Reb MacRath, Action Manifester! Chapter Six

My new ally (Call me Jules) Caesar ended up staying for three hands of cards. Given the rules of the game, as you know, each hand lasted for five days--with one of five questions per day.

Round one: How would JC begin with my Don't Wants/my Do Wants/Top things I need to get clear on, etc. Rounds two and three: to ramp up the action, I called on different qualities and strengths peculiar to JC: Which single Don't Want would JC bitch-slap, as a brutal warrior, into submission today--and how? How would JC inspire his 'inner troops' to tackle today a top Do Want? How would JC have mastered and ruled one top issue I need to let go of?

As you see, I'd begun using my trusty Moleskine notebook as something far more than a diary or log. I'd begun to take far bolder steps toward becoming an Action Manifester. And a major surprise added fuel to my fire: One day while checking my Inbox I found a notice from Linked-In. I clicked and had my jaw lowered: my favorite brother, X--the main reason I'd moved to Charlotte, but whom I'd grown estranged from after a family feud--had moved to Southern California.

And here I was in Charlotte with no further reason to be here. No family ties, no East coast ties. For all of an hour, I sat feeling crushed. But then I heard Jules taunting me...and I got down to business. Correction: I got down to business with a sense of urgency that I had never known.

Immediate goals: restore contact with my brother...try to reconnect with another lost part of past, in L.A....begin making immediate plans to prepare for a Top Secret move...make every attempt to re-connect with the entire family...begin prepping immediately to better my prospects for the move: rental and job references, Amazon sales, super-buff phyique.

Almost overnight, I saw a dramatic difference within the 3x5 Moleskine itself. The final section of each day, tagged Inspired Actions, had always run about 6-8 lines. Now it runs up to a page.And the urgent sense keeps growing: Acquire more research on my destination...Contact B for changes for new cover to The Suiting...Email brother X...Respond immediately to his email...Get email addresses for other estrange siblings...Strengthen bond with present boss...Lunch w/Z re writing/editing position to make more money for the move...Etc.

Results: invitation to nephew's wedding, in Charlotte, this December--a chance to meet most of the family...with five months to mend the past rift. A growing friendship with Miss G, a young lady I've bonded with online, who's become not just a friend but an ally and a partner in planning the cross-country move. A highly supportive new Twitter network that loves and touts endlessly my Boss MacTavin mysteries. Near-completion of the rewrite required for the upcoming 25th anny edition of The Suiting. Receipt of the hours I need at both jobs to finance the cross-country move in 2014.

And, oh yes: the physique I want is beginning to show.