I LOVE my new PC

Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve been having some problems with RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my wrists and shoulders. I don’t mean just a little bit of aches and pains… I was in a fairly crippling state for at least a week and couldn’t type anything without extreme pain. To make sure I didn’t damage my wrists, I refrained from typing for about a week, bought some foam wrist supports for my mouse and keyboard (which help a lot) and also a new keyboard that is much lighter to the touch. My wrists are feeling much better as a result, but I still have to take it REALLY easy so they don’t relapse.

Well, as it turns out, I also bought a new computer this past week (not planned to synchronise with my wrist problems, mind you!). It came a few days ago, and I am still installing all my programmes. I LOVE my new PC. It looks, sounds and behaves beautifully and I am totally thrilled with my purchase. AND I have to say, I really like Windows 7 so far. Very sleek.

While snooping around my new toy, to my surprise I found Windows 7 comes with voice recognition software (apparently it was in XP too, but I never noticed it)! I thought this might be a great answer to my wrist/typing problems, so I thought I’d try it out to see if I could dictate my upcoming classes from Spirit Authors (I have fallen horribly behind, owing to my inability to type).

Well, I have to tell you, my experience was pretty funny. I tried to get it to type the title of one of my upcoming classes, which is, “Module 4 Week 3: Creating a Twitter Campaign for Your Launch”. I repeated the title several times over. Here are the HILARIOUS interpretations it came up with:

• Nigel four week three creating a 20^th campaign by on march

• 1 to 4 with three freeing it will account paying for your knowledge

• Marshall four weeks three creating a clear campaign by and large

• Nigel four weeks three creating a toilet campaign for young launch

• Nigel four weeks 33 minutes whether campaign for real much.

• Model for a week’s 33 minute whether campaign relaunch

• Nigel and a model for four weeks three creating a clever campaign for the launch

• Marshall for week three clear yet whether campaign for you Walsh.

• Model for a week’s free Wheeling and 20 campaign by launch.

• Marshall four weeks 33 minute winner campaign for your launch

Gosh, I wonder who Nigel and Marshall are? And why do they hang out with models? And I REALLY don’t want to think what a “toilet campaign” might be!

Don’t even IMAGINE I made these up. No way. I’ve been laughing so hard since Windows 7 wrote them, tears are literally streaming down my face. I couldn’t possibly have typed them myself.

You’ve got to bear in mind, I was saying the EXACT same line over and over in exactly the same tone of voice. People ALWAYS tell me I speak very clearly! In fact, it’s one of the key things that people note about me. What’s up with this “voice recognition” software?

I went back and “trained” it to recognise my voice, and I also “taught” the word “Twitter”. Amazingly, it “learned” Twitter ok, but it still couldn’t get the hang of the word “Module”, repeatedly choosing the word “Model” or “Models” instead. Not once did it understand the word Module, even after I taught it to hear it and spelled it out for it.

Needless to say, I typed this blog post.

P.S.: If you’d actually like to find out how to create a Twitter campaign for your book launch, you’ll just have to check out Module 4 on my Spirit Authors course. Visit http://spiritauthors.com and find out how you can take a 14-day Test Drive for only $1.

Twitter changed my life. Let me tell you how.

AND I am going to attempt to tell this story in lines of 140 characters or less.

It all started when I launched my book “The Garden of the Soul” in April 2009.

After a year of mastering this “thing” called social networking, I created an Amazon book campaign.

I found many JVPs (joint venture partners), mainly from Twitter.

Some who helped were @InspiredSheila @SuzieCheel @KSchulweis @BrendaAdelman @RuthHegarty @JoeRumbolo @LolaFayemi (see next)

AND @HeidiRichards @AwakenedWisdom @LindaClariPuig @jenngivler @audaciouseditor @GailSussMill @Gloreebe @jessicamcgj @SpiritCoach #ff

Also ran a Virtual Blog Tour with peeps like @MoonPoppy @DuncanBrodie and many others.

Also ran a Twitter contest. @JulieAnnTurner won a signed copy of my book.

Anyway…

Long story short, my self-published book became an Amazon bestseller in #spirituality #mind-body-spirit and #self-help.

