Conversations with Calliope- My Mother's Life

(Mom's Birthday)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you coming with the column about your mother?
JOE: It's done and ready to post.
CALLIOPE: No trouble writing it?
JOE: None. I had a good idea what I wanted to write and wrote it.
CALLIOPE: Were you able to incorporate major historical events as you planned?
JOE: Yes. It flowed easily with a little help from Google.
CALLIOPE: The things we take for granted.
JOE: Right. I recall hours of library research to find anything useful when I attended college.
CALLIOPE: Did you get a chance to interview your mother?
JOE: I did.
CALLIOPE: Any surprises?
JOE: Just one. When I asked her if she had any regrets about her life, she thought a bit but couldn't think of any.
CALLIOPE: I wonder how many of us could say that.
JOE: Precious few I would guess. Certainly not me. That's one thing that makes her her. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Ninetieth Birthdays

(Dunkirk Sunset)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Full of ideas which flooded me throughout the night.
CALLIOPE: Such as?
JOE: My column is taking shape for this Saturday. I decided to write about my mother's ninetieth birthday.
CALLIOPE: How do you plan to approach it?
JOE: As usual I have only 500 words. My greatest challenge will be to contain myself to the allotted space.
CALLIOPE: What about content?
JOE: At first I thought of writing what I know of her life. Then I recalled the secret lives of some of my relatives of which I was not aware until after they died.
CALLIOPE: Do you plan to change that with your mother?
JOE: Yes. I will interview her and, rather than making it a tribute to her, I will tell her story in her own words, or at least the highlights.
CALLIOPE: Sounds good. Anything else?
JOE: I thought of including some of the things that have happened in the world since she was born. But this will depend on whether I have room for them. We shall see.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a good plan.
JOE: I think so. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Writing Adventures

(Searching for Coney Island)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Ready for another week.
CALLIOPE: What's on your plate today?
JOE: Continuing to plan my future.
CALLIOPE: How much of that do you think you have?
JOE: Obviously none of us knows. My mother's ninetieth birthday yesterday reminded me that I don't have forever to live.
CALLIOPE: Unless you are a muse. Have you come to any decisions about marketing?
JOE: No, but I did find Levinson, Frishman and Larsen's book Guerrilla Marketing for Writers on my bookshelf as I was perusing it for something to help me.
CALLIOPE: Did it?
JOE: Yes. They present quite a few approaches which cost little or no money and don't involve spending your whole life in the pursuit.
CALLIOPE: Where does that leave you?
JOE: I'm still reading it but it suggests to me that I can incorporate marketing tasks while keeping my focus on writing.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like you're working toward a balance.
JOE: I am. I'll let you know how it's coming when we talk tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Creativity and Business

(Moonflowers)

JOE: Good afternoon Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Where were you this morning?
JOE: Carol and I walked to the farmers' market and then drove to Batavia for my grandson's Pop Warner Football game.
CALLIOPE: A busy start.
JOE: Yes, but fun.
CALLIOPE: Did you think about your priorities with business and creativity?
JOE: Yes but I didn't reach any conclusions.
CALLIOPE: How will you approach it?
JOE: Hard to say. It's not something I can quantify. Making a list of the advantages of each does not seem like it would help.
CALLIOPE: So now what?
JOE: I recall Napoleon Hill talking about a man he once met who took time each day sitting for ideas. Maybe I'll try that.
CALLIOPE: You're not in any rush?
JOE: No one will starve to death or go homeless based on what I decide.
CALLIOPE: I guess you don't have to force a decision.
JOE: No I don't. If you feel like dropping me an inspiration, please do so. Talk with you on Monday.

Conversations with Calliope- Creativity or Business

(Columbus Circle)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's afoot today?
JOE: Decisions, decisions.
CALLIOPE: Of what sort?
JOE: Tuesday I learned quite a bit about business plans and marketing at a Score workshop.
CALLIOPE: So what's the problem?
JOE: I'm not getting any younger. Where to put my effort keeps nagging me.
CALLIOPE: Tell me more about the conflict.
JOE: Do I spend my time writing, developing my business skills or look for a balance of both?
CALLIOPE: Maybe you need to decide what's important to you.
JOE: As usual, you hit the nail on the head. I find more satisfaction from writing but would also like to earn more money from my efforts.
CALLIOPE: How will you decide?
JOE: I don't know yet. But I will put on my thinking cap, talk with some friends and consider the possibilities. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Next to Normal

