When you say nice things to yourself about yourself, you will feel the amazing energy of confidence, which is one of the main reasons I wrote the adventure novel Saltwater Taffy.

Through the story of adventure, I am able to showcase how great life is when you have confidence about who you are.  The more you learn how to talk nice to yourself ABOUT yourself, the happier you will become.

When you talk to yourself in a kind and loving manner, you are developing one of the strongest mental muscles……life has to offer; love and appreciation for the person you are.  The older you get, the harder it will be to teach yourself to be nice to yourself, so why not start today?

How do you practice the mental activity of being nice to yourself?  You can start by writing a list of ten things you love about yourself.  Do NOT worry about someone teasing you for writing a list like this.  I want you to leave that fear in the trashcan where it belongs and JUST DO IT.  If you have more than 10 things you love about yourself, then good for you…write down 20…30…100!  The sky is the limit.

Once you have finished your list, I want you to read it whenever you feel lost, confused, or frustrated.  A great way to cement this into your subconscious mind is to read it every night before you go to bed, or share it with someone you love.  Don’t be afraid of sharing it with someone, either.  The sooner you become comfortable with saying nice things about yourself, the sooner you will leave behind the uncertainty of growing up.

When you are confident about yourself and who you are becoming, the less likely you will care about other people’s opinions about you.  Here’s a secret to consider: what other people think of you is none of your business.

When you try to please everyone, you end up feeling mixed up and messed up.  Drill down into your heart compass, you know that voice which tells you how amazing you are, and ALWAYS say nice things to yourself about yourself.  Why not start today?

Eric “Uncle E” DelaBarre is an award winning filmmaker and the author of Saltwater Taffy, the middle grade fiction novel that has been endorsed by 10 Teachers of the Year.  Copyright January 8, 2012.  All Rights Reserved.

Because of the recent explosion of sales in the Pacific Northwest and New Orleans, LA…we are extending the National Essay Contest until the 4th of July weekend, 2012!

Entries already accepted are eligible for rewrites, which we highly suggest.  Remember, writing is rewriting.  With 750 words to choose from, you get to craft your story much like a book report.  Writing something in narrative form is hard to get your story idea across with only 750 words.

WRITING TIPS:

* Think BIG.  The bigger the idea, the better chance you have.
* Don’t repeat what you already read.  New material is KEY!!!!
* Watch your spelling!!!!  Our readers have noted some entries have spelling errors!!!
* New bad guys are KEY!!!!   Old Man Sheesley is still with us, but new bad guys!!!
* Show your teacher…they will have suggestions for you!
* Take your time and come up with the best idea you can!!!
* Previous entries can be rewritten!

GOOD LUCK!

7 STUDY SECRETS FOR TWEENS

It’s hard to imagine, but you can actually learn how to study and get amazing results in the process.  Saltwater Taffy’s 7 Study Secrets for Tweens will help you today and all the way through college.

One of the biggest hurdles for students is the fear of failure.  I don’t think anyone wants to fail a test, but if you don’t study……chances are you will indeed fail.  If you have bad study habits NOW, I can assure you those bad habits will affect you later on in life.  Learning how to study is simply learning how to become disciplined in your life.

