New Front Page Design

The first page of a website is the first thing that people see, and first impressions are everything.  After all, we all judge a book by its cover, and this page is for my book Diary of a Gay Nerd, so I have to make sure the front page is pleasant to look at.

I liked my other image, but it has been on the website for over a year and I thought it was time for a change.  So here is the new image with icons.  I thought about adding some more pages like my other website, but I honestly don’t know what to add that isn’t already on the blog, so I think I will just keep it the way it is for now.

I would like to blog more, but I spend way too much time on Facebook which is where most of my audience is, so I don’t really know what to blog about that isn’t already on Facebook.  I don’t know if it’s writers block, or if I have just said all that needed to be said with the book.

I didn’t make the frame, I got that from an app on my phone called Picsart.  I did however create the images inside the frames as well as created all new icons so they all matched.  I hope it’s nice to look at.

Please buy the paperback at Amazon as well as the ebook for the Kindle, the ebook for the Nook and help support LGBT businesses by buying the ebook at Rainbow eBooks (the .mobi file works for the Kindle and the .epub file works for the Nook as well as iBooks for the iPhone/iPod/iPad and Aldiko for the Android) and they always have sales.  Make sure to add it to Goodreads and please give me a review and rate my book.  I really appreciate that.  Also make sure you visit me on Facebook and say hey on Twitter too.

I donate 30% of all profits to 3 charities (they each get 10%) which are PFLAG Bakersfield, The Bakersfield Gay & Lesbian Center as well as the Bakersfield AIDS Project: Ricky’s Retreat.

I really appreciate all the support I have received since I published my book and I thank you all for reading and listening.

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My First Charity Donation

I have been waiting for the Amazon check to arrive to be able to write out checks to the organizations that I will be donating 30% (10% each) of books sales to, and it finally came. I’m sure most people would wait a whole year, but I’ve been chomping at the bit to give the money because it would make me feel good to help out where I can.

October the 4th 2012 is the monthly PFLAG Bakersfield meeting, and Audrey Chavez who runs Ricky’s Retreat, the Bakersfield AIDS Project is going to be one of the guest speakers, the other is Robert Petersen who is PFLAG Bakersfield’s Vice President, so I will take that opportunity to give them each my first donation.  I will have to mail the check to the Gay and Lesbian Center of Bakersfield.

Book sales haven’t been as great as it was in the beginning when I first published it, so I’m not sure when I will be able to make another donation.  I really feel bad about that, but I have basically no advertising money; it’s all word of mouth.  I’m sure if I will ever be able to make another donation from book sales, it will probably be next year in October as well.  I hope they will be bigger checks than these are.

Donations Are Coming Soon

I published my book “Diary of a Gay Nerd” in February this year and had intended on donating 10% to 3 different charities.  10% would go to PFLAG Bakersfield, 10% would go to The Gay and Lesbian Center of Bakersfield and then another 10% would go to Bakersfield AIDS Project, Ricky’s Retreat.

My profits haven’t been as high as I had hoped, but whatever I have made is still money and I can start making my first donation hopefully either in late September or early October, but it might be late October, who knows for sure.  I am just waiting on Amazon.

You know it’s funny, I feel kind of excited about giving the money away lol.  I don’t know why, most people would be hesitant especially when they are always broke, but I want them to have some money too, you know?  I can’t describe the feeling, maybe someone out there understands what I mean.

Anyway, it will be soon and I can’t wait!

Getting Ready For A Speech

I was asked to speak at a PFLAG meeting here in Bakersfield in March because I will be donating a percentage of all profits from my book to them and to the Bakersfield Gay & Lesbian center.  When I told the guy who asked me to speak that I had a fear of public speaking, he mentioned that there would be a class February 15th and 16th at the Bakersfield AIDS Project.  I was actually looking forward to that, unfortunately I’m sick right now and I don’t want to pass my germs to anyone who might be in that class.

I don’t know what date I will be speaking so I have at least a few weeks to prepare my speech.  Writing a speech is a cake walk considering I blog all the time and because I wrote a 408 page book.  The writing isn’t my concern, it’s standing in front of a very large group of people all looking at ME!

My problem is, when I am talking to a few people at a party, I know that I have people looking at me, it’s when the conversation stops in the party and everyone is listening and watching me, that’s when my brain stops functioning.  All of a sudden my conversation is public and everyone is paying attention and I get nervous and start sweating and shaking.

I remember standing up in front of the class when I was in school and all eyes were on me as I was reading from the piece of paper that I wrote my report on and feeling uncomfortable.  Suddenly I’m having a difficult time pronouncing words that I wrote down as if I had never seen the words before and I’m just learning how to read.  It’s embarrassing as hell.

So, what I have to do is finish my speech, like yesterday, so I can start memorizing the words so I can just stand there and act as if I am speaking to one person in a conversation.  I can do that.  I was a telemarketer when I was in my early 20’s.  I had read the spiel so many times that I had the whole thing memorized and I sounded as if I were having a regular conversation.  All I have to do is read the speech 1000 times in the next few weeks so the words are burned into my brain.  Of course I will bring cards with my speech printed on them just in case I get nervous and forget what I was saying.  Let’s hope that isn’t the case.

I won’t be able to attend the class so let’s hope that I can overcome my fear of public speaking when I do it, just like I overcame my fear of heights the first time I traveled in an airplane in 2005.  I can do it!  I just have to convince myself of that.

Update: LOL I didn’t notice the subject was “Getting Reader For A Speech” because it was obviously supposed to be “Ready” so I fixed it minus the link.