2009 Goals

I’ve never been one for the New Years Resolutions; I feel there’s too much negative emotion and connotations behind it. If it works for you that’s great, but I just can’t seem to put resolutions in a positive light. Sure, everything sounds good (even those resolutions you don’t tell others) but then they begin to dwindle down. And I hate doing things from the get-go of the New Year, because eveyone invaribly asks with a chuckle, “Is that a resolution?” The advancement of the year just seems like a marker of the reminder of the last time you did something – whether it be smoking a cigarette or having a delicious fried chicken nugget. Last year I sincerely had things I wanted to work on, things I wanted to start fresh on, but I got sidetracked in all that around mid-April, as previously described. 

This is the first year I’m going to set some actual goals to achieve. I believe it’s far easier and productive to reach a specific goal rather than make an empty resolution: “I’m going to be nicer to people!” Can we get more vague? Some of these goals of mine are a bit vague, yes, but can all be measured. In addition, beginning the last week of January, I’m going to revisit each of these goals at the end of every month on my blog. This will not only serve as a reminder for me, but will also be a form of accountability for myself; I’m laying all of these goals and intentions in front of you, and to be honest I’m rather prideful about some of these things and don’t want to lose face. Also, I hope that the goals and monthly evaluatons will serve as a bit of encouragement to you, as well. Feel free to write your goals and updates in the comments, and follow along. It’ll be an interesting way to keep ourselves on track in 2009!

Goals for 2009:

• Lose 50lbs – I’m chubby, and don’t like it. Twice in the past two years I’ve started with personal trainers. The first time, I fell down the stairs and broke two ribs; the second, I was in a large car wreck. I’m not doing that a third time. Rather, I’m just going to begin daily excercise and eating right. Sound simple enough? I’m at 245 now, and want to be below 200. 
• Finish and Release History Book About a year ago I started work on a history book for kids in conjunction with one of my freelance clients, Paper Models, Inc. The past year of medical fun got in the way of that. I’m going to finish it and get it out. 
• Continue Developing Writing Business The past two months have been spent slowly stepping in to the freelance writing pond and seeing what’s out there. I’m now going to be more aggressive in my approach, and continue my buildup of corporate clients as well as sending out queries for magazine articles. 
• Get My California Site in Google’s Top 5 Lofty goal, but I think it can be done. The site will be launching in increments over the next several weeks, and we’ll begin doing advertising shortly thereafter. 
• Become 100% Debt Free – This is probably the loftiest of all goals, especially considering that I technically own two financed cars at the moment and my medical bills for the last year are outrageous. Assuming the insurance claims all go through okay, there are some other issues here and there. Achieving this goal will go hand-in-hand with the success of the writing buisness and the California site, as I will be throwing money at this best until it is dead. 
• Take Two One Week Vacations – At the same time, I’m not going to burn myself out. I want to take one week-long vacation with Justin back to the Bay Area (we want to explore more of Napa and the Redwoods, too), and then one week-long vacation backpacker-style by myself to some place I’ve never been. I’ve really been wanting to explore the East Coast or go to Tokyo, but I promised Justin he could accompany me on those trips. I would really love to explore Toronto (I’ve been there, but just as a layover), Mexico City, or Belfast.
• Read Two Books A Month – I love the library; I don’t know why it took me so long to get over Gilbert’s sorry excuse for a branch to actually appreciate the library again. In addition to the slew of business and marketing books I browse through, I am committing to actually reading two books a month. I got a slight head start for January (sshhhh!!) as I’m working my way through Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I don’t have a second book selection for this month yet; any suggesstions? I prefer non-fiction.
• Be Within One Year Of Obtaining My Degree: Self-explanatory. 
• Take part in NaNoWriMo ‘09 The National Novel Writing Month is each November, and each year thousands of writers commit to pounding out a novel in one month. No pre-done work, no rough drafts already written. My upcoming book Avenue of the Giants originated in NaNoWriMo ‘05 – yeah, I know it didn’t get done in a month. I list this as a goal, but unlike all my other goals, this cannot be followed up with each month. The reason I list this, however, is to remind myself. Invariably, every year since 2005, I forget until the second week of November. I have no idea what I want to write; a couple non-fiction book ideas I have swimming around my head would take too long, but I would like to compile a book of short stories. 
• Release Book 4, Avenue of the Giants. Long story short: “Avenue of the Giants” was originally supposed to be a book about my road trip to Seattle, with parts of the Christian/gay struggle thing being told along the way. I then decided to include my Israeli trip in the book, and it became “Over Israeli Skies” and “Peace and Destruction from the Ramparts At Damascus Gate.” Well, I dropped the gay/Christian back story and told that in blog-format in a seperate book, Dear World – A Novel that I released last month. The book then sold to a major New York publisher whom I’m not allowed to really name. But you’ve heard of them. My deadline was extended, and now my book is on hold until the economy stabalizes. They’re releasing other books in the meantime, just not mine. Or the other dude’s book that was supposed to be released alongside of mine. You’d really think they’d release his book; you’ve heard of him. But nonetheless, my book is in book purgatory. Come April, if nothing is done with a new release date, I have the option of cancelling my contract and taking it to a different publisher. Oh, and to double the trouble, they decided that the Israeli content (which was a good chunk of the book) was too controversial at this point in time (who knew?) so that part of the book was cut off. The editor decided the book did well just as a narrative of the Seattle trip, and wanted it to end – I kid you not – at Huntington Beach. Because I don’t need a third book that fucking ends at Huntington, we compromised and decided it should end at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, waiting for the plane to Israel. If I take it back and shop it around, my character may just board the damn plane and actually fly to the Middle East. 
• Join Or Begin A Local Writer’s Group – The ones I’ve tried to attend so far in the Valley blow. Just because you’re overwright, opinionated, and own a laptop does not mean you’re a writer, guys. Just because you’re a redhead with nine cats and a non-sexual fetish for year-round Christmas sweatshirts does not make you a writer, gals. I want to begin something new, preferrably along the light rail line. 
• Become Involved with 1 Film Project – I’ve done these before, and they were among the most exicting work I’ve done. I will keep an eye out for opprotunities to do more of these. 

