Hello Dear Digestion Suggestion Readers: I have a new website, please follow me over there as I will not be posting on this one anymore. My new website is www.smtraphagen.com. For all my wordpress followers, it’s still a wordpress platform. I hope to see you all there.
Category Archives: Welcome page
Digestion Suggestion Update
Dear Followers and Readers,
Please be aware that my site is currently under construction and will be a brand new website soon! I will post as soon as I can, my apologizes in the meantime for my limited posts:)
Sincerely
SM Traphagen
Filed under Digestion Suggestion: Reviews, Welcome page
3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing & Increase Sales
For those working for tough individuals, the beginning of this post is a great read.
Image from the movie “Office Space”
Today, I’m going to give you three ways to instantly improve your writing and sell more books. I’m blessed to have a broad base of experience/expertise which includes corporate consulting and branding. I also spent years in sales and can honestly say, Coffee is for closers.
What Do You DO?
Last year, I accepted a leviathan project to redo copy for a website and rebrand a struggling company. I first explained my plan and reasoning in a detailed SWOT analysis. The owner was on board and signed off. The existing copy was outdated, bloated, confusing, and failed to appreciate the vast changes in our millennial culture.
I hacked through, reduced as much as possible and reshaped until the site showcased a truly fabulous company. To my horror, the owner came back and wanted me to add a deluge of changes which included mass amounts of extraneous…
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Filed under Welcome page
A show of Solidarity- Dear Bostonians…..
Written By: Shannon Traphagen/writer/novelist
Nothing is impossible, nothing is destroyed; it just changes.
A tornado rips through the “Alley” and its contents, changing the form, but we remain the same. Strength, inner beauty, the human spirit, and love for one another, this is what shines through. It does not change because a house has fallen, or a soul is lost. The steep climb is what strengthens us. It may scare us- but as we have proven time and time again, we have each other’s backs.
Fables have long told of the human spirit and the will to survive. Gentility and warmth make us stronger; not destruction and force. A battle between two of the strongest forces in the universe- the sun and the wind; Aesop’s fable is a reminder of the peaceful strength in each of us:
“The wind and the sun argued one day over which one was the stronger. Spotting a man traveling on the road, they sported a challenge to see which one could remove the coat from the man’s back the quickest.
The wind began. He blew strong gusts of air, so strong that the man could barely walk against them. But the man clutched his coat tight against him. The wind blew harder and longer, and the harder the wind blew, the tighter the man held his coat against him. The wind blew until he was exhausted, but he could not remove the coat from the man’s back.
It was now the sun’s turn. He gently sent his beams upon the traveler. The sun did very little, but quietly shone upon his head and back until the man became so warm that he took off his coat and headed for the nearest shade tree.”
It is not in mass destruction, or of brute force that wars are won, land is claimed, or ideology is heard. It is in those that rise together and stand tall in the warmth of the sun. Those that say “I will not cower”, “I will not run”. Those that lock hands, building a fortress of hope, strength and love; banned together by brothers and sisters, neighbors and loved ones, strangers who care. Hatred never wins, evil never wins; we will continue to lock hands and rise up to the threat. All across the world people have shown they are with us; they are with you. Strangers from distant lands, newspapers from other countries, baseball stadiums, soldiers who’ve already seen too much, the rich, the poor, and the politicians from both sides of the aisle; all have come together to say “we have your back”! No matter the disagreements tomorrow, today we unite.
The eight year old we’ve lost, and the father who still waits for the recovery of his wife and child- we are with you.
The 29 year working girl from Medford Massachusetts and the family that’s grieving- we are with you.
The Chinese foreign exchange student whose family is overseas- we are with you.
To all those that sustained serious injury from this attack- we are with you.
This moment can be whatever we decide to make it. I will make it about a swelling of pride and love for all those affected, and all those who locked hands to help. I may not know you, but I am with you!
Filed under The Sedulus Writer, Welcome page
Kristen’s blog this week is one to be read; as is her book “We are not alone.”
We live in a world that is rushing, rushing always rushing. Always busy, busy, busy. We feel as if every small segment of our lives should be scheduled. In America we glorify the workaholic. Many people even brag about how many years they have gone without a vacation, wearing their stress illnesses like a red badge of courage.
We live this lie that it is possible to have it all. We can work 100 hours a week, and be good parents, spouses, and stewards of our community and suffer no consequences with our health.
Recently I read CBS Steve Tobak’s blog about Marissa Mayer. Yahoo scooped up Mayer to inject new life into it’s lagging business. For those unfamiliar with Mayer, she is the hot-shot from Google. Her workaholism is legendary and various articles have cited how Mayer was known to work 90-130 hour weeks with as many as…
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Filed under Welcome page
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