I love tats.

For me, tattoos should have meaning.  They can represent a period in my life, something I may want to let go, something that I want to remember forever, or something that represents one of my philosophies in life.  So I take a long time to decide what I want to get.  But that’s part of the fun.  The other part is the pain involved.  But that’s another post.

One of my favorite shows is The Actor’s Studio, hosted by James Lipton.  He’s interviewed famous actors, directors, and some writers, exploring how they got to where they are today.  One of the running themes of the show is tattoos.  Every time an actor has one, or several, Lipton asks them about it.  He whines how he can’t have a tattoo because his wife won’t allow it.

One of my friends wants a tattoo.  He’s a doctor.  His wife won’t allow him to have one.  She said it isn’t proper for a doctor.  My initial thought is, if it’s covered under clothes, how would anyone know?

My second thought is, why are these men allowing their wives to tell them what they can or cannot do with their bodies?  It’s their bodies, their life; they can do with it as they wish.  Right?

If my friend wanted to quit his job just because he felt like it, then that’s different.  He’s the sole breadwinner, and his family depends on him.  But getting a tattoo shouldn’t change his wife’s love or appreciation for him.  Right?  He’s still the same person.

If my friend was single and wanted to quit his job, then he should.  He has to live with the rewards or consequences of doing so, but he’s only affecting himself and not anyone else.

Isn’t getting a tattoo only affecting the person getting it?

It pisses me off that people try to tell others what to do.  We live in a society of blending in.  You wanna look good and be part of the right group of people?  Wear the right clothes sold at the GAP.  Have your hair this way.  Talk right.  Earn this much.  Color within the lines.

You want a good job?  Get a college degree.  Really?

Steve Jobs never got one and look at where he is.  Is he an exception?  I don’t think so.  In his lecture to Stanford’s 2005 graduates, he tells them that he’s always lived a life of passion, and followed it.  For him, the incomprehensible dots that led him out of college and into that famous garage wasn’t planned, nor could he even see what they would lead to.  Not until he arrived could he connect the dots looking back.

So live your life.  Follow your passions.  You’ll never know where they’ll lead you.

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People want the above picture.  A road that lights up that leads to their destination.

People will even follow a road like this, which I think reflects life a bit more.

But if you were the rock, which path would you follow?  The straight path?  The curvy one?  How about the third?

I was reading another writer’s post, and they were talking about why writers write, knowing thechancesany kind of success is freakin’ low.

Here’s my view: Learn the lesson of the turtle.

I wrote The 7th Province and will continue to write the two books in this series and the prequels because some how for some reason these stories were given to me to write.  I write these posts because when I come across something that invokes a thought close to my heart, I write about it.

It is what it is cuz it ain’t what it ain’t.

Duh.

Despite the millions of books that are written each year, writing is the unbeaten path.

When I went to the San Francisco Writer’s Conference, I talked to a lot of writers.  Many were published.  Many had written books.  But I was also surprised to find that many writers hadn’t even begun.  Was it their destiny to write?  That’s not for me to answer.  But it seems that those who write, write because they are inspired to.

God!  Here’s that freakin’ word ‘inspire’.

That word invokes an internal meaning.  It’s not ‘outspire’, which isn’t even a word.  Nor is it perspire, which invokes strange odors.  But it’s inspire.  In.

In The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi asks Daniel to close his eyes and imagine a perfect picture of a bonsai tree.

Mr. Miyagi:  Wipe your mind clean.  Everything but the tree.  Nothing exists in whole world…only tree.  You got it?  Open eyes.  Remember picture?

Daniel-san:  Yeah.

Mr. Miyagi:  Make like picture.  Just trust the picture.

Daniel-san:  How do I know my picture’s the right one?

Mr. Miyagi:  If come from inside you, always right one.

Do what you love, love what you do.

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Today, I’ve uploaded my second favorite lecture from the San Francisco Writer’s Conference.  It’s not a lecture but a panel of literary agents from fiction to non-fiction, from Christian literature to inspirational.

We were allowed to ask questions on what they wanted to see in books, how to submit queries, synopsis, and they talked about platforms and self-publishing.  All of it will give you a glimpse into what they’re looking for.

I do want to warn you that a hyena sat next to me who didn’t have the most pleasant of breath.  Imagine me sitting, and every time you hear him laugh, his fiery breath singed the left side of my face.  However, it didn’t take away from what I learned.

The surprising thing about the whole experience is that the answers to some of these questions varied widely.  Amazingly, agents are just like people.  So finding the right agent is just a matter of sifting through all the wrong ones.  For most successful authors, they tend to stick with their agents for a long time.  Again it’s just a testament that perseverance is vital in the achievement of our dreams.