(Astoria Figs)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Welcome back from your travels.
JOE: Thanks. We rode a whirlwind through Manchester, Connecticut to New York where we settled for a few days.
CALLIOPE: Tell me the highlights.
JOE: As for simple pleasures, eating fresh figs from Mike and Joe's patio fig tree.
CALLIOPE: Anything more complex.
JOE: We saw Next to Normal, a musical about the effect of mental illness on the family.
CALLIOPE: Sounds strange.
JOE: It sounded that way to me too. But then music, better than writing, portrays emotions and relationships which can sometimes elude words.
CALLIOPE: Tell me more.
JOE: The show showed musically the struggle of a woman with her emotions and the effect of her illness on her daughter and son in very immediate and graphic, or should I say musical, terms.
CALLIOPE: Words sometimes struggle to show raw emotion.
JOE: I agree. Music seems to do a better job.
CALLIOPE: Something to consider for your writing.
JOE: I will remember that. I'm not quite sure of the implicati0ns though. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- George and the Pigeon

(George M. Cohan and the Pigeon)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's up today?
JOE: Packing.
CALLIOPE: For what?
JOE: I'm headed for Connecticut and New York City to visit friends and relatives.
CALLIOPE: Do you feel like you need a break?
JOE: I've been working pretty hard lately getting out Conversations with Calliope and tracking down information on marketing. Yes, I'm ready.
CALLIOPE: What have you discovered about marketing?
JOE: It quite complex. I have found endless information and now need to sort through it and settle on a plan.
CALLIOPE: How will you do that?
JOE: I am attending a workshop on business plans next Wednesday and expect that will be a chance for me to finally get focused.
CALLIOPE: Sounds good. What will you do in your travels?
JOE: Catch up with old friends, solve the world's problems and relax a little.
CALLIOPE: When will we talk again?
JOE: I will contact you on September 16 and tell you about my trip.

Conversations with Calliope- Decisions, Decisions

(On the Beach)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: No complaints. How about you?
CALLIOPE: I have one. You told me yesterday that you would share your column idea about seventh generation decisions and you didn't.
JOE: My apologies. The idea came from an Iroquois tradition which formed part of their Great Law.
CALLIOPE: Which was?
JOE: "In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation."
CALLIOPE: An interesting thought. Tell me more.
JOE: I have been concerned and written before about the cult of immediacy. We need to have everything right away and don't stop to consider the consequences.
CALLIOPE: Such as?
JOE: Destroying the earth's resources and leaving a pile of toxic garbage in our wake.
CALLIOPE: Have you been reading about it?
JOE: Yes. Lester Brown lays out the problem and proposes solutions in his book Plan B 2.0.
CALLIOPE: I'd like to see what you have to say about it.
JOE: You can read my thoughts in this weekend's Sliding Otter News at http://www.slidingotter.com/sliding_otter_news.html. Talk with you tomorrow

Conversations with Calliope- Getting Organized

(Work Space)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Ready to go again after the Labor Day weekend?
JOE: I am. I started my day yesterday with an organized list of things to accomplish.
CALLIOPE: How did that go?
JOE: Very well. I finished my two top priorities, writing my Seven Generations column for this Saturday and finishing Plug Your Book by Steve Weber.
CALLIOPE: Anything else?
JOE: I also explored Barnes and Noble's e-reader which I think has possibilities.
CALLIOPE: What's up for today?
JOE: Getting organized. I have too many piles of papers. I've lost track of what they are about. I did start putting them in files so I can find things, but have quite a bit more to do.
CALLIOPE: That should keep you busy. Anything else on the agenda.
JOE: I plan to visit the web sites and groups which I joined but with which I have not been very involved lately.
CALLIOPE: I hope you are enjoying all this.
JOE: I don't enjoy the process of getting organized but work much more efficiently when the process is done.
CALLIOPE: Good luck with it.
JOE: Thanks. I'll talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Seven Generation Decisions

(Dancing)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good Morning Joe. I missed you Saturday.
JOE: I wanted to stop by but was worn out from wrestling with my computer all day Friday.
CALLIOPE: Over what?
JOE: E-mail post and general slowness.
CALLIOPE: Is all back to normal now?
JOE: I hope so.
CALLIOPE: So what's up this week.
JOE: Yesterday I set a list of priorities for the week and began working on them.
CALLIOPE: What's on top of your list?
JOE: This week's column on making decisions in light of how they will affect the next seven generations.
CALLIOPE: Where did that come from?
JOE: The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy.)
CALLIOPE: Sounds like quite a context for our decisions. Why did you choose that topic?
JOE: Because of our society's trend toward making decisions based on the next seven seconds. I'll report my progress tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Online Book Marketing

