Why I Get Scared

Agility is a popular word today. At a time in the world where no business or industry is exempt from disruption, it's more than just a trendy slogan. It's a necessary skill. 

It implies being responsive and being able to act in real time. But it is also about being open, trying new things and being willing to put oneself in a place where one might fail.  In other words to face what might scare you and do it anyway.

The path I chose when I left the structure of 9 to 5 corporate life has tested my agility. It's forced me to bend, regroup, sometimes backtrack and to get comfortable with the nausea that swells up in my throat when I decide to give something new a try.

To say I never get scared would be an outright lie. I get scared. A lot. Scared of failing. Sometimes that keeps me frozen in my tracks - especially right after something doesn't work. Other times I've dusted off my shoes and gotten back on my path without missing a beat. Or as Seth Godin said so brilliantly in his post last week - to remember to "dance with the fear." 

Today I'm scared. But I'm choosing to follow Seth's advice.

I'm launching a new product. It's birth is the result of requests I've been getting for a while to offer workshops that help to take the mystery out of all this digital "stuff" we are incorporating into our lives. I've been doing this in corporate settings. And of course, I've been teaching digital marketing at NYU for over a year. But this is the first time I am taking this to the streets - so to speak. 

The first topic Your Digital You - THE BLUEPRINT- a workshop designed to improve your digital profile fits what I consider a universal need. Universal in that no matter who you are or where you fit into the food chain, you should be putting attention on the digital version of you - the you that shows up when someone Google's your name. It doesn't matter if you want to be an influencer - want to grow your business - or are looking for your next job - people are searching for you online. The question is how much effort you are putting into what they will find.

That's what this first workshop is about. 

• Evaluating your current footprint.
• Getting clear on the story you want to tell about you.
• Creating a blueprint that optimizes your digital presence   based on your needs.

I've decided to keep this series of classes small - just 8 participants per workshop and to offer a choice of dates and times in May to fit your schedule. You can register here - use the discount code FOJT and get $25 off the workshop fee.

As I already admitted - I'm scared and yes a bit nauseous. But I'm also really excited to offer what I know will be a useful, informative, relevant and of course fun workshop! If this is for you register here. If it is for someone you know please share. Lastly, if you have questions, please use the comment section.

What Happens When I Forget Who I Am

I've been stuck. 

In a creative quagmire. 

I'd call it writer's block but if - as Mitch Joel reminded me in his blog this morning - you listen to Steve Pressfield or Seth Godin - no such thing exists. As much as I admire and respect all three, the fact remains that my ability to get words on paper has been obstructed, blocked, closed down - whatever you'd like to call it - since the New Year started. 

I feel like one of those automobiles in the now infamous traffic jam that was the brainchild of Chris Christie's staff last September. Sitting amidst this congestion of ideas and projects - all spinning in my head with nowhere to go and  no idea when the mess will let up and things start flowing again.

Frustrated.

Unsettled.

I've tried all my usual tricks including reading my own book and setting my egg timer. I sit and I don't let myself get up until it goes off. But I don't have much to prove for it. 

Mitch Joel asserts the Internet will break your creative block. On the one hand I agree with him because I do find reading what others write a source of inspiration. Case in point was reading his blog this morning. On the other hand it can be a huge time waster if one is not disciplined with it.

But I can't blame trolling Facebook on this stoppage. In fact, as much as I would like to affix responsibility to someone else I have really only myself to blame.

I have been writing. Just nothing I really like. Nothing I think is really good enough to be shared. Nothing that passes Upworthy's  quality test regarding content.

The one that really trips me up is "If 1 million people saw it, would the world be a better place?"   

I'd like to think so. Hope so. Believe so. But really? 

Those are the kind of suggestions that make me wonder if I will ever share one more word with anyone - ever! 

As I am writing this it's occurring to me that perhaps that might be one of the things that is contributing to the lack of creative output at the moment. I've been trying too hard. I've been waiting for perfection. I've been comparing myself to the infinite scroll of everything else that is out there and telling myself it's not as good.

I've forgotten who I am. 

A writer. 

Above all, I am a writer at my core. And a true writer writes so they can breathe. They write to function. They write to make sense of life. They write to remember who they are.

And if they wind up resonating with a million - or even one person - then that is a very good day. 


A special thanks to Mitch Joel - for the inspiration for this post!

The Books That Made A Difference - Day 18

In the last five years I've discovered a number of authors whose writing has influenced my thinking and my direction, who inspire me and make me think. This is a partial list, but a significant one - one that I'd like to share. 

Linchpin - When I was still in my corporate job, I didn't know who Seth Godin was. Which in retrospect does not surprise me. Seth is the kind of forward thinker who sparks controversy and discussion. Not generally encouraged in corporatedom.  A friend and former colleague thought I would like him and suggested I read his blog. He was right. I started reading and haven't stopped since. Linchpin was the first book of Seth's books I read. And it wasn't the last. 

