Q: I see you have several books out. Can you tell us about them?
 A: Yes Deb, there are quite a few out and 4 more coming out over the next year or two. Currently we have 6 books available on Amazon: 2 poetry books, 2 green living books, a cookbook and a writer's guidebook.
 
Towards Understanding is a collection of 120 non-fiction poems taking the reader through the inner strife and recovery process during my youth. The theme is finding my way toward purpose and understanding my life had value. 

Rhythm & Rhyme is another collection of poetry - it's a collaborative effort sharing both Dave and my poetry. We discuss our passions for living a life of purpose, for the environment and music. We also share our journey with grief and overcoming obstacles. 

Trash Talk - It's Easy To Be Green, is a 2-book series covering green living at home and in the office. The first book lists items commonly found in the bin at work or at home in alphabetical order. From there it explains what happens to the item in the trash or recycling system. It focuses on reducing waste heading to the landfill, so its main aim is to encourage reduction through rethinking, reconsidering, renting-bartering-trading, repair, reuse, repurpose, rot and recycle. The second book delves farther into green living in regard to saving money and reducing use of water, gas, electricity and composting. 

Purple Snowflake Marketing - How To Make Your Book Stand Out In A Crowd was revised last year (May '21) and this shows writers how to run their office efficiently, operate their business endeavors efficiently, market frugally and stand out among their peers like a purple snowflake in a snowstorm. 

From One Small Garden - Over 300 Delicious Nutritious Recipes encourages readers to shop from local suppliers, buy in season when prices are lowest and markets are overflowing with fresh produce, and build healthy, nutritious meals from home. Saving money, increasing nutritional content, reducing packaging waste, reducing food waste, and loving cooking again. It shares nutritional information, agricultural facts, folklore and offers ways to make home-made hairspray, cleaning supplies, taco seasoning, chicken coating and more - no more bottles and packaging to toss out. 
 
 
Q: Do you write any children's books, or write just for adults?
A: Currently we do not have any children's writings or short stories out in book format, nor have many of them been published in magazines simply due to schedule constraints. We are working on Dave's father's trilogy (he passed five years ago), sharing his lifetime collection of short stories, children's tales, family memoirs and poetry. So we'll will be publishing some children's stories that way - written by Dad. His trilogy is in the final draft manuscript stage, ready for proof-format-cover design stages. In the meantime I am working on the next book in our project agenda - a backyard and market garden guide book, based heavily on my late master gardener/composter parents but also our 25 years of gardening in a variety of situations. We've run market gardens (five acres for a spa), gardened high in the mountains, down in valley, in the city, on balconies and near lakes... gaining certification with numerous wildlife, habitat and organic organizations over the years.
 
Q: Does your husband, Dave, write too or does he branch off into another field in your business? If so, what does he do?
A: Yes, Dave is the co-writer and sometimes mastermind behind what we do. He comes up with amazing ideas, creative solutions and helpful directives. I might gather the information and put the draft manuscript together, but we are discussing the project the entire time and Dave is constantly giving feedback. Once it is in the final draft stage, from my end of things - it goes to Dave who then tweaks and rewrites and edits and proofs. He then does the layout, formatting, images and graphics and cover design. He deals with the publishers and face-to-face business activities such as managing our books stocked in local stores or attending business events. While I am often the face you see in the media, Dave is there too - providing the audio, images and graphics; all the book trailers and book reading videos are his creation, even though you might hear my voice doing the readings. Out side of marketing and writing, my job is also to run the office, manage communications and keep the studio, house, offices and entry areas clean. While we split off and do different activities, everything we do is done together. For instance I might manage our budget, pay the bills and gather, sort and store various receipts and records for tax time, but Dave is the one who fills out the tax book and deals with the accountant.
 
 
Q: I see you are a blogger, can you tell us about your blogs?
A: I'd love to, Deb, thank you for asking. Brummet's Conscious Blog is the main one, where we have daily posts sharing interviews with publishers, entrepreneurs, podcast and radio hosts, agents, green business's and authors. We have numerous regular posts going out on that blog from Kudo's  (celebrating positive projects), Just For Writers (tips and resources), Quote of the Day, and a few others. The overall theme is to inspire others, motivating them into proactive and positive action, empowering them with resources, and helping them become the hero we all know they can be. :) There are several pages there for people to browse (via the tabs under the header image) and dozens of links in the sidebars too. 
 
