Uncategorized – Page 5 – Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary

Conspiracies for Everyone

When I first thought about writing a book, my entire focus was on the story. Secondary was the structure of the story; writing it, the necessary steps of editing, how is it printed or distributed. My only thought was the story. I now spend most of my time dealing with and thinking about everything but the story. This is not a good thing.

What success I have had was based on the stories, the characters, the humor, the dog—you get the picture.

When writing fiction, the story is the core of everything. Good stories come from the imagination. There may be some facts supporting the story, but it is mostly made-up. Those occasional facts help tie the made-up portions together to have a coherent story line.

I’m currently exploring ways to spend more time on the story line and characters and less on the process. I will keep you informed.

While thinking about my writing, it occurred to me there was another “profession” that had stumbled out of its core proficiencies. Politics is now being controlled by people not interested in leading, legislating or improving everyone’s lives. It has become a strange entertainment business that only entertains its existing market. Preaching to the choir used to be a criticism, now it is a requirement.

This new class of politician not only is spreading lies, gossip, and some of the most bizarre conspiracies that have ever been uttered, but they advocate the destruction of the group’s enemies—usually their neighbors. The objective of these so-called leaders is to eliminate anyone who does not believe what ever craziness they have currently adopted.

At first, I thought this was merely an attempt to steal from gullible people who have no other way to connect to normal human beings. It was the beginning of a minor political party dedicated to the crazies. It would live on the fringes and offer a good example of why only sane people should be elected to office. They would never have real power.

I was wrong. Why people will believe some of this nonsense is beyond me. Maybe it’s a class thing? I’m so powerless in the real world I would rather live in this strange made-up bizzarro world. Maybe it is the desire to belong to something, anything. I want a group where I feel accepted. Hey, how about those whackos, they send me a lot of stuff saying I’m welcome. They also believe my failures are not my fault but something some insider politician did; can’t remember what, but it had something to do with sex.

Okay, I’m joining these people and we will take back the country from ……………(?) All we need is plenty of guns and the world will be fixed and all those elite bastards will be in Guantanamo (or someplace bad). No more will I be small, I’ll run the world!

To have all that power, just send your money to ………………….: or by my gold stocks, or by my survival gear, or………………

The real politicians, the ones who used to run the country, are totally lost. They have no idea how to compete. Should they become crazy too? Can you pretend to be crazy, and no one will notice? Or maybe just go back to being a hack attorney in Oklahoma representing the crazy folks back home?

But the money. THE MONEY! So, even the somewhat sane politicians are looking at one of their nuttier chamber members who just raised some amazing amount of money in one quarter. Almost all that money coming not from the poor people back in the district but nationwide with a few foreigners tossed in. Wow, millions and millions and that person is a certifiable idiot. I think I want some of that!

Now even “normal” politicians have decided to join the side-show and immediately begin shopping for a bigger house. Everyone is happy, except for many citizens of the country who can’t figure out how these people keep getting elected. Most citizens want a country ran without all the noise but with a more efficient and responsive government. Why isn’t that happening?

Those “normal” folks are starting to suspect a conspiracy!

Update

Lately I have encountered time issues and, as a result, the frequency of this blog will become a little erratic and the posts, maybe, a little shorter. My future efforts will be towards increasing member support through my Patreon account. If you would like to see more about what I’m doing there, click here.

Thanks, again, for being a reader.

The Blues

Can a country have the blues? Of course, and we’ve got it. A lot of good things happen in the good old USA, but we have what seems like more than our share of ugly and sad shootings. I have several thoughts on guns, some of which I’ve shared before, and ideas on how to stop some of this nonsense. I would also guess, so do you. It all gets to be blah, blah, blah—what’s the fuckin’ point?

Some day we will figure this out, just not anytime soon.

Our schools are dangerous and ineffective. Teachers are demonized for working hard with low wages and trying their best to teach unteachable children. Public education may have run its course, time to try a different approach.

My experience with school was a mixed bag of great joy and great sadness. I had success and felt the shame of failure. All in what, at the time, seemed like a sheltered environment with caring adults ready to assist with amazing support. There were exceptions (a long list of gym teachers who should never had been allowed to be around children) but most of the people in my school memories were exceptionally kind and generous.