The New Rules of Marketing and PR - The first time I heard of David Meerman Scott was at a talk he gave at, ironically, NYU when his book, World Wide Rave came out. I remember being so inspired by his story, his passion and his perspective. Little did I know at the time that a few years into the future I would be teaching at NYU and using The New Rules Of Marketing and PR as a textbook for my students.  The 4th Edition just came out. I highly recommend it for anyone in sales, marketing, public relations or in business for themselves that wants a comprehensive look at what's changed and what you need to do to keep up with the change. It's also an entertaining read. David does not believe in a lot of meaningless jargon or what he calls Gobbledygook and his writing lives up to that.

The War of Art - I found Steve Pressfield through Seth Godin. The title may lead you to believe it is just a book for artists who struggle with getting their art out, but it is applicable for anyone who wants to create something. If the title scares you away try Do The Work in which he addresses the entrepreneur and business person directly. Steve is pure inspiration - the kind of stuff you can read again and again and still say Aha!

Fascinate - Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.  I discovered Sally Hogshead through Nancy Moon of MoonPR who has a reputation for always steering me in the right direction. To say I was fascinated by Sally's take on what fascinates us in today's noisy 24/7 world is an understatement. I've taken her Fascination test (you can too by clicking this link) which offers great insight as to how we fascinate others. 

Unbinding The Heart - It feels like I've known Agapi Stassinopoulos forever, she has become that good a friend to me,  but in truth we met just two years ago prior to the release of her book. While it may not seem like a book with this title fits in with the rest of the list, it does. Corporate culture encourages us to close our heart, exactly the opposite of what is needed for healthy, sustainable businesses. I'm not the only one thinking along those lines. In addition to teaching transformational workshops, Agapi also lectures to forward thinking businesses on the topic. Plus she walks the walk. I like that.

No Excuses - 9 Power Tools for Women - Gloria Feldt is one of the first people I met as I began expanding my networks after the 'divorce.'  I was honored to get an advance copy of No Excuses in 2010. I'm even more honored that she's become a friend and supporter. Every woman should read her book and check out her new venture, Take The Lead Women, where she will be offering leadership training specifically for women.

Control, Alt, Delete - Reboot Your Business, Reboot Your Life.  I just recently discovered Mitch Joel. Once again, the connection was Seth Godin. All I can say is WOW! There are so many gems in this one that I might have more sections highlighted than not. Like this one -

"Ask yourself if you're telling a story worthy of being told or are you telling a story just to get something sold?"

Note there are no novels here, which I read alot of, or raunchy erotica which I've been known to imbibe in. But I do learn from those books as well - about human behavior, character and interactions. However, that is a list for another day.



note: This is Day #18 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.

Wasting Time - Day 10

I hate wasting time. The older I get the more I hate it. I’m far too aware that I just don’t have as much of it left as I used to. So to waste it - to not to make the most of each and every moment - to me that’s worse than wasting money on that very expensive hand painted tuxedo shirt I bought in Aspen one winter twenty odd years ago and wore only once. Money you can always figure out a way to make more of. But time. You can’t get that back.

As the author of a book on the subject, It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide To Creating The Time For Your Life, you might think I never commit this crime. But I do. And when I think over the past five years I admit readily that I have most definitely wasted a bunch of time.

Like when I was waiting for The Book Deal. The one every writer dreams of - or at least used to dream of - back when you didn’t have to commit some obscenely outrageous act or become a reality star, to be deemed worthy of a coveted deal from a Big Six - I mean Big 5 Publisher.

I waited and waited. I was that sure it would happen. I just didn’t know where or when.

But as we know, it didn’t happen. When I knew I couldn’t waste one more minute waiting to get picked, I picked myself and self-published, The Secrets They Kept.

I think sometimes of how much further along I would have been if I had made that decision earlier. If I hadn’t been wasting time waiting for outside validation that I was a good enough writer to be read. 

But of course that is the biggest waste of time of all! 

The truth is alot of really great things happened because of that waiting. 

I would never have started to blog and learn about things like Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn't have self-published which really forced me to take a very deep dive into all things digital. I wouldn't have taken all those courses and attended conferences and discovered people like Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott who reminded me how much I love marketing and left me qualified to teach a class in digital marketing at NYU. I wouldn't be consulting and demystifying digital for individuals and organizations.

So I suppose I was never really wasting time at all. I was just getting prepared for what was next. I just didn't yet know what that was going to look like.


note: This is Day #10 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.

Authenticity: Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing

I follow a lot of people on social media networks. I've learned from many of them. When presented the opportunity I'll try to hear them speak live.

