Angela Kay Austin gives some love to Climbing Maya...

Today, Angela Kay Austin is featuring Climbing Maya on her website.

Stop on by and share some love. Tell some friends and, if you haven't already, pick up a digital copy! (Just stop by www.kenlasalle.com to see where it's available.) The paperback version is just around the corner!

You've got to give yourself permission...

This month on Recovering The Self, I talk about an important step for anyone pursuing their dream: Giving Yourself Permission.

Click this link to give it a read.

That’s us with the piles of food…

Vicky and I went out the other night because it was Vicky’s last night of freedom before teaching for another couple of months. Vicky’s teaching schedule gets so crazy – she tells me it’s because she loves it – that we knew it would be our last chance for a while, so…

Sunday night, we hit Bucca di Beppo because, well, I have a love affair with their spaghetti and meat sauce. We waited along with a hundred other people for a table – I was the idiot who thought they wouldn’t be busy – and were finally called up with another couple.

Is this how they’re seating people now? I wondered. Is this like a swing party but with food?

As it turned out, two booths had opened up next to each other. Couple #1 sat in one booth and we grabbed the other. Good… that would have been awkward…

As we perused the menus, the question came up as it always did: Should we order a small or large portion? For those who know Bucca, everything is served “Family Style” on a big plate so you can share. I love this because I’m a big fan of having a little of this and a little of that. We usually order the small portion, which turns out to be fine and we often have leftovers. But, with Vicky teaching every evening for the foreseeable future, I decided why not live wild for a change and get a lot of leftovers?

“Let’s get the large tonight,” I told Vicky. I ordered my beloved spaghetti with meat sauce and Vicky ordered the far less boring penne arrabiata.

And then, we sat back with our bread and Vicky’s wine and my soda and gabbed about school and work and writing and upcoming events until…

Enough food to feed a small army was laid out on our table! Two massive plates filled with pasta occupied our table like squatters and I could feel the eyes of the world turn our way.

“Good thing we wanted leftovers,” I announced, uncomfortably. It wasn’t bad enough that everyone in the restaurant seemed to be looking at us, my imagination was bringing in every starving child of the world.

Vicky didn’t say anything about how I was just pig enough to try and eat it all… but I could feel her thinking it.

We brought our leftovers home in industrial-strength tins, the kind they drop on starving nations out of modified bombers. As I carried them out, I thought about how some people must have thought we were pigs, while others just thought we were bad cooks.

Either way, I’m happy to stay home for a few weeks until the next time Vicky and I go to a restaurant and I embarrass us again…

Climbing Maya - now for your Nook!...

Barnes and Noble now has my philosophical memoir, Climbing Maya, available directly for your Nook! If you have a Nook, I hope you check it out. (Of course, it is still also available on Amazon and Smashwords as well.)

Just click this line to go directly to the Barnes & Noble Climbing Maya page and purchase your copy, with my thanks!

Front Row Lit Climbs Maya...

This morning, Front Row Lit is providing an excerpt of Climbing Maya for your reading pleasure!

If you like what you see, you can check out the trailer, go to my website, even purchase a copy of Climbing Maya (with my thanks).

Night of Sleep Wipes Insomniac Out…

As many of you know, I am an insomniac. What this means is I often go a week or two, or sometimes three, without a full night of sleep. Oh, I’ll sleep a couple of hours… um, cumulative hours, meaning I catch an hour here and an hour there. Sometimes, I’ll get really lucky and have four hours of sleep… straight through!

I’ll go like this for a stretch of time until, finally and thankfully, my body will crash and I will receive a restful, blissful night of sleep.

Ahhhhhhh….

And then, I wake up the next morning feeling like hell. My body aches all over. I am so tired I can barely stand.

What the hell, man?!

You’re supposed to sleep to get rest but my stupid body gets more tired when it gets sleep. I think that’s because it goes so long without a good night’s sleep that when it gets it it just wants more. And it hurts because it feels so very, very tired.

Kinda sucks.

That’s how I woke up this morning, by the way. I crashed last night around 10:30pm – Vicky was still up – and I went to bed before her. I’m sure she knew by now what that signified. After all, I rarely go to bed first and she was downstairs still watching TV (and working, of course). I slept until 6:30 this morning, clocking in exactly eight hours!

And felt like shit when I woke up.

After a few nights awake, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal…

PTO'd...

I’d like to tell you about how much my life has changed in the past few years. Some of this has to do with writing but I assure you it’s not fit for posting on the other blog. After all, it also has to do with Vicky.

