Climbing Maya, coming May 1st from Solstice Publishing...

Writing is different with Vicky…

Lots of big announcements keep coming down the pipe.

As you know, Climbing Maya is coming out on May 1st from Solstice Publishing. I’ve also just lined up my first production in San Francisco – more on that to come.

As I was up working this morning – insomnia, again – I did a bit of reflecting on this, which is easy when you’re half asleep. I thought about how different things would have been – just where my writing is concerned – without Vicky.

I often tell Vicky how thankful I am that she’s in my life and I make sure she knows that this writing career of mine owes quite a bit to her. And I’m not just talking about how much money she makes, though that is very helpful to a starving (obviously not literally) artist like me.

If you look back on my body of work, you’ll find that most of it wasn’t written before Vicky came along. Somehow, I was writing for 20 years before I met Vicky and eight years since and yet most of my books and nearly every one of my plays came after we met.

Look at just the two most recent deals. Climbing Maya literally couldn’t exist without her. She’s in it! And then, there’s Murielle’s Big Date, which will be produced at The Dark Room Theatre in San Francisco during the first three weeks of November. Murielle is a play about love without the pain of love that had tainted everything up until then. It was really my first play celebrating love and it came after Vicky came into my life.

Now, I’m writing Dynamic Pluralism, a book so ambitious it changes the philosophy of ethics. I had been working on it for nearly 20 years, but it wasn’t until Vicky that I believed in myself enough to start writing it. Vicky helped me find that belief in myself.

Granted, she’s a pain in the ass and she gives me a lot of grief – and that’s just the start. But I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the benefit of her in my life.

Thanks, Vic.

Qualifying…

Vicky and I embraced our inner redneck (rednecks?) and went to watch qualifying at the Auto Club Speedway for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race. It is still bizarre to many people – least of which is myself – that I’ve embraced (and then some) Vicky’s love of NASCAR. But I have and so Vicky wasn’t exactly twisting my arm to get me out there.

We made it to the track in time and hustled up to the stands… and hustled up the stands… and up the stands… and up… and up…

By the time we reached our seats, I could touch Mars. We were high up.

Having been there before – yes, I’ve been to a hoe-down or two – I knew what to expect. I had my ear-plugs against the engine noise. I was familiar with how the cars would be scored, what to look for, and about how fast they should run. But… the vertigo and nausea were entirely new to me. I realized it right away, as I looked straight down at the cars, far out into the distance to follow them, and them closer to read the signs… and it was all making me sick.

Once upon a time, I would have shut it down and said, “That’s it. I don’t like this. Let’s go.” But I knew how much Vicky had been looking forward to this and I didn’t want to disappoint her. Anyway, qualifying would take only a couple of hours… of vertigo and nausea…

Fortunately, I made it. I watched my favorite driver (Juan Pablo) qualify fairly well – not great – and enjoyed the efforts that came in faster than him. We left through the sea of fat, white people smoking way too much – so, there are some parts of NASCAR I’m still not used to – and went out to Vicky’s car. From there, we headed off to Vicky’s brother’s place.

Vicky’s brother and his wife, Lani, have this very sweet little girl named Maddy. Maddy is a sweet girl, as I mentioned, but not used to big, white men walking into her house. I mean, beside myself, the only big, white guy who walks in is her grandfather, Steve, and he comes over only a little more than I do. So, it came as no surprise that Maddy was less than happy to see me. In fact, she kept a very safe distance as she looked at me as though I was some kind of oddity, not dangerous but certainly not welcome.

Now, the thing about me is that I know I’ve got to be honest here and it might not be right. So, let me apologize in advance to all involved. But I am very aware that Vicky loves her niece and wants me to love her too – and more importantly wants Maddy to love me. Things haven’t worked out exactly to plan with Vicky and me having children of our own and, while I can’t see into the future, I know her niece (and future nieces/nephews) may be all she gets. And I don’t want her to feel like she won’t get that either, because of me.