Not sure teachers have changed, but there is no doubt that our attitude about teachers and education have changed. We now demand results, like we’re dealing with a plumbing problem, not the unbelievably complicated problem of how to educate kids who carry around in their pocket access to the most destructive information ever offered to children, who live in an environment where everyone is busy and bemoans the future like it’s a curse. The joy of childhood has been stolen by adults.

We, adults, have messed things up. How often do you hear someone talk about the wonderful future that awaits these kids? Politicians talk in angry voices about how awful everything is, without even a hint of what they might do to make it better.

What does the future look like to a twelve-year-old? A smart twelve-year-old will see a world on the verge of destruction, climate change, nuclear war set off by one of the loonies running a country, no clean water, food shortages, viruses; the future is not pretty. How does it feel to live in a world with such a bleak outlook?

Adults, all adults, need to talk to children about the great opportunities that lie ahead to make a better world. One not dominated by wealth but fairness. One not dominated by elites but by compassionate leaders. One of the biggest lies this country was founded on was “All men are created equal”, every kid knows that is not true; but we should be saying, we can make it true. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not some abstract ideal, it is an achievable goal for everyone. But we can not accomplish any of that in a world dominated by hate.

Education is still the key to a better future. Not an education conducted by cult leaders or con artists, but education that focuses on the future and the greatness that can be achieved with open minds. I don’t know what education will look like in the future, but let’s hope it will focus on creativity, imagination, objective facts, compassion, understanding and forgiveness.

Old People Stop the Bullying

At a certain age it is normal to compare how things are today with some past time, usually a time in your head when things were good—whatever good means. Of course, we all know that most of that comparison is false because we don’t remember things the way they actually were. Something in the brain manages to filter out a lot of the unpleasant stuff, leaving us with this sort of ideal world that never existed. So now in the present, we take our false memory and compare it to today’s stark reality. The past always wins. Except if you’re young.

I’ve said many times that the young need to be more involved in politics. Not because they know more, usually they know less—it’s because they are future focused. The young don’t dwell in the ideal past, they seek the better future. That is a good reason to have the young participate more in running things.

The U.S. is mostly run by people staring death in the face. Their future is bleak and frightening. Hang on for dear life to remain relevant and alive. Most of the old leadership needs to have the good sense to retire and leave the world to people who are more attuned to the future rather than the past. Give up power to make a better world.

I never had much power. Might be because I didn’t want power. I just don’t understand why people seem to need power over people they don’t give a shit about. It’s easy to say money drives the need for power, but it’s clear that’s not the only motivator. Power seems to inflate people beyond recognition. They become a caricature of what a leader is supposed to be. Hanging onto power like it’s a drug. I can’t give up power, I will die!

As a country we’ve known this forever. It is a unique person who willingly gives up power to the next generation. If those unique people are the good people, that would seem to suggest the ones who hang on to power are the bad people. I think in many ways they are. The rationalization, of course, is that they are the best people to handle the current crisis. And there is always a current crisis. Ego trumps everything.

We need age limits. Okay that just pissed off a bunch of old people. Well sorry, but it is the thing to do. Age limits on judges, age limits on senators, congressmen, presidents—you can’t be president when you’re too young, nor when you’re too old.

My reasoning for this is not ability. There are many older people perfectly capable of screwing things up as well as a forty-year-old. It’s not ability. It is giving up power to the next in line. This would not be a requirement if we saw a pattern of people in their seventies saying, it is time to pass the reins. But that is not what we see. The most powerful hang on for dear life. Their grip is weak, the mind is a bit slowed, but the thirst for power is forever strong.

If the young were in power (in this context that means mostly middle age), they should turn to the very young (teens and twenties) and ask them what they want. Have a constitutional convention and let the twenty somethings write a whole new approach—and listen to what they have to say. Wouldn’t that be interesting to see what the young really think this country is about?

I’ll bet a whole bunch of what their parents and grandparents think is important doesn’t mean a thing to them. I’ll bet they see the world and their future in it from an entirely different point of view.

