DREAMWalker Group
Where creativity and spirit converge

 

 

 
To assist you in finding books you enjoy reading, you can search this site for authors or artists and look at their profile pages:
 

By first name

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By subjects

 

 

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A bridge supporting dialog

 

Michael Walker's Blog
(Awakened Man's World)

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Does not include profile numbers
DREAMScene
 
The Newsletter of DREAMWalker Group 2008 Issue #1 (January)
In This Issue
1) We're Looking for Sponsors -- Why?
2) 39 brilliant people* added
3) Open Book: A Peek At Our Expenses
4) How You Can You Help
5) A DREAMScene Interview: Gail Fonda
6) Mailbag: Recent Correspondence
DREAMScene
Newsletter Index
(Keeping Yourself) Current @ DREAMWalker Group
  • Although we do everything we can to keep your profile current, it's best if you contact us when you release a new book or have changes you need made to the profile.

DREAMWalker Group is a collective of inspired individuals who are dedicated to the idea that if one person sparkles, a group of people are brilliant.

As proprietor of DREAMWalker Group, it is Michael Walker's desire to express a deep sense of gratitude for all the good that has entered and continues to enter his life. To do this, he has created a site that offers free web profiles to creative people and provides a "one stop" venue for creative information and creative, spirit-based support. Insofar as this is a free site, he is also hopeful that this site will eventually become self-supporting. To make this a possibility, visitors to the site are encouraged to buy at least one item a year through the Amazon.com and other affiliate links.

NOTE: Profile pages can include the following information (or more):
  • Contact information (website and email, if desired)
  • An historical listing of published books (current and out-of-print)
  • An historical listing of published CDs and tapes (when possible)
  • Cross-links to other subject-related books and authors at DREAMWalker Group
  • Links from author's book directly to Amazon.com (the money we make, currently about $400 per year, helps pay for the maintenance of this free site.

Our Pledge to Share Our Prosperity

DREAMWalker Group is a free site.  We believe that charging creative people for their profiles is unwarranted.  It is our primary purpose to give back to this brilliant, inspired, and inspirational community for all the wonderful things they've created and continue to create.

Insofar as giving is good; receiving is also a nice thing.  As is the maintenance of a standard of living that is conducive to happy creativity.  So as part of its mission to give and receive, DREAMWalker Group hereby promises the following:

To give back to the community a full 40% of all additional money earned over and above $100,000 via DREAMWalker Group.  (We haven't decided how best to do that just yet, but it will no doubt be in the way of several scholarships or prizes to current and future brilliant, creative folks and to supporting the literary/artistic community in other ways.)

To recap:  Once we pass the $100,000 mark (per year), DREAMWalker Group will give back to the community a full 40% of all additional money earned via this site. 

This means that:

  1. Out of every additional $100,000 earned over the initial compensation of $100,000, DREAMWalker Group will give back $40,000.00 to the creative community;
  2. Out of every $1,000,000 earned, DREAMWalker Group will give back $400,000.00; and
  3. Out of every $10,000,000 earned, DREAMWalker Group will give back $4,000,000.00.  Etc.

Who will benefit most from this?

  1. The brilliant, creative folks who continue to get free publicity and exposure via this continually growing and popular website.
  2. Their publishers who can run free ads at the site - once they agree to provide cross links to DREAMWalker Group or free advertising in return.

  3. DREAMWalker Group's proprietor (Michael Walker).  Possibly freed from the burden of working a day job, he'll have more time and money to use in maintaining this site.

  4. Amazon.com - Out of 351 referrals in 2007, DREAMWalker Group earned $304.12 and Amazon.com brought in a whopping $5,756.71).  Just do the math!

 
 
NEWS WORTHY
  • During December 2007, the Art On Water Gallery presents Travels by artist and illustrator Lynette Yencho (click here to see invitation).  Lynette was the very first person to ever show financial support to DREAMWalker Group by making a contribution.  Thanks Lynette and best of luck with the show!
 
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Happy New Year!  And welcome to DREAMScene's first issue of the  year -- we're the electronic newsletter of DREAMWalker Group.  In this issue, we'll bring you up to date on some of the exciting things happening with our site.  Such as:

  • We're very excited to announce in this issue our very first interview (below) -- with the writer Gail Fonda.  Gail is the author of My Private Hell: Struggle & Survival which describes her experiences while battling debilitating anxiety.  In addition, we're doubly excited to announced that along with the interview, Gail begins the very first column to be offered here at DREAMWalker Group.  Her column offers periodic, notes, tips, observations and commentary on a variety of issues.  Check out her column, Just Ask Gail by clicking here.
  • Elle Newmark's 24-hour virtual party on November 27 (specially noted at dreamwalkergroup.com and in the November issue of DREAMScene!) was a resounding success!  The day of the party, Bones of the Dead, hit Number 22 in historical fiction and Number 43 in mystery thrillers at Amazon.com--the top half of their bestseller list! 

