Expose Yourself #2 - Straight to the T.O.P.

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In this series of articles, I talk to people who have been successful at taking control of their lives, making a name for themselves, and helping others to do the same. I’m very fortunate to have met them, and very thankful they have agreed to spend a few minutes talking with me to share part of their stories. We’re going to delve into what it took to propel these people from ordinary lives into extraordinary lives. We’ll find out where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going as each guest is asked to “Expose Yourself”.

My guest today was rather unexpected, but I knew when I saw her that I had to talk to her. Hailing from Portugal, she spent many years of her life building businesses to the break-even point and then selling them off for a profit, so she knows what it takes to build one. She's been to several countries throughout Europe in this pursuit, and even came across the pond several times a year for vacation, until she met a restaurateur in need of her specialized talents, and found in him something missing in her own life. The two married and she took over his restaurant and turned it into something special. For the last six years, she's been in Palm Coast, doing what she does best: making her customers glad they came to her.

Currently she's running the Taste of Portugal restaurant in Palm Coast, Florida, which has great food and a relaxed environment; allow me to introduce Maria Diamanfino!

MD: Hello, everyone!

JC: Thanks for talking with me, Maria! Wow, are all Portuguese women as pretty as you are?

MD: Oh stop! (punch)

JC: Sorry, I can't do the impossible, but maybe I can get down to business. So where are you in your life, or career, or pursuit of your dreams?

MD: Right now, I'm running the Taste of Portugal restaurant, here in Palm Coast.

JC: What's that like?

MD: Very busy. We're open every day but Monday for lunch and dinner, and we also host several local groups, some of whom even come in for breakfast before we open. On Fridays we have live a live band and dancing. So as you can see it's very busy around here. I'm here all day.

JC: Well I'm glad you do it. I've had a great time each time I've been here. It's one of those cozy places with fresh food and great atmosphere that we're all looking for. I especially like the mural of Lisbon. How did you get where you are now?

MD: I came here to set up a financial company and I ended up here because I met my husband here. He asked me to help him out with the numbers, with the computers, and so I figured it all out for him and fell in love and stayed. It was not my original goal to be in the restaurant business. This was an accident. My goal was a different one, but we do what we need to do, we stand up.

JC: So how did that happen?

MD: That's a bit of a story. I worked in restaurants a long time ago in Portugal. I used to set up companies all over Europe and take them to break-even and then they'd give me another one. I've lived in Amsterdam and England and all over.

JC: Sounds exciting!

MD: Yes it is. It's a very different life. And so I had a lot of American friends because we used to buy the systems here, some of the partners were Americans with European companies, so I used to come over here at least five times a year. Since I finished college, since I was 18 I've been working with American companies in Portugal and in Europe. So I used to come here for vacation. And while I was visiting I met a man who'd just bought a restaurant and needed my help getting it running. I came in for lunch and we realized we were made for each other. We got married and now I run the restaurant. So that's how I came to live here from Lisbon.

JC: Wow, I think I saw a movie about that the other day, with Julia Roberts in it, Eat Pray Love? Good casting; you look a lot like her. Where are you going next? What’s the next goal, the next step, the next whatever?

MD: That's tough to answer. When I got here, we redecorated, changed the menu, got the best chef, we get the best foods delivered fresh daily. We really made something fantastic here. We love what we've built over the last six years and we love living here. I have a few things in mind, but I don't want to talk about them right now because I don't want to spoil them. But we have the restaurant and we have to do the best we can, you know? And I think we are. We've been here six years, and the customers confirm this. It's a hard life, for sure, but we love it.

JC: So you wouldn't give it up.

MD: We don't do this because we have to, we do it because we want to. I care very much about the customers and I like them very much. They start out as customers and become friends. You know? That's how it is. I like to be there for them. They are why we're here, you know?

JC: And I see that in the way you treat them. It's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you.

JC: Okay, Maria, thank you very much for taking a few minutes out of your day to tell us about yourself, it was a pleasure talking to you.

MD: You're welcome, Jaycee, it was a lot of fun!

JC: Have you got a website? Have you got anything special going on that my readers should know about?


