Hi Everyone,
I wanted to post the link to a new review I received from Midwest Book Review. I’d like to thank Jim Cox and his team for taking the time to look at self-published works, and I’d like to thank Paul Vogel for the review.
Link: http://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/may_10.htm#vogel
For any aspiring writers out there, Midwest Book Review is a great resource. Take a look. http://www.midwestbookreview.com/
Take care and good reading,
Mike
Hi Everyone,
Barnes and Noble has the e-book version of Whole World Blind up for free right now. It’s their promotion, so I don’t know how long it will last. The e-book can be read on Nook or on the computer. It’s at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Whole-World-Blind/Michael-Mefford/e/2940000792520/?itm=1&USRI=whole+world+blind .
I just finished the final draft of my latest novel today. Thank goodness. This one only took two years. I’ve cut my novel writing time down by 66%, so that’s good. This one weighs in at 425 pages, far and away the longest thing I’ve ever written. Now I just have to try to get it out in the world.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Take care,
Mike
Hello Everyone,
I was thrilled to see my first professional review for WHOLE WORLD BLIND, which can be found at The Book Journal’s site: http://thebookjournal.com/2010/02/whole-world-blind-by-michael-b-mefford/#respond . I’d like to thank The Book Journal, which provides reviews of independent/self-published books and prides itself on “honest, scathing, fair book reviews”.
I’ve had to take a brief writing break to study for psychiatry boards. I’ll be back at it soon, and hopefully, I’ll have my fantasy novel ready in about six months or so.
Take care and good reading,
Mike
Hi Everyone,
I’ve compiled the articles of Go Right and You’ll Never Go Wrong into one e-book. If interested, you can download it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7255 . It’s free.
I’d planned on creating the paperback version of the Go Right book, but it’s only 55 pages at present. I think I’ll go back to the desk and see if I can add some more to it. Also, I’m currently working on a young adult fantasy novel that’s been in the works for a long time. The first novella I wrote, The Conqueror’s Curse, actually turned out to be a much more involved story than I anticipated. My new book is the fully realized idea behind The Conqueror’s Curse. It’s been a lot of fun to write. I’m very much right-brained by nature, but I did something decidedly left-brained with this new book: I outlined. It was painful, but I have to say, it’s made a difference in both the length and depth of the work. I doubt if I’ll ever try to write without an outline again.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season.
Take care and good reading,
Mike
Hi Everyone,
I now have Whole World Blind available through Smashwords, an ebook publishing site. They release the book in mulitple electronic formats, including EPUB (Stanza, iPhone), TXT, HTML, PDF, MOBI (Kindle), RTF, LRF (Sony Reader), and PDB (Palm Doc).
The Whole World Blind page is here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6805
My author page on Smashwords is here: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mikemefford
The book is listed for $2.99, but you can sample half the book for free.
Take care and good reading,
Mike
Hi Everyone,
I’ve just learned of a great program headed up by Ed Patterson called Operation eBook Drop. Electronic books are distributed through Smashwords and sent to troops overseas by their respective authors for free.
I think this is a great program and have used Smashwords to create Whole World Blind in multiple electronic versions. It’s now available in Sony Reader(LRF), .mobi, epub, Palm Doc(PDB), PDF, Rich Text, and Plain Text. I’ll hopefully get the free versions out to the troops as soon as possible.
Thanks to Ed and thanks to all those serving overseas.
Take care and good reading.
Michael Mefford’s Smashwords Author Profile: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mikemefford
Book page to sample or purchase Whole World Blind: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6805
Keep your ego in the sacred middle.
Ego is a Latin word that simply means “I”. Ego in the modern day context is basically all the thoughts and feelings you have that constitute what “I” means to you. Your ego is a psychological construct that exists to separate you from the crowd so you know where you begin and everyone else ends. Ego definitely serves a purpose, but what I want to talk about now is when the ego gets out of hand.
When ego gets too big, your needs start to surpass the needs of others. In fact, in severe cases an egomaniac’s need can surpass the needs of millions as attested by several tyrants in the past century. The problem with inflated ego seems to be particularly common in America for many reasons outside the scope of this work, but it has almost reached the level of ego sickness. This is my term for what happens when the demands of ego are so constant and so unquenchable that everyone is out for himself. This obviously has detrimental effects to society as a whole, but on an individual level it’s a fool’s game. You see, ego isn’t real. It’s a construct–a trick the mind plays to help you feel special. Is anyone really all that great? Yes, there are men and women who seem to rise above the rest, but did they really do it on their own? Many times, they are products of the effort of dozens–if not hundreds–of others. I’m reminded of the saying, “If I seem to have risen above other men, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” I’m not saying there is no individuality. I think there is a unique individual inside every one of us that can only evolve through careful pursuit of those things we love. Our ego is not what we really are. It’s a set of mental projections we have created to compare ourselves with others.