Which poses problems. Sometimes when I see them living and breathing in front of me I fall more in love. Like way back when I first admitted to a big crush on Seth Godin. I still have not gotten over it.  Even when I don't agree with him, I hold his opinions in high regard. It's his authenticity that does it. It's the real thing.

But there have been others it would have been better to have never met. They know who they are. 

In person they disappointed. The projection of who they were that was so live and vibrant in the words they wrote on their blog or the posts on their Facebook page fell flat in person. The energy was just not there. Which made me question who they really were. 

I mean, you can pretend to be authentic in social media, but in person, there is no hiding the real truth. If you can't pull off with genuineness and ease on stage in front of real humans what you have been conveying through your tweets and blogs and Instagram pictures, then you are nothing more than a cardboard cutout of yourself. 

Last Tuesday I got to hear Chris Brogan speak at ImpactNEXT. I was not disappointed. In fact, it was pretty similar to how I felt when I first met Seth Godin. I liked him even more than I did before. His online persona was no different than his real one. Smart, real, charming and pretty funny. Authentic. The real thing.

Which all leads me to this. A vibrant and robust digital profile is essential today.  But when you create yours, make sure it's yours. Not some made up, inauthentic version of you. 

If you don't, eventually you'll get caught. You'll find yourself standing face to face in front of someone you intrigued enough to want to meet you. And then they'll wonder where you are. Because you just don't seem like the image of you that your social presence created.

That may be okay with you. But it doesn't work for most of us. It's not smart marketing. It does not build relationships. It breaks them down. 

Authenticity rules. The real kind. The kind you can't pretend to be. Even on April Fool's Day.  There ain't nothing like it.

A Lesson In Branding

I’m all for changing things up. Renovation. Reinvention. Redress. Redo. Rebrand. Whether it’s an individual or an organization it’s a good thing to do when things aren’t working or when things get stale.

But it can also be a dangerous path. Especially when things are working.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I heard that NY1 News, the 24/7 local newschannel dedicated to serving the five boroughs of New York City is purported to be changing its name after twenty years. I admit to having a soft spot for the channel. I admit to having worked as their Director of Sales for seven years. But I write this as a marketer who believes change is often necessary and can be a very good thing when done right.

According to varying reports the impending change was announced last Thursday as the result of a marketing study revealing that the average NY1 News viewer did not know that if they opted out of their subscription plan with Time Warner Cable they would no longer get to drink their coffee while Pat Kiernan reads In The Papers. The viewer is not aware this is a proprietary channel that can only be seen if you are a Time Warner Cable household. Because they are not making this connection, Time Warner Cable is losing subscribers to alternate cable providers.

So they are planning a rebranding, which will include all seventeen news channels across the country, to something approximating Time Warner Cable News. What exactly?  That's still unclear.

The plan, as reported, is to call it something warm and inviting like Time Warner Cable News.  Because after all, doesn’t everyone just love the cable company? Doesn’t everyone just dance with joy when that big ol’ bill arrives in the mailbox every month? That will stop the erosion of its subscriber base for sure.

Right. The parent company. The brand that does not have a loyal following. The ones that are not well liked. At all. The ones that people are constantly complaining about, be it price or service. That will fix it.

This is where it gets dangerous

Based on what I have read, the rebrand has nothing to do with a problem with the NY1 News brand or product, but rather with the Time Warner Cable brand and with customer retention. It has to do with alternate cable delivery methods and a digital landscape where a younger generation is not even sure they need a cable provider anymore. It has to do with price points. But NY1? Not much wrong with that brand. A little kitschy for sure. It’s part of the charm. But it works.

So what happens next?

The decision is announced and the uproar is loud. That’s what happens today. The rules of marketing have changed.  Do something they don’t like and people have easy access to platforms where they can be heard. They have the power to create PR nightmares.

Consider the #saveNY1 Twitter streams. The outpouring of articles. The angry viewers that Pat Kiernan is trying to calm down, assuring them the content will be the same. The fresh rage from the Time Warner Cable haters. There is even a Save NY1 petition that has surfaced.  Which may sound a little overdramatic. NY1 News is not going away. Really.  But the damage from a PR debacle in today's landscape takes on a life of its own.

Changing things up is always a good thing. But it has to be for the right reasons.

Seth Godin says we are living in a connection economy, “projects that create connections, and those that don’t.”

That means a lot of things. It means the old rules don’t work anymore. Your customer wants to be heard. They want a good product experience. They want to be engaged with, not talked at. They want you to pay attention to their needs. They want a relationship with you. They don’t want to feel used.

When it comes to NY1, they’re doing it all right.

