The Power of One Dollar

1 is the loneliest number...but many $1 can lead to great things!
Photo by FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So today as I woke up and saw the big fat "Only 35 hours left" on my Kickstarter page created to raise funds so I can self-publish my first novel, I started thinking about the power of $1. On it's own, a $1 isn't that impressive. Sure, you can buy a Taco Bell soft taco, or some candy, or a bottled water. But a bunch of $1s can actually fund dreams.

When I started my Kickstarter, I delusionally thought that a bunch of people would contribute $1, but actually only 3 people have given $1.

If we can make people believe in the power of $1, I KNOW that this Kickstarter can be a success. I think the people that were going to make a generous-sized donation (thank you wonderful backers!) already have, so maybe it's possible to now get everyone I know and everyone YOU know to donate just $1.

So today, if you can urge your networks to donate $1, just one little dollar, I truly think that this Kickstarter can reach it's target and my novel can be published.

$1 can do a lot or a little, and today, I'm hoping $1 can fund dreams.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shawndrarussell/publishing-my-first-novel-couple-friends/posts

Writer Wednesdays: Embracing the Future via Jake Hodesh in Savannah Morning News

Today an article by Jake Hodesh ran in Savannah Morning News regarding some residents resisting change. I absolutely love Savannah and love living here, aesthetically and in terms of  the walkability, livability and things to do. However, this article highlights what is one of the biggest problems with Savannah: not embracing the future (or willingness to "decode the future," as was the theme of TedxCC). 


Hodesh writes, "In the room on Friday, these ideas—activist public art projects, female-power entrepreneurship, environmentally-sensitive historical preservationist development—would have been praised as progress. Outside though, these issues have been criticized and led to public battles that have—and are—consuming precious resources."


Some people seem to define "embracing the future" as meaning "erasing the past" and that's just not true. Preserving Savannah's history and traditions is essential to its identity. But Hodesh's inspirational article shows that the past and future could live harmoniously in the present if we as a city could put aside our individual grievances and petty arguments. This means putting Savannah first when it comes to community and progressive issues, not ourselves and our own wants. We should all want to brand Savannah as a place that honors both the past and innovation, creativity and tradition, forward-thinking and learning from our mistakes. Hodesh' article is a call to action, urging Savannahians to ask ourselves "what's best for the city?" instead of "what's best for me?" before we complain too loudly or protest too much.


Savannah has made some great strides as the article points out; let's not slide backwards before we've even really begun to capitalize on the recent momentum. We can make Savannah a place that not only ranks high on a variety of tourism lists visit but also attracts new businesses, innovators and creatives to make Savannah their home indefinitely. 

Writer Wednesdays: Andy Crouch: On Bars and Beer Gardens

Meet me at the pub--we'll solve all the world's problems.
Photo by bk images

I recently received my issue #63 of BeerAdvocate, and on page 12 found this fabulous article by Andy Crouch, which has led me to put Great American Craft Beer and The Good Beer Guide to New England on my to-read list. (Full disclosure: I have my first BeerAdvocate article in this issue. YAY!).

In his article, Andy talks about the decrease in bars for the sake of bars and an increase in gastropubs and other similar establishments that make you feel bad about not ordering food or just stopping in to have a drink, perhaps--gasp!--alone (lush! bum! mooch!). 


His musings made me think of The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehring. Sure, some of the people in this book were alcoholics, heavy gamblers, and screwed up. But good things happened in that bar--a sense of community, a bright spot for when you were troubled, and probably most of all, acceptance.

Pubs have long been a place were people congregate to talk, meet new people, and drink good beer. Yet, even in my city of Savannah, Georgia, obscure laws impede on a good time at some restaurants, where rumor has it once upon a time a cranky old neighbor didn't want unsavory types spilling into the streets near her home, so she got a law passed that people could not order alcohol unless they ordered food as well (Even more scandalous is that she got the law passed because she had some dirt on a politician). And Savannah is one of the more liberal cities when it comes to alcohol, allowing open containers while walking!

But the most noteworthy issue that Crouch's article brings up for me is that in a time when we lean on digital social networks more than ever, isn't getting out and rubbing elbows with neighbors and fellow citizens a good thing? Don't bars cause good cheer more than trouble? Isn't friendship strengthened over a few laughs, epic conversations, and shared experiences worth fostering?

I sure as heck think so. Long live plain ol', no food, dive-y, conversation havens...er, bars. 

Blog Revamp

Time for a change
Photo by ntwowe

Sorry for the hiatus. Things are finally back on track after we moved houses and I launched my Kickstarter. Thank you for your patience :)

I'm going to make a few changes to my blog based on the data and reactions over the past year, plus the fact that I am busier than ever with new social media and marketing clients, self-publishing my first novel, and starting my next novel in June.

Here are the changes I'm implementing starting this week:

• I will not be posting Movie Mondays anymore (I didn't get that strong of or that many reactions to these posts)
• I will be combining my Travel Tuesdays and Tune Thursdays into just one Thursday post since these are both days that feature my writing 
• Soul Saturdays will be moving to my new fiction-focused blog, www.shawndrarussell.com, on Sundays. It will be called Soul Sundays (wonderful slower-paced day perfect for some self-reflection, dontcha think?!). 

