Category: books

books

Enter to Win a Free Copy of the Book Lessons from the Monk I Married by Katherine Jenkins

Christa Avampato

The New York Times subscription giveaway was so successful that I decided to do another contest for readers!

As a follow-up to my review today, I’m giving away a copy of the book Lessons from the Monk I Married by Katherine Jenkins. A story about love across continents and cultures that explores the power and potential of every moment to change our lives in profound ways, Katherine presents us with the moment that altered her life’s course and everything that followed as she carved a new path.

To enter the contest, just leave a comment below, post a message on my Facebook page, or send me a tweet. The contest will be open until Friday night and I’ll announce the winner on Saturday morning.

books, love

Leap: Lessons from the Monk I Married by Katherine Jenkins

Christa Avampato

When I think of someone with a courageous heart, a clear mind, and a deep sense of wisdom, I think of Katherine Jenkins, the author of the book and blog Lessons from the Monk I Married. I met Kathy through our mutual friend, Sharni, another beautiful writer. Immediately, I found her to be warm, caring, and wholly confident in her essence. We started reading one another’s writing and cheering for each other along the way. I’m so proud and pleased to know her and now you have the chance to know her, too. Her book arrives into the world today.

In this year when I am exploring my own leap into a new phase of my life and career, I’m spending a lot of time drawing inspiration from people like Kathy who took a leap and never looked down. She took a leap for love, which might just be the most frightening kind of leap of all. I am fascinated by her story of meeting her husband, then a monk in a Korean monastery, by chance and the many years of back and forth emotions that they both felt. They would spend short periods of time together and then long stretches of time apart. And despite the hardship, they always found their way back to each other.

None of it was easy and their path was not apparent nor inevitable. It was rocky, long, and exceedingly difficult. Eventually, Kathy left. She closed the door and meant it. She went inside to find the true seed that lived inside her own heart, the seed that exists without any outside influence. And in the midst of that clear-eyed discovery, her love took a leap, too – right into their new life together.

And the road doesn’t end there. This doesn’t mean that it was smooth sailing from that moment on out. The road was still rocky, long, and exceedingly difficult. They both had to maintain their individual commitment to find a way forward together. They struggled with finding employment, building a business, getting to know one another as a true couple, forging friendships together, and eventually making the move from Korea back to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

Their perseverance and ability to remain open and honest, with themselves and with each other, is staggeringly beautiful and inspiring. If you need to believe in love, dreams, and the quest for a life infused with meaning, Kathy wrote a book for you. Author Anne Lamott wrote the wise words, “Toni Morrison said, ‘The function of freedom is to free someone else,’ and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else.” And that’s just what Kathy did.

Lessons from the Monk I Married is now available on Amazon and at retailers everywhere.

books, cooking, eating, economy, personal finance

Leap: Inspired by Tamar Adler and Frugality

Christa Avampato
Image from scratchclub.com

On my way to Austin, I became entranced by the prose of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. I knew I would. A few months ago I read an excerpt of her passion statement about food’s place and preparation in our lives and instantly I knew I’d devour it like a well-made meal.

As I prepare myself for this next chapter of my career – one of great risk, great faith, and God and Universe willing, great meaning, I have seriously begun to examine my finances and the necessary changes needed to make the leap. To be fair, I do not live a lavish lifestyle. My clothes are simple and always bought on sale. My home is small and simple. I cook much more often than I eat out. The New York Public Library furnishes most of the books I read. I do my own nails, hair, etc.

These last couple of months my credit card bills have been outsized with the long-overdue furnishing of my apartment, 2 upcoming trips to Florida, my vacation of a lifetime to India, and the next phase of my advanced yoga teacher training. This pile up of expenses got a bit scary, though they were planned, and my fine-tuned sense of frugality demanded an immediate halt and investigation.

Enter Tamar Adler and her celebration of eating well on a miniscule budget. Her experience and aptitude for stretching a small grocery budget actually made me excited to get started today rather than wait until I inevitably make the leap into the next phase of my career. Her book has left me feeling more resourceful than fearful, more capable than novice.