Old people stop the bullying. Give somebody else a chance to screw things up (or not!)

New kid’s mystery book will be published tomorrow May 10th. Check it out!

Hey, you started it!

I spend a lot of time hanging out with words. Words have meaning. It’s surprising to me how many words are tossed around for effect, not to convey a meaning, but to generate a response. This may be due to words having more than one meaning. The latest absurdity of this was with the Russians calling the Ukrainians Nazis. The definition of Nazi is “a member of the far-right National Socialist German Workers’ Party.” So possibly the slur was more that some people were practicing Nazism. Which has a broader definition of acting like a Nazi. Many US politicians like to call people Nazis because they can’t call them assholes, or other choice words, without offending their more sensitive mob members.

If we spent some time, we could come up with a long list of words that have one meaning in a political environment but really mean something else. Politicking with double meaning words has become something of an art form due to social media. We now communicate very important ideas in very short sentences. Long speeches about policies, laws, community goals, principles, ethics don’t happen too much anymore. In the past the use of certain words was more in the dog whistle arena, but today many people find it okay to just blurt out their biases, prejudices, hate, misunderstandings because it seems to work with their followers. Society has been given permission to lie and hate.

If you judged leaders’ popularity by the amount of money they raise, at the top of the list would be the liars and haters. They don’t want to change laws or create improvements in their followers’ lives; they want to destroy the enemy. And the enemy is everyone other than the people who think exactly the way they do.

Comradery, compromise, discussion, analysis: all words not being regularly bandied about. Fight, kill, democracy destroying, existential, war; are words often heard in political debate. Extreme language will seldom result in solutions, only conflict.

I must admit I’m one of those people who find it difficult to squash a bug. There is a sadness to death at all levels. I cannot imagine a person who casually causes other humans to die because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. These soulless people do not seem to feel the brief sadness you might associate with squashing a bug. We can see that evil on the scale of the Ukraine war; but we seem blind to the war like words being tossed about by our fellow countrymen.

The only rational explanation for this language is that the people using it feel justified. Some of the dumbest rationalization is the playground favorite of “you started it!” “It” is usually not well defined. The war like rhetoric in our politics reflects feelings that one is under attack. Both sides of this verbal battle may feel the same, under attack by the other. As a country, we have a long history of this sort of competition on what the country is about, what are those core principles that we should agree on. Whether this latest round is more extreme or not will probably be determined on how it ends. Do words turn into violent action or do words turn into compromise and agreement. At this point I don’t think we know.

BOOK ALERT!

My latest book is a kid’s mystery chapter book. The eBook is available for pre-order from Amazon. There will be paperback and hardcover versions of this book on May 10th. Something different from me and my wife that I believe even adults might find enjoyable.

We’re All Dumb

Let’s just say this out loud, our current political environment is much more a shitshow than anything approaching intelligent discussion. Clown car, performative art, demagoguery –these are words that show up when observing our politicians attempt to lead. Why?

I’m sure some of us can remember a politician or two who would discuss some of the issues addressing our nation with a thoughtful presentation regarding their causes and a detailed legislative agenda to address those issues. Much of the political discussion today is being conducted by one bozo after another. Why?

There are reasons. A couple are cable TV and the internet. These wonderful sources of entertainment and information have been turned into the main draw for the gullible. Why think when you can tune in and watch some morons tell you lies about almost anything that might cross your mind.

The U.S. Department of Education says that 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old—lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. Welcome to the land of stupid.

What does it mean to have over half the adults in a country not being able to read a newspaper? It means as a country we have gone backward. Today we think based on a group test. My group believes this, so I do too. And who often leads the group. The loudest, most confident member of the group. That person has rock solid beliefs that will never change, no discussion could alter their views, no facts could interfere with their assuredness, no argument could sway them to question themselves; completely closed minded and absolutely confident in what they believe. They are the leaders.

There was a time, in the not-too-distant past, when critical thinking was a skill schools taught. Not now. Schools are more likely to teach beliefs than facts because the parents demand it. Don’t confuse my kids with uncomfortable facts—it’s bad for their self-esteem. There was a time when schools taught art, music—not so much now. Teach my kid to be a computer coder, so they can be millionaires or billionaires, that’s what matters. I don’t care if they can’t read or think, can they code?

