Recently a friend of mine went on at length about his dislike and fear of “The Corporations”. This diatribe was brought on partially in response to the recent election, and partially by an iPad commercial he took offense to. To him, Apple products are the epitome of empty, evil consumer manipulation, in addition to being the cause of a variety of other societal ills. I quickly backed out of trying to argue against him, because he is slightly crazy and not terribly open to alternate viewpoints. You can hate corporations, sure, but keep in mind that every corporation is filled with normal human beings trying to find their way to a fulfilling life. Vilifying the entire organization isn’t fair to the good people inside of it.
Now let me hoop over the fence to the anti-corporate side of things. There are two elements of big business that I think add very little or even harm our society as a whole: shareholders, conglomerates, and middle managers.
Shareholders only care about one thing:profit. Indeed, the corporations are legally required to put shareholder profit above any and all other considerations. For the most part, shareholders don’t care about healthy workers or environmental responsibility. They buy the stock and expect to make money from it, even though they do none of the work to earn the money. I know, I know, the shareholders money is ostensibly used to improve the company’s money-making ability, so you can argue that their investment counts as ‘work’ but it’s not the same as earning something through the sweat of your brow. Everything a publicly owned company does has to be vetted by the shareholders, while a private company has no such considerations. Private companies can take risks and make painful short-term choices with long-term benefits. Public companies have to show progress and growth to the shareholders every quarter, even though the idea of limitless growth is foolish.
And what needs to be said about middle management that Dilbert hasn’t already covered? This layer of uselessness makes nothing, and carries no responsibility for the success or failure of the company itself. It’s a layer of thick, human mediocrity that is just smart enough to wriggle out of doing honest work, but too dumb to come up with a good idea. Every time you hear someone use stupid business speak, claiming to ‘leverage synergy’ or get the people ‘out of the weeds’ they are announcing their intent to accomplish nothing. To be fair, middle managers do achieve one thing: bloat. Whether it’s fattened reports devoid of useful information, or giant teams of barely competent staff doing very little, the middle managers are the creators of it.
I am not an enemy of prosperity or success. I think any individual should have the opportunity to achieve to the fullest extent of their abilities. A good business gives its employees the opportunity to produce something of value, something to feel proud of. I have to believe that any business filled with happy and fulfilled workers would be financially successful.

That’s  it! I am done waiting. It’s time to…Sell Some Fiction!

My first book is up for sale now, in both digital and physical form. It’s a young adult book with modern-day magic and daring high school adventures. Daring! And what is this book like, a prospective reader may ask. Well, There’s some Hardy Boys in its DNA (though there are no pirates, smugglers or chubby kids named ‘Chet’), and a bit of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but without vampires. And if, in the process of reading the book it reminds you of any other works of fiction, please let me know. Without further ado, here are the links:

For the eBook:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54859

For the physical book:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/witchkids/15841059

(If you’re in my local area and you want to buy a physical copy, let me know. I’m ordering a bunch, and I can save you the shipping costs)

So, dear minions (if I may call you minions) please dig into your change pocket and buy a copy. If you like the book, and I think you will, please recommend it to your friends. My marketing budget is zero dollars, so I’m hoping that you wonderful people will be the wind beneath my commercial wings. And, if you have a moment, please leave a review or give the book a rating on the site. Higher rankings mean more visibility. I read that on a billboard or something. Oh, and if your kids are old enough to handle YA fiction, please let them read your copy (I should have said ‘buy them a copy too’. Dang it!) I would really like to know what they think of it.

If you’re on the fence about buying a copy, consider it an investment in my potential. This book is good, but it isn’t the best thing that I will ever do. My writing is going to keep improving as I grind away at it, and your financial support gives me the time to practice. In the fall, the little dude will be attending pre-school for 3 full days a week if we can afford it, and I can hardly imagine how much I will be able to get done with that much time. Also, I love each and every one of you, and I’d buy a book from you if you had one 🙂

I’d like to thank all of you once again, my strangely faithful readers. Knowing that there is an audience out there watching me and following my antics has kept me motivated, and helped give this whole process meaning. Good work, internet friends!

