I was sitting at my Apple computer contemplating the fact that I chose to stay in bed this morning and needed to get today’s blog written. The telephone rang and when I answered it, there was no audible response from the caller. Ten minutes later the telephone rang again. I answered it quickly for fear the ringing phone would awaken the General (aka – my wife) or Barnabas (her dog). This time the caller was a lady. She, too, didn’t identify herself, but the purpose of the call was my “windows” computer.
Across the years, there has been a time or two I was tempted to throw my computer out the window, but it was only a passing inclination. The year was 1989. I had worked for twelve consecutive hours on an important assignment and was feeling really good about the outcome. Somewhere close to 5:00 a.m. there was an electrical outage and my computer screen went blank. When electricity was restored, twelve hours of effort were not. My first inclination was to say, “calf-rope” and go to bed. Instead I started again at the beginning.
The expression “calf-rope” is one I learned from my mother. I don’t recall the context, but in my mind it means to surrender. Out of curiosity, I did a Google search and found the origin interesting. According to the dictionary of American Regional English, the expression was first used in Roxy, a novel written in by Edward Eggleston in 1878. He wrote: “They pummeled each other in a friendly way until the challenger, finding that his antagonist had entirely stopped respiration, was forced to “hollow calf-rope,” that is, to signify by gestures that he was beaten. Based on my limited understanding of the words Eggleston forged together, I would draw a very different conclusion. If the “antagonist had entirely stopped respiration”, I’d conclude that he had been beaten to death. If death were the outcome, I’d question that it really was true that they “pummeled each other in a friendly way”.
Getting back to computer issues, I have a lot to learn. I had lunch with Kevin Karschnik on Thursday. His first question was to ask for an update on my book. I responded that I hoped to receive it this coming week. That is especially true since a book signing for both BITTER OR BETTER and More Than Enough is scheduled between 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 at Half Price Books in Round Rock. I credit Kevin as the reason More Than Enough is actually a book and not simply a concept in my head. We were having lunch early February 2013 and Kevin made the statement, “Don, you have such interesting stories to share. You should be writing them down.” I responded that I was writing a lot of them down. He then said, “You should write a book.” I responded that I planned to do so. He asked, “What can I do to help?” and I responded, “You just did.” Kevin then asked, “Would it help if I gave you a deadline?” I responded, “It probably would since I have a tendency to wait until the last minute to complete anything.” Kevin then gave me the assignment to complete the first chapter in a month. Of course, I went home and started writing and couldn’t stop until I completed the book two months later. I then sat the manuscript aside for a year before I pursued getting it published. It really is exciting for me that I’ll soon have a copy to hold in my hand.
Under the concept of, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears the sound, did it really fall”, Kevin had strategic steps I need to start taking to market both books. Many of those steps involve the computer and encouraging folks who’ve read what I’ve written and found it of value, to take the time to go to Amazon and write a book review. Kevin said he’d looked up BITTER OR BETTER – A Personal Walk Through Grief on Amazon and that no reviews of the book are available. He promised to write one and encouraged me to ask others to do the same.
Kevin also shared with me the importance of tweeting and including a tagging others in the process. The importance of tagging others is the hope that they then will share the tweet with their followers. This is all uncharted territory for me. I’m the guy that can’t even remember to save my documents when I’m creating them, now I should be tweeting? I have a lot to learn.
Several weeks ago, I sat us a tweet account. I’m sure with enough research; I can find out the name and pass word for that account. Kevin patiently showed me on his iPhone how it works, but I’m struggling with information overload.
Apparently with tweeting, you only use a phrase because you have a limited amount of words to draw others in to one’s blog or posting. Kevin asked, “Don, what quick thought would you have that you could tweet to reference your book signing?” That one was easy to answer: “I don’t want to die with 500 copies of my book in the attic.” He laughed and said, “You could also tweet that “autographs are free.”
Later that afternoon, Kevin tweeted several links to previous blogs I’ve written. He also tweeted information about More Than Enough with a link to Amazon. I was surprised to say the least. I didn’t know the book was yet highlighted anywhere on the Internet. I did a quick search to Tate Publishing Company and discovered, that they, too, have the book referenced on their site. The official release date for the book is March 17.
Looking out the window of my office, it is clear that ice has once again covered the pasture grasses. It is picturesque and serves as a reminder it is cold outside. Perhaps it is a good day to carve out the time to learn more about tweeting.
I am indebted to all of you who’ve encouraged me in the process. Something tells me that my very full life is soon to get fuller. Otherwise, the tree will fall in the forest and no one will hear the sound.
All My Best!
Don