"He's one of those crazy liberal democrats that secretly is a closeted republican."
Denny Crane, Boston Legal
I laughed at first until the question echoed back...."is this me?"
27 November 2006
17 November 2006
Ex-Lax for Writers Block
I'm not writing much these days. Well, I'm blogging, but I really don't consider blogging as *writing*. It's more like a stream of consciousness thing where I can talk and express myself, chipping away at the boulder in front of me. There is this story that my mind to comfort me during this time...it goes something like this....A man was told by God to push on a rock, and as an obedient servant of his Lord he got up each morning and began to push on the boulder with no success in moving it. Undeterred he did this every day for years. Years turned into decades and finally after the man had filled out, his arms and back rippled with muscles and his legs we like unmovable tree-trunks. In frustration he knelt down and prayed "Why? Why have you asked me to do this impossible task. I can't move this rock." The Lord, answered his obedient servant in loving dulcet tones. "Dear child, I told you to push on the rock, not to move it. Look at yourself. You are strong and you are determined. Now you are ready for that which I have prepared for you to do."
Only I know that this writers block isn't a huge trial before me and I'm tired of blogging in hopes to chip away at the mass to either find a vein of weakness and destroy it or chip away at it to be able to pass it. However, my favorite chisel and hammer are gone - Money. I don't *need* money to write, in fact, that's one of the things that I truly love about it, I can write with out any electricity at all. But the ability to buy research materials, to go to restaurants that provide the food that I'm writing about or just to do something that broadens the senses and quickens the mind is what money provides at a time like this.
106 Days and counting.....I think this is the stress that the block is made of. I'm worried that the fiction isn't strong enough to be believable, that the spell I wove with the words isn't strong enough to bind the reader to the page. Which stress bleeds over to the present project...what if I'm not making a cohesive tapestry and it's just a farce that I'm acting out to my own humiliation. I'm going to try and lull myself into a safe state of denial and try to believe that it takes publishers 150 days to read a manuscript and then, after that day, I can start to worry. That puts my fretting off until December 21, 2006. I think, no matter what my finances are, I should have a celebration. That is if I haven't heard back yet.
12 November 2006
3 August 2006 & Counting......
Okay, I know it takes a long time for people to read a manuscript, and I know the longer it takes for the publishing house to review it the better it is for me....well as a writer any way. I'm frazzled....I anxiously peer over a half a block when I'm driving home hoping to not see a box on my door step, my heart races every time I see the Fed-Ex truck pull up in front of our town-house when no one is expecting anything only to have my heart sink to my colon when he is just checking his route in front of our house before he goes onto the true recipient of his delivery.
I'm not whining per se.... well, yes I am. But I've been very lucky in this process so far. The first time I sent out House of Dragons I got a six week turn around and a "Thanks but no thanks" standard letter. Well, not even a standard letter. It looked like it had been written by the high school age temp-receptionist with aspirations in engineering. But that's fine. I sent it to Desert Books thinking that out of loyalty I should sent it to the church's official book publisher before I started to farm it out to other people. So, I polished up my tarnished hopes and sent it out to Covenant. They just wanted three chapters and would call me if I tickled their fancy further. And, in this case I did. I got an e-mail request for the remainder of the manuscript. However, in about six weeks after that I got the three chapters I had originally sent them back. I think they might be a little too conservative for what I wrote. Or, they just don't have the bandwidth and or need for young adult fiction. It took a few weeks to pull my courage up to send it out again.
This time, you'd think I'd feel more hopeful. I mean, common, on my second try I got passed the first and second gates of readers. But I'm more stressed than ever. Maybe being unemployed has something to do with it, I dunno. All I know is I want to know NOW. Granted, it's only been slightly over three months since they had it. The note they sent me that said they would be reviewing it said manuscripts take considerably longer than their music and art submissions (which take up to 6 weeks), but this is twice that. Either it's going through the ranks, which is a good thing, or the initial reader is tripping over his lips as he reads.
I have been praying that they are going to take it, but if they don't, then I have another publisher all picked out to send it to. They have an established young adult line of books posted on their website, so I could only assume this is an area in which they want to expand. Unless their young adult fiction isn't as profitable as they would like it.
