Look and Listen

Biography

Authors, Dave and Lillian Brummet, have been writing professionally since 1999. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit) The Brummets’ have published 3 books: Purple Snowflake Marketing - How To Make Your Book Stand Out In A Crowd (2007; e-book, non-fiction) shows authors how to create an effective, frugal marketing plan and includes more than 500 live links for authors to use immediately simply with a click of the mouse. Trash Talk - An Inspirational Guide to Saving Time and Money through Better Waste and Resource Management (2004; non-fiction, environment, paperback) shows readers how they can save money while making their community become a more prosperous, attractive and healthier place to live. Towards Understanding - A Collection of 120 Poems (2005; non-fiction, chronological, paperback) depicts the healing process one goes through and the steps taken to get past the pain of a troubled upbringing and strive towards understanding of both purpose in life, and the value of it. Dave and Lillian were honored with an award for "outstanding use of various media in ongoing outreach work to reduce waste in our environment" by the Recycling Council of British Columbia. Seeds of Diversity also awarded them with a Certificate of Appreciation for volunteer contributions and they were recognized by Boundary Family Read - Columbia Basin Alliance For Literacy for their support. Lillian's award winning poetry has appeared in five hardcover anthology books and several newsletters and magazines throughout North America. She has had the honor of attaining Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry, not once – but twice. Dave won an award for his photography through Cottage Magazine; his photos grace the cover of both Towards Understanding and Purple Snowflake Marketing. The Brummets' also host an online radio talk show, Conscious Discussions, which focuses on inspiring listeners to become more proactive in their daily lives by sharing real-life, positive stories. With the varied topics they cover, the Brummets hope that listeners will realize their value as individuals and be aware of the fact that they can make a real and visible difference. Guests range from environmentalists, authors, volunteers, water conservationists to book promotion experts; the guests are spoken to live from across the globe - including West Africa, Canada, the US and the UK. People can visit the site to hear shows up to 5 weeks in the past, or they can tune in every Tuesday at 10 a.m. PST to hear the live broadcast. ( http://www.blogtalkradio.com/consciousdiscussions )

Inspiration

What prompted me to write as a career began with several life-changing experiences including a few car accidents about 9 years ago. At that point Dave and I were feeling like our lives were going the wrong direction. I looked back at my life in disgust because I felt all my efforts, work, pain… it was all for nothing. No one would notice and no lasting benefit was left behind. I couldn’t live like that any longer. Dave and I had several heart-to-heart discussions about the meaning of our lives, what was important to us and how we mean to use the time we are given. Right around this time, my husband was taking a writing course and I began taking it alongside of him. Soon, our submissions were accepted and sold and a free-lance career began, which later developed into our career as authors. For us, our work is not a way to get noticed or get our name in print. Instead it is about leaving a lasting legacy, something that will provide some inspiration, some positive change that would give our life meaning. I was inspired to write the Trash Talk column after some discussions with some of my business clients. You see, one of these clients expressed her fear that others would see her at a reuse store because she thought they would judge her as a scrooge since she could afford new things. She certainly couldn’t fathom the idea of being caught taking in her refundable containers! Yet ironically later on, when her neighbors began joining in on the blue box (recycling) pick up service, she just had to have that box out on the corner and be “seen” to be joining as well. It was at this point that Dave and I realized there was a need for change in the way society is seeing waste. We need to view waste as a resource; to see that waste reduction is not about false pride or keeping up with your neighbors – waste reduction is more about the legacy we choose to leave behind. The first book my husband and I released was based on the first 5 years of this column and shares the name – Trash Talk – which focuses on the proper order of the 4-rs in waste reduction (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle); with special attention on the 3rd R- Reuse. Ironically it was soon after the book’s release, that Dave and I started hearing the commercials and seeing ads for “zero waste” initiatives across the globe. Towards Understanding is the second book we released. This is a collection of 120 non-fiction poems that tell the story of my life. In this book, readers will see me battle past demons, raise my voice in anger and discover self-awareness. I think readers will witness my healing process as I become aware of the value of life and feel my joy as I fall deeply in love with a wholesome man. Later, the poetry begins to question society and endeavors to understand others. I think that my passion and dedication to the health of the Earth it is very evident in this book. And just recently we released the e-book, Purple Snowflake Marketing - How to Make Your Book Stand Out in a Crowd. Most authors are working on computers these days and because an Internet presence is so vital in a marketing plan, we arranged for this project to be released as an e-book. This way, authors can immediately access information and promotion opportunities with the click of their mouse. We also made and extra effort to keep the price below $7.00 (US) so that authors can afford the investment.