Stopping to breathe…

August’s entry for Recovering the Self is early and here it is.

I’ll be back for new updates in these parts next week now that I’ve taken a little time to stop and breathe. Hope you’re still breathing, too.

One day you're on top...

We're halfway through the month and I've been bumped off the front page for a senior in high school - ah, humility! But you can still read the interview I did over at Connotation Press and my play, Murielle's Big Date, on this page...

July Recovering the Self is up...

This month, I talk about an important factor for anyone chasing their dreams: having a support system!

On the job front and…

I was going to say “All’s Quiet on The Jobstern Front” but even I know that makes me sound Malthusian!
So, the big news is that I am now a copywriter for an ad agency. Shocked? Me too! After applying for just about every job under the sun, the one I get is the job I’ve wanted for years, to finally work at an ad agency!
So, there you have it. Things are good and let’s hope I stay employed for a long while…
Oh, and there’s something else. I recently hit a writing wall (as explored over on the Ken La Salle blog) and I won’t be writing much for a brief while. That means I’ll be taking a break from the blog for just a bit. Feel free to check back, though. I shall return. In the meantime, just play nicely amongst yourselves…

Murielle’s Big Date in Connotation Press…

For those of you who have never read one of my plays, Connotation Press is now giving you the opportunity. This month, Connotation Press is running my farce, Murielle’s Big Date, for you to enjoy.

They’ve also included at interview with me, wherein I discuss writing, theater, and many deep, philosophical things to be sure…

Hope you enjoy it!

Job Interviews: A Side By Side Comparison…

Last Friday, I ended my week with a phone interview with a woman from a placement agency I’ve worked with in the past. Though I hadn’t worked with the woman, I figured from my experience with the placement agency that it would go well.

Boy, was I wrong.

The call began with questions about my experience, which is typical, but when I told her what I’d done, she refused to believe me. I said I’d written for the web and she said, “That’s just writing things that went on the web that’s not writing FOR the web.” I said I’d written advertisements and she said, “You just wrote text that was used in advertisements. That’s not the same thing.”

Seriously.

I couldn’t get her to understand that they were both the same and, after a torturous half hour, she called me a liar and said she refused to work with me.

… nice. Welcome to the world of the unemployed.

Now, cut to yesterday. Someone at an ad agency had seen my profile on Linkedin and, through a circuitous and confusing path, contacted me through another placement agency I use. This agency needed a writer who understood tech and wanted to bring me on. When I spoke with the contact, he didn’t wait a minute and asked me to meet with him right away.

“I’m not exactly ready,” I tapped danced. “I just need time to shave and –”

“Don’t worry about shaving. I know it’s last minute. I just want to meet to get the ball rolling.”

So, I met him. I think he was trying to see how I handled change and stress because, when we met, he said, “It means a lot to me that you were able to meet with me on such short notice.”

Working for an ad agency is a big step for any marketing copywriter. It’s really where you want to be. But to do it, you often already need experience – one of those wonderful Catch 22s… But he was fine with my lack of agency experience because, he said, I had so much good experience and talent that could be put to use.

When I told him about my background, he didn’t call me a liar or just assume I was trying to trick him.

I don’t know if I’ll get the job but you put those two interviews side by side and you see two very different styles. I really hope I get this ad agency job; it could mean a big step for me. If not, I hope I never get another interview where the person I meet with assumes I’m a liar.

A Hex Upon Rynia (the e-book) is now available for all e-readers...

Hex may be one of the smartest men on earth, certainly one of its few real magicians, but that hasn’t stopped him from being alone. He can bring toys to life but his only real friend is a boy named Vincent. When Vincent sneaks into one of Hex’s magical experiments, they are both spirited away to the world of Rynia – of undead wars and stone giant usurpers, of terrifying sand creatures and a kingdom fighting for its life.


Hex is forced to take his magic to war while Vincent is rescued by a guerilla force of wizards and fighters, a talking walrus and a stick-man named Robert. Meanwhile, back on Earth, something of this magic has followed Hex and Vincent’s path back, ready to conquer a new world.

