Why on earth did this book spend so long on my "to read" shelf? I picked it up one day, finished it the next, and chuckled at manipulation of fantasy story stereotypes of characters who were keenly aware of them and even capitalized some of them for emphasis. I think my favorite was that the only way to escape the Evil Overlord's fortress was through the gift shop... The plot and characters were nice too, of course, but they weren't what made the book fun for me.
Get Seen by Steve Garfield
I can only sort of claim I read this book because there was a lot more skimming going on. It's very much geared towards people ready to get going and needing careful details on how to actually carry out doing video, although it seems to be a great resource for that. I did enjoy the interviews with people who are using video.
The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
What a convulated, layered, and detailed imagining of Faerie with a classic Hero's Journey embedded in it. Although that journey is a bit messier and more confused than they often tend to be. I enjoyed the book, but it's very long and I'll not be reading it twice.
Outside Innovation by Patricia B. Seybold
This in-depth coverage of using people outside your company to help create and improve on your products was intriguing. I'd known about open-source software, but hadn't realized how much Lego fans had contributed to the development of their robotic models. I was especially glad to read a b2b chemical industry study, since that's where my greatest interest lies.
The Collection by Gioia Diliberto
This was one of the novels I picked up for a window into another time and place. The story was told with a light hand, although it touched on some experiences that weren't as pleasant. I appreciated how much importance could be put on a dress and its stitches due to my own hobbies.
Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckworth
The philosophy here really hit me and I'll be keeping this one around to review later. I'd read about how we were selling experiences, not products, in other places, but there was a lot more to the book than that. Although it was published in 1997 I still found the ideas compelling and relevant. I especially enjoyed the section on the eighteen fallacies of planning.
Ideas that Changed the World by Felipe Fernandez Arnesto
I enjoyed this history of the world told in ideas and blogged about it. It was fun to read something that was so visual as well. Each double page spread described one idea, with images, call-out boxes for details, and recommendations for additional reading.
Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton
Another set of re-reads. I have all but the last few books in the series (now at 16) and these are the first six. They change in nature as time goes on, becoming more adult and more about supernatural politics, but at the beginning they're more mysteries. It was interesting to be reminded of how Anita was at the beginning. And, of course, they were fun to read.
I started them up again because I'd read the recent graphic novel version of Guilty Pleasures and was curious as to how close it was to the original. It's almost an exact map. I think the drawing style is a little too pretty and pointy and could have stood to be a bit grittier, but enjoyed it anyway.
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
I'd heard good things about this book and am glad I finally got around to reading it. What impressed me the most was how seemingly effortlessly Gerstner provided the context for all he discussed, even for someone (like me) who didn't really have the background of the whole mainframe/PC thing. I enjoyed the story and hearing about a transformation like this from the man who'd directed it. I liked his attitude and approach. Although, wow, I wasn't expecting so much controversy when I skimmed the reviews on Amazon!
On the Nightstand:
Product Development, The Invention of Air, Purpose
Sidenote:
Halfway through the year I have read 72 books. About a dozen were fast fiction rereads.
]]>I've been working a temporary job at an hourly rate less than half of my previous salary for a variety of reasons and I've learned a few things.
This is why internet marketing and working for yourself is so attractive to so many.
I have minimal control over what I do when. Most of the work is very routine data processing interspersed by moments of conversation and initiative. If this was my full-time job, then the possibility of replacing this income is much closer than the idea of replacing my previous income.
I come home tired and I don't want to do much of anything. At least when I didn't want to be a chemist anymore I came home motivated to work on my other projects. Now it's a push to get the immediate motivation to find a full-time job, even though I now need one more than I did then.
The commute doesn't help. I feel like I'm trapped between getting my daughter ready in the morning and leaving in time to pick her up in the evening. That would be much the same if I was working at the job I interviewed for right around the corner, but it's still a new feeling for me.
I wouldn't have chosen to have my empathic ability improved this way, but I appreciate the lesson.
I don't want to pursue freelancing as my primary career.
I was pretty sure of this one already and had never been planning to take advantage of this time to build that business. But now I'm very sure.