So those are my goals for 2009, or some of them at least. What are yours?

Goals for 2009 – Part 1, The Review

I have a feeling this might be a long post. 

I’m not quite sure how to begin, so I’ll just dive right in: 2008 has been weird. I’m not going to be one of those people whom says it completely sucked; it had it’s good moments. There are some goals I wanted to achieve for 2008, and some hopes I had. Unlike New Year’s 2007, which felt like any other day, something about 2008 made it really feel like a new beginning (to me, at least), and I am sitting here relatively surprised by how the year progressed. 

At the beginning of the year, I was in my final semester at Mesa Community (I’d been balancing general education classes on the associates level with upper-division courses at University of Phoenix; a backward way of doing my degree, but it was working) and was doing great in work, school, and life in general. In February, Justin and I (not together at this point) took a trip to San Francisco, using up an airline credit that had been previously accumilated while we were still living together (under the coupe to attend Skon’s wedding together in Orange County). On the trip, we realized we missed each other, but none of us were ready to admit it yet – which was probably for the best at the time. A month later, we were back together. The year was continuing to go great, and I had even secured a book deal for my (at the time, second) book, Peace and Destruction from the Ramparts at Damascus Gate. It was due to the publisher on April 15. A week before, feeling that I was rushing it, the publisher called to give me an extension to September 15th. 