Witness a fantasy world unlike any other with topless helicopters and ice giants, violent battles and passionate love, a people on the edge of extinction with a story that must be experienced to be believed. Witness a Hex Upon Rynia!

A Hex Upon Rynia, the prequel to the entire Rynia Trilogy, is now available for all e-readers from Amazon.com, Smashwords, and wherever e-books are sold.

June's Recovering the Self...

This month's Recovering the Self blog has been posted, in which I tackle the painful reality of what pursuing your dreams really means.
I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.recoveringself.com/self-esteem/down-to-earth

Is 45 years too late to review a movie? My review of The Great Race…

When I was just a kid, my brother I used to sit down every weekend and watch The Family Film Festival with Tom Hatten on Channel 5. I think it was on Sunday mornings. On that show, about four or five times each year, they would play Popeye cartoons and old movies that the channel had secured the rights to very cheaply. You could tell they got the rights cheap because they’d play the same movies over and over. One of the movies they showed over and over, about four or five times each year, was The Great Race.

The Great Race is a Blake Edwards comedy from 1965, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and so many others. It was one of those movies I saw so much that I could, and often did – to death, quote line by line.

I didn’t realize the profound affect it had on me until I watched it recently. I had dvr’ed the film off TCM (which I just LUV), having only seen it uncut once before many years ago. As I watched it, I realized that so many of the rapid-fire interchanges could have come out of something I wrote. Among the many influences I’ve had, this one is very clear.

And the movie still holds up today. So many things I loved as a child simply do not but The Great Race still had me laughing. Jack Lemmon’s energy is contagious. Tony Curtis’ meta-suavity is spot on. Natalie Wood is – well, this was when she looked amazing (when didn’t she?) – but her timing is wicked. Peter Falk is Peter Falk so you know he’s got it in spades. And there are so many others that just nail it.

The bad part? The music. As I’ve mentioned to others, this simply stops the show because it’s so god-awful. You end up in a pit stop, waiting for the music to end so you can get on with the enjoyment. I'm not talking about the soundtrack, which is wonderful; it's those damn showtunes. Stop it!

And much enjoyment is to be had. The thing about The Great Race is that it has so many moments of fucking brilliance that it can coast for a while and you don’t mind. Well, I didn’t. I just love this movie and feel so grateful knowing how it has inspired me.

Jogging with a stranger…

Once upon a time, I used to take the edge off in the morning with a few cigarettes. Now, I take the edge off in the morning with a few miles – jogging them! What has happened to me? When did I grow up? And, crap, I think I lost my EDGE!

Okay, actually I’m not that worried. I like the way jogging makes me feel and it goes well with cycling. It’s rather surprising I’m still such a fat-ass, but I’m working on that.

This morning, I jogged five miles along the Santa Ana River Trail. The SART is a great place to jog; I’ve come to consider it my outdoor gym because I cycle there, too. Now that the sun has started coming out and spring has sprung, I don’t have to bundle up or wait until the day gets warm enough to go out. The only problem with spring springing is that the bugs of spring have sprung as well – into the air! Everywhere!

Most of my jog this morning seemed to be through a cloud of flying bugs, so many that you don’t dare open your mouth even to exhale. Eventually, most of the bugs will die off or move on as the weather turns drier and hotter… but not yet.

So, I jogged as best I could, keeping my mouth shut through a huge cloud of bugs. Sounds like fun, huh?

As I entered the last portion of my jog, a very attractive woman jogged past – which I’ll tell you up front is not that hard to do. I’m old, fat, and slow. Dig? She immediately caught my eye because she was, as previously state, very attractive. And I do not mind jogging around attractive women, even if it does make me unnaturally obsessed with my gut.

When I jog, I tend to jog in intervals. This is how they’re determined: when a fast song comes on my iPod, I jog, and when a slower song comes on my iPod, I walk. Sometimes, I get lucky and the iPod’s random setting gives me nothing but slow songs, but normally it’s 50/50 as it was today. When this woman passed me, I was slowing down. Then, I sped up and passed her. Then, I slowed down and she passed. She was doing intervals, too, as it turned out.

After a while, I realized we were both going down the same street. This was the street I always took to get back home but I couldn’t help wondering what she thought. Did she think I was following her? Stalking her?