Vicky and I were on the phone yesterday and she was telling me about how her Paid Time Off (or PTO) hours would be increasing because she’s been at her job for a long time. Vicky often tells me about how well she’s doing at work and I congratulate her because I really think she’s doing splendidly.

But, beneath all that, I feel a kind of envy, a jealousy, because I know I’m not going to reach that point. I’m not going to be at a job that long. It’s just not in the cards. My days of working in the corporate world appear to be over. I lost my chance.

As I thought this, another thought crept in – a realization.

I’ve got several books available online with more coming out this year. I’m having three plays produced this year. More things could be coming down the line; it’s only May!

I realized that now that I am devoting my time, my life, to writing I have no need for Paid Time Off! And if I ever did have Paid Time Off, odds are I wouldn’t take it! I’d stay home and write!

Most of this is due to Vicky. If it wasn’t for her hard work, my writing career wouldn’t stand a chance. I’m not making that much money from book sales, after all! Not only should I be happy that Vicky is doing well in her job, I should be grateful – and I am!

Once I realized this – once I understood that my life for the foreseeable future, at least, will be devoted to my writing career – the idea of PTO seemed silly. Time off? From writing? Why would I want that?

Somehow, when I wasn’t looking, I became a writer. And that's something I never want to take a vacation from.

Just a word on Stephanie Miller…

I wrote a piece several years ago, or so it seems, about how much I loved Stephanie Miller… and it became the most popular blog entry ever!

Seriously, I get a lot of hits from people checking out my relationship status with our favorite, sexy Liberal. Well, let me clear the air a bit. Stephanie and I, while we see eye to eye on so many things, aren’t in a relationship. In fact, we’ve never spoken to each other.

I’d love if things were different… you know, if she’d have me on her show to promote Climbing Maya, for instance. What do you say, Stephanie? Why don’t we do that?

… You probably shouldn’t hold your breath. I’m just a guy, no celeb, no pundit, nobody to help boost ratings… just a guy…

Still…

Steph? Drop me a line.

www.kenlasalle.com/contact-me

Maybe we can talk.

And check out Climbing Maya. You might like it!

Early reviews for Climbing Maya are in...

"Climbing Maya is a deceptively easy read of a complex subject laced with humor, compassion and philosophy... Try it and see..."

Nik Morton

Ken La Salle: Indie Writer...

Just found out a new interview has been posted online by Kris Wampler. Kris is the author of the awesome new book "Love Train". (You can check it out by clicking this link.)

Kris and I discuss the release of Climbing Maya, some other proejcts I'm working on, and what it's like to be an indie writer.

Many thanks to Kris for kindly coordinating the release of this interview with the Climbing Maya launch date!

Climbing Maya announces solidarity with Occupy Movement...

May 1, 2012 – Climbing Maya provides a fresh look at “success”in concert with the Occupy Movement’s May Day return.

A new philosophical memoir is hitting the streets on May 1st that is spiritually in tune with the goals and motivations of the Occupy Movement. Climbing Maya, by Ken La Salle, turns traditional ideas about success on their head and presents a view of success that is fundamentally different from our current materialistic, simplistic understanding.

Climbing Maya’s official launch date of May 1st is symbolic of its shared objective with the Occupy Movement: that we turn away from the superficial understandings that have gotten us all into so much trouble and that we look instead towards a definition of success that takes more than just money into consideration. Climbing Maya shows why the pursuit of greed is, in the end, not fulfilling and why empathy is crucial to any understanding of success. At their core, both Climbing Maya and the Occupy Movement are saying the same thing in different ways: that success is meaningless without context or reference.

“My goal with Climbing Maya,” La Salle recently said, “has always been to create a definition of success that is easy to comprehend, sustainable, and enriching for all people. I believe the Occupy Movement, in standing against those who would manipulate the system unfairly, are looking for the same kind of thing. That is why this release date feels so right.”

Climbing Maya is a philosophical memoir that asks “What is success?” and doesn’t let go until it has the answer. Is it fame? Is it family? Do the old answers of career and money really hold up? How can we have one word for something that means so many things? Why does the dictionary get it wrong? When Ken La Salle loses his job, and sees one friend taking care of his dying wife and another friend killing himself with alcohol, he decides to find the answer. Climbing Maya weaves his search for an answer in the storyline of what happened to his friends and himself as they came to terms with this pivotal question.

Author and playwright, Ken La Salle can be found on the web at www.kenlasalle.com.

The Occupy Movement is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing each member has in common is that They Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. Occupy uses the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve its ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants. Occupy will be “rebooting” on May 1st with a general strike calling for solidarity in the 99%. No work – No school – No housework – No shopping.

Jeanie Pantelakis of Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency represents Climbing Maya. You may reach her at www.sullivanmaxx.com.

