Fetuses will spend up to twelve hours a day in REM sleep in the weeks before birth. This is an important time for synaptogenesis--the literally forming of connections in the brain. #neuroscience #dreaming #pregnancy ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdqiXS9P90

... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M49YuSQf-xI

#buddhism #death #meditation ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8m1TKvKtGc

Congrats! You finished your book! But your work is just beginning. Once upon a time, publishers could mount amazing publicity campaigns for every title that they put out. Those times are long gone. While it's possible that you will get an enthusiastic and resourceful publicist assigned to your book, it's not a guarantee. Better to be prepared! Traditional book advances from publishers offer no incentives for you to promote your own work. The vast majority of books never "earn out" their advance, which means that in most cases, you will never get another dime after your book comes out onto the market. This is a huge problem because after the initial flurry of excitement around your launch comes to an end, you have no financial reason to keep drumming up attention around your work. You need incentives. When you negotiated your original contract, you fought to retain some rights. If you kept your audiobook rights (and I hope you did), I suggest self-publishing that audiobook on a site like ACX (although keep your eyes on Apple, too—they may offer something better in the future). You immediately start getting royalties for every audiobook sold, giving you financial incentive to keep pushing your book in the media. In the end, this will also help your traditional publishers, since every interview you do will sell copies of the print version, too. Publicity is your responsibility. *Forget hiring a publicist. Forget the meager offerings of your publisher. At the end of the day, the success or failure of your book needs to rest on your efforts. There's no guarantee that you'll be a New York Times bestseller, but when you take responsibility for the publicity campaign, at least you have a chance to reach your audience. *Treat your publicity campaign like you're pitching a magazine story. Starting three or four months before publication, you need to start pitching every magazine, newspaper, website, and podcast you can find about your book. *Make a list of media contacts and keep track of who you've approached. *Get copies of your book into their hands early, and follow up until you get a yes or no. *Experiment. Be creative, and keep pushing your work until you get enough attention that people start talking about it organically. Again, I can't promise that you'll be successful, but when you take control of your own publicity campaign, then at least you know you're in good hands. Ultimately, you're the one who best understands why your book is important. It's up to you to tell the world. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gccEGac-dY