The magic of giving

One of the tenets of the philosophy my zero-aggression-principle, pacifist hero Ray Kaliber espoused in The Imaginary Revolution is “Give more than you receive.” This week I experienced an example of how that works in real life.

As I wrote the other day, my plans for my little superhero adventure stories got a boost with the arrival of my friend Wally Conger’s new project, Operation Hulk-SMASH. His ideas about smashing ahead through the temptation to procrastinate meshed with and affirmed the incentives I’ve been trying to install in my creative work habits.

I expressed my gratitude in the best way I knew, by giving him the credit he deserved and hopefully encouraging some of you to try his (ridiculously reasonably priced) product. I did this because I appreciated the kick in the psyche, no other reason.

Wally responded by giving me a remarkably generous boost in his own blog and email newsletter, and by scribing a glowing review of The Adventures of Myke Phoenix for Amazon. He gives the book five stars and even reminded me of something I may have forgotten to mention to you: These are fun stories with quite a healthy dose of humor. “I dare you to read any of the six stories in this collection without a big grin on your face," Wally says.

He gave more than he received. I daresay neither of us expected what we got in return for what we’d given.

And that’s the tricky part of giving more than you receive: You need to give out of an attitude of thankfulness, not because you want or expect to receive anything back. The recipient can sense any strings attached to a gift.

The late, great motivator Zig Ziglar famously said you can have everything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want. The key is really, sincerely wanting to help those other people without consciously thinking about your own needs and wants. That’s when the magic of giving happens.

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P.S. The Imaginary Revolution is written in the same universe as my first novella, The Imaginary Bomb, but is not exactly a sequel. I’m thinking of writing the same story as a true sequel, from the point of view of the I-Bomb characters. Do you think I’m nuts?

The needy of Door County thank you

United Way of Door County announced this week that the 2013 Annual Fundraising Campaign raised $466,943.50. That’s the most the campaign has ever raised.

My Door County Advocate column:

Kick the procrastination demon in the butt once and for all

When last we met, I mentioned that this is the year that my little superpowered friend Myke Phoenix will be making a monthly appearance to thrill and entertain you. I also mentioned that has been my goal for the past two Januarys (Januaries?), and the best I was able to produce was two stories in January and February 2013. Fun stories, but only two.

Why do I feel more confident the third time’s a charm? It’s over there in the right column, where it says “Myke Phoenix Adventures for Kindle.” You’ll find links to the four ebooks that are already available, along with a list of the next six in the series, with specific release dates the first Monday of each month.

Last year I based my goal-making on a concept summed up by Julia Cameron, who said, “Secrecy is the first law of magic.” I’ve found over the years that telling other people the story, before I’ve written it down, expends some of the creative energy that otherwise would be spent wordsmithing. I thought for once I would keep that energy packed inside until needed to unleash a story, then reveal my plan by unveiling a magical story every month until people began to understand, “Oh! This is a monthly series! How cool.”

The problem there? Well, March 2013 came and went without a new Myke Phoenix story, and then April, and May, etc., and no one noticed because no one knew the stories were supposed to be coming. This year (and from now on) I am setting a specific deadline for each story and sharing it with anyone who cares to know. It’s worked grand so far: Next month’s tale is drafted and going through final tweaks, the March and April adventures are plotted and being written, and I know generally where the stories go for the next six months after that. I’ll even let you know that I plan to compile these 12 stories into a print and ebook collection in plenty of time for Christmas 2014 gift-giving. There. Now the pressure’s on me to deliver, which is the same as last year, but now I’ve raised your expectations and I’m accountable to you, too.

As if to affirm that this is a better approach than conjuring magic in secrecy, my old friend Wally Conger has just released an amazingly insightful little package called Operation Hulk-SMASH. It’s a short and to-the-point primer subtitled “Harness Your Green Rage Monster To Build Rapid Business Success.” Wally doesn’t waste a word in encouraging his reader to stop diddling around with those dreams and just get started turning them into reality. I’m pleased to say that building accountability into the system is part of his formula – but I’ll let you find out for yourself. Click here to grab Operation Hulk-SMASH and start tapping its wisdom within moments.

Wally has a knack for getting straight to the point and driving it home. As I prepare to build the Myke Phoenix series, I’ve recently read a number of great books about branding, including Platform, No Brand is An Island, and Write. Publish. Repeat. All of them feature great suggestions that expand on concepts I’d already seen in Wally’s short and to-the-point primer called Breakneck Branding.

I heartily recommend Wally’s new effort for anyone who feels stuck in the water and wants to give their project a swift kick in the right direction. And know that as you keep up with Myke in coming months, the protector of Astor City owes a debt to Operation Hulk-SMASH for helping to keep its author motivated.

A vacation ends

Princess Dejah, age 5 months, learns the joy of vacationing.