I may well be just this side of crazy to exit stage left from a stable job and salary in favor of carving out a new kind of living that unifies my earnings and values. Life is too short to imagine going forward any other way.

books, dreams, environment, film, movie

Leap: Advice on the Power of Perseverance from The Lorax

Christa Avampato

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” ~ The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

The Lorax makes its way from children’s book to the big screen today and not a moment too soon.

The end of trees
Its tale of environmental woe is all too familiar; eerily so. Written over 40 years ago, the grim future of the natural world that it lays out in sad, grey detail is the world that is unfolding around us every day.

When echoed back to us by Dr. Seuss, our excuses of the products we “need” and the lengths we are willing to go to get them – the generation of smog, pollution, deforestation, and species – seem so foolish, selfish, and reckless. And yet we continue to make them, and will continue to make them until everything’s lost. Unless…we do something else: care.

It’s always personal
It’s true for the environment, education, healthcare, foreign relations, and any other humanitarian effort imaginable. It all starts with one person who sees something they don’t like and cares enough to change it. These are enormous issues that need armies of minds and hearts to solve them, but every movement starts within one person who gets angry, just like the Lorax, and decides to do something about it rather than just sit there and let it happen.

At the very end of the book the curious child who wanted to hear the story of the Lorax is given the very last seed from the very last tree. He’s told to water it, nurture it, and see to it that its survival was not in vain. He’s told to go make good of what little hope the world, and the trees, have left.

What’s your tree?
You have a seed, too. You have within you something right now that needs nurturing. An idea, a passion, that wants so much to make its way to the surface. Don’t let it languish without getting to see the light of day. You are the only one who can breathe life into it, who can help us understand why it’s so powerful and why we should all care about its future.“Speak for the trees” as the Lorax did, whatever your trees may be, and don’t back down. Make some noise.

The world is counting on you.

books, career, choices, creativity, writing

Leap: Heat Up the Iron and Carve Your Own Path (in Life and Book Publishing)

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” ~ William B. Sprague via Alison Lewis

Over the past few months I’ve been sending out query letters and full book proposals to potential agents for a book I’m writing about yoga and personal finance. I love the project and have faith in the methods it uses because I used them to transform my finances. These are ideas born from experience, not theory.

While many agents have been encouraging of the project, they have all said it’s so different that they don’t have a proxy to point to that assures its success. In the often cut-throat world of modern publishing, they need to know every book they advocate for is a winner. Their reputation is on the line and risk-taking is rare these day in the hallowed halls of books.

I have yet to feel badly about any of these rejections; I feel badly for agents and traditional publishers. They’re part of an industry of tied hands, locked hearts, and icy cold eyes fixed on P&L statements. It’s sad and they’re missing a lot of boats. I’m sure they know this, and feel powerless to do anything about it.

So now I’m at a cross-roads trying to decide if it’s worth it to continue down the traditional book publishing path for my project or carve one of my own through self-publishing and platform building. There’s the prestige of having a traditional book publisher, but also the loss of control. The publisher also makes the lion’s share of the profit from the book, even though the author is doing just as much work, if not more, to market the book.Teh list of pros and cons is endless; even though I’m an avid list maker, I’m getting tired of this analysis.

A recent note from a high-powered agent began to tip the scales toward self-publishing. It began:

“A book is like an iceberg: Writing is 10%; marketing is 90%. ~ Chicken Soup coauthor Jack Canfield

Christa,
Many thanks for writing about your excellent idea for a book. Out of necessity, our goal is to sell books to New York houses, and they want writers with a platform and a strong promotion plan. So the challenge is to maximize the value of your book before you sell it. Publishers aren’t buying promise, they’re buying proof. So before we can help you with the 10%, we need to know how much you can help your publisher with the 90%. Because we can usually tell from a platform and a plan if we can help a writer, that’s where we like to start.”

