Post Book Launch: Reflections

from publicdomainvectors.org

I had a bad cold rolling into the launch of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils.”  It kept me from being as active on social media as I’d planned.  It kept me from feeling either excited or nervous.  Most of me just wanted everything to be over.  It felt like a slow grind towards an inevitable conclusion.  I wasn’t even a little happy, and I don’t feel different now that we launched the book.  

The one bright side to my illness is I also don’t feel let down.  All this time I’ve been pushing for a strong release of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” and bracing for silence.  It’s been hard to stay so positive and strong while trying to keep expectations low.  Realistically, only my friends, family, and husband’s friends/family will read or buy this book.  And that stings because I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone to promote this book.  I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to be friendly and charming and trying to find the right audience to enjoy my book.  And I love “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” like it’s a living person and part of me feels like I’ve failed her.  I’m like that parent that couldn’t figure out how their kid’s skill set could land them a successful career… or I saw that potential, but I couldn’t steer the kid in the right direction.  

Now that I’m recovering from the cold, I feel like there’s all this lost time to make up for.  I’ve got all these posts on writing and goals I have for 2020, and I haven’t hit most of them.  I have to face it: I won’t meet a lot of my goals (writing and otherwise).  And it’s leaving me feeling desperate to make up for lost time.  

I’m anxious to write, and it’s been so long, the creative writing part of my brain feels rusty and misused.  

So now you want me.  When I was romping and playing in the background, shouting for you to stop and write, you didn’t have time or you felt too sick, but now you want me just to appear on demand.  Well, good luck.  

People talk about “recovering from the book launch” and I’m sitting here and laughing because I am literally recovering from being sick as much as the nerves of the launch and the pressure to be “on”.  But some things I’m trying to keep in mind as I move forward:

1. Be kind to me.  There’s stuff that’s fucked up this book and it’s too late to take it back.  I need to forgive myself for any missteps or things I didn’t do or know to do for this launch.  

2. Don’t linger.  I need to get up and move the fuck on.  I’ve got two major drafts I’m working on.  I have a novella I’d love to find a sensitivity beta reader for and I would love love love love love to self publish it.   I work a full-time job, I have a dog and a husband and I have all this work I want to do.  I can’t wallow in lost time.  And I can’t wait for my creative side to be ready, I might need to force it a little until I find my routine.

3.  The book is out and published.  Same way I didn’t wake up and have a complete novel ready to publish, I can’t expect people just come in to buy it.  It will be a war of attrition to make back the money spent or to get people to read and enjoy the book.  

4. It’s not 100% over.  I have a few more promotional blogs to write/publish.  AND starting March 15th I launch “Roxi’s Podcast” where I do a read along for “Follow Me: Tattered Veils.”  My intentions are to reward early adopters of this story with some further insight into the creation and meaning of the story AND to entice some readers who are on the fence.  My team and I pre-recorded most of the podcasts, but we have at least two or three more to record.

Looking for more posts about the writing and publishing process?  Check out more posts on my novel publication process: Going Through Copy Edits, 1st Daft vs 2nd Draft, Goal Planning: Getting Through the First Draft, My Character Looks Nothing Like My MC, Cover Art: Truth in Advertising, and Post Book Launch: Reflections.  

Want to know more about my novel?  Check out my childhood stories recapping themes in my life I hope prepared me to write this book: Remember the Magic of Santa?, Closet Monsters: Gone too Far?, and Garden Gnomes and other Evils.

OR check out my series where I find similarities between my novel and other popular media.  Hopefully it gives you a better idea whether there are elements in my book you may enjoy. Lost Girl Comparison, American Gods Comparison, and The O.A. Comparison.

MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON!!!  Please go look at "Follow Me: Tattered Veils" and see if it might be a story that interests you.

2019 In Review! Did I Meet My Goals?

Me and Roxi in Big Spring Park all rights reserved

In January last year I set up some personal writing goals.  For fun I want to review them and see what I accomplished vs what needs work.