Who cares if people can’t read a newspaper, newspapers are dead anyway? Yep, there is some truth there, but the on-line world will dumb down everything if half their customers are functionally illiterate. Can you convey a complex thought and keep the sentence structure below a sixth-grade level? We just had a leader who wanted critical information presented to him in picture form—and many people thought he was smart.

There is ample evidence that the U.S. school system is failing. More and more kids are being taught in religious schools or home schooled where often the primary agenda is beliefs not objective truth. There are more STEM programs, but they are not teaching critical thinking or objective facts, just computers, math, and ego. Independent test scores show children under performing compared to other countries while school grades are averaging higher. More A’s to C students. Makes the parents feel better, but what does that accomplish?

The decline in our educational system may be contributing to the current crop of clowns in congress. Stupid people elect stupid people to lead them; then believe they are doing a good job because at least they are entertaining, and don’t take shit off anybody. That last part fogs my brain. It is so outlandish. A common requirement in politicians today is that they fight. Fight almost everyone. You would think we were electing pro-wrestlers not thoughtful leaders. This strange requirement to be outlandish to win elections is driven by ignorant people who have no idea what the country would look like if all leaders were as clueless as their favorites.

Why? One easy answer to all of those “why”s is money. The money in politics is staggering. This is better than pro-wrestling and less dangerous. There seem to be three groups running for office. One group are people who actually want to serve and make things better, this group is becoming smaller rapidly. The second group are people who have money, often lots of money, but want power. The motivations here are hard to understand but people seeking power usually have an agenda that is more personal than honorable. The third group are the hustlers. They’ve looked around and decided this is the best con-game in town. These are the real clowns. Their only goal is to attract attention. To do that they must be louder, more offensive, more obnoxious, more controversial, more hatful, more ridiculous than anyone else in the room. The biggest clown wins.

The biggest clown wins because we are all dumb and we decided we want entertainment, not a well governed country. Send in the clowns!

Isn’t it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air
Send in the clowns

Isn’t it bliss?
Don’t you approve?
One who keeps tearing around
One who can’t move
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns

Just when I stopped
Opening doors
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines
None is there

Don’t you love a farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you’d want what I want
Sorry my dear
But where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns
Don’t bother
They’re here

Isn’t it rich?
Isn’t it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career
Where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns
Well, maybe next year

Annual Decision Day?

It is my annual decision day when I consider the pros and cons of continuing with the book writing journey which I started some ten years ago. The decision is not based on facts, but here are some.

More books are being published and sold in US than ever before.

Zippia.com (source of all statistics and data in this post)

Seventy-six percent in 2020 were Hardback and Paperback. E-Books were 9%. Does that surprise you? It did me. What distorts that some is those precents are for revenue. So, 76% of the revenue is from hardback and paperback, not number of books. For one $25 hardback it takes 25 of the $.99 eBooks to equal the dollars. Still my impression was that hardbacks were declining –they are not!

Why is it then that almost everyone I know is reading less? Many of the people I talk to or listen to say they do not read at all. The easy answer is that all the people I know are illiterate dummies. Is that the answer? There was a time in my life when I had many conversations with friends about books. The latest and greatest or even the most disappointing book we had recently read. It was normal, now it would be strange. It never happens anymore. The people I know don’t even talk about my books because they have not read them. I’m willing to admit to having lousy friends but it sure seems like a trend to me—so more books are being sold but nobody talks about them?

Obviously, that can’t be true, so it’s back to my contacts not being readers but the rest of the world is reading and discussing. Maybe I need to get out more?

Indie book growth.

Maybe by 2021 the number of indie books is pushing 2 million. Let’s say each author averaged 2 books (this makes easy math) so there are 1 million indie authors. Note, I have no idea the average number of books written per author, but I would guess that the majority is one book, but there will be indie authors who have written 80—but 2 seemed like a good guess. This starts to explain all those book marketing sites and people hustling indie authors—there are truckloads of customers out there who have no idea what they’re doing. Sucker alert!

