A New Leaf: Philip Newey And His Book

Things have been quiet lately here in Jenius Land, the blog. Busy elsewhere in Jenius Land, the reality show. To the point where today's post marks a fundamental change in what I do here. I shall, of course, explain.

The Jenius is a writing creation. But it isn't all the writing I do. (I hear sighs of relief from some of you. Go away.) Just peek left and you'll see a cavalcade of colorful covers that represent part of My writings, in fiction.

Yes, I write stories; some longer than others.

Which brings Me--somehow--to one Philip Newey. Author. Reviewer. And like Me, developing his craft and brand as a self-published writer.  That's him over there on the right. Say "Hi!"

I met Philip through Reddit, a multi-layered, multi-faceted hyperkinetic expanse in cyberspace that mimics real life the way comic books mimic Olympian gods. He offered to review books and I volunteered My Enter The Phenomenologists. In a couple of days, he came back to Me with a 4-star rating for the book and a review that showed he read carefully, took notes and cared about doing his part right.

Now really, what more could you ask for? Actions speak louder than words and Philip's deeds were thunderous roars of "Right on!" execution.

So when he asked Me to post a link to his blog, I said yes immediately.

But.

My "writer blog," Gil C. Schmidt At Work, has been on hiatus all year. (How's that for irony?) To really help Philip, I would prefer to place his blog link where more people could see it and multiply the effort...

So Philip Newey's blog link goes here. And you can buy his novel, Maybe They'll Remember Me, from Amazon.

That's the book's cover on the right. Racy devil.

And that opens the door to this idea: I just completed NaNoWriMo and noticed that there were several dozen other writers from Puerto Rico engaged in that 50,000-words-in-November challenge. I've highlighted Brethren from many walks of life here, but with one exception, I've seldom presented writers.

It's time to correct that. 

So.

If you are a writer, preferably from Puerto Rico, but anywhere else is more than okay and you wish to have your work mentioned/highlighted/presented here on The Jenius, let Me know in the comments to this post.

To the best of My ability, I'll oblige by interviewing you, reading your book(s) (but honestly-reviewed and without a "tit-for-tat" agreement to "trade 5-star reviews") and even writing a review if I like what I've read.

In the meantime, check out Philip's blog, his novel and the works of authors who haven't yet hit bestseller lists but write in genres you enjoy. It could take a few attempts, but I'm sure you'll find a writer you thoroughly enjoy, your very own "hidden gem". Nothing satisfies more than having a great secret...except sharing that great secret so others can enjoy it.

Writers are secrets that are worth more when shared. Indulge.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Stephenson Billings: This Is Your Life

Stephenson Billings, an anonymous coward, laughingly describes himself this way: "Investigative Journalist, Motivational Children's Party Entertainer and Antique Soda Bottle Collector all in one special, blessed package!" 

He pecks at a keyboard for The Daily Bleach, a satirical website filled with useless content aimed at distorting minds, and ChristWire, The Daily Bleach's retarded step-brother. From his faux biography, We get that Stephenson Billings--the homunuclus with no first name--was "Born Again in the Blood of the Lamb at the age of 33. 'I didn’t realize how hurt, how wrong I was until Jesus reached out and drew me close,' Stephenson has noted. 'He held me and I wept, I wept such hot, messy tears like a child.'"

Apparently this homoerotic fantasy was his interview entry to ChristWire, for Stephenson-in-hiding has proceeded to muck up screens there and at his other part-time latrine with articles that run the gamut from stupid and racist to racist and stupid.

His versatility eventually focused on Puerto Rico--or as he spells it, "Peurto Rico"--in an attempt to be satirical about the Island's non-request for statehood, based on a non-result from non-aware losers. Stephenson's article redefines crap to the extent that crap itself is insulted by being compared to Stephenson Billings...and his writings.

After glancing through the article and making peace with the new, lower, more disgusting definition of crap, I decided to respond. So here now, Stephenson Billings, This Is Your Life:

Stand-in for a coward

Stephenson, I fully expect to read about your arrest and trial for collecting child pornography, which, sadly, will interrupt your daily ritual of ass-fucking yourself with your favorite antique bottles, several of which are actually old maple syrup jugs from Eastern Vermont. Your lack of success is evident in that you'd rather use a 4-word Orwellian double-speak lie rather than "clown," which is intrinsically more accurate.

Your inability to write with any sense of style bespeaks of a wasted 7th grade education and an early marriage, most likely to a first cousin or half-sister, thus depriving you of any semblance of higher (for your tribe) education. It might also explain why you butt-fuck yourself with bottles as this early departure from school may have been caused by the unexpected death of your daddy, your first lover.