This probably seems like an odd reaction based on what I wrote earlier, especially since I love writing. I'm just so much more excited by the jobs that I'm interviewing for. I really want to be working full time with a team to increase business results on a larger scale - especially if it's for a chemical or manufacturing company. Not having to attract personal clients is also a plus. The idea of attracting them for a larger business feels different somehow.
This is probably not the most politic thing to say since I might still need to pursue that business if my time of unemployment stretches longer. It's a source of income that I have more control over than relying on the decisions of a few hiring managers and I am confidant that I can succeed at it.
For now I've stopped doing Elance work because it doesn't give me enough time for job hunting. I'll likely take it up again when the assignment is over. I'm kind of reluctant to try attracting better paying clients through other means when I know it's not something I intend to continue doing after I get a full time job unless I get a recurring blogging job (which is my favorite part of freelancing).
I do want to revive and build on Inventing Elephants.
I've been thinking hard about what I do want to do with my time. What will I do with my time at home when I do get a new job? What will I keep and what will I drop.
I do very much want to keep writing and publishing something for ME, both for my satisfaction and for an underlying possibility of of potential income. I've brainstormed and, despite an itch to start over, the process of pulling ideas out of multiple perspectives is still what I want to write about.
I still can't approach it or systems thinking from the position of an expert. But I do have a varied perspective and believe I can help translate the abstract principles into something that will help a range of people (although I know I need to pick one as a focus) deal with complexity.
I also want to get back to doing art and craft. I know that I won't have time to really do that until I'm settled in a new position, but it's been way too long. I've been obsessed with trying to lay a foundation for a new type of job and neglecting my handiwork. In the long run, I need this creative outlet in addition to these words.
I really do enjoy listening to the audios.
I've always preferred transcripts in the classes I purchased. The only listening time I had was also my writing time and the latter won. But I still have the audios.
And the absolute best part of this temp job is that I can listen to these classes while I work because the regular tasks involve a different part of my brain. I've been through AWAI's Master Class and all of Question the Rules including the interviews plus a little extra. This has been pretty darn cool.
]]>This was a light hearted way trip into improving thinking abilities. It was really all about defining your problem, figuring out whose problem it actually was, and where it came from illustrated with stories and drawings. It's one of those that if you want the bullet points you'll have to go back in and do it yourself but won't mind the extra effort.
The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks
I'd looked at these before but never picked them up. It was a world with depth to it, but not too much to make you have to work really hard at keeping the politics straight. There were some neat variations on standard fantasy concepts that really worked. The best part was the compelling characters in their emotional complexity. They do take a while to read though. I was pushing myself hard through them (because I was having fun) and reading at my usual breakneck speed and it still took me rather longer than I expected.
Words that Work by Frank I. Luntz
The sub-title is "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." and the book goes into great detail. It was very interesting to read about this phenomena of different words carrying significantly different meanings even when they technically have almost the same definition. Especially since it was from the point of view of the political world, not the marketing world in which I've been immersed.
A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield
I had no idea that reds were once dyed through little tiny insect bodies called cochineal nor that this was one of the discoveries that Europeans made in the Americas, though they didn't exploit it as much as they might have. Cochineal, like maize, had been improved on for years beforehand by the current inhabitants. It also proved impossible to transplant to other locations in a cost-effective way until after it was no longer profitable to do so due to the development of the artificial shades. I really enjoyed the way the historical narrative took its twists and turns.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't a novel exactly, but written more as a third person biography. The various voices coming from journals and stories suddenly told in the main narrative enlivened the text. It was as original and interesting a premise as you could hope for from the man who started the "... and Zombies" trend. I especially liked the surprise at the end and realizing how subtly and appropriately the stage had been set for it throughout the earlier pages.
An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald Weinberg
I enjoyed the read and need to go back and review it to comment more thoroughly. I'll admit to skimming past some of the equations, but they weren't as frustrating as I was kind of expecting when I had flipped through the book at first. They made some of the abstract concepts easier to understand.