Under the leadership of Steve Paulus (who it is reported to have fought the decision) it has grown to a station with a national reputation that spawned others like it in cities across the country, a dedicated newsroom, a loyal and engaged viewership, a history of breaking stories and a strong connection to the community that solidified in its superior coverage of 9/11.

You don’t fuss with a brand that is working. You hone it. You polish it. You make it shine brighter. You keep its recognizable name.

The brand you work on is the one that doesn’t glitter quite so brightly. You start by understanding the rules of marketing have changed. Today they are about engagement, user experience and customers feeling connected to the product. You start to work on improving that relationship. You don’t start by doing more damage to the shaky one you already have.

Six Things You Should Know About Blogging

The other day a friend who is relatively new to blogging asked me if my blog had helped me professionally.  I could tell by the look on her face that she still wasn't sold on the idea of blogging, nor were her posts flowing freely. I could also tell that she was wondering just exactly how a blog equated to paying the rent.

The thing is, there is no direct line to the cash. Which is the dirty truth that no one wants to speak about for most marketing.  But that doesn't make it any less important. In a digital age, a blog can serve as an interactive platform for who you are or who your business is. If you approach it right, a blog can lay the groundwork that will eventually translate into revenue for whatever products or services you offer. But if you think that every time you post an article, a new client will appear, think again.

I like to think of blogging as I do most social media. It's free marketing. I'll repeat that. FREE. And because I like to write. No, slash that,  LOVE to write, blogging for me is fun. Which is very important to mention if you are of the ilke that believe there is no reason to do anything if you are not making money. Fun is a reason to do a lot of things. Carol Burnett was recently interviewed on The View. She was asked if she had any idea in 1967, the first year it aired,  the impact The Carol Burnett Show would have on television. Her answer was no. All that had been agreed upon with the cast was that no matter what, they were going to have fun with each other. See what can happen when you're having fun!

If you are having fun, chances are the voice you are writing in will be much more authentic. Authenticity is how you build your following, your audience or in the words of Seth Godin, your tribe. And by authentic, I mean authentic. Not artificially authentic.

I started this blog almost four years ago. It hasn't made me rich. At least not yet. But it has worked for me. This is what I know that might help you.

1. It's a stake in the ground that says who or what you are. I launched this blog on November 18, 2008,  just three months into my non-corporate life. I was on unsteady feet, not sure exactly what my life moving forward was going to look like. Creating this blog was symbolic for me. It was a place for me to come to, every day, to evaluate, to think and to shout to the world that I was on a new adventure. No, I did not blog every day, but I did hang out here quite a bit when I was trying to figure out what to write.

2. A blog is a platform, a calling card, a giant billboard if you will, of who you are. Whether you are a CEO or an entrepreneur, a blog that you consistently contribute to is part of your digital platform. It is a chance for you to share expertise, ideas and information. Somedays, but never every day, it will include shameless self-promotion.  When I meet someone new,  I invite them to stop by.  It's a chance for them to get a better idea of who I am, how I think and what I have to offer that they might need.

3. Blog because you have something to say that you think is worth sharing. A lot of people  approach blogging as a chore. Something they should be doing instead of wanting to do.  Many start blogging with the intention of getting attention. Or new customers. Or people to sign up for their latest  class or buy their latest widget. Yes, I have that fantasy that the next blog I write might be the one that goes viral or soars my books to the #1 spot on the New York Times Best Seller List. But trust me, when I have tried to make that happen, it's a disaster.  What I have found works best is to blog when I have an idea that I think might be helpful and shareworthy. (and yes, I do try and have those ideas at least once a week!)

4. Write for you first. If you write to please others, that's exactly how you will come across.  Don't over think. As a writer, I consider my blog writing practice unleashed. I never think it my best writing, because I don't give it as much time as I would a full length article or book. But it is my writing. And I try to make it good writing. Plus it does give me the thrill of hitting that publish button as often as I like.

5. Blog because you can. Less than one hundred years ago women were not allowed to vote in this country. Today not only can I vote, but blogging has given me the freedom to voice whatever I am thinking without censure. I don't need a big corporation behind me to fund my writing (although I am always opening to funding ;))  My blog is my contribution to the greater good. Hopefully. A place where I can say what I want and trust that at least one other person, somewhere, benefits from that.

6. Sometimes my blog goes on vacation.  Like these last few weeks. It gets tired. It needs a break from all this on-line interaction. The writer in me gets involved in other writing projects, not to mention coaching.  Sometimes I can get so in the writing flow of that project, that I can't stop.  Even though I know consistency is important in the care and feeding of a blog, I take the gamble that I won't lose too many readers in its absence.

I hope I didn't lose too many while I was gone.

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No Where To Hide

I've been here before. At that point in a project where I want to run from it. Burn every last page I have written to assure that any trace it ever existed vanishes. Fire I find, is more satisfying that simply hitting the move to trash prompt. Fire does not allow me the leeway to reconsider and drag it back out of the trash and onto my desktop.