Accomplished: 

I wanted to finish my second draft of Follow Me: Tattered Veils and succeeded (what's the difference between the 2 drafts?  Talked about that here). More than that!  This year I:

-Sent Tattered Veils off to a copy editor (some further blogging about that experience here) 

-Made the corrections from the copy editor

-Have a Copywrite on Tattered Veils—which means a copy of my work will be available in the Library of Congress

-Commissioned a cover artist and have cover art complete for Tattered Veils

-Got a publishing team together and have that team:

       -Created a website for me and a landing page for Tattered Veils and future works

       -Created an author’s Facebook page

       -Discussed, created, and sent A.R.C.s (advanced reader copies) to people for an early review

       - Had a proof copy of my novel in my hands

       -Chose a date of publication (and I’m thrilled to announce I will self publish Follow Me: Tattered Veils on Amazon this Feb the 29th a leap year ^_^)

I taught a free Intro to Creative Writing class with Ashley and we plan to run our course again this year.  It is exciting to continue refining our class. Hopefully this class will turn into a way we can give back to the writing community, inspire other writers, and create a closer community of people with similar goals.

I met my book reading goals for 2019 and reviewed most of the books I read (check out my Goodreads profile).  I also created shelves for my read Goodreads books so they are easier for other readers to sort through.  

2019 was a great year for esoteric folklore.  I learned about this thing called “#folklorethursday” on Twitter and it’s awesome.  The community connecting and telling different little bits of trivial there is soooooo cool.  I read a couple great pagan books that reconnected me earth based traditions, some will even work in my southern environment even if British weather is colder and rainier.  I also had the chance to write up a bit of info on traditional holidays and some different writing prompts to accompany the holidays.  My well for inspiration seems full.

Opportunities: 

I didn’t maintain a constant blogging habit.  At my personal blog, I posted about 11 times.  I posted 12 times in the N.A.W.G. blog.  Along with less frequent posting, I’ve dropped the ball in my social media game.  This may have cost me an audience or sense of reliability.  I promise I’ve been very busy in my writing life, it just hasn’t all been on display for the people who might watch at home.

My goals for blogging and social media were too lofty.  Given how much socializing even online takes out of me and given how each blog post takes time I could write creatively off the table, it was never realistic I would both complete my Tattered Veils goals and maintain an active blog presence.  No regrets over which I chose.  Now I have a book, if I’d stuck with the blog who knows how far away holding a copy of my work would have been?  

While blogging and social media has to play a role in my writing goals, it will have a lighter touch in 2020.  If these posts help or interest other people, I see it as “worth it,” but I can’t say this style of writing is a “passion" of mine.

I kept making new goals for myself as the year went on.  Some of that was beneficial and some of it was a time waste under the guise of “being efficient.”  There were days  that planning took the place of “doing”—so not the goal of making plans.  As this new year rolls in, I plan to compromise with the person who wants to plan vs the person who wants to do work.  More on that in 2020 goals though.  

Overall, I think I had a powerful 2019, even if it wasn’t everything I wanted.  How did your year go?  What was a major accomplishment for you?  What was a major failing?  What are your plans for 2020?

Not sure how to create good yearly plans?  Try my post that helps break down goal planning.  Or try a post I have exploring Habitica and how it can help you meet your goals. 

Curious about my my 2020 goals, check out this post!  Wondering how I track my goals?  I've written more here.

I Took a Writing Class and This is My Experience

image from openclipart.org by oksmith

In August, I signed up for a writing class run by Megan Beam through Les Conteurs.  The class started on Sept 3rd and run 8 weeks.  It cost me $100.

Why I took the Class:

My friend took the class and recommended it.  She said Megan’s style and mine were similar and she might help me go through the second draft of my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” 

 Megan is a published author in my genre, and I was looking for something to drive me and make me accountable.  I wanted feedback.  

A third consideration, is that I wanted to blog about my experience in Megan‘s class.  I wanted to talk about what it was like to go back to “school” for writing.  I missed regular work shopping.  I wondered if focused assignments would help me this time around or annoy as they had in the past.  I wondered how a writing class would compare to a writers’ group.  I wondered what kind of writers I would meet in class and if I would make friends with them as I had those from my writers’ group.  I even hoped to get insight in how to query agents, publish, and market.  There is so much a published author could tell me.  

As readers know, I haven't blogged about the class.  I think my experience will explain why.

My Experience:

I received no notice on September 3rd, so on the 5th I emailed Megan asking her if I’d missed something and confirming they enrolled me in her class.  She sent me a generic “I’m working on it” email.  Satisfied, I waited.  

