Authors as Community
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the sunny Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada! Today’s podcast and blog post deals with the need for more than just working toward making money, but also toward doing whatever you can to help others…whether it be a charity or other people. If you are a low or no budget author, you have to look for opportunities and take them when you find them. Sometimes charity also starts at home. Not every bit of charity results in directly giving money but may indirectly as well as directly. If you want to find out more, then keep reading!
Authors and Artists are not just single entities or an Island unto themselves. No matter where you are, you are part of a community. This does not mean that you have to go out and kiss babies and shake hands…though I’m sure that would also be appreciated. However, not all Authors or Artists have a yen to be out in public life. Some of us are more behind the scenes types. I happen to be one of those behind the scenes types. I’m quite content to do my e-books and keep up the social media. I also am happy enough to work toward getting my e-books to be better and improve upon my photography which also can become part of my e-books. However, I also like to help out when and where I can. Whether that is liking posts, commenting on a few blogs I follow, making my own blogs and pod casts to try to get information out and different ideas, or just communicating with family, I try to help out. I don’t do things to get noticed very much. I’m not the limelight sort. However, anything I do that I think might help someone else out, I put out there. This was true of our COVID shots this week. I generally never posted anything personal a few years ago, but this I decided to post to encourage others. It really wasn’t that scary. I’ve had needles before. I hardly noticed this one. I hope that it is a step toward helping out family and friends who are immunocompromised. Hopefully it encourages those who are nervous that it’s not that bad. I’ll still be wearing a mask because first I have a weak immune system and secondly, I have family whose immune systems are compromised by transplants, chemo etc. So, I try to help by acting as an example.
Somehing that I would caution people is to make sure that they know what is going on with charities. I am a sucker for animal charities and such. It seems some of the bigger online entities have contests that may or may not fit your desired outcomes. Most shelters and Humane Societies depend on donations, donations of time, donations of goods, donations of money. Two in our Province are Keeping Cats Homed (https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/) and the PEI Humane Society (https://www.peihumanesociety.com/) both do good work and help people get pets and can use help in many different ways. If you want to help out. You can do it directly to either website.
People always think they have to give money and when one doesn’t have money to give, they don’t have the ability to help.
This is a fallacy! There is volunteer work and a ton of places one can volunteer and a lot of different methods of helping in this sector. Of course most shelters can use different things and you can check with the shelters to see what they need (dog walking, spending time with the pets or other methods). Maybe they could use something you are good at doing…a craft like crochet, or knitting most shelters need comfy blankets for the pets they take in. Crochet and knitting can also can be used by hospitals, elder care homes and other types of organizations that help people if you can make blankets or lap blankets. If you don’t have money there are other ways to help. That is something that low to no budget authors or artists could look for. Some way to help others.
Another thing that isn’t always remembered is that if you are an author or artist, there are often libraries looking for books, e-books and other things that you might not even think of. I was amazed to find out some of the things that our local libraries also carry. So, if you have some skills that you think might be useful, check with local agencies and libraries. If they don’t need your skill right now, they might know someone who could. Check with your local library to see if you can help out by providing copies of your books or e-books if you’re an author or if they have a wish list that you might be able to help with. When you have low or no budget, you have to get creative on how to help others.