While April 15th proved not to bring a contract and royalty check, what it did bring was a massive five-car pile-up on the I-10 on my way to work at University of Phoenix. I was the first car hit in a chain of four, severely hurting me and totaling my Suzuki Forenza. Ironically, not even 48 hours before the accident, I was driving on the steep and bumpy Apache Trail near Roosevelt Lake, taking it extra easy on my car so as not to cause any damage. That accident, just like the one I had in late 2001 that totalled my Chevy Blazer (also not-at-fault) was a change in course that altered the majority of my year. I was in severe pain for months on end, and could only halfway function via a nice cocktail of muscle relaxers and pain killers. Of course, this caused my job performance to take a downward spiral – not only was I only working a 40-hour a week job about 15 hours a week for several months, but I was completely high on the medications when I was at work. I also had to drop out of school for the semester. 

Of course, the insurance claim for the accident took forever due to five cars being involved and the length of my treatment (it’s just now being resolved). Other things started happening which took their toll, not the least of which was Justin’s collapse at work causing his head to split open and a few key vertebrea to break. That happened in May; he just returned to work two weeks ago. While my job performance only partly recovered, I parted ways with University of Phoenix in mid-October. After a short stint at a coffee shop, I decided to begin pursuing my freelance writing full time. November supported me well, but December has had it’s setbacks, which is expected during the holidays. January looks promising, as do some other gigs I have lined up in the freelance world for the next part of the year. 

In an effort to end on a high note, I was also able to release my (now) second book, “Dear World – A Novel” on the three-year anniversary of the release of my first book, “Churches, Pubs & Hostels.” I am currently reviewing some goals I set for myself the year previous; and also looking at what I can set out to accomplish this next year. It is amazing what I feel is possible with having – really – all the time in the world to work on my projects and learn what I need to learn. It is exciting and overwhelming to not have to be anywhere in particular every single day. When I was chained for the past four years in a cubicle, I would often daydream about the things I could accomplish if time were not an issue. I can’t yet say that money is not an issue – it most certainly is, but one that is being taken in with a bit of smarts and personal restructuring. For now, time is not an issue. I can write, read, dream, and think about what the next steps are. 

Even in these last two months as a freelancer, I’ve been operating to a fraction of my potential. If I had to go back to a 9-5 tomorrow, I would feel that I’ve relatively squandered the last two months – even though I accomplished a good deal. I’ve allowed myself to do this as a way of relaxing and looking ahead to what I need to do – and with the new year and the end of the holidays, I have nothing but a desire to dive right in. Never before in my life have I had no major hinderance to some of my key goals – now or never, right? If I don’t go for broke and succeed, I have no other external factor to blame. 

More to come soon.

Good vs. Evil

In two separate (unrelated) freelance writing assignments, I’ve covered a historical overview of The Vienna Academy of Arts and also the history of air ambulance services. Intersecting those two histories, interestingly enough, is Adolf Hitler. 

In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler (a semi-gifted artist who was once popular in the local Vienna art scene for his landscapes of the city) tells the story that he was twice rejected for admission to the city’s art academy because his landscapes “lacked people.” While this was true of his work, he suspected that the entire governing board of The Vienna Art Academy were Jews; since a Jewish doctor was responsible for the misdiagnosis of his mother and caused her subsequent death, he felt betrayed by the race. This is where I write the obligatory sentence that this in no way condones his actions or his hatred, et cetera, et cetera. 

On a seperate but related note, the idea of air ambulances was first used in World War I by the English, but were deemed by the Crown too unreliable and costly, and the idea of using air transport to fly the wounded out of battle was regarded as absurd until 1936. This is when Adolf Hitler began supplying the Spanish Army with Nazi Germany-made air ambulances; the wounded were flown from Spain to hospitals in Berlin. Aware that the Nazis resurected this technology, the English refused to use it in World War II, even as Hitler did. But enter the Korean War: The United States adopted this technology for use beginning in 1950, and it has saved thousands of lives in wars all around the world ever since. The nation with the most high-tech air ambulance technology to date? Israel. 