I got an invitation into Quip on September 10th.  When I logged in, I saw I would take this class with two other writers.  Both these other writers were in the summer session with Ashley and had already started folders.  What did Megan clean up if she left her previous students’ class work from last class in place?  It made me feel like a fish out of water right away, to be the only new student.  I tried to ignore this and dismiss it as me being too sensitive.  At this point I still wanted the class to work and thought I could still achieve all my goals even if I was the "new kid on the block".

  There were no instructions other than to create a folder and an intro, so I did that. I waited a week before Megan got class running.  Two weeks gone and no actual meeting happening until September 23rd.  

Now the meeting on the 23rd was productive.  We were missing one member but those of us there outlined our desired projects, what we were looking for, and what we planned to do that week.  Megan seemed interested in my work, and it thrilled me.  This is what I’d signed up for, a fellow urban fantasy writer to geek out over my writing on.  Megan never mentioned what projects she planned to work on, which I found strange because my friend told me Megan also wrote and asked for feedback on her writing during class.  I resolved that I would go to her folder and comment on her writing from last class. Though, since she said she'd finalized the work there, if felt a little awkward to comment.  Like when I find corrections to make on a fellow writer's work when I know the work is out for submission.

I commented on Megan and my other classmate‘s work within the week.  On Sept 30th Megan said she hadn‘t read anything and would get to it ASAP.  We had no meeting or chat of any kind.  She didn‘t comment on my work until Oct 10th.  We are over “half” done with the class and I’m just getting feedback.  The feedback inspired edits on my chapter 1 & 2.  One reason I wanted to join class was met, though it's only about 8,000 words of feed back and I was thinking 2,000 words a week minimum at eight weeks and I'd see the first 16,000 words read which would give me a strong direction in my novel.  At that point I'd either be able to continue on my own or sign up for the winter session.

I made edits, asked questions, and in a burst of enthusiasm, posted Chapter 3.  I also went over to her folder and made spent time digging for comments on her work.  She is a good writer.  I enjoyed reading her work, but felt there were too many missing chunks for me to make a lot of commentaries.  Still, I tried.  

To be fair, I received a lot more attention than my fellow student did.  She had three documents up and only got two comments on her outline with no thoughts on her prologue.  

This is where the class ends though.  We got no assignments, no one got concrete advice, and there was no class opening or closing.  We had one meeting over 8 weeks.  I feel cheated.  

In the spirit of full disclosure, I never reached out to her and expressed how neglected I felt the class was.  These typed words are the first expression of my frustration and anger regarding the class.  On the other side, when I sign up for a class, I expect to show up in the classroom and for the teacher to be there.  I don't expect to have to write a letter to the dean asking why my instructor rarely shows up and never has a lesson plan when she does arrive.

Normally I wouldn't bring this issue to public in this manner, but there is no other way to leave feedback on the class.  Both her site and the Quip site she uses don't have any area for feed back.  I could start a direct confrontation with her, but at this point I don't know that I want anything from her.  What I want is to speak in public about what happened and let others make their own decisions regarding the "class".

Can I Recommend the Class?

Obviously not.  I don’t think it was Megan’s intention to quit on us, but she should have communicated more and she should have refunded our money when it became self evident she could not run class this semester.  Or, if she always intended this to be a paid beta reading service with a thirty-minute meet and greet, she should have called it that.  Her actual shop service is vague enough she may legally skate by.  This is why I'm outlining what specifically was delivered for $100.

It was a weird experience, and it reminded me of working with an English teacher who didn‘t want to teach but didn’t know what else to do with their major.

And why Quip when Google Docs and Hangouts exists?  The site choice was a miss for me.  It wasn’t bad, there are just better options.

My experience differs greatly from the summer session, so perhaps a person could go to a future class or have gone to a past class and had a more constructive experience.  It’s $100 gamble though. 

Do I Recommend a Writing Class in General? 

Of course!  Writing class can be a great way to get feedback from a group of fellow writers.  It can help keep a writer focused and writing.  It can give assignments that force a writer to explore topics, genres, and styles that help them grow.   

Talk to me!  Have you ever been to a writing class?  If not would you want to take a writing class and what would you look for in said class?

