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Honorifics and Gender Neutral Alternatives

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  What Are Honorifics? Most  honorifics in the English  language are usually placed immediately before someone’s last name as a more formal or polite way to address them. However, most traditional honorific titles tend to be assigned to genders and marital status, or occupation. Here are a few of them, including gender neutral, or non-gendered alternatives that may be appropriate when addressing someone from the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, or Asexual) community. Honorifics have always been designed to address people with respect. By including alternatives in our language, we expand that respect as the role of gender in our language continues to change and evolve. Miss., Mrs., Ms. Let’s begin this discussion with ways our language has identified people. Historically, we have used many different prefixes to identify many things about a person.   For instance, the prefix  Mrs.  is used to describe any married woman. Even in case of a woman who is marrie
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Protecting Your Kids in Your Smart Home.

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Kids today have more access to technology than most of us did in our entire youth.  With cell phones, tablets, laptops, games systems and smart home tech, kids have the world at their fingertips, but they also have a vulnerability to cyber-attacks, identity theft and more. The importance of secure internet routers in your home. Did you know that your internet routers are the most vulnerable point in your home? Most smart technology connects directly to the internet through your router.  The smarter our homes become the more opportunities for thieves to find ways into our kids' lives.  With smart home products on the market booming, it is no wonder that thieves are taking this opportunity to access our information at our homes. Cyber-attacks at home are increasing.  The company Avast 2019 Smart Home Security reported that that 40.8% of smart homes have at least one device vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Vulnerable smart tech not only leaves a door open to cyber intruders, but it can ma
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The Process of Self-Publishing A Children’s Book. Part 2

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  What are print-on-demand options for self-publishers? If you are just joining this blog, we left off with the journey of self-publishing a book on Kindle for Amazon.  It might be a good place to start.  If you are back for more about this crazy journey you are in the right place.  In the Fall of 2020 during a global pandemic. I had a book on Kindle that was downloaded more than 500 times.  The downloads trickled when I stopped giving the book away for free.  Several people have still downloaded it for Kindle, but for the most part I stopped putting a lot of effort into it because Kindle is not the greatest place for picture books.  Younger children want a book they can hold in their hands. Kids, especially younger children tend to want to have a tangible way to experience a book, one like ours that is filled with illustrations is even more important to be printed in a size that makes the illustrations come to life, but also can be held by little hands.   Print-on-demand options at Am
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The Process of Self-Publishing a Children’s Book - Part 1

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  I started with the grand idea of wanting to develop inclusive children’s books Inclusive children’s books are illustrated in part from the perspective of the child. It is a perspective that is really hard to find in children’s books. Plus I wanted the characters to be inclusive so the child has no gender, and the people in the story do not have to be nuclear family units. I began this journey knowing there were a lot of things that I didn’t know. I had no idea how much of a learning curve I was getting myself into. Writing the first book was the easy part. Once the story was complete the journey to get it to a published piece of art began. Step One in publishing a Children’s book I had the naive idea at the beginning of the pandemic that if I wrote the book and made some sample illustrations I could send it off to publishers and I would be set… I don’t know if it was the timing of my submissions (January of 2020) or the fact that the idea for the series was really different than the
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Seeking Sam Our Primary Character

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One of the first questions I got when people started reading my book was about the child named Sam in the story. Who is Sam? Is the character based on a real person? Why did you pick the name, Sam? So I am here to answer a few questions about my favorite little child at the epicenter of our stories. Who is Sam? I chose the name Sam because it can be short for both Samuel and Samantha. Gender was not an important thing for this character. In fact when I developed this character I specifically wanted Sam to be  non-binary or non-gender . I want all children to feel like they could be part of this story. I found that creating a character that was not identified by a particular gender, allowed all children to feel as if they could be Sam.  By being inclusive and creating books that allow everyone to participate in the story and identify with this character. Is the Character based on a real person? The short answer is NO. I have two children close in age. Both of them are amazing in the way
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Author A. Elizabeth Orley into to “The Night of the Lights”

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  Introducing Author A. Elizabeth Orley introduces the first book by Little Mind Books “The Night of the Lights.” This was a passion project for our author. She has two young children and when it came to bedtime stories she found that there were not a lot of books that really inspired her children to explore their world. More importantly, she found that there was a need for writing books that inspired creative play and problem-solving. Little Mind Books was born from a desire to create stories that captivate and inspire little minds. “Remember when you used things for the wrong purpose as a kid, your parents were probably so mad, but your ability to problem solve was developing a life skill that all adults need.” -A. Elizabeth Orley Download it for free on Kindle today!
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Why I Wrote a Book About Fireflies

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What makes fireflies so special to us? The answer is simple, they are magic. A little piece of God’s creations that remind us that anything is possible. When I moved to Ohio in 2003 I was struck by these tiny creatures. There were police reports in the local papers of UFO and they turned out to just be fireflies. They truly are out of this world! So magical on a midsummer night. When I learned that these amazing creatures are now on the endangered species list it broke my heart. Like pollinators, fireflies are endangered because of the large number of chemicals that we use in our yards, on our farms, and in our environments. Writing “the Night of the Lights” In  “The Night of the Lights”  we wanted to capture the magic through the eyes of our favorite child Sam. Seeing fireflies for the first time is such a magical experience. For a child, it must be even more so. Sam explores the little creatures with the love and care of Gigi. Sam must solve a particular problem, and does it in a way
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