Bonne Chance @ DAHplaytime

What I'm Reading Now

Noelle Oxenhandler's "The Wishing Year" (Random House, 2008) ... I'm about a third of the way through this book, which I'm quite enjoying. One of the jacket comments says, "An elegant exploration of the way thought shapes reality."

"The Wishing Year" is a memoir. The author, still recovering from a mess she made of her own life, embarked upon a year of "putting it out there," trying to believe that wishing and desiring could actually change the course of a life, despite her natural skepticism.

This book is rather a nice antidote to all "The Secret" blather about positive thinking. I actually agree that "putting it out there" makes a difference, but all the mumbo-jumbo of "The Secret" and its ilk -- you know, a deep voice intoning "The Secret has travelled through centuries to reach you!" -- all that kind of made me queasy. Don't know about "The Secret?" Check out the website at http://www.thesecret.tv

Anyway, I like "The Wishing Year" so far. And Oxenhandler is a really cool name.

Richard Price's "Lush Life" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) ... Two-thirds through this one. Awesome dialog (and that's what most of the reviewers have said). Kind of a police-procedural, and not really a mystery (the reader knows what's going on, while none of the characters in the book have a complete picture).

"Lush Life" is really riveting as a multiple-protagonist character study. A pretty great book. I'd be very surprised if we didn't see it turned into a movie (Price also wrote "Clockers" ... and Spike Lee did make that into a movie in the '90s).

I'm enjoying reading "Lush Life" even more than I am "The Wishing Year." However, Oxenhandler's memoir will probably stick with my daily thoughts far longer than the story and characters in Price's novel. I can apply learning from "The Wishing Year" to my own life. Unless I plan to become a loser on the streets of New York, and could therefore look to "Lush Life" as a cautionary tale, it will be just an enjoyable read.

Moleskine

"It's merely about a well-made book that can be a trusted, reliable companion that is always at the ready." (from the Moleskine website ... http://www.moleskineus.com).

Isn't that what we all want? A trusted, reliable companion that is always at the ready?

This is a bit of a love-letter, and a shameless-promo, for something I treasure. My Moleskine hard-cover black notebook with lined cream pages, a book mark, and that famous Moleskine elastic built in to hold the cover closed.

Have any of you had clothes you were reluctant to wear because you loved them so much you didn't want to wear them out? That's me and my Moleskine. I often hesitate to write in it because I'm concerned that my note or thought might be too temporal, or shallow ... not worthy of my fine Moleskine.

It's my diary and my memory-aid, and begins with a taped-in (by me) postcard bearing one of my favorite quotes, this one from J.R.R. Tolkien, "All who wander are not lost." I make note of favorite things, and things to seek out -- things that may become favorites. Passwords and secrets, lists and names and numbers. Notes of what I want, and what I don't want. Progress reports on life. Reminders of what matters.

Don't touch my Moleksine.

Once more, from the Moleskine website: "For two centuries now Moleskine (mol-a-skeen'-a) has been the legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers. From gifted artists Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), to poet and leader of the surrealist movement André Breton (1896-1966) to Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) considered the most influential writer of the last century, to famous travel writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989). These notebooks have proven they can withstand the trials of travel and abuses that ensues from normal use. This is the one true trusted travel journal."

I'm in love with a little black notebook. And I'm proud!

Talking SMAC

I'm thinking about goals and plans, in both personal and marketing pursuits. I was a table host at the PRWCA (Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance) Marketing Workshop a couple of weeks ago. "Table Host" -- that means I didn't ever address the entire assembly of attendees (50-60, I'd guess), but I was responsible for one of the break-out groups (on marketing plans ... what a surprise).

I asked the group at my table (all there by choice, so they selected the subject matter) whether they knew what SMAC was, and whether or not they checked their plans and objectives to make sure that they were "SMAC-able." Blank looks from all around the table. Well, I figure if these wine marketers, however nascent, were unaware of SMAC-ability, others may be, too.

What's SMAC? Well ...

S is SPECIFIC

M is MEASURABLE

A is ACHIEVABLE

C is COMPATIBLE

If you actually intend to have your plans succeed, and your goals reached, you need to make sure that what you are planning passes the SMAC test:

Is your plan/goal SPECIFIC? It must be specific enough so that correct and effective action can be taken. You probably need to climb a specific mountain, not just any old hill.

Is your plan/goal MEASURABLE? When you say, "Climb that mountain," is it clear where the top is? A clear measurement of success is essential, otherwise you can't tell whether you got to the top.

Is your plan/goal ACHIEVABLE? It's no good having a plan to climb Everest without the ability and resources to do so. Unachievable goals are meaningless.

Is your plan/goal COMPATIBLE? When you say, "Climb that mountain," be careful that you have not already required a dive to the bottom of the ocean at the same time, with the same resources.

You can expect plan and goals that are truly SMAC-able to be successful, or, if they are not, you have something solid to evaluate before making another try.

