In Our Selves & On the cover...

My second collection of essays from Recovering The Self is being released this weekend for all digital formats. Called In Our Selves, this collection includes a year's worth of inspirational essays, bonus material, and this fine cover...

Look for it on Amazon and wherever e-books are sold!

You Scream... I-ce Cream! (Blue Food, Trailer #1)...

Trailer #2 comes out for Climbing Maya...

Angelia Formisano helps bring episode 7 of So Dream Something...

My guest this week is Angelia Formisano, and I am pleased to welcome her to the podcast. Angelia is likely the youngest guest I’ve interviewed thus far, and she brought a new kind of energy to the show. She’s a young woman who knows what she wants and is going for it – and hasn’t been beaten down a dozen times in the process. And let’s hope she never is.

While just a senior in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre Performance program at Chapman University in Southern California, Angelia’s resume is extensive. Some of her shows have included Company, The Rimers of Edlritch, Arabian Nights, Urinetown: The Musical, Don't Call Me Baby, The Vagina Monologues, Shrink, The Myth of the Cubicle (by some unknown writer) Murder at the Porcelain Ballet, Anything Goes, Seussical the Musical, Arms and the Man, My Fair Lady, Noises Off!, The Foreigner, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Grease, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Taming of the Shrew, and Lend Me a Tenor. She also appeared in the film: Incest! The Musical”.

Angelia is a charismatic young woman whose energy towards life and the dream she’s engaged in is always obvious. And she’s looking forward to continuing that journey as a professional actress after graduation in Spring 2013.

While Angelia’s career is only beginning, I was reminded of those lines by Shakespeare when she mentioned a little writing she had done and some of her interests beyond what she can see right now, her search for growth, her openness to whatever life brings. Part of pursuing a dream means being open to whatever turn it takes – and sometimes those turns lead us into new roles.

You can find out more about Angelia at her forthcoming website: www.angeliaformisano.com.

We covered a lot of territory in this episode, including…

As You Like It, Shakespeare, The Day We Said Goodbye, Chapman University, Company, The Rimers of Edlritch, Arabian Nights, Urinetown: The Musical, Don't Call Me Baby, The Vagina Monologues, Shrink, The Myth of the Cubicle, Murder at the Porcelain Ballet, Anything Goes, Seussical the Musical, Arms and the Man, My Fair Lady, Noises Off!, The Foreigner, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Grease, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Taming of the Shrew, Lend Me a Tenor, Incest! The Musical, A Whole New World, Aladdin, Bishop Gorman High School, Las Vegas, Elena Ferrante-Martin, Our Town, Renny Harlin, Die Hard 2, Burn Notice, White Collar, Stephen Sondheim, Irene Ryan, Ladies Who Lunch, Bristol Palin, Reality TV, Arabian Nights, Scheherazade, The Chance Theater, Kelly Todd Robinson, OC-centric, www.angeliaformisano.com, www.kenlasalle.com, Climbing Maya, A Grand Canyon

Third time's the charm...

The second trailer for A Grand Canyon, the prequel to Climbing Maya, is now available for your viewing pleasure.

The Worth of Dreams The Value of Dreamers... New Trailer!...

Check out the latest trailer for A Grand Canyon...

Recovering the Self… Year Two…

This morning, I was emailing my editor over at Recovering the Self when a realization set in.

I just finished my second year writing about pursuing your dreams. (You can find the most recent column by clicking this link.)

This fact astonishes me because I’m not really what you might call a “believer in that kind of nonsense.” You see, before I started writing about pursuing your dreams I would look at anyone who said “put out good vibes and good things will come back” or “believe in yourself” or “make your own happiness, blah, blah, blah” and I would immediately roll my eyes.

There’s a whole school of thought out there that likes to suggest that dreams, once followed, have to happen. As if the world will just roll over if you want it to. “The Secret” and all that bullshit.

I don’t believe that at all.

So, what was I doing two years ago when I suggested writing a column about pursuing your dreams?

I realized that, like it or not, that’s what I had been doing for years. If there was one thing I could write about with authority, it was that! And I decided that I would take things in a different direction, a more honest direction.

The simple fact is that pursuing your dreams is just better than not pursuing your dreams. You learn more, you live more. You’re happier, healthier, better off when you go after what makes you whole. Sure, you might not win every time. You may fail. But the wins you get make it worthwhile, make it meaningful.

That’s why you have to pursue your dreams. Not because the world will roll over for you but because IT WON’T! If you don’t make it happen, nobody else will.