That 10% / 90% ratio sticks in my craw a bit. However, this agent went on to give me a lot of wonderful advice and some ideas of how to develop a solid book plan and platform. I did find it humorous that he quoted Jack Canfield, an author whose initial book was rejected by publishers 123 times and began a series that now boasts 200 titles and 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages. Jack is also an advocate for the advantages of self-publishing and the value of small presses. (Learn more about Jack’s writing journey and publishing philosophy here. To read tales of 50 rejected writers who went on to write treasured works, click here.)

When making decisions like this, I examine my past experiences. I’m most proud of the roads I built myself. They’re exhausting, though they’ve always been worth it. During the times that I took a path prescribed by others, I found a bit more sleep, a lot less joy, and a lack of inspiration. I’m a person meant to carve my own canyon through the mountain, to fire up the iron myself rather than waiting for someone else to do it – that’s just how I roll.

books, design, home

Beginning: The Design of Our Homes Affects the Quality of Our Lives

Christa Avampato

“Whatever happens in the world – whatever is discovered or created or bitterly fought over – eventually ends up, in one way or another, in your house…Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.” ~ Bill Bryson

Two things that give me so much joy I squeal – Bill Bryson books and The Nate Berkus Show. Nate hosts a show about making our lives better and he draws much of his inspiration from his career as an interior designer. He has the philosophy that our homes are a reflection of who we are, what we value, and how we regard the future. Because I’m not particularly gifted in the spacial orientation arena, nor really in the interior design arena, I’ve been using Nate’s show and website for ideas and interior design confidence as I redesign my own small space. (Pictures and an update on the redesign to follow in a later post.)

I’ve put a bit of urgency on this redesign because of my New Year’s Resolution to spend more time working out of my home. (There will also be more details about this in my January 1st post.) Soon, my home will have to be more than a refuge – it will need to be a highly functional, productive refuge that doesn’t lose its sense of peace. Actually, it will need to heighten its sense of peace because in 2012 I will be busier than I’ve ever been which means I’ll need to have a home that really lets me get away from it all when I need to recharge. And did I mention my home weighs in at slightly under 400 square feet? How’s that for a design challenge, Nate?

So what the heck does any of this have to do with Bill Bryson? Over the holidays I learned a lot about the history of homes and private space from Bill. After giving us the giggles and sharing his deep wisdom as he recounts a life as an expat, a journey along the Appalachian Trail, and the history of a small subject called the Universe, he has turned his literary attention to the home. He swears his latest book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life,  was written out of a desire to be thoroughly comfortable and write an entire book without taking off his carpet slippers. What he found is that homes are incredibly complex, as complex as the people who inhabit them.

We too often take our shelter, and its history, for granted. This is especially true in New York City where many of the apartments are a century old or close to it. The apartment I live in now was built in 1926 by Emery Roth, the renowned architect and father of art deco. The architect was actually mentioned by the buildings manager as a feature of the building. I became slightly obsessed with the story of his life, of which very little is written or even known. His plans for the building and a personal journal of sorts are in the archives at Columbia University. Thanks to the generosity of a kind librarian, I went to see them and discovered that my building, by a sheer stroke of synchronicity, was the first fire-proof building in New York City. And my particular apartment was the maid’s quarters. Lots of history in that tiny space, and good inspiration for a writer.

I took the apartment right after my previous apartment building caught fire and was declared uninhabitable due to the smoke and fire damage. Inside the walls of that tiny space, I found out who I really was and what I’m really made of. I founded Compass Yoga there, right on my couch, and got serious about my writing. I learned how to really stand up for myself and for others who needed someone to stand up for them. This Fall, I almost moved, thinking I needed more space for the price I’m paying in monthly rent. I did a little look around and found out I have a pretty darn good deal so I stayed and decided to redecorate. Rather than move, I vowed to make the design of my tiny space more efficient, and beautiful.

How we treat the space we live has an awful lot to do with how we treat ourselves and how we treat others. In this redecorating process, I’m learning how much our space reflects who we are, who we’d like to be, and ultimately who we’ll become. Personal transformation doesn’t always require a life altering event like a building fire (though I will certainly admit that trauma speeds personal transformation along.)

