I Need New Habits--Review of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

I rarely do this. But I saw an article on NPR (didn't even hear the guy on the radio) and bought the book. Immediately. The reason why?

I am self-employed and work at home. This means that I have large blocks of time available which I use as I choose. Guess what? I waste a lot of time.

So when I read about this book, I decided that what I need are some new habits. The reason this book attracted me is that it's not a self-help book. It doesn't give you a lot of cheesy advice about how to get up at 6 a.m., run around the block a few times, eat your power breakfast out of a blender and then go out and change the world.

No. This book explains the research about our habits, how we make them and how we can break them. It also uses narrative. He tells about people who were able to change habits. This is my favorite way of learning.

So, I read it. Here's what I think.

First off, I found it annoying that he starts one story, then starts another story and then another and then gives you the ending later. To my brain it seems unorganized. But I can see why he did it. Maybe his brain is bigger and can follow three stories at once.

But the rest of the book has great value.

I enjoyed reading about all the research. I love any book that teaches me more about the way my brain works. And this one did. However, it was distressing to find out that we never fully eradicate bad habits. We must overlay them with something else. This makes sense. How many people have you heard say that even after X number of years of not smoking, they still get the urge for a cigarette once in a while?

I liked the hope at the end of the book. By the way, if you want a lot of value for your money, be aware the end of the book is at about page 286.The last hundred or so pages of the book are footnotes.

I also liked the research that shows that if you manage to change one habit, you often get rid of other bad habits as well. Score! 

In the last chapter Duhigg states, "If you believe you can change--if you make it a habit--the change becomes real."Now that's worth a shot.

The book made a lot of sense. I'm going to try to apply some of this to my own life. But now, I'm going back to bed for a morning nap. That's probably the first habit I need to address.

First paragraphs of Snarky and Sassy

Lurlette's tank watch

So I'm finishing up the final edit of Snarky and Sassy, the sequel to Snarky and Sweet. The first paragraphs are the most important and probably will get edited a few more times. I'd love your input. Let me know what you think!

Snarky and Sassy: A Romantic Comedy about Twins, an Earl, and a Great Big Castle

Lurlette gazed out the window at the huge city spread before her like a pop-up book. The giant green rectangle of Central Park, the gleaming silver skyscrapers and the bright blue sky made a perfect picture. She loved New York. She also loved Paris, London and other big cities like chic Milan and gutsy Fort Worth. Large cities gave her scope. But the traveling days when she could hop on a jet for a gelato in Rome or a spa day in Prague were probably over. She sighed.

She looked down at her small Cartier Tank gold watch. It was an iconic style and she knew it had cost Chang a lot of money, more than a quarter of her twin’s schoolteacher salary. But it irked her just a little that this watch wasn’t the one of a kind diamond pave watch that Chopard had designed especially for her. That one was gone. She’d sold it in December when Sotheby’s had auctioned off so many of her nice things.

Maybe this watch should have gone on the block too, but there was nothing that special about it. And besides, you had to have a watch. Using a cellphone to tell the time was a habit that Lurlette never intended to adopt.

It also irked her that she had look at her watch at all. She was looking at it because Weasel was late. He had said he would meet her here for lunch at Restaurant Georges Breton at 12:30. But it was now 12:40 and he still hadn’t showed up.

In the background she heard the tinkling of glasses and the polyglot conversations of the others seated around her. This was one of her favorite restaurants in New York City. She liked the stylish modern furniture, the subdued lighting, and, of course, the view. And the food was very French and very nice. And it was still undiscovered by the Trip Advisor crowd. 

She took a sip of her Perrier with lime and thought about what she should do next.

She could leave. She usually didn’t wait for anyone. Making people wait for her was another thing altogether. Or she could wait a little longer. There wasn’t any rush. The auction wasn’t until four o’clock.

It really was out of the goodness of her heart that Weasel had been invited to the auction at all. But Lee, her twin, was too busy with her school teaching duties and William, her fiancé, was appraising some estate jewelry in Germany. So Weasel had been a last resort. It was unthinkable to show up at the auction without an escort of some kind.

Weasel had been very helpful with the sale of her other jewels in December. She guessed she owed it to him to be with her for the big auction of her diamond engagement ring. The Maharani Red, a rare five carat red diamond of the highest quality, had been her engagement present from Horatio Alger Chang, her third husband. Now that the divorce was final, she was on her own again. She needed something to live on and the auction of her other jewelry and furs had brought in a nice amount. But not enough to support her lifestyle. The Maharani was a very important part of her future financial security.

She knew people in the restaurant were starting to stare at her. Of course, men always stared at her. She was used to that. But even the waiters were beginning to look her way. Honestly, if Weasel didn’t show soon, she would have to go...

Ten Ways to Show an Author You Love Them on Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day. Some of us of a Valentine as someone sweet and cuddly who might conceivably give us chocolate, flowers or perhaps even jewelry. But I think we should broaden our view. This is because authors have been giving us Valentines for years. Books are not easy to write. And it's not easy to put your brain child out in the open for other people to criticize or even worse, ignore. So if an author has written a book you love, they really have given you a great gift.

Many of us wish we could send fan mail to folks like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens or George Eliot. But some of our favorite authors are still alive.

So if you admire a living author who wrote a book which has given you hope, great ideas, information or even wisdom, here's a top ten list of what to do for your favorite living authors in return. Remember that nonfiction authors get a lot less fan mail than the fiction ones do which would make your note to them even more special.

