Motivation for Mondays!

There's nothing so fun (and flattering) as discovering who else besides your publisher is carrying your book and selling it front and center. I made the above discovery on Sunday, while researching another book project I'm hoping to write in the future.

Can you see my book? It's right there on page 1 of the Southwest Books section at this online bookstore. It might seem like a little thing to some, but to me it was highly motivating! It made my day, as if it were a little shot in the arm for self-esteem health.

For the week ahead, so you're sure to stay motivated and productive, consider what little things like this have motivated you in the past, or what's pushing you now. Make a list, and stick that in front of your computer or somewhere visible near your work station. Let yourself be reminded of your contribution to the world.

Even if you haven't received any recent feedback, your work matters to someone. And sometimes we find this out unexpectedly, or by accident, as I did on Sunday. After I stumbled upon this site, I realized my book provides this online bookstore with product, and that's something that matters to them. It helps the store stay in business, and that's a nice way to think about what I created.

So think about what you're creating (a book, articles, artwork, etc.) or think about what service you provide to others. Who benefits from your work? Remind yourself why you keep doing what you do, and let that be a motivating force for you this week.

By the way, the discount offered for my book at this site is a better bargain than what I've seen lately at Amazon.com. So if you know anyone who's looking for a great guide to Arizona's backcountry, spread the word. Send them the above link, or refer them to my site. I appreciate any and all referrals--and purchases. Thank you. Have a great week!

Recovery: Celebrating you

I truly believe we are all in Recovery. Every one of us.

Think about it. We've all suffered setbacks. We've all had to deal with trying times. We're all faced with challenges--almost all the time. Most of us would be out of work if this weren't true. Innovation comes from a challenge. New therapies stem from personal dilemmas. Researchers everyday spend time in labs to find the answer to a pressing need. We're all in Recovery. Or maybe that's the way we should be operating, because it implies that you're taking responsibility.

I tell my life stories here at BIKE WITH JACKIE, and they're not always pretty. I do it to let you know that it's okay to be real and raw. I've learned from my own relationships with people who hid who they really were that you can't be intimate with them. You can't trust them. You can't rely on them. And you can't be real with them in return. That's a much larger loss than the eventual breakdown of the relationship itself.

So my mission in life is to help other people get real with their life challenges, to admit them, and then to deal with them, simply because they stop us from moving forward. To accomplish my mission, I teach, sometimes indirectly, how my spiritual navigation tool (the mental BIKE) can be applied to your life. This is briefly explained at the top of this page.

But, basically, I spend time here sharing the lessons I learned from the seat of my bike, lessons that are never-ending. I continue learning new ones, as we all do if we're paying attention, because Recovery IS on-going. It's what we do while we're living life. It's only when we stop living that Recovery ends.

You see, for me, my special brand of BIKE represents rebirth, growth and most especially moving forward.

To do that, I've learned one most important lesson: You must celebrate your successes. Your successes, no matter what they mean to anyone else, are your big deals. They deserve the attention they've earned. And that what's today's post is about: celebrating you, celebrating your successes.

With that, I'd like to announce my most current one:

I just found out my book (pictured above with a goofy grinning me beside it at Barnes & Noble, Kierland Commons, taken by my friend Rebecca A. Allen) is doing so well that I've earned half of my advance already--in just three months!

That's a pretty good track record, folks--one that had my publisher sending me a Royalty Statement a year before I was expecting one. When I opened that letter yesterday, I was pretty darn happy. I know I've been working hard to sell the book, to pitch the book, to get the word out, but I had no idea I was doing that well--not until my publisher told me. So I celebrated. I shared the information with a neighbor, and she popped open a bottle of wine, and we toasted. Then my boyfriend took me out to dinner. And now I'm celebrating here, by sharing the message with you.

Here's why it's so important: Ten years ago, I certainly didn't think I could ever write a book. It would have been too overwhelming a task for me. I know. I tried. I was assigned to do a chapter of a travel guide for a publishing company, and I had to turn the project back in. I had to give up on the job. For personal reasons that were going on in my life that I didn't even know existed, I just couldn't do it.

Clearly, that wasn't the greatest moment in my life. But when I was able to put that behind me and forgive myself that part of my life, the world and all its possibilities opened up again. I began looking for them, seeing them and embracing them. So the travel guide pictured above became yet another symbol. It, too, relates to my BIKE message, which empowers you think differently about yourself. For one thing, you'll be able to recognize when your "tough hill" is ahead, and you'll know you can climb it anyway, because:

You can make mistakes and overcome them.

You can be a better person than you thought you were.

You can do much more than you ever thought you could.

You can choose to associate with people who will help make your dreams come true.

You can change your mind and create new dreams.

You can grow yourself physically, no matter how out of shape you think you are.

You can grow yourself mentally, no matter how doomed you feel.

You can celebrate your successes, because you've earned them.

And your success deserves your respect. It's great when other people celebrate with you, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that you celebrate you.

So, let me ask you? When was the last time you gave yourself this gift? Write it down here so we can watch you shine.

BOOK SALES 101--Lessons from a bittersweet moment

The day I received my advanced copy of BACKROADS & BYWAYS OF ARIZONA was the day I returned home from my granddaughter's baptism in Lake Tahoe; it was a week after my brother died. To tell you this was a bittersweet moment is an understatement.

