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Roads To Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon - Book review

Roads To Quoz

An American Mosey

By: William Least Heat-Moon

Publish Date: Oct 29, 2008
ISBN: 9780316110259
Format: Hardcover, 592 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.

"As travelers age, we carry along ever more journeys, especially when we cross through a remembered terrain where we become wayfarers in time as well as space, where physical landscapes become confused with temporal ones," writes best selling author William Least Heat-Moon in his monumental book Roads To Quoz: An American Mosey. Traveling the back roads and backwaters with his wife "Q", the author seeks the interesting and unusual, in the less explored places and forgotten times of America. These off beat, and out of time, serendipitous discoveries are referred to as "quoz".

William Least Heat-Moon not only travels in space and time, but is also on a journey to self discovery. Like the arteries of the body, the waterways and highways of America are its life blood. The author undertakes the voyage both inward and outward, as he explores his personal history as a microcosm of America. Following the footsteps of many explorers, including those of his own wanderings, William Least Heat-Moon moves seamlessly from the past to the present. In his world, temporal issues mean less than their real and metaphorical connections across time and space.

William Least Heat-Moon (photo left) is a lyrical writer who delights in the unusual and unexpected places, people, and events both past and present. These quoz, as he calls them, can even be found within himself. The mythical is everywhere, and exists in all times, and the author finds its magic everywhere. William Least Heat-Moon's quixotic quest for the heart and soul of America may appear disjointed at first glance, but the journeys intersect and entwine together. As with America, and for himself, the trails of quoz form a greater whole. In many ways, they are as one.

For me, the power of the book is the author's poetic evocation of the joy of discovering the extraordinary, in seemingly ordinary people and places. Very often, those uncovered delights are within himself and his own history. William Least Heat-Moon understands that travel transforms a person and the sense of self. The new experiences, gleaned from both the journey and the eventual destination, create a new self awareness and a renewed sense of place and time. Whether that voyage of self discovery is one of movement in distance or in time, the person arriving is different from the one at the departure.

I highly recommend the powerful, and destined to be classic work Roads To Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon, to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the heart of America, and of their own sense of place and of time. Every person and every place has a history, as well as an important story, to share. For the author, these quoz are on roads everywhere including maps, in books, through times past and present, and deep within oneself.

Read Roads To Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon and begin your own quest for quoz. Your own roads may not lead you to unexpected places and times, but your life's journey will always be one of wonder and of self discovery.

Tags: Roads To Quoz: An American Mosey, William Least Heat-Moon, travel, history, book reviews.

Peggy McColl: Be A Dog With A Bone - Blog Business Success Radio

President and Founder of Dynamic Destinies, Inc, and New York Times best selling author of the enjoyable and inspirational book Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams Peggy McColl shares ideas on setting and achieving goals, becoming successful, and removing barriers to success. She describes how helping others succeed creates success and happiness for everyone.

Peggy McColl is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 8, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

President of Dynamic Destinies, Inc, and New York Times best selling author of the enjoyable and inspirational book Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams Peggy McColl shares ideas on setting and achieving goals, becoming successful, and removing barriers to success. You will learn:

* The importance of setting and sticking to your goals

* How to avoid distractions that can lead you astray

* How to change bad habits that inhibit your success

* How helping others and asking assistance helps everyone

Peggy McColl (photo left) is a New York Times Best Selling Author and an internationally recognized expert in the area of goal achievement AND an expert in helping experts create products, make money online and create "best sellers"!

With her goal achievement seminars, speaking engagements and books she has been inspiring individuals, professional athletes and organizations to realize their goals and reach their maximum potential for the past twenty-five years. Her purpose is to make a positive contribution to the lives of millions!

She is the President and Founder of Dynamic Destinies, Inc, an organization that trains individuals, authors, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and employees in some of the most compelling and strategic goal-setting technologies of our times.;

She is the author of several books including:

On Being . . . The Creator of Your Destiny
The 8 Proven Secrets to SMART Success
Be A Dog With A Bone (Always Go For Your Dreams)
The New York Times Bestseller Your Destiny Switch
21 Distinctions of Wealth

and the creator of the audio programs,

Magnet for Money 6CD set;
Turn Fear Into Faith;
Power Emotions Teleseminar
The 8 Proven Secrets to SMART Success
The Magnet for Money Intensive Program

all of which have been sold in more than 30 countries worldwide.