You know the joke/prayer "God grant me patience, RIGHT NOW!" and the axiom, I can wait for anything as long as it happens right now....that's what I feel like. My editor (God bless her!) assures me I have a marketable product. I just need to keep sending it out until someone accepts it. In the mean time I need to work on The Song of the Righteous (working title) is ready to go shortly so I can have two out there.... Hopefully increasing my odds.
11 November 2006
Be the change you want to see in the world...
I just finished my sisters penultimate paper for her MBA degree with UofP. It is based on Stephen R. Covey's Principle-Centered Leadership and I thought I'd share it with you. The notation of the book isn't in the ABA style they require and, as she put it, there are some run-on sentences, which isn't bad for a first draft for me. I just love the metaphor I used to weave the information through to create a complete vision. My final statement feels more like a personal mission statement after reading the book. A book which I highly recommend.
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Ask any person in your organization who they truly think the center of the universe is, and they will tell you they consider themselves to be its center. They’re right! To bring into harmony all these stellar bodies into harmony, one must look to the stars to gain guidance. Copernicus said in his book Derevolutionizeu Orbium Caolestium the following; "To ascribe movement to the earth must seem absurd to those who for centuries have consented that the earth is placed immovably as the central point of the universe. But I shrink not from any man’s criticism. By long and frequent observations and by following a set of fixed principles, I have discovered not only that the earth moves but also that the orders and magnitudes of all the stars an spheres, nay, the heavens themselves, are so bound together that nothing in any part thereof could be moved from it’s place without producing confusion in all the parts of the Universe as a whole." What Copernicus sought and achieved in science Steven R. Covey seeks to achieve in his highly effective Principle-Centered Leadership for managerial leadership. Through is "true north", "inside-out" approaches he is making the leap that the problem in the organization isn’t with ‘them’ but with ‘us’ and in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice we must discard the outdated and useless maps of the past, start at the top of the organization re-aligning values to basic and true principles starting from the inside of each individual in the management team and then working outward. Then, when the big bang of a paradigm shift happens all members of the organization will dance in harmony like the celestial bodies – even down to the Pluto’s of the group – and your organization will be ready, willing and able to chart new courses and follow new and exciting horizons into the future.
Covey has proposed that instead of having a value driven organization which can range from the basic "Carrot-and-Stick" approach of managing employees and customers to out and out intimidation tactics for production and control will work for a short period of time with, at times, devastation consequences on the organization, employees and customers. By shifting our organizational centers (see fig. 1) from flawed values such as profit, supplier, employee, owner, customer, program, policy, competition, image and technology, principles that develop security, guidance power and wisdom we un-moor the potential in ourselves as well as our group and organizations.
Figure 1. (pg. 24)
Covey is fond of his "Six Days of Creation" (pg. 79) concept where just as the world was created in six days, each day needing completion before the next could be started, so are we on an emotional maturation process. Just as you canÂ’t have oceans before you have land, you canÂ’t expect to achieve emotional maturity without going through each of these steps more completely explained in his renowned book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He makes five simple suggestions to put us squarely on the path for emotional maturity, propelling us from whatever "Day" weÂ’re at into the continuum of where we need to be to start garnering the traction needed to make the shift necessary for success. "If we will do the following five things, we will have the strength to be strong in hard moments, in testing time.
* Never make a promise we will not keep
* Make meaningful promises, resolution, and commitments to do better and to be better – and share these with a loved one.