This really begs the question: what would the world be like if Hitler had been accepted to art school, or if the Academy’s board and the doctor would have been of mixed ethnicities, or what if Nazi Germany had thrived, but used it’s power for good instead of evil? Of course, this is relatively impossible to consider, seeing as how a study of Hitler would reveal that he pursued whatever made him popular – unfortunately, at the time, it was alignment with antisemitic friends after his rejection from art school; he rose to power as the result of intimidation and violence, not great oratory skill as commonly discussed. 

It is grossly unpopular to label Hitler as having contributed to society in any positive way, his atrocities so horrid. The man was no doubt evil, but the scientists and engineers he had working for him created some amazing things that have altered EVERY SINGLE DAY of our existence, whether we choose to recognize them or not. Some examples:

-Volkswagon (a company personally created by Hitler, allowing his people to have cheap mass-produced cars). 

-Rotary engines

-Stealth technology

-Microwave ovens

-Seismic weapon detection

-Autobahns (the organized precursor to America’s beloved freeway system)

-Jetplanes

-Weapons such as the automatic rifle and anti-tank missiles

-Missile-guidance technology (expect in the case of laser-guided missiles, this is still used today)

-Magnetic audio tape

-The process of creating synthetic fuel from coal (this isn’t a new thing, hippies)

-The science first linking smoking and lung cancer

-The first effective television broadcast

-The smoke detector

-Inflatable “pleasure” dolls (for his troops, to keep them from chasing women)

-Atomic microscope

-The first space rocket occupying a man (it failed, he died)

-Pesticides

-The science linking mesothemola to asbestos inhalation

This is not to include numerous propaganda techniques, best-model business practices, and organizational structures employed by our government and American companies everyday. 

Ironically, there is one technology that Nazi Germany did NOT invent, but was perhaps the most important in their use of mass-collecting data of the Jews, categorizing them, and systematically killing them. Nazis did not randomly murder Jews; it was a very organized process and every person put through their mass-killing machines were processed accordingly. The processing was controlled by a new data punch-card system; without this system, it would have taken the Nazis MUCH longer to kill the Jews in the detailed methods they desired. Who invented, and knowingly leased this unit processing data machine technology to Nazi Germany? International Business Machines Corporation, otherwise known as IBM, based out of New York.

Obama Choosing Rick Warren – My Opinion

I generally consider myself a news junkie; I usually fall asleep to CNN, spend my day at the house working with the news on in the background, and always go out of my way to steal some homeless guy’s newspaper when he’s not looking. Once in awhile, I get tired of the news and spend three days straight watching Arrested Development, or just admiring the handywork of my 600 lights on our 8′ tree. I go back to the news and am usually surprised by what I’ve missed. 

Apparently large members of the gay community are mad at President-Elect Obama because he chose Rev. Rick Warren to do the invocation at his inaugration. Rick Warren, as many of you probably know, is the author of “The Purpose-Driven Life” and pastor of Orange Country’s uber-conservative Saddleback Church. I’ve read most of Warren’s books, been to his church several times, and while not outwardly appearing uber-conservative, he is in that catagory. 

Why are the gays mad? Because Obama is a strong supporter of gays and lesbians, while Warren was a vocal proponent of the controversial Prop 8, which changed California’s constitution to define marriage as strictly between man and woman. The gay crowd views this as a stab in the back by Obama.

This is a bit of hypocrisy it seems, as this isn’t the first bit of relationship between the two. Warren famously hosted both Sen. McCain and then-Senator Obama to a debate at Saddleback months ago, and even though some gays were angry that Obama agreed to appear there, they still happily voted for him. In return for the now-loud opposition to Obama from the gay community, the President-Elect has bascially told the queer community to relax a bit, reminding them all that he “is going to reach out to all sides.” 