It is interesting, if I’m interpreting this chart correctly, the number of new indie books per year has leveled off and was a “small” 300 thousand in 2019. So, using the same 2 book average per author that would represent 150,000 indie authors, it’s possible that represents the “active” number of authors in the indie world with something like 850,000 who published something at one time but are no longer active. Fewer suckers, sorry sellers!

On the other hand, if that chart is saying there are 1.7M NEW indie books in 2019, everything I said above is not accurate. I just can’t imagine there are that many new releases in a year in the US—but it is not clear in the article that sources this info.

If you’re a writer what does this mean? Probably nothing! There is a huge market for books, but indies are capturing a small piece of the pie. Any one indie author can be doing okay, but most are just getting crumbs.

The path to success is writing good books and continuing to write. The other key to success is to have plenty of money so you can continue to spend on your dream even though the returns are poor. Then the big number one key kicks in: LUCK! Yep, old tried and true basis for much success, ~~stupid~~ luck.

I have spent considerable time and money producing 14 books to date. Have enjoyed some level of success but not notable monetary success. I consistently blame myself for not being a better marketing and promotion person. I write books, alone; how is there any logic in suddenly being someone who wants to interact with people and be a self-promoter.

I’ve read my books and I like them. Wow, what a shock, author likes his own books! Before I wrote I was a reader. Hundreds of books per year. I devoured books. I thought I was an expert on what was good and what was bad, what made me like an author, what did not. Of course, it’s hard to be objective with your own stuff, but I like my stuff. I will pause for the laugher to die down. The point I’m trying to make is that while my books are not going to be in the “best book ever written” category, they are good entertainment with interesting locations and characters. But still no real level of success.

This is my annual decision point on whether I want to continue this activity and toss more money into the fire pit or just quit.

If you’re a creative person you have been here, maybe many times.

Many years ago, I gave up thinking about making money with my art. From that point on if I did something creative in art it was for me, nobody else. I didn’t want to sell or make any money off the art. It’s my stuff and I like it. I continued to do art, but it was different. Less intense with huge periods of nothing.

Maybe the writing should fall into that category. There does seem to be a difference though, I can paint for myself but not sure I can write a book for myself. Often a piece of art is maybe a day or two, a book? My quickest book took several months, the longest time was almost two years and, of course, I have Durango Two Step buried in the basement for at least that long with no end in sight. Writing a book does not take a short amount of time; and the big kicker is the investment. For me, my average book costs me multiple thousands of dollars to produce. A quality book utilizing the talents of many people for covers, formatting interiors, editing and other elements requires substantial time and money.

I won’t give you the answer right now since I don’t know the answer. Usually, I will decide to quit and then decide not too several times. This annual process so far has resulted in me continuing the author journey with hopes of doing better, but this time, who knows.

My books in order are:

The Originals (I consider this book a training exercise. It is no longer available).
The Bootlegger’s Legacy
Dog Gone Lies
Sky High Stakes
Murder So Wrong
Murder So Strange
Santa Fe Mojo
Blue Flower Red Thorns
Murder So Final
Fiction No More
Four Corners War
How to Sell Your Business Without a Broker
How to Start and Run a Successful Small Business
Book Alert!

In progress:

Doctor Hightower (80% done.)
Durango Two Step (50% done.)
Vegas Dead End (10% done.)

Drawing Conclusions

What is it about power that allows humans to think it is justified to kill other humans? Does power rot away at the brain until the only functioning part is an ugly vicious part. I’ve always been a creative person. I drew, painted, wrote, dreamed, designed, built, thought all sorts of creative things. I never once imagined conquering someone. So, if you’re a leader of a group and you dream about destroying people, are you the same species as me? Is killing creative? Is killing human?

Everyone knows most people only want to live their lives, not destroy others. They only want to raise their children, not kill. So only a few can destroy hundreds or thousands; and they become leaders? WTF? How does that happen?

Maybe it happens because they are willing to destroy, and their anti-human behavior gives them power over the normals. The “normals” being all of us who could never imagine dropping bombs on hospitals.