So, here's the new schedule for this writing-focused blog:

• Writer Wednesdays: I review a writer, either their blog, website, article, small ebook, etc. 
• Tune and Travel Thursdays: Links to travel and music articles I write
• Fiction Fridays: Review of a book I've recently read
• SUPER Sharing Saturdays: Best 8 Links of the Week!

You get four days of goods this way starting on Hump Day to help you cruise into your weekend. And I like the links being bumped to Saturday so you can play catch up on Saturday and Sunday with your web surfing :)

Also, if you're curious, my relationship and fiction-focused blog's schedule at www.shawndrarussell.com is:

• Soul Sundays--A discussion about life, career, goals, and things that are emotionally and mentally touching
• Marriage Mondays--my husband and I write a he said/she said post about something relationship related
• Tuesday Social--I find something interesting in the news that week that is relationship/behavior related and react to the information

Let me know what you think of this new blog plan!

Couple Friends Kickstarter is Launched!

Cheers to you for helping make my dreams come true!

Sorry it's been a week since my last post, but I've only taken off two weeks total since starting this daily blog last January, so I'm going to cut myself a little slack when needed :)

And boy was it needed. *drumroll*

I LAUNCHED MY KICKSTARTER YESTERDAY! If you don't know what Kickstarter is, it's a crowdfunding site that allows people to help a creative launch a project--be it an album, gadget, website, or book, like mine! The catch? It's all-or-nothing. So, if you want to raise $4,000 (like me), but you only raise $3, 215, then you don't get any of that money and your backers don't pay.

Sad. I wonder what the closest number has been that someone DIDN'T reach their goal, but almost did?

Anyway, please check out my novel and the other cool projects going on. Projects can't go longer than 60 days, but most only go around 30; mine is 31 days long and ends May 31 at 11:59 p.m. *gulp*

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shawndrarussell/publishing-my-first-novel-couple-friends

Even if you're strapped for cash, you can donate just $1 and become an awesome dream-granter, which will keep you in the loop about the goings-on with my novel, like guest blog posts, interviews, and voting on my ebook cover later this month.

Thank you for your support both on this blog and perhaps for my Kickstarter!

Writer Wednesdays: Jeff Goins "You Are a Writer"

Photo from Donald McAllister

I had a fabulous lazy Sunday reading Jeff Goin's newest ebook, You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One). But my relaxed mood quickly shifted into holy-cow-I-am-so-inspired-I-want-to-start-working-on-my-next-book-NOW mode.

Goins tends to have that effect.

This page-turner is a call to action for anyone thinking about becoming a writer. You can't read it and NOT want to go write something worthy of publishing immediately.

But as a freelance writer for over a year, it is also a great read for non-newbies too because it's a reminder of all the joys, and challenges, of writing. Most notably, Goins emphasizes how important it is to put yourself out there over and over, again and again, to new audiences and old, constantly.

Reading this book came at the perfect time for me as I get ready to self-publish my first novel. The book is an ideal confidence boost that makes me feel like I can do anything, not because he writes like my personal cheerleader or promises the journey will be easy, but because he emphasizes that you have the power over your success and only the truly dedicated and passionate will persevere.

It's an empowering message, and puts the accountability for your career squarely on your shoulders, where it should be. No excuses, no more stalling. The cliche "Just Do It" rings so true when it comes to your writing career.

Goins has the wonderful ability to make his words stir your greatest writing desires, and his style makes it feel like he wrote the book especially just for you. Which he did, because as a successful writer that is farther along in his career than me, I see his book is a roadmap to reaching his level of success.

And I know I can do it, because "I am a Writer."

Thanks again, Jeff, for believing in your fellow writers and sharing your knowledge.

Movie Mondays: J. Edgar Reaction

Photo via Unknowncritics.com

I am a big fan of biographies/autobiographies/memoirs. I guess that's the journalist in me, and why I love doing interviews and learning about why people open a business or play in a band. I've also really gotten into historical fiction lately--anything like The Book Thief and Water for Elephants. 

Anyway, I really enjoyed J. Edgar because I had no idea about his life and shaping of the FBI. But, I also liked the emotional analysis of this complicated, conflicted man played solidly by the always great Leonardo DiCaprio. 

I felt most strongly for Armie Hammer's character, who was in love with J. Edgar and as a result was at Edgar's mercy professionally and personally. Edgar was portrayed somewhat like the repressed cowboy Heath Ledger played in Brokeback Mountain.  The emotional turmoil and self-loathing seeped from DiCaprio and gave a thorough glimpse into Edgar's life.

It dragged at some points, and I definitely got angry at Edgar's treatment of Clyde Tolson for all those years, while denying him a real relationship. His bossiness, control freak-ness, and undercurrent of anger are palpable, and Tolson just puts up with it, even after having a debilitating stroke. 

A touching learning experience that is the best example of how history can be told--sometimes best--by the analysis of one person's worldview.