And so, two years later, here I am. And they have been two incredibly fulfilling years. Now, I host a blog about pursing your dreams called, So Dream Something. (Here’s a link.) And I’ve learned to think outside of myself and about others just a bit more.

I can’t wait to see how Year Three goes!

(You can find my collection of Year One essays, in bothdigital and audio formats, by clicking here.) (A Year Two collection will be out later this year!)

Jeepers Creepers Peepers, etc….

Picked up my new eyes the other day.

… I should probably explain that.

As you may know, I wear glasses, have for many years. I was pretty damned blind as a child and went from one doctor to another, from one surgery to another. By the time I was in my 20s, I hardly needed glasses at all.

You just know that couldn’t last, right?

In fact, on my last visit to my optometrist, he addressed this issue by saying, “There are various biological factors and mitigating consequences…”

“I’m getting old,” I said, summing up.

He smiled a bit and nodded. “Um, yes.”

One nice thing about getting old is I don’t really care that I need to wear glasses any longer. Hell, it goes with the beard… which I’ll shave off one of these day. Then, it’ll go with the grey.

Now, I have two pairs of glasses. One pair is for distance vision. The other pair is for reading. That’s the new pair. My doc took my regular glasses and placed another lens on top of them. “How does that look?” he asked.

“Holy crap,” I nearly shouted. “I can see!” That’s how much of an improvement it was. I could honestly see everything I was reading – for the first time in years.

And that’s good, because I read a lot. As a writer, I spend 10-12 hours in front of my monitor, typing on my keyboard, just about every day. My doc has told me that it’s the strain on my eyes from all that “close up work” (as he calls it) that wears me out. In other words, what I do makes me who I am.

That sucks.

But there you are. So, I’m sitting here with these new glasses on, seeing everything. Eh, it ain’t so bad.

Qualifying…

Being with Vicky has gotten me into some pretty crazy shit.

Like NASCAR.

I know. I know. I didn’t see it coming, either!

But my male sports gene was bound to come out at some point and now I’m probably a bit more of a NASCAR fan than Vicky. We watch the Sprint Cup races every week when they’re on – except that moronic NRA race in Texas – and once a year we head on over to the Auto Club Speedway to watch qualifying for their race.

And that’s what we did yesterday, hitting the road rather early and making it to the track about an hour before the festivities. Vicky had learned how to get free tickets from AAA, which is only right considering they’re sponsoring the race, so the whole day would be free except for the gas and the snacks – two things you don’t want to mix up.

Prior to qualifying, and because we got there early, Vicky wanted to walk through the bazaar of merchandise trailers before we went inside. You didn’t think we’d actually get in for free, did you? Well, I’d learned my lesson a while ago. I understood that Vicky had to pick up a momento from the Jeff Gordon trailer. And, heck, we only did this once a year.

This year, Vicky bought a pair of Jeff Gordon “24” ear-rings. Do I think she’ll really wear them? Sure. Once. But what the hell? It brought her a little joy.

Last year’s visit to the track had shown me that my aging body doesn’t take kindly to vertigo, so I asked Vicky if we could sit lower this time. We did and waited for Qualifying to start.

As usual, we joked with each other about the other people we saw and this and that. Eventually, we had to put in our ear-plugs but we still joked via text messaging. One of the best things about being with Vicky is the ease with which we make each other laugh. We’re always giggling or laughing and I love that Vicky is pretty damned funny.

So, we sat there, joking with each other, trading the occasional kiss – making everyone sick.

When Qualifying began, we traded the occasional comment about the drivers. More specific comments were held for Jeff Gordon’s qualifying lap and Juan Pablo Montoya’s qualifying, too. Jeff Gordon is Vicky’s driver and I follow Juan Pablo. Both drove pretty well, but our comments about them were nothing compared to what we said and the disgust we showed towards Danika Patrick and Brad Keslowski.

Vicky can’t stand Danika after NASCAR has shoved her down our throats as the savior of the sport. If she had been given a chance to prove herself – and if she was a half-decent driver – our attitudes might be different. But we’re sick of NASCAR praising her for every lap she drives or every wreck she survives. We’re just sick of her.

Brad, who we call Keslousy, is an inbred hick who is full of shit. Other than that, he’s fine. He didn’t win last year’s championship so much as Jimmy Johnson lost it.