If we continue to fill up our egos by ridiculing others, criticizing others, or by seeking praise and admiration, this eventually starts to wear thin. Then we need more and more ego boosts to stay propped up at the same level. In many ways, it’s like a drug. We chase ego-building things. We don’t mind if we have to put down others to build up our own ego because we simply have to. We are addicted to it, and nobody can take it away from us. In the end, an egomaniac is someone who no one else wants to be around. They are lonely and hurt that no one can see their greatness, and very often, they grow old in a state of despair.
The opposite problem is having little or no ego. Now this gets very tricky. If you read many of the great religions and philosophies, they will point toward a state of existence where ego is gone. Egolessness leads to connection with the greater whole, which is perceived as enlightenment. I think the egolessness that is referred to here is getting rid of the kind of toxic ego I discussed above. Indeed, you will never feel any connection to something greater than yourself if you worship your own ego, but ego does serve a function.
When your ego is poorly formed, or nonexistent, you have difficulty separating from the rest of the world. You allow yourself to be beaten, abused, put down, lied to, or laughed at because you aren’t worthy of making a stand. This is clearly not a reasonable place to be. Over time, someone with no ego will be disrespected and pushed aside.
Like so many things in life, ego has to be balanced. The Buddhists talk about The Middle Way, which is the use of moderation to achieve transcendence. I think this philosophy applies best to the balance of ego. You have to believe in yourself enough to be able to assert your wants and needs, or they will never be fulfilled. But if you assert your wants and needs to the point of being aggressive, then others will start to shun you. Always remember that you are only a small part of a vast ocean of humanity. You can even take it beyond humanity to see that you’re a small part of an ecosphere, a planet, and even a universe. Realization that you are part of such a miraculous collective can both strengthen your sense of self and lend humility. In short, you achieve a state that is both egoless and individually unique at the same time.
I am amazed at how often this little thorn pops up. Bias: it’s one word that basically means the prejudice of a person or entity toward a particular subject. I actually like the word “prejudice” better because the word itself explains what I’m talking about: pre-judgment. The point here is that everyone will have certain opinions, including corporations, government, etc., that are based on what they have seen as truth. These opinions arise directly from the experiences they’ve had.
Humans seem to gain knowledge in levels. The first kind of knowledge is academic—someone teaches it to you or you read it in a book. The second kind of knowledge is called experiential, meaning knowledge gained through experience. This is the most powerful knowledge human beings have. It’s like the difference between knowing it’s painful to be physically abused because you’ve read about it in books versus knowing its painful because you were thrown around the house like a rag doll.
The problem is everyone has different experiences. Everyone’s experiential knowledge is different, at least to some degree. So if, for example, you’re reading something by a former athlete turned physician turned psychiatrist turned writer, it might sound a lot like this blog. But if your reading a self help book written by someone who survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, it will sound different (read the extraordinary Victor Frankl book, Man’s Search for Meaning, and you’ll see what I mean).
In psychiatry, we are encouraged to go into psychoanalysis for the primary purpose of being able to recognize our own bias and how we might interject that into therapy with others. The goal, of course, is to keep our own psychological garbage to ourselves and not pass it on to some unwitting patient. And though the analysis definitely helps in this process, it is still very difficult not to let your own bias creep in.
You will likely hear advice from many people over the course of a lifetime. Always remember that, though the words may be well intentioned, they are passing through the filter of another person’s bias. In other words, another person’s advice or opinion will always be colored by their experiences in life.
Am I saying to reject whatever anyone else says if you don’t like the sound of it? No. I’m saying always remember where the information is coming from. And if someone has massive amounts of experience in an area, and it’s experience that comes not only from them, but from many others, then you can be pretty sure they’re going to be pretty close to the truth.
This issue hits home particularly hard with anyone who is trying to sell something. When you invest a large amount of time and energy into learning about a specific product and why it is better than everything else, it becomes very hard to see that product objectively. When you need money based on the sale of that product, your ability to talk about it objectively is almost impossible.
It never hurts to listen to pitches or opinions, but always consider bias. You can always do further research on a matter to find out the truth, but when in question, you can always fall back to the old proverb: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