How can it happen that the bad ones somehow come to power and can destroy the rest of us? If there are only a few “bad ones”, what are the odds they become leaders? That’s when we should start to look around and see that the bad people are everywhere. Sure, it’s the haters, but it also the screamers, the yellers, the functioning crazies; this group is huge. We see it every day. Some madman pulls up beside your car and starts yelling, shaking his fist, gives you the finger; why? Going too slow, going too fast, just being? We live with these destroyers in our society.

I believe there is a connection with creativity that starts to explain these people. Can an open mind that wants to be productive also be destructive? Maybe or maybe not?

This may sound like a silly observation. There was a time when art and music were a major portion of elementary school activities. Due to budget cuts, and other more nefarious reasons, those programs have been reduced or eliminated. I’m sure the argument that we need to concentrate on STEM programs makes sense to the “practical” people who often are the most vocal. And of course, I cannot draw a straight line from no art and no music to an increase in the “bad ones”, but I can assure you I can draw. That ability to draw was enhanced during my years in grade school.

More “bad people” still does not explain how they become leaders. While I don’t have a full explanation for that, what I see is the ability to lie as a common trait. Our history starts with a tale of George Washington not being able to lie and ends with leaders not being able to tell the truth. The Washington tale was no doubt a lie, so even that bit of Americana is not proof that some leaders don’t lie.

Just think about someone who always told the truth and imagine them running for office. That person might say, “I won’t be able to change much, but I’ll try to not make things worse,” or “I really need this job, my law practice has gone into the toilet, and I need the money, please support me,” or “I want to be famous so I can cash in big time later, I haven’t a clue how to run anything much less a country.”

At this point the novelty of someone speaking the truth might not be a bad strategy to win, but who would risk that?

So, we have an increase in the number of “bad people”, who are not creative and can lie at the drop of a hat; and they become our leaders. Might also add bullying as a trait since it is very common in the worst leaders.

What we haven’t addressed is why people chose those flawed folks to lead them. Number one answer must be something about smarts, but also, we are gullible. The biggest liar wins the election suggests that the voters can’t use their own common sense to determine who is lying to them. Or maybe it’s easy to believe the lie and think everything will be wonderful because this buffoon of a person just said it would be.

Like a famous possum named Pogo once said, “We have found the enemy and it is us”.

Good people, honest people, creative people give the power of madness to “bad people”. Bad people use that power to destroy good people.

I have offered my voting advice before; here it is again.

Never vote for someone who:

Yells all the time.
Is followed around by a team of lawyers.
Is followed around by a team of goons.
Says all your problems in life have nothing to do with your decisions but are the fault of _______.
Would appear to have an ego as big as a house.
Doesn’t own a dog.
Likes the military a little too much.
Would prefer not to shake your hand.
Will obviously do or say anything to win.
Really wants to be a TV star.
Admires no one and has no heroes.

You should vote for people who:

Don’t really seem to want the job.
Love dogs.
Listens all the time.
Wants you to have more control over your life, but not infringe on anyone else’s.
Loves history.
Thinks all people have value.
Thinks being wealthy does not make you smart.
Would rather be _____________, as opposed to being at this press conference.
Still talks to mom.

Would also add that the best leaders love to read and take walks (alone or with their dog).

Circling Sharks?

If you are an indie writer, you have been targeted. There was a time, not that long ago, when authors could be numbered in the thousands because the process of publishing a book was controlled by the “high and mighty” publisher. Publishers for their own benefit were not inclined to open the doors to any Tom, Dick or Harry who wanted to write a book. They kept the doors shut for most “normal” authors.

Then the uncontrolled world of Amazon happened, publishers have never been the same. Suddenly indie authors had an avenue that had an “open for business” sign up in bright lights. In short order there are hundreds of thousands of “authors”. This may be good or bad, we’ll discuss that in a later post. What it did was create a huge pool of want-to-be-successful authors, who did not know what to do to achieve that dream. Let’s call it a pool of suckers.

Novice authors had a dream, and often a small pool of money stashed away to invest in that dream. Of course, a large group of suckers who can be identified will eventually attract the sharks (we only provide a valuable service). The more desperate the suckers are for a magic way to achieve their dream the more the sharks start to circle.