When “The Garden of the Soul” made bestseller, Tweets and RTs went viral. #gots

I think it was June when @SouthsideBroadc contacted me to be on their radio show. I soon became a regular guest.

Thru @SouthsideBroadc I met @SpiritusShelagh who has since become one of my closest friends.

July 2009: blogger/editor @BookEditorLM wrote me on Twitter wanting to do a blog piece on me: http://bit.ly/c8hbCa

Aug 2009: @BookEditorLM asked @tonyeldridge if he would repost that article. He asked me to write a new one.

Oct 2009: @tonyeldridge published my new article “Pre-Natal Care for Your Book” http://bit.ly/bWCmQA

Same month @AllisonMaslan (whom I didn’t know) read that article. Sent me DM asking me to coach her 4 Amazon launch.

I put together Amazon campaign for @AllisonMaslan ‘s new #book #BlastOff!

Nov 2009: I asked @writersinthesky (whom I had met on Ning) to come and help us put the campaign together.

We put together another great team of JVPs.

If I named all the Tweeple who helped us on #BlastOff! I think I’d need another day to write this.

Meanwhile lots of people were asking me for book advice. I decided to start a new site called Spirit Authors. http://spiritauthors.com

Dec 20 2009: I set up Twitter profile @SpiritAuthors and Facebook fan page. http://facebook.com/SpiritAuthors

Started Twitter/FB campaign to drive people to fan page. By Christmas day there were 100 fans.

Jan 2010: Did another campaign to get 500 fans by my 55th birthday end of Jan. I got 600+

Jan 19, 2010: Allison’s book launched. Twitter & FB went viral. “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

RT @AllisonMaslan’s “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

Jan 21, 2010: Success of launch attracted attention of @AllisonMaslan ’s literary agent @wgtwelve. He’s also @EckhartTolle ‘s agent

As an author, I am now represented by @wgtwelve.

More and more #mind-body-spirit #authors come to me to create campaigns for them.

New Amazon campaigns: @AwakenedWisdom (April 20), @NeuroBooks (May 11) and @wgtwelve (Nov).

From Twitter contacts, I quickly assembled team of 18 VIP experts for Spirit Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

VIPS: @wordywoman @BookMarketer @CaronGoode @DayaDeviDoolin @inspiredwriter @docmarion @AlanSeale plus many already mentioned.

Nearly 500 people registered 4 the #Spirit #Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

My good friend @SpiritusShelagh was my co-host for the event. What a source of strength she is.

Oz Tweep @charlyjl was a wellspring of technical support in getting the site ready. Couldn’t have done it without her.

March 2010: Spirit Authors is now open and I have long waiting list of book campaign clients.

On #Spirit #Authors I teach new authors how to set use #Twitter to build a promotional platform and Amazon launch… as well as many other things (Oops! That’s more than 140 characters!)

Ok… enough with the Twitterspeak!!!

I am quite serious when I say Twitter has changed my life. Yes, my own book would never have become a bestseller without Twitter. Yes, I could never have helped Allison become a number-1 seller. Yes, I would not have gotten some fab new clients and an amazing literary agent. And yes, I would never have thought to create Spirit Authors and now have a blossoming new business as a result.

But it isn’t REALLY about business at all.

Have a look at all the Twitter links above. These are not just links. These are all REAL people whom I have come to know, respect and care about over the past year. Even though some of us are separated by tens of thousands of miles, we have all shared many a heart-felt conversation over the phone, and have been there for each other through the highs and lows.

And really, there are just so many other wonderful people I have met from Twitter (as well as Facebook, Ning and LinkedIn, in that order), I cannot count them.

When many people first come to Twitter, they don’t “get it”. How can you possibly communicate in 140 characters? How can you possibly make friends with people? How can you possibly build a business from it? WHY would you WANT to do this????

And I’m telling you now—it’s because of the PEOPLE!

I have made more close friends from networking on Twitter than any other form of networking I have ever tried… even more than “live” networks in my home town! While I do love Facebook as well, there is nothing (yet) that can beat Twitter for ideas going viral, and for meeting lots of people who share your interests within a very short period of time.

