Back in the 1980s, I developed an experiential and interactional seminar for writers, focusing on what you could call the inner game of writing. What I called it was WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE, and for a couple of years my wife and I presented it in one-day seminars all over the country. In 1985 I wrote and self-published a version of the seminar in book form, sold all 5000 of the books we’d printed, and that was that. Then few years ago self-publishing became feasible as never before, and I returned WFYL to print.
It’s a steady seller, month in and month out, and if you’re not familiar with it I feel comfortable suggesting you make its acquaintance. I used it last fall in my workshop for student writers at Newberry College, and it played a central role in the virtual workshop I conducted by email in April. You might want to give it a look—and if you do, I’d recommend you choose the paperback over the ebook.
But right now I’m especially concerned with those readers who have indeed read WFYL, and who’ve been wanting to get hold of one of the key resources I feature in the book.
In WFYL, I discuss affirmations at length and explain some of the ways to make optimal use of them. Early on I recorded a tape—two sides of a cassette— packed with affirmations and designed for repeated listening. I rented a studio, and did the narration myself; a friend, keyboard artist Jeremy Wall of the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra, laid down as background the piano track he’d composed. We incorporated the tape into the seminar, sold cassettes on site and by mail, and eventually retired the tape in 1988 when we discontinued offering the seminar.
A quarter of a century later, with the book back in print, I came across the remaining stock of cassettes—but they were both physically and technologically well past their sell-by date, and I didn’t feel comfortable offering them for sale. Instead I found someone who could convert a cassette to an MP3 file, and sold downloads through my eBay operation, LB’s Bookstore.
We put the store in mothballs a number of years ago, even as we stopped offering books for sale. (Eventually I autographed my entire stock of back copies of my various books and wholesaled the lot to Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop. If you’re a collector searching for a book of mine, that’s the first place to look.)
Because Write For Your Life keeps finding a new audience, I’ve had a stream of inquiries over the years. (Well, a trickle. But a fairly steady one.) Can I possibly provide a copy of the Affirmations tape? Could I explain how to purchase a download?
The answer was always a regretful No.
Now,I’m happy to say, it’s an affirmative Yes.
There’s no website to visit, no eBay store to contend with. There’s just one way to get the MP3 file, and it’s uncanny in its simplicity:
1. Using PayPal, choose “sending money to friends and family.” (I mean, if we’re not going to be friends, let’s just forget the whole thing.)
2. Remit $10 to lawbloc @ gmail.com.
3. In the Message space, enter your own preferred email address and “Affirmations MP3.”
4. You’ll receive an email with a link and David’s explanation of how to download the file.
And that’s really all I’ve got to tell you.
Cheers,
PS: As always, please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might find it of interest. And, if you yourself have received the newsletter from a friend and would like your own subscription, that’s easily arranged; an email to lawbloc@gmail.com with Newsletter in the subject line will get the job done.
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