Monday, August 12, 2013

Lazy Dragon in the POP TRAVEL TOUR - TARA TYLER!

Today I am honored to have Tara Tyler as my guest in the Dragon Cave. This is part of her Pop Travel Tour. She brings me ideas on how to be a good Lazy Dragon. I should have asked her also how to be an Intelligent Dragon, as to make sure this post was correctly programmed. I'm so sorry. Blame on the imitation of Jezebel's punch. But here is wonderful, awesome, and talented Tara Tyler! 



First, I must say happy birthday to my honored host, Father Dragon! (It was yesterday) And thank you for having me. I love the beautiful garden outside the ominous lair! He must have some good minions to tend it. No?
Tara made this guy!

Today, I have the pleasure of writing a post for the Lazy Dragon – similar to my Lazy Housewife posts with tips to minimize housework. When taking care of a lair, we all need help. The Lazy Dragon has dwarf minions and I have minion sons. But getting the minions to help around the cave can be more trouble than it's worth. They complain, want to play not work, and sometimes fight with each other. So, for those of you with hem-hawing helpers, here are a couple of motivational tips!

  • Positive Reinforcement - Let them earn money, privileges (extra video game time or a friend over), and power (choose the movie, or dinner selection)
  • Negative Reinforcement - When they give too much back sass, they must also realize their fun time and luxuries are not free and disrespect will cost them - warnings first, then, restrictions, privileges taken away, grounding, with good behavior to earn back

Ah, but some chores are too big or complicated for the mere minions and must be done by the Big Lazy Dragon himself. Here are my tips for making the most of that dreaded chore time.

  • Prioritize – Take care of the things that need the most attention first
  • Reward yourself – When you finish something, you get to have a treat, your choice!
  • Less clutter = less to clean – Keeping surfaces free of knick knacks gives a cleaner look and less to dust
  • Take breaks – For large jobs, set goals for phases and with each completed phase, take a coffee/tea break, but not for too long, make sure the task gets done. If it doesn't, there's always…
  • Put off to tomorrow – Just make it the priority to finish first thing. Sometimes it's okay to procrastinate because you should only…
  • Do what you can handle – What good is it to wear yourself out cleaning and not be able to relax and enjoy it?

And when chores or life's low moments give you stress, take a time out to meditate.

Dear Lazy Father Dragon, close your eyes and picture this image –

You are in the backyard of your lovely waterfront home in the Pacific, standing in the clearing of an extravagant, lush garden, surrounded by tropical trees, hanging vines, colorful flowers, and butterflies. An aisle stretches in front of you, amidst friends and relatives, seated before a white stage. They are waiting for you to perform a moving scene, and you are ready. You take a deep breath, dance a few steps down the aisle, leap onto the stage, and give them an oration of immense magnitude. They weep, they laugh, they sigh, at all the right moments. And when it is over, you bow to a standing ovation! Bravo!!

I hope you enjoyed your Lazy Dragon meditation getaway! This was fun for me! Thanks again! And here is the info for my recently released techno-thriller, Pop Travel.

Cooper thought he could get through
life without having to pop...
Pop Travel by Tara Tyler
A tale of deception and teleportation.

When a crazy client enters J.L. Cooper's small town detective agency babbling about a pop travel teleportation cover up, he takes the case. Cooper never liked pop travel and blames it indirectly for his wife's death. He'd love to expose a glitch in it.

But the glitch turns out to be disintegrating travelers. And now, his client is dead, his secretary is missing, and a hitman is stalking him. Plus there's all the webcams watching his every move. So, Cooper has to find a way to expose the deadly flaw, while using pop travel to escape the maniacs covering it up, not to mention save a couple of tag-alongs he's not sure he can trust. No problem.

Available now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Goodreads  <==>  Trailer  <==>  FB Author Page


About the author:

Bio:
Tara Tyler started out as a math teacher. After having a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering and living up and down the Eastern US, she finally found some roots, writing and teaching in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. In addition to her novels, she has published short stories and poetry in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller, and Humor. So many stories to tell!

37 comments:

  1. Put off until tomorrow - smart advice!
    Minions also need to be restricted from using the clone machine when they abuse it.
    Awesome stuff, Tara!

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  2. Great post Tara! I'll try this with my minions errr..... kids.

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  3. Only do what you can handle - when you hit your limit, it's time to stop and be a lazy dragon.

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  4. Happy Birthday yesterday, Father Dragon! And great post Tara!

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  5. I don't have any minions, but do have a house full of princes. ;)

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  6. Happy belated birthday, Father Dragon :D

    Tara,

    I just got back from vacation and have to do laundry and put stuff away. I prioritized: I took care of kids stuff along with food/snacks, took out all of my chargers needed for all the technology stuff, put luggage in the corner, laundry bag is waiting by the door and I sat my behind down to blog around. I think this counts as relaxing and putting off until tomorrow because.. why not? o_0

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  7. Great guest post, Tara! I need to take care of some serious clutter. And a happy belated birthday to you, Father Dragon, sir! :)

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  8. Happy Belated B'day Father Dragon! Fun post Tara, I'm sure these tips were helpful.

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  9. OH such a fun post with practical advice woven in! Well done, Tara! Thanks Dragon friend and SHs to you.

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  10. I am the minion here - but it seems obvious that I need to sub contract.
    Wonderful post with one small exception. You are not, no how, no way a lazy dragon.

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  11. What a great set of tips Tara and that Minion is excellent! Thanks for hosting Al.