But as I said, it’s not just about the business. The friends I have met through Twitter are some of the most inspiring, supportive, positive and powerful light-workers I have ever met. That is why I have linked to EVERY one of them above.

So, if you are on Twitter, you should follow them. These are wonderful, beautiful people—get to KNOW them.

As always, your comments below are MOST welcome!

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
@LynnSerafinn
@SpiritAuthors

P. S.: This article was inspired by a Twitter conversation I had a new friend on Twitter @WendyMWarden. Many thanks, Wendy. This was fun to write!

P. P. S.: Knowing HOW to make Twitter (and social networking in general) work for you, both on a business level and on a deeply fulfilling personal level, is something of an art form. This is why I teach it on the Spirit Authors course:

• In Module 2, I teach the fundamental principles of spirit-based promotion so you can create a fertile promotional platform for selling your book online using social networking.
• In Module 4, I teach the “how to’s” of creating an Amazon Book Launch.
• And, of course, there are 3 other modules on starting and writing your book, preparing for publication, and creating a brand and sustainable business from your book.

It’s my hope that by teaching authors (and authors-to-be) the techno-art of Twitter, they will not only find professional fulfilment, but they will also expand their world by connecting to others who understand them and wish to help them grow.

If this sounds like something you would like to explore, I offer a 14-day “Test Drive” on any Spirit Authors learning module for only $1. Visit the site at http://spiritauthors.com and check out the introductory audios and module overviews to see if there is something at Spirit Authors that can help you achieve your writing goals. And if you have any questions, please just fill out a contact form on the site and I promise I will reply personally.

…a completely random blog post that has nothing whatsoever to do with work, business or anything serious…

Well, Mercury is back to his old tricks again.

Do any of you remember back in February when there were so many problems on the Internet? Those of you who are on Twitter might remember when it went crazy for a few days. Well, as it turns out, the planet Mercury was in retrograde back then (retrograde meaning the time when it appears to be moving backwards from our vantage point on Earth). It seems to be a widely accepted explanation that when things like this happen in cyberspace, poor Mercury frequently gets the blame, especially if it is retrograde. In fact, every time I hear someone going through some sort of communication breakdown, I also hear people asking, “Is Mercury in retrograde again?”

So is there anything to this Mercury stuff, or is it all a story we use to explain away our own frustrations with technology?

Well, this morning I woke up and my coaching website was completely GONE! No website, no email, nadda. I had arranged to have it transferred to a new host, but somehow it got pointed to the wrong nameserver. It took a few hours to sort that out, and when I did, my website was still not online. I couldn’t get through to customer support for the longest time. Then, when I finally did, my cordless phone started to beep and it went dead just as the tech support guy told me the very last thing I needed to know in order to get everything fixed. He told me that my current hosting package was not compatible with the format of my old site, so I ended up having to buy a whole new hosting plan. This meant I had to upload all my files to a new area, which took hours to do. The site was finally restored around 8pm. after about 10 hours of confusion.

In between trying to sort all that out, I was also trying to send out a newsletter via my autoresponder. But for some inexplicable reason, my email delivery programme wouldn’t save anything, and it kept wiping out my newsletter every time I tried to send it. This went on for hours. My newsletter eventually got sent out around 3pm, whereas it should have gone out at 9am.

Hmm… suspicious.

So after all that, I Googled “Mercury in Retrograde 2009” and sure enough, I found out that Mercury went back into retrograde YESTERDAY, and he won’t be turning back around until 29 September.

The coincidence felt pretty convincing, I have to say, but I was still curious to find out more. So I thought I’d have a look at my own astrological birth chart to find out more about the planet’s influence.

In astrology, Mercury is the “ruler” of communications. Hence, it is logical that Mercury is also the “ruler” of our interpersonal communication via the Internet. Mercury is also traditionally known as the “messenger” of the Greek gods, because he transits the most quickly of all the planets across the skies (being the closest to the Sun). He is believed to race through the ether literally at the speed of thought, and thus is able to carry celestial and cerebral messages without the limitations of time and space. This is why, in addition to verbal communication, Mercury is also the ruler of mental swiftness, intellectual abilities and intuition.