Collaborative Creation

I battle a strong personal desire for control in my fascination with collaborative creativity. Part of me just wants to get things done, and that's easier done alone or in total control. Another part of me loves sharing energy and ideas to make something new together with friends and colleagues.

Once a deadline is introduced to the creative and collaborative process, and responsibilities are assigned, my urge to "get it done" is usually assuaged. The Ukiah Players Theatre 24-hour playmaking festival is one example of creative collaboration with a deadline. There are lots of 24-hour playmaking festivals, but UPT's is the one I worked on. At UPT teams of writers, directors and performers (usually 4-6 on a team, with each team representing a different theater troupe) gathered on a Friday evening. A subject for a play was randomly selected. Each team's writers had until early Saturday morning to compose a script for a 10-15 minute play based on the assigned subject (same subject for all teams). Directors and actors had all day Saturday to rehearse the play, learn their lines, find their props and costumes, figure out necessary set pieces and special effects, because, at 8:00 PM Saturday evening the curtain went up and each team's play was live on-stage.

Collaborative creativity with a deadline.

Another example, one with less of an adrenal rush involved: http://www.barnyardtheatre.org

"Barnyard Theatre is a community theatre group dedicated to creating theatre from scratch. Each summer this group of theatre artists gathers in Davis, CA to develop a new script, and transform a working barn into a non-traditional theatre space." (from their website). The Barnyard Theatre motto? "Think Organic."

They want to make theater, from scratch, together, honoring their communities agricultural heritage, in an appropriate space that they must also shape to fit their performance needs. Low stress is part of their approach ... so they give themselves more than 24-hours to do this.

What I'd like to be part of: An itinerant troupe of writers, actors and performers. Together we would select or create performance pieces (I think they should be no more than 60 minutes in length, with no intermission), rehearse them, and perform them in "found" spaces that we thought appropriate (parks, buildings, etc ... whatever space we could shape to our need).

Social Networking

I've had several conversations lately about social networking websites, and Facebook in particular. Most of these conversations begin with those not engaged in on-line networking. These non-Facebookers are either sighing with guilt about something they suspect they ought to engaging with, or they are busy proclaiming that they are too busy for anything new (not that they put it exactly like that). Now, I would never suggest that anyone MUST be on Facebook, or any other on-line networking sites. However, some of those complaining about social networking remind me of those who objected to websites and email a decade ago. Personally, I find Facebook invaluable in staying connected (and reconnected) with people (of all ages) with whom I am not otherwise in regular contact. Are all my friends and contacts on Facebook? Of course not. But I interact with those who are (and those who are active Facebookers) much more frequently and casually. I'd guess that I invest 5-10 minutes a day in Facebook. Do I interact with people in person, by phone, by email, or by snail-mail any less since the advent of social networking? No. I still feel guilty that I don't write more letters and postcards, that I don't telephone my friends more frequently or for longer conversations, and that I can't schedule all the in-person visits I would like. But Facebook helps me keep friends and develop friendships that might otherwise fade-away for lack of contact.

Making Luck

Just because I am thinking about it, and because I haven't said anything about it, I wanted to mention a couple of resources for making your own luck. To be clear, as one reviewer said of one of these two books, making your own luck isn't about some kind of new age hocus-pocus, but about "behaviors you can adopt to influence things to go the way you want them to." That said, here are two books that help one do just that:

-HOW TO MAKE LUCK, by Marc Myers

-THE LUCK FACTOR, by Dr. Richard Wiseman

Sticky Names

I'm looking at a bottle of Ad Lib 2008 "Straw Man" Sauvignon Blanc from Western Australia (winemaker Larry Cherubino). Not many people have seen this wine yet, because it is just entering distribution channels in the USA, and doesn't exist (in the same package) anywhere else in the world. And it's called "Straw Man" because its aromas remind Larry (the winemaker) of dried straw and fresh cut grass.

The face label shows a silhouette image of a guy in shorts mowing some long grass. The name "Straw Man" is on the back of the label, along with all the (minimal) descriptive and mandatory text.

At a group dinner a few weeks ago, I referred to this wine as "Lawnmower Man" (rather than "Straw Man"). The wine was new to everyone at the table. And the name stuck. They all thought that the wine was called "Lawnmower Man" ... it was a lot of work to get them to stop calling it that, despite the evidence of the label text.

Lawnmower Man is a stickier name than Straw Man. Because somewhere in the back of our popular consciousness is the awareness of that name ... probably because of the Stephen King short story and the subsequent movie, both called The Lawnmower Man. And the silhouette label does look a little mysterious and threatening, when you call it Lawnmower Man. A little weird and creepy. And it still has the "grassy" connection to Sauvignon Blanc. So it all kind of makes sense.

Straw Man, despite a more tenuous movie connection (The Wizard of Oz), is not as sticky.

No, the name of the wine isn't going to change. But I'll bet you it gets called "Lawnmower Man" as an insider nickname forever.