My friend Cassidy sent m e
a link to an article in The Atlantic that bem oans
the lack of advice colum ns for m en and writes in her own subtle way… “Stupid
pukes.” She tells m e
I should write an advice colum n and
I responded “I do, it’s just that no one reads it.” Whereupon she retorts “Pussy. You should read
your own book.” (Cassidy is a Marine... enough said.) And I would have been well within my rights to tell her to STFU because she can't possibly understand anything about me and...
But she’s right. One of m y
growth edges is clearly self-prom otion.
The skill set that allows m e to sit
for hours, lost in m y head and
typing away is not functionally useful when it com es
to m arketing, in finding an agent,
in arranging speaking dates, in reaching out. This stuff m akes
m e uncom fortable
and as I’ve had the tem erity to
write and advise others, if it m akes you
uncom fortable it’s probably som ething you should be doing.
So I am . I just
spoke at a function at m y high
school alm a m ater
and I am prom oting
m y new book, based in part upon
HTSYMbBABM and m y work with Im ago and divorce m ediation,
A Road Less Traveled, a reader’s companionto a good divorce. It's a good book. It's getting good reviews, and in all honesty you should buy it from me via e-mail and not Amazon because that way I make a decent profit and Amazon already has enough money.
So, rather than tem porizing
by saying “I’m going to try to m arket m y
work.” I am focusing on saying sim ply “I am
self-prom oting.”
Which is just as hard as shifting from
saying “I’m trying not to be angry
and violent around m y fam ily” to “I am
not going to be that m an anym ore.” The form er
allows for and perhaps even invites failure, the latter is a powerful statem ent of intent. So rem em ber that when you are speaking to your beloved.
Prom ising to try
is not a prom ise at all.
Or to put it on a level we can al identify with... there is no try