In my chart, Mercury is in my 7^th House, which, according to my horoscope programme, means that my chief asset is my “ability to establish contact with other people and communicate with them.” It also says that I am “simply curious about the minds of other people and interested in their thoughts and how they function.” Well, heck, that is absolutely true. My teaching, my coaching, my workshops, my writing (hmm… my Twittering and blogging…) all of these things express my ability to contact and communicate. I think that is why I can have so much fun online, whereas a lot of other professionals I know find it draining.

I kept reading my chart to find out more about Mercury’s influence in my life.

My Mercury is in the same sign as my Sun (Aquarius), which means that I am “a clear thinking person, very open to new and exciting ideas” and that I am possibly “connected with awareness and consciousness” in my professional life.

Wow! That is completely true. I always looking for new and exciting ideas, and everything I do has to do with awareness and consciousness. In fact, the workshop series I am delivering over the coming year (more about these another day) are all aimed at cultivating awareness and consciousness of both Self and environment.

Lastly, I thought I’d look up one more aspect, and found that Mercury had a very strong “trine” (90 degree angle) with Neptune. My programme said that this means:

“You have a very refined mental sensitivity which may be expressed through some form of imaginative and creative work. You possess a wonderful intuition, but formal learning and dry facts do not interest you. You can be quite a perfectionist and are very good at spotting mistakes and errors. You have a talent for creative communication – as a writer, in advertising or the media, or as a general part of your work.” (World of Wisdom, version WOWUSSP2000).

Again… wow indeed! I am a writer, I am in the media (I’m on the radio THREE times tomorrow, in fact), and I actually spend about half my life doing online promotion. Even when I was a musician, I was always the one in charge of communications and promotion. It comes naturally to me. And “dry facts”… puh-leez! I used to rebel in school when the teachers taught by rote. I cannot stand “memorising” things, and “facts” simply go out of my brain (I do still, however, remember birthdays and phone numbers from when I was a kid… go figure).

About the intuition thing, well that is something I have been cultivating more and more over the past few years. I continually reflect back and see how many times in life I underestimated my own intuition and more “mercurial” powers. I think Mercury has become an increasingly powerful paradigm in my life.

Reading all this led me to reflect upon my recent experiences at the One World Festival in Bath last month. When I wasn’t teaching a workshop myself, I was a participant in several interesting workshops. The two most mind-opening (and mind-blowing) were some “Rebirthing” sessions I did, and a short course in palmistry. The Rebirthing course is a whole other story,  so I’ll leave for another day, but the palmistry course was a real eye-opener about the way the body mirrors the inner Self. Little did I know before I took the course that traditional palmistry is based upon the planets and their influences upon us.

AND… you guessed it… Mercury appears again in palmistry. The “pinkie” finger is traditionally called the “Mercury finger” (palmist Johnny Fencham calls it the “Antenna Digit” as it is all about picking up signals from the cosmos). The length of your Mercury finger reflects your intellectual and communication skills, and a collection of vertical lines running upwards beneath it can indicate tendency towards a “healing” profession. While this is a gross over-simplification of the many subtle aspects of this very intricate art, the point is that my own “Mercury Finger” is quite long, and has these “healing lines” beneath it. Again, another Mercury link.

So what is the answer? Is there really a link between my technological toys going crazy today, and Mercury changing its direction just a few hours earlier?

Well, at a completely intuitive level, I’m inclined to say yes.

But then again, being the “open minded” Aquarian that I am, I am ok with not needing a “logical” explanation, and I am fine with all of this not having to make any sense whatsoever. I find there is a beauty to seeing it all as some sort of delightfully random cosmic dance.

Of course, I am quite sure that this perspective might be very irritating to some of my more rational readers in cyberspace. And if that is the case, I think I’ll just blame it on Mercury for now.

…And if tomorrow I end up sending you a blog post that was really meant to go out last week, at least you’ll know why.

nnifareS nnyL–

P.S.:
Please be sure you catch my show “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” tomorrow night at 6pm UK/1pm Eastern. My guest is the fabulous Jennifer Louden of Oprah fame. She’s going to tell us all how we can “Have a Blast While Changing the World”. If you miss the show, you can always download the podcast on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn