Covers, Covers and More Covers

So there was one thing that came out of that last review that I felt compelled to address. Romantic wrote:

To the author, please consider getting a professional cover done. The current one really doesn't do justice to the level of writing in this book.

Although this is a wonderful compliment about my writing, it's not the best compliment about my skills in terms of cover design. When I first started this journey, I tried making my own covers. That came to a screeching end very quickly (see here, here and here). 

In my defense, as a huge fan of Dick Francis, I was trying to mimick his style. They do look rudimentary and cheap though, so I'm glad I decided against using them long term.

It took me a while, but I found an online but when I found the ones I thought were professional, sophisticated and worthwhile, I invested in them, bought them, worked with the designer and rolled them out (see here).

These were far better, but they still lacked something. They looked too blank I realize now. Truthfully, even though Vapor Trail looks homemade, it was actually the most expensive one I bought. I never liked it though. It never truly represented the story. Romantic was correct.

Thanks to this comment by "Romantic" I went back and found a better cover for Vapor Trail (it's not easy by the way) and updated both the other two. I uploaded tag lines, provided some more flare. Now I'm far happier with them. I can live with these. Let's hope "Romantic," thinks the update is worthwhile.

Why Writer's Write

So this is why people write! I should get reviews more often. A few months ago I wrote about a review that I got online for one of my novels (see here) and then before that another one (see here). Those two were nothing compared to the two I just got over the winter holidays. I've updated my author page with all of my novels now, and it's fun to see the reviews coming in (see here).

The first one I got was for On the Edge (see here) from Michael Best:

The aspect that really hit me was two things he wrote. The first was about the ability to add depth and richness to the story. 

The author skillfully creates a clash of characters, though adding to the depth and richness of the story, it requires the reader to remain exceptionally engaged without missing a beat. Given the nature of the story, that is not hard to do.

The second quote discusses the allegorical quality applied to the story. Was I trying to do that? Yep. What's funny is that Vapor Trail has a far more sophisticated touch of that than On the Edge. 

Dick Hannah’s book has an allegorical quality to it, in that, Joe Malone is symbolic of today’s war vet and emblematic of the struggles to adapt to civilian life. Leaving the cruelty of war, expecting to find peace and acceptance, becomes an illusion upon return to civilian life for the MC, as is the case in the real world.

The second review was for Vapor Trail (see here) and it's just as fun to read, this one from someone named "Romantic:"

I have to say, it feels good to say that character development was so good. Thanks so much!

Mechanically well done, dialogue exceptional, plot believable and tense (in just the right places)...but for me, it was the character development that really shot this one through the roof.

It feels so good to be recognized for your craft. This must be why writers strive to keep producing. I can tell you this much, reviews like these make me want to write more!

Adult Learning Credo

I ran across an Adult Learning Credo in my class the other day. I loved it, wanted to remember it, and so have created this post:

When I only hear, I forget.

When I hear and see, I remember a little.

When I hear and see, and ask questions and discuss with someone else, I begin to understand. 

When I hear, see, question, discuss, and do, I acquire knowledge and skill. 

When I teach someone, I master what I have learned. 

 

 The other day I wrote about Houle's The Inquiring Mind article. One of the issues I have with Cyril Houle’s article on The Inquiring Mind, is a problem I’ve had with several other articles I’ve read throughout our classes; simply the sample set used for the conclusions. 

In The Inquiring Mind Houle admits his sample size is small; “Originally it was planned to collect about twenty case studies but the number was increased to twenty-two in order to be sure that variations in all the characteristics mentioned above were included” (Houle, 1961, p.. 13). Having a sample set from which to base conclusions of only twenty subjects hardly seems significant enough for any conclusions to be drawn. Increasing from twenty to twenty-two actually made me laugh. Sure that’s ten percent of the total sample, but when the total case study sample size is so small, the increase hardly seems worth it.

The issue I have is the fact that Houle takes his case study samples from known groups of people. Houle states “they are so conspicuously engaged in various forms of continuing learning that they could be readily identified for me by their personal friends” and “they all had goals which they wished to achieve, they all found the process of learning enjoyable and significant, and they felt that learning was worthwhile for it’s own sake.” This makes the sample set selected seem even more unique and exclusive, hardly a good sample set from which to hard conclusions. 

 In my organization we are running an experiment regarding Virtual Reality simulations vs non VR simulations in terms of in planting long term memory. In just the two months we have been running the experiment we have collected well over 400 data points or users who have been a part of the experiment. This it seems to me is still not adequate to start drawing conclusions on the efficacy of VR, yet Houle drew conclusions based on 22 close friends or colleagues. 

For anyone who wants to read it and determine for themselves, here's the reference:

Houle, C. (1961). The inquiring mind. Knowles, M. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species. Houston. TX: Gulf Publishing.

Power and Leadership

I recently worked for a company that had a senior leader who acted in a manner that was like a bull in a China store. It wasn't that he focused on abusing the supervisors and being the hero of the line workers, instead, his manner was abuse for all equally. I found it an amazing leadership style and also I vowed never to become a part of his team. Instead, I had the unique ability to observe his methods, the results, and his teams' responses to his leadership tangentially. Whenever that tangent took me too close to his sphere of influence I found myself affected in very negative ways so I always made sure to keep my distance.

His seemed to be a leadership style that revolved around the quick win with no thought to what might happen in the long-term to the employees, the business, nor the morale. To make a long story shorter, that senior leader is no longer with the company but has moved on to become a CEO of another company in the same industry. He left behind in his wake quite a bit of destruction in terms of operations that can not be completed at the price he negotiated, personnel who are lost in terms of how to successfully do their jobs, and low morale by his teams who must stay with the company he left. 

All this being said, I was amazed by the short-term gain and the long-term gain. It reminded me of the constant feed of news stories from the early 2000's that described how CEO's and boards were wrecking large companies and organizations for the long-term, but taking huge short-term payoffs for one or two years worth of significant upticks in stock prices or profitable returns. At that time it seemed everyone was in it for the quick win. This is exactly how this senior leader I describe above viewed the world. 

Lately, thankfully, I feel we see less and less of this short term gain style of thinking. Part of this could be attributed to leaders looking for more ways to inspire long term retention within their employee base. I feel that leaders look after their employees and mimic what they see from their employees. If employees are looking for a quick buck and move quickly from job to job, you'll see that reflected in the leadership. Perhaps its a vicious circle with arrows going both ways. But in the recruiting world I used to occupy we saw a distinct movement toward greater job security by the employees we recruited in recent years (most likely brought on by kids watching their families deal with the financial downturn in our industry in 2009 and 2010 and not wanting to deal with that type of turbulence). I wonder what kids who have to watch their parents through the pandemic years will ask for from their jobs when they become a part of the workforce and how leaders will adapt to that desire from them.

Microaggressions

 As I mentioned the other day, I build and am int he process of building training for our leaders in our industry (see here). Well, I was talking to Cami the other day about our training, specifically about training so that our leaders can understand and talk to our newer employees coming into the field. Millennials and Gen Z'ers want different things out of life (see here). Are we doing what we can to help them? To work with them? Based on my reading of Brookfield's book (see here, here and here) we are not, and my discussion with Cami brought this into focus. 

Chapter 7 of Brookfield's book was a doozey. I hated every moment and I came away thinking that the guy was quite a little racist in his own right. Is he trying to make up for it? Sure. Is he actually making things worse? I think so. 

He relates a story about microaggressions. He is a firm believer in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and that everything boils down to race. He believes microaggressions are prevalent and valid. He teaches this and promotes it all in his classroom settings according to his book. The story about the microaggression is telling. 

He told a story about taking attendance in the class and forgetting to call on one young lady. She was black. When she brought up the fact that she had been left out he realized how his missing her was a microaggression on his part and apologized and related that it was a microaggression to her. She said she felt that from him. 

How bout he just forgot? How come we just can't have it be a slip of the mind? If he didn't intend to be racist, is it? Is it a microaggression? 

If I fail to call on Christine in a meeting, is a sexist microaggression? What if I fail to call on Karen? Is that a racist microaggression? If I don't have time to talk to Tom is that a microaggression against him cause he's Chinese? What about if I do all these same things to Tommy? Another white male? Is that not a microaggression in that case because he and I share a common skin color? 

It all becomes quite ridiculous. 

One problem I have is that microaggressions seem to be identified and defined by the receiver. I didn't say victim on purpose. I think that microaggressions and CRT in general make us all into victims. I like the idea of not being a victim. One famous instance of this was when the flight attendant on I think a Southwest Airlines flight said, "Eeny meenie miney moe, take a seat we have to go." All very silly and harmless. Except one lady said that it was racist. She said that nursery rhyme has racial undertones. I know that I used that rhyme all the time as a kid. Never once did we have overt or covert racial intentions in using it. I didn't even know that it could be racial till someone told me. Isn't that on the receiver to understand the intent? Should that flight attendant know the history of all nursery rhymes before making up her own? How bout we just all have a bit thicker skin. 

Thick skin is a prerequisite for anyone with a name like Dick by the way. 

Regardless, what stunned me was that college aged kids in the 2000's were being taught from Brookfield's book. If this is what they had been taught, we are in trouble. Now, it's on us to craft and develop a training that helps our leaders lead them. I'm sure microaggressions will be a part of that training. But, wow, these generations are gonna have some issues if they can't be a bit tougher. 