And the other thing that I learned from the whole conference is how much of an author’s success rests in the author’s hand.  One person went as far to state that 90% of our success sits with us.  If you’re curious to how, go to my posts on Brenda Novak and Branding.

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I love tattoos and have a couple.  Anyone have them?  It took me five years to decide on my first one.  My friend and I stayed up all night designing it on the computer.  The next day we were going to go to a car show.  But before we’d arrived, I went to a tattoo shop, slapped the print out down, pointed to my arm, and said, “I want this here.”

The tattoo artist looked at the picture we spent hours on and simply said, “That’s not going to work.”

Man!

My hopes for a tattoo flushed down the toilet.  He asked me what I wanted.

“Just an armband, but I want it to frame two Chinese characters for Inner Strength.” It’s part of the tattoo culture in my book, where family emblems are framed by the arm band. The idea was spawned by Superman.

“Hmmm.”  The guy straightened his glasses, tightened his headband, took a pen and quickly sketched on the back of my print out.  It took him like ten seconds.  “I think this is what you’re looking for.”

“Yeah!”  And damn.  That was quick.  That was about ten years ago.  And I still love it.  Inner strength. Not surprisingly, it’s a theme that the 7th Province explores.

Below, you’ll see an an audio to a woman who did a lecture on branding.  Talk about inner strength.  This woman exuded serious determination, passion and confidence.  Her name is Philippa Burgess.  Check her out at www.creativecvg.com.

I’ve broken up the 42 minute audio into three parts. Feel free to download them. She was part of the San Francisco Writer’s Conference.

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He discusses what he did to get his book out to the world.  Richard was cool enough to tell a few other stories.  Some were touching and others funny.  He also  gave some inspiring advice to us authors.  I highly recommend listening him.

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Tell me what you think.  Please forgive the poor recording.  All three hundred of us were having lunch.

Tomorrow, I’ll upload a lecture about branding.

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Over the next week or so, I’m going to post a lecture for you to listen everyday. So come back and check on what I’ve uploaded. Each one is about 45 minutes long, giving the attendees enough time to go to the next lecture.

The first one I’m going to upload is a lecture by best selling suspense romance novelist Brenda Novak. Her trilogy, The Last Stand: Trust Me, Stop Me, Watch Me, has become New York Time Bestsellers. She talks about strategies she’s used to make her more visible and credible before her first book was published.

Please feel free to download these. I apologize for the quality of the audio, but there was a lot of ambient noise. The format of the file is .caf, but you should be able to play them using Windows Media Player or Quicktime. Tell me what you think, and come back as I will upload others.

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What you can expect in future audio uploads from the conference:

Key Note speeches from best selling authors

Body Language

How to write plot summaries

Self-publishing

Branding tactics

Q&A with Agent panels for both fiction and non-fiction

Lecture from a top agent, Donal Maass

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People are always concerned with the ‘how’. How’re you going to do that? How are you going to lose all that weight? How are you going to be a big time movie star? How are you going to afford that expensive home? I’m struggling with this as I look to buy a house in CA. Yikes!

There’s nothing wrong with wondering how anything is going to happen. But most people are afraid to take the first step because they can’t envision every step of the way. A lot of personal growth guru’s say don’t worry about how to attain something. I never understood it until I researched J.K. Rowling. She’s always wanted to be a writer, to publish a book. Simple enough, right? From all the interviews I’ve read and heard, the one thing that she didn’t concern herself was the ‘how’. She had an inspiration, a vision of Harry Potter. From there, she took steps to develop the wizardry world. She wanted to build a foundation of what magic could and couldn’t do. Then she focused on the plot, focused on the goals of each character, thought out the massive back stories. What’d she do next? She began writing. Not rocket science.

For most writers, published or not, the publishing world is a mystery. Even literary agents who’ve worked in the industry for decades still don’t know exactly what makes a book a bestseller. But if you want to be a best selling author, then you must first write. Once you’re done, the next step is revise. Get outside help. Then revise again. Send out query letters, and so on and so forth.

Look at it from Tom Tom’s view, or any other GPS. Enter the starting point. Enter the destination. Tom Tom takes you from the starting point, tells you to drive a couple of miles. Once you get there, make a right at Main St. Drive three hundred yards, then turn left. It does this until you reach your destination.

Life works in the same manner. Know where you are. Know where you want to go. And proceed. The how will present itself. You’ll never see the whole map. It can be detrimental. You might miss a turn. You’ll never see more than a couple hundred yards in front of you. Don’t need to. Stay the course and know you’ll get there.

Most important of all, enjoy the ride. Why do anything if it’s not fun?

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