Christmas Present : Jane Green

Thanks Santa for the Jane Green book!

Looking forward to reading it. That makes about 250 books I have on my Kindles and nightstand and bookcase and everywhere in my house.

Can you ever have too many books?

I've been binge reading all the remaining Barry Eisler books I hadn't read. John Rain mainlining. Almost done with all of his. Ready to dig into some new ones.

People Going Gorillas for APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

I know a few million of you have probably already bought and read APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur - How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch which came out last night at midnight Pacific Coast Time, but for the rest of you, what's taking you so long? Just kidding, a little, but this is a book that so many people will find

FUN
FUNNY
INFORMATIVE
INSPIRATIONAL
INSPIRING
THOUGHTFUL
VIGOROUS
VISIONARY and
WONDERFUL!

Full disclosure, I know Guy and Shawn and worked with them on the last book, What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us, so I am a friend. Guy gives me cred in the acknowledgements section of this new book for just about forcing him to write it, so I am biased. But this book has so much more to offer than I thought it would in the beginning, I'm seriously impressed. It's so useful and practical, as well as amusing and inspiring, which you can count on from any Kawasaki book. As I wrote in a review of the book on Amazon, I can't think of anyone who shouldn't read this book. If you're a reader it's a must own. If you're a writer, it's essential. If you're a publisher, you can't live without it. And of course, entrepreneurs will love it.

Crossing i's and dotting t's -- I mean ...

Ever think about all the work that went into getting these books on a shelf?!   I do!   That's all I've been thinking about lately.

Exciting times here with my Kickstarter book project.  Again, thanks so much to all my supporters.  I've been meeting with editors and proofreaders to line them up -- a bit like finding a good midwife for a baby due in a few months.  They make it or break it honestly!  And as the title suggests, I can write the thing but I need someone else to cross the t's and dot the i's thank you very much.

Picture Credit:  CalTech Library

We Blog The World Relaunch!

I was glad to hear what Renee Blodgett of We Blog the World has been up to lately.  She's just done a relaunch of her site and I asked her about it. 

1.       Why did you do the relaunch?

Renee Blodgett at We Blog The World

At We Blog the World, we realized that while there’s a lot of content for travelers out there on the web, there’s not a lot of content that is tailored around events, festivals and culture, specific to so many different countries under one umbrella. In other words, there is a wealth of resources on tourism sites for events and festivals specific to a region, however that content is hard to find and you have to do serious digging every time you want to go to a specific country or city. The content is fragmented at best.

Secondly, a lot of travel sites focus on either high-end luxury or they focus on adventure travel for backpackers when most of the world falls in between the two. Where does the discerning traveler go who’s already been to the popular hot spots and is yearning for more? We want to provide that content and a community that supports that interest and desire.

2.       Who’s your best audience and who do you want to reach?

We are trying to reach an educated savvy traveler who has done a lot of traveling but is yearning for more. We’re after those who think and ask:  I want to experience cultural events around things I care about most that will expand my mind: food/wine, arts, culture, entertainment, music and green/sustainability and what’s out there that I can experience beyond the traditional tours where I can expand my horizons, meet interesting people, grow and make a difference in the world? In other words: Renaissance thinking meets travel and cultural events. We are a catalyst that will connect the forces at play: those creating the experiences and those wanting to experience them and this is obviously worldwide not just in the U.S.

3.       Are you a global social media site? 

We’re not really a "social media" site, we’re a travel and culture site that is social media savvy. Our readers are heavy technology and mobile users who spend a lot of time online but also yearn for adventure. They also like to travel and want to expand their minds through new and unique experiences. Social media is a catalyst to help make that happen. Because We Blog the World heavily engages on a number of social media networks, we engage with our readers regularly and learn about what works and what doesn’t. Social media mobilizes things so much faster and we use social media to engage with our readers and to learn about what people love and don’t. We Blog the World readers come from the U.S., England, Canada, India, Australia, France, Singapore, Germany and the SE Asia in that order, although South America is growing organically.

FUNDED!!

Wow! Very exciting day here. My Kickstarter project was FUNDED! If you missed out and still want to fund my project, you can use my PayPal link here!


My fully funded project:  Founders Less Than Three video below!



Click here to check it out!

Getting Down to the Wire!

My Kickstarter project has one week to go! Please feel free to back me for $25, $50, $100. Best of all, if you pick the $125 level, you help me create a fictional start-up company and even make up a fiction CEO male or female. And that fictional way they will change the world with their fictional product -- it's all waiting for you!


Click here to check it out!

I Get Knocked Down; Still Anything is Possible

It's the Friday morning of Labor Day weekend and I dropped a bunch of teens off at coffee shop in Arlington. They're young, sexy, pretty and handsome, thrilled to be heading into Harvard Square on the bus to knock around. And they are excited, happy, silly. Are you?

I pull away and I'm trying to put my finger on that feeling. It's the feeling that anything is possible.  Anything!




And I'm thinking,  Shit, that's it!  That's what it feels like to be an entrepreneur! That's the feeling you get in an accelerator! You are surrounded by BRAVE, CRAZY, ANYTHING-IS-POSSIBLE people 24x7 and once you've experienced that, it's a bitch to live any other way.

I mean face it, most businesses are all about, "Oh sorry, we don't do that here," or "Oh no, we've always done it this way," or "Why reinvent the wheel?"

Okay, ready, SOMETIMES THE WHEEL NEEDS REINVENTING! And that's what enterpreneurs have -- insane amounts of optimism and the ability to jump on an opportunity and make something happen.

Whether they're chasing a hot girl down the street, chatting up a stranger in a bar, reimagining how a time-honored practice can be completely revamped, they are open to all possibility.

What a way to live! On the edge of possibility, creativity, chutzpah and welcoming new ways of thinking and bringing new products and things into being.  They try things.  They fail on a regular basis.  They are ready to try try again.

Oh yeah! They get knocked down but they get up again!  He sings the songs that remind him of the good times.

And that's what I'm writing about.  Thanks again for all the support.