One idea that really stood out was that when we try to determine patterns and systems that even that answer depends on our point of view and our assumptions. One person was determining cycles of a music box by including the lights, but another said they were irrelevant but was hearing high and low tones that the first person wasn't and came up with different answers, for example.
How to Drive Your Competition Crazy by Guy Kawasaki
A fun and light read with some intriguing ideas on how to be contrary. I was especially amused by some that involved essentially a strategic feint - doing just enough in a market area you don't expect to succeed in so that you annoy, involve, and drain resources from your larger competitor.
DAW 30th Anniversary Fantasy Anthology edited by Betsy Wolheim and Sheila Gilbert
I enjoyed these short fantasy stories, although not enough to keep the book. The best part was the little historical introductions by the editor for each of the authors. These had little tidbits about how they got started and so forth. This was especially cool since I'd read at least something from almost all of these authors before.
The Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen
This book was just plain FUN which I really hadn't expected. It's not one of the most practical of the how to influence people genre, but it's illuminating and has a number of tidbits to carry forward into life, especially the portions on finding good food to eat at restaurants.
On the nightstand: Ideas, Outside Innovation
]]>In many ways this was simply a comfortable read for me, as I knew most of what was in here, including some of it from David's blog. On the other hand, watching some of the keynote speeches he gives makes it all feel new. This book is a fantastic introduction to working with the current expectations that people have on how companies should interact with them. And for the experienced it's a great reminder on how all the individual bits that we tend to concentrate on on a daily basis actually pull together.
The Wealthy Freelancer by Steve Slaunwhite, Ed Gandia, and Pete Savage
I've seen stuff from all three of these guys before, including some of the content in the book, since I've taken classes and webinars and so forth. I enjoyed seeing it in this format, put all together in a useful and inspirational package. Reading it made me realize how far I could go if I set my mind to it. It's not my first choice for a career though, despite its perks.
Personal History by Katharine Graham
I would have never picked this book up on my own - but I won the free giveaway at In Bubble Wrap and decided to give it a try. It's thick with tiny print and a biography. But it was written in a compelling way and gave me glimpses into another life and time.
It was very interesting to hear how this woman felt so out of place and yet did the job anyway. How she stumbled fearfully through and yet that was not what most others saw. How she wasn't aware of things at the time that she could see with the passage of years.
I was especially delighted to see that one of her granddaughters is now the publisher of the Washington Post, working with her uncle, Katharine's son, since keeping the Post in the family was part of what drove Katharine.
Heart of Stone and House of Cards by C. E. Murphy
I needed a break in the middle of Personal History and threw in this urban fantasy detective story. I enjoyed it enough I was glad I had the second, both picked up at a used bookstore. The second one pulled the main character more deeply in to the politics of the hidden world and everything got more complicated.
Green to Gold by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston
I have to admit I kept losing the thread here, even though I pushed through to the end. The Necessary Revolution resonated more for some reason. This one does live up to the promise of its subheading and supplies multiple ways to think about, enact, and communicate making a company more environmentally friendly so that there is also improvement at the bottom line.
The Curse of the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons
A couple chapters into reading it this book started feeling like a kick in the gut. And not for the sake of raising my daughter, which is why I'd bought it, but because I recognized some of the things I did, including a couple that drove my husband nuts and would surprise my colleagues. I'm going to need to think about this some more.
Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
This started out as an audio book I picked up right after I bought the new car and I needed something to listen to on the way home. I was thrilled to have a CD player!
After listening to the book twice I decided to buy it, so I could read it as well, and so that I could actually look up the extra online information without having to try to write down the passwords while driving. I haven't yet though, oops. I need to go back and do that.
What amazed me the most was some of the things he included were very relationship centered. They were about building trust and belief. Salesmen who follow Gitomer shouldn't have any trouble shifting to supporting inbound marketing techniques as long as they are compensated properly. There was even a chapter on creativity.
On Writing Well by William Zinssner
The last time I read this was early in 2009 and it was the 3rd edition which I'd permanently borrowed from my Dad some years before. This time it was the tenth and I could tell how it had changed. One of the most powerful sections for me was his discussion about people and places. He showed how personalizing the story during the writing process created a much stronger and more specific story even if the end result was back to being in third person and article instead of memoir form.
