Early 2000s, a Big Five publisher bought an indie publisher. I had a contract with the indie publisher. It was a large contract and I was less than a year into launching my business. I needed the work. Unlike the indie publishing house, the Big Five publishing house had its own PR/Marketing team. It didn’t need me.

I have a friend who is always the first to test new tech. For example, when Google glasses were announced, she was tapped to give them a test run—and I got to hear the stories about strangers staring at her and random in-the-know techies asking if they could try on her glasses. So, when she told me back in the 2006ish period that she was exploring alternative ways for colleagues around the world to meet, I wasn’t surprised to hear she was testing online conferencing.

I had the honor of knowing and being mentored by Bob Danzig for 21 years. He always asked about my kids and my husband and my work, and then I’d push through because I always wanted to talk about Bob. Bob led an extraordinary life and my favorite conversation with him related to Opportunity.

In The Artist’s Journey, Steve includes a section related to the artist’s skills. Here are a few: The artist learns how to start.

Last week’s “What It Takes” post was about Systems.  A new one was left out. Black Irish Books turned to Vellum before the release of The Artist’s Journey by Steve and Running Down a Dream by Tim Grahl. (Thank you Joanna Penn for the recommendation.)

Before I get started with this post, today is the last day to order the special “Resistance Digital Bundle” (audios and ebooks) of Steve’s The Artist’s Journey and Tim Grahl’s Running Down A Dream, both of which were released last week by Black Irish Books. The Odyssey opens with Homer’s call to the Muse, to sing to him of “the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course . . . “ and of the man who fought “to save his life and bring his comrades home,” but who ultimately failed to “save them from disaster, hard…

I don’t know when or how I learned about Temple Grandin and her work. She’s lived in my mind for so long that I can’t remember not thinking about her work.

Dad installed odometers on our bikes when my sisters and I were kids. He was into being healthy and wanted us to ride at least three miles a day My first life hack was born from Dad’s focus on health and my need to play:

No one starts as Superman. Not even Superman started as Superman. He was a toddler lifting cars and a teenager racing against trains before he turned to nerdy glasses and clumsy behavior to hide his superhuman strength and then use that strength to oppose the forces of evil. Luke was just a teenager with a knack for repairing robots before he met up with Old Ben—and Dorothy was just a young girl in Kansas, worried Mrs. Gulch would take her dog Toto from her.

When Dom was in first grade, he told his teacher he wanted to play center field for the New York Yankees. In a deadpan voice that  didn’t entertain dreamers or laughter, she asked, “What’s your back-up plan?”