Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Finding Source Documents


Image rights http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21845/lot/19/
I trudged up the back wooden stairway behind my client, who pushed up on the ceiling above us, revealing a door that creaked with disuse. We poked our heads up through the floor of his attic, taking a quick glance before our feet carried us the rest of the way into the oppressive heat and dust. I wasn't prepared for the sudden drops of perspiration climbing out of my skin, but I quickly forgot my discomfort as my eyes fell upon a huge book laying closed upon a Victorian-era book stand.

The sound of my client's voice, unnecessarily apologizing for the state of his attic, faded. I held my breath, hoping, and moved toward the dusty covers of the thick tome, noting the broken cobwebs trailing around it where my client's fingers must have been when he re-discovered it recently. My own fingers, made brave by my sturdy garden gloves, wiped gently at the title.

It was an old family bible, probably handed down through generations. I gently lifted the cover and searched carefully for the publication date. 1769, Office of the Queen's Printer. My client needed a book dealer, not a ghostwriter, and preferably one who could recommend a talented preservationist.

He reached around me and casually flipped open the bible to reveal several letters folded within its pages. Clearly, this is what I was here for. I opened the first piece of yellowed parchment. Within the first few lines, I knew this was going to be one of my favorite biographies ever.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Be the Page

Art credit to https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2625862463/


Social Media has brought businesses ample opportunity to engage their clientele in more depth than before, garnering loyalty that draws them from online to brick-and-mortar. How? 

Personality.

Business owners, nonprofit managers, and politicians know that personal engagement does more for sales, donations, and votes than any other type of communication. People trust where they can look in the eye, reach with a handshake, and personally measure character. And - people spend money where they trust.

A social media page is an extension of your business, your mission, your message. Just like networking at a chamber function, your page is the place where you share what you are excited about; say thank you to the people who have helped you; ask for suggestions; support your causes; and explain what you do and why. The best social media pages let the personality of the organization shine like a confident look and firm handshake. They showcase the organization's character. They build respect first, then trust, then customers.  

If an engaging, active social media page can do all that, what do you think a blank one does? You are your page, or so the social media audience thinks. 

Need help with your blank page? Hire an e-ghost.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Why Watch Disaster Movies

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men - as a whole - experience it." - Helen Keller

Recently, I've been filling my entertainment time with disaster movies. The Impossible. 2012Titanic. Contagion. War of the Worlds. Twister. And, of course, World Trade Center.

Helen Keller was right. The world is not a secure place. It never has been. I have always been drawn to those stories that acknowledge that fact and put ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances; stories that show how people respond in the face of frightening, impending danger and to tragic, multitudes of loss.

In times of disaster, a person must suddenly draw upon his innate pioneering spirit and break ground in unknown territory without the choice and preparation of our pioneer forebears. She must step up to the plate, with no practice swing, and pray for a hit or suffer a miss. Nothing prepares you for a tidal wave, a mugging, a twenty-car pile-up, an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or a broken limb as you miss your footing down a flight of stairs. Somehow, we get through it, and are indelibly changed when we get to the other side.

As Mark Twain once said, spirit has fifty times the strength and staying-power of brawn and muscle. Whether that spirit arises in response to disaster, or by choice as we pioneer into space and other new ventures, I draw comfort knowing that in an insecure world, we can count on the human spirit in times of emergency.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

A Bed Only a Mother Could Love...

A bed left unmade for 16 years and surrounded by trash sold at Christie's yesterday for $4.3 million. The artist who slept in it for four days felt that it was a true representation of heartbreak, surrounded by ashtrays, empty liquor bottles, and dirty laundry. Take a look at it here.

There's no question, it certainly tells a story of sleepless nights filled with chain-smoking re-hashed conversations, numbing fiery booze, tear-stained pillows, and angrily-kicked sheets. Most humans who have loved and lost have had their beds look similar at some point in their lives. So, who would buy this object of commonly shared misery? The lost love, out of some sense of guilt (or even pleasure) at having caused such pain? The artist herself, to boost PR on her other work? A Spock-like soul who surrounds himself with emotional works to express what he cannot?

I'm inclined to think it was a mother, who can't bear to see a child's pain, and bought it to make the bed, tidy the mess, kiss the hurt with toiling hands, and make it all better.