Ackoff's Best by Russell Ackoff
This was a good introduction by I'm passing it on to the used bookstore because the most interesting portions came from Re-creating the Corporation, which I want to buy and The Art of Problem Solving, which I already have. I'd also like to pick up the newest book, and last, that he contributed to - Systems Thinking for Curious Managers.
Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint
The latest collection of Newford urban fantastic realism stories, although they were published before in various places. My favorite this time was probably "That Was Radio Clash", a story about getting to correct a mistake in the past. It's always hard to pick though.
Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
This was a highly anticipated and oddly disappointing read for me. I didn't feel like I really learned much. Perhaps I'd just absorbed it from other areas. It was easy to get through and does include some important concepts, though.
On the nightstand is kind of irrelevant this month as we're nearly done May. I'm not entirely sure I didn't lose a book or two as the month turned but that's okay.
]]>I lost a bit of steam in this third week, having exhausted all of my initial tasks and searches. I kind of pulled in on myself and now it's time to look outward again and reconnect with people. I just wasn't quite ready at the time of my last blog post. But I need to go help out and request help from my network to seek out more opportunities.
I also reached the point on Wednesday where I knew I needed to kick my freelance work into full-swing for both immediate income and as a long-term job option if it took a while to find the corporate position I'd rather have. As it turns out that plan is being put on hold.
I've accepted a six week temp assignment doing data cleansing. The guaranteed cash and the access to a company I've tried to apply to before for full-time jobs was just too tempting. And it's one of those companies that when you answer a job listing the computer sticks you in a database and you can't even submit a cover letter.
It was the strangest thing - to be home all day and still not have time to do everything I felt I could or should be doing. No matter how much time is theoretically available it's still all about focus and prioritization.
]]>I didn't expect the excitement and optimism.
I've been ready to try something new for a while and one way or another I'm now going to get to do so. I anticipate it. I'm looking forward to it. And working towards that, whether through job applications and networking on the one hand, or going after freelance work on the other hand, I'm 100% engaged.
This week has been mostly reactive, dealing with short-term needs and plans. I'm hoping to get back into the long-term next week. I want to get blogging again at Leading with Content and Inventing Elephants. I want to go into forums and provide value and attract connections that might be helpful for one goal or the other.
I'm confident I can make this next step work, even if I'm not 100% sure where the winding path is going. Please contact me if you have any suggestions.
]]>In the meantime, I am also available for a variety of copywriting and freelance writing jobs. I will post additional details in the future.
]]>As much as I love the whole online conversation thing, I didn't want to do it for just any company. I really do think manufacturing is important and I want to support and be involved in the industry and in the business of making stuff. Even if it's marketed as services or experiences.
And in a moment it pulled together - I want to help make better STUFF in better ways.
It's still as fuzzy as a dust bunny. There's an infinity of ways to define "better" for example. But it's more than I had before.
And everything fits. Systems thinking and similar topics are about the mindset to know what better means and to achieve it. My current job and anything else I do related to it is about putting better into action. And content marketing is about communicating it. It's part of the better because it's a strategy best employed by companies who really are delivering quality.
And it's not new. It's almost exactly why I wanted to go into product management - to help the different departments work together to produce the great product the customer wants - but phrased in a broader way that fits what I'm actually currently doing. So that's affirming.
I've reworked the front page of this site to reflect the change. It still needs some work. I think it's too text heavy and maybe still too "me" oriented instead of helping those who land on it to understand how I can relate to and help them. But it's a good start. What do you think?
]]>The first post was called Insecurity Doesn't Pay the Bills and the basic premise was that
EVERYONE YOU ADMIRE IS REALLY, REALLY SCREWED UP
The follow up was Why Worry Keeps You Poor and How to Fix It
But after thinking about it, I’m convinced that the majority of our shared hangups don’t truly stem from a low self image. I think what it really comes down to is worry – that stupid game we play in our head where we freak out about what might happen if we take action. - Dave Navarro
If you go and read the posts then you need to scroll down and read the comments. In the first post a lot of people share their insecurities and in the second there are many variations on the fixing it part and people being inspired to take action.