As for the self-proclaimed lie of "Investigative Journalist," it is also obvious that whatever investigations you undertake are of the "imagination slash animal porn" variety, ones where you greedily inhale a horse cock to satisfy Freudian urges you cannot even begin to fathom.

On the "journalist" side, your obvious ignorance of spell-check means you write your love letters to the stable denizens up the road from your hovel along the lines of "Fukc me horsy."

I applaud your attempt at satirical humor in the same way I applaud a monkey in a business suit: cute, but stupid and the monkey still plays with its shit. I suggest a new career for you in the field of security, where you use your ass and mouth as vaults to hide the dissected sex organs of random farm animals your wife/half-sister has fucked for the satisfaction you cannot give her. You'd get a kick out of it, I know, plus you'd be concealing evidence of your crimes of passion.

And yes, you are "blessed," in the exact same way a wet turd is "damp." Take pride in what little you can, Stephenson Billings, for it is so very little.


All in satirical fun, right?

Riiiight.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

My Day, Today

Drank My breakfast this morning. Had "Boost" (Cool Strawberry),  a 5-hour energy drink, coffee and orange juice, in some order. Then I ate a Sloppy Joe. Breakfast of champions.

Dove headfirst into My daily infodump, a 14-website tour. Opened tabs like only an Opera user can, by the dozens, with the abandon of a carefree child hyped on sugar. Or caffeine. Slashed through the tab deck in uncharacteristic fashion, bookmarking and closing left and right. And left and right. And then again. Good. Only 16 tabs left. For now.

Sometime yesterday I passed 10,000 bookmarks. All Mine. Been collecting them since 1992, but really, the oldest one I have now is from April 9, 2001. An essay on classic board games. Typical.

Had to leave to deal with government bureaucracy, but this time it was relatively painless. The woman at the semi-empty office wore a huge green-glassed ring on her left index finger. No other rings. I wondered if the ring was advertising or camouflage. Didn't ask.

Ate too much for lunch, probably because the 5-hour energy drink barely pushed My needle up at all. Doesn't usually. Maybe I need to drink two of the little bottles, if I could somehow get past the taste of rancid donkey piss. Which reminds Me, I only had a half cup of coffee before lunch. Maybe that's why I ate too much. And no, My coffee doesn't taste like rancid donkey piss, it's just that My mind works in strange ways.

Here's a song I came up with this morning, while showering. Took all of about 15 seconds. To the tune of "Yankee Doodle":

My mother said I was a punk, and just like Yankee Doodle,
So I shot my mom again and farted on a poodle.

For the record, I love My mom. She's been wonderful to Me. And Mrs. Jenius and I don't have a poodle. Yet.

Got a phone call from a woman in Utuado who wants help in developing a day care center with community outreach services. She found Me because she downloaded a free copy of My book on getting federal grant funds. I hear it's being used as a textbook in two local university systems now, so being free, I make nothing off the book. Except phone calls. I'd forgo the phone calls if people just used the book more.

Noticed for the 58th time that I haven't posted anything here for over 2 weeks, thanks for noticing. Liquid breakfast with a Sloppy Joe chaser, oddball songs, too much lunch, random phone calls I stretch out to amuse Myself...

It's time to get back here. I don't need to draw Myself a picture...well, maybe one. Involving the poodle.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

The Jenius' Blogger Ethics

[Global Voices Online. The Jenius. Janine Mendes-Franco. Thank you!]


Some time ago, I wrote about My Intellectual Honesty and concluded I deserved a B. Tough self-critic, I am. Now comes this Blogger Code of Ethics, as suggested several years ago by Charlene Li in a Forrester Research Report titled "Blogging: Bubble or Big Deal?".

Now in the spirit of My earlier self-examination, Let's tackle this one, shall We?


 1) I will tell the truth.  A. Can't give Myself an A+ because I never have all the facts and quite frankly, nobody does.

2) I will write deliberately and with accuracy. A-. I don't write "deliberately" 100% of the times (I do believe you've noticed) and nobody has 100% accuracy in what they write, even though some of Us try very hard. If I were more deliberate, I'd give Myself an A or A+.

3) I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly. A+. Easy, since as I mentioned before, I don't make many mistakes.

4) I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing. A. Could have been an A-, but the changes I make after posting are almost always to correct spelling (see #8, below.) Not once in 1,037 posts have I changed something to "improve" My presentation or retract what I've written. That's why I place Updates.

5) I will never delete a post. A+. See #4 above. And I've been asked to about 45-50 times.

6) I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic. A+. For one, I have smart people making comments. For two, disagreeing with Me is not a problem. Most likely a mistake on the person's part, but not a problem.