Today, some years after the first explosion in indie books, I get an email or more a day trying to sell me a path to my well-deserved goal of fame and fortune.

My educated guess would be that there are hundreds (at the very least more than 50) of successful authors making a tidy sum every year selling indie books, and that there are hundreds of thousands who have not made a dime. Most of those people had very bad books that not even a mother could love, but many had decent books but no reasonable way to break though the clutter of millions of books to reach an audience. So, what to do?

Yep, the answer is giving the sharks the money and pray. Some of that decision is based on the illogic of what else can you do? Some of it is based on the sharks saying it is easy, just let us tell you the secrets. Yes, we all believe there are secrets about everything and if we just knew the hidden truth, it would be easy to be a best-selling author living the high life in a Miami million-dollar penthouse.

But before the penthouse, it’s $100 here, it’s a few thousand dollars over there, how about $600 for that almost guaranteed ad opportunity, or even just a couple of hundred for that “tell all” seminar with Ms. Jane who writes best-selling (to whom?) books about cats. Yes, all the experts on how to make money have figured out “how to make money”, sell something to desperate want-to-be authors. It’s a lot easier than writing a book—that takes a lot of effort—and selling a few hundred of those masterpieces is almost impossible.

I talk to a few authors off and on, sort of depending on my mood. What I hear a lot is one of my fellow writers saying, “yeh, I knew it was probably a scam but thought I would give it a shot anyway, just threw away $50 bucks again”. Or $500, or more.

Truth is, I don’t feel sorry for them, or me when I did it. I think it is part to the growth cycle as an author. You eventually figure out what is required and as you would guess, there are no secrets—it’s just hard work, ugh! You find trusted people who charge reasonable prices for their skills, and it is part of the cost of being an indie author. You recognize your chances of making a lot of money (or any) are slim. Sure, there are exceptions, but most might make a poor hourly wage from writing but not much more.

Here’s the secret. You don’t care. If you love writing and selling a few books, then it is worth the cost. If you make a few bucks that is an unbelievable bonus. Stop listening to the “crowd” saying if only you did this or that you would be a huge success. It isn’t going to happen. Or if it did, it would be mostly based on your writing or a big dose of luck.

Since I stopped paying any attention to the sharks, my life has been a lot more pleasant. No doubt, I’ve missed the big opportunity to live in the penthouse because I did not open that “last chance” email, but I’m not really very comfortable with heights anyway.

Now available in paperback.

Stopping the Hate

Growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960s meant a lot of discussion about war, political assassination, religion, race, crime, and college football. Most people in Oklahoma at that time were registered Democrats who voted Republican. While that may sound confusing, it led to a more fluid idea of politics.

Almost all those topics of discussion could become heated but generally the conversations were logical and well-meaning, even if biased and shallow. However, some actions during this time were horrible and life changing.

The assassination of the Kennedys hit me hard. I identified my world with John and Robert Kennedy. It was the world I wanted to live in. Their deaths seemed like a horrible movie that should have never been made. Till this day it has never made sense to me, why people would choose such drastic means to solve something—something, I didn’t even see. Why were they assassinated? That question has never been answered for me. Politics, CIA madness, gangsters, insanity, Cubans? Why?

I entered that period with great hope. Optimism was not a strong enough word to describe what I expected. I came out of those dark days, pessimistic and angry. Nothing was ever the same again.

Remembering those times, I recall how I felt lost. The country felt lost. I worried about everything. But, somehow, we survived. I don’t believe we got better, but we did move along, and many good things did happen. Even with healing, I felt like a great harm had been done to me, to my country and to the world, for no good reason.

Today we are still discussing war, religion, race, crime, and college football. What we are not discussing, thank goodness, is political assassination. Nevertheless, the arena of politics has become aggressively ugly. Still, aggressively ugly is not assassination.

In some ways we’re better today than we were then, in others we’re worse. The hatred level in this country has risen to a new high. Republicans hate Democrats, liberals hate conservatives, one group hates another group, rural communities hate big cities; we are divided haters. The violence is just below the surface. It will surely show its ugly head soon, unless we start to hate less.