So, after playing with Maddy and throwing her kisses, which Maddy promptly threw back in the just-over-one-year-old kind of way of hers, Vicky looked at me and said, “Now, you do it.”

I felt kind of like an idiot. “I’m not throwing kisses to a baby,” I muttered. Yep, that’s how good I am with kids. Deal with it.

Vicky did. She said, “Come on. Just do it.”

So, me being me, I explained what I was going to do to Maddy and asked her not to leave me hanging. I blew a kiss… and got… nothing. I blew a second kiss, feeling like an ass… and Maddy returned it!

I felt like that big white dog in the Warner Bros cartoons who lets the little black cat make a bed on his back.

And when we left, Maddy leaned over to me and, in a sigh of acceptance, bumped her head against mine. What can I say? Kids just don’t communicate like we do.

Nobody can say my life turned out at all like I expected, least of all me. But the things is it did turn out… so I have no complaints.

More than one liners…

Insomnia again last night.

I was up and a bit dazed from lack of sleep… and beer, I must admit. Keeping me amused as I sat downstairs, having given up on finding anything on TV, was a stream of one-liners. I had no idea where they came from.

For instance:

That wasn’t an enema, that was Lake Mead.
That wasn’t an enema, you were trying to drill a molar.
That wasn’t an enema, you were checking for storage space.
That wasn’t an enema, you were looking for something I ate in the 5th grade.
That wasn’t an enema, you were drilling an escape tunnel.
That wasn’t an enema, that was five guys with a water pistol.
That wasn’t an enema, that was the Pacific Fleet.

And on and on they went.

I had no idea why the fixation with enemas but, being awake, I kept trying to outdo the last. I had no idea how many I thought of but there were a lot more than I listed here. These were just the ones I remembered. I have no idea what I’ll do with them – because, of course, I’ve squirrelled them away for later use – but you can be sure they’ll pop up somewhere.

For those wondering when I’m “off”… keep wondering.

A Tale of Two Litterboxes…

It’s a dirty story but one that deserves to be told…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Harley, our Maine Coon cat had taken to peeing, oh, just about anywhere in our garage except in her litterbox, which was also in the garage. No matter what we tried, she just wouldn’t use it.

She had used it before but, for some reason, had stopped and found anywhere on the floor far more convenient.

It was pretty disgusting.

Then, Vicky suggested we get a second litterbox and put that in the garage. This seemed like a silly idea to me. “Why would she use a second litterbox and not the first?” I asked.

And so, despite my logic, Harley kept peeing.

Finally, when a friend offered Vicky a free litterbox, I acquiesced, claiming that Vicky would see the error in her logic once she put in the second litterbox. After all, I reasoned again, why would a cat not use a first litterbox but choose to use a second? It made no sense.

And then, of course, Harley proved me wrong by doing exactly that. She used the second litterbox with no problem and still refused to use the first.

The second litterbox was an open tray box while the first was a booda box styled litter box, which are covered to keep in odors and provide privacy… but mostly to keep in those odors.

On an impulse, I removed the top to the booda box… and Harley began using the first box. And there you go! The reason she was no using the first box was because of the cover!

That said, we kept the second box all the same. After all, I’d been proved wrong once already…

Coming Soon to a Magazine Near You!... (but you have to have the magazine near you...)

Greetings dear reader,


As you may have heard, I'll be in next month's copy of Recovering the Self magazine. They just recently released a Coming Soon piece over on their website, the text of which I will reproduce here...

The coming issue of Recovering the Self (April 2012) takes the theme of “Starting Over” thorough the writings of people had those hard times in their personal and/or professional lives and had those “awakening moments” whereby we receive the gift of valuing life in the present as we have it in and around us.


This issue features the following articles:


Taking the Opportunity by Ken La Salle*
The Woman Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Dinah Dietrich
The Blue Dots by Nancy-Gail Burns
Forgiveness Is Not A One-Time Act by Rosana Brasil
Starting Over by Kat Fasano-Nicotera
Take Pride, Not Sorrow by Sarah Jane Conteh… and many others.