• STUDY SECRET # 1: REWRITING & OUTLINING YOUR NOTES: When you’re in class, a great habit to begin is to ALWAYS TAKE NOTES.  If a teacher talks about it in class, you bet your buttons it’s going to be on the test so pay attention!  You’re in class to learn, so you might as well LISTEN, right?  Don’t doodle when the teacher lectures.  Always keep your eyes on the teacher.  Eye contact is essential in learning.  Look and listen.  When you get home, rewrite your notes.  By rewriting your notes, you commit the information to memory.  You can’t help but remember something you have written down twice.  When it’s time to study for the exam, all you have to do is study your re-written notes.  If the teacher talks about a certain section in your textbook, then go into the text and ADD that section to your re-written notes.  Again, the more you write something, the easier it is to remember that something.
• STUDY SECRET #2: HOW YOU FEEL MATTERS – Studies show there is a link between how you feel when you study and how you feel when you take your exam.  If you study when you’re tired, you will do better on the exam when you are tired.  On the same token, when you study when you are wide awake, chances are you will do better on the exam when you are wide awake.
• STUDY SECRET #3: NEATNESS DOESN’T COUNT – When you’re taking notes, don’t worry about neatness, just write down as much as you can as fast as you can.  Make sure it’s legible so when you get home, you can rewrite them in outline form.
• STUDY SECRET #4: MANAGE YOUR TIME - When the bell rings it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook with learning.  Everyone wants to go out and play, but your schoolwork must come first.  Sit down, do your homework, THEN go outside and play.  When you do this, you won’t have to feel the dread of “now I have to go home and do my homework.” When you do your homework first, you can play guilt free.
• STUDY SECRET #5: STUDY THE HARD STUFF FIRST – Get the hard stuff out of the way.  This way you can look forward to the easier subjects like some form of dessert.  Now, math homework is nowhere near a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but you understand what I mean.  By leaving the hard stuff last, it causes a feeling of dread and that is NOT something you want in your life.  EVER.  Each moment in life is an adventure and it’s how you look at it that matters most.
• STUDY SECRET #6: MAKE FLASHCARDS – When you have a list of things to remember, make flashcards and carry them with you at all times.  When you have a second, pull them out and go through them.  The more you do this, the easier they are to remember.  You can also transfer them into your phone by taking pictures of them and then crate a folder in your pictures for ease of use.  Don’t cram everything into one sitting.  Slow and steady will always win the race when it comes to learning how to study.
• STUDY SECRET #7: ASK QUESTIONS - If you don’t understand something, do NOT worry about what other people will think of you if you ask a question.  Most of the time, the teacher will love the fact you are engaged enough to ask a question, so PLEASE DO.  The more you talk about something, the more you’ll understand that something.

Self-doubt, also know as ‘bad habit thinking,’ can be a killer of our future dreams, regardless of our age.  If left unattended, a runaway thought of self-doubt can trick us into thinking the thought is actually real.

Isn’t it funny (or tragic) how fast we can move away from a point of feeling great about ourselves to a point where we think we are anything BUT great?

One minute we are on top of the world and then a runaway thought of doubt slips into our consciousness or someone says something mean about us in the lunchroom of life and BOOM, we find ourselves locked in a never ending game of mental tug-o-war.  Back and forth we go, where we end up, is NOWHERE.

Never forget how powerful our thoughts can be!

The activity of thinking we are less-than has the potential to act like a virus inside of our minds.  The more we do it, the sicker we get mentally.

If we knew licking a doorknob was the best way to get the FLU, would we ever go around licking doorknobs?  Of course not!  One would have to be crazy to want to lick a doorknob, especially if it makes us sick.

Well, thinking or engaging in self-talk that tricks us into believing we are less than can not only make us feel sick (Depression), but it one of the biggest wastes of time there is.

Life is our opportunity to create and craft out our very own amazing adventure, but if we are stuck in the bad habit of licking doorknobs, we are missing out on all the fun!

Eric “Uncle E” DelaBarre is an award winning filmmaker and the author of Saltwater Taffy, the middle grade fiction novel that has been endorsed by 10 Teachers of the Year.  Copyright October 12, 2011.  All Rights Reserved.

Composed with footage from tour stops in Fresno, California, Port Orchard, Washington, New Orleans, Louisiana, Bremerton, Washington, and Dallas, Texas, this three minute video shows how much the kids love Saltwater Taffy (and how much I enjoy reading it to them).

October 3, 2011

Dear Eric,

I sat down at 10:00 this morning to read Saltwater Taffy.  I intended to read a chapter or two and then do some of the errands that always get delayed until Saturday.  Yet, by page 7, I was hooked.  I didn’t stop when I finished chapter 2; I read until I reached page 252 and that was 4 hours later.

Where was this book when I was a kid?  I would have……loved it.  Though I will soon turn 57 years old, I found myself reliving moments of my childhood when life was a bit confusing at times, but, oh, so much fun.

My son is in graduate school in London, but I wish you had written the book a few years ago.  He would have really enjoyed reading about Jean Lafitte, a pirate that his dad, a native of Louisiana, told him about.  However, he would have been completely captivated by the adventures of Scott and the kids.  He would have enjoyed the book because it is a riveting story.  Every kid loves tales about pirates and hidden treasure, but throw in baseball, and you have truly covered all the bases.  However, my son would not have realized then that hidden among the pages were some really important life lessons, a treasure more valuable than pieces of eight.