* Use self-knowledge and be very selective about the promises we make
* Consider promises as a measure of our integrity and faith in ourselves
* Remember that our personal integrity or self-mastery is the basis for our success with others." (pg. 77)
It shouldnÂ’t be surprising then that the first section of the book is dedicated to the readers and how he can change his behaviors and re-aligning ourselves to the basic principles. His statement on these principles are; "Natural laws, principles, operate regardless. So get these principles at the center of your life, at the center of your relationships, at the center of your management contracts, at the center of your entire organization" (Pg. 17) Pay close attention to the order in which he lays these out for the reader 1) life 2) relationships 3) work 4) organization. You canÂ’t create a principle centered organization without becoming and staying a principle centered person and practice principle centric values in your life. His axiom on the cover of the book "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Other urban philosophers have expanded on this notion to, "Â…Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, unless he doesnÂ’t like sushi, then youÂ’ll have to teach him how to cook. (Auren Hoffman, Herald Philosopher). Even better is "Â…Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak." (Author unknown). But no matter how you bate the hook, you have to know how to catch fish on your own before you can hope to teach others. Some arenÂ’t going to like it and you will have to teach them how to cook it until itÂ’s palatable and some will run with the concepts and eat steak the rest of their lives, to extend the metaphor even further some will reject it all together because they are not ready for this next step in business or their lives and you will need to cut bait and run. This brings us to the first principle in CoveyÂ’s thesis. Through use of natural governing principles that we have all grown up with in life such as practice what you preach and donÂ’t preach as practice, do unto others as you would have them do unto you not do unto others before they do unto you as the hallmarks of most, if not all moderate Judeo/Christian, Islamic and Buddhist sects. Honesty, fairness, integrity and having an "abundance mentality" (pg. 40) but most importantly realizing these changes need to come from the "inside-out", are the guideposts that help us navigate the possibly lethal mistakes of the past.
With all things in life, one must start with the first things first. John Adams, our second president of the United States was fond of saying, "There are only two people of worth in the world. Those that have commitment and those that require the commitment of others." Dictionary.com defines commitment as: 1) the act of committing. 2) the state of being committed. 3) the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. 4) a pledge or promise obligation. 5) engagement; involvement. 6) perpetration or commission, as of a crime. 7) consignment, as to prison. 8) confinement to a mental institution or hospital. The first three definitions are commitments centered on correct principles and the last five could be the consequences of not being thusly committed. To gain a commitment from a loved one, friend, co-worker, peer or boss one must first prove themselves capable of making and keeping commitments. As you build your capacity for commitment your cache of trustworthiness will increase. Building and keeping trust among people is essential to healthy and lasting relationships in life and in business. Personal integrity is paramount to human development and positive growth. Rogue stars in history has shown us that people with great commitment centered on unnatural principles have done great things with devastating consequences. Hitler was able to unify a disjointed Germany only to have the repercussions rippled through history and the pain and agony he unleashed is still felt today. Kidder Peabody imploded after 100 years of business due to a paradigm built around employee bonuses and when a rogue broker took advantage of it through bond price manipulation. Correct principles are the endowments of empowerment, the fish, and once we have them we can teach other, if by example alone, how to launch themselves into a greater understanding and a greater fulfillment in their personal and business lives.
In our solar system all the planetary masses and their sub-masses revolve around the sun, so it is in an organization. The problem with introducing this new paradigm into the workforce and not have it treated like the other programs that have flown through the organization like bright and shiny comets. Your staff has worked hard in the past to learn the new-and-improved vocabulary, push the philosophies like intrusive salesmen, even in the extreme create a cult around nothing more then a quick-fix or band-aide for a chronically acute unnatural principles. In the end these comets leave no more effect on the gravitational entropy in the organization than a comet does. The twinkling dust in their wake settled into files and aphorisms that end up being bandied around in a cynical game of verbal hacky-sack by your ever diligent but uninspired employees. Changing an organization to principle centricity isnÂ’t a fly-by-night concept and usually requires an assiduous application of patience and understanding. However, once the management team has successfully changed their direction, the organizational entropy well stem and then stop. Start with the mission statement. Norman Vincent Peal wrote "Change your thoughts and you will change your world." Such with the mission statement, it is the agar in which the Oranizations culture is grown. Once the organization as a whole has an idea of the newly charted course, it is a well prepared field to institute the following guides to help with the cultivation of a principled centered organization. "Security" (pg. 57) for employees through a set of procedures and practices, is the foundation on which to start. Next is "guidance" (pg. 57) by both example and through a compass aligned to the "true north" (pg. 92) principles. All this taught through the auspice of an "abundance mentality" will endow each employee with confidence and empower them to act as an individuals and as an invaluable part of the team naturally quashing any rivalries that might have existed under the old paradigm. Then finally, when these principles are at the core of the driving fore will the true adventure of problem solving through the universe of commerce and the synergism of personal and professional fulfillment of everyone on board will be the fuel that moves the organization to seek out new life and new opportunities. To put it simply, a mission statement for change if you will, commit to be the change you want to see in the world.