I have to say that I agree with Obama on this one. I am thrilled as rainbow punch that Obama won the election, however, I also recognize that he is the President of The United States, not the Gay President. We elected Barrack Obama, not Harvey Milk. I think it is unfair to ask this man to make every single move with the gay community as his primary concern – and I would be deeply worried if the gay community was indeed so forefront in his mind. I will be the first to say that our country right now has much, much deeper issues than this.

On that note, for the last eight years we had a president who put special conservative interests in the forefront of the national agenda and who probably would have passed on a pastor just because he had spoken out against Prop 8. The very worst thing we could do right now is swing the pendulam in the entire opposite direction and have a president who ignores the entire conservative base and puts liberal special interests ahead of what is best for the country. 

Liberals, and liberal homosexuals specifically, have been shoved to the back of the crowd politcally for the last eight years, and we have cried foul and discrimination, using our rights as Americans as the platform on which to insist we have equal say. Now let us not be just as hypocritical as we have accused the conservatives of being and push them to the back of the house, too. The goal for gays – and liberals – should be to be better than – not equal to – our own oppressors. When we begin criticizing that which we have worked so hard to have elected just because he is trying to actually embrace, rather than shoot down, the opposing side, we have stooped to their level. Maybe we can shove just a bit of gay pride back down our throats for one second and take greater pride in our country than we do ourselves, and then we can actually live in a progressive and unified country rather than a consistenly divided and politcally polarized environment that swings from one extreme to the next.

Holiday Phrases

I was thinking tonight, when I wrote a Twitter comment about “unplugging the tree,” about some other phrases said during the Holidays that, if said at any other time, would raise suspicious eyebrows:

• “Can you unplug the tree?”
• “Stuff the stocking.”
• “You have to tie the legs together after you stuff it.” 
• “Did you stuff both ends?”
• “Go sit on the man’s lap and tell him what you want.”
• “He’ll come down the chimney.” 
• “Worship the baby.”
• “He’s on the roof.”
• “Can you stick your finger there while I tie it?”
• “Do we have skirt for the tree?”
• “Did we buy hooks for the balls?”
• “Bring the tree in the house.”
• “String the popcorn.”
• “I need help wrapping it.”
• “Frankincense.” 
• “It looks better with a bow.” 
• “Take the lights off the roof.”

Do you have any? Add them below.

Lightrail, Books & Mesa

I live in Mesa, Arizona. According to Wikipedia, it is the 38th most populous city in The United States, with 452,933 citizens (compared with neighboring Phoenix, which comes in at #5 on the list with just over 1.5 million citizens). That’s Mesa’s ranking out of 262 cities, with the extremes being New York with more than 8.2 million and Palm Bay, Florida with 100,116. So that’s a pretty respectable amount of people, right?

Well, our 452,933 citizens are spread out over 133 square miles, creating a rather small population density of only 3,171 people per square mile. Compare that to my originating hometown of Anaheim, California. While ranked at #55 with 333,249 citizens, it has a density of 6,708 people per square mile, while having only 50 square miles in total land. Much more dense than Mesa, right?

What’s the point of all of this? I like cities. And theoretically – I live in one of the nation’s largest. Why doesn’t it feel like it? There is something about city life that I love – and something I relatively can’t stand about spread apart, brand-spankin’ new suburban communities. To that end, I enjoy doing things that make me feel as if I live in an actual city.

All of that to say – I got a library card today. I haven’t had one in years; I’ve been locked into the mind-numbing trap of driving down to Barnes & Noble at Tempe Marketplace, or Borders at Superstition Springs, to buy a new book. Of course, those places have their advantages – I can buy a book, hang out and drink coffee, and use the (usually) free wifi – plus they are great people-watching places. But (this may seem weird coming from an author) I’m a little over buying books that I read once or twice and then stick on the bookshelf. I don’t mean fiction books like the works of Eggers and Hemingway – those I’ll gladly buy and display on my shelf for years on end – I mean books on fairly topical things like business, networking, marketing, et cetera.