That is where I have been this week as I struggle for satisfaction with the last few pages of this part guide, part manifesto on how to create more time for your life. I've tried to trick myself by pretending that rather than a full length book, this is like writing a very long blog. My hope being that I would  see less pressure to getting it perfect. I found myself filled with all those demons that when I started this I had forgotten existed. Who am I to write about this subject? Why do I think anyone will care?

As I said, I've been here before so I know better than to listen to those little fiends. Instead I kept taking the steps to assure I keep moving forward. I spoke to my cover designer. I emailed my interior designer. I reached out to the copyeditors. I set deadlines for myself. And then when I knew I needed outside inspiration, I literally took a page from my own book and stopped. I set the timer for sixty minutes and opened my Kindle App. And I read.

The Universe apparently was winning the war with my demons because it led me to open Poke the Box, a manifesto by Seth Godin about starting.

You may wonder how a manifesto about starting could help someone who was trying to finish. You'll have to read it yourself to completely understand but I assure you it did.

Most of us think we have nothing of importance to say or that raising our hand and standing up for something, however big or small it is, will not make a difference. And therein lies the problems in our world.

Seth wrote, "We're trained to fit in, not to stand out, and the easiest way in the world to fit in is to never initiate."

That's when I got it. The demons that have been fighting for air time in my head are the ones who want me to fit in, to hide, and to accept the status quo. And the struggle for those last pages, which as it turns out are the first pages, have been the demons trying to get me to quiet my voice and keep me still.

Guess whose winning now?

Into The Zone

You've probably been wondering where I have been. My blog has been quiet in the last week or so. This goes against all the rules on the care and feeding of a blog. But sometimes there is no choice. Especially when you are a writer working on a project of more, than say the typical 300-750 words in a blog.

Bigger projects consume and require a writer to get into the zone. Which is where I have been. Working on a tiny book in which I will share the many tips and tricks I have for managing your time efficiently and with output. And if that sounds a bit too business like for you, don't think for a moment that I do not figure out ways to do that with pleasure. Or that this pamphlet size book will not be fun and entertaining. It will. But it will also be helpful. At least that is my intention.

So essentially where I have been is walking the walk of this new book and employing one of my time saving tricks to implement when working on the big stuff. The presentations, the proposals, the books. The trick is to shut everything else off and employ triage when necessary. Essentially  that meant I  put  the big project of this very small book ahead of all else and neglected some other stuff.

This blog being part of that "stuff". Yes, there was guilt. And fear I would lose my readers. That is what all of the "rules of blogging" posts out there will try and convince you. Consistency, consistency, consistency.  But rules as I like to believe, are made to be broken. Especially if they are taking you off task.  Not to mention that  Seth Godin confesses he has broken many supposed "rules" of blogging. And look where that has gotten him! More followers than most of us bloggers dare to  dream of having.

So I broke a rule, dove into something I am pretty passionate about and now I am back. The little book is not quite finished but the work to do on it now allows me space to write some other stuff too. For now.


PS. I'm also posting this on a Sunday. Depending on who you are talking to, not necessarily the best day to get readers to your site. Tuesday supposedly is the day of choice. Oh well! I never did like to follow the crowd.

Terrified

Today I am terrified. I'm not sure the reason. Maybe it was seeing The Help this weekend, a wonderful screen version of a terrific novel and feeling my story is so small in comparison.  Maybe it was reading The New York Times yesterday and being reminded of last week's roller coaster ride in the markets that the media seized upon. Seriously, these are crazy times, but doesn't soaking yourself in the news just magnify the reality exponentially?


I always think starting with the Style section will ease the blow. But there on the front page was that headline, Maybe It's Time for Plan C, an article in which the author takes great care to point out as much of the negative as possible when pursuing your passion. For a brief moment it caused me to second guess my choice to go for Plan B. Or maybe it was the other article, the one entitled In St. Louis, I'm a Failure that talked about Amazon's data that it makes available to its authors that allows you to track each and every book sale by geography. It occurred to me that in approximately a month's time, I would be able to track mine. I will know every copy of The Secrets They Kept  that is sold and not sold.


There comes that terror again, raging through my body. 
What if no one buys it?


Today I am terrified. I am really going to do this. I spent the weekend looking at concepts for my book cover. This afternoon I will discuss with my designer the direction I want to go. I have edits to make and hours to spend on Smashwords and talking to the folks at CreateSpace. I am terrified.


I am in too far to back out. I don't want to back out. I'm past that point. I'm in the stage where I just keep moving forward and try not to let the nausea seep up from my stomach to my throat. Seth Godin must be sensing it because his post today was about me. I've dug my hole.


