Living Life: "Golden" by Jill Scott

You're never too old to dream. And most importantly, you are never too old to pursue your dreams. Unlike a wish or a hope, a dream is meant to be pursued.  Sometimes you run it down with dogged determination. Other times, you chip away gradually with each strike of your chisel bringing you one inch closer to your prize.  As you know, I am plugging away making a few of my dreams materialize.  Soon I will be a published author.....

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Therese and I have signed a contract with a publisher for our Author Marketing 101 Guide & Journal. We've been blogging for a year and presenting on marketing for almost three years and talking about marketing for almost four years.  So to say that our publishing contract was a quick turn of events is a little misleading.  The AWESOME thing is that because of all this talking, presenting, and blogging, we were more than prepared with material when the contract came our way.  In fact, we were able to produce our first draft in less than two weeks.

Why so fast?  Well, we wanted to clear our minds and our plates for the Summer In Words Writing Conference produced by our dear friend Jessica Morrell. It was held at the Hallmark Inn Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast.  During this FABULOUS writer's retreat I:

• Learned new ways to see simple objects and pack more punch into my sentences from Monica Drake. 
• Gained new insights on titles, high concept writing, and how to flesh out my secondary characters from Jessica Morrell.
• Laughed at the adventures, antics, and stories of Jonathan Evison. <BTW, it is VERY appropriate for him to depict his book covers as beer bottle labels on his website! LOL!>
• Was inspired to learn new things about others and about myself by Kelly Williams Brown, who just returned to Oregon from New York after a Today Show interview.

With regards to making dreams come true....We met the ever wonderful Kari Luna who is busy telling everyone about her debut novel: The Theory of Everything.  Ms. Luna is such a plucky duck, she convinced MTV (yes that MTV) to plug her book trailer!!  (I mean really, how cool is that??)  It was a long, hard battle for Ms. Luna to get this book published and out the door.  It was particularly tough, because her YA story features a hallucinating heroine with a panda shaman named Walt.  I was able to buy an advanced copy and had the honor of being the recipient of Ms. Luna's first autograph!

The past few weeks have been completely and utterly AMAZING, but somehow I know that the best is yet to come....  :D

"Golden" by Jill Scott

I love Jill Scott and there has been many a time when this song has helped me through a rough patch or celebrate an accomplishment.  "Golden" speaks to the joy of celebrating your freedom to be and do whatever fulfills you as a person.  Smiling faces, warm sunshine, calming ocean waves, and the simple joy of waving to friends and family of all ages are all images Ms. Scott uses.  The soulful backup vocals herald the refrain, literally 'taking us to church' on how beautiful life can be if we believe in the possibilities and pursue our dreams.  Jill Scott is beautiful and "Golden" has become one of a handful of theme songs for me.

"I'm living my life like it's golden, Living my life like it's golden..."

Me with Kari Luna.  Strips are clearly the new hotness!  Buy her book , The Theory of Everything here or here or here,  available July 11th!

Bill Clinton, Spin Master: "Switch" by Will Smith

Though I am not one to attend political rallies or plaster my car with bumper stickers expressing my views, I do try to stay on top of what my politicians are doing.  Quite honestly, in the current environment, we can't afford to ignore what is going on in Washington, DC - regardless of your political leanings.

So, when I had an opportunity to hear former President Bill Clinton speak during the Solar Power International Tradeshow, I had to go see what he had to say.  Would you believe, in a room full of smart phones, they actually tried to stop us from recording his speech or taking pictures?  (I guess, Mr. Romney's campaign is learning how technology can cause Karmic repercussions the hard way....but I digress.)  Get this, though,...we were encouraged to Tweet during the speech and were given a hash tag to reference. Go figure.

It isn't often that I get to see a true Spin Master at work.  The marketing diva in me jumped with glee, as Bill gave us all a stern lesson on how to clean up our solar marketing messaging.  His basic theme was know your audience. The solar industry, as a whole, loves to use terms like "subsidies", "green", and "clean energy."  All of these terms apply, but have a more liberal spin.  To appeal to conservatives, we must use terms like "incentives", "ROI", and "job creation." Add these new terms with hard data and European case studies and you have a recipe that kills any 'show me the money' opposition.  Brilliant!

Of course, Bill had to pepper in a few subtle digs on the Republican candidates, but otherwise he stayed on target and gave some fact filled insights.

In truth, life is one long series of marketing campaigns for everything from wanting another cookie when you were a kid to negotiating your next promotion.  But, I just gotta believe that persuasion merely gets you a seat at the dinner table, while aptitude allows you to stay for dessert.

"Switch" by Will Smith

I just couldn't resist honoring Slick Willie (Bill Clinton) with a song from Big Willie (Will Smith).

(To all my global readers, I fully understand that "willie" or "willy" has an entirely different meaning in some countries - which is why the movie Free Willy had some marketing issues overseas. Though it is funny, no pun is intended on my part....)

Anyhow, until yesterday it was a toss up between "Gettin' Jiggy wit' It" and "Switch."  Both songs are fun and dance worthy, but "Switch" won out in the end....mostly because it is slightly more obscure than the jiggy song.

Unfortunately, there are no deep meanings or profound revelations in this song other than a shadow of the music industry's more than justified paranoia over free downloads in the line: "...don't download, go out and buy the record."  But then again, it has a catchy beat with a nice hook for all the video honeys to shake their rumps to....it's a club song - and really, that's all it needs to be. "Hey!"

"That's what I'm talkin' 'bout..."

Our beloved Pres. Bill Clinton making a point on messaging.

Intro: "Kick Push" by Lupe Fiasco

Welcome to Morgan's Mix Tape: My Life in Song. 

Let me begin by confessing that I am not a musician, nor am I in any way affiliated with the music industry.  (Ok...I used to play the flute in my high school band and I own a VERY dusty guitar that I don't know how to play....but, somehow, I'm sure these two facts don't earn me any musician street cred.)  I am merely a fan of almost all forms of music.

In this weekly blog, every Friday I will post a song that appropriately summarizes my adventures or random thoughts.  My day job, as a marketing professional and business development director, requires a significant amount of travel.  I am slogging through finishing my first novel.  I also just officially hired the services of a professional matchmaker.  (Intuitive Matchmaking)  Life is most definitely in full swing for me and I have plenty of stories to tell!

So, in this my inaugural post, the first addition to my mix tape is:

"Kick Push" by Lupe Fiasco

I often listen to this song at work and when I am writing.  It makes me think of my childhood in my hometown of Cleveland, OH.  I grew up on the east side in the historically black, Lee-Harvard community. 

"Kick Push" is about finding a positive means of escape from day-to-day troubles.  I love the line "...freedom was better than breathing..." and the fact that the main character had to work hard at the skills needed to obtain his freedom.  I also totally dig on the fact that his girl says, "I don't need to ride your's. I got mine right here."  Translation: "WE can be together AND you don't have to carry ME."  Skater girls rock!

I was born with a mild case of wanderlust, so I can relate to this need to roam free.  My escapes were reading, music, and dancing.  Since my family didn't have money for extensive travel, I researched the places I wanted to visit.  China was at the top of my list.  It was a real pleasure to finally visit Beijing in January 2010.  (Paris, France is still on my list - though I have passed through Charles de Gaulle airport a few times, I haven't had the opportunity to stay in Paris.)

Sit back, relax, and listen to this mellow groove with a rich horn track, while plotting your next escape into serenity.

"So let's kick...then push...and coast."

I made it to China in January 2010!  Above is a picture taken on a VERY cold day at Tiananmen Square.