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MD: Yes! Our site is http://www.tasteofportugal.biz/. We serve a buffet for lunch on Fridays from 11:30 to 2:30. We have a live band and dancing on Friday evenings from 10:00 to 2:00, and we also do it on the first Saturday of the month. We're located at 15 Palm Harbor Village Way, just seconds away from downtown Palm Coast, Florida, we're available to host and cater meetings, and we're fine Portuguese dining in a casual atmosphere. And just for people who read this article and tell their waitress the secret word, which is "Fernando", for every entrée they order, we'll give them a choice of either a free desert OR a free beverage. But they have to know the secret word to prove they read the article.

JC: Wow! I'm glad I know the secret word! I'll jump off my diet for a day for some fresh-baked pie, made by the cutest restaurateur I've met all day!

MD: Thank you, Jaycee, you're so flattering. I feel really blessed to have met so many good people like you!


NOTE: This page is accessible via HTTP://TOP.MOPJOCKEY.COM
















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Other articles you'll find interesting or helpful:
"Expose Yourself" Articles List
Nelson Mandela isn't THAT good
New Gullwing Does Barrel Roll in Tunnel
Winning the Aussie Way and the Scottish Way

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Chumming the Waters

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Yesterday, I took my first deep sea fishing trip in about 25 years. My dad fondly remembers he and his dad going out on the ocean to fish, and I recall going out there one year with them and being somewhat bored. I've never been that interested in fishing, but it's good time to spend with my dad, so I was happy to do it.

The ride out there took the better part of two hours, and I ALMOST made it before I had to chum the waters.

I don't get motion sick that much, unless I'm riding something really violent, like three roller coasters in a row, and lately I've been able to read in the car, so I didn't think a measly boat trip was going to affect me much. (I used to could ride rollercoasters all day, but of late, 3 is my limit, with a break in between.)

As soon as the boat stopped, it wasn't rocking as bad as it was while we were traveling... it was rocking A LOT WORSE!! So there was no chance I could catch up, and I spent the rest of the trip alternately hurling over the side, rushing to hurl over the side, and trying not to hurl over the side. I think I lost about 10 pounds in the toilet (because when I get queasy, my bowels get loose too) and another 5 pounds of stomach acid, plus a LOT of sweat. I was definitely dehydrated by the time we got back to shore, because drinking water only makes you puke it right back up.

And my throat was pretty sore.

So if you take a deep sea fishing trip, be sure to take some dramamine a couple hours before you go out, and DON'T eat very much beforehand, and DO be sure you bring along some Pepto and some Saltines, just in case. I didn't have a big meal, but I was surprised how much of it managed to come back up, even seven hours after eating it.

I'm feeling fine again now that I've drank about a gallon of water and eaten enough pizza to restore my wieght and the contents of my intestines, but let it be a lesson to you: just go to the store and buy fish there. Much cheaper, and easier on the throat.

At least I can still whoop just about anyone at Cribbage or computer games.

In other news, I finally updated my Civ4 contributions page to reflect that Episode 100 of Polycast was released, on which I got a considerable amount of air time, most of it in the last hour or so. It took about 3 hours to record the show, and the tape lasts about 2.5 hours, so almost everything got left in.

Here's everything you'll need for your own fishing trip. Buying anything off these Amazon links helps support the site and my amazing lifestyle and ability to write these fascinating status reports.
















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Other articles that will interest and amaze you:
My Travels - Florida
My high-scores are Better than Yours
Hey baby, what's your sign? (Updated!)

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10-4 Good Buddy!

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It's that time of year again: National Talk like a Trucker Day!! Ahoy there mateys! Er, I mean, hit that hammer lane and watch out for the four-wheelers, you got bears in the air, gators on the zipper, and the chicken coop is open, so watch your back door for diesel weasels and stay out of the pickle park.

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Civilization 5 Got Blasted

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Over on CivFanatics, they linked up a review of Civ 5 done by a guy named Sulla, who is known for his unbiased reporting and for giving very good walk-throughs for the Civilization series. Unlike the big-name magazines and websites, Sulla doesn't have a personal stake in deceiving anyone to buy a bug-ridden, poorly made game, so he doesn't have an obligation to hand out high ratings. He doesn't get insider information or kickbacks, which means he doesn't have previews and giveaways and such, but then if you guys had an iota of patience and waited for the honest reviewers to have their say, you wouldn't be pre-ordering a game and then feeling ripped off by it.