Our second blog - Drum It With Brummet - is for musicians, with a heavy slant toward drummers and percussionists. We interview musicians, stage managers, roadies, studio people, and others there. We share touring, stage and recording tips. We look at the history of drumming, celebrate green music industry initiatives and more. Dave has plans to share videos and articles about the instruments crowding out the lower half of our home where his studio resides. 
 
 
Q: You've expanded into a media group. Please tell us about that and how it can benefit authors of all genres.
A: Ok the Brummet Media Group title of our business acts like an umbrella for all the services and products we currently offer and all those we plan to offer in the future. Under that name, reside the two blogs and six books that we discussed already. Also, Dave's drum studio (Angle Hill Studio) finds shelter under that umbrella name. Dave offers lessons, services and repairs drums and percussion, and is a member of two bands. The business also includes our new Brummet Media Youtube Channel, our upcoming book trilogy (Frank's Wanderings, Frank's Ponderings, Frank's Tales) and the upcoming backyard garden book. We have lots of plans for the future, but the heavy schedule keeps us pacing our activities out.
 
How I go about helping authors is through the Brummet's Conscious Blog where we are open to queries re: poetry or article submissions and interviews. The blog serves to help authors through the content it offers as well. If they use the "search" box on the blog, they will be able to find decades of material published on the keyword they chose. The Purple Snowflake Marketing guidebook for writers is another way I have reached out to help other authors, it contains two and a half decades of knowledge: from courses we have taken, hands on experience as an author, freelance writer, former professional book and product reviewer, staff writer, columnist and assignment writer. It also calls on our experience as bloggers, former radio hosts and former podcast hosts.  All of that knowledge and experience is in the thick book, written in a highly organized, step-by-step format.
 
Q: I see you also have a YouTube channel that offers all kinds of things. What kind of advice do you offer there?
 
A: The Brummet Media YouTube Channel is a casual place where we offer entrepreneur and writer tips, answer questions and share information about our books too. It is a very new channel, we just started it up a few months ago, but there are about three dozen videos up there so far. There are a few different playlists there (genres of videos). Making A Difference - This series helps entrepreneurs, authors, members of the media and small business discover ways of making a difference while creating a solid image and increasing networks. Answering Your Questions - is just that, answering submitted questions. Brummet's Books - shares a little about our published books. Entrepreneur Tips & Advice is another playlist to find there. 
 
We have a long list of videos to produce, a couple more playlists to create, a dozen submitted questions to answer... lots for us to work on for some time yet.
 
 
Q: Tell us about your former radio show and podcast.
A: Oh thank you for asking.... I ran the Conscious Discussions Talk Radio show for about ten years (2004-2015), featuring amazing people across the planet who shared their experiences in creating positive change, having a positive impact. It aired live three times per week, and was a great love of my life. I still miss it. I closed it down in 2014 because of schedule constraints - I just couldn't keep taking on new projects without letting something go. I loved the experience... sadly the archives were recently taken off line. The station kept them up from 2014 to 2021, which was a real blessing. When it was running the radio show reached 30-35,000 per month.
 
The Author's Read (2006-2008) podcast featured weekly broadcasts featuring one author reading from their book. It was about 1/2 hour long, we started by discussing the author's life a little and then let them read for 8-15 minutes... then closed out the show. It was fun, but involved too much of my time and I had to let this project go too. 
 
Funnily enough - that is the way of being an entrepreneur. You keep trying new things, work the heck out of them for a while and if they are successful keep them going. Eventually that project burns out and a new one comes along. One has to be willing to try new things and also let things go when they no longer serve your situation. For instance I ran an e-newsletter, (Brummet's Muse) based on marketing advice at the time, after our first book was published. I ran that for almost 4 years, it was a bi-weekly newsletter with an opt-in audience of about 2000. Again, I ended up letting it go when I realized the return on investment was not worth continuing the work.
 
Q: Well it is time to close the discussion, before we go would you like to share your links with us?
 
A: I'd love to, thank you Deb - this has been a fun experience :)
Amazon Author Page      
Brummet's Website                 
Find us elsewhere on line here https://linktr.ee/LillianBrummet
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Well, it's that time of year again, folks. It's time to think about what to get the people on your Christmas list. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's a great time to get a gift for friends or family. But what do you get an author? I was wondering just that and I could just list things that I would want like an idea starter, a journal, or something along those lines.
 
I wondered if Amazon has any ideas. Where would I find them? So, me being me I decided to do a regular search on Amazon. I've been told that it is a search engine. So, I searched 'gifts for authors and writers.' It seems that Amazon has a lot of ideas and this is just some of what I found.
 
