita, the text on her iPhone became way too small for me to read. There is nothing like two new friends bonding by sharing one iPad (with large text) to communicate. It’s likely a good thing the conference ended when it did, otherwise we might have found trouble together – or trouble might have found us.
• Marlena Katena epitomizes “Grab life by its balls and live it." Watch her theaacjournalist channel on YouTube and be inspired.
• 4-year-old Leo stole my heart. (Sorry dear, but he did!) Having a conversation with our two iPads was definitely THE special moment of the conference. I struggled hard to swallow the tears. He is light years ahead by beginning his communication journey with an iPad. I love this news story his mom sent to me: horseback riding with his iPad mounted to the horse. Light years ahead! (In the video, he is the boy in the blue jacket.)

  You go, Leo! You are amazing. Dream big and you will go onto achieve many great things.

In September, as a delayed celebration of our 14th anniversary (I was in Pittsburgh for our actual anniversary. Oops!), Darrell and I joined Mom and Auntie Fern for one of their “ferry cruises”. With miles of water between them, the two sisters have found a way to connect by visiting on the BC Ferries, while enjoying the buffet. Ingenious!

On our return trip, we were lucky to pass a pod of orca whales. The captain slowed the ferry so that we all had an opportunity to marvel at the sight of whales breaching. Imagine whale watching for the price of a BC Ferries’ passenger fare! This is one of amazing photos Darrell shot:

Mother and daughter enjoying time together on the water: priceless!

The special commonality amongst these highlights is they are all memories created by taking time to spend time with friends and family, away from online. And that is so valuable these days.

Who is up for creating memories together in 2013?

Dear Santa,

2012 was amazing! New friends, new career direction and, of course, climbing the Rocky steps was the highlight.

As I write this late on Christmas Eve, I am not in want for anything. I have a wonderfully supportive husband, a cuddly kitty, friends and family around the world, a beautiful home and adequately stocked cupboards. What more do I need?

However, there is one thing I would like for next year that perhaps you could help me, please. I would really like to have more, meaningful communication with those who are near and dear to me. Through the combination of modern technology, making time for old fashioned “let’s do coffee” and a little Santa magic, I am sure this is possible.

I’d also like to ask that my friends and family are blessed in the one way they need most.

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

With love from,
Glenda

2012 has been an amazing year! I am planning on writing a “2012 in Review” post a little later, probably in the lull between Boxing Day and New Year’s. For today, I would like to share a short video that was released earlier today. This video is my favourite day of 2012! For the back story, check out Going the Distance to Conquer the Rocky Steps.

Here’s the (uncaptioned) video…

Dear readers, friends and family,

Thank you for your generous support. Because of you, 65 people in dire need will enjoy a Christmas dinner at the Union Gospel Mission.

Your generosity warms my heart and brings a tear to my eye.

Regardless of what is happening in the world, the giving Christmas spirit is still alive and well. Thank you.

I would also like to thank each one of you for your support and friendship throughout the year, and I’d like to wish you the very best for 2013!

Glenda

One key to making the 4-Hour Workday a success is to efficiently use the tools that I choose to use, and, surprisingly, that includes Amazon. Unless an author has a humongous following, simply uploading a book to Amazon means that it will most definitely be lost amidst the millions of other titles vying for book lovers’ attention and money.

The good news is that authors can do much to increase the likelihood their books will be found. This is particularly good news for indie authors who are working with a thinly worn shoestring budget.

Thanks to Michelle Vandepas’ Amazon Bootcamp and other research that I have done over the last couple of months, I have discovered easy-to-implement tips and tricks to increase my Amazon exposure and ranking, and, subsequently, book sales. In fact, the last several weeks have been been the best yet since uploading my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself to Amazon in December 2010. I won’t mislead you by saying sales are staggering; they aren’t, yet. But, I am awaiting a royalty cheque; my second in two years. Woohoo!

However, in learning how to use Amazon efficiently, I have discovered that one boundless energetic resource is glaringly overlooked in these strategies, and that is the raving, cheering book readers who would do almost anything to promote their favourite books. Amazon book readers play a crucial role in the success of a book, if only they knew how to cheer effectively.

For this reason I am excited to release Become a Raving, Cheering Book Lover: A Guide to Sharing Your Favourite Amazon Books (PDF). This guide offers 7 easy-to-implement ways (with simple and clear instructions) you can use to share your latest read with others.

The guide is absolutely free. (No email address, personal measurements or first born required!)

Please share freely among your fellow authors, book lovers and book clubs.

Happy reading and happy sharing!