Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
This is the second book I read from Mitch Albom and I try to write a blog post about it makes me wander about the first book I read from him which is Tuesday's with Morrie. I went to the search tab and search for the title, but it didn't give me any. I tried the author name and it didn't also. I am surprised and I didn't have a blog entry for Tuesday's with Morrie. I was so confident that I had a blog entry for it. Oh well, I guess I have to read it again or I just have to remember what the book is about.
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"
"It is a fiction, slightly non-fiction, and a little bit of self-help." And that's how would I describe the book, the five people you meet in heaven. It was easy and short to read. The length of the book is just enough for the story, no fillers, just the essential. My heart swelled in all the heartwarming parts of the book. I must confess I cried to most of the part of the book. I loveSo how picturesque the used words are, they tickled my imagination.
I took notes of the lessons I learned from the story of Eddie and how he came to know why everything happened in his life and learned their purpose. The realization he had about the things that happened in his life was comforting to a reader like me whose trying to find reasons and purpose why bad things happened even though a person isn't bad at all.
Lesson 1: We are all connected and affect one another by our actions and decisions in life.
Lesson 2: We all make sacrifices in life and it is for a reason, definitely not a vain reason, but a purposeful purpose and reason.
Lesson 3: We forgive. Hate is a double edge sword. We hurt as much as we hate. So, we must forgive instead. Forgiveness is much powerful, than hate.
Lesson 4: We move on. We don't get stuck in one place. We fail, we move on. We got hurt, we move on. We win, we move on. We move on with life, and we're always making progress little by little, step by step.
Lesson 5: We have purpose and we will serve it well by the end of our life. One way or another, our purpose will be served whether we are aware of it or unaware. We got purpose in life no matter how painful life has been.
I must say that this book is on my top good read books. I reall enjoyed and learned a lot at the same. A must read you have to try too, if you haven't.
Let's read more books! Tara!
Love,
Ang Pinay Manlalakbay
No post for June. It was a month of tears, heartbreaks, pain, and disappoinment.
But for the month of June, I finished reading the book Joyful Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. I guess that was the book I needed that time. It was a good book companion going through the process of another surrender in my life.
There is nothing joyful in surrendering the fight to be with the one you love. Never in my entire existence thought of struggling to be with the one I love physically would come my way. I had this thought that it was something that could be won easily. Like as long you love each other, it will work out, and I am pretty sure it is going to be hard, but at the end of the day it is still going to work out.
I was never ready to give up. Though I had anxious thoughts, I always thought that if I stick with him through thick and thin, he will do the same too, and he did, but up to a certain level only. He wouldn't go down deep in the dirt with me, and I get him. I so get him that I tried so hard to convince him that we could make it through together physically, but he would not try it. And I still love him.
He was right it was a lot more complicated, but my simple mind saw it simple. It was simple for me.
Maybe he was right when he said everything was falling apart. On my side, I thought I was doing a good job trying to keep it together. I was breaking, falling apart, but I tried to stay in one piece to keep the relationship, to stay together physically, because distance, a long, long distance can bring loneliness in a relationship.
He decided to let me go and it was something I did not want him to do. I thought he would not want to be apart from me, as much as I hated the idea. But he made his decision, and I did not have nothing to change that decision.
I decided to surrender in hope that it would give him peace and joy. In hope that God will open doors for us. My heart was breaking, is. My soul was torn apart, is. It was the hardest decision I made in my life, to let go. To leave him, and be thousands miles apart from each other
I miss him every single day. I miss him in moments I am happy and in moments I am sad. I love him. But God should come first, and I guess that's the part that I missed, we missed maybe. He was the center of my universe. He was my world. I thought us going to church was putting God in the center of our relationship. But I guess, there were times we didn't put God above our relationship. We let Him down. I always pray that God will be glorified in our relationship and I still do. I pray that God is glorified in this season of my life as I wait again and try to live a life of freedom, joy, and faith all through Him and in Him.
Joyful surrender is hard at the beginning of letting go of the battle you have been fighting for to win. It is still hard and difficult during the process, loneliness is another constant battle I have to deal with. Only God can make it easy. If you let go, and let God.
Before the end of June, it was also a month of hope and new beginning. As what he said, hope keeps us going.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
This step is the part of self-publishing where you decide to have a print copy of your book. I have come upon this company that helps in printing self-published books. I am glad to find IngramSpark.
Now, here is the big question: Do you have a manuscript you want to print and an ISBN for your book? If your answer is yes, this might be the right time to try using IngramSpark.IngramSpark offers printing services. It is a company built by indie publishers, for indie publishers. Fully integrated print, digital, wholesale, and global distribution to help you publish like a pro.
You just have to prepare two (2) documents: a formatted manuscript and a full book cover.