I tried to just go about my business and not stare too much, as difficult as that was.

Every time I slowed down, she passed. When she slowed down, I passed. We did this for a couple of miles.

Then, when we reached my corner, she continued straight and I turned. I caught her head turn out of the corner of my eye, almost like, “Where are you going?” Ah, but I’m sorry. That was where I lives met and split once again.

I might jog with her again. You never know. Then, perhaps, we will be just a little less like strangers.

I honestly did not see this coming…

I went to the optometrist this week for my yearly paranoia. Optometrists give me just the opposite feeling as dentists. When I see a dentist, I experience great pain to find out everything’s okay. At the optometrist’s office, I experience no pain and hear the worst news.

This time, after he checked my eyes out, he gave an irresolute shake of his head and said, “I’m not sure what we can do.”

Those aren’t words you want to hear from any doctor.

Turns out my eyes have started the downward slide I’d always feared and felt I had always been slightly putting off. The thing is my eyes suck. They always have. If you have an eye condition in mind, chances are I have it or have had it.

Oh, they’re healthy. He always tells me that, “Your eyes are healthy…” And then he adds, “But…”

It turns out my eyes are a bit schizophrenic. The vision in my right eye is diminishing as my left eye dominates. I’m going blind in my right eye. When the doctor tries to make me able to see through that eye, with glasses, the vision in my left eye actually gets worse. “It’s as if your left eye doesn’t want your right eye to see.”

Now, I’ve never had any Oedipal issues that I know about but I personally like seeing out of my right eye. It makes 3D so much more enjoyable.

Jokes aside, it kind of shook me, knowing that my best days of vision are long past.

The supreme joke here is what’s killing my vision the most is what I do. As my doctor put it, “If we could get you to not look at computer screens or read, your vision would probably improve.” Irony, you’re a bitch.

The Incarnations of Death - now available for all e-readers...

Death can never be defeated and when Robert Erwon Mitchel does just that he sets off a chain of events that give birth to a new breed of superheroes. Now it is up to these heroes - Night Stalker, Fade, and Force - to find a way to stop the insane replacement for Death, one who can wipe out entire cities at a whim and who is hunting down the scientist who killed his predecessor!

Find out what happens in The Incarnations of Death! Now available for all e-readers through:
Amazon for your Kindle
Smashwords for all e-readers
and wherever fine e-books are sold!

New job, Odd Job…

With the week ended, it’s time for me to catch up on goings on and other goings otherwise.

As you may know, I have found a new job that proves to be as fulfilling as it is not likely to make me rich. Here’s the scoop: I’m working part time with hours varying around the 20 hour mark writing educational material and marketing it as well. The material specializes in the education and treatment of special needs children. That’s where the fulfillment part comes in. The lack of riches, well, you can see that in the amount of hours I’m working.

The nice thing about this job is my new employer knows about my writing career. (I use the term “career” very loosely.) She knows I’m a writer and supports me in that endeavor. There’s no hiding it and nobody’s suggesting that I can’t do a proper job if I’m also pursuing a writing career. If anything, the only way being a writer has become a liability is that every time she thinks of something that needs writing she says, “Oh, you’re a writer, aren’t you?” But I can’t complain because that could turn into more hours and more money.

There is one more odd thing I want to share. After applying at just about every grocery store, department store, and other entry level job I could think of – you know, anything for an income – none of them have called. None of them. I don’t know if this is because they see me as too qualified or if they see me as too old. Is it an insult or a compliment? I know it’s like asking why the ugly girl didn’t ask me to the dance – I should be grateful – but I still wonder why I wasn’t asked.

Hopefully, this job will last a while. The plan is to give it six months. If everything works out as planned, it could keep up far longer than that. With all the things in the works for my writing career (again, very loosely defined)(and you’ll have to check out the Ken La Salle blog for that), I may stop much sooner and for very good reasons. Let’s hope so.

The Rohan Scripts e-book now available…

The Rohan Scripts, Ken La Salle’s new novella about time travel and thrills, psychics and scientists, is now available for Kindle, iBook, Nook, and all e-readers for the very low price of just $2.99!

Get yours now! You can find it on Amazon.com. You can also find it at Smashwords. And you can find it wherever find e-books are sold. (If it's not solf there, the other books are not fine!)

The Prophesies of Nicoli Rohano, THE ROHAN SCRIPTS, were the stuff of legend for their uncanny accuracy and were all but lost to history… until now!

THE ROHAN SCRIPTS, the latest sci-fi adventure from Ken La Salle, brings you psychics and scientists, assassination plots and time paradox, with a single man flung through time and recording everything into a book of prognostication called: THE ROHAN SCRIPTS!

When the fabled ROHAN SCRIPTS mysteriously appear, they plunge a group of psychics headlong into the vortex of time. Working with physicist, Harris Feller, the psychics use the Rohan Scripts to create a prophesied time machine and when they use it the incredible energies and paradoxes of time travel reach into the past with an icy precision to snatch Nicoli Rohano and send him flinging through time. Now psychics and physicists alike must use the talents and devices at their disposal on an adventure through time itself to save the one man who can tell them how to make it all end with a book he is foretold to write, THE ROHAN SCRIPTS!

My Saturday – and, yes, I got a job…

Saturday morning began with an easy-peasy visit to the OC Food Bank. The idea was to volunteer just a couple of hours helping pack boxes of food before going to a job interview I had scheduled for later in the day.

The food-packing was coordinated just like an assembly line. There were pallets of several kinds of food on each side and box would come down the line to pack the food in. So, one person would pack a jar of peanut butter from a pallet. Then, one person would pack a bag of rice, etc. etc. etc. It was pretty easy. People were even chilly from the morning and wore coats.

The box would go to the end of the line, get taped shut and then one person would take the 10-ish pound box and stack them on a pallet. That one person was me. While everyone else was lifting just a few ounces, I moved 10-ish pound boxes all morning long. I was sweating so hard after a while, it was clear I was the only one working – but, here’s the thing, nobody helped me out. This was mostly because I was the only muscular guy – but they didn’t even slow down! They were going at a furious pace! In the two hours we were there, I moved over 140 of those boxes!

Cut to the end and I’m sweaty and tired and even banged up quite a bit… and I still have a job interview to go to! I was tempted to call it off except that the woman I was meeting with had been kind enough to take time out of her Saturday… so, I went.

As tired as I was, I wasn’t at the top of my game. I didn’t even look particularly good. I figured I would simply apologize and explain what had happened and ride it out – so imagine my surprise when it didn’t seem to affect the direction the interview went in! Woody Allen famously said that 80% of success is showing up – well, I showed up and was offered the job.

The job is about a six-month contract, so far as we know. It may go on longer but that’s the minimum. I’ll be writing as well as using my marketing management skills so, at the very least, this should be very good for my resume. The best parts, though, are two-fold. First, I’ll be working on developing and marketing courses for parents of children with Autism, helping them help their children. I feel really good about that. Second, my new boss knows about and supports my efforts as a writer. Unlike previous jobs, this won’t require me to live a double-life quite so much.

I start Tuesday and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a while since I made any money and I want to get the ball rolling.

After all this happened, Vicky and Jeff and I went up to Hollyweird to see my new show. You can read more about that on the Ken La Salle blog…

New Writing Gig: Recovering The Self...

I start a new writing gig this week, guest blogging each month for the Recovering The Self site.

Recovering The Self, as you might know, is the magazing that published my piece last year called Little Victories. Now, I'll be appearing over there each month with new words on the journey of making your dreams come true.

This month's piece is on learning to say "YES". I hope you enjoy it.

And the people cheered…

There’s been a lot of cheering today about the death of Osama bin Laden. On Facebook, Twitter, and in the news, a lot of people are very happy.

And that concerns me.

Justice is a very different thing from relishing in the death of a man. No matter if you believe Osama had anything to do with 9/11 or not, he was a criminal wanted by the United States and the United States had a mission to bring him to justice. They did that today. That mission is over.

But should we gloat and cheer over the death of a man? In a supposedly “Christian” nation, is this was Jesus would do? Is it what Buddha would suggest? I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of any single religion that would advise in this activity. As an athiest, I'm used to calling "hypocrite" but it pains me to do so today.

