Breakfast Benefit for the Alex and Brandon House in Brainerd, MN

Quote of the Day:  The laughter of a child is the light of a house. African Proverb

On Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, I attended the "Invest in Kids" breakfast at the Black Bear Lodge and Saloon in Baxter, MN. The money raised at the breakfast, and throughout the year, is for the Alex and Brandon Safety Center in Brainerd, MN. This center, run by the Mid-Minnesota Women's Center, provides a safe place for kids and families, safe exchanges for divorced and separated parents, and a place for supervised visitation. Domestic violence is a terrifying, and often deadly, reality to many families. The women's center was started in 1978 as a place to shelter battered women, their children, and their pets. The Alex and Brandon Safety Center opened in 2000. The name honors two little boys who were murdered by their father as a way of punishing his wife for leaving him. It's something we don't want to think about. We don't want to believe is real, or that it could happen in our own neighborhoods, but it does. These centers exist to help people who are in dangerous situations, give them a safe place to go with resources, and to save lives.

Rochelle Woods spoke to the group on her work with girls who have been abused.

Jade Heldt provided the entertainment with some very touching songs.

My friend Krista gave the group a testimonial about the Alex and Brandon Center and how they needed, and used, the facility when she was leaving an abusive marriage.

Tonya Heldt, director of Mid-Minnesota Women's Center, Krista Soukup, and Angela Plantenberg, Alex and Brandon's mother.

Photos from the breakfast

Here I am with Elizabeth Harris and Krista

Elizabeth is one of my blogging students. She perseveres through life and has started writing about what inspires her on her blog, Present Tense for Now. Stop over and say, "Hi" to her and offer a word of encouragement. Everyone has a story.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Do you know someone who has needed the services of places like these shelters? What stories of perseverance have inspired you?

Blue Cottage Agency Article

Quote of the Day:  I can do brave things. Krista's favorite saying which is highlighted in my most recent article for Her Voice magazine.

Krista and her twin daughters, attending "The Cat in the Hat" with me at

The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN.

What a pleasure to it was to write an article about my favorite publicist and friend Krista Rolfzen Soukup. Her friendship and professional connection are two of the best things about moving to the Brainerd lakes area, almost ten years ago. Another 10 year celebration is for the magazine Her Voice. Happy 10th Anniversary Her Voice, and editor Meg Douglas! I'm so glad that you did something brave 10 years ago and started this fine magazine. I found my voice through Her Voice, and the confidence and connections continue to grow.

Reach out to other artists in your community. I hope all of you readers find your voice in all your art forms and relationships.

Go. Create. Inspire!

To read the article, go to Her Voice at the Brainerd Dispatch website. My article on Krista and the Blue Cottage Agency starts on page 12.

Journaling Prompt:  What's your big dream?

P is for Publicist

The Quote of the Day that inspired my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme -
A Word for the Day that takes on many meanings.

Quote of the Day: A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator. John Steinbeck

Word of the Day: Publicist

Mary and Krista the Publicist Extraordinaire

Opening night of Coffee Shop Confessions

I'd like to introduce you to my dear friend and publicist, Krista Rolfzen Soukup. She started Blue Cottage Agency about three years ago with her first client Candace Simar, a local author of the Abercrombie Trail series, whom you will meet on S day. She has some advice for all you writers out there.

Know me, like me, follow me, promote me, then buy me. A great group of words to simplify the process of building your ‘brand’ using social media. What do I mean by ‘brand’? I mean YOU. If you are a writer, you are a brand. The minute you put your pen to paper you are a business. I recently attended some workshops at the Bloomington Festival and Book Fair and learned that if you are a serious writer you must treat it like a business, and honestly, they all recommended hiring a publicist. As a publicist, I am constantly thinking of the business behind the writing. Finding the best audience for your writing and building an author platform is imperative in today’s crazy world of publishing. Of course there are numerous ways to go about finding people to share your talent for writing, and in today’s world, social media is at the top of the list. Social media allows you to get you and your writing out to the masses in a way that was not previously available.

The other thing I would like to share with all of you talented writers out there is having an‘elevator pitch’ ready and in your brain at all times. If you had a chance to ride up the elevator with a very important person in your writing world, what would you say? Who are you, where are you from, and what do you do? Think through it, prepare it, memorize it and use it often. Two to three sentences; short, sweet and effective.

The dream team cast of Coffee Shop Confessions

Photo by Krista Rolfzen Soukup

Krista took this shot, posted it on her Blue Cottage Agency facebook page, tagged all of the cast members as well as the coffee shop so all their friends and family could see it and share it. She sent it with a press release to local newspapers and shared it on the facebook pages and websites of the places where we performed. She made posters and tickets and programs for the shows. She talked it up everywhere she went (even the doctor's office). She got me a half hour spot on a local radio station, and promoted my work in many, many more ways. Neither I nor Coffee Shop Confessions would be as successful without her. Thank you, Krista!

Here's the testimony I wrote for her website:

Writers need a good publicist the way singers need a promotional agent and products need marketing. How will people know we exist without it? Writers are artists and often introverts at heart. We find it incredibly difficult to promote our own work, especially those of us raised in the Mid-west where we’re taught to be humble and self-depricating. If you want your work read and seen, you need to be bold and brag about it. A publicist, like Krista, knows how to do that with enthusiasm. She shouts out my accomplishments, makes connections, and most importantly she knows how to make it happen. She handles the details of promotion and publicity, leaving me free to create. She thinks about details that never entered my mind, and when she talks me up, she builds me up, and I’m emboldened to create more and stretch further to – Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Do you have a publicist or someone to help you with the business end of your work? What is one thing you could do to make that connection and further your career?