    Kudos to you, Elle.  Keep on creating!
  • Missed an issue of this newsletter?  Click here to view old issues on-line.

We hope you'll enjoy this issue and anticipate more frequent updates in the future!

 

Michael Walker

Proprietor

 dreamwalkergroup@me.com

Missed an issue of this newsletter?  Click here to view old issues online

 
1)  We're Looking for Sponsors -- Why?

DREAMWalker Group is essentially a totally free site -- but we could always use financial support (see A Peek At Our Income in this issue and in the last issue, Number 1).
 
To achieve self-supportability and to make this a very cool site, we think it would be GREAT if publishers would offer to sponsor their authors and art galleries would offer to sponsor their artists.  This sponsorship would include cross links to us from your own corporate site (or ads about us at your site) -- which would, in turn, drive up our traffic. 
 
See the page about corporate sponsorship to see how you can do this.
---
 
Special Note to Potential Corporate Sponsors:  To date, no publishing house or art gallery has offered to sponsor their creative, brilliant artisans through this site.  Why not be the first????? 
 
Our site is growing exponentially and promises to explode any day now.  Check out our most recent site statistics:
 
Month Daily Average Monthly Totals
Hits Visits Sites Visits Hits
Dec 2007 5762 765 5810 23739 178631
Nov 2007 4298 876 4263 26306 128968
Oct 2007 3038 741 3250 23001 94186
2)  39 brilliant people* added

We added the following brilliant people since the last issue of DREAMScene:

*Note: some profiles may still be under construction.

3. Open Book (A Peek At Our Income)
 
Profiles at DREAMWalker Group are free.  So people often ask us Why is it free?
 
Questions like that are answered in our Mission Statement in this newsletter (or click here to see it online) and at our list of Frequently Asked Questions
 
As to our income -- which goes to defraying the costs of maintaining this site -- here are our income numbers broken down by year:
 
  Amazon.com Adsense Total
2000 $    7.51 0 $    7.51
2001 $      .40 0 $      .40
2002 $  30.47 0 $  30.47
2003 $129.82 0 $129.82
2004 $195.26 0 $195.26
2005 $281.52 0 $281.52
2006 $348.77 $31.95 $380.72
2007 (to date) $$261.01 $15.96 $276.97
 
See our Pledge to Share
Prosperity
to the left of this article.

4)  How You Can You Help

People often ask what they can do to improve their profile and otherwise help support this free site.  here are a few ideas:
  • Keep creating!
     
  • Tell all your creative friends and associates about my free site!!
     
  • If you don't have a web page of your own, consider using your profile at DREAMWalker Group as one for purposes of marketing yourself.  After all, it's FREE!
     
  • Create a link from your own homepage to DREAMWalker Group's homepage (http://dreamwalkergroup.com) or to your own profile.
     
  • Provide me with a list of your own favorite authors and favorite books for inclusion in your profile.
     
  • Tell me under what related subject headings you'd like your profile listed (e.g. Boating, History, Motivational, Nonfiction, etc.).
     
  • Suggest to your publishers that they sponsor a small ad on your profile page.  These inexpensive ads link from your profile page directly to your publisher's website (or wherever they choose!).
     
  • Buy at least one book a year through my site.  If every amazing person listed on my site bought just one item using the Amazon search box on the home page, DREAMWalker Group would earn enough money to keep this free site up and running for about one and a half years!
     
  • Let us know when your profile needs to be changed (e.g. contact information changes, publish new book, etc.).
     
  • Mention DREAMWalker Group when talking to Oprah!
 
5. A DREAMScene Interview: Gail Fonda

 

DREAMWalker Group: So Gail, why are you a writer?

 

Gail Fonda: I knew from kindergarten I was so shy I could barely talk, so my only way to communicate was through writing.

 

DWG: This seems to be a common thing with writers. Why so you think they're so shy?

 

GF: I think it's because people with any type of artistic talent, be it writing, drawing or acting, seem to be very sensitive in many ways. It's something about a part of the brain that regulates thinking and emotions. A psychologist would be able to describe it better.

 

DWG: When did you start writing?

 

GF: In the sixth grade. As a matter of fact,  in sixth-grade camp (my first time away from home), I was petrified. But the teacher assigned us a writing project, and she told me I was a writer. It's the first compliment I had ever received. My mother was verbally abusive and very critical, as are many of my other family members.

 

DWG: So you wrote to deal with emotional pain?

 

GF: Yes! Writing is so cathartic! Just putting feelings and events on paper helps to relieve anger, nervousness, depression, anxiety. My first written word besides school was a letter to Dear Abby in the seventh grade. She didn't respond, and I was hurt. Writers are sensitive and hate rejection, which is a daily thing they have to suffer through!

 

DWG: So you kept writing despite years of rejection. Why?