Also included in the issue will be a special interview with psychologist Steve Taylor of the Leeds Metropolitan University, author of the recent book Out of the Darkness, which explores the subject of how people transform spiritually after turmoil or hitting rock bottom at some point in their lives.


Inspirational, healing, and empowering, the April 2012 issue is all you want to read for your life to come live again!

Stop by the Recovering the Self website (or your favorite online magazine etailer - Amazon's a good one) and pick up your copy of April's Recovering the Self today! (You probably won't get it until April, though... I'm just saying...)





*Underlining and bolding may just be mine...

New Look/New Home...

There have been some big changes in my world lately.


First, as you can see, I’ve changed the look of the blog a bit. It’s a big more streamlined, a bit less cluttered. Vicky’s bound to hate it.

Next, well, there’s the new book – Climbing Maya coming soon from Solstice Publishing – the article in next month’s Recovering The Self, and continued work on Dynamic Pluralism, my book on ethics. You can say I’ve been busy. Really… you can say that.

The biggest change of all, however, has to be the new website. Yes! Check out http://www.kenlasalle.com/! It’s my new site with books and plays and – well, let me let the press release tell you the whole thing.

Author and Playwright, Ken La Salle, plants his Internet flag with a new website.


Ken La Salle has created a new website at http://www.kenlasalle.com/ to help celebrate and promote his exciting writing career. With areas for coming projects, his theatrical plays, and places where you can purchase his books, http://www.kenlasalle.com/ brings you Ken La Salle in all his Ken La Salliness… if such a thing is possible.


“Dynamic content?” La Salle asked. “We’ve got that. Exciting events around the corner? We’ve got that, too! Lots of cool stuff. Yes! Emphatically so! Future expansion into new and amazing directions? Well… no. Not yet. We’re still waiting for the future on that one.”


Ken La Salle is the author of many e-books available on Amazon and Smashwords for every e-reader, with genres spanning horror and fantasy, comedy and romance, and more. Later this year, Solstice Publishing will release La Salle’s philosophical memoir, Climbing Maya, which examines the illusory nature of success in the 21st century. You can also catch La Salle’s monthly articles on pursuing your dreams at the Recovering the Self website.


Ken La Salle’s plays have been seen on stages up and down the California coast and in New York as well. Last year’s OC-Centric New Play Festival featured La Salle’s short, The Myth of the Cubicle, to enthusiastic crowds. A shockingly true farce, Cubicle analyzes the absurdity of the American workplace and a social safety net chewed through by the rats of big business. Recently, Horse Trade Theatre in NY also featured a staged reading of La Salle’s comedy, Murielle’s Big Date.


La Salle recently stated that http://www.kenlasalle.com/ will feature dynamic content that will be regularly updated to keep fans, supporters, and haters alike up to date with new releases, appearances, and everything the struggling artist plans to do to make a little scratch in our changing theatrical and publishing world.


Ken La Salle is represented by Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency supported by a beautiful wife and abused by more people than he can or would like to name.

I hope you enjoy http://www.kenlasalle.com/. The big changes are only beginning…

A few things you might not know about Vicky…

I was sitting here, trying to think of what I wanted to write about this week, and all I could think about was Vicky. That shouldn’t be too surprising. Here at my desk, I am surrounded by five pictures of Vicky. I love seeing her face.

I’ve probably mentioned how terrific Vicky is but today I thought I’d tell you a few reasons why she’s so great. There are, of course, reasons why she is great for me. For anyone else, she’d be a nightmare – so keep away!

A couple of weekends ago, on a lark, we headed down to Metro Pointe. A lark? We had no reason to be there; I can’t even remember how we ended up down there! But there we were, talking about visiting the Barnes and Noble to languish through some books (sometimes, there is nothing better) or wandering to the Container Store to look at… well, containers. It really didn’t matter much. Vicky is just nice to be with.

I think that’s the key. I just like being with her.