After weeks of procrastinating on the whole library scene, I took advantage of the dreary afternoon and spent some time at the library hunting these books. Free library card. Free book rental. I rented eight books today – for free! And I have them until the 4th! Plus, there was something right about the library – two floors filled with business people to the homeless, something authentic. I felt, again, like I was in a real city.

One thing I’m also quite looking forward to that helps to evoke the city-mindset is the opening of the Light Rail in a couple weeks. Reading about it on handy sites like these have built up my excitement even more – I’m going to, at least twice a week, take the new express bus from my house directly to the Light Rail station on Dobson, transfer, and then rail it up clear to downtown, where I will enjoy the amazing cappucinno’s and free wifi of Lux Coffeeshop. And what, in my mind, will make that even better? Rainy days, clouds, and warm jackets.

I’m still working on finding some redeeming factors of this city though for the summertime … if you have any ideas, drop me a line.

New Year, New Look

So I spent some time today putting together some elements I’ve been working on and off with for the past week … we’ll call this “Phase 1.”

Some of the new enchancements around Sharoute.com:

1) New Sidebar Featuring a new welcome note, comments, and all that fun stuff. I seem to have lost my Clustermap in the transition and their site won’t recognize me for some reason. I’ll have to work on that. 

2) New Banner The new layout comes a new header image … a composite of five pictures that represent me fairly well. They are, in order: 1) a picture of the Sun Wheel at night from Disney’s California Adventure; 2) a pic I took last February in San Francisco with Justin at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3) A pen and paper, 4) the Haroyyken 48 Hostel in Tel Aviv, Israel that Jamie, David, and myself stayed at, and 5) an overview of the City of Phoenix. 

3) New Links Links going to my other projects (Will’s California Guidebook, Social Network Publishing, MyEditNow.com, and Cover It With Gravy), along with links to follow me on social networking sites Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. 

4) New Pages These include a new and enlarged ‘About Will’ page, Contact, and a page dedicated to my newest book, “Dear World – A Novel.” Also included a page for my writing and editing services. 

5) It’s Snowing! A happy bit of holiday fun, thanks to a new WordPress widget!

“Dear World – A Novel” by WJNM Now Available!

 

Dear World – A Novel is the fictional story of Marc, a 21-year old Orange County resident who is struggling to come to terms with his Christian faith and realization of his own homosexuality. Emotions and tensions in his life have reached a breaking point; it has become too much to continue internalizing the stress and pain of such a dichotomy.

To reach out for someone – anyone – to vent to, Marc begins a flow-of-consciousness blog where he lets anonymous, and sometimes not so anonymous, readers see into his pain for purposes not rooted in self-pity, but rather in a desire to have a sounding board coupled with a venue for others who might feel the same. Perhaps, if he does feel all hope is lost for him, at least others can gain some insight and he can help those who secretly struggle not with “sin,” but with the hurt and loneliness oft inflected by a supposed “caring” world.

The e-book, in an effort to get it to as many people as possible, is free to download (the link is below). If, however, you wish to donate to the author’s funds, before or after reading the book, you may do so at the link below. All funds go to the author, with a percentage retained to continue the art and work of Social Network Publishing; any amount is appreciated.

“Dear World – A Novel” by William J. Nash-McAdam

Please make your donation via PayPal to info@socialnetworkpublishing.com…thank you!

 

Hacking Knowledge

Taking a web surfing break today, I came across a link to this article describing “77 ways to learn faster, better, and deeper.” Take a look … there’s some good info here, beyond just the basics.

HT: Matt Mullenweg

To Writers & Artists: Coffee?

I would like to begin a weekly meet-up, over coffee or such, of writers and artists in the Phoenix areas. We could meet in our homes or at a coffee shop. We can enjoy mocha lattes, chair, red wine, or Stella Artois. The purpose of the group would be to discuss, critique, encourage, or think. Would anyone out there be interested? If so, leave a comment or email me at jeff.nash@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details from there.