Things aren't always what they appear, you know. Just because a bunch of people tell you something is good, that doesn't mean it's actually good. If you stop and consider that all these sources of information have a vested interest in lying to you to get you to spend money, you'd realize you're being played for a fool. Kind of like how a friend got played when a girl he met once had been preceded with raving compliments, but when he met her, he found out she was just a phony. It works the other way, too; a guy I know was constantly being bad-mouthed something horrible, and then when I met him, I found out he was actually quite a decent fellow. When someone sees themselves as your master, they lie to you to get you to do something you otherwise wouldn't.

You know what I think?

I think you should do your own thinking.

You won't, of course, because you don't know what it really means to do your own thinking, and you've got so little practice at it, but you really should learn how to do it, so that when someone tells you something about someone or something else, you can reserve judgment for YOUR encounter, and experience him/her/it for yourself. Instead of believing people who want either your money or your misery, stop for a second, throw off the shackles they're putting on you with the information they're feeding you, and THINK!

"If I believe what that person is saying, what do they gain from me?"

The answer is usually power. Power to get you to buy a game you won't like, or a car you don't need, or watch a movie that sucks. Power to deny you the company of a true friend. Like when the beauty magazines try to tell you that you're not pretty enough, and you have to buy their makeup or clothes or read their articles to find out what men think. Like when the calendar tells you it's some made up holiday whose only intent is to toy with your emotions and make you buy something to "prove" your love. Like when the whole of Western Civilization is telling you that the only way to show your fiancee you love her is to buy her an expensive diamond. Like when your jealous boyfriend convinces you that everyone is out to get you, which stifles your career in public speaking. Those people are stealing your personal power from you. They think they own you. And when you believe them without finding out for yourself, then they DO own you. They ARE controlling you.

You'll find that everywhere. Not just product reviews and advertising (which are just about the same now), not just "friends" trying to control you, but you also find it in government and religion. Politicians lie to get your vote so they can get their hands in the till and steal the big bucks. You don't think a country that built as much as we have could possibly go broke without at least 535 leeches bleeding it dry, do you? When some religious figure tells you what God wants you to do, how do you know that's actually true? Does your holy book say it, or did someone only TELL YOU that it says it?

Look, guys, even the most trusted person you know will lie to you under the right circumstances, ESPECIALLY people who have promised they'll NEVER lie to you. I know we don't have time to verify absolutely everything, but when someone has an awful lot of say over what you do or what you think, it's time to start questioning their motives and look for the real truth. Is that the best product for me or could it be garbage? Is that person really trying to hurt me or am I believing someone who thinks they own me? Can that politician be trusted, or should I check the public record? Is that religious leader saving my soul, or is he just asking me to die to fulfill his own sexual ambitions?

Stop being used. Start taking control of your own life and make your own decisions.

Here's a couple clues. The more something is hyped, the worse it usually is. I initially found this to be true with movies, but it also seems to work well with games and even with people in general. And the other is, the person who has the most to gain or the most to lose from your decision is almost always lying to you.

For the last several months, we've all been told how wonderful Civ5 was going to be. There were HUGE fights over it being a Steam exclusive, a few disagreements about hexes being used (which were easily defeated), some commentary about how cartoony and hard to see the game looks (which it still does), and lots of people saying, "Just wait 'til it comes out to judge it." And a handful of us also said, "Wait 'til it gets released and reviewed by an independent before you buy it." Oh, you scoffed, decided you had to have it immediately or sooner, spent all that money and chomped at the bit, thinking anything with Sid Meier's name on it had to be good, ignoring the recent flops, some of which even had his paw prints on them! (Sid had little to do with Civ5.) And now what've you got? Another MoO3 disaster, that's what. You spent all that money, and the only reason you're playing it is because you're determined to like it when really you should be demanding a paycheck for being their playtester.

Civ5 is HARDLY the only game with such issues, I'm sorry to say, and yet, you guys just keep right on buying shoddily made games. Some people only have to be burned once, but enough can't seem to get enough char-broiling, and so we all suffer.