I have shared Saltwater Taffy with my school.  The media specialist got a kick out of reading about the librarian.  She has begun the process of procuring a copy of the book for our students.  I shared the bookmarks with kids, and they are eager to check out Saltwater Taffy as soon as it hits the shelves.  Oh, yes, the stickers went well in my husband’s advisory during homecoming week.  Our school colors are black and yellow, and students added another decoration to their homecoming attire.  They thought it was Saweet!

I threatened the media specialist with dire consequences if she didn’t return my copy of Saltwater Taffy. The book won’t gather dust, because I will reread it from time to time in anticipation of sharing it one day with a grandchild.

Thank you for sending me the book, but I have one last question for you.  When does the sequel come out?  I want to learn about the kids as they grow up!  Just don’t include suspension bridges or caves.  My nerves can’t take it!

Sincerely,

Gwen Desselle
Georgia Teacher of the Year 2010
Williams Middle School
950 4^th Street SW
Moultrie, Ga. 31788

A quick peek at some of the stops on the SAWEET Saltwater Taffy Tour!

If you’re a fan of Saltwater Taffy, by now you know much we love to say SAWEET about anything and everything. The question you probably have is “how does this fit in as advice to you for becoming a thriving TWEEN?  Well, the SAWEETER you talk to yourself, the SAWEETER your life will get.  Some of you tough guy tween boys might…

…think this is nothing but girly-girly positive thinking stuff for tweens, because I can see you rolling your eyes at the computer screen right now, but you need to trust your Uncle E on this and listen up.

When you say SAWEET things to yourself ABOUT yourself, you feel the amazing energy of confidence, which is one of the main reasons I wrote Saltwater Taffy in the first place.  Through the awesome story of adventure, I was able to showcase how great life can be when you have confidence about who you are.  The number one killer of your confidence and overall happiness in life is negative self-talk where you trick yourself into believing a runaway thought of “I’m not good enough.”

The more you learn to have SAWEET thoughts to yourself ABOUT yourself,  you are developing one of the strongest mental muscles in life; love and appreciation for the person you are.  The older you get, the harder it will be to teach yourself to be nice to yourself, so get busy while the gettin’s good.  Trust me, it is a SAWEET way to be.

Life can either be an adventure or a nightmare.  It’s up to you, which is why I want you to begin to practice being nice to yourself TODAY.  Afraid that you won’t be any good at it?  Don’t.  Resist that kind of runaway thinking and remember that life is about practice.  The more we practice something the more it becomes second nature and part of who we are as time goes by.

How do you practice something like this?  Well, I want you to sit down and write a list of ten things you love about yourself.  Do NOT worry about someone teasing you for writing a list like this. Leave that fear in the trashcan where it belongs and JUST DO IT.  If you have more than 10 things you love about yourself, then good for you…write down 20…30…100!  The sky is the limit.  A friend of mine keeps a journal by his bedside and every night he writes down things he’s grateful for.  Even if it’s one thing, he writes something down every night before going to sleep.  Going to sleep with gratitude on your mind is certainly better than going to sleep with fear, doubt or worry, right?

Now, once you finish your list, I want you to read it whenever you feel lost, confused, or frustrated.  A great way to cement this into your subconscious mind is to read it every night before you go to bed.  You can also share it with someone you love.  The sooner you become comfortable with saying SAWEET things about yourself, the sooner you will leave behind the uncertainty that comes with being a tweenager.

When you are confident about yourself and confident about who you are becoming, the less likely you will care about what other people think of you.  What other people think of you is none of your business.  When you try to please everyone, all that happens is you end up feeling mixed up and messed up.  Drill down into your heart compass (that voice inside that cheers you on) and say SAWEET things to yourself about yourself.  It beats the negative thoughts of “I’m not good enough or smart enough.” My question to you now is this: ARE YOU READY?  Saweet.  Get to it.

Eric “Uncle E” DelaBarre is an award winning filmmaker and the author of Saltwater Taffy, the middle grade fiction novel that has been endorsed by 9 Teachers of the Year.  Copyright September 30, 2011.  All Rights Reserved.

Feeling good about yourself can be a challenge, but it is possible and up to each and every one of us.  Why not?