And so attention begins to turn back to those tasks that I perform in exchange for enough income to feed the pets and keep us all under this roof. It has been a week of cooking meals and dog treats, cleaning and fussing about, reading and writing, reflecting and occasionally acting, planning and thinking about plans.

At this time last year I made goals to reduce/eliminate my personal debt, increase the quantity (and sales) of my books and stories, exercise more and lose some weight, read more, and produce more of my own food through gardening and the like.

As with all assessment of goals, I have had mixed success, and any lack of progress can be attributed to the fact that I did not exactly follow good advice about how to set goals.

Procrastination and a lack of persistence seem to be my biggest personal foes. For the second year in a row, I set a goal of producing a monthly, 10,000-word adventure about the superheroic Myke Phoenix. The goal was met not at all in 2012 but accomplished for the first two months of 2013. I have reset that goal for the third time, which means the true test of success may be when I release the third new story in March. Ultimately, of course, that 12th tale in December will be the moment of complete success on that front.

The week away from the quotidian did serve its purpose; the mind is cleared and more or less ready to return to the grind, and some good thoughts have been thought. Sometimes all of the order in my mind is undone before noon on the first day back on routine duty; let’s hope this time around I can fend off the disorder a while longer.

One of my foremost goals is not to neglect this little corner of my universe as much as I have been wont to. Here, I hope to wax on life in these interesting times, my various personal projects, and pop culture in general – the stuff I expose my fragile mind to for recreational purposes (TV, music, movies …) – and I do value your thoughts, too, so please let me know in the comments when I’ve piqued your interest, made you think, and/or bored you to tears.

For now I see I have a few emails to answer, some meetings to plan, and some issues to address as the day job resumes – once more unto the breach, dear friends – and so it goes.

Prologue to ‘Night of the Superstorm’

Night of the Superstorm is due for release Feb. 3, 2014, and it is on schedule, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. Here is how it all starts in this story I’m calling “Gilligan’s Island meets Key Largo.”

Read more.

Warning: The sky is falling!

The last few years have proved H.L. Mencken’s oft (but not oft enough) quoted statement that “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

I thought of that this week when I heard the news that Canada has announced the first avian flu death in North America – a traveler who recently returned from a trip to China.

Keep an eye out for suggestions by which government can lead us to be led to safely from this latest hobgoblin.

It truly is an endless series of hobgoblins, too. As if the bird flu wasn’t enough, there’s a deadly pig virus that has spread to 22 states.

You can almost follow the template in the average news story about these hobgoblins. First, we meet a victim of the hobgoblin as he or she struggles. Then, we are presented with numbers or evidence that the hobgoblin affects many people.

Next, a government official talks about what has been done to fight the hobgoblin and how much could be accomplished if only they had more money or if only the law were strengthened. The solution is almost always more taxpayer dollars or a tougher law, and less freedom or individual choice. The solution presented is very rarely fewer taxpayer dollars (so you can choose how your dollars are spent) or a relaxation of the law (so you can choose for yourself how – or whether – to address the matter).

The practical politicians like it when you’re scared – it gives them another chance to show how much you need them.

A better solution in almost every case: Refuse to be afraid. Free yourself.

W.B.'s Book Report: Platform – Get Noticed in a Noisy World

For anyone who wants to establish or improve an online platform, Michael Hyatt has written a detailed, nitty-gritty handbook. From the most very basic foundation – create a compelling product – to interacting with your tribe via Twitter and other social media, Hyatt gives enough detail to get the reader started while encouraging us to find our own voice. Platform is essential reading for 21st century entrepreneurs.

People who disagree with you are not evil

As a columnist who got his start writing about politics and still occasionally joins that conversation, I have not been looking forward to 2014. The reason, of course, is that it’s a partisan election year.

Between now and November, we will be subjected to election campaigns between Republicans and Democrats and all of the ugliness that has come to mean.

This is the subject of my column today in the Door County Advocate.

One last point: Part of the reason the constant bickering between partisans is annoying is that the two parties are not as divided as they believe they are. Both major parties believe in a large, intrusive federal government. Where they occasionally differ is in which parts of our lives to intrude upon.

I believe, perhaps naively, that people enter politics wishing to serve the electorate. But most folks would be able to handle their lives just fine without a gaggle of officious officials looking over their shoulders and regulating nearly their every action.

Released: Invasion of the Body Borrowers

No one really thinks of themselves as evil, not even beings from another planet who turn ordinary humans into zombies.

Read all about the new Myke Phoenix adventure here.

Or if you are already sold, simply click on the cover or here to buy the book for your Kindle for an incredibly reasonable $1.29.

5 things you may not know about Myke Phoenix

Invasion of the Body Borrowers, the seventh Myke Phoenix story to be published and the third in the new series of 12 stories that will be completed in 2014, should be “live” in the Amazon Kindle Store by this time Monday, Jan. 6. Here are five random tidbits about Myke’s creation that you may or may not have gathered.

Read more.