That Times article talked about stress. But that is not what this feels like. I did not leave the corporate world thinking I would have no stress as an independent worker. In much the way you don't stop having disagreements with your boyfriend just because you like the new one more than the old one. It's just a different  argument, a different kind of stress. In each case you hope this time it is borne of love.


What I'm feeling today is not stress. This is terror. That realization that I am doing this.  I am no longer waiting. I am self-publishing my first novel. I might fall on my face and this be a disaster. I may get more bad reviews than good ones. But I am doing this. I will be seen. And I am terrified.

The Secret I've Been Keeping

I have a secret. Well, maybe the first part is not so secret. But I’ve had this desire to be a published novelist. I’ve written two novels that have been shopped up and down the streets of this city by my ever-faithful agent. Each of them has received their fair share of rejections.

I’ve learned this is not uncommon. John Grisham reportedly received 28 before A Time To Kill was published. Kathryn Stockett topped that with 60 before The Help was given a green light. So rejection by the big publishing houses does not necessarily mean what you got ain’t good. These days it has more to do with the business model, one that is based on what I like to call, the what is going to make the most money the quickest, let’s not worry about quality model.  It’s a corporate disease that is not limited to publishing. That is not to say quality is not being printed. In between the life story of Snookie from the Jersey Shore and Sarah Palin’s 432 pages on how being able to see Russia from her bathroom window qualifies her as an expert on foreign policy, there has been some good stuff given the seal of approval in the world of traditional publishing. It’s just harder to find.

But here’s the next part of this secret. As much as I openly abhor the inner workings of today’s corporate environment I confess I have coveted that acceptance into the club letter.  I admit all those editors, publishers and agents had me convinced that until I got my call from one of the Big Five saying I had an offer and an advance I was not print worthy.

Crazy, huh? But true.

Then back in January I splurged and signed myself up for a one-day seminar with Seth Godin on the future of the publishing industry. Seth, ever brilliant, made a point that I couldn’t shake. He drew the analogy that waiting for the book industry to deem me publishing worthy was like sitting on the bench waiting to get picked for the team in school. So I started to wonder, why was I waiting? This was me. The girl who refused to stand in line in her old clubbing days because she was not going to wait for someone else to get done having their good time so she could start having hers.

I remembered why I left the corporate environment. Their philosophies no longer matched up with mine.Yet I still wanted their approval rating. What was that about?  I live in a world where technology has gifted me the ability to do this myself. And I wasn’t taking advantage of it! I embraced on line banking quicker than this!

Then one morning while in the shower, where so many of my really good decisions are made, I decided I was going to self-publish my first novel.

There, I said it.

I admit it makes me a bit nauseous. But I have decided it is time to get up off the bench.

I haven’t been talking about it too much because I also decided I no longer liked the title I had.  So I spent a little more time wallowing in resistance to the do it yourself option and agonized over what the new title would be.  Now that I have it, I’ve given myself license to say it out loud. The Secrets They Kept. 

In between I hired a professional editor.  If I was going to do this it was not going to be with scotch tape and band-aids.  I’ve taken the results of her work to heed and have been implementing some changes. Today I hired a graphic designer to do the cover. Next is the uncharted territory of  e-book formatting, which quite frankly is more challenging and terrifying for me than writing the novel was.

So, my secret is out. I am about to join forces with all those other rebels who are changing the publishing industry.  You see I am one of those that believe people aren’t reading less. They are reading differently.  And I believe with the advent of e-readers they will be reading even more than before. Traditional publishing will not go away just as AM Radio didn’t disappear when Television entered the picture. But the game will be different. There will be more content, not less and the key will be to find the really good stuff among the mediocre.  I’m hoping my novel falls into the category of sought after quality.

This is not to say that should a nice advance from one of the old brick and mortars come my way I would not be open to considering it. But one thing is for sure. I am no longer waiting to be picked.

The Secrets They Kept will be available for sale on Amazon.com and other on-line book retailers in both e-book and print in September. Stay tuned for more details, and please, feel free to help spread the word!

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What's Your Manifesto?

When I have thought about manifestos in the past my mind goes right to politics. Think high school world history class and Communist Manifesto.  But it seems rather trendy at the moment to have a manifesto whether it is for your business, a new idea you want to spread or your own personal journey.

In Tribes, Seth Godin considers publishing a manifesto as a key element if you have an idea to spread and want to create a micromovement. The point is to get clear on what your idea is and the direction you want to go. Maybe start with following Dan Pink's suggestion for changing your life in 2010 and asking yourself what is your sentence?

A little research and I found manifestos as varied as being arranged in a list or  more creative and graphic along the lines of a vision board. But what they all shared was a sense of clarity and direction.

I've started one to help me get clear on this non fiction book proposal I am writing. And its' working.