Have you ever notice moments in life where you feel really excited about who you are? You know those moments where you feel really connected, filled with direction and have an overwhelmingly high sense of self-assuredness?   The reason these moments arrive in our lives is so we can realize how……amazing we actually are.  We are, ya know.  Amazing, that is.  Unfortunately, when we are in our ‘tween-age‘ years, these amazing thoughts of greatness are fleeting.  Before we know it, we haul ourselves back into the insecure flux of worry, doubt and fear.  You aren’t alone, because adults have this ‘dis-ability’ too.  I, for one, have spent years of my life wasting away with a diet of low-octane thoughts.  Not only can a diet like this make you sick, but it can waste YEARS of your life.

I know what you are going through.  Being a Tween-Ager can be confusing, challenging, and sometimes…well, for lack of a better word, it can downright SUCK.  That being said, there are some amazing happiness secrets for tweens that can help make this time feel more like an adventure than an ongoing nightmare.

Being happy in life takes practice.  It is an ongoing choice we all get to make, day in and day out.  No matter what you go through in life……good or bad, there is a way to be happy no matter what.  Your happiness is not a result of something happening to you like getting an A on a test, or winning some contest.  Happiness is a state of mind that is a result of how you think, talk and feel about yourself.

Life will always have ups and downs.  We fail.  We succeed.  We’re popular one day, and then an outcast the next.  But again, the thing for us to always remember is our happiness is a result of how we operate INSIDE.

7 AMAZING HAPPINESS SECRETS FOR TWEENS

1. BE HAPPY WITH YOURSELF – Since you are going to be with yourself for the rest of your life, you might as well like yourself, right?   Get off your back and begin to shift your ‘self-talk’ (you know, that voice inside your head that carries on conversations about you, with you and for you) and begin to support YOURSELF in everything you do.   Try not to engage in any kind of self-talk that says you’re stupid, not good enough, smart enough, cool enough, or popular enough at school.   We’ll have none of that, thank you very much.  Excellence begins with thoughts of excellence.  PERIOD.

2. WHATEVER YOU DO, GIVE IT 100% – It’s not what you get out of life, it’s what you GIVE to your life.  Always give your best.  When you do something, think of it as if you had to put your name on it.  You wouldn’t want your name on something ‘so-so’ would you?  The energy of life corresponds to what you give.  GIVE BIG.

3. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU — Happiness is not the job of your parents, teachers, or friends.  Your happiness is up to you.   Angry or happy, how you roll through life begins the second you get out of bed.   View your life as an adventure and not some kind of burden.   Going to school each day should be looked at with an eye towards WONDER, because remember what Forest said: “life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.”

4. SMILE – Smile every chance you get.  Trust me, you’ll feel better.   The next time you’re mad, angry or confused, force yourself to smile.   You’ll be surprised how it can lift the haze of anger.  Oh, and stop trying to be so cool by holding back your laughter or smiling half way.   Remember, the shortest distance between two people is a smile, so try it.  Look into the mirror and smile.

5. THE POWER OF RIGHT NOW — The secret to being happy is being happy.  If you base your happiness on a condition, ie: I’ll be happy when I’m done with school, you are missing out on the RIGHT NOW of your life.  I lost my best friend and step-brother to a car crash when I was 18 years old.  One minute he was here, the next…gone.  Right now is all you have.   Right now is HERE, so stop fantasizing about the future and be happy NOW.  This is a major principal that I wove into the story of Saltwater Taffy.   While the the kids faced obstacles and suffered set-backs from time to time, laughter was always with them on the adventure.

6. LOVE YOUR MIS-TAKES — You are going to make mistakes in life.   You’re human and on top of that, you’re young.   It’s inevitable that you will fall and stumble along the way of growing up.   The great thing about making mistakes is they propel you towards a lesson that you obviously need to learn.   In the movie business, we have different “takes” of a scene.  If the scene doesn’t work, we do another ‘take.’  Take 7.  Take 8.   That’s what your life is.  If you have a mis-’take,’ do it over.

7. CHOOSE LOVE – What is love?   Ah yes, the grand question of growing up, trying to figure out what love is.  Love is complex, and has a way of hiding from us in life, but look no further.  Love is EVERYTHING surrounding you.   Love is an unconditional force that is here to guide you through life.  Have you ever noticed what it is like to be around someone who is always angry?  It’s no fun, right?  Love is in the opposite direction of anger and hate.  Whenever you feel like you’re lost, angry, confused, or alone, ask yourself, WHAT WOULD LOVE DO?

Growing up is a tough road, so the sooner you can learn to practice thoughts, words, and actions that center around happiness, the better off you’ll be.