If you want to buy something without thinking about it, buy something from Amazon through one of my links. You'll get better value for your money, and chances are you'll learn something important that'll save you money.




















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Other articles you'll find interesting or helpful:
Writing is Easy
Nelson Mandela isn't THAT good
Curse cookies!

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Attack of the 10's!!

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OMG! We're being attacked by 10's! And I don't just mean hot girls, either!

It's 10/10/10!

Worse, it's also 10:10:10! Fear! Panic! End of the world!

Forget 2012, the zombie apocalypse starts NOW!!!

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What makes for good TV?

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Everyone who knows me is aware that I watch very little television anymore. I was born in front of the TV just in time for Primetime and I didn't move until I was 23, when I joined the Navy. (A tough time to do it, too, because Babylon 5 was in the middle of its run! I missed a lot of critical episodes.) Since being in the Navy, I found I didn't need TV at all. When my dad came to visit me, he had to buy a TV for me because I didn't have one. Lately, I've started watching it a little, mostly educational stuff like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, and some History Channel and Science Channel stuff.

My roomy watches a lot of TV, and sometimes I sit in the living room with my computer so I can write stories and such, and he's watching almost everything they put on cable now, so I get to see a lot of shows in a bystander sort of way.

One show he introduced me to was Burn Notice. OMFG, that's the best show I've seen in a long time!

OTOH, you'd think something like Ghost Whisperer would be good TV, what with Jennifer Love Hewitt showing off her cleavage all the time. She's talented, the others on the show are talented, and it's got a topic I find a little interesting. But I don't watch it, and the roomy doesn't watch it anymore either. Why?

The main beef I had with Ghost Whisperer was that, story-wise, it was a one-trick pony. There's one big name (and one big rack) drawing crowds, and she's in practically every scene. Okay, it's ABOUT Melinda, but it still comes off to me as Hewitt trying to say "See? I can act! Wait, look at these! See? I can act!" I would hope that Hewitt isn't intentionally trying to steal all the scenes, or that she's not jealous of all her costars, but come on, how about we develop some other character once in a while? How about we give another actor a chance to shine; besides just Jaime Kennedy, I mean.

On the other hand, Burn Notice has a main character who gets the most face-time, but the other three main members of the show get nearly equal development. We know almost as much about Fiona, Sam, and Madeline as we do about Michael. Michael is NOT in every scene. Jeffrey Donovan isn't giving off those camera-hogging vibes.

But the cast of Burn Notice COMBINED doesn't have the star-power that Hewitt does. Are the big names "doomed" to be on camera too much, or are there other shows who have had a big name in the lead role, but give somewhat equal time to the rest of the cast?

I'm going to go with NCIS. NCIS is Mark Harmon's baby. He's the only big name (no offense to David McCallum) in the show, he produces it, and he's the main character. BUT, we don't really focus too much on him. There are SEVERAL characters we know almost as well as we do Gibbs: Tony, Kate/Ziva, Tim, Ducky, Abby... we even get to know a lot about Jimmy, Leon, and Jenny, and they didn't have a lot of camera time.

NCIS has as more regular characters than Ghost Whisperer, and we know more about them. They're developed. They get their time in the sun and we get to see them shine, despite Mark Harmon's star-power outweighing the rest of the cast. Ghost Whisperer would not be struggling to hold viewers and forcing Hewitt to show more and more skin if they'd just develop the characters more, and give the other actors a chance to show what they can do, nor would they have to have crazy story lines about switching bodies and adding a kid who's endangered in every episode.

Home Improvement is another good example. Though it was Tim Allen's show, and he was initially the only one with star power, the other cast members got a lot of development and some may outshine Allen in the near future.

Maybe in the past year or so Ghost Whisperer cleaned up its act and I'm not aware of it because I don't watch it, so maybe it's unfair to pick on them. How about I pick on William Shatner's new show, Stuff my Dad Says?

Shatner is probably the biggest name on TV right now (with me at least), and the people filling out the cast of his show are all somewhat unknown. Hewitt's star-power doesn't hold a candle to his. Shatner is playing the main character of a TV show, and in the one episode I've seen so far, he's mostly hogged the spotlight. I don't know that they've got enough material for the show to last past its sample-sized season of 5 shows, but if Shatner is the only character that gets developed, I'm not going to watch it, and I find William Shatner at least as entertaining as Jennifer Love Hewitt's cleavage.