 

GF: It's the only way I know how to communicate. I have to write. I can't seem to control it. I try to reverse the blame. When I get rejected, I blame the other person, whoever is really right or wrong. It doesn't matter. Writing is like breathing. I MUST do it, I have no choice.

 

DWG: Did you study writing in college?

 

GF: Yes. I have a BA in Journalism, Kent State University, 1976. An introverted person loves to write long, lengthy term papers, which is the opposite of most other people.

 

DWG: Your family situation seemed dysfunctional. Did you get any positive feedback?

 

GF: Yes, but only from my father. Never my mother. It seemed she was jealous I could accomplish something she never even tried to do; she never even had a job in her life. I started off getting front page stories on my campus newspaper, but not without diversity. One of my journalism professors tried to kick me off the paper. He just wasn't a nice guy.

 

DWG: What happened with him?

 

GF: I don't know why he didn't like me. I wasn't aggressive and loud the way he was.

But I made out a petition and a year later he was fired for embarrassing me in front of the class by tearing up a paper I wrote with too many commas in it.

 

DWG: Did you work in the field?

 

GF: Yes, and I have a lot of published articles with many bylines, though I am far from rich and successful as one might expect. The field only pays well for people on television, and I'm too shy for that.

 

DWG: What's happened more recently?

 

GF: I didn't even know how to use the computer eight years ago, but my husband showed me how, after I had major surgery and had to stay home for six weeks. I began to write on the Internet, and I am still doing that as much as possible.

 

DWG: Any major success on the Internet?

 

GF: Some success. I have a published book, entitled, My Private Hell: Struggle & Survival. It's a short, but riveting true story of how I use exercise to combat the side effects of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Exercise promotes a good attitude. It relieves anxiety, depression and helps me to keep going. I have also written stories for other writers' books, and articles on politics, women's issues, relationships and poems online.

 

DWG: What suggestion would you give to writers of today who have no clue what to do?

 

GF: Get on the Internet and Google "writing" and the possibilities are endless!

---
 
Gail Fonda is an online freelance writer. She graduated from Kent State University's School of Journalism, and has been writing on a variety of subjects over the past 30 years. When she discovered the world of the Internet, she found she could be more selective in her writing choices, as opposed to being "assigned" stories to write about.
 
Gail's column, Just Ask Gail, is available here at DREAMWalker Group!
Gail can be reached at: gdvoref@hotmail.com.
Her profile at DREAMWalker Group is located at http://dreamwalkergroup.com/bio/g/gail_fonda.htm.
 
---
 
Do you have something you'd like to share?  Let DREAMWalker Group interview you -- or let us know of someone you'd like to interview for us.  We can't pay (we're a free site) but the exposure is priceless!  Write us as dreamwalkergroup@me.com.
6.  Mailbag - Recent Correspondence
November 29, 2007
 
Why do you list authors by first name? No one would think to look up a first name; that's a bad idea.
 
Author
 
===
 
Dear Author,
 
Thanks for your input .... but I totally disagree!
 
I believe knowing one another by first name fosters community*.  Also, since WORDS are the most powerful force in the Universe ... it makes perfect sense to get to know one another by the most direct name we have ... our first
 
Also, I do it because NOBODY ELSE DOES IT!!!  No one will forget DREAMWalker Group's odd little way of doing things!  Also, it says right on the directories located on the top banner and left banner of every page to search by first name:
 
"Locate books by your favorite artists and authors right on this site. Simply use the search grid below -- all authors are listed by their first name. Each author's profile page includes a historical listing of their books, links to Amazon.com, and in many cases a listing of your author's favorite authors and books. See someone we missed? 
Just write let us know."
 
Finally, we've been doing things this way since the year 2000.  I don't see any easy way of changing it now!!  Perhaps one day in the future I'll have directories that search by first and/or last name! 
 
Thanks again for taking the time to write!
 
Michael Walker
---
 
*DREAMWalker Group uses many methods to foster a sense of community.  One way is to break the site down into several "communities".  These communities are all created in the same format with the same subject breakdowns.  Eventually all topics at DREAMWalker Group will relate individually and collectively to every community.  To date, the communities include Arts, Disability, General, GayLesBi, Literary, Recovery, Seniors, Spirit-Guided, and Transgender.
Remember that DREAMWalker Group encourages and depends upon your creativity.  Please keep on creating! 

And if you have any comments or suggestions for improving our site, please write us at
dreamwalkergroup@me.com.
 
******* NOTICE *******
If you would like to continue to receive this newsletter, please go to http://dreamwalkergroup.com and fill in the "Join the DREAMWalker Group Mailing List" located at the bottom of the page.
Sincerely,
 

Michael Walker
DREAMWalker Group
 
DREAMWaker Group is not incorporated as a non-profit organization.

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as charitable expenses
.  See your tax consultant for more information.

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