In my research I  came across this really cool manifesto on The Gypsy Girls Guide that I had to share with you.  While I do have a passion for travel, I am too much of a homebody to lead a bohemian life style, so I'm not planning on joining their tribe.  But I do love their manifesto!

Do you have a manifesto for your business? your life?

If you do what is it?

If you don't what would be the first item you would create for it?

A Life Of It's Own

I followed the suggestion of Laura Day this morning to write a reality tale of how what I want came into being.  I wrote a story about how my desire to be a published novelist manifested. It was a good exercise that I recommend to anyone who is creating something new in their life. It put me in that place of having it already.

But it also got me to thinking how we sometimes write these stories in our head of how things are supposed to unravel and hold too tightly to what we think it should look like.

I have dreamed of one day writing full time for most of my life. My fear of not being good enough or not having anything interesting enough to say was pretty much what stopped me from  devoting  time to the practice.

I did not get serious about my writing until eight years ago. And even then it was still more a dream as in pipe dream than a dream as in I want to make this happen.

But now I had this character I created and this story that had become a novel. I knew it was good. I started to get serious. I got an agent. I had a plan. When the book was sold I would leave that day job. OK, so it was more than leaving a day job. It would be leaving a twenty five year career. In any event the story I was writing of how this would transpire did not include being asked to leave that job before the book was sold. But that is the way things unraveled.

So I had part of my dream fulfilled. I was writing full time. And I had a severance package, so I rewrote that to look like my first book advance.

Then the economy tanked. I hadn't written that into the story of my publication either. The market for new fiction writers was challenging to say the least. So while my agent navigated those waters I wrote a second novel. I liked this even better than my first one.

I didn't plan that two plus years after leaving my corporate job I would still be in search of a book contract.
I didn't plan I would be putting aside the first novel and pushing the second.
I didn't plan that I would seriously begin to consider the idea of self publishing. Thank you Seth Godin.

If I was still holding on to how I thought things should occur, I would probably be seeking psychiatric care. That or giving up.

But giving up is not an option. The publication will occur. However the road I am traveling to get there  is just like any story I write. I think it is going to look one way and once my fingers hit the keys it takes on a life of its own. If I don't let my fingers fly, if I try to censor myself or force things in one direction, I have an unreadable story. So I let go of what I think the sequence of events will be, I stay open to what shows up and I trust in a good story.

Hanging Out At The Genius Bar

When I think of genius the first thing that comes to mind is the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. That delightful marketing tool where one of those Apple geniuses will tell you what is wrong with your Iphone.

I think Genius and I think of people like DaVinci, Einstein and Mozart. I think of exceptionally high IQs and strokes of brilliance that change the face of the earth.

I don't think of it as an aspect of a person's character and I certainly don't think of me.

According to Merriam Webster there are five different definitions for genius. Number 5 is the only one I have paid attention to. That genius is someone of extraordinary intellect and mental superiority with a very high IQ.

Now I have a decent IQ, howevered I have pretty much ignored the other four definitions.

Especially the one that refers to a marked capacity or aptitude for something. A distinctive identifying spirit. A personal genius. The genius within. My genius.

I've been engaged in reading and discussing this word alot lately. Steve Pressfield in The War of Art writes that genius is our unique gift that we were born to be. Whether it is art or writing or designing the next great computer software program. Seth Godin in Linchpin writes of the lizard, aka our personal resistance and how it hates our genius, trying to quiet it at any cost.

Both suggest we all have a genius. The thing is to first find what it is and then decide what to do about it.

In The Big Leap Gay Hendricks talks about living in our Zone of Genius, how few of us identify what that is and settle instead for our Zone of Excellence. I've lived in my Zone of Excellence for a long time. I've had two successful careers. But neither played fully to my genius.

This time I'm turning up the volume on my genius. Care to join me at the Genius Bar?

The Resistance Lives

The word keeps popping up everywhere I go. Resistance. So it shouldn't really surprise me that when I heard my crush, Seth Godin was going to be at Borders at Columbus Circle with some other writer, that person turned out to be Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art.

The Universe is like that. When it wants to make its point, it keeps hitting you over the head.

The concept of The Resistance is what The War of Art is all about. I admit, I would never have picked up a book with War in the title. I'm just not drawn to those stories. But after listening to Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield engage in a lively, poignant and for me timely discussion about The Resistance I took a copy of this slim book home with me. And yes, I read it in its entirety.

When Seth refers to Art in Linchpin, he stretches the word beyond the traditional definition. Steven Pressfield speaks to Art in reference to his own writing. The common thread is that no matter how you define Art, Resistance to it will be there. Every day. Resistance to doing the Work. And without the Work there is no Art.