I struggle with the usual insecurities. I'm not good enough. I'm not cool enough to attract people online. I'm not consistent enough. I try to talk about content marketing and can't keep up with my twitter account. I believe I am good at this thing over here and I've been told flat to my face that I'm not and maybe they're right.
I could go on. A lot.
Dave suggests focusing on the value I can offer. I almost find that more depressing. Because I can't seem to find the right people who could use that value or present myself in a way that makes it possible for them to find me.
But he's right in that insecurity doesn't pay the bills. I have to try to provide what value I can, when I can, to who I currently have access to. And that will lead me forward, no matter how I feel about it in my darker moments.
I do get caught in that other trap he mentions, of rehearsing things that can go wrong. I tell myself I'm doing it to be prepared, but too often I start believing in what I've rehearsed and acting in a way influenced by it, instead of by the positive future I'm trying to achieve.
It's really difficult for me to follow his advice and see failure as an acceptable risk, to consider what I'm trying to do as an experiment. I want to get it RIGHT, damn it.
I get hung up on the word "failure".
It's okay that there's a couple of beads of paint on the wall in the bathroom where it dripped instead of my catching all of it. It's okay that I yelled at my daughter in a way I said I never would. It's okay that I made a mistake that likely cost the company sales due to timing.
These things happen and they are offset by the good things - how much better the wall looks, the apologies and trust afterwards, and the times I've figured something out that made the company money or headed a problem off at the pass.
Well, it's not okay, exactly. There were consequences. I needed and need to improve. I messed up. I erred. I could have done it better.
But saying I failed, saying that failure is acceptable, is like waking up to realize I'm already falling down a dark chasm and the ground is coming up fast.
Not being perfect I can live with. Having a better than average batting average based on whatever is the appropriate standard, I can live with.
Somehow failing is different.
I'm not sure if there's a point to this beyond the power of words and how they might apply differently to each of us.
I deliberately avoid the word because of the emotional associations I have with it. I make it easier to move forward by not looking the specter straight in the face but only out of the corner of my eye.
Because then I can focus on the goal beyond.
Source: Insecurity Doesn't Pay the Bills (http://www.thelaunchcoach.com/insecurity-doesnt-pay-the-bills)
Source: Why Worry Keeps You Poor (http://www.thelaunchcoach.com/why-worry-keeps-you-poor-and-how-to-fix-it)
I've never received a business email with the horrible all-caps notes. I do receive a couple every year where it's obvious the sender hit "Reply All" when they really didn't mean to. And I've received and written some where the lack of having a tone of voice was a problem. I've seen formal, memo-like emails and short one-liners without even an introductory name or a sign-off.
When I decided to write an article for the Business/Technical Writing section of Suite 101 I skimmed through what was already there and decided something on writing good corporate emails was called for. My article started out closer to the idea of just having a good email and including some etiquette information but I trimmed that out as I continued. What I finished with was
How to Write Business Email That Get Results
I know that some of the basic ideas came from things I've read elsewhere and a few - like the note about summarizing an attachment - I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen. Not that I think it's new, just that I hadn't been reading anything truly in-depth about using email.
It's just a confusing medium in some ways. It's a permanent record but can be done very quickly and informally. It doesn't look as nice when it comes to something formal, but what's in an email body can inspire more discussion than what's merely attached.
Some ideas for spin-off articles - how to use email to cover your butt and keep everyone informed, otherwise titled who to copy and when - how to write an email that gets results, but back to actual writing structure like in a business letter like I learned back in school (I actually remember that lecture) - differences in email structure and corporate guidelines across industries, although darned if I know how I'd figure that one out...
Not that I'm likely to write any of those. I need to do a manufacturing related article and my next article in the business writing category should be on a completely different topic to develop breadth within it.
As a side note, I was thrilled that the editor didn't require me to make any changes to the article before publishing it. That was pretty cool.
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