Happy New Year

With all the things that are going on in my life today, it is difficult to decide what to include in my blog. Right now this is a struggle. In time I hope to improve.

Nicole and I have identified specific things that we want to do this year in marketing our book. This work will take time, but we'll get it done. We also find ourselves sufficiently occupied living our lives in many other rewarding and challenging ways not directly related to the book. Today I do not see other work or activities as a distraction to my work on the book as perhaps I would have in the past. Today I have faith that everything I'm doing is working together to make my life complete.

I hope all is well with you and and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Happy Anniversary to Sharon and Me

Today my wife Sharon and I are celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary. I reflect on what a blessing it is to have Sharon in my life. I reflect on all of the blessings in my life and appreciate how fortunate I am.

In our book marketing strategy, Nicole and I are concentrating now on getting speaking engagements with various groups and organizations. We believe speaking engagements will serve us well in getting our message out to people. Success in this endeavor will take time. My feeling right now is that speaking engagements should be our primary focus throughout the year 2009.

What's Going On

The church where Nicole, my wife Sharon, and I worship and in which we participate as active members chose our book Withstanding the Lie for its September 30, 2008 book club discussion. Sharon and I attended and participated in the discussion. We were among friends and fellow-parishioners who know us personally and care about us. They had insightful, supportive and heartfelt comments to offer.

On October 6, 2008, The Middletown Press, our local newspaper, published a front-page cover article on Nicole and me and our book Withstanding the Lie. This article has been beneficial in helping us establish recognition and credibility.

On October 7, 2008, we held our first book signing at the Levi Coe Library, the local library in our town. The library director and the entire library staff were excellent in sponsoring this event. Attendance was greater than what I had expected. Nicole and I signed books for friends, neighbors, and others, including a friend I had not seen for ten years or more. After signing books, Nicole and I made a brief presentation on the subject matter of our book and what we are currently doing to promote our messages. We then invited the audience to ask questions. We had a lively question and answer session that was especilally helpful to Nicole and me in our preparation for speaking engagements in the future.

Our strategy for the immediate future is to try to get speaking engagements at high schools and colleges, and at events or activities sponsored by groups or organizations that have an interest in what we have to offer.

We continue with the hope that we might be able to reach people in great numbers in the future with the messages in which we so strongly believe.

Decisions

In promoting our book Withstanding the Lie, Nicole and I find ourselves making decisions on how and where to commit our time and resources. For example, right now we are in the process of deciding whether to commit to a national publicity campaign for the next six to eight months or work instead (beginning locally) to establish ourselves as public speakers on the subject of withstanding the lie. Of course, we can do both if we choose to do so. But should we commit ourselves more fully to one strategy over the other?

Sometimes I struggle in making decisions about promoting our book because I know how important it is to get things right. If we make a wrong turn in our journey, it could take us considerable time and effort to recover, if at all.

My wife Sharon reminds me that the anxiety I'm feeling about promoting the book is unncessary. And I know she's right. She challenges me by asking me what is our ultimate objective. I answer out loud that our ultimate objective is not to promote the book, but to get the word out about withstanding the lie.

The truth of the matter is that the work that Nicole and I are doing will not necessarily result in a successful book publication, even if we make the best decision in each and every opportunity presented to us. Furthermore, apart from the book, there is no guarantee that people will be receptive to our message, despite whatever we might do to convince them that the principles and practices of withstanding the lie are in their best interest. These are the realitities with which I must not only find peace, but also embrace.

The challenge for me is to do what I feel is right on a day-to-day basis and to trust that the outcome of my labor will be realized as it should be, even though I may have personal preferences that things should be different.

Bread and Butter

When we first started to focus with considerable concentration on the marketing of our book, we made a list of possible marketing initiatives we could employ. As we move forward, we will probably add to this list and perhaps remove one or two items as well. Some of the initiatives we have identified are more important than others. Therefore, we have set priorities. We also recognize that sometimes the timing of what we do can be important.

One initiative on our list stands out in my mind as fundamental or "bread and butter" to our overall marketing campaign. I feel that we must develop a way to take the principles and practices of withstanding the lie directly to live audiences, big and small, and to appear before these audiences continuously over a long period of time, until our work is done. Nicole and I are diligently working on this particular strategy at this time. We are working to put together an engaging presentation. We are working to find specific live audiences before whom we can appear.

The future is uncertain, but I am still very excited about what lies ahead in the marketing of our book.

Balance and Perspective

When I get up each morning, I find myself focused on doing specific things to market our book. But it seems that there are always "other" things that I need to do. Of course, there are some "other" things that I must do in order to function in this society, and I appreciate and respect that. On the other hand, some "other" things in my life are discretionary. When I find myself doing "other" things, discretionary or not, I don't always accomplish on a particular day what I would like to accomplish on the book.

It might seem to some that I am letting "other" things get in my way. After all, if you want to get something done in life, you have to become focused on what you're trying to do. When you're focused on a particular project, you necessarily neglect or postpone other interests or concerns, or you do not give other interests or concerns the attention you otherwise would give them.

But being focused on a particular project does mean ( at least for me) that I must become single-minded. It does not mean I must totally disregard other concerns, interests and obligations. Sometimes "other" things call my name, and when they do, sometimes I feel compelled to answer.

Lately, a lot of "other" things have been calling my name. When I have answered, I have done so because I have felt it was the right thing to do.

What I have learned is that sometimes what appears to be a distraction is not a distraction at all, but an instrument that nourishes you and contributes to your overall balance and perspective in life.

That Tall Maple Tree

At this very moment, as I write, I am sitting at my computer looking out the window at the tall maple tree that sits in our yard. I sat here looking out this same window at that same maple tree so many times during the writing of our book. I didn't truly appreciate it before, but this is a good place for me. It relaxes me and I feel at home.


Friends, family and others are beginning to read our book and listen to our CD. We are beginning to get feedback and it is good to hear the responses. Right now I am feeling a great appreciation for what we have accomplished so far in our work. But my feeling of appreciation doesn't stop there.


My brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, in-laws and cousins, neighbors and church family, friends and colleagues are so very important to me and I feel a special blessing to have them in my life.


Sharon is my wife. She is my confidant, counselor and closest friend. Ricky is my oldest child. He sounds a lot like me. Once he called me and when I answered the phone, I thought someone was teasing me by playing a recording of my own voice. My oldest daughter is Pam. She has the most gentle and kind disposition you could ever imagine. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband Casey. They have two daughters, Britney and Keysha. No, let me put that another way. I have two granddaughters, Britney and Keysha. Nicole is my youngest daughter whom you have already met. It is a privilege for me to share a vision with her and to work with her in an effort to make that vision a reality.


If it seems that I am filled with love for my family and friends, if it seems that I feel a great appreciation for all the blessings in my life, then that sounds about right. I am mindful that today is the 4th of July and we celebrate our independence as a nation. Looking at that maple tree out the window, I pause also to reflect on the many gifts and blessings in my life. I realize that this might sound a little corny to some, but it's what I feel, and I think that is what makes it all right.