I showed it to my boyfriend who had just picked me up from the airport and was busy talking to his sister on the phone. While he listened to her and smiled at me, I wondered, "How am I ever going to get motivated to sell this book?" It wasn't the ooh-la-la moment I envisioned it would be. I opened the manilla envelope, pulled out the book, and after showing it to my boyfriend, placed it on the kitchen table. I didn't look at it again for a few days.

I spent those days--and then a few more--in a daze, sometimes crying, not eating much, driving around my neighborhood, just grieving. I knew my brother would never see my book.

But I soon found myself picking the book up off the table and looking at it, flipping through the pages. Then I sat down with it one afternoon and started to read some of the pages I'd written months ago and thought about what I'd written...

Did you know the actress Lynda Carter, who played TV's "Wonder Woman," went to high school in Globe, an old mining town about an hour's drive east of Mesa? If you visit the mining town next door, Miami, you can climb up the same concrete steps--150 or more--the miners used to use to climb the hills to go work. The town uses them now in a stair climbing contest...

I started reminiscing about the trips I'd taken to write those pages and take those photographs. Some of them I took alone, some were taken with friends or my boyfriend, and others involved groups of other writers. I began to immerse myself in what had been good times.

I'd enjoyed the trips, every single one of them. The reason I'd written the book in the first place was because there were places in Arizona I'd never seen but wanted to. So I'd pitched a book that would force me to go, to get out on the road and see the Arizona I had only before dreamed about or read about in other people's books.

And see I did.

I drove past long, long stretches of high and low desert, out in the middle of what looked like nowhere, to arrive at the hidden gems I wrote about--Cascabel, Taylor, Young. In them, people and events the armchair tourist will have fun reading about (hippie artist communities, Mormon pioneer families, Wild West ambushes), and the soft adventurer might like to explore. The trails take you to wine country, country diners, historic sites, and places that help take your mind off your troubles. You'll find lakes to hike around, hilltops with breathtaking views, engaging people.

When I began to immerse my thoughts on the book, to let myself experience the fun of being a first-time author, I began to change my mindset. And that's when I began to realize the truth: Well, I do have to sell this book.

So back to my original question: How to get motivated to do that?

In the few short weeks I've lived with the actual book, I've learned a few lessons; you can take them with you to the bank, no matter what product you might be peddling:

_Lesson #1: Talk about the book. Tell everyone you come across that your book is out, or will be soon. People will ask you about it.

_Lesson #2: Carry it with you wherever you go. Place it face up on the lunch counters, bar tops, dinner tables, and on your dash board. Make sure it's visible. People will ask you about it.

_Lesson #3: Offer it as a raffle item. This is a good way to collect contact information for your mailing list (e-mail or otherwise) so you can let them know about upcoming signings. Because they'll want to know what they might win, people will ask you about it.

_Lesson #4: Let people ask you about it. This is where true motivation will kick in. When people start asking you about your book project, and you get to share your stories of how it came to be, your passion that got you through the original pitch, the research, the writing--and the editing--will begin to resurface.

_Lesson #5: Let that passion carry you forward. With it comes the creative ideas that will help you find the venues you need to sell your book, and your colleagues will chime in to help you come up with others.

At least that's what I've learned so far. It doesn't take much to turn a bittersweet moment back to sweet. But first, you have to reconnect with the passion of the moment. To do that, you might need to speak up...Hey, isn't that a lesson I learned from the seat of my bike?

What about you? What bittersweet moments have you been able to overcome lately?

(Photo by Rebecca Allen, used on BIKE WITH JACKIE with her permission. Copyright Notice: Content on this page that appears anywhere beside this page is being used without consent.)

My book: Backroads & Byways of Arizona

Kermit Hummel, editorial director, Countryman Press, had this to say today about my book (so I am told by Kim Grant, the acquisitions editor):

"...just went through the proofs for Backroads & Byways of Arizona. What a splendid little book. It just makes the place incredibly interesting and varied. Great job on this by Jackie Dishner."

You must celebrate your successes, so as they say in Twitterland, "Woot!"

When one brand equals more than one you

As I go through my branding process, educating myself on what message and image I want to share with the world, I realize my eclectic interests (writing, speaking, mountain biking) can prove to be a challenge.

What's new?

That's what we do here. We talk about life challenges and how to overcome them. Nothing, I realize, is undoable, unshakeable or unfixable. So I'm in the midst of figuring out how to combine all of my career interests (mountain biking as a career only in the way in which it helped create my BIKE philosophy) into one logo, one motto, one identity. And I know it's possible. I'm just not yet sure how to do it effectively.

I'm working and believing in the combo meal. I don't want to be supersized. But I want you to know if you get the writer, you get the speaker--and you get the mountain biker, too. I'm all of those rolled into one person, one personality, one woman.

But sometimes, it makes life confusing. Have you ever felt like this, as if you're being pulled in so many directions, that your skills far outnumber the time you have to use them, to make them worthwhile.

This past year, I must confess, I had to let the speaker part of me go. She had to go sit over there while the writer in me worked on her book over here. I let her out a few times, but now she's got some catching up to do. And the new author needs a rest.

Does that mean it's about balance? I think maybe it is. Each of the three interests I mentioned are interests I continue to enjoy. I don't want to give any of them up. I do want to know how to help them all work together cohesively. So that's what I hope the branding process will create--one person, one image, one logo.

If you're undergoing your own branding process, what challenges are you facing and what are you doing about it?