1. Formatted Manuscript
For most of the books I self-published, the size I use is 8 by 5. I use Microsoft Word for the interior of the book or the manuscript itself.
2. Full Book Cover
The application I work with to make my book covers is Canva. The front, back cover, and spine are all created with Canva. Just make sure you use the template book covers for you have the right dimension. Since I use an 8 by 5 size for the interior, it is only right to have your book's front and back cover in the same size. On the other hand, the width of the spine depends on the number of pages of the book, and the height remains the same as the front and back covers.
To calculate the width of your book spine, you may use this tool from IngramSpark: Spine and Weight Calculator
Here’s a sample of the book I published on demand with IngramSpark. Behold! 😂
I hope this helps.
Self-publishing 101: How to apply ISBN for your self-published books from NLP online?
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Do you want to sell your books through a physical bookstore just like me?
As a self-published author, one of my dreams is to see my books in the shelves of many physical bookstores which seems like a pie in the sky for me before the boom of internet age. Right now, I can see light and hope for that dream. There are a lot of ways to make it possible and I am hoping and praying it will work.
But first, I needed that ISBN. So I did get it for my new book and good news just recently, I got approved of ISBNs for the book I have written entitled The Restless Mind. I got the ISBNs for ebook and print version and I did online.
The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) is the repository of the printed and recorded cultural heritage of the country and other intellectual, literary resources and information sources.MissionThe National Library of the Philippines is an ISO certified national repository of printed and recorded cultural heritage in the country that acquires, organizes, conserves, and preserves Filipiniana resources and provides equitable access to information resources on various platforms.VisionPremier national repository and gateway of knowledge, culture and innovation empowering Philippine society.
How to get ISBNs for your self-published books from NLP online?
1. First thing first, register as an author/writer with NBDB and here is how I did it:
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
and you can do it too, just click the link.
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| The confirmation email I received from NBDB. |
2. Create an account on this website: https://web.nlp.gov.ph/isbn/
3. Prepare a document that contains the full book cover of the book/s and copyright page. Remember, make sure you follow the prescribed format of the NLP or else they will reject it, but you can still revise your application.
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| The proof of work I submitted for the ISBN application. |
4. Submit a request by clicking ISBN Application tab and filling out all the necessary information about your book and uploading the document.
You will receive an email verifying your application and it may take up to two business days to evaluate your application.
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| This is the email I received when my ISBN application has approved. |
I hope for your success in your ISBN application.
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
Thursday, April 24, 2025
As a self-published author, I had a little desire of registering with NBDB. I thought the process was tedious so I decided to forego the idea of being a registered author despite free online registration the agency was offering. I thought I could not squeeze it in my busy schedule.
But these past few months, I got no more excuses not to consolidate documents required to be registered as an author in the date base National Book Development Board or NBDB. The best part is the whole registration process can be done online. Tada! Isn't that good news?
Another reason to pursue this author registration is for me to be able to apply for ISBNs of my books, since I also plan to sell my books in bookstores and they require ISBN on books to be sold at their store. There is going to be a separate blogpost on how to get ISBN for books, once I got my author registration certificate.
The enactment of Republic Act 8047, also known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act, was a clear demonstration of the government's attention to the important role of books in nation building. The law created the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is tasked primarily to formulate and implement a National Book Policy with a corresponding National Book Development Plan geared towards the development of the book publishing industry. The birth of the NBDB was a long struggle that started in 1998 in the halls of Congress by men who shared a vision and the desire to see the growth of the book publishing industry in the Philippines. That remarkable struggle ended on June 7, 1995 when His Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos, signed into law Republic Act No. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act which created the National Book Development Board. RA 8047 repealed Executive Order 492, series of 1991, as amended, the law which created the Instructional Materials Development Center, under the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB? What are the requirements? How many days will it take to receive the author registration certificate? These were the same questions I had where started thinking about the process of the application.
Here is list the documents or requirements I needed to prepare:
1. One (1) valid government-issued ID. I submitted a copy of my passport.
2. Bionote. I limited my bionote to five (5) sentences, but I am sure you can write more than that. Here is a sample of my bionote for your referece.
3. List of Published and/or Unpublished Titles. There is a downloadable prescribed template by the NBDB that I had to fill out diligently and it looks like this:
4. Proof of Work. I consolidated the book covers and copyright of all my published books in Word document file. For my unpublished titles, I also put them together in a Word document file and most of my unpublished manuscript do not even reach twenty (20) pages, so I just put whatever I have. I saved the documents for my proof of work as PDF.
After I finalized all the requirements, I sent them to this email: registration@books.gov.ph. All the documents will undergo evaluation by the NBDB and it may take up to seven (7) days.
Please feel free to comment or send me a message if you have any clarification. This link will give you the full details of the registration process: NBDB E-Registration
Be a registered Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB and start your application now!