Plump people that we are, we were both typically peckish and decided to drop into Boudin Café. I’d never been there before. My only experience with it had been walking by with Essex – so long ago that it such things as walk by with Essex – and talking about how good it looked. Well, Vicky found that a perfect reason for taking me.

We went in and enjoyed soup in bread bowls and we each enjoyed eating the bowl. It was great, just enjoying this simple pleasure with my wife.

Then, off we went to Barnes & Noble. Now that there’s no Borders, I really hope to find one of my books in there one day. For now, we wandered the aisles and gabbed. Vicky saw a Crock Pot and called my mom to see if she had one. That’s just the kind of person she is. Vicky will see things and say, “Let’s buy it for such and such.” Mind you, it’s hell on our budget but you have to love her generosity.

After a while, we went our separate ways, texting each other now and then. While I was there, I witnessed a couple of teenage couples kissing against the bookshelves. Okay, Vicky and I are no longer there but I’m okay with that, for the most part.

That’s the thing about Vicky. She has become my partner in business and love, my best friend, and the neatest person I know. I just wanted to share that.

This month's Recovering the Self...

Dreams can be downright silly at times and pursuing them is sillier still. But sometimes, you just have to go with it. Embrace the journey!

This month's Recovering the Self blog talks about just this kind of thing (click the link!), grabbing ahold of the weirdness any dream will take you on and enjoying every minute! Oh, there's a little name-dropping, too.

Hope you enjoy it!

to bury and not to praise...

What do we consider a successful life? When is someone’s passing considered a loss?


Andrew Breitbart lived a disingenuous life where every hurt he caused someone else was later shrugged off as a joke. Breitbart had a good laugh over the harm he and James O’Keefe caused ACORN. Breitbart acted like hurting Shirley Sherrod and the good that she was doing was hilarious. When Breitbart cost Anthony Weiner his job, for doing absolutely nothing illegal, he had a grand time.

And just a few weeks ago, he accused people who were simply exercising their first amendment rights of rape. Of rape. He slandered them in the press and smeared them on the Internet; he went this far to hurt the reputations and yes the feelings too of those involved with the Occupy Movement. He then appeared on The Young Turks and responded to Cenk Uyngur’s sincere questions as if it was one big joke.

Andrew Breitbart, just like the Limbaughs of the world and the (what was his name? ) Becks, respond to the serious issues of the day by mocking those who try to help, by smearing those who care, by verbally assaulting anyone who would bother to lift a finger for those less fortunate. Now that he has passed, I wonder who would cry for such a person. Would even his family feel bad about the loss of someone who would rather hurt the innocent than help them? Probably, but I cannot imagine many others.

If a successful life is measured by those who touch the lives of others and help where they can, Breitbart’s must be seen as little more than a waste. Let’s hope whoever steps up to replace him remembers that.

Websites and the person…

This week I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’ll be writing on one topic but as two people: Ken La Salle, the person here and the writer over on the Ken La Salle blog.

The topic is websites.

Recently, I’ve been encouraged by my publisher and my agent and, hell, just about every other right thinking person on earth, to get my own website. Writers these days have websites and it appears to be time for me to step up to the next level and get one.

What will this website have? Blog feeds, twitter feeds, information on my plays and books, appearances and upcoming projects, and a store where you can buy Ken La Salle stuff. It’s all about branding and marketing and existing in the digital age.

And I know this. I do. But here’s the thing. I spent most of my life being told by people that I was too big for my britches (my mom), full of myself (my brother), arrogant (my old friend, Tim), and on and on. For most of my life, I was told that confidence meant cockiness. I was told that believing in myself was a bad thing. I was insulted for trying to achieve something in my life.

Cut to now, when those very traits are exactly what I need. I need confidence. I need to believe in myself. And yet, after being smacked down for so many years, I have found it really difficult. Vicky and I were in this room where I write and she watched as I worked myself up into nearly throwing up just over the idea of purchasing a domain name for a website. Just the first small step made me sick, because I heard all those voices say “You’re no good,” “You’re shit,” “You’re arrogant,” and on and on and on.

