Carpe Diem

Last Monday morning (June 4) when I was about to get out of bed and hit the day running, the words "carpe diem; seize the day" kept flashing in my mind or in my face. I was probably in that last bit of sleep state so can't really tell you if I was dreaming the phrases or why my mind kept repeating these phrases.

Monday was a pretty casual day, nothing to really seize. Tuesday was my birthday and I took full advantage of seizing the day by kind of rebelling against working, only to make up for it Wednesday.

I had been thinking of my story, Imogene and now wonder if this phrase "carpe diem" or "seize the day" was meant for my main character, Sarah Beth. She is definitely on a quest and every moment is crucial to finding her daughter, Imogene, so maybe she needs to seize a certain day in her quest and make the absolute most of it.

When you here the term 'carpe diem', what do you think of? Do you seize the moment or day and make the most of every minute? Do you kind of not think about it? Is this is a familiar phrase or had you not heard of it before today? Leave a comment and let me know how you tend to carpe diem.

As part of my 50-day birthday giveaway blitz, I will give one lucky person a signed copy of my first ever written story, "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story). Just leave a comment and a valid emaiil or some way to for me to contact you if you are the winner. See you all in the postings. E :)

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Square credit card reader

Do you do a lot of in-person events? If you do any events where you sell your own books (not like a book signing where you sell on consignment or the bookstore actually does the selling of the books) and you aren't taking credit cards at said events, why not?

Did you know you could get a free device that reads credit cards and is connected to your checking account? It's called Square. You can sign up for a free account and receive a free card reader here. What does it cost to use? Just 2.75% of the charge when you swipe a card, which basically comes out to 3 cents on the dollar being taken out before you receive your money. You can also manually key in a credit card number but the percentage is higher - 3.75% plus 25 cents for each transaction. The pay out is the next day. The other device you will need to use the card reader is an iphone, ipod touch, ipad, smartphone or any android based type device that the Square app can be downloaded to and need to be in an wifi area.

This was a big issue for me when I was at the Savannah Children's Book Festival in November; a lot of people asked if I took credit cards or stated they didn't have any cash on them. I've had my Square since last summer but haven't had a device to use the card reader on until last month. My daughter got a new Pantech Crossover phone through AT&T and it has an Android 2.3 OS and she was able to load the Square app and we tested my Square out and I now have the capability of taking credit cards at my events. So now, until I can afford a device of my own, when I have an event, I will have to borrow her phone for the purpose of taking credit cards (not into using her phone for phone purposes). Each Square is programmed to your account only. Do I feel safe using it? Yes. Am I worried someone might keep swiping cards and trying to take my money? Not really. I get notices when the card reader has been used and if there is a dispute on a charge from a customer and I can refund the charges, I don't feel fraud or identity theft is a problem. I can't wait to put my sign up for display at my first event of 2012, Geofest, February 18.

For more information, check out the Square here. May you have lots of sales at your in-person events. - See you all in the postings - E :)

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Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook
http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
http://eeldering.weebly.com

Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story and predecessor to the JGDS series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com