7) I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly. B. It's the "promptly" part where I fail to achieve excellence. I have improved, but no comment should go unnoticed for more than 24 hours; a few have exceeded that this year.

8) I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking. B. I turned off the automatic spellchecker to force Me to read/edit/correct My posts. Worked well for about a month and then a Jenial Reader pointed out that I was making some mistakes. That and The Picky Grammar Lady not being around led Me to sloppiness. Definitely room for improvement, but I still rank at least in the 98th percentile.

9) I will stay on topic. A. My topic is "Puerto Rico," with the occasional foray into other areas. Or actually, the topic is The Jenius and I NEVER stray from that.

10) I will disagree with other opinions respectfully. F. For "Fuck that." Actually, taken as a whole, I tend to disagree with only slight disrespect, though I have outrageously gone off on a slow-witted sociologist, a (miseducation) secretary with more fat than brains and a Korean-American ex-kongresskritter who should have stayed in his kim-chi patch. Balancing that out has been My exchanges with people I know and don't, so I'll settle for a...D. For "Don't expect Me to change too much."

11) I will link to online references and original source materials directly. B. I can do better. I usually do it, but "usually" is not "always" and "always" is the only standard that matters.

12) I will disclose conflicts of interest. A+. I seldom have conflicts of interest because I choose to attack stupidity and stupid and Me don't mix. So there.

13) I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.  A+. I have touched on some items that I have personal knowledge of and state so. I also discuss some personal issues, but none that I wouldn't discuss amongst colleagues or friends. Like most people, I could blog about some truly juicy stuff, but at the expense of My reputation and people by and large don't deserve to be treated that way. Others, though, are in My sights for when the timing is right--and I am a patient man--they will be discussed. At length.

Okay, adding and dividing gives Me a 3.54 average, an A- if you want to be precise about it. (And for the math teachers in Our local schools: please have someone explain to you how I arrived at that figure...)

The Jenius Report Card: A in Blogger Ethics and a B in Intellectual Honesty. Assessment: The Jenius means well, but he needs to delve a little deeper into the facts and present them more objectively. (Here comes the bummer:) He definitely has room for improvement.

Okay.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

The Jenius' Intellectual Honesty

From The Design Matrix comes this oft-printed list of 10 Signs of Intellectual Honesty. The lesson today, class, is to apply these standards to The Jenius. Of course, in your absence, I'm applying them to Myself, so without further ado, here they are and here's how The Jenius fares.

           

1. Do not overstate the power of your argument. If someone portrays their opponents as being either stupid or dishonest for disagreeing, intellectual dishonesty is probably in play. Intellectual honesty is most often associated with humility, not arrogance.  I can be accused of violating this principle and the criticism is valid. However, most of My "smackdowns" in this area are directed at government officials and other "experts" who are trying to use their positions to push stupid ideas, (there I go again...) so pushing My argument to the max is understandable. (Subtlety is lost on these moron...oops.) I'll give Myself a (B-) on this one rather than a C becasue I spelled "Jenius" with a "J". I'm humble that way.

2. Show a willingness to publicly acknowledge that reasonable alternative viewpoints exist.  Fail. I don't do this often enough simply because most of My arguments are aimed at debunking a position and/or highlighting a separate one, not arguing as if in a debate. My blog, My position. But strictly applied, a failing grade nonetheless: (F)

3. Be willing to publicly acknowledge and question one’s own assumptions and biases.  Not a problem, since I insist on defining My terms and where I stand. And because I'm convinced My readers hang on My every thought and thought process. (A)

4. Be willing to publicly acknowledge where your argument is weak. "Weak"? "Weak"?! Are you kidding Me?! Okay, I get the point. Yes, I do acknowledge weak points in My arguments, but not often enough. Not because My arguments are bullet-proof (they are, but bear with Me here), but because I look to define My position in under 800 words or so. Not an excuse: I do better than most. But there's room for improvement: (B)

5. Be willing to publicly acknowledge when you are wrong.  Not a problem. It doesn't happen often anyway. (A)

6. Demonstrate consistency. A clear sign of intellectual dishonesty is when someone extensively relies on double standards.  Nail this one. On an Island where blue supporters protect pederasts from their side and red supporters protect wife beaters and both protect their own criminal mafias, the fact that I have one standard applied equally makes Me a rarity. (A+)