Whew, that was a heck of a week. Busy, busy busy. But now we are here with some time on our hands. Fantastic!
I had a friend lament to me in an email this week that his life was boring, full of work he didn’t really enjoy and leisure pursuits that didn’t actually entertain him. In the olden days before our modern age of convenience, this kind of boredom was kept at bay by the vicious struggle to simply survive from day-to-day. Working a back-breaking 12 hour day doesn’t leave you with very much energy to fret about anything other than tomorrow. You don’t really have any spare time to waste. As a side-effect to our comfort and light work load here in the first-world, we have a lot of time to fill.
But, even during my sensationalized version of  the past, there were people who had excess capacity, people who could manage to survive and thrive and still have the mental and emotional energy left over to look for something more. And I’m sure many of them had ye olde same problem of being bored: it would explain the bewildering aspects of popular fashion and culture, like giant powdered wigs or white face makeup full of lead. A lot of a civilization’s spare time is used up by disposable and empty fun, but some people are lucky enough to find something more fulfilling to occupy that time. They decide upon a bigger purpose, an overall theme to their life narrative. Very simply, they have a big, long-term goal.There are a few pitfalls to avoid when you look for your Big Goal.
Don’t set your sights too low, for a start. Achieving your Big Goal will throw you for a loop, and put you back in the position of searching for a new direction, so aim a little higher than “my big goal is to re-carpet the living room”.
Have some kind of timeline in mind. If there’s no structure at all to your Big Goal plan, then it’s really just a meandering daydream.
Pick something that you’ll have to do a significant amount of work in several different areas to achieve. If it only requires the skills you already possess, it won’t work.
Pick something that seems almost impossible, based on your current abilities. You’re going to grow into it, trust me.
Learn to accept the wisdom in the saying “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” even if it sounds trite.

You may never achieve your Big Goal, but that is beside the point. You are aiming to accumulate the skills and experience that you would need to reach your Big Goal, skills and experiences that are rewarding and useful on their own. I will give you my crazy Big Goal: are you prepared? It;s pretty out there. Ready?

I want to be Prime Minister.
Whoa. That is one giant goal. Pretty unlikely too. But, let’s look at the composite elements before we throw the whole idea away.
Most Prime Ministers assumed office in their early 50s. I am 36 now, so I have 16 years. That’sa lotta time.
You need to  be an active part of your community to be suitable for public office. I want to increase my volunteer and charity efforts anyway.
You need to be comfortable talking with strangers in person and on the phone. I need and want to beat my telephone/ stranger fear, and you only overcome anxiety like that by practicing.
You need to be active within your political party of choice. I love the idea of rebuilding the Liberal party from the ass-whuppin’ it took in the election. Plus, I could do charity work in my LIberal shirt and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
You need to be bilingual to run the whole country. I’ve thought about improving my high school-level Francais before, and now I have a reason to etudie le belle langue. I know, I have a lot of work to do.
You need an understanding of how government and Canadian law work. I did a practice Law School Admissions Test out of curiosity the other day, and I liked it. I did pretty well too.
To go to law school, you need good marks in your completed undergraduate degree. I have thought about finishing my degree, but I never really had a compelling reason to do so. I have that reason now.
To pay for all of this schooling, I need to earn money. My first book is going up for sale shortly, and I’ll see how much of an audience I can count on for future books.
To sell future books, I need to keep writing. Luckily, I like writing and I’m thrilled with my continuing improvement.
To accomplish any of this, I need to have a loving family, and I need to be a good dad. Check and check.

It’s funny that I imagine a chorus of disapproving and shocked naysayers, all shouting at the ridiculousness and audacity of my Big Goal, when everyone around me has actually been pretty supportive. There’s that pesky internal criticism and lack of self-esteem. Self-esteem is on the list of things I need to  improve. Will I ever actually become the Prime Minister of Canada? Who knows, and more importantly, who cares? I have a lot of cool things to do.