Climbing Maya is published by Solstice Publishing. Solstice is the fastest growing mid-market publisher in the USA. Since 2008, more than 80 authors have covered every category of fiction with a rapidly expanding line of nonfiction. Solstice books are available in every ebook format with paperback editions also available. They can be found on the web at www.solsticepublishing.com.

Climbing Maya launches!

Climbing Maya is now available!

You can find Climbing Maya for Kindle and Kindle-App readers by clicking this link.

You can find Climbing Maya for all a-readers by clicking this link. (I've got you covered!)

Please be sure to pick up a copy of Climbing Maya. Thank you!

For those who dream...

May brings a new Recovering the Self article a day early... which isn't exactly May but why split hairs?

This month, I get back to basics. What are dreams and why are they important? Please give it a read and share in your various social media tubes if you are thusly inclinated...

Occupy This Book...

I am proud to say that on the very same day the Occupy Movement is calling for a general strike, my philosophical memoir Climbing Maya is also being released. Climbing Maya shares and endorses many of the core values of the Occupy Movement, from a move away from materialism to a search for deeper meaning that what is in your wallet.

Check out Climbing Maya when it hits the digital bookshelves on May 1st!

Linguisa...

Leave it to Word not to know the word “linguisa”.

Today, I thought I’d write about a recent and awfully long overdue discovery: Linguisa. (There are many ways to spell it, and Word doesn’t recognize any of them.) If you know me, you know I love to cook (and eat), which is why I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never cooked with linguisa before.

Oh, I’ve heard about it. Back in high school, Sean Roberson used to talk about how his parents would cook with it. They weren’t rich or anything but my family was so poor we never went in for… you know… good food. I don’t think we ever saw pork, for that matter.

If you haven’t heard of linguisa before, WiseGeek refers to it this way: “The primary ingredient of linguiça is pork butt, which is cutinto rough pieces and mixed with spices. Pork butt tends to be lean, resultingin a leaner sausage with a more meaty flavor. Common spices in linguiça includeoregano, paprika, garlic, pepper, cumin, and sometimes cinnamon.”

That sounds pretty damned good!

I’m sure I’ve had linguisa at a restaurant but this weekend I decided to give cooking with it a try. How did that happen? Well, Costco had a display of scallops and linguisa and I thought about an amazing jambalaya I could put together… until I saw that the scallops were around $25. So, I stuck with the linguisa.

There’s not much else to say. I put together a rather rustic pasta sauce: tomatoes, linguisa, olives, mushrooms, oregano, garlic, wine, chicken stock, crushed red peppers, and maybe a couple of other things. I let that simmer and reduce and work its magic for a couple of hours and I was done. I decided to serve it over linguini so I’d have a nice, fat pasta to hold all the greasy, lovely goodness.

And it was good.

It was damned good.

I’ll tell you right now. I’m never going back to ground beef. Screw that! I am linguisa’s bitch from now on! (Not to mention now that we have mad cow in the states, I think I’ll stay away from ground beef…)

That is all. Go buy some linguisa and make yourselves some goodness.

Sweet Sweat…

As some of you may know, today is Vicky’s birthday.

Without going into too much detail about what she got or where she went, I do have one story to share. It involved my atrocious handwriting and her birthday card, two things that I assure you do not go together well at all.

Having signed her card and put it in the envelope, I wrote on the envelope: To My Sweety Birthday Girl. But my handwriting is so bad, as is my eyesight (that’s right, I’m turning into a mole man in my advanced old age), that I was afraid you could read that as: To My Sweaty Birthday Girl.

Ignoring the horrible grammar for a minute – seriously, I looked at it and asked, “What the hell does that mean?” – I realized this could turn out very bad. And recognizing the grammar for a minute, “Sweaty Birthday Girl” makes more sense grammatically. Was Vicky going to think I called her “Sweaty”???

So, let’s clear this up right now.

It’s “Sweety”. She’s my “Sweety”.

And I have horrible handwriting. I’m aware of this.

Bozeman News meets Climbing Maya...

Bozeman News has a feature on Climbing Maya, along with the new trailer!

Check it out!

Climbing Maya, The Trailer

Climbing Maya - the Postcards!

As part of the promotion for Climbing Maya, I've ordered a few postcards to help get the word out. I can't share with you the postcard over a blog but...
... oh wait....
Yes, I can!

I'm trying to get the word out as much as possible so if you could share these with - oh - everyone you know, I would be very appreciative.

On the topic of dreams...

It's been a year of blogging over at Recovering the Self and what a terrific year it has been.

You can read my latest piece at Recovering the Self by clicking this link!