I never realized just how toxic all that negativity was in my life and if I could go back I’d smack the negativity right out of their mouths. These were people who were supposed to love me, who were supposed to be my friends.

Fortunately, now I know better. Just as I write every month on Recovering The Self about following your dream, I know there’s nothing wrong with doing just that. There’s nothing wrong with working towards a goal, even if it’s one only you can see.

With Vicky’s encouragement, I purchased the doman name for http://www.kenlasalle.com/. You’ll hear more about this as the weeks progress and I look forward to being about to share it with you and with the world.

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad… Wait…

One of my favorite movies of all time is It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It’s a veritable “Who’s Who” of mid-20th Century Hollywood. It’s a terrific California time capsule. But most of all its construction is perfect. The way it builds and builds is sublime.

So… how come it isn’t funny?

Seriously, I have loved this movie all my life but it almost always puts me to sleep. I love it on an intellectual level. As a comedy writer, I love the efficiency and technique; it’s beautiful.

But nobody’s funny.

Is it because of all the years that have passed? Is it dated? No, that can’t be it. Many silent comedies still hold their charm and wit. They make me laugh. Comedy does not need to come with an expiration date.

Is it familiarity, the fact that I’ve seen it so many times? No. Again, I’ve seen those silent films many times, too.

This wouldn’t bother me so much if this movie wasn’t so beautifully put together. But the fact is its construction is on the money. It makes sense. It builds. It surpri…

Wait.

I was going to write that it surprises. Like with Dick Shawn comes running after his mother after being so obviously high with a girl. Or when the cops get into the “game” of it. But, you know, those are the exceptions. I realize now that may be the problem with it

It’s like a gothic cathedral of comedy. Everything is where it should be, where you expect it. It’s a shout out to the classic jokes and actors – but without its own jokes. And maybe that’s where it goes wrong.

It may be Mad, Mad, Mad… but there’s very little that’s really crazy about it.

Still, I’ll watch it and enjoy it’s perfect lines and solid construction. After all, it is one of my favorites.

Climbing Maya: An Exploration Into Success --- PDF EBOOK - Solstice Publishing Inc

The Climbing Maya ebook has it's own Coming Soon page over at Solstice Publishing. A print version is also being released but, for now, I thought I'd share this with you just as proof that it's not all some grand hallucination on my part.

Please feel free to share it with your friends, spread the word, and ready your book-buying dollar for Climbing Maya!

Climbing Maya: An Exploration Into Success --- PDF EBOOK - Solstice Publishing Inc

Books…

As a writer, I have had a changing relationship with books. There was once a time in my life when I would buy and read books voraciously, never allowing the sun to set between finishing one book and starting another. Then, more recently, I eschewed reading for writing. I spend so much time writing that I hardly read at all. That said, they say a writer must be a reader as well and it’s been a very tight line to walk.

Vicky knows very well how I am about books because I have two huge bookcases crammed with books I never read. I read them once, though, and they tell quite a story about my reading history. One bookcase is packed with novels. This goes back to the days when I loved fiction and would read whatever I could get my hands on. True, I tended more towards science-fiction and fantasy novels but there’s also plenty of horror and mystery and just play commercial fiction in there, too. Once I began to write a lot of fiction, however, I really began to see how these books were written, what strings were being pulled, and once I understood the workings behind the scenes (if you will), my interests moved away from fiction… and that takes me to the second bookcase, which is filled with non-fiction. Most of the second bookcase is stuffed with philosophy and history but there’s plenty of other stuff in there as well. I use quite a bit of it for reference but mostly I hold onto it, as well as the other bookcase, because I dream of the day when I can go back and reread all those books!

I mention all of this because Vicky and I were at Costco today and Vicky found this stack of the most incredible, general knowledge kinds of books you can imagine. Two books covered philosophy and psychology and were called something like the “Big Book of Psychology” and the “Everything You’d Ever Want To Know About Philosophy.” (I’m not sure about the exact names but it doesn’t really matter.) There were also history books called “Amazing History” and “Bizarre History.” I had the hook in my mouth and Vicky could see I was biting down. I might as well have been spurting blood.