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Ask any person in your organization who they truly think the center of the universe is, and they will tell you they consider themselves to be its center. They’re right! To bring into harmony all these stellar bodies into harmony, one must look to the stars to gain guidance. Copernicus said in his book Derevolutionizeu Orbium Caolestium the following; "To ascribe movement to the earth must seem absurd to those who for centuries have consented that the earth is placed immovably as the central point of the universe. But I shrink not from any man’s criticism. By long and frequent observations and by following a set of fixed principles, I have discovered not only that the earth moves but also that the orders and magnitudes of all the stars an spheres, nay, the heavens themselves, are so bound together that nothing in any part thereof could be moved from it’s place without producing confusion in all the parts of the Universe as a whole." What Copernicus sought and achieved in science Steven R. Covey seeks to achieve in his highly effective Principle-Centered Leadership for managerial leadership. Through is "true north", "inside-out" approaches he is making the leap that the problem in the organization isn’t with ‘them’ but with ‘us’ and in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice we must discard the outdated and useless maps of the past, start at the top of the organization re-aligning values to basic and true principles starting from the inside of each individual in the management team and then working outward. Then, when the big bang of a paradigm shift happens all members of the organization will dance in harmony like the celestial bodies – even down to the Pluto’s of the group – and your organization will be ready, willing and able to chart new courses and follow new and exciting horizons into the future.
Covey has proposed that instead of having a value driven organization which can range from the basic "Carrot-and-Stick" approach of managing employees and customers to out and out intimidation tactics for production and control will work for a short period of time with, at times, devastation consequences on the organization, employees and customers. By shifting our organizational centers (see fig. 1) from flawed values such as profit, supplier, employee, owner, customer, program, policy, competition, image and technology, principles that develop security, guidance power and wisdom we un-moor the potential in ourselves as well as our group and organizations.
Figure 1. (pg. 24)
Covey is fond of his "Six Days of Creation" (pg. 79) concept where just as the world was created in six days, each day needing completion before the next could be started, so are we on an emotional maturation process. Just as you canÂ’t have oceans before you have land, you canÂ’t expect to achieve emotional maturity without going through each of these steps more completely explained in his renowned book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He makes five simple suggestions to put us squarely on the path for emotional maturity, propelling us from whatever "Day" weÂ’re at into the continuum of where we need to be to start garnering the traction needed to make the shift necessary for success. "If we will do the following five things, we will have the strength to be strong in hard moments, in testing time.
* Never make a promise we will not keep
* Make meaningful promises, resolution, and commitments to do better and to be better – and share these with a loved one.
* Use self-knowledge and be very selective about the promises we make
* Consider promises as a measure of our integrity and faith in ourselves
* Remember that our personal integrity or self-mastery is the basis for our success with others." (pg. 77)
It shouldnÂ’t be surprising then that the first section of the book is dedicated to the readers and how he can change his behaviors and re-aligning ourselves to the basic principles. His statement on these principles are; "Natural laws, principles, operate regardless. So get these principles at the center of your life, at the center of your relationships, at the center of your management contracts, at the center of your entire organization" (Pg. 17) Pay close attention to the order in which he lays these out for the reader 1) life 2) relationships 3) work 4) organization. You canÂ’t create a principle centered organization without becoming and staying a principle centered person and practice principle centric values in your life. His axiom on the cover of the book "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Other urban philosophers have expanded on this notion to, "Â…Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, unless he doesnÂ’t like sushi, then youÂ’ll have to teach him how to cook. (Auren Hoffman, Herald Philosopher). Even better is "Â…Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak." (Author unknown). But no matter how you bate the hook, you have to know how to catch fish on your own before you can hope to teach others. Some arenÂ’t going to like it and you will have to teach them how to cook it until itÂ’s palatable and some will run with the concepts and eat steak the rest of their lives, to extend the metaphor even further some will reject it all together because they are not ready for this next step in business or their lives and you will need to cut bait and run. This brings us to the first principle in CoveyÂ’s thesis. Through use of natural governing principles that we have all grown up with in life such as practice what you preach and donÂ’t preach as practice, do unto others as you would have them do unto you not do unto others before they do unto you as the hallmarks of most, if not all moderate Judeo/Christian, Islamic and Buddhist sects. Honesty, fairness, integrity and having an "abundance mentality" (pg. 40) but most importantly realizing these changes need to come from the "inside-out", are the guideposts that help us navigate the possibly lethal mistakes of the past.