If you‘ve been in a writing class, how did it go?  What did you do?  Did you learn anything?  Did you make any friends?

Betting On Myself

image from openclipart.org by j4p4n

The Problem

Things are crazy in my professional life right now.  My “day job” is in shambles (from my perspective to them everything is the best it’s ever been or at least that’s the party line they are sticking too) and since that’s forty hours of my work week my emotional/mental life is shredded.  I feel like half a person, and that person is always on the attack, hunting for weaknesses in others to pounce on.  There’s no turning the snarky, angry, lashing aspect of myself off.  Something people don’t get: if you are a compassionate intuitive soul, you can take that knowledge and use it to be vicious.

In the middle of what for me is the worst three going on four months I’ve experienced in the last five years, I have to step back and ask myself “What can I do?”  I can’t change the policies happening at my work.  I can’t control how they are implemented.  I can’t force peers, superiors, or team members below me to be the right people to enact this cultural shift within the company.  But if you know me, there is no way in hell, I will sit back and let them wreck me without pushing back.

The Solution 

So first of the all, I’ve rejected the incompetent management and have turned around to challenge every move they make, using their own guide against them.  If I have to follow these rules, everyone will get on page now.  I will not struggle while everyone else tells me that “this is different”, and it’s “just this once”.


How I'm Choosing Me First

It’s time to come back to what I love.  What makes me passionate is writing.  I’m turning inward, back to words, and I’m turning all that frantic energy into creating space for my creative work to stand.

I’m unhappy, but part of me sees this work drama is the best thing that could have happened.  Nothing short of working at a huge corporate place that’s just shitting all over itself would have made me say: “If this is a thing, then I’m rejecting you and going back to my base.”

I’ve done a lot and continue to do a lot since I’ve turned back to reading and writing.  I’m reading more now than I ever have in my adult life, and I love that part of my life (check out my Goodreads reviews and stats here and see my "Best of Kindle Unlimited Series").  I’m writing (though mostly blogs and tweets) about 10,000 words a week.  My blog(s) pre-scheduled posts are insane.

I tried something new with the Writers’ Group where we each share a Halloween based flash fiction this month.  Chris Palmer finished and scheduled his story first.  Can I say, I appreciate how my fellow writers are stepping in and joining me on this new adventure?  I can’t express how grateful

I’ve noticed this conversation game trend on Twitter and I want in on that.  Right now I play with #theMerryWriter and #authorconfession but I’d like to play in some other Hashtag parties/conversations and I would LOVE to host a Hashtag game through NAWG.

I have more ideas and more planning than ever in my creative writing life.  I’m working in a class (the class itself isn’t going great, I’m waiting to give a full review), trying to get beta reading for the second draft of my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  While discussing the book with my friend Ashley Sanders, I had a major break through.  Now I know what I need to do to pull the work together that I am beyond excited to dig in and execute.

Ashley and I are also experimenting with running our own writing class.  We’re talking structure and what value we could add to other writers along with all the inspiration they may bring us.  I can’t wait to work with her.  We have a very similar process and goals for our novels, and I’d love to help other people work through what their goals are.

I have an outline for a co-writing novel gig called “Familiar” with a friend in the North Alabama Writers’ Group and I’m thrilled to bits about working more with the wonderful Zach Standfield to create something cool together.

I have never chased so many avenues at once and it’s occurred to me that my job and my lack joy in my professional life brought me to a place where I had to roll the dice on my projects I'm passion about that I would normally keep as quiet background gigs.  My story telling, my ideas, my ability to network.  Stuff I’m “good” at that I figured would never amount to anything.  It feels powerful to see how things I love could bring me an ounce of professional success.  All my life, people have told me my writing would “never amount to anything” and that I “should focus on something that will make me financially stable.”  Here I am, at the worst point in my professional career, with nothing to draw on.  In desperation, I‘ve opened myself up to this blogging, social media, creative writing thing, and it seems like these “useless“ skill set has breathed new life in me.

The path to monetization is opening and new opportunities rise on the horizon.  They are taking time and persistence, but I’m seeing incremental steps towards my long-term goals. It feels like I’m proving all those people who told me my skills and me through association were “nothing special” and “not valuable” wrong.