Character Development Journal: Everything you need to create characters your readers will love!  In this, you'll find places to develop your character's characteristics, his or her family background, personal history, character arc, and more. I found this here.
 
Here's another gift idea I got a kick out of. It's a t-shirt and on the front of it is says, "I Am A Writer, Anything you say may be used in one of my stories." I think that's cute! This picture is a short-sleeved shirt. I don't know if it comes in long-sleeved or not, but you can check it out here.
 
I thought this was cute, too. It's a retro-looking typewriter/pencil holder for your desk. You can see this here.

I just loved this one! Well, I like my mugs. Here's one for the writer at a hefty 15 ounces. It holds both hot and cold drinks. 
 
Here's one to help the writer on your list to conquer writer's block. It's a book called, "The Writer's Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination." You'll find it here.
 
Here's another that might help with writer's block. "The Writer's Toolbox: Games and exercises for inspiring the 'write' side of your brain." You'll find it here.
 
We can't forget that special pen for book signings! You'll find several different kinds on this page. From classy to humorous ones! 
 
These are just a few ideas I've found. Do you have suggestions? Let me know in the comments!

 On my bumpy road to writing for children, a monster got in my way. Actually, he got in my way several times! I really had trouble getting him off the bumpy road too. Face it, you’ve encountered this monster yourself. All writers have. It’s the monster we call writer’s block.
 
What causes writer’s block? It can be just about anything. Stress, not sleeping (or not getting enough sleep), a family crisis, or putting yourself on a schedule to get a particular amount of work done each day. The list goes on and on! Have you had a breakup with your latest boyfriend or girlfriend? Yep! That will attract the monster. He’ll stop our words from coming just as long as he can.
 
I’ve been going round after round with the writer’s block monster lately. I have to admit that. How can we rid ourselves of this block? Luckily, there are several ways to do this!

1. Go for a walk. That’s what I said, go for a walk. Go out, walk around the block and talk to your neighbors.
2. Go to the mall, Walmart, or a bookstore. It doesn’t matter if you shop or browse. Just get out there!
3. Finish making your afghan, finish the painting you’ve been working on or work on whatever hobby you have.
4. Cook. 
5. Have lunch with a friend.
6. Read that book you’ve wanted to read for so long.

 
I guess you’ve figured out by now that the thing that works best for me is getting away from the computer for a while. Sometimes this will work for me in a matter of hours, sometimes it will take a day or two, while sometimes it takes longer.
 
There are other ways to chase this monster away. Some people have found that starting another story or article works for them. I’m happy if this way works for you! It only works for me up to a point. Don’t get me wrong, try this way each time that monster hits. Sometimes it works for me, and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, I know that it’s time to step away from the computer. Besides, I think I’m giving my muse a break.
 
Since we’re on the topic of starting something new, I’ve found some great help. This isn’t a book at all. It’s a website by Scholastic for idea starters. It says it's for teachers, but it'll work for you too. It's also another good way to battle writer's block! The link to STORY STARTERS is below.
 
Here are other ideas that might help. It’s called Ten Websites to Cure our Writer’s Block. I think you’ll find this helpful.
 
What works for you in the battle to beat writer’s block? Leave a comment and let me know!
 
Here’s a YouTube video I found that, in my opinion, gives the best advice of all. I think you’ll enjoy this. 
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Link:
10 MORE WEBSITES THAT HELP CURE WRITER’S BLOCK WITH WRITING PROMPTS: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-cure-writers-block-writing-prompts
STORY STARTERS: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/index.html 
 

 

Whoever said that writing your book is the easy part was so right. I still feel like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall when it comes to marketing.

I've taken The 5-Day Amazon Ad Challenge by Bryan Cohen. In fact, I've taken it twice! I knew that I'd gather more information the second time around, get it to stick in my brain, and I did. It's free and packed with information. This is well worth the time! He's having another challenge coming up in October, so watch for it. Like I said, it's well worth your time. Also, did I tell you it's FREE?

I've found out through Bryan's challenge that the more reviews the better, so I'm trying to find places that accept manuscripts to review that are in my genre. This is time consuming, but it'll be well worth it.

I've found a few places in my town that will accept my book on consignment. Now, I'm going to broaden my horizons and look at nationwide Indie Book Stores. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, I've found a video for us all to watch. It's from the Self-Publishing With Dale series and it's on marketing. I do hope it helps you as well as myself. Please follow this link to view this informative video. For some reason, Dale won't let it be played on other websites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKxznoMoVH4