I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

Like many bloggers, I regularly look at my site stats. I watch where people come from and what brings them here. One of the most interesting things to watch is search strings - the words people type into search engines when they’re seeking out specific information. Sometimes these searches are absolutely hysterical and I wonder how in the world the search engine thought my blog fit the criteria, then I’m curious about what made the seeker click on my link, and I’ll often run the same search to see what else pops up. Other times it’s encouraging because I know that somehow, some way, things I’m saying are attracting people’s attention. If I were more business oriented, I might even figure out a way to work with the search strings to bring more visitors to my blog…but that’s another post.

Other times the search strings are far from funny, like the ones I found yesterday. They varied slightly, but in essence were…

free copy see i told me so

Now, it is possible that this person  was searching for some other book entitled See, I Told Me So, but even if they were I’m going to say what I have to say on that author’s behalf as well as my own.

For the benefit of those who do not know, See, I Told Me So! is one of my ebooks. I and a group of homeschool parents and graduates wrote it to encourage anxious homeschoolers, to reassure them that no matter what your life looks like it is possible to homeschool and raise responsible children….to look back at homeschooling and say, "See, I told me so! I knew it was going to come out all right!" We, as a group, put countless hours into writing this book, and then I put even more hours into editing it and prepping it to publish as an ebook and then to market it. Because I want as many people to be able to read it as possible, I’ve priced it at $9.95, which is about as low as you can go and people not think a book must be worthless.

I have given hundreds…perhaps thousands…of copies away for free. I’ve spoken at conferences where I offered it to attendees as a free download. I’ve been part of benefits and fundraisers where I offered it as part of download packages people would receive after making donations. I’ve even given free copies to individuals as I felt the Lord lead. It is an important message that I and those who co-authored it with me want to get out and as a result I am open, on occasion, to taking part in projects that put it in the hands of other people without me making a dime.

But me choosing to give copies away for free and someone else choosing to give copies away for free are two different things. It is MY book. When someone stumbles across a link that was intended to be a private link for conference members to download their free copy and the discoverer - who is not a conference member - downloads a copy, they’re stealing. And when that person shares the link with others and those people download copies, that also is stealing. I’m using a concrete example here. This very thing has happened, where someone discovered just such a link and shared it on at least one homeschool list I know of.

Another scenario that has played out, more than once, is where "thrify" homeschoolers "share" their efiles of this and other ebooks. This can be as small as one homeschooler emailing a copy to a friend and as large as one woman I’m aware of who set up a yahoo group specifically so that she could share illegal copies of hundreds of homeschool products.

Even if you do find it as a supposedly free download online…that doesn’t mean it’s free.

With few exceptions, when someone purchases an ebook, they are purchasing THAT copy of the book. THAT copy is their copy. If they make a copy of it, there is no longer one copy; there are two - and the second is an illegal copy. This is because they did not buy copy right; they bought a single book. It may be easy to make copies of and share ebooks and other electronic products, but you have to think of them as if they were printed…at least if your ethics are right.

As harsh as it sounds, if someone’s hard drive crashes and they lose the book, it’s just as if they accidently left a regular book on a seat in the subway, they’ve lost the book and should buy another if they want it replaced. Now, most of the publishers I know personally would probably replace the ebook in this instance if it had originally been purchased directly from them (I almost surely would), but they’re certainly not required to by law or even ethics.

Yes, it bugged me to see that someone was trying to find a free copy of a book that I have a massive amount of hours, prayer, and effort invested in, a book that should be helping me make it financially.

::::thinking:::::

Okay, I’m going to be a little more open than usual. See, most seem to envision publishers as being people with money. Most of us are not; in fact, in the homeschool arena the opposite is usually the case. In point of fact, my monthly income is… Huh… I suppose I shouldn’t share hard figures. Let me just say this. I’m frugal. We’ve lived frugally for years because we’ve had to. At the very least, it would be nice if my publishing company could make enough money to keep me online, but when I leave the house I’m living in right now (returning to the old house even though Ike left it in even worse shape), there is every possibility - probability - that I will be offline, because paying the local cable company isn’t even remotely in the budget right now. I’m just rejoicing that I’ll be able to pay the electric company tomorrow. And the water company? Well, they’ll have to wait and so will running water. Normally, our grocery budget is about $50 a week, maybe $100 on a really good week. Splurges are rare and I was absolutely thrilled today when I was finally in a position financially that I could buy not one, but two pair of work shoes and a new pair of work slacks. (Shoe Carnival and Burlington Coat Factory…bless you!)

So you see, YES, it does impact me when people steal copies of See, I Told Me So! Just say ten copies are shared illegally every month. That’s $99.50 that, were the books purchased from me instead, would have been enough to keep me online…or put gas in the car…or bought groceries…or paid a chunk of the light bill…or…

It matters, which is why I finally decided to say something. I try really hard not to offend people, most of the time, but right now… I guess you’d say I’m the one who is offended.

Celebraing Jesus! (in the midst of everything)
Tammy C

Join the Campaign

In 1999, Greenleaf Press published my first book, FrontPorch History: Researching and Telling Your Family’s Stories. That was nearly ten years ago and, though it is still an excellent book that I highly recommend, I’ve decided it’s high time for an updated, electronic version.

And I’d like your help.

This book will be all about family heritage - specifically preserving it and sharing it with family members and future generations. As held true with the first book, I’ll deal with family stories, genealogy, and tools you can use in your family-oriented venture. Since I’m essentially embarking on a whole new book, I have total freedom in deciding how I want to approach it and what I’ll include. Which is where you come in.

Suggestions?

And I mean any suggestions. What topics would you particularly like to see covered, for instance? I felt I was pretty thorough before, but things have changed in the past ten years and the Internet opens vistas I’d never considered. I’ll definitely be reviewing products that I believe are helpful and might even consider including reviews and short pieces written by others. I also plan to include links to websites, blogs, etc., and I’m open for suggestions for all of the above. I will also, as I did in the previous books, include samples of things I’ve done for my own family, along with detailed explanations.

I’m excited. While other projects have been put on hold now that we’ve moved in with our friends for a season, this is something I can do even in a single bedroom with little more than my computer and the Internet. I’ll have to work on it around my usual schedule, of course, but that’s always been true of my writing projects, so there’s nothing new there.

It is GOOD to be back online!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Friends, I’m in a serious bind and could really use some help.

You all know that I recently returned from a wonderful, desperately-needed cruise (And, again, I thank my sister and friends who made this trip possible!). This was an unpaid vacation for me, which is no surprise since I’ve only been with the company 8 months or so. The surprise I did get, serious shock, actually, was finding that I’m not scheduled to work at all this week either.

Can we say "Not good!"?

I’m the only one earning money in our house right now and this means it will be the 20th of next month before I get a paycheck of any sort from the job that earns me the bulk of our income. Knowing this, I’ve been scrambling to see what I can do to bring in some more money in the immediate future (Like…well…yesterday would be nice. LOL!) and have decided on a special CJ Press offer.

Here’s the offer.
Visit http://www.cjpress.net and purchase any of my CJ Press products (This does NOT include the music, which isn’t published by CJP) between now and Thursday, May 29th, and I will send you a link to download a free copy of See, I Told Me So!: Homeschool Veterans Declare, “You Can Stop Worrying!” ($9.95 value). If you already own a copy of this ebook, this means you’ll have a copy you can send to a friend, and everyone who has read it knows that every homeschooler needs it.

Remember, there is a deadline on this offer: Thursday, May 29th.

It would help me greatly if you could make even a small purchase (I’ve eBooks and eWorkshops that are only $5.95.) and then share the opportunity with your homeschooling friends. This is a fantastic chance to get a copy of one of the top ebooks that every homeschooler needs.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I started a new project while offline. Yes, as if I really needed one, right?

Most of you probably know that I have a collection of antique books that I’ve been wanting to make available through CJP as ebooks. It’s been slow going, though, and frustrating too since I realize people don’t always ‘get’ the value of what’s in the books. You may be fascinated by biographies like I am, and jump on an ebook version of Sherman Williams’ Some Successful Americans, but you may also choose to pass it by because you’re not currently interested in any of the people it talks about (But you should be! [grin]).

So I’ve thought of something new that I’m hoping will fill needs and get the word out. I’ve begun indexing the biographical information and people-related stories in these books and my plan, once I’ve got a better idea of what information is available where, is to create reports that contain excerpts on individuals.

Clear as mud? It’s after midnight and I ought to be asleep.

Okay, so here’s the deal. You want to study Louisa May Alcott? I’ll have a single report that will contain her biography from Some Successful Americans as well as Louisa May Alcott excerpts from other books in my collection. This way you get information on the one person from a variety of sources (Which is what you want when you’re doing research.) in a single resource. I’ll be sure to include all of the necessary book information so that you can properly cite the original sources, since I will also be doing my utmost to keep the excerpts 100% accurate.

How long will it take me to get the first ebooks/reports up for sale? Who knows? At this point, I don’t even know which people would be the best ones to start with.

Requests, anyone?

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I am seriously excited to be able to announce that I have MP3 files of Good Company’s songs available for sale at CJPress.net. They’re only 99 cents each and you can download them and enjoy Good Company’s awesome music RIGHT NOW. I do have some site tweaking still to do, but didn’t want to wait until tomorrow when I’m more awake (The chat I mentioned in a previous post went four hours. LOL!) to give you all the news. (Can you tell that Mother is PROUD of her son?)

You can also Join our Affiliate Program!  Join now, share the love, and earn 35% off everything anyone purchases from our site after clicking your link - everything they purchase for the next six months!

If you’d like to check out samples of their music before you buy, just visit Good Company’s MySpace page. You can hear four of their songs there, and learn more about them as well.

Celebrating Jesus! (And FINALLY reaching this point!)
Tammy C

A commenter asked for more information about becoming a CJP affiliate and, though I answered the comment, it dawned that while I can send you to the proper page on the company site, I can just as easily paste the information in here. So here ya go. This is all from the CJ Press Affiliate Page.

This post has been modified.

I’m so excited about this!

I’ve had people requesting that I set up a CJ Press affiliate program for years, and thanks to my positively brilliant webmaster, I’ve finally done it. If you like CJ Press’ products and would like to earn money telling your friends about them, just slip on over to the CJP Affiliate Page and see how easy it is to get started.

Once you’re set up, you can post your affiliate links on your websites, in your blog entries, and even in your emails. When people use those links to visit CJP and make purchases, you’ll get 35% of whatever they purchase from us for up to six months from the time they originally click on the link.

Share the news!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

You’ve heard the old saying, "Tough times don’t last, but tough people do." I was thinking, today, about how tough life can get, how fiercely the storms can rage, and the differences between those who stand strong in the storms and those who falter. I’m not speaking strictly to homeschoolers today, but this is a big issue among homeschoolers. I know this because I’m active on multiple lists and it’s not at all uncommon to see a new homeschooler asking how to keep their kids up to speed academically (meaning at the same level as their local public school) just in case something really bad happens and they have to give up homeschooling.

Here’s the deal. No matter how much we all hate to admit it, the Bible clearly tells us in many different ways that trying times will come. For most of us, there will be many "something bads" that will happen that could cause us to give up - to give up homeschooling, to give up our dreams, to give up whatever. The key is to prepare for those times before they happen, to strengthen your position so that you can stand tall, refusing to give up, no matter what.

Through the years, as people have learned some of the things my family has faced,  I’ve been asked many times, "How did you keep on?" I answer in various ways depending on the question, but the foundational key is that for years I’ve constantly worked on keeping my priorities in order. Were there ever times that got exceptionally bad, when we truly could have been tempted to give up? Yes, a handful, and every one of those times was a result of our own actions - of letting our priorities get out of order. So what are those priorities?

God, Spouse, Children, Church, Academics/Job/Family Business

It really is that simple, if a little hard for people in our society to believe. When we keep our priorities in the right order, in biblical order, we can stand through any storm. That’s not to say we won’t feel the wind and the waves, but they’ll not overcome us.

This is a topic I can go on and on about, because I’ve learned a lot not only through living life and watching others live their lives, but through studying the Scriptures for myself. In truth, I have "gone on and on" after a fashion. I’ve given workshops to homeschoolers on this very topic, and written an ebook about it as well. Technically, they’re written to the homeschool community, simply because it is my largest audience, but any Christian who wants to know more would benefit from listening to the workshops or reading the ebook. All three are available from CJ Press, my publishing company.

The two audios, though they have different titles, are really more like two parts of one message.

Cherry Pie: Recipe for a Successful Christian Homeschool

Homeschooling Through Hard Times

And the ebook…

A Homeschool that Handles the Hard Times: A Guide for Christian Homeschoolers

I promise you, Child of God,  if you keep your priorities in order you will find yourself better prepared to handle all of those "experiences" that life throws at you.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

I’m working on a really big project for CJ Press. I’ll be revealing it in the next few weeks, so you’ll want to keep your eyes open. In fact, though I don’t officially have a mailing list for CJP yet, I am working on putting a newsletter program together, so I strongly advise you to send an email to orders@cjpress.net and ask to be put on the mailing list. That way you’ll be in the know even if you happen to miss the pertinent blog post.

Trust, me; you don’t want to miss this!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’ve been so blessed. We at CJ Press recently released my newest eBook, A Homeschool that Handles the Hard Times: A Guide for Christian Homeschoolers, and immediately made it a part of the Estes benefit (Which was a HUGE blessing to that family, by the way!). On Saturday, I received the following email.