Good day y’all!
Good news, I just released a book for my birthday. I’ve been self-publishing for almost ten years. I am happy doing that, and I find purpose in all the books I write. I hope you’re having fun, too, doing your purpose!
Here’s the full cover for the print copies of my latest book, The Restless Mind:
The Advance Reader’s E-book Copy is now available for reviews and interested readers. Please feel free to message me or comment on my posts, so I can send you a copy of The Restless Mind. You may add the book to your Goodreads account.
Please don’t hesitate to post your honest review of the book on Goodreads:
If you’re interested, please send me a message via Messenger, comment on this post, or e-mail me: arlenemanocot@gmail.com. I will send you an e-book version of the book for review.
Your time and interest are highly appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day! 🙏🤗
As you all know, I am about to release another collection of poems. It is a collection of my written thoughts and feelings in the most creative way I can. It is also my way of releasing overwhelming or underwhelming positive and negative emotions.
The title of the new book to be released is The Restless Mind. You can know more about it from the article that I posted on this website. You may click this link to read more about the book: https://www.arlenemanocot.com/2025/04/new-book-reveal-restless-mind.html?m=1
So going back to the question, where to publish or to print book? This inquiry was sent to me privately by a Facebook friend and I was thinking maybe aside from him there are others who might want to know something about self-publishing.
In my ten (10) years of experience in self-publishing, I would consider that there are different parts of publishing: writing, editing, formatting, and publishing. I had to ask that friend of mine what specific part of publishing and it turned out, he wanted to print his own collection of poems.
There are two printing company where I can get print books for my self-published books, one in the Philippines and the other is in the US.
1. PH prints
I submit my soft copy and all the details of the books to JMD Prints. They have Facebook page, but personally I like to message Ate Joy on her Messenger account for every transaction I have with JMD Prints. They will ask you send the digital materials via e-mail. Here’s the link for their FB page if you want to get in touch with them and planning to print in the Philippines. In my experience they got the most affordable and high quality output.
JMD Prints Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C8RBXWX2A/?mibextid=wwXIfr
2. US Prints
This is the first time I am going to try printing in the US and also using Ingram Spark. I inquired to one printing company, but their rate was a little pricey. I have created an account on their website starting to format my latest book according to their requirements. Here’s the link Ingram Spark website for to explore and decide if it is the best option for you.
Ingram Spark: https://www.ingramspark.com/
I hope this article helps you to get an idea about book printing. Please don’t hesitate to send me a question about self-publishing or anything maybe hehe. Have a nice day!
I am the birthday girl!
I don’t usually celebrate my birthday and maybe never post something about celebrating my birthday. It is hard to remember. But this year, my heart is just overflowing with gratitude to God for giving me this opportunity to live and to have a life. Even though life hasn’t always been easy, I thank You God for this gift of life.
Well, now that I think about it. I never had a sort of celebration for my birthday. Usually, it is just eating together or going somewhere to explore, and I like that idea, that’s the kind of celebration I would prefer. Never had the cakes and balloons with lots of confetti, and it’s fine. I guess that’s kind of celebration is never in my radar.
Birthday gifts from my love 🥰
Thank you Angie, Savior, Jared, Nay, at Tay for the video greetings and cake!
Thirty five is the age now. I am in the middle of my thirty’s. Right now as old as I am, I am in the phase of my life where I know exactly what to do but I do not know how to do it. Like I know what I want, I know my purpose, but I am scared because I just got out of one of the many things on earth that makes me feel secured which like everything else is temporary and will definitely perish.
Thank you for all those who didn’t forget to greet me on my birthday! 🎊
I just have this thought that I have surrendered everything to God. My trust and hope is in Him. I always pray for provisions, safety, protection, wisdom, endurance, and guidance for me, my family, and loved ones. My prayer also is to live a life that is content and glorifying to You, my LORD.
And this is the birthday book!
I tried to release every year and during my birthday. The Restless Mind is the birthday book this year and it contains some of my confessions. Maybe, I wrote this book out of grumbling and complaining about life or a specific situation and circumstance I needed to deal with.
I just hope and pray to inspire other people specifically women through this book. Another prayer of mine for this book is to earn a living out of my books. Please get a copy of this book. You may order a print copy of The Restless Mind through this pre-order form: https://forms.gle/B2MrroFvYJCY5fnm8
Please don’t forget to tag me on a post or send me a message if you want to get in touch. Have a blessed day y’all!
Are you ready for my new book baby? 📚 I have prepared something for y’all. I am glad to announce that I am going to be releasing a new book baby on my birthday month. I hope you are excited because I am.
My mind gave birth to a collection of poems for the past few year. The poetry book is entitled “The Restless Mind”. It is a collection of my sentiments in life, somewhere in my early thirties.