She has worked hard and has earned a reputation for being the gold standard in on-line book promotion. Her marketing strategies and successful campaigns, have been praised by authors and publishers alike, are on the cutting-edge of direct-to-consumer book promotion, and have resulted in book sales of tens of thousands of copies. She thrilled to say that her e-marketing campaigns have driven dozens of books to the top of the best-seller lists. Her deep passion is to help others achieve their goals.

She feels blessed to say that her work has been endorsed by some of the most renowned experts in the personal development field, including Neale Donald Walsch, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Jim Rohn, Mark Victor Hansen, Caroline Myss, Gregg Braden, Debbie Ford, and many others. She is laser-focused, determined (like a dog-with-a-bone), committed, courageous, respected and well-networked within her field and knows from years of experience what it takes to make things happen.

My book review of Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams by Peggy McColl.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with President and Founder of Dynamic Destinies, Inc, and New York Times best selling author of the enjoyable and inspirational book Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams Peggy McColl as she shares ideas on setting and achieving goals, becoming successful, and removing barriers to success. She describes how helping others succeed creates success and happiness for everyone on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Peggy McColl, Be A Dog With A Bone, achieving goals, success, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Be A Dog With A Bone by Peggy McColl - Book review

Be a Dog With a Bone

Always Go for Your Dreams

By: Peggy McColl

Published: Jan 6, 2009
ISBN: 9781401924645
Format: Hardcover, 160pp
Publisher: Hay House Inc.

You never know how tough you are until someone takes your bone away, writes best selling author Peggy McColl in her enjoyable and inspirational book Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams. The author employs an intriguing dog metaphor to provide life changing messages on achieving goals, dreams, and personal success.

Peggy McColl shares her inspirational life lessons in a unique, and very memorable format. By applying the lessons learned from the world of dogs, the author parallels those lessons to living a happier and more fulfilling life. When a dog gets a bone, they don't give it up very easily. In fact, the dog becomes more determined to keep the bone, the more someone attempts to wrestle it away. That dogged persistence, displayed by our canine friends, is a model that people can emulate in their business and in their life. With so many distractions and wrong roads to take in life, being persistent in following the right dream, is essential to success.

Peggy McColl (photo left) recognizes the importance of setting and striving to reach goals in life. She understands that many people are sidetracked by other events in their lives, and need support and help to maintain their focus. Instead of chasing false trails, and wasting time on pointless activities, Peggy McColl shows the reader how to resist that often tantalizing urge. The author also points out that asking for help and offering help, is mutually beneficial for both the giver and the recipient, of the assistance.

For me, the power of the book is in its focus on achieving success, through the easy to understand metaphor of dog behavior. The examples from the canine world help to underline the lessons, and provide instant visual cues, to understanding and remembering the message. As an inspirational work, the book is very helpful, and its brevity enables the reader to absorb the information in one reading. Because the book is presented in a playful way, reading the book is a pleasure, that can be enhanced further with additional readings.

I highly recommend Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams by Peggy McColl, to anyone seeking a brief, and enjoyable handbook for setting goals and achieving success. The examples given, from a dog's eye view, give a pleasurable tone to the inspirational message.

Read Be a Dog With a Bone: Always Go for Your Dreams by Peggy McColl, and learn the power of thinking of the world, as perceived by a dog. The lessons learned from man's best friend are well worth noting, and applying to the achievement of human success in business and in life.

Tags: Be a Dog With a Bone, Peggy McColl, achieving goals, success, business book reviews.

Donna Cutting: The Celebrity Experience - Blog Business Success Radio

Speaker, customer service expert and author of the essential guide to extraordinary customer service, The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service, Donna Cutting, describes how you can give the Hollywood red carpet treatment to your customers. She shares tips for providing award winning customer service and discusses how everyone in the company can really roll out the red carpet.

Donna Cutting is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 6, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Speaker, customer service expert and author of the essential guide to extraordinary customer service, The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service Donna Cutting, describes how you can give the Hollywood red carpet treatment to your customers. You will learn:

* What red carpet customer service really means

* How to give your customers the Hollywood celebrity treatment

* How to apply extraordinary customer service to any type of business

* Why red carpet customer service is good for the bottom line

Donna Cutting (photo left), President and CEO (Chief Experience Officer) of Donna Cutting Presents!, is a nationally recognized expert in employee engagement and extraordinary customer service. A stage actress turned author and professional speaker, Donna helps leaders create places where employees get Standing Ovations and customers get Star Treatment.