I’m sure that there are many other ways that could be suggested to help out others and please let me know of some that you know of that I could add to the list in comments. When I say sometimes charity starts at home, I mean that sometimes there are family members who are unwell or who need someone to talk to. Then if you can be available, you have done something kind and caring. If we want to make this a better world, then we have to look for ways to make it a better world. There are already enough people out there that take advantage of people and that do negative things….we need to be the people who make the world a better place. We need to find a way as Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There is nothing that keeps the world from changing but ourselves. If those who did harm instead wanted to see a different world, there would be nothing stopping us from reaching different galaxies, curing cancer and other diseases. If they would use power properly and apply themselves to making this a better place, this world we call home, then we would live in a near utopia. This is a deep philosophical question which many of us have to answer for ourselves. What is the world that we want to see? Do we want to have a better and more honest world or a bitter world? The choice is up to you! I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
I mention:
Keeping Cats Homed https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/ and the Prince Edward Island Humane Soceity: https://www.peihumanesociety.com/
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
Authors and Artists are not just single entities or an Island unto themselves. No matter where you are, you are part of a community. This does not mean that you have to go out and kiss babies and shake hands…though I’m sure that would also be appreciated. However, not all Authors or Artists have a yen to be out in public life. Some of us are more behind the scenes types. I happen to be one of those behind the scenes types. I’m quite content to do my e-books and keep up the social media. I also am happy enough to work toward getting my e-books to be better and improve upon my photography which also can become part of my e-books. However, I also like to help out when and where I can. Whether that is liking posts, commenting on a few blogs I follow, making my own blogs and pod casts to try to get information out and different ideas, or just communicating with family, I try to help out. I don’t do things to get noticed very much. I’m not the limelight sort. However, anything I do that I think might help someone else out, I put out there. This was true of our COVID shots this week. I generally never posted anything personal a few years ago, but this I decided to post to encourage others. It really wasn’t that scary. I’ve had needles before. I hardly noticed this one. I hope that it is a step toward helping out family and friends who are immunocompromised. Hopefully it encourages those who are nervous that it’s not that bad. I’ll still be wearing a mask because first I have a weak immune system and secondly, I have family whose immune systems are compromised by transplants, chemo etc. So, I try to help by acting as an example.
Somehing that I would caution people is to make sure that they know what is going on with charities. I am a sucker for animal charities and such. It seems some of the bigger online entities have contests that may or may not fit your desired outcomes. Most shelters and Humane Societies depend on donations, donations of time, donations of goods, donations of money. Two in our Province are Keeping Cats Homed (https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/) and the PEI Humane Society (https://www.peihumanesociety.com/) both do good work and help people get pets and can use help in many different ways. If you want to help out. You can do it directly to either website.
People always think they have to give money and when one doesn’t have money to give, they don’t have the ability to help.
This is a fallacy! There is volunteer work and a ton of places one can volunteer and a lot of different methods of helping in this sector. Of course most shelters can use different things and you can check with the shelters to see what they need (dog walking, spending time with the pets or other methods). Maybe they could use something you are good at doing…a craft like crochet, or knitting most shelters need comfy blankets for the pets they take in. Crochet and knitting can also can be used by hospitals, elder care homes and other types of organizations that help people if you can make blankets or lap blankets. If you don’t have money there are other ways to help. That is something that low to no budget authors or artists could look for. Some way to help others.
Another thing that isn’t always remembered is that if you are an author or artist, there are often libraries looking for books, e-books and other things that you might not even think of. I was amazed to find out some of the things that our local libraries also carry. So, if you have some skills that you think might be useful, check with local agencies and libraries. If they don’t need your skill right now, they might know someone who could. Check with your local library to see if you can help out by providing copies of your books or e-books if you’re an author or if they have a wish list that you might be able to help with. When you have low or no budget, you have to get creative on how to help others.
I’m sure that there are many other ways that could be suggested to help out others and please let me know of some that you know of that I could add to the list in comments. When I say sometimes charity starts at home, I mean that sometimes there are family members who are unwell or who need someone to talk to. Then if you can be available, you have done something kind and caring. If we want to make this a better world, then we have to look for ways to make it a better world. There are already enough people out there that take advantage of people and that do negative things….we need to be the people who make the world a better place. We need to find a way as Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There is nothing that keeps the world from changing but ourselves. If those who did harm instead wanted to see a different world, there would be nothing stopping us from reaching different galaxies, curing cancer and other diseases. If they would use power properly and apply themselves to making this a better place, this world we call home, then we would live in a near utopia. This is a deep philosophical question which many of us have to answer for ourselves. What is the world that we want to see? Do we want to have a better and more honest world or a bitter world? The choice is up to you! I know what I would choose. I hope others would choose to make this a better world too! Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog posts and for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
I mention:
Keeping Cats Homed https://www.keepingcatshomed.com/ and the Prince Edward Island Humane Soceity: https://www.peihumanesociety.com/
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/aandjpeitr... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Our e-books can be found on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
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A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
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