And so, we watched Danica qualify five spots from last place and we watched Keslousy have to start from the back and had a great time. In all of my days, I would never have imagined I’d enjoy NASCAR. I probably wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much without Vicky. But when we share it, no matter if we’re at the track or on our sofa, we have a great time.

(Mind you, I won’t be back there for 364 more days…)

So Dream Something, episode 6 featuring Angela Kay Austin...

My guest this week is Angela Kay Austin, and I am pleased to welcome her to the podcast. You can listen to this new episode at:

http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-6

Angela Kay Austin is the bestselling author of such works of romantic fiction as Christmas' Journey, Love's Chance, and My Son, published by Red Rose Publishing. Angela likes to say that she writes stories about women who've been kicked in the butt by life - and they're tired of it. You can find more of Angela’s work and updated information on her exciting career on her website: www.angelakayaustin.com.

Angela Kay Austin has expressed herself through words for as long as she can remember.  Some of her early poetry became songs performed with her cousin at family gatherings.  But, eventually, short stories filled her favorite pink diary.

An infatuation with music and theater led to years playing various instruments and small extra roles in TV shows before giving way to a degree and career in radio and TV production.  After completing another degree in marketing, Angela found herself combining her love for all things creative and worked for many many years in promotions and advertising. 

When Angela once again found herself writing, her first published work stayed on her publisher’s bestseller list for ten weeks.  Her second release hit the bestseller list at All Romance eBooks. She has spoken on author panels, and served on boards for various author groups.

 

We covered a lot of territory in this episode, including…

Beware the Ides of March, Julius Caesar, Christmas' Journey, Love's Chance, My Son, Red Roof Publishing, www.angelakayaustin.com, songs for family gatherings, pink diary, All Romance eBooks, music, saxophone, acting, poetry, short stories, balance, marketing, promotions, rejection letters, Reader's Digest, young adult, women's fiction, romance, half-finished books, writing in sequence, writing romance, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, Judy Blume, Paradise, Nicholas Sparks, writing comedy, Bridget Jones's Diary, Jane Green, the grass is always greener, taking notes, netbook/notebook, Plan Bs, communication, journalism, having a thick skin, discouragement, what's your next tier?, historical romance, writing non-fiction, Chris Matthews, Jack Kennedy, knowing what you want, Climbing Maya, A Grand Canyon, Recovering The Self, Sleepwalking, discouragement is not a nightmare

A Grand Canyon - now available in audio...

A Grand Canyon, One Man's Journey Through Depression - the prequel to Climbing Maya - is now available in audio through Audible and Amazon.com. (Coming soon to other audiobook retailers as well!)

"Before Climbing Maya, author Ken La Salle had to face A Grand Canyon, a wasteland of depression, doubt, loss, and misery. Now, in this slightly-abridged audiobook, Ken shares his story with honesty, an open soul, and his trademark wit.

In September 2002, Ken left his home and drove to the Grand Canyon to kill himself. The only life he'd ever known was little more than a shambles. He'd lost his wife and now he realized that he really couldn't live without her. His choices were to either continue facing it with self-destruction, drugs, and booze, or...a running start and a jump over the edge to end it all.

Ken's story is filled with dysfunctional families, love found and lost, breakups, breakdowns, and remarkable hope. It's the true story of a man lost without love and too destroyed to think he deserves love. But the most amazing part of the story isn't what set him on the road to the Grand Canyon, it's what happened...afterward."

Find A Grand Canyon on Audible.com
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B00BQGBVSW&qid=1362848242&sr=1-2

And on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Canyon-Journey-Through-Depression/dp/B00BQZDE5G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362848354&sr=1-1&keywords=a+grand+canyon%2C+ken+la+salle

I hope you enjoy it!

Just a brief reminder...

Climbing Maya is still on sale!

If you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy, you can still find it in paperback here:
http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Maya-Ken-La-Salle/dp/1477531858/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362760928&sr=8-1&keywords=climbing+maya

And for your Kindle, right here:
http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Maya-ebook/dp/B007YIF510/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362760928&sr=8-2&keywords=climbing+maya

And all other e-readers by clicking this link, here:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/156534

You'll make a poor writer very happy - and you might learn something before you're done...

So Dream Something, featuring Cynthia Underwood...

This week, I am pleased to welcome Cynthia Underwood to the podcast. And I want to alert my listeners that this episode will require the use of some adult language. Be forewarned.

The reason I mention this is because of how I know Cynthia. You see, she used to be just one of my wife’s old friends from back in Lancaster, California. Then, a few years ago, Vicky bought me my first painting – not a print but an actual painting. Owning this painting had shown me the difference between something that is art and something that is “of art,” such as a print.

