For a limited time, read Donan Berg's short story entitled Amanda as a free download.
To do so, go to www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/405595 and at checkout
enter the code RV42U. Your price then will be $0.00.
Notice, this code RV42U has expired. Thank you to all who downloaded.
The free download option with a new code may return.
If you go to the above website link, a free download sample is still available.
This site is the only one offering the free download. And again, it's for a limited
time.
Showing posts with label Value. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Value. Show all posts
Friday, October 10, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Seven Triggers to Writing Success
All writers desire success. I wouldn't say all unless I included myself. The difficulty is a challenge, but also an opportunity to understand and put into practice seven mental abilities that will get you there.
Why is this important to your next great novel?
While it might not be the end all to the fictional story, it should be to your entire personal life of which writing is such a fundamental part. Let's trigger your success. Here are seven.
1. Passion. All truly successful people have a driving force within them that sets them apart from others. It may not be going an extra mile in reality, but the metaphor sets forth the principle. It is that extra energy that gives you the fuel to reach your true potential. It'll be with you 24/7. It will never subside. Oh, it may seem to ebb like the tide, nevertheless, like the tide you come back as strong as ever. Your only goal is to achieve and this goal never leaves you.
2. Belief. Virgil is quoted to have said: "They can because they think they can." You can only do that which you believe you can do. If its a particular annual income goal or number of books sold, the belief in that goal must exist or you will never accomplish it. Your limits are self-imposed. Have a belief in what you can achieve or you will never climb the mountain and reach the summit. "Man is what he believes." -Anton Chekhov.
3. Strategy. A strategy is your game plan of life. In a novel you might label it a plot. The strategy is the road map you use to accomplish your goals, ambitions, and desires. While you must believe, there is a need to incorporate a navigation that leads you to success. Sure, there might be detours, but you'll never let a setback take away your passion and belief. You will find the shortest distance between where you are now and your ultimate goal.
4. Clarity of Values. You must determine what is of most value to you. For some its patriotism, love of family, excellence in what you do, ownership of your life, and tolerance to your fellow man. This list is not exhaustive. You must select the moral, ethical, and fundamental core values that will guide your life. How does it fit in with the above? Without a clear system of values, you will most likely find it difficult to believe in something exhibiting a true passion. Humans typically don't believe in things they don't value. If there is no consistency in belief and value, passion will come across as a veneer not to be given credence.
5. Energy. Without physical vitality to take action, lack of success is the predicted outcome. This doesn't necessarily mean a sculptured body built by a gym. It means a physical, spiritual, and mental energy that allows, actually compels, you to take the first step and accomplish the most with what we have to work with. At the least it means eating nutritious food to build body strength, obtaining enough sleep to replenish our bodily systems, and not stressing over every little incident in your life. Remember, you're exercising a passion, not living a detour.
6. Bonding Power. You will bill rapport with other people. You will use the understanding that different people see the world differently and not demean or degrade others. You will use this ability to communicate with others while not sacrificing or being deceitful about your life's values.
7. Communication. You will take charge of your own mind. "There is only one Success - to be able to spend your life in your own way." -Christopher Morley. You will not shy from your passion, belief, or values. You will believe that any sale of your writing should leave the purchaser with the willingness to purchase your next work. That means you'll not mislead in your one effort. You will be honest and clear in what you communicate and delve to understand, or ask questions if you're not sure, what the other person is saying.
Remember, as one wise sage once said, success if what you make it. It's out there, embrace it.
Why is this important to your next great novel?
While it might not be the end all to the fictional story, it should be to your entire personal life of which writing is such a fundamental part. Let's trigger your success. Here are seven.
1. Passion. All truly successful people have a driving force within them that sets them apart from others. It may not be going an extra mile in reality, but the metaphor sets forth the principle. It is that extra energy that gives you the fuel to reach your true potential. It'll be with you 24/7. It will never subside. Oh, it may seem to ebb like the tide, nevertheless, like the tide you come back as strong as ever. Your only goal is to achieve and this goal never leaves you.