Most transformation happens bit by bit, drop by drop, in those quiet moments at home when we wind down from our days and reflect on what we’ve learned. A space that makes room for such an important process deserves care, concern, and good design. After all, it’s going to house our history, too.

books, courage, creative process, creativity, innovation, writing, yoga

Beginning: Advice for Writers and Innovators from Kathryn Stockett – There’s Genius in Pain

Christa Avampato
Emma Stone, Viola David, and Octavia Spencer in The Help

“Write about something that bothers you and nobody else.” ~ The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The holiday slew of movies at the box office makes this one of my favorite times of year. I love going to the movies, watching movies on my couch, on a plane, or in an outdoor venue. One of my favorites this year was The Help, based upon Kathryn Stockett’s wonderful novel.

The heroine, Skeeter, wants very much to be a writer. (I can relate.) A publisher in New York gives her just one piece of advice – write about something that bothers you and nobody else. In other words, find what gives you pain and invent something to alleviate that pain. Pain in its many forms – anger, angst, anxiety, sadness, disappointment, heartbreak, injustice – is useful for writers and innovators. There’s genius in there.

I founded Compass Yoga on this same philosophy – simply, I was irritated. I’m glad that there are so many beautiful, shiny studios in New York City for people like me to take classes. What really bugs the heck out of me is that there aren’t a lot of places for people to go if they don’t have the financial or physical means and the confidence to take that first step. I’m also highly irritated that there isn’t more scientific research about the benefits of yoga in treating disease.

It’s terrific that 16 million Americans practice yoga. What about the other 291 million, especially those who don’t even know how much they could benefit from yoga because no one told them it could help? Who’s going to get to them and teach them and help them? And why are we so astounded and pleased that a measly 5% of Americans practice yoga when 100% of Americans could benefit from it? And why on Earth doesn’t it seem to bother anyone else? You see, my irritation is readily evident. And growing, right along with the Compass Yoga business plan.

People sometimes ask me what my big, audacious, out-of-this-world goal is with Compass Yoga. My answer: I’m going to get to those other 291 million people and at least give them the chance to give yoga a whirl. We, as individuals and as a society, have so much to gain and all I’ve got to lose is my irritation. It worked for Skeeter and this thinking can work for all of us.

art, books, business, comedy, creativity, innovation, inspiration, invention, theatre

Beginning: Make Your Own Funny

Christa Avampato
Carol Burnett and Jane Lynch on the set of Glee

“Comics say funny things and comedic actors say things funny.” ~ Ed Wynn via Carol Burnett, Happy Accidents

Over the winter holidays I started reading the wonderful book Happy Accidents, a memoir by comedic actress Jane Lynch. At turns the book is hilarious, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. Jane has the incredible ability to make people feel for her without making them feel sorry for her. I hope she’ll be writing many more books in the years to come. Carol Burnett, one of my creative heroes, wrote the forward for the book and in it she recounts a story the legendary Ed Wynn told her regarding his ideas about great comedy.

Jane Lynch is hilarious not because she tells jokes. She plays every one of her characters with a sincere sense of seriousness that makes her characters even more funny. It’s a rare and beautiful gift that she worked very hard to craft and hone. While Ed Wynn was talking about comedians and actors (and Carol Burnett extended this story as explanation of Jane’s abilities as a comedic actress), it got me thinking about how applicable this idea is to so many areas off the stage, especially to business. We have to make our own funny, meaning we need to make the very best of what we’ve got and shape into what we want it to be within the context of circumstances.

Jane Lynch isn’t handed a script full of jokes and one-liners. No one even tells her how or when to be funny. She’s given a script detailing a situation of her character, and then she runs with it. She doesn’t find the humor in the circumstances; she makes it.

Running a business is similar. We’re handed a set of market circumstances, not a business plan or even an idea of a business plan. We have to build the creative business idea and the plan that brings it to life that links to the market circumstances. We don’t happen upon a relevant and desired idea; we make it so.