7. Address the argument instead of attacking the person making the argument. Ad hominem arguments are a clear sign of intellectual dishonesty.  Yes, I use nicknames that often focus on that person's physical traits, (lack of) personality, (extremely limited) intellectual and moral characteristics and whatnot. But those are not My arguments. Calling Pedro Stupid Rosselló a cocksucker is easy: I just did. But proving he is one is (probably) impossible. And yet. I have proven he deserves Stupid. My arguments are against the idea, position, process or action: the nicknames are just My saltiness in the wound. (A)

8. When addressing an argument, do not misrepresent it. A common tactic of the intellectually dishonest is to portray their opponent’s argument in straw man terms. In politics, this is called spin. Typically, such tactics eschew quoting the person in context, but instead rely heavily on out-of-context quotes, paraphrasing and impression. When addressing an argument, one should shows signs of having made a serious effort to first understand the argument and then accurately represent it in its strongest form.  I quoted this one in full because it's central to intellectual honesty. I simplify arguments by removing the spin and placing them in clear contrast. For example, I've written that if Group A uses military might to remove Group B from their legally-owned homes and businesses, Group A is wrong. Now make Group A "Israel" and Group B "Palestinians." The argument is simplified, clarified and the answer DOES NOT change just because now We're discussing "Israel". Our (non)government claims a 93-mile pipeline for natural gas will fix Our energy problems, reduce Our dependence on oil and improve Our infrastructure. All that is spin. The pipeline cuts needlessly through private property, threatens the environment, replaces oil with more volatile (pun intended) gas which does not guarantee savings or better infrastructure. Spin is another word for lie: The Jenius doesn't spin. And if My argument leaves something out, I'm known for going back and taking another look. (A)

9. Show a commitment to critical thinking.   Not in doubt. Maybe heading towards "overboard," but never in doubt. (A+)

10. Be willing to publicly acknowledge when a point or criticism is good.  I've done this several times, even granting the point to people who I believe would do Us a favor by removing themselves from Our lives permanently. (A)

Final grade? Seven As, two Bs and an F, which gives Me a 3.4 GPA, a B in intellectual honesty. (No grading on a curve, people.) That definitely needs improvement.  Let Me at it.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Jenius Writings

You may have noticed--gauged at a 3.2% chance--that there is some major Jenius stuffs over there on the sidebar. Here, let Me run them down for you: (Yes, I wrote "stuffs.")

1) I gathered My Jenius posts selected to Global Voices Online, added some context and commentary and put that all into a PDF titled GTJ On GVO. Catchy, I know. A total of 74 posts from the pre-hiatus Jenius, a number that makes Me one of, if not the most-selected Caribbean blogger during 2005-2010. Not bad, even for a Jenius. The PDF is free and you can save yourself a trip to the sidebar by downloading it from here.

2) My book, Thirty Stories, is also tucked into the the sidebar. Unlike The Jenius, who stays in the non-fiction section of your virtual bookstore, Gil C. Schmidt wanders over to the fiction section and cranked out 30 short-shorts (totally unrelated to underwear), stories that come in under 800 words each. Yes, 30 of them. Hence the title. It's available on SmashWords, for 99 cents, but here's an offer: if you buy it, I'll toss in another of My anthologies at no cost. Or wait and get all 4 (yes, there's more coming!) for about $3.98 or so, later this year.

3) Not strictly a product of My writing, but I created 4 "daily Twitter papers." One is about the new writing environment (e-publishing, et al), another about "seeing with mind and eyes," a third tracks the use of LOL (when I think of why, you'll be notified) and the fourth takes a quick peek at what's going on/being said about My Island. They're free, too. Unless you want to buy Me a cup of (local) coffee and figure out what the LOL Zeitgeist is supposed to do...

4) Some of you might know I wrote a PDF about seeking grant monies, in Spanish. It's into its third edition (which means I've revised it) and if you want a copy--free of charge--you can download it from here. I aim to please.

5) I hinted above, so here's rundown of future Gil C. Schmidt and Jenius Writings: a second anthology of 30 short-shorts; a mystery/suspense anthology set in an Old San Juan hostelry; a science fiction anthology featuring two "gentleman adventurers" and an interesting woman and a book series set in modern-day Puerto Rico--a.k.a My Island--featuring Taíno Indians. And what is The Jenius up to? Travel writing. By the end of 2011, The Jenius is expected to complete 4 projects centered on Puerto Rico--non-fiction, of course.

6) A new Gil The Jenius Podcast is going up soon, with several more planned. I know, that's not writing, that's audio, but I'll be writing about what's on the audio so I figure I should include it on this list. Stop bugging Me.


Right now, some of you can proudly claim that The Jenius is the most accomplished, successful and popular writer you know personally. But you won't.