(Vigo Herb Market)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Fine. Yesterday I talked with you about getting serious about the business aspect of writing.
CALLIOPE: Was that just talk or did you do something about it?
JOE: I did something. First I signed up for two workshops through Score in Rochester on Writing a Business Plan and Marketing on the Internet.
CALLIOPE: Good start. anything else?
JOE: I started looking for what I could find on Internet marketing in the obvious place, the Internet.
CALLIOPE: What did you find?
JOE: Lots of things, mostly advertising for expensive programs. I started wading through some of the offerings.
CALLIOPE: Did you reach any conclusions?
JOE: No. I felt overwhelmed and had to take a break.
CALLIOPE: And then?
JOE: Then I looked through my bookshelf to see if I had anything useful.
CALLIOPE: What did you discover?
JOE: Steve Weber's book Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors, which I read a while ago. I realized that most of what I have done so far to market my book was based on his excellent suggestions. I started reading it again and found a treasure trove of ideas I did not explore before. I'm excited about the find. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Business Plan

(Oatka Creek Bridge)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Where do things stand today?
JOE: My computer seems back to normal and functioning well. I finished posting online announcements of our book, Conversations with Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good progress. Now what?
JOE: My friend Dick has pointed out several times the advantage of a business plan. It's like taking a trip without knowing what transportation you will use or what roads to take or how much it will cost.
CALLIOPE: Is that something new to you?
JOE: No. I have had plans for my psychology business and have made some cursory attempts at a business plan for my writing.
CALLIOPE: But?
JOE: But I don't like to think of what I do as a business.
CALLIOPE: What are the associated consequences?
JOE: I enjoy writing but am not making any appreciable money.
CALLIOPE: And you think you could with a good business plan?
JOE: I don't know of any businesses which make money without one?
CALLIOPE: Where does your reluctance come from?
JOE: I think from living in a monastery for a while with a vow of poverty. Maybe I haven't gotten past it yet. But I guess it's about time. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Back to Work

(Lifting Fog)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Better.
CALLIOPE: On what account?
JOE: Whatever was wrong with my computer isn't any more.
CALLIOPE: What was the problem?
JOE: I wish I knew. I don't even have a guess.
CALLIOPE: How did you fix it then?
JOE: I kept cleaning it and deleting everything I didn't need until it was back to normal.
CALLIOPE: That's a relief but also a mystery.
JOE: Right on both counts. Now back to work.
CALLIOPE: Which is?
JOE: Finishing my announcements for Conversations with Calliope- the book.
CALLIOPE: Anything else?
JOE: I have a new idea which I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Earth Connections

(Orange Butterfly)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you this morning?
JOE: A little frustrated.
CALLIOPE: Not with your writing I hope.
JOE: No. My email program is acting up for some reason and refused to cooperate.
CALLIOPE: I assume you are working on the problem.
JOE: I am but I don't like all the time it takes from something productive.
CALLIOPE: Like what?
JOE: Lately I have been thinking about how our issues with the economy tie in with concerns about the environment and with how we treat each other.
CALLIOPE: A big order.
JOE: It is. I have been wondering just how they fit together, what we can do about our world and relationships and what I can contribute.
CALLIOPE: That's quite a bit to think about all at once.
JOE: I agree, but I don't think any of our earth problems can be resolved in isolation.
CALLIOPE: I expect I will hear more about these ideas.
JOE: You will as I am able to digest them. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Book Publicity

(Erie Canal Lock)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's afoot this morning?
JOE: I was just thinking over my weekend.
CALLIOPE: Were you satisfied with it?
JOE: I enjoyed all the socializing and even got a little work done.
CALLIOPE: Such as?
JOE: Distributing my book announcement to my readers, thinking about my next book and planning my publicity.
CALLIOPE: Tell me more ab out the publicity.
JOE: I will notify all my contacts on various sites, do some videos for Youtube and ask for an announcement in the local paper.
CALLIOPE: What focus do you plan to take with the newspaper?
JOE: Distributing my book for free, it's format as a dialogue which is unique as far as I know and what goes into being a writer.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a good start. Do you ever pay for advertising?
JOE: I haven't yet and don't think that is a very efficient or productive approach at least for me considering the cost.
CALLIOPE: So you plan to rely more on word of mouth.
JOE: I do. At least for the time being. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Book Release

(Flying Free)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's new?
JOE: Our book is ready. Here is the release information:

Just Released

Conversations with Calliope: A Year With My Muse

Joseph G. Langen

Have you ever wondered about the day to day life of a writer? Is it fun, exciting, frustrating? If you are a writer, have you thought about how other writers’ lives compared with yours. Follow a year in a writer’s life through frequent conversations with his muse about writing, marketing, publicity, inspirations and distractions. This book is available free of charge. Read a selection at http://www.slidingotter.com/conversations.html.