World's Worst Protester

I embrace the fact that I'm perhaps the world's worst protester. A few posts ago I wrote that I gave up on my Nike protest (see here). Well, maybe "gave up" isn't the right word. I broke through the picket line to buy some shoes to finish out my running challenge (see here and here). When a door closes a window opens. With the breaking of one protest, I started another. This one is far more muddled.

I killed my Facebook profile the other day. Deleted the whole dang thing. Over ten years of history and content and it's gone now. Obviously a limit was reached. It had so little value to me, and their policies weren't worth keeping it around. 

I didn't get rid or Twitter. Why/ I love checking out twitter because of the content like the one posted above. Who goes around posting pictures of smiling dogs all in a row? Well, someone I follow that's who. I can't get enough of it. Despite that, I thought what Facebook, Google and Twitter did with their content checking was pretty atrocious during the election. I'm not fan of Trump (see here), but the fact checking is absurd. Me? I think they should just let anything be posted and allow the reader to figure out the truth. No need for Twitter or Facebook to massage the content.

So why am I still on Twitter? Where else can I go to see a dog skateboarding (its a video, worth watching, click it or see it here), or a goose on a moose pic. Twitter, despite the fact checking, still has enough content that makes me smile to make it worthwhile. Lately, there's the post of Miss Great White North keeping me interested as well as the random animal pics and videos. But as soon as Twitter jumps the shark and the animal pics go away, then so do I. For now, they still have me even if Facebook doesn't. 

Wishing for More from the Marlowe Murders

Some of my favorite stories to read are Agatha Christie whodunnits. There's nothing better than a well thought out, well-formed, compelling, well-thought-out mystery. Every now and then I'll put down the books or the work and I'll go get a copy of the ABC Murders, or Murder on the Mews, or Death on the Nile. I've read most of her stories, so most all the time nowadays I'm re-reading instead of reading. 

I was hoping for a story like that from Laura Giebfried's The Marlowe Murders (Alexandra Durant mystery Book 1). I was not pleasantly surprised. 

I found the pacing off, and the story disjoint and not fun to read. It was tough to care about what was going on and the characters seemed forced. I really wanted to like this book and there were undertones of writing that I hoped would pan out. Sadly, it didn't pan out. There were just enough oddly written phrases and too complex descriptions of setting and characters that I gave up halfway through. 

I'm sorry it wasn't a tad more tightly written because I feel like Laura could have had a remarkably good story. Sadly, it just wasn't this one this time. 

Book Review of No Place for Mercy

I was eager to read No Place for Mercy by Brian G. Walsh because I've always been a fan of short stories, I grew up with Louis L'amour stories about Bowdrie (see here) and have read all of the short story anthologies of Alfred Hitchcock. Secondly, I've just published my own anthology of short stories and wanted to see how Walsh's stacked up to mine . . . . or mine stacked up to his.

They stack up well. 

Walsh has a way with words and phrasing. His analogies are vivid and compelling. His prose make the ready want to read on. This one about mistakes shaking you like a rag doll got me:

She smiled with nice, even white teeth, probably paid for by her pimp. A beautiful young girl, probably no more than 18. Some day she'd wake up and realize the true cost of making this life decision. She'd learn what Cleon had learned, that some mistakes never let go of you, they shake you like a rag doll until you break, but Cleon wasn't in a lecturing mood tonight.

A very good collection and I enjoyed it very much. 

Networking and Building Relationships in Program Planning

Program Planning is a TOUGH class. I've been having a hard time with it, and really there has been no key "ah HA!" moments, but mostly just a series of clouds that become mist or fog, but then that becomes pea soupy again far too quickly. 

Today we discuss Program Planning and Exploring Foundation Knowledge of a Program Plan. In this module, we went over negative and positive uses of power, and depth of influence, and capital C Culture vs lower case c culture. Again, this is not my milieu, but I play along and do my best. 

Today I was on the hot seat about building relationships across and within. Why is that necessary in program planning and how can it be done and assured. Now, THIS is where I was able to make some inroads into the class. 

In my job we build courses and programs on behalf of our members. If one contractor or facility owner comes to us for a course, of course, we will build it for them. We are experts on training delivery. They're coming to us to help them deliver worthwhile training. How does building relationships and networks help? 

Well, if we build that course so tightly and within the confines of that one contractor then it will be limited in its scope of delivery to just those employees who might work for that organization. We have to utilize our network of other contractors and organizations to make those relationships we already have work for us, to strengthen the training. By working with those networks and using our relationships we can make a strong trainer not just for the original organization that asked for it but also for the entire industry. Additionally, we can decrease the cost for that organization by opening up the training to others and a far larger audience. 

The best thing about our organization is that we have so many networks that we can call on and utilize to the benefit of not just the member but also the industry. 

PHEW, finally the mist thinned a bit on this class.