Have you ever been in a terrible situation at your job or life where you needed to get out?  What did you do?  Are there other angles I’m not exploring?  Did you ever follow your passion regardless of the money or the risk?  What was the outcome?  Do you have advice/regrets/victory stories?  Talk to me.

Real World Obsessions that Make it Into my Writing: Faith and Religion

image from openclipart.org by GDJ

Confession time!  I am a religious zealot.  I mean all in, no turning back, if we ever speak about my beliefs, it is full in your face I am right.  And I have crazy rules/beliefs (all religions do).  My zealotry rarely comes up in conversation because part of my faith is that I believe proselytizing is one of the most heinous and immoral acts a person can perform.  It falls under an act of mental and spiritual violence and is an anathema.

My passion for faith structures and a more open religious community is more seen in my writing than in my conversations.  In my short stories.  Magic/divinity works in direct and obvious ways on my fictional worlds.

In “The Undertaking”, I have my main character, Nimgauna, go on a spirit quest to find her personal power.  This short story is a metaphor for what I think belief should be about: finding your personal truth.  Religion should be a personal journey based on your experiences that informs how your view the world and how you respond to challenges.  Ideally, you have a great guide advisor who has your best interests at heart.  They suggest, they don’t make demands on the outcome of the journey.

“The Undertaking” explores other religious elements.  It asks if the ends justify the means, and what kinds of ways can people be the change they want to see in the world.

Another short story I wrote, “Blood Moon”, introduces readers to what a real and working coven of witches might look like.  The people I introduce in this minority faith run the gambit.  Some of them are elderly, others work professional day jobs, and at least one of them struggles with their mental health/ability to function in a normal society.  The story descends into a horror/fantasy.  Someday, I’d like to write a follow up about all the different ways we as a society should have intervened so the conclusion of “Blood Moon” could have been cheery instead of dark and angry.

“Blood Moon” speaks to the frustration minority faiths have in a Christian-dominated society.  Pushed to fringes, questioned, always playing an ambassador of their faith, and forced to find fellowship in the “other”, even if it’s an imperfect union.


My novel, “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” has the most religious elements of all my stories.  If “Pagan Fiction” were a genre like “Christian Fiction”, that’s how I would describe the work.  It explores so many modern interpretations of paganism, follows a practicing pagan, and has the ‘fantasy’ element of a fae stalking and trying to capture Roxi.  Fantasy is in quotes because I am mirroring a lot of classic mythology in the book.

Supernaturalbeings at work in our universe fascinates me.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” offers one look at what life might be like if these beings were more interactive with humanity.  It’s thrilling and terrifying.

Collectively, I spent months in researching folklore and different pagan beliefs.  I created a personalized religion for my main character, Roxi.  Devotion is her defining characteristic, and it forces Roxi to stand apart from everyone else in her world.  What does a person do when the beliefs they hold most dear isolate them from others?  Is her religion hurting or helping her?  I hope readers are asking these questions about Roxi and themselves.

So how do I sell a “Pagan Fiction” book to a Christian market?  Will the religious questing and pursuit come across to readers?  And even if people get it, will the minority faith structures be compelling?  Is it too liturgical?  I was eager to get into beta readers and learn what landed.  It felt like a big risk for me to write this “urban fantasy” where so little of the elements were fantastic.  The rituals and spells are all real and I portray the results so one might experience them in the real world (i.e. is that underwhelming to the typical fantasy reader).  The Gods and fae I portray are “real” in the sense that I extended their mythology.  I didn‘t give them new powers or different personalities/motives.  Every herb, gesture, and symbol has a wealth of history behind its choice.

It relieved me when the feedback came in.  My beta readers said “this is a deeply religious and theological book.” In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been concerned.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” wasn’t too narrow for readers to relate, and I could use my book to have conversations with other people I’d never dreamed of expressing.  It was magical.

Were their issues in the first draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”, you bet.  Pacing, pacing, pacing.  A lot of setup in the front and all rollercoaster drops in the back.  It also turns out people want a little more exposition, or they want it in different places than I’ve dumped it.  The whole front third needs to be re-written and the most liturgical part of the book, a pagan meet up where many practicing pagans share opposing views, needs to transform because it’s not doing what it needs to do and it introduces too much that doesn’t matter in my book.