1. Post an author's book on your Facebook page.

2. Tell a friend how wonderful an author's books are. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the good news about a book.

3. Like an author's Facebook page.

4. Follow an author on Twitter.

5. Write an honest review of an author's book on Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

6. Give a favorite author's book to someone else as a gift.

7. Give a copy of an author's book to your local library.

8. Pin an author's book cover or portrait on a Pinterest board.

9.  Lend your copy of a favorite book to a friend to read.

10. Send the author a note telling them how much you liked the book. Tell them how it inspired you or changed you. Snail mail is grand but email costs nothing for either you or the author who might reply.


Some of these things would take only a second. I think I'm going to see if Elizabeth Peters has a Facebook page.

New Coat

 One of the nicest things about having my book do well this past month is that I've been able to treat myself to a few much-needed things. Top on my list was a new coat. My old coat (and frankly, I have no idea how old it is. Michael seems to think that some of our children weren't born yet when I got it and the baby just turned twenty-eight) still looks fine on the outside but the lining is just shredded.

I could have relined it. That would have required buying a lot of lining fabric, cutting out the old lining, cutting new pieces from the old shredded pieces, sewing them together, doing a lot of handwork getting a new lining put in, etc. Or paying someone else a lot of money to do it.

The other alternative was to wait until the very end of the coat season and pick up a deal. Which I decided to do.

The coat situation had become rather ridiculous. I found myself going to church for the last three Sundays without a coat rather than wearing the ragged one or my every day down coat. (Fashion discipline must be maintained.)

So here is my gorgeous new coat. Even on an insane sale the coat was still an investment, but I've been taught that you buy clothing based on cost per wear. If you wear a dress once and it costs you $100, then the dress is $100 per wearing. But if you buy a coat and wear it thirty times a year for twenty or more years, then the same $100 investment works out to be...well, I promised there wouldn't be much math in this blog, but you get my drift. I definitely got my money's worth out of the old one and the new one will get good use for years to come.

NYC Anniversary!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If it's a really good photo, I'd say ten thousand or more. And Michael is a really good photographer. So rather than tell you how romantic and lovely a day it was, I'll just show you.

Here's the rundown on our fabulous NYC anniversary trip on Friday.

Michael loves cars, engineering and architecture. So our first stop was naturally the Chrysler building. Art Deco raised to its very highest level.

Then on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had been once before but hadn't had a lot of time. I swear this museum would make you ADD. Because as you're standing in one room looking at one of the most famous paintings in the world, you're catching out of the corner of your eye another oh-so-famous one in the next room. Very disturbing but very great experience.

I am a huge fan of Vigee-Lebrun and anytime I get to stand in front of one of hers, it's a very good day. And this one is one of her very best.

You can't look at pictures all day, so we spent some time in the musical instruments exhibit. We fell in love with this beautiful metronome.

We also ate lunch in the museum right by a very disturbing statue (from the rear) which we found out after lunch was a sort of triumph of the spiritual over the natural man. I'll sit somewhere else next time.

On the way to The Square Meal which is just a few blocks from the museum, Michael caught this shot of the Guggenheim. Very effective, I thought. It was a beautiful night. And he has such a fabulous eye.

And I think this photo he caught in Central Park was also a stunner.

And last but not least, Michael said he couldn't resist this one. Be sure and click on it to enlarge it. She was obviously clueless that she was being watched!

All these photos are copyrighted by Michael Denney. But if you want to share, just let me know and I'll see if he'll let you post them elsewhere.

Moi? A bestselling author?

Can you make money by giving something away? Evidently yes. My publisher asked if I wanted to enter my novel, Snarky and Sweet, in the KDP select program. It means giving exclusivity to Amazon for an ebook. (This basically means my Nook version disappears from Barnes and Noble for 90 days.) Since my book was almost completely undiscovered, I said yes. My editor then offered it for free for two days.

A minor miracle occurred. At the end of the two-day free period, my book made bestseller list after bestseller list, finally ending up on the biggie, the top 100 free Kindle books. I think my highest number was 17. I kept taking screenshots with my book on the same page as Tom Clancy, Sophie Kinsella, and Tina Fey.

The final numbers aren't in, but my book was downloaded more than 14,000 times in two days. And in four countries. Be still my beating heart!

So what happens when it's not free any more? That was the question. Right now, it's holding its own. Now I'm selling books. It's still on three bestseller lists and one of those lists is for all books, not just ebooks. This wave won't last forever, but I'm thrilled. So many people will be reading my book! And if they like it, perhaps they will buy the sequel which is coming out in a couple of months.

I kept saying silent prayers all weekend. Believe it or not, it wasn't prayers that my book would do well. It was prayers of gratitude. I didn't do this by myself. I had a lot of help.

Cheaper than a trip to Italy --The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears

I have never been to Rome. Really. I've been to some fabulous cities: Paris, London, Prague, Milan, New York, Chicago, Lisbon, Montreal, New Orleans and quite a few more. But the Eternal City has never been mine. And I long to go someday even if my very significant husband doesn't seem interested.

So this beautiful gift from my daughter Morgan almost filled the bill. Just oozing with Roman sunshine, this book is a trip to Italy and a lesson in art fraud detection in one.

The plot eluded me somewhat. I think I read it too fast. Which means I get to go back and read it again. And the relationship between Flavia and Jonathan is just right. Not too hot, not too cold.

If the words "erudite" and "intellectual" send little thrills up your spine, this lovely book is for you.