The painting I call “insomnia” and is one of Cynthia Underwood’s “Fuck” paintings. I call it a “Fuck” painting because the word “Fuck” is featured prominently on the work. It is powerful and speaks to the problem of insomnia.

Like me, Cynthia often employs a pseudonym and hers is “Lola de Rossi”.

Cynthia's life has always included art. She earned her BA in Studio Art as well as Art History at Humboldt State University and also holds an MFA in Painting and Sculpture from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts from Tufts University. After that followed a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Cynthia has created art in all sorts of venues, from corporate to whatever the hell she wanted. As a freelance artist, she designed work for Staples and Doritos. She was an instructor at the Mala Krsna Refugee Camp in Serbia, Littlerock High School, and several colleges but her career now is in Design Patents for the U.S. Patent Office.

This is not to say that Cynthia left her dreams of being an artist behind, however. As anyone can see on her website at www.cynthiaunderwood.com, art continues to be an important part of her life. From word sculpture to employing different types of canvas – including a few cars – and on to her present project eloquently titled “Happy is the New Edgy”, Cynthia continues to make her dream an important part of her life.

You can find the new episode of So Dream Something on the podcast's website at:

http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-5

And you can find it on my website at:

http://www.kenlasalle.com/so-dream-something

And, as alwasy, you can find it on iTunes.

 

We covered a lot of territory in this episode, including…

adult language, "of" art, insomnia, fuck paintings, Lola de Rossi, Humboldt State University, Tufts University, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Staples, Doritos, Mala Krsna Refugee Camp, www.cynthiaunderwood.com, word sculpture, Happy is the New Edgy, photography, sports medicine, art history, german, PS1/MoMA, Dodge Daytona, urban camoflage, SAAB 2000, words and appropriation, God Bless America and Her Natural Resources, Playboy, Penthouse, Reading Material, consumerism, hope, positivity, patents, US Patent Office, office work, working in law, Plan Bs, Washington DC, working from home, big picture, Normal is the New Edgy, Facebook, overtime, Do Something Fun, Healthy is the New Edgy, Living Art, Making Art, passion, running, pseudonyms, Run Lola Run, poetry readings, Three and a Half Minutes, Be Happy, Life as Art, Angela Kay Austin, Climbing Maya, The Worth of Dreams The Value of Dreamers, The Dream is The Map

Working artist... Artist working...

Back in the job hunt world, I thought I’d talk about something I’ve been noticing the past few months.

Mind you, in the past few months I’ve held a couple of different positions and have been on multiple interviews and have had even more conversations via email and I’ve found something so consistently not adding up that it’s starting to piss me off. Basically, it turns out that as much as people were dubious about a writer who wanted to work full time they are even more dubious, scared even, of a writer who just wants to work part time.

Here’s the thing. In two jobs I’ve recently held, I’ve been asked, “Are you going to be able to put in the hours we need you to work?” Sure, I say. That’s why I want to work part time, so it’s easy to fit in my writing schedule. I even had someone tell me they were afraid I’d get too involved in my writing to be able to work, and my reply was along the lines of, “Are you kidding? This is part time.” Both of these jobs ended, by the way, when the employer pulled out – because they didn’t have the hours in one case and because they wanted to pay someone less in another. But in that second case, they tried to use the whole, “We want someone who won’t be busy with other things,” line. Other things? It was four measly hours a day!

In job interviews, I’m asked if I can fit the job in my life. In phone interviews, I’m told they want someone who can focus. Who do they think they’re talking to? A Chihuahua? I have an attention span. Honest. Care to test it?

You see, the downside of this whole writing thing is that everybody has their own preconceptions about what that is. I could work full time and not devote myself to my writing but Vicky and I decided to give it a shot and I am incredibly indebted/impressed/blown-away by the fact that she has backed me up, even with everything that has meant. (It means I bring in shit for money, that’s what it means.)

So, when I was working full-time, I couldn’t mention my writing or my employer would act like I wasn’t loyal to the company, despite my job performance. Now, working part time, employers can’t believe a person can do more than one thing in a day. They imagine I can’t schedule my hours.

I guess one rule has not changed. People have this idea that being an artist means being unreliable… and that’s bullshit.

Sorry. Just had to vent. I’m still going to be out here, looking for work in a world that seems to think that’s not possible. If my book sales pick up, maybe I can stop worry about this… but, that hasn’t happened yet.