I dwell inside my mind, more than in the outside world. It might leave positive or negative impression how my mind works. I am an introvert and I am comfortable being with myself. But I always want to be with the my most favorite person in the world right now. I always want and need to be with him. Proximity might not permit that all the time and I try to cope with it and pray for it.
In the book “The Restless Mind,” I shared my thoughts and emotions in situations that I struggled with in my early thirties. I need to let them out. I need to write them, so they will not accumulate in my mind and soul. Some thoughts and emotions can be disgusting, but I would like to believe that there are some good things dwells in my mind.
Book Blurb
Am I just grumbling?Endlessly complaining?I confess.I repent.But is it enough
I would like to share this book to all of you. For you to know that you are not alone, that there are people who struggle with these thoughts and emotions like you, and that they can be overcome and they will pass. They will not stay on you, with prayers and cry to God, everything shall pass. You will receive peace from God as He declutter all the unnecessary baggage you have in your life that will not serve a purpose in fulfilling your God-given purpose.
I hope and pray you find inspiration as you read my new book which is scheduled to be released on April 13, 2025. I hope you look forward to it and find a glimpse of hope in it.
Book Covers of The Restless Mind
Please look forward to my new book. I will be posting on how and where you can a get a free e-book copy of The Restless Mind. I hope and pray you are having a blessed week. Until next time! 🤗🙏🙌
April is my birthday month! Happy birthday y’all April babies! 🤗 How is life treating you right now? Are we still good? Well, I hope and pray that you’re in the best shape of your life. I hope and pray you keep on fighting despite all the trying. I hope and pray you can see hope in hopeless situations.
And for my birthday month, I am giving away some of my written books. I am hoping and praying these books will give hope and inspired you to continue with life and pursue God in your life. Life is easier with God. Seek Him. Obey Him. Abide in Him. And He will be with You.
I am in the testing season, crying season, and most of all in the trusting season. People may fail you, but God will never. He can turn our bad situation into a good one. Nothing is impossible when we trust in Him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
I hope and pray we continue to seek and trust in God through Jesus who gives us strength. May we continue to see the unconditional love He gave us through Jesus, His only begotten Son. I know it is not easy right now, but God knows what is the best for us. May we continue to lean toward His direction. May God provide wisdom, love, patience, strength, guidance, and our daily bread to continue to live our purpose in this life. I pray all these and let us surrender everything to the LORD. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
I hope you are inspired to live the best time of your life only through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I hope and pray that in these uncertainties you are experiencing right now, may we realize that God is certain. We are certain that God allows the challenges in our lives for good and not for worst. Trust Him, trust the process.
Here’s the link of one of the free e-books I plan to share on my birthday month. I hope and pray this brings inspiration to your life. A special shout out to all April babies out there, happy blessed birthday!
Spring is here! It is the season where everything blooms and blossoms. Who wouldn’t want spring season? Personally, it is my favorite season out of all of the seasons. Flowers are out and the greens are starting to pop in the scenery!
This season inspires me to create a coloring book. Flowers and coloring are two of my favorite things in life. Sight seeing a bed of flowers is a feast for my eyes and coloring flowers in a coloring book is a hobby I really enjoy all the time.
You may download a free copy of the coloring book by clicking the link below:
Just give me a shout out if you are having difficulty downloading the book and I’ll give my best shot to help. Have fun! Color your life!
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell youthat not even Solomon in all his splendorwas dressed like one of these.
The Screwtape Letters is the second book I read from C.S. Lewis. I was captivated by his intellectual and spiritual approach to writing. His portrayal of the devils in the form of Screwtape was riveting and intriguing. At the beginning of my reading journey, I was curious about how the story would unfold and a little confused about the letter-formatted passages, but excited at the same time about how the story would take me for another ride.
A Masterpiece of Satire on Hell’s Latest Novelties and Heaven’s Unanswerable AnswerC.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the unique vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the wordly-wise devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
This is also the second book I finished reading in the year 2025. Nowadays, it is difficult to read. There are a lot of things that are happening in my life right now, but I can only do so little. I tried to stay with the book to keep me company. I am glad I got to finish the book, at last. I enjoyed the book since it talks about human nature to sin or to get entrapped in a situation he willfully or not willfully created for himself where it may feel like there is nowhere to go or to run to. It is that kind of situation that is hopeless and pestered by fear and doubt.
The devils are cunning and fallen creatures and they will try their best to plague this world. I pray to God above to help me in my journey in life. I am having difficulty now and the devil seems to be celebrating. I hope to endure this situation and succeed victoriously in life. I thank God for the wisdom and hope He planted in me and for all the people He sent on my way, the good and the bad.
This book is the kind I would like to keep if I have a library of my own and probably read it more than once.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
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