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  12. Love the hints, Tara! Congrats! :)

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  13. alex, those crazy minions! what a party yesterday!

    stephen, whats the difference? isnt that why we hav kids? =D

    Diane, exactly!

    JA, thanks!

    elizabeth, i know the feeling! and it aint queenly!

    SK, coming home is tough! sounds like you are managing your time wisely!

    david, clutter is the enemy!

    sheena, i hope so!

    julie, thanks!! that was sweet!

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  14. elephant, i feel like a minion too! and lazy is fascetious =)

    maurice, thank you!

    cherie, i love your clone! ha!

    al, this has been a great blog day! thanks again for hosting!

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  15. I need to work on the less clutter part. Too many knick knacks for sure around here. And then there is the PAPER CLUTTER. Egads. Some great tips... thanks for sharing!

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  16. Nice to see you here, Tara, and cool that FT had you over :)

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  17. Loved all of Tara's points! It's so important to keep perspective and only do what we can handle. (Thanks for having Tara here today, Al!)

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  18. Tara is right on!

    And she must have mastered pop travel herself. She's everywhere!

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  19. I loved this Lazy Dragon post! Minions are so important. Mine's almost at the age to really put to work around the house.

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  20. oops! facetious!

    Robin, I have an abundance of paper clutter too...where's my shredder?

    Marcy, nice to see you too!

    Morgan, thanks! sometimes i overdo so i need to listen to my own advice!

    Jay, I've see you out and about too! thanks!

    Christine, no way! but yes, we must start them cleaning up after themselves young!

    Thanks again, Al!

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  21. No kids, no minions, but I am all for your advice Tara. I like "Never do today what you can put off til tomorrow" too.

    As for the lazy dragon, just remove that lethal punch from your dwarves and then things will get done perhaps. I thought they had blown up the cloning machine.

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  22. LOL, yep, I've been here with the advice. At least my kids have grown and got their own kids and furry minions to fight with. One left at my cave, and then it will be smooth sailing on an island of my own.

    ......dhole

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  23. Hi Al and Tara .. great ideas for controlling those chores and keeping them in some sort of order ..

    Taking time away from blogging to get a few chores in line ... is perhaps the easiest way to ensure we live beyond 802 ... I know my mother who didn't make that remarkable age suggested when she was bedridden that I don't leave any stone unturned, and got on with things! I had to laugh hard ... she always managed to make me laugh ..

    So let's create our own level of 'laziness' .. I suspect we're all rather more occupied than we say ..

    Happy days to Father Dragon and family ... in the cave or out, and to Tara wherever her pop travel takes her .. this century or the next one .. cheers Hilary

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  24. I love how you see procrastination as a viable cleaning option. :-P

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  25. Man, lots of good advice here. Surely it'll induce some significant stress relief! I'm hoping to get Tara's book and look forward to reading it.

    Sorry Father Dragon! I missed wishing you a happy birthday yesterday. :( Well, I could tell you all my excuses (had to ward off giant warts, after many good at the doctor's, finally realized I didn't have enough money for a Kuato after all - and I was truly hoping to get real insight for my constipation effect piece during the Kuato procedure!)

    But regardless of all these excuses, here's to wishing you had a most regarding, excellent, laughing-filled day of celebration, my dear dragon.

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    1. Darned swipe screws me up all the time! That was supposed to be "after many hours at the doctor's" and "a most rewarding, excellent...". xoxox to you nonetheless!

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  26. Thanks for the terrific cleaning tips Tara! Best of luck with your new book! Hope Father Dragon is enjoying his tidy cave.

    Julie

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  27. Happy Birthday, Al! *gives Texas-sized hug"
    I think I'll be lazy with you.

    Great post, Tara. :)

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  28. Down with clutter! I'm with you on that, Tara.

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  29. Jo, yes, we still have to clean with or w/o minions, er kids!

    Donna, sweet and sad, but mostly sweet to see them succeed on their own!

    Hilary, enjoy your respite! i hope to hear all about it when you return.

    Misha, we are only human =)

    Nancy, that was great - lots of details... and funny!

    Julie, thank you! and you know it won't stay tidy for long with those crazy minions!

    Melissa, thanks, lady!

    C. Lee, clutter brings me down, ha ha!

    Liz, great!

    what a fun time! thanks again, Father Dragon!

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  30. What a fun post LOL. Even though I'm not a dragon I appreciate the advice as I am very lazy.

    Hope you had a great birthday, Al! *hugs*

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  31. Thank YOU, Tara. It has been an absolute joy to have you in the Dragon cave and give us these useful tips. When in doubt I know who to ask! :D

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  32. 10 times out of 10 I do it all anyway - no help, no minions, no clones. Damn, I need a cleaning vacation unless someone has some minions or clones to share!

    Great tips!

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  33. Great tips Tara!
    I always say, try to tidy and pick up as you go along... it minimizes the work load...
    Hope you had a great birthday Al!
    Writer In Transit

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  34. Al, Tara, forgive me! Yes without anybody coming forward with a clone or clones to help me out, I've only just managed to POP over.

    Now then, this is advice that I totally relate to. Break things down into realistic, manageable tasks that lead to the overall goal.

    Keep things simple and simple I can manage.

    Must dash....ah the life of a celebrity! LOL

    Gary :)

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  35. julie, writers are so not lazy!
    yolanda, i know how you feel, 9 of 10 times i dont bother fighting the minions and do it myself!
    mish, youre so smart! but cleaning up after the minions is the tough part! ha!
    gary, always a kidder! i like simple too! thanks for coming over here =)

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