Right now I'm waiting for Burn Notice to start back up next month, and I watch Stargate Universe because it was pretty gripping throughout the first season, and that's about it. I haven't even seen Family Guy for a couple years. As I look back at some of the TV shows I enjoyed most throughout my life, I find that the ones that developed the whole cast tended to be the ones I liked.

If you need further proof that having multiple developed characters is a good thing, take a look at sci-fi shows. Rarely does a sci-fi show have a single person in the spotlight the whole time. They're almost ALL designed to develop multiple characters. Look at the flop Enterprise. Scott Bakula was the only big name in the show, the action centered around him almost exclusively, and the other characters got little development. Only because it was Star Trek did it survive as long as it did. (That and getting Jolene Blaloch to show off for us so many times.) The other Star Treks may not have developed ALL the characters, but they developed SEVERAL of them, and that's why they lasted as long as they did. Anyone who watched was able to find someone they could identify with. When it's just one person doing everything, that's not much of an audience to identify with.

Scifi shows have a hard time getting an audience, so they have to pull out all the stops, and that means developing all the characters. Even those horrible "reality shows" know that much!

Hopefully more people will watch Burn Notice get TV right.

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Shh-it's a Secret!

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Thanks to Jay Leno for that headline...

I just wanted everyone to know that THIS GIRL LOVES ME!! (So nya!)

You may be seeing a lot more of her around here later, so start liking her, or I'll write you out of my will. (You guys ARE aware you can click on the pics for a closeup, right?)

Shortly after this picture was taken, the tree fell into the water. She started flailing and screaming about how she was drowning, and wanted me to jump in and save her. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going in there after her, there could be gators in that water! Besides, climbing on the tree was HER idea.

"Stand up!" I shouted at her, and finally she did. The water wasn't even hip-deep. It's practically a flooded field. I'm not sure what you call that kind of waterway, it's just a waterland that ebbs and flows with the tide.

So she wades back to the shore and she's dripping wet and I'm still laughing my butt off at her. She's grinning, embarrassed, and a little startled, as she takes a look at what happened. Seems the tree wasn't as firmly planted in the ground as she thought. "Real smart going out there," I tease, the laughter subsiding.

"If you got a good picture, it was worth it," she answers.

"Hope so." We start heading back to the car, and then I realize, I don't want her dripping in my car! So I tell her, "You're gonna hafta dry out. Go lay out on that other palm tree until you're dried off."

Oddly enough, she doesn't like the idea. She seems to think she needs a shower first. To say nothing about learning her lesson.

So I don't unlock her door, and I get in and drive off. She can walk home, it'll do her some good. It's only about 8 miles, she's half my age, she can make it, no problem. She's complaning about being a couple pounds too heavy, even though she's 5'2 and barely 100 pounds soaking wet. At least I got a good picture out of it.

I'm just kidding about all that, of course. The tree is just fine.

You know, looking at that picture, you wouldn't think it was possible to take a bad picture of a girl like that, but I've got about a dozen pictures I took while she was here, and that's the only decent one. Well, there's another decent one, but it's taken a few seconds before this one, and she's not looking in quite the right direction, so it's not nearly as good. The rest, her hair is flying in her face, or she's looking in the wrong direction (that's the danger of taking candids), or it's fuzzy. But this one came out good.

What do you guys think? Should she be a model or should she be a model? And I should be a photographer, right? Use the comments for your opinions on the matter. Don't bother asking for her phone number, I'm very jealous about her and I wouldn't want to be forced to kick your butt. Normally I'm not jealous, but she's special. Who she is will have to remain a secret, so as to keep with the title of the story.

In other news, I've got Expose Yourself #2 written and ready to publish, but the person it's about is having website problems and she wants me to wait until she can get them resolved. Who is it? I'll give you a clue: she's super-cute and she owns a restaurant. Nope, it's not Crissy Taylor again! This woman has running restaurants in her very blood because she's spent her life rebuilding them. I'm very excited to get to meet her, not least of all because she's from another country and she really likes me. She called me a great guy today, and shyly punched me in the arm, just like Lacey did. Actually, she reminds me a lot of Crissy, in that she's very cute, very sweet, very shy, and too darned married for my personal taste!