2. Belief. Virgil is quoted to have said: "They can because they think they can." You can only do that which you believe you can do. If its a particular annual income goal or number of books sold, the belief in that goal must exist or you will never accomplish it. Your limits are self-imposed. Have a belief in what you can achieve or you will never climb the mountain and reach the summit. "Man is what he believes." -Anton Chekhov.
3. Strategy. A strategy is your game plan of life. In a novel you might label it a plot. The strategy is the road map you use to accomplish your goals, ambitions, and desires. While you must believe, there is a need to incorporate a navigation that leads you to success. Sure, there might be detours, but you'll never let a setback take away your passion and belief. You will find the shortest distance between where you are now and your ultimate goal.
4. Clarity of Values. You must determine what is of most value to you. For some its patriotism, love of family, excellence in what you do, ownership of your life, and tolerance to your fellow man. This list is not exhaustive. You must select the moral, ethical, and fundamental core values that will guide your life. How does it fit in with the above? Without a clear system of values, you will most likely find it difficult to believe in something exhibiting a true passion. Humans typically don't believe in things they don't value. If there is no consistency in belief and value, passion will come across as a veneer not to be given credence.
5. Energy. Without physical vitality to take action, lack of success is the predicted outcome. This doesn't necessarily mean a sculptured body built by a gym. It means a physical, spiritual, and mental energy that allows, actually compels, you to take the first step and accomplish the most with what we have to work with. At the least it means eating nutritious food to build body strength, obtaining enough sleep to replenish our bodily systems, and not stressing over every little incident in your life. Remember, you're exercising a passion, not living a detour.
6. Bonding Power. You will bill rapport with other people. You will use the understanding that different people see the world differently and not demean or degrade others. You will use this ability to communicate with others while not sacrificing or being deceitful about your life's values.
7. Communication. You will take charge of your own mind. "There is only one Success - to be able to spend your life in your own way." -Christopher Morley. You will not shy from your passion, belief, or values. You will believe that any sale of your writing should leave the purchaser with the willingness to purchase your next work. That means you'll not mislead in your one effort. You will be honest and clear in what you communicate and delve to understand, or ask questions if you're not sure, what the other person is saying.
Remember, as one wise sage once said, success if what you make it. It's out there, embrace it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Life's Hidden Secret
Each day made Samuel crazy. His constricted way of life. He wanted to be wasteful: eat half a sandwich and throw the rest away, rip to shreds T-shirts when one hole appeared or trash paper clips still capable of holding multiple paper sheets together without leaving rust marks. Those were simple thoughts to distract from what really bothered him: meal leftovers. Tallied bread crusts saved to fill a measuring cup for pudding, hamburger crumbs glued together with ketchup three days after grilling, and limp celery stalks, oh, how he hated celery.
Samuel's best friend Ernie commented one day while both jammed sandwiches into mouths like squirrels reacting to the first blast of cold winter air that life had been good to them since automobiles still broke down even in an economy hurting from recession and they were there to fix them. Samuel had to agree, but he recognized Ernie only perceived the upside of a seesaw destined to bump the ground again.
Samuel recalled a decade prior when he'd been eighteen and Dad would be in blue jeans, green flannel shirt and baseball cap bending next to a hot sputtering hard-starting lawn mower. Mom would be in a house dress, mixer blades whirling and a raggedy, threadbare dish towel posed at the ready. With the immediate chores accomplished, both would turn to fixing things. Mom held nails while Dad pounded, a repaired curtain rod securely attached. Next came the screen door, the radio batteries, the hem on a dress shortened to be stylish in length even if the material faded and old-fashioned. Nothing discarded We were keepers, Dad said. Waste not, want not, chipped in Mom.
Samuel gulped the last dry bread crust and bore his eyes into Ernie's gaze. "I want to be wasteful," Samuel said. Forget saving. The envisioned trumpet announcing affluence meant Samuel could be wasteful. Things could be thrown away for a hefty bank balance meant more could be obtained when needed. He dreamed of life with buldging pockets straining to retain wads of folded C-notes. An unending line of credit always paid off without interest. Neighbors envious of a new car each fall.
