What's Up Wednesday - Great Deals, Great Schmeels

Yep, I probably made "Schmeels" up... but I'm allowed, because I say so. ;) Today's trip around the blogosphere took me to some very interesting and informative places, and also clued me in to some great deals (other than my very own Christmas in July deal, which I HIGHLY recommend participating in!!).

Peace from Pieces shared some pretty darn awesome deals on eBooks - as in, FREE eBooks - that got me wondering if I could find the time to get them all downloaded and still read this year. And then I remembered that I literally just bought a new book today at the book store, and had about 10 at home waiting for me not counting all my previously downloaded eBooks... so in other words, yep I'll probably download all of these as well! ;) Reading for Sanity also provided an excellent list of places to look for eBook deals, which means that I will now probably have an even larger backlog of books to read...

Always Writing talked about the importance of word of mouth, and how it takes for-freaking-ever before it truly catches on, especially when it comes to self-published or independently-published books. I totally get that - as a new travel agent, it's been painstaking trying to get the word out about what I do, without any budget at all for "official" advertising!! I've had the same problem promoting my self-pubbed eBooks.

Saving Your Green always has great deals, but I especially liked the song download one today. My husband is to song downloads what I am to books - totally addicted - and so I will probably pass this his way and see if he can avoid paying for any more music today (though, by the time I get home from work, he probably will have already downloaded a few).

Catching up on 366 Random Acts of Kindness always puts me in a great mood and puts a smile on my face. If you aren't following this fantastic blog, I highly recommend it. The blog author has been doing one random act of kindness per day, with everything from providing lunch to a homeless person to today's act of donating  to a cancer research fund. I am a HUGE fan of giving back  - both my previous t-shirt printing business and my current travel agency had/have a focus on donation and helping out the community. For my current business, that's donating 10% of my earnings directly toward a fund to send a low-income families or couples on vacations and honeymoons (you can check my measly status at: http://www.operationrelax.com/our-mission.html, though it will be updated Friday with my latest commission check).

That also tied in with Katie O'Sullivan's post on spreading kindness. It's always important to remember that everyone has battles - some may feel less "relevant", but they still are relevant to the person fighting them!

Blog Giveaways highlighted a giveaway for VODKA... 'nuff said!

I learned a new word from Born Bookish: billet-doux. You'll have to go to her post to find out what it means, but I'll give you a little hint - you participating in my Christmas in July event would be like a little billet-doux to me!! :)

Finally, I briefly traveled part of the world with The Traveling PhoBlogWriPher and The Page Sage, who showed me both Wyoming and Greece. Oopa Y'all!! :)