Ten Reasons to Read Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse

1. Find out where writers get their ideas.

2. Hear what a writer does all day.

3. Listen to what writers say about being a writer.

4. I want my muse to be more helpful.

5. See how to get unstuck when you write.

6. Learn how to talk with a muse.

7. Explore what else writers need to know besides how to write.

8. Discover what keeps a writer going page after page.

9. Determine who supports a writer’s efforts.

10. Unearth the sources of writers’ inspiration.

Ten Reasons Not to Read Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse

1. Who needs a muse? Writing is the writer’s responsibility.

2. I don’t care how things get written. I just want to enjoy what I read.

3. I can write a book if I want to. Maybe some day I will. I’ll do it my way.

4. There’s nothing magic about writing. It’s just hard work.

5. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write anything good.

6. Writing’s old fashioned. Everybody watches TV these days.

7. I don’t have time to read, much less write.

8. Most writers are just crusty alcoholics.

9. Writers are like teachers. They can do anything useful so they just talk about it.

10. If it's free it can't be worth anything.

JOE: Happy reading. Talk with you on Monday.

Order a free PDF copy of Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse by Joseph G. Langen from Sliding Otter Publications at http://www.slidingotter.com/order_page.html.

Conversations with Calliope- E-book Distribution

(Now What)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Did you finish your column?
JOE: I did and found it went smoothly. Thanks for listening yesterday.
CALLIOPE: Now what?
JOE: I worked on distribution of our e-book yesterday.
CALLIOPE: How's it coming?
JOE: It's little hard to say. I checked with one person who was able to download it successfully but another could not access it and got a message that it didn't exist.
CALLIOPE: Strange.
JOE: I thought so too. I am able to access it easily in Firefox and Internet Explorer but then I'm not distributing it to myself.
CALLIOPE: What do you plan to do?
JOE: I will ask a few more people to download it and see what their experience is.
CALLIOPE: What do you think the problem might be?
JOE: It could be that his browser does not allow download of PDF files with passwords. But that's just a guess. I will try sending him the file by email.
CALLIOPE: Another mystery.
JOE: What would life be without them. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Tasting, Swallowing and Digesting Books

(Herb and tea market)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How is your column coming?
JOE: Glad you asked. It's finished and ready for the presses.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: I ended up writing about Sir Francis Bacon's quote about books.
CALLIOPE: Which is?
JOE: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few others to be chewed and digested."
CALLIOPE: I remember the quote- seventeenth century wasn't it?
JOE: Precisely. I thought it made a good framework for my thoughts about why we read books.
CALLIOPE: Indeed. How did you go about it?
JOE: I gave examples of books falling into each category from my own recent reading.
CALLIOPE: And then?
JOE: I encouraged my readers to taste the delights, swallow learnings and enhance their lives with books.
CALLIOPE: Noble of you.
JOE: I wanted to support an endeavor which has brought me great satisfaction over the years. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Why We Read Books

(Windjammer Cafe)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How's you column coming?
JOE: Interesting you should ask.
CALLIOPE: Well?
JOE: You hit it on the head yesterday. My topic of addressing health and the environment exceeded the constraints of 500 words.
CALLIOPE: So now what?
JOE: I will put off the topic until I figure out what to do with it.
CALLIOPE: And in the mean time?
JOE: I woke up very early this morning wondering why people read books at all.
CALLIOPE: Any specifics?
JOE: I recalled Francis Bacon's quote about some books to be tasted, some to be swallowed and a few chewed and digested.
CALLIOPE: Do you plan to pursue that topic in this week's column?
JOE: I do.
CALLIOPE: Sounds interesting.
JOE: I'd better get to work on it. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Health and Environment

(Seaside)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's up today?
JOE: I'm taking a break from wrestling with technology.
CALLIOPE: What brought that on?
JOE: My commitment to writing a column and newsletter for the coming Saturday.
CALLIOPE: Do you have a topic in mind?
JOE: I do.
CALLIOPE: And?
JOE: I want to write about how our concern about finances and health intersect with the way we treat our earth.
CALLIOPE: It sounds like a task for a lifetime rather than a column.
JOE: I agree. Still I want to address it. The problem is how to say something meaningful in 500 words.
CALLIOPE: Quite a challenge. How do you plan to approach it?
JOE: That's what I have been pondering. Maybe I will present it as one of my life mysteries and just open up the topic.
CALLIOPE: That would be a start. Nobody seems to be thinking much about these connections.
JOE: I'll get my mental wheels turning and see what happens. Talk with you tomorrow.