She is the author of The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service, published by Wiley. Donna went right to the source – Hollywood - spending a year and a half interviewing people who own, manage, or work for companies that cater to the Tinsel Town elite to learn what “real world” businesses can do to provide celebrity-caliber service.

As a professional speaker, Donna is anything but ordinary! Combining her experience in the theater and her passion for fun, she delivers her content in a high energy style with her trademark enthusiasm. Her presentations mix include hilarious Keynote Theater™ bits, side-splitting song parodies and exceptional audience interaction. Donna combines her dramatic, fun and humorous style of presenting with easy and action-oriented/practical ideas and strategies that people can implement immediately.

Donna doesn’t provide a speech, she provides an experience.

And when Donna speaks, it’s the AUDIENCE that’s the STAR of the SHOW!

Prior to becoming a speaker and author, Donna spent almost two decades managing creative programs and leading employee engagement initiatives in the healthcare field. She was also the owner of Whimsical Notions Interactive Theater company and performed one woman shows for children and adults across the state of Florida for four years.

The Past President of the National Speakers Association of Central Florida, Donna was recently named the winner of the prestigious Rosita Perez Spirit Award, and was elected Chapter member of the year in 2003. Donna is a member of Athletes and Executives, the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, and Recognition Professionals International. She is a volunteer dreamweaver for Second Wind Dreams, an organization that helps make dreams come true for elders living in nursing homes and assisted living communities.

Donna lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with her husband and best friend, Jim and their Maltese puppy, Snowball.

My book review of The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service by Donna Cutting.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with speaker, customer service expert and author of the essential guide to extraordinary customer service, The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service, Donna Cutting, as she describes how you can give the Hollywood red carpet treatment to your customers. She shares tips for providing award winning customer service and discusses how everyone in the company can really roll out the red carpet on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience, customer service, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

The Celebrity Experience by Donna Cutting - Book review

The Celebrity Experience

Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service

By: Donna Cutting

Published: Jan 9, 2008
ISBN: 9780470174012
Format: Hardcover, 256pp
Publisher: Wiley

When it all comes together, your company will stand out as being one of only a few rare companies that truly give their customers honest to goodness red carpet customer service, writes red carpet fan Donna Cutting, in her essential guide to extraordinary customer service, The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service. Drawing on the worlds of Hollywood and business, the author fuses the concept of outstanding customer service, with the red carpet treatment given to celebrities, and transforms real world customers into stars.

Donna Cutting understands that many businesses don't provide good customer service, and she describes many examples of this business destroying phenomenon. At the same time, the author recognizes that Hollywood, music, media, and sports celebrities are given the royal treatment. Instead of treating customers differently, based on often incorrect perceptions, Donna Cutting recommends rolling out the red carpet for every customer. Everyone wants to be treated as special, and deserves to be accorded respect. People given respect will return the favour, and share their superior customer experience with others. Good customer service is simply good business practice.

Donna Cutting (photo left) shares stories of business people who have gone above and beyond the expected level of service, and provided the extraordinary. The employees offering the personalized treatment, and who demonstrated genuine interest in their clientele, were also happier employees. Staff turnover is lower, according to Donna Cutting, and repeat business and referrals were much higher at the companies using customer services best practices. The profiled elite providers were more fun workplaces for staff members, and were memorable occasions for customers.

For me, the power of the book was not only the practical ideas that any business can put into practice to enhance its customer service experience, but the recognition of the power of personal respect. Movie stars are accustomed to getting the very finest of service, everywhere they go in the world. By offering similar respect and courtesy to everyone who contacts a business, the employees and customers are engaged in the experience. Sharing very personal, and highly focused attention to each and every person, as if they were the Hollywood elite, creates joy as it develops an environment of mutual respect.

I highly recommend the destined to be classic The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service by Donna Cutting, to anyone who is serious about offering top notch customer service to their clients. Companies providing a unique and buss worthy customer experience will attract more customers, and retain their clientele for life.

Read The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service by Donna Cutting, and roll out the red carpet for every person you meet. Your business will be more profitable, your customers happier, your employee morale will rise, and everyone will enjoy and fuller and richer life.

Tags: The Celebrity Experience, Donna Cutting, customer service, business book reviews.