On Getting Back to the Business of Art

It has always been so...but can't always be so: I'd prefer to write and focus on the imaginative and technical sides of my art, hoping perfection of those would lead the dollars to come in abundance.



To my way of thinking, I'd earned them. And I'd be pleased to be repaid in the thing I'd refused to sell out for. Decades later--with four traditionally published novels and four ebooks--I find myself struggling to master skills many newbies have easily mastered:
--Achieving Online Visibility when hundreds of thousands--maybe a million--new Ebooks are published each year.
--Obtaining reviews when most review sites are backlogged and some are temporarily closed....and even those who've been gifted with copies may not bother to read or review.
--Mastering social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.
--Effectively launching new Ebooks.
--Pricing.

Etc., etc., etc.

So last year I decided to consecrate 2016 to the nitty-gritty...the nuts and bolts...the reality side of Ebooking. One fundamental decision I made took even me by surprise: I'd learn to tighten the zip on my lips.



I'd come to realize two essential truths: though books abound on Ebook Success, no one is sharing trade secrets and no one who has made a killing will help others poach on their turf. Correction: I should have said I'd realized three essential truths. For I'd come to accept that this is the world's way...without losing hope of improving the way.

Reflection took me back to a book on self-help I'd read decades ago.




This perennial bestseller is actually a commercial abridgment of Hills' massive original Law of Success (available in 4 volumes of approximately 250 pages each). Many readers of the slim paperback may have visions of literally thinking themselves rich--waking up rich overnight. And the publisher's version abounds with examples of poor people who came into money they'd simply imagined themselves having.

But the original Law of Success tells a far different, and far more useful, story--with the emphasis.  evenly spread among the guiding principles. Not just positive thinking or creative visualization but work, strategy, temperance, personality, character and more.




And one cornerstone that came back to me now was the principle of the MasterMind Group (MMG): men and women of power and destiny forming alliances...sharing their resources with like-minded souls...and inspiring one another. After all:




Last night I learned a new strategy for improving my Amazon book page. And I can't wait to share it with the MMG when the round table is full.

On Doing It Over and Over Again

(Not my own new place...not yet.)

One of the first things you learn moving into a studio apartment is the importance of habit. Correction: the imperative. For unless you get into the habit keeping the space clean and neat as you go, it'll turn into a wilderness of confused and angry wonderings: where the devil are my keys? where's my bus pass? who the hell took my flash drives and Altoids? Things tend to pile up quickly...then shift and slide to chaos. And the end result can be a weak sense of helpless despair.

I know: I faced exactly that with my one bedroom apartment in Charlotte. And it took me nearly half a year to sort, prune, organize...and take out a whole lot of trash. In this new smaller space, I knew, I'd be facing worse if I didn't start constructing some far better habits. Today.

As a man who's kicked booze and tobacco--and failed a few times with tobacco--I knew the importance of mindset and realistic thinking. Aristotle put it this way, 'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence...is not an act but a habit." There's no succeeding at any life commitment in 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months. And the effort must be not a battle but a daily chance to grow in strength and sense of purpose.

It helps to have clear, powerful vision. I saw an immaculate, spartanly furnished studio. And I saw just what I needed, placed where it belonged with a Zen-like respect for space.

Of immediate importance: staying organized and neat on a strict daily basis. Since I'm furnishing slowly, from scratch, I can't have everything at once: dresser, filing cabinets, desk...These will come. For now, I use cheap plastic modules from Target. One broad slate window sill supports my Stoker Award and a cover blowup of my third book, Mastery. On another I lay out the personal things I'll need for the next day: keys, wallet, etc.The kitchen counter top, just for now, holds one newspaper I haven't finished reading and a couple of pieces of mail, all very neatly arranged.

Nothing, nothing on the floor except what's meant to be there.

Garbage: taken out each day. Every scrap and stitch of it.

Used laundry: in the closet's special bag immediately after use.

Bathroom: spot-cleaned daily, toiletries neatly arranged.

I know, I know. It all sounds so banal. But the spiritual discipline involved is the very stuff of life--what Napoleon Hill once called Cosmic Habitforce.

Zen and the Art of Living in a Studio.