Reality intruded upon Samuel the day an ambulance whisked his Mom to the hospital. The doctor's notification finally received that he could visit her room; Dad, teary-eyed, disheveled next to the bed. When Dad moved to allow Samuel to squeeze next to Mom's bedrail, the room's window allowed the heavenly sun to explode its warmth upon Samuel. Mom's lips formed words of love before her chest became still. A green line ran across the bedside monitor screen. Dad pulled the monitor's plug from the wall socket.
The pain of learning that life is not infinite, but finite, overwhelmed Samuel. While he may have known of the inevitability of human fraility in the deep recesses of his mind, it never choked him as hard as it did in Mom's hospital room. Mom would never again be a help to her family, or him especially. The extended usefulness of material things would slowly ebb away with Mom not there to add sustaining life.
Dad said one thing to Samuel that reverberated like a Christmas bell. Mom was happy, he said, because the family provided meaning and emotional nourishment.
Samuel knew that wasn't Mom talking about the wash machine she complained of frequently, nor the socks that needed constant darning, nor the stretching of meals with pasta the last week of each month. Those were not heading her list of importance. The smile across Mom's face the brightest when she reminisced about reading Samuel a story when an infant, the hugs from Dad each time he left for work or family holiday celebrations and the handmade ornaments.
The love expressed through human acts that didn't require expensive payment were the currency that required keeping. Samuel made a mental list of family and friends to be thankful for. He'd keep them front and center in his life. The material things no longer cluttered his dreams or longings.
Samuel's best friend Ernie commented one day while both jammed sandwiches into mouths like squirrels reacting to the first blast of cold winter air that life had been good to them since automobiles still broke down even in an economy hurting from recession and they were there to fix them. Samuel had to agree, but he recognized Ernie only perceived the upside of a seesaw destined to bump the ground again.
Samuel recalled a decade prior when he'd been eighteen and Dad would be in blue jeans, green flannel shirt and baseball cap bending next to a hot sputtering hard-starting lawn mower. Mom would be in a house dress, mixer blades whirling and a raggedy, threadbare dish towel posed at the ready. With the immediate chores accomplished, both would turn to fixing things. Mom held nails while Dad pounded, a repaired curtain rod securely attached. Next came the screen door, the radio batteries, the hem on a dress shortened to be stylish in length even if the material faded and old-fashioned. Nothing discarded We were keepers, Dad said. Waste not, want not, chipped in Mom.
Samuel gulped the last dry bread crust and bore his eyes into Ernie's gaze. "I want to be wasteful," Samuel said. Forget saving. The envisioned trumpet announcing affluence meant Samuel could be wasteful. Things could be thrown away for a hefty bank balance meant more could be obtained when needed. He dreamed of life with buldging pockets straining to retain wads of folded C-notes. An unending line of credit always paid off without interest. Neighbors envious of a new car each fall.
Reality intruded upon Samuel the day an ambulance whisked his Mom to the hospital. The doctor's notification finally received that he could visit her room; Dad, teary-eyed, disheveled next to the bed. When Dad moved to allow Samuel to squeeze next to Mom's bedrail, the room's window allowed the heavenly sun to explode its warmth upon Samuel. Mom's lips formed words of love before her chest became still. A green line ran across the bedside monitor screen. Dad pulled the monitor's plug from the wall socket.
The pain of learning that life is not infinite, but finite, overwhelmed Samuel. While he may have known of the inevitability of human fraility in the deep recesses of his mind, it never choked him as hard as it did in Mom's hospital room. Mom would never again be a help to her family, or him especially. The extended usefulness of material things would slowly ebb away with Mom not there to add sustaining life.
Dad said one thing to Samuel that reverberated like a Christmas bell. Mom was happy, he said, because the family provided meaning and emotional nourishment.
Samuel knew that wasn't Mom talking about the wash machine she complained of frequently, nor the socks that needed constant darning, nor the stretching of meals with pasta the last week of each month. Those were not heading her list of importance. The smile across Mom's face the brightest when she reminisced about reading Samuel a story when an infant, the hugs from Dad each time he left for work or family holiday celebrations and the handmade ornaments.
The love expressed through human acts that didn't require expensive payment were the currency that required keeping. Samuel made a mental list of family and friends to be thankful for. He'd keep them front and center in his life. The material things no longer cluttered his dreams or longings.
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