Cheering about the death of a man is worse than base. It is revolting. We should never revel in blood. Rather, we should kill only when necessary and then never cheer about death.

What kind of people are we that murder is so much fun and, as I’m sure will happen, people will take offense at the suggest that it shouldn’t be? We should be ashamed of ourselves.

But I don’t think we will be. Not at all.

We’ll take the religion and hold the science…

I remember some years ago… okay, many years ago, spending time in science classes along with kids who would bitch and moan and carry on about how much they hated science. “When will we use this?” they’d ask, outraged. “We’re never going to use this!”

Meanwhile, many of those kids along with many kids today spend hours in church devoted to religious beliefs. When are you going to use something like transubstantiation? When are you going to use resurrection? Never. It’ll never happen.

It amazes me how much time we invest into religion in this country – hell, in this world – and how little we invest in science. Some of you might remember, during the last presidential election, how Republican nominees couldn’t come out fast enough against global warming (science) but for religion. Science is all around is. People are dying in the middle of the country right now due to storms made more extreme as the result of global warming. Island nations are being wiped out due to rising sea levels brought on by global warming. In Japan, radioactive hell is spreading as the result of a disastrous earthquake. We should be getting smarter so we can fight these problems.

But so many would rather pray.

Way to use that brain that you insist your “god” gave you…

“Well” is theater in excellent shape…

It’s not exactly the norm for me to review theater on this blog but after seeing Panndora Productions’s performance of Lisa Kron’s Well last night at The Empire Theatre in Santa Ana, I feel compelled to do so. I must. This work found its way into my heart with a joy for life and love and inventiveness that I haven’t seen in theater for too long.

As a ersatz member of the theater community in Southern California (I was an actor once and have a bit of a reputation as a playwright), I see a lot of theater. Some of it’s good. Most of it isn’t. Recently, a friend said to me… wait. I have the quote. She said, “Yes, we all go to see shows and experience other theaters, to see our friends and how many times have we said ‘Oh that was soooo good. You were great,’ only to walk away to the local watering hole, criticize the show in our own way and then never think of it again. When was the last time you saw something on stage that moved you to rage? To be a better person? Or again in the very least, to just shout from the rooftops that you are alive.” She said that in regards to a project we’re working on but it applies so well here.

Well made me want to shout from the rooftops that I am alive. Panndora’s production filled me with more than a love for life; it made me grateful for the 90 minutes I was in that theater. Because it was nourishing and fulfilling and important – and GOOD!

I loved Well. My praise for it is complete and unequivocal. If you’re anywhere near Santa Ana between now and May 15th, you need to see Well.

MaryAnne Mosher’s direction is loose and fun, effortless. The show doesn’t look directed; it looks lived in. Sonja Berggren, who am I fortunate to call a friend and who I have worked with in the past and has never let me down, amazed and delighted me with her performance. The supporting case of J.J. Boone, Philip Bushell, Richard De Vicariis, and Pam Paulson are so much more than supporting players. They are amazing.

But most of all, it is Karen Wray with her dry, heart-felt, honest, beautiful performance as Lisa that makes the show. I have met Karen in the past and she was a very nice person and then I went on with my life. Something happened in Well, however, to change that. I fell in love with Karen Wray in Well. I wanted to watch her performance go on for the entire evening. I wanted to spend the night in the theater. The impact between writing and acting and directing, along with the alchemy of the other players, made this Karen Wray’s show. She can proud of this performance for years to come.

Go see Well. Buy your tickets now. You can do it online. Bring your friends and family. You will be so glad you did. You can find Panndora Productions online at http://www.panndoraproductions.com/. If you see it, let me know how much you enjoyed it and spread the word. This is theater worth supporting, not just because it’s art but because it is good.

How can you help Ken La Salle?...

Many of you know me as Ken La Salle, the writer, the playwright, the legend – but did you know I also have books available online for Kindle, Nook, iPad and other e-readers? It’s true. You can find my word on Amazon, Smashwords, and other popular sites for digital books.