With all things in life, one must start with the first things first. John Adams, our second president of the United States was fond of saying, "There are only two people of worth in the world. Those that have commitment and those that require the commitment of others." Dictionary.com defines commitment as: 1) the act of committing. 2) the state of being committed. 3) the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. 4) a pledge or promise obligation. 5) engagement; involvement. 6) perpetration or commission, as of a crime. 7) consignment, as to prison. 8) confinement to a mental institution or hospital. The first three definitions are commitments centered on correct principles and the last five could be the consequences of not being thusly committed. To gain a commitment from a loved one, friend, co-worker, peer or boss one must first prove themselves capable of making and keeping commitments. As you build your capacity for commitment your cache of trustworthiness will increase. Building and keeping trust among people is essential to healthy and lasting relationships in life and in business. Personal integrity is paramount to human development and positive growth. Rogue stars in history has shown us that people with great commitment centered on unnatural principles have done great things with devastating consequences. Hitler was able to unify a disjointed Germany only to have the repercussions rippled through history and the pain and agony he unleashed is still felt today. Kidder Peabody imploded after 100 years of business due to a paradigm built around employee bonuses and when a rogue broker took advantage of it through bond price manipulation. Correct principles are the endowments of empowerment, the fish, and once we have them we can teach other, if by example alone, how to launch themselves into a greater understanding and a greater fulfillment in their personal and business lives.
In our solar system all the planetary masses and their sub-masses revolve around the sun, so it is in an organization. The problem with introducing this new paradigm into the workforce and not have it treated like the other programs that have flown through the organization like bright and shiny comets. Your staff has worked hard in the past to learn the new-and-improved vocabulary, push the philosophies like intrusive salesmen, even in the extreme create a cult around nothing more then a quick-fix or band-aide for a chronically acute unnatural principles. In the end these comets leave no more effect on the gravitational entropy in the organization than a comet does. The twinkling dust in their wake settled into files and aphorisms that end up being bandied around in a cynical game of verbal hacky-sack by your ever diligent but uninspired employees. Changing an organization to principle centricity isnÂ’t a fly-by-night concept and usually requires an assiduous application of patience and understanding. However, once the management team has successfully changed their direction, the organizational entropy well stem and then stop. Start with the mission statement. Norman Vincent Peal wrote "Change your thoughts and you will change your world." Such with the mission statement, it is the agar in which the Oranizations culture is grown. Once the organization as a whole has an idea of the newly charted course, it is a well prepared field to institute the following guides to help with the cultivation of a principled centered organization. "Security" (pg. 57) for employees through a set of procedures and practices, is the foundation on which to start. Next is "guidance" (pg. 57) by both example and through a compass aligned to the "true north" (pg. 92) principles. All this taught through the auspice of an "abundance mentality" will endow each employee with confidence and empower them to act as an individuals and as an invaluable part of the team naturally quashing any rivalries that might have existed under the old paradigm. Then finally, when these principles are at the core of the driving fore will the true adventure of problem solving through the universe of commerce and the synergism of personal and professional fulfillment of everyone on board will be the fuel that moves the organization to seek out new life and new opportunities. To put it simply, a mission statement for change if you will, commit to be the change you want to see in the world.
01 November 2006
Why does it always happen....
The democrats are finally starting to find themselves in a comfortable lead until one or more of them have to open their mouths in an attempt at humor or a statement of fact and throw everything that has been earned into the toilet and ALWAYS days before people go to the poles? Common, Sen. Kerry, did you have to share that joke on TV? I get the joke, I understand where you are going with the inference but you don't EVER pick on the military in a time of war.
If I might admonish the Democrats to remember one thing until the end of the mid-term elections is to shut up and take a page from the Republican playbook (or rather buzz word book) STAY THE COURSE.
If I might admonish the Democrats to remember one thing until the end of the mid-term elections is to shut up and take a page from the Republican playbook (or rather buzz word book) STAY THE COURSE.
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