I have been resisting my Work. As I am getting all the details together for my coaching practice, my fiction has taken a back seat. The conversation in my head has been going something like this. Is the coaching taking away from writing ? And if it is, am I using it as a form of resistance? Should I not coach? But I want to coach. I like helping people. I feel that pull in the same way I feel pulled to write. I'll write later, after I get this page finished. But not a page is finished yet. Not the coaching page for my site or a page of fiction. No Art. Of any kind.

It's been a heated discussion. The Resistance morphed itself in the form of the debate and endless chatter in my mind. The Resistance has been winning, coming up with all sorts of reasons not to sit down and do The Work.

I never expected all this Resistance. I imagined when I was still handcuffed to the chair of my Corporate office that when I was on my own there would be no Resistance. But that was because I saw the Resistance as someone or something other than me. When the truth is The Resistance is my own terrorist plot, one that lives inside trying to stop me from doing my Work. Somedays the security level is on high. Somedays less. But there is never a day, where it's threat does not exist. It's just up to me to be on alert.

Woody Allen said "Eighty percent of success is showing up" He left out the part that once you show up, you have to sit down and do the Work. That is if you want to create Art.

On Lizard Brains And Shipping

"Real artists ship." That is a quote from Seth Godin in his latest book Linchpin. I talked about my crush on Seth a few weeks ago. But can you blame me? This guy always gets me thinking.

Depending on your art, shipping can mean a lot of things. As a blogger, it means hitting the publish button. My last blog was January 28. I haven't been shipping. Mostly because the lizard brain has crept into my psyche and has been refusing to keep his voice quiet. You might think that voice would get me writing and shipping, but it hasn't. The lizard brain is the fearful part of me. The one who worries about money and success and things like that. You would think that would get me moving. But it has done just the opposite. When the lizard brain gets noisy it evokes in me a semi state of inertia. I am not completely frozen. I am wandering, from project to project, completing nothing.

Everything I want to do is swirling around in my head, manifesting the last few days in opened and minimized documents on my computer screen and piling up around my feet in the form of notebooks, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, half read books and health insurance plans. No shipping. Which as a writer makes me question whether I am truly an artist. For if real artists ship, what have I been doing the last few days. Pretending to be an artist? This is my lizard brain in action. Questioning everything and getting no movement.


OK, so if you have not read Linchpin, and again I highly recommend you do, you are wondering what exactly a lizard brain is. The lizard brain is also known as The Resistance. For me it's been manifesting in writer's block.

I decided to stop this morning and read that chapter on The Resistance in Seth's book. I struggled with my decision, because reading instead of shipping didn't make logical sense. I didn't know at the time that I was actually taking control of my lizard. You see according to Seth, the lizard brain will tell you not to do that. Read. The lizard brain thinks reading books that might make a difference is a waste of time.

The lizard brain is wrong. Taking a moment to do something useful , like reading Linchpin, can have profound effects. It got me to ship something today.

My Crush

I have a crush on Seth Godin. It's been going on for a while. Since before I launched One Woman's Eye. A friend suggested I start following him. I was still new to the blogosphere. I'm not even sure I fully understood what a blog was. But I listened and Seth's blog became the first I ever followed.

He is not my usual type. A slight man with a bald head who will tell you he rarely watches TV. But that's the thing about a crush. You surprise yourself with who you are drawn to.

I signed up to have his blog delivered via email. I had not yet discovered the wonder of an RSS feed. Each morning I read his words faithfully. I liked what he had to say. He made me think. He inspired me to blog. He seemed to really get the changing business climate. The more I read the more I knew why I had not found him sooner. I was too mired in that changing climate, surrounded by those who did not want to see the truth of what was happening. Seth's ideas were too radical for them to even think about implementing.

So you can imagine my delight when 15 months into my crush, I got to hear Seth live at the Haft Auditorium for the launch of his new book, Linchpin. It didn't surprise me much to find Seth waiting as the doors opened to greet his five hundred guests. That's how Seth is. He makes himself accessible to his Tribe.

I've had a lot of crushes. I admit that sometimes when I have admired from afar, I have been very disappointed when met face to face. Not in the case of Seth Godin. In fact I think I like him more now. Not only is Seth a brilliant writer with an important message to say, he is a dynamic and entertaining speaker.

I didn't know what a linchpin was. Turns out it is a small gadget with an important job, to keep the wheels of the car from falling off. His book is about individuals striving to become linchpins in every aspect of their life. It is about the changing work environment, how to thrive in it, and the importance of Art in the process. Yes, Art. You know that word that corporations dismiss. The one that denotes there might be pleasure in the process and pleasure might take away from productivity. Seth suggests it just might add to it.

I am only a few chapters and a two hour talk into the philosophy of Linchpin. So there might be another blog on this topic soon. In case you were wondering, my crush on Seth continues.