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Thursday's Essay Preview

The first two paragraphs of the essay, "Aphorisms to live by," (I could have called it "Motivation by Quotation!") read as follows: "There is no rhyme or reason for the order of aphorisms in this essay.  The single criteria I used for selecting the aphorisms is that they touched me in some way.  My addition in each paragraph is designed to explain the value of the aphorism to me—or the lesson I learned.  The paragraphs are not connected, and there is no relationship between the various choices.  Each paragraph stands alone.
   
People need to learn when to abandon pursuit, give up the race, and turn their attention to other matters.  It was Norman Thomas who said, 'I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won.'"
                                                              
                                                                                      

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

And your challenge to grow, develop, and change can take place at any time in your life.  “You are never too old,” said George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), “to be what you might have been.”  H. L. Mencken said, “You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Aim above the mark to hit the mark.” And, to end on a light note, it was W. C. Fields who said, “Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.”  This essay is now “over with.”


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And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of the essay, "Living a Balanced Life," reads as follows: "In 1964 (46 years ago), I was inspired, encouraged, even energized by a book by M. C. Richards entitled, Centering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person (Wesleyan University Press, 1962, 1964).  The book is philosophical in nature, and it was Richards’ theme as much as her language (writing style) that roused and stirred me.  'Centering is the image I use,' Richards writes, 'for the process of balance which will enable us to step along that thread feeling it not as a thread but a sphere.  It will, it is hoped,' she continues, 'help us to walk through extremes with an incorruptible instinct for wholeness, finding our way continuous, self-completing' (p. 6)."
         
                                          
                                                                                      

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

If you chose to live a balanced life, and you decided that the elements listed above were even some of those for which you wanted to strive, then the book, You Rules!, includes a wide range of useful and immediate recommendations for beginning at once on such a project!  Indeed, You Rules! will help each of us to, as M. C. Richards says, “walk through extremes with an incorruptible instinct for wholeness.”






And Then Some News

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of the essay, "Bright-Sided," reads as follows: "Not very often do I make an essay into a book review, but it happens occasionally.  I reviewed the book, Bright-sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, 2009), for our BookClubandthensome.com web site, and I had no intention of using it for an essay until I read this in a column by John Swartzberg, M.D., Chair of the editorial board for the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, “As Barbara Ehrenreich points out in her new book, Bright-Sided, women with breast cancer are often assaulted with the idea that negative thinking brought on their cancer and that positive thinking will cure it” (p. 3, January, 2010).  Suddenly, his reference to the book gave it new attention and credibility, and I thought readers of my essays might like to hear more about her book.  It is a wonderful book full of insights."
                                          
                                                                                      

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

My attention to Ehrenreich’s book was drawn to Chapter 6, “Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness,” simply because I have cited Martin Seligman a number of times in my books and articles, and I own his book, Learned Optimism.  I knew that “academics tended to dismiss the ideas of his successors as pop cultural ephemera and the stuff of cheap hucksterism” (p. 147).  How the new positive psychology became mainstream, the benefits it offered to nonacademic motivational speakers, coaches, and self-help entrepreneurs, the influence positive psychologists have had in the corporate world and on therapy, and the interview Ehrenreich had with him are fascinating revelations that, by themselves, make this book worth reading.





And Then Some News

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of the essay, "Managing Conflict," reads as follows: "When I read the reviews of the ninth edition of my college textbook, Communicating Effectively (McGraw-Hill, 2009), it was clear from several of the twenty I received, that students had a real concern about managing conflict.  Being an author who takes the reviews of his textbooks seriously (between just two of my textbooks, I have prepared 16 new editions), and tries—to the extent possible—to satisfy the concerns and incorporate the changes recommended, I drew together the three main areas where conflict, as a topic, was discussed in the ninth edition, and I created a new chapter for the tenth edition entitled, 'Conflict and Conflict Management.'"                                       
                                                                                      

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

With these fundamentals in place, it will not only be far easier to think about facing conflict situations (as opposed to retreating from them) but managing conflict, too, will take on a whole new dimension that will promote mutual understanding, reciprocated trust and respect, and jointly shared resolutions.




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And Then Some News - Who Wrote William Shakespeare Part 2 Video

The video production site for And Then Some Publishing, LLC, ANTworkstudio.com has just released Who Wrote William Shakespeare? Part 2, by Edgar E. Willis.

Part 2 discusses questions about William Shakespeare. Is it mad house chatter? Is it ridiculous? Heretics or as described, Anti-Stratfordians who subscribe to the notion that William Shakespeare did not write the volume of material associated with him. In this video many questions are answered for the numerous reasons he is questioned about his writing, including a history of the postcard of information that is truly fact about William Shakespeare.

Can't see the video?
- Watch Part 1 here
- Watch Part 2 here




See more Books and Videos including How to Be Funny on Purpose and Edgar's account of World War II at EdgarEWillis.com

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of the essay, "Losing Control," reads as follows: "When we took my father-in-law for a regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment, it was clear that he had symptoms that merited the appointment although he was only slightly aware of his degenerating condition.  His shuffling around had become more pronounced, his loss of balance was happening more often, just walking across a room created shortness of breath, fatigue increased, and his ankles and feet had swollen to such a degree that he had to put on old shoes, but he could not lace them.  The doctor came outside the examining room to talk with my wife and me, and his diagnosis was clear and distinct: acute congestive heart failure.  Edgar needed to be hospitalized at once so that treatment could begin immediately."
                                                                                              

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay
Losing control is a frightening prospect but one most people will have to face.  Rather than lamenting the loss, one can only change his or her attitude.  It is not easy to do, and some would rather die than change.  But, unfortunately, that is the only recourse, because those who say, “I’d rather die than change,” often do.

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