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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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How to be a Woman?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 13, 2016
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This will be our last trip down Memory Lane for a while. I hope you have fun with today’s post and think about how your female characters live.

We’re bombarded with ads today and we were yesterday, too. How to be a woman? I was trying to figure all of this out as I was growing up. I knew I wanted to be a Proverbs 31 woman, but she was really embodied in my grandmother Bagley, Precious. (She called me Precious, too). I hope I’ve gained wisdom since the 1970s. I do know I’ve gained years!

So what was television saying?

Martini and Rossi on the rocks? I want to go to a party! But apparently I need to figure out how to decline a beverage that looks like coffee combined with cherry cough syrup.

Would I be safe on the road without a man?

My mother never used Shake and Bake since Daddy doesn’t like chicken but I cook with it sometimes. And no, it’s not better than my Southern fried chicken.

This one left me puzzled. Why does this woman want a man to buy a ten-cent cigar? Is he really rich if he spends ten cents? And how come they show (even for that time) a very, very old dime?

My mother saved and used S&H Green Stamps. One time she redeemed many books and ordered a recliner in turquoise vinyl. The color didn’t go with the blue paint in the living room, so she had the living room repainted in gold. Finally, it ended up with Grandpa Bagley. I’m not sure it matched their room, either. But they didn’t repaint. And the turquoise vinyl lived on. And on. And on…

Makeup: Seems all women need it, at least on television. I guess you can say I took this message to heart!

I don’t remember much in the way of kissing with Kissing Potion but I do remember an icky shine and the sweet tang of artificial strawberry flavoring.

Shouldn’t every woman want to be a Charlie girl?

I never liked this commercial for Love’s Baby Soft. Then again, I was wearing Charlie perfume.

This woman takes on way too many tasks with Enjoli, a perfume I also wore.

Ah, hose that might not snag!

Apparently I needed to learn how to make coffee for my husband. Although now, a husband can just go to Starbucks. Or you can buy a Keurig. Ain’t life grand?

Your turn:

How about you? What, if anything, did you learn from media as you were growing up?

What influenced your characters?

 

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Category: Craft, MarketingTag: Branding, Marketing

Writing through the Fog      

By Karen Ballon October 12, 2016
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You may have noticed I haven’t had a blog posted here since losing my dear dad a few weeks ago. I want to thank all of you for your kind expressions of sympathy and your encouragement. You blessed me a great deal. God has held me close, granting me wondrous touches of His kindness and peace. Though grief hits me at unexpected times—such as last night, while I was clearing off the kitchen counter …

Read moreWriting through the Fog      
Category: Personal, The Writing LifeTag: The Writing Life, Writers Block

Book Publishing Before the Internet

By Dan Balowon October 11, 2016
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When I first started working in book publishing, Amazon was a river in Brazil and social media was a radio DJ holding a dance party at the local mall. The word “internet” either didn’t exist or was possibly some sort of technical term known only to commercial fishermen. Did the publishing industry actually exist in any meaningful form before 1995? Cringe. Certainly, the publishing landscape has …

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Category: Book Business, Platform, Publishing History, Technology, The Publishing LifeTag: Platform, Technology, The Publishing Life

Prayer is Not a Transaction

By Steve Laubeon October 10, 2016
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Recently I was teaching on Luke 18:1-5 (verses are below) about the parable of the persistent widow and developed some thoughts that might be pertinent for you today. In our world, commerce is based on the idea of a transaction. I give you something (like money) and you give me something in return (like a service or a product). We are immersed in this concept. Give=Get. The world treats prayer in …

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Category: TheologyTag: Prayer, Theology

Fun Fridays – October 7, 2016

By Steve Laubeon October 7, 2016
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Can anybody relate?

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Category: Fun Fridays

Marketing to Him and Her

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 6, 2016
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How do you market your books? Do you tend to market them to men or women? Obviously we want everyone to read our books, but many naturally fall into a female/male divide. With the exception of books with “Women” or “Men” in the title, I don’t see today’s book marketing to be especially drawn by these lines. Rather, the book is presented and the reader chooses what to buy. As with last week, let’s …

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Category: MarketingTag: Branding, Marketing

The Writer’s Prayer

By Dan Balowon October 4, 2016
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Mainly because he isn’t around to defend himself, I am going to take issue today with the great Saint Augustine of Hippo.* Intellectually and spiritually I know he would eat my lunch, so I waited sixteen hundred years after his death to be sure it was safe. Also, since Augustine didn’t speak and write in English, but Latin, I assume his writing lost something in the translation. If he were to come …

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Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Prayer, The Writing Life

The Unintentionally Funny Headline

By Steve Laubeon October 3, 2016
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I came across the following headline in a recent publisher-related newsletter: “Speculative Authors Fight Mental Illness” I thought to myself “I know what they meant by the headline, but could it also be interpreted that authors who write speculative fiction are mentally ill?” There are some who call science fiction and fantasy writers “weird” but this headline …

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Category: Craft, Humor, Marketing, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Humor, Writing Craft

Fun Fridays – September 30, 2016

By Steve Laubeon September 30, 2016
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Watch this incredible impressionist perform Shakespeare in celebrity voices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8PGBnNmPgk

Read moreFun Fridays – September 30, 2016
Category: Fun Fridays

Memory Lane and Wishes

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 29, 2016
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Recently my mother was hospitalized for a few days. She is better now, but it made me wish things were different. I wish I could be a married grown-up with children as I am, but that my parents could freeze time and stay the same age forever – forever young, or at least forever middle-aged. Looking at old family photos takes me back to the 1970s today. Do you write in that time period? As of …

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Category: PersonalTag: 70's, Tamela Hancock Murray
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