The fine gentleman I originally slotted for #2 backed out at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict, but he'll probably be ready to go in a few months. You'll like him a lot too. BUT, in the meantime, I need to find someone for #3, hopefully to be published November 1st to get me back on schedule. Anyone in the Daytona Beach area got some inspiration to share?

Also, do you know what October 14th is? As you may recall, it's National Talk like a Trucker Day! This year's celebration will actually be the first time it's celebrated, because when I declared it last year, it had already passed. Doh!

October 14th is also the official beginning of Biketoberfest! The place is already starting to reek of bike noise. That will go on until the following Sunday, the 17th, so it's not quite the event that Bike Week is in March, which, as you'll recall, is actually my birthday party.

Next weekend there's an Air Show in Daytona Beach! I plan on being there at some point, come on down!

Lastly, I might be getting some guest bloggers in here. You've noticed my followers have tripled recently; well, they're set to continue to rise, and I'm asking some of the current ones if they'd like to speak to you, my legion of readers who rarely leave comments with your XBOXes and Java clients. (See the recent article about this site's statistics.)

That's all that's important for now. Have a good night, and be good to each other, because if you don't, who will?

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Writing is Easy

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They say everyone has a story in them, but not everyone knows how to tell it, and not everyone knows how to sell it. Wouldn't it be nice if you could tell your story in a way that others found interesting, entertaining, even gripping? And heck, why not make some money at it?

Today, after attending a great book-debut party put on by a local publisher, I had the pleasure of reading through a very interesting new book, written by four fun people, about how to write.

Why am I, master writer that I obviously am, reading a book on how to write?

Because it's not one of those typical books on how to write. It's better than that, and this is why:

There are a lot of books out there which try to tell you HOW to write. Grammar, setting, character development, story arc, man vs nature, all kinds of good stuff. This book, Writing is Easy, doesn't do any of that. In fact, the book doesn't actually TEACH a whole lot about HOW to write. What it does is it shows you that you CAN write, and it shows you how these four authors accomplished their dream of getting published, which you can do as well.

The book opens up telling you a stark truth: If you're a writer and you're not published, it's your own fault. In this day and age when the only remaining barrier to publishing is within ourselves, writing a book and getting it published is easy! Hence the title: Writing is Easy.

The Rogue's Gallery Writers - Michael Ray King, Tracy McDurmon, Rebekah Hunter Scott, and Jeff Swesky - each brings their own unique personality to the table with numerous examples of short stories, their inspirations, and the questions that naturally arise, all of which allows you to get into their heads and find common ground, which, with 40-some examples to choose from, you won't have any trouble doing at all. All of this is meant to show you that you're not alone, and that if you want to write and get published, there's nothing stopping you.

After all, the only real obstacle to getting published is you, and once you've found a muse or 10 in this book, you'll see that.

Billions of people out there still want new and interesting stories to read, and that means publishers want lots of new stories to print. Why not yours? But if you never get up the nerve to write, and if you don't actually put forth some effort to get published, then how are you ever going to do that? That's what this book is about: it's about showing you that YOU and YOU ALONE are the only obstacle to your success, and encourages you to overcome that obstacle by showing you how easy it is. In fact, Michael, in his role as the head of ClearView Press, the publisher of this and several other books, says the best stories he's read have come from people who don't have the nerve to get published, and that's what ultimately inspired him to create this book.

I think that's a pretty telling phenomenon, guys. What about you? Do you have what it takes? Do you just need a little inspiration, a few examples to show you the way? Then you'll want to get this book.

Here's a link to the book's official web page, plus I've got three handy Amazon links for you to buy Writing is Easy and some other books these authors have written. You can also order books through ClearView's site, which has more authors to choose from than just the Rogue's Gallery Writers. And don't forget to check out their blogs: Michael Ray King, Tracy McDurmon, Rebekah Hunter Scott, and Jeff Swesky! They've got some cool tales to tell there.
















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Other articles you'll find interesting or helpful:
What we mean when we say we will never forget
Ron Riekki - 2010
Arizona you evil state you

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