I started my career working in professional theatre, and I was always surprised by the perceptions of those outside the industry who thought we were just playing. My theatre work was the very best business training I ever received (and yes, it did teach me more than my MBA.) Theatre is a lot more than actors, sets, costumes, lights, and a stage. It added up to be far greater than just the sum of its parts. It taught me how to craft not only a show, but a story, a life, and a legacy. It showed me that the very best road to take is the one we pave for ourselves.

books, children, creativity, dreams, encouragement, hope

Beginning: Push Through In Spite of the Chatter

Christa Avampato
Shel Silverstein

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me … Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ~ Shel Silverstein from Where The Sidewalk Ends via Dailygood

My friends Leah and Peter are having their first baby in January. (That lucky little one has two of the most amazing people in the world as parents!) I recently went to their baby shower and instead of a card we were asked to bring books to get their baby’s library started. I went to the bookstore near my office and by the end of it found myself with not a book but a stack of books after a solid hour in the children’s book section. (I finally settled on Goodnight, Moon and several Dr. Seuss books for Leah and Peter.)

I find this genre incredibly inspiring because it reminds me of a time when I fully believed that anything was possible – I could be an astronaut, a paleontologist (which was my childhood occupation of choice), or a brain surgeon. I could travel the world, live on top of a cloud, or discover an underwater civilization. There were no boundaries and books were my way of traveling across the universe. They still are.

Shel Silverstein remains one of my favorites for his optimism and eternal belief that we all have something to give. As we turn the page to 2012 and I turn much more of my attention to the work my life was meant for, his words will be comforting in the low moments and encouraging as I make my way up this “great big hill of hope.” And isn’t that what all our best adventures come down to – pushing on and pushing through despite all the mustnt’s, don’ts, shouldn’ts, impossibles, won’ts, and never haves? We have to continue to have faith in the idea that anything, absolutely anything, can be if it’s what we truly want and what the world truly needs.

Those words – push through, push through – will be ringing in my mind over and over again every step of the way in 2012.

books, business, choices, entrepreneurship, happiness, job

Beginning: Joy is the First Ingredient of a New Start-up

Christa Avampato

“Intelligence and capability are not enough.There must be the joy of doing something beautiful.” ~ Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr. V) – via Daily Good

As the year is winding down, I’m winding my way through Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur by Pam Slim. It’s addressing a lot of the concerns (some valid, some not) that I’ve had about Compass Yoga and my desire to work for myself full-time. It’s also been able to help me put together a plan of how to make this transition with unflappable grace and the best possible chance of success.

Work needs to equal joy
If you’re on the journey of entrepreneurship, too, and you don’t know where to start. Take Dr. V’s advice in the quote above (and then buy Pam’s book for everything else that follows!) There has got to be a great element of joy in the actual work you want to do. And while that’s true whether you work for yourself or someone else, it’s absolutely vital if you’re on your own.

When someone else is paying you a steady salary and benefits, you begin to weigh that against whether or not you really love the work. It’s easy for a lot of people to justify not loving the work when they have a lot of other benefits. On your own, the income may be unsteady (especially in the start-up phase) and the fringe benefits could be a step down from what you’re used to. In those moments, the joy of the work has to be a large part of the comfort you receive. Without it, the whole plan fall to pieces. The joy is the linchpin.

Why I’m glad I didn’t try to be a full-time freelance writer
For the past few years, I had been thinking about transitioning into being a freelance writer full-time. This would have been a very bad idea for a lot of reasons, and the main reason is that I actually don’t find joy in just the act of writing. My joy is found in writing exactly what I want to write, when, where, and how I want to write it. That is not always the choice of a freelance writer, and certainly not of one who is just starting out.

I took a fairly lucrative freelance writing job about legal topics for a newsletter that is sent to lawyers. I wrote a total of 3 articles and hated every single minute of it. If I had been a full-time freelance writer, I might have needed to continue in the contract to support myself. As a side job, I dropped it and learned a valuable lesson in the process.

Get going with joy
There are a lot of business ideas out there and a lot of unmet consumer needs that are ripe for entrepreneurs to take up. Find the ones that generate so much joy that you can’t wait to dig into the work. And be clear about exactly the work you love to do – there’s no such thing as too much detail in their definition. Then work like heck to put a structure around that joy so that you can afford to live a lifestyle in line with your values.

Now get cracking!