Can you read this book and never think about religion?  Absolutely!  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” is currently 76,000 word book and explores a lot of themes where religion is just one, but you can read it as straight fantasy about a woman being stalked, abducted, and attempting to escape the clutches of a creepy obsessive fae creature.  What’s cool about Roxi being pagan: she’s an informed combatant.  She knows fae folklore, so she knows where to be wary and she has ideas of what’s waiting for her on the other side of the veil.

Talk to me.  What parts of your personality show in your writing?  Do you embrace those elements or try to downplay them?  Do readers notice themes and elements in your story, or is it a secret author Easter Egg?

Artisans and Images that Just Aren't True

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

"I hate calling myself an artisan," the woman tells me.

I smile and nod because I think I understand.  Her ego is properly sized.  Calling oneself an artist of any kind seems pretentious to her.  It's an old story I'm ready to hear again even as I envy her the creative freedom, her ability to work from home, and the liberation from someone else's schedule set.

"I hardly call working on the same thing over and over again for 14 hours at a time an artisan thing," she continues.

My world halts.  The gears of the world pause for a moment as I consider her words.  It's never occurred to me that artisan could be the same as a small scale sweat shop.  I never considered that seamstresses or woodworkers even chose to make the same piece over and over again until it lost whatever little bit of soul it might have once had for the creator.

And I wonder is she as positively happy as I'd assumed anyone would be if they were "following their passion" or "had a skill that the market would support her to pursue".   As a thinker, a writer, and a researcher, I often envy others skills.  Even people just societally considered half a step above me like the artisan.   They after all, they can do what they love full time.  They must be deeply engrossed while I'm here behind the coffee bar handing off lattes and listening to small children tantrum while flustered mothers try to shop.

I'm so bored and quietly miserable--but here's the stay at home artisan in front of me and she's lonely and isolated.  Her hands hurt and her parents worry about her--just like mine.  She doesn't have time to explore interesting projects she'd like.  She just follows trends and has to keep making what is selling.  Yeah there are no screaming children and the rude people buying her stuff are in a store away from her--but she goes days without seeing another soul beyond her husband.  She's so busy at home that she can't cook a fresh meal.  Hot pockets are their go to lunch dinner and breakfast.

And I look at her--really look at her.  She's unkempt.  Her colored hair has about 5 inches of growth, it's falling down from it's low bun into a loose unruly mess.  Her black zip up sweat shirt is tattered, covered  in frayed edges, loose strings and random stains. There are bags under her clean make up free face.  Her build is sturdy but her husband stays close--is she about to fall over on her feet exhausted?

I see suddenly that we could be in the same place.  I write and I research for me and for art (which is so presumptuous to put down it makes me nervous to type) .  It's not my bread and butter.  How amazing would it be if one day  I wrote something took off and made money--but it's a distant dream.  I don't alter my writing to make it more marketable, not really.

Did she start the same way, making things because she loved it?  Did one or two things take off--forcing her to keep making more and more of the same thing over and over again because that's what people wanted?

This is how capitalism destroys us.  Here she is living what should be a dream, and other than scale, the work hours and some of the conditions are little better than sweat shops.  Does she work this hard to keep up with demand or because she needs to sell this much to keep herself a float?  Is this how she wants to live deep down and she's just hunting for some sympathy from me?

And here I am brewing her coffee and smiling all the while.  I'm only half listening to her, my mind is off in deep thoughts about what else I'll write for various blogs and whether or not my main character in my novel should show vulnerability and weakness.  I have her drawn up as an distrusting fight first kind of woman.  She's dragged along by her friends into a host of environments she finds distasteful--and I'm wondering if she needs to fall, even as she protests, to some of the dangers inherent in the scene.  Part of me doesn't want to open her up to the loss of control--as that's largely what I like about her--and part of me feels like it's so inevitable that people lose control in that the point of her succumbing would make that impact loudly and dramatically.

And how is me working on these elements in a book inherently less valuable than standing around in a coffee shop making small talk about the weather and other peoples' jobs?   Does everyone else in the system not feel as small and constricted as I do?

These are the questions we should be asking our culture and our society.  Are the things we value in line with what the culture demands for survival?  How do we define value or work?  What does it take to be more than a corporate cog--if one so desired--and is it feasible?