I’ll keep going.

So Dream Something, featuring Kat Brooks...

You can find the new episode of So Dream Something at this location:
http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-4

This week's episode features Kat Brooks of Indies Unlimited and we talk about writing and photography as well as...

Droopy the Dog, IndiesUnlimited.com, Lust for Danger, Jada Book of the Year, Cambridge Books, Agent Night, Mr. Pish, Washington State, eHow, Glass Houses, bobcats, cougars, Jim Brandenburg, artistic families, ADHD, photography, AOL Weird News, Yves Saint Laurent, Beware the Black Car, Maryland, home improvement, Big Sky, Scarlett O'Hara, support networks, J.D. Mader, David Antrobus, LinkedIn, self-publishing, Facebook, Stephen Hise, CreateSpace, Bird Watching, lightning, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Night Undone, Writing "Faction", Lynne Cantwell, Throwing Shit Against The Wall, Hugh Howey, Newton Love, Parasols, Pina Coladas, Calcutta, Living Life On Your Own Terms, Cynthia Underwood, and Climbing Maya!

I hope you enjoy it!

Beware the videogame boogeyman...

Why are we more concerned about video game "violence" than actual bullet holes in kid's bodies? Hell, we might as well ask about the boogeyman while we're at it!

And you can start here: http://greenheritagenews.com/beware-the-videogame-boogeyman/

Dreams and back seats...

With Vicky in the hospital last month, I found myself having to shift my priorities a bit. I am used to focusing on my dreams, which I mostly have Vicky to thank for, but now I realized that it was important to reprioritize. And I was fine with that because it turns out that Vicky is more important.

And so, when I wrote for Recorvering The Self this month, I decided to write about just that.

You can read it here: http://www.recoveringself.com/fulfilling-your-dreams/when-dreams-take-a-back-seat.

I hope you enjoy it.

So Dream Something, episode 3 featuring Douglas Lain...

My guest on the new episode of So Dream Something is author, philosopher, and surrealist Douglas Lain.


You can find the new episode on the web at:
http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-3

Or listen to it here:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/sodreamsomething/So_Dream_Something_episode_3.mp3

We covered a lot of territory in this episode, including...

Diet Soap, Climbing Maya, surrealism, Billy Moon, Tor Books, Christopher Robin Milne, Last Week’s Apocalypse, Fall Into Time, Wave of Mutilation, Pick Your Battle, Henri Lefebvre, Production of Space, Theodor Adorno, Ideological State Apparatus, Plato's cave, Capitalism, Star Trek, hole full of pudding, Bemis Art Museum, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, space travel, Van Gogh, Kafka, praise-worthy, Portland, Does the Center Hold?, Robert Anton Wilson, Phillip K. Dick, Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Clarion West, Amazing Stories, Instant Labor, Kurt Vonnegut, Oregon Symphony, The Situationist International, The Society of the Spectacle, The ‘84 Regress, Nightshade Books, Selling Jesus, virtual reality, A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, May 1968, Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, The Marx Brothers, Zeppo Marx, The Doom That Came To LOLCATS, Eraserhead Press, H.P. Lovecraft, Kat Brooks

Dogs who used to miss her…

Vicky’s been in the hospital this week.

After her back surgery – a disc/disk fusion that was supposed to be “minor” (pardon me whilst I laugh) – we found an infection developing in her back and she was readmitted tout suite.

That was on Tuesday.

Tuesday night, as I spoke with Vicky on the phone, she asked, “Do the puppies miss me?”

… okay, now I need to tell you that Vicky has been gone from home a lot lately. I mean, she went on a business trip to Omaha (why else would anyone go there?), a business trip to Switzerland, had back surgery, and is back in the hospital again. To be honest, Vicky hasn’t really lived in our home that much. She just visits.

So, I had to tell Vicky when she asked if her puppies were missing her… “No.”

“NO?” she asked rather loudly.

“Not really. I think think they’re used to it,” I told her.

This came as something of a disappointment to Vicky. When she was in Switzerland, Shipoopi would sit on the sofa for hours, watching the door for Vicky’s arrival. Suki would jump up whenever I came home, thinking it was Vicky (and getting very disappointed when it was just me). Now? Nothing.

…Vicky’s getting out of the hospital today.

I told Vicky that the dogs were bound to be excited when Vicky returned. Surely, they’d remember her now.

I’m considering tying Beggin’ Strips to Vicky’s ankles. Do you think she’d notice?