You may be asking yourself at this point, “How can I help Ken La Salle sell more of these books?” Good question. To answer this, I’ve assembled a simple, 5-step process below with ways that you can help me sell my books online. Only one of them costs any money!



Step One: Buy a book!



That’s right. If you have a Kindle, a Nook, Sony Reader, iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, or another e-reading device, you can purchase my books at the following sites:



At my Amazon.com page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004U6OFQ0

Or from my Smashwords page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KenLaSalle



There are plenty of books to choose from in many genres and styles. Each are reasonably priced with some as little as $2.99!



But what if you don’t have an e-reader?



Step Two: Tell your friends!



There are many ways to tell your friends. You can…



A) Tell your friends. Yes, simply telling a person you know verbally is often a great way of spreading the word about my books.

B) Tell other people as well. Got a minute? Tell the person next to you about this great, new writer who is Ken La Salle.

C) Email your friends. Yes, the power of email is in your hands. Right now! Use it! Just forward this message – or selected bits (such as Step One) – to everyone you know. Heck, even if they don’t have an e-reader, they may know someone who does.

D) Lastly, you can deface public property. ... wait... no...


But what else can you do once you’ve told your friends, you ask?



Step Three: Keep telling!



There are plenty of ways to keep getting the word out. They’re cheap and effective. You can…



A) Post a link to my books on your blog. (Just as I'm doing here!) Yes, web logging (or “blogging”) is something all the kids do today and you hardly ever catch herpes. If you don’t have a blog, start one! Start up a “Books by Ken I Love” blog at Blogger.com. Heck, it’s free!!! Once you post my books on your blog, their search engine results will increase and raise visibility. It’s like putting the book in the front of the book store! (By the way, you could also print out the book covers and leave them at the front of book stores…)

B) Use Social Networking. If you have a Facebook account or a MySpace account or an account on any number of other social networking sites (heck, dating sites count too!), you can post a status update telling people about my books. You can post the link. You can even post your undying love… though that’s kinda creepy.

C) Twit her. No, wait… Twitter! Yes, the power of Twitter is in your hands, etc. etc. (And yes, it’s FREE!) Tweet about my books. It’ll give you something to Tweet about!

D) Lastly, have your friends do this as well! Yes, the more my books appear online – either their names or their links or anything about them – the higher my books go up in search engine results, which means more visibility for my books!



If you still have some energy left, and would like to help some more, you can!



Step Four: Some more!



There are even more ways you can help get the word out on Ken La Salle’s great books! You can…



A) Use Amazon’s “LIKE” button. Yes, you can “LIKE” all of my books, even if you haven’t read it, because you “LIKE” me!... You do “LIKE” me, don’t you?

B) Use Amazon’s SHARE buttons. You can share the book via email or on Facebook or Twitter with just the press of a button! Be the first kid on your block to share all the books!

C) Use Smashwords to get the word out! Each of my Smashwords listings includes buttons for sharing on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, and a great deal more besides! Help get the word out with Smashwords!

D) My books are listed on other sites as well! Run a google search and find them. Then, LIKE them! Or share them from there! You can’t share enough, don’t you think?



You’re probably thinking, at this point, that you can’t possible do any more… But you can!



Step Five: Lie a little if you have to!



When all else fails, lie for me! Even if you haven’t read the books, you can say you have in many creative and innovative ways! You can…



A) Join Goodreads (it’s FREE at Goodreads.com) and rate my books. The higher they’re rated… you guessed it, the better I’ll do! Haven’t read them, you say? Don’t worry. I promise they’re good. You can even include a review and say, “It was good, just as Ken promised!”

B) Go back to Amazon and review my book there as well. You can say “I Loved It!” or “Sweet!” or even “I would kill any public official for a chance to read just one more book by Ken La Salle”… although you probably shouldn’t tell anyone I told you to do that last one…

C) Review my books on Smashwords!

D) You can even… no, branding my name on your forehead might be going just a little too far…



And that’s it!



It’s that easy!



New books are coming out all the time so please help where you can. I can’t do any of this without your help and without the help of everyone you know. That’s right. I’m going to need thousands of people to keep this going – so forward this on to everyone you know, whether you like them or not. Get the word out!



I THANK YOU!