As 2012 comes to a close, I want to take a moment and reflect upon my year. My year was full of many highs and many lows. I am guessing you can say the same thing. Besides wishing you a wonderful 2013, I want to take a minute and tell you about one of my highs and one of my very low points.
The best thing that happened to me this year was getting my book published and actually selling a few copies. Between the ebook and paperback sales I have managed to sell about five hundred copies. It is not where I wanted or hoped to be by this time, but without help in getting a good marketing plan executed, I guess it's been a pretty good year. I am hoping to get help marketing this year, which will bring in more sales, which subsequently has proven to get me some speaking engagements. By the way, I have seen several speaking engagements as a result of book sales. That was the whole point. I believe the book will sell my speeches and my speeches will sell my books. In fact, I did one program for a group of social service agencies, and as part of the contract they bought one hundred sixty books, one for each person attending my workshop.
Definitely the low point of 2012 was losing my long-time friend, Jeff Farnam in April. Over the last thirty-seven years, he and I became great friends. In fact, you can read my April first blog post and see what I wrote about our last meeting. We were two old quads who spent a lot of time together and he taught me a lot about photography. He was the person who got me interested in taking pictures and finding a way to express one of my artistic sides.
I miss our lunches and long conversations at BLB (Bryant Lake Bowl) and Lucia's. We would also spend time at his house or in Calhoun Square talking for hours.
I was honored to be one of the people who gave eulogies at Jeff's Memorial Service in June. When he and his good friend, Steve, were planning for the service and deciding who they wanted to give eulogies, they decided if I was going to be one of them they better put a time limit on it! As it was, I gave the last eulogy and went a little bit over my limit! Basically, I read my post from April, with a few extra anecdotes that brought both laughter and tears to the people in attendance.
With that, I will say it once again, “Happy New Year, and I hope it brings you joy and much happiness.”
For the final time this year, I welcome your comments.
Later,
Mike
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3 comments:
Mike,
Cindi and I were thinking of you watching 60 Minutes tonight. Amazing new neuro technology!!
Happy New Year!!
Doug
HAVE A VERY HAPPY HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE 2013! GO GOPHERS!
My elders never told me how much loss would be a part of my second fifty years. Now in my forth 20 years, it seems to be everywhere! For me the sadness is balanced in a way by a deeper appreciation of the moment and those I hold dear. YOU, sir Mike are one of those people. Hug yourself for me and here's to selling books, sharing passions, and more sweetness in 2013.
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