But the thing is, I’m already reading two books. I’ve been reading them for some time, too. Hell, I never have time to read – all I do is write! The first book is a thick tome we picked up in a second-hand shop in Cambria called The Hundred Most Influential Books Ever Written. I’ve been reading that monster for over a year! The second is Isaac Azimov’s I Azimov, a wonderful autobiography by a hero of mine. I bought that back in July from a beautifully dusty old used book store in LA.

The thing was, I couldn’t justify buying any new books – no matter how cheap they were! (They were only about $10 each, which these days is a great price.)

Vicky being Vicky, though, made it sound as though we would also buy them for her. Now, if you don’t know, Vicky is 100 times busier than I’ll ever be. If I don’t have time for reading, she’ll NEVER have time!

We ended up buying them, of course. Now, I have six books I need to read… one of these days…

Climbing Maya gets a cover...

The non-linear nature of dreams and Climbing Maya...

This month, I decided to use my monthly article over at Recovering the Self to talk about the journey I took in getting Climbing Maya published. Believe me, it was not as straight a path as you might image. Few things seldom are!


Read about how dreams rarely take you in a straight line over on the Recovering The Self site by clicking this line.

Climbing Maya on Diet Soap...

Last November, I recorded an interview for the Diet Soap podcast. This week, I'm happy to announce that the episode featuring my interview about my book, Climbing Maya, is available at this location:

http://dietsoap.podomatic.com/entry/2012-01-30T01_51_45-08_00

I hope you enjoy it. Doug Lain puts together a surreal mix of discussion and music and words. Be sure to check out the excerpt from his book, Wave of Mutilation, after the interview! And many thanks to Doug for having me on!

I can now announce...

Everyone is looking for success in their life but how can you be expected to find it if you don't know what it is?


Some time ago, as one friend was dying of leukemia, another friend succumbed to alcoholism, and I found myself unemployed, I decided to find the answer to “What is success?” If it’s different for everyone, why do we have just one term to describe it? Can it really be summed up in one word or do we need to broaden our understanding? And are the avenues of success we are so often sold – wealth, career, family – the answer to the question?

Now, I'm happy to announce that my philosophical memoir on success, Climbing Maya, will be published by Solstice Publishing.

Release dates and other details will follow...

Watch this space...

Sorry I've been so quiet of late. I've been working on some good news. I can't announce it just yet because things could fall apart at any point and then I'd even have to retract this hint that something may be coming so I'll just shut up now...

... but it's going to be pretty big...

Seizure Dog…

Wednesday night, Vicky and I were treated to something new. After she had already spent the previous week being sick and in and out of emergency room vets, Shipoopi revealed to us that she was also epileptic

… and she didn’t do it with a tasteful card, either.

Nope. We’re talking epileptic dog all over the floor.

Vicky scooped up the dog like a commando. “ER Vet! Stat!”

Okay, she might not have yelled “Stat!” but you get the idea.

As it turned out, Shipoopi’s seizure passed before we were in the car and, after a conversation with our vet the next day, we now have her on anti-seizure meds that are supposed to help. And I hope they help soon because we’re talking three nights in a row!

I don’t write just because of how sad I am for the poor dog but also because of how sad I am for our finances. The ER Vet cost a bundle – a big bundle! I don’t know how much more money we can spend on keeping this dog alive. And this bothers me because I have never been the type of person to advocate spending a bundle on keeping a pet alive. I’m usually the first to say “You can get a new one for far less.”

But love does crazy things to people and Vicky and I love Shipoopi. We must – considering how much we’re spending on her. It’s not really a rational train of thought but sometimes you’re not necessarily rational. You just do what you have to do.

So, Shipoopi is now Seizure Dog and she’ll be on seizure meds for the rest of her little life, however long that is… and I hope it’s a very long time.