How do we hate less? Not sure we can agree on the major differences, nor can we compromise and split the issues down the middle. So how do we hate less? We just do it!

Stop the hate by stopping the hate. I don’t agree with you, but I do not hate you. This is especially important when it is groups. Hating groups is stupid. Hating some asshole cousin who has always made your blood boil makes sense. Hating people you do not know, because they are different or because they hate you, is just dumb, and it should stop.

Not easy. We must relearn to appreciate that we are all humans, we all have flaws but also value. Now you can disagree with that, but only do it on an individual basis. Break the hate habit.

Some say we should love more, but I believe it would be just as beneficial if we just hated less. Think about some group you hate, maybe it’s Democrats, or the left, or the right—just spend a little time thinking and decide—well, they sure are wrong but I don’t hate them. Keep saying it until you start to really believe it. If you can’t, maybe it is time to think about yourself and who you have become.

If your solution to all the hatred is war or even assassination, then you have slipped over to the dark side of life. If you want to live there, you will need to recognize the ugliness of the world you have chosen. And it gets damn ugly quick.

If your neighbor is part of the “other”, your group will want the neighbor gone or even dead. You might say, no way, I will stop them, but when you are part of the mob you will have no control over what they do, and if you defend the neighbor, the mob will turn on you. Good people will become bad people with a mission to destroy. All driven by hate, not political goals. The hate says you must defeat your enemy. The ultimate defeat is death.

The assassination of the Kennedys was not a political statement, it was a statement of hate. This country and the world are once again playing with fire.

New e-book Success Paths Business Series book just released. How to Start and Run a Successful Small Business (someone misled me into beliving a long title had merit). Paperback should be available next week. This knowledge is from my other life as a small business owner and accounting maven.

Leading a Mob is not Leadership

“Definition of fascism,

a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”

Never thought much about fascism as it related to the U.S., until the last few years. Wasn’t that some craziness tied to Mussolini? Yeah, sometime in the 1930s or something. Has nothing to do with us, right? Well read that definition again—what does that remind you of?

The real question is why would anyone support such a thing? A dictator can’t be one unless there is an army in support for such a person, or the people elect that person. Why would anyone vote for a dictator? The easy answer is the wrong answer—they’re stupid. I just don’t buy the stupid answer. Sure, there are plenty of dumb as a post people who would vote for the loudest person running promising a great world, but that is a very small minority. I think what motivates people to close their eyes and elect a tyrant, is hate.

Hate clouds the mind. There is no logic that can penetrate the barrier of hatred. Groups of people become mobs because of hate. Honest, caring people become mindless animals because of hate. If the hate is strong enough all it takes for destruction is an amoral leader who points the mob at a target. There is the reason your life is not as good as it should be—those people. Attack and destroy, and everything will be wonderful.

Hate needs an enemy to become action. The autocratic leader recognizes the hate and directs it at the “other”, then sits back and watches as good people turn into a mob. A very frightening aspect to that is you might find yourself in the “other” group.

At some point the people who elected the tyrant will realize their mistake, but it will be too late. There will no longer be elections, the dictator decided it was in your best interest for the dictator to be leader for life. You will not be allowed to participate in most decisions, because your leader knows what’s best, plus the leader knows you don’t really want to be bothered. You now live in 1930s Italy, without the excellent food.

There maybe no way to stop this drift towards a dictator because the hate is so strong, but I thought a voting guide might be useful.

Never vote for someone who:

Yells all the time.
Is followed around by a team of lawyers.
Is followed around by a team of goons.
Says all your problems in life have nothing to do with your decisions but are the fault of _______.
Would appear to have an ego as big as a house.
Doesn’t own a dog.
Likes the military a little too much.
Would prefer not to shake your hand.
Will obviously do or say anything to win.
Really wants to be a TV star.
Admires no one and has no heroes.

You should vote for people who:

Don’t really seem to want the job.
Love dogs.
Listens all the time.
Wants you to have more control over your life, but not infringe on anyone else’s.
Loves history.
Thinks all people have value.
Thinks being wealthy does not make you smart.
Would rather be _____________, as opposed to being at this press conference.
Still talks to mom.

Would also add that the best leaders love to read and take walks (alone).