You don't need to tell Me: I know.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Once again, it's the tiME of the year to celebrate that most glorious of days, MY BIRTHDAY!! And it is also My 1,000th post as The Jenius. And it's MY BIRTHDAY!! But unlike the past few years, this one has a different twist:

This is My last post.

Back in December 2007, I wrote a post that was to be the curtain of The Jenius, but soMEwhere in the writing/posting, soMEthing clicked and I decided to continue. A month later, unrelated to that, My father died and I kept going, once again taking the whole process in stride.

But not anymore. A few months ago I realized that I wasn't as "into" The Jenius as I'd always been. Instead of a release--or catharsis--it had becoME soMEthing of a burden. That wasn't the point. After pondering for a day or two, I decided I'd make it My true curtain call on MY BIRTHDAY (which you may have noticed I've MEntioned a few tiMEs) and My (semi-coincidental) 1,000th post.

I had a few moMEnts of doubt about the decision, earlier this week, but that was more from thinking of what I'd miss rather than focusing on what I'd do. It's been said that in one's endeavors, you notice first when things are slipping, then your critics (your closest observers/supporters) and then the general public. Sure enough, a month or so after My decision, I wrote a post titled "Charity Really Does Begin At Home," about how We are, per capita, the largest supporters taking care of children through World Vision.

As I pointed out a few days later, that post was important, because it focused on Our charity regarding World Vision, but failed to indict the appalling lack of charity We have amongst Ourselves. The title, which I uncharacteristically wrote first, set up My premise; and yet, the post failed to deliver it in Jenius fashion. I chose that inaction.

A dear friend called Me the next day from Europe to tell Me he was worried about The Jenius. In his words, I had not been critical in the way The Jenius is. I told him he was right, that I preferred to leave it as it was posted rather than "take the shot." He told Me The Jenius always took the shot. I agreed, but that I had taken hundreds of shots over the years, had hit the intended target hundreds of tiMEs and that each tiME I did, I bled too, for these are, for better or for worse, also My people.

And that I was getting tired of taking shots.

He felt compelled to write a "Defense of The Jenius", saying he was concerned "about the character." I thank him for that, for he was and is 100% right. Parts of his essay are in the Comments of this farewell post.

The oft-repeated definition of insanity is to do the same things and expect a different result. The Jenius has plenty more to say, but the current format is no longer enough. Whether The Jenius returns here or in some other cyberspot or MEatspace is up for grabs.

To those who read My words over the years, your support has been amazingly profound. To the double-handful of people I MEt because of The Jenius, My life is much richer because of you. And to My critics, nice try. Maybe next time.

And a special Jenius Salute to Global Voices Online, especially Ms. Janine MEndes-Franco, for not only choosing so many of My posts for that wonderful forum, but also for being such a good sport in letting Me modify her naME to satisfy My preening BIRTHDAY celebration.

To My Special One, thanks for cringing and still supporting Me. And to My Son, never forget I love you.

TiME to go. For a while.



The Jenius Has Spoken. Thank You.

And Now, For Something Completely Different...

In a month, on October 10th to be exact, My third story will go up on Yesteryear Fiction, a website featuring short pieces as selected by Earl Wynn. Then, 5 days later, My fourth story will go up. (Here are stories one and two.) Drop by and explore the site because Earl has a varied and interesting collection of stories, poems and hard-to-fit-in-a-niche writing well worth perusing.

The first of My two stories that Earl selected belong to an anthology, in e-book form, already up on SmashWords, titled "Thirty Stories." You can see it advertised on the upper left sidebar of The Jenius' main page. The upcoming two stories are from a second anthology, amazingly titled "Thirty More Stories," which will become an e-book shortly. The peculiarity of these anthologies is that each story was written on one page or less of standard (8x11 inches) paper, about 700 words per story.

This month (September 2010) I will complete another anthology, blending old stories with new and introducing a new "kind" of character, albeit by name rather than by intrinsic existence. (I think that makes sense.) In October I'll complete a fourth anthology, a collection of stories I wrote between 1996 and 2003 and then, by December, I'll come out with a totally new e-book, what would be My fifth this year, this one of totally new fiction.

It's obvious that this "sudden" emergence of The Jenius as a fiction writer is not sudden at all. Although some would claim much of what The Jenius posts here is "lying crap," the fact and evidence have shown that "lying" is not something The Jenius does. (Crap, on the other hand, is in the...eye...of the beholder...) My push to getting My fiction out int the world is in response to an urge I've had for decades, very much since I had My first story published in a local school "contest mimeograph".

Since 1994, I have written more than 130 stories. Of that total, only 7 saw the light of publishing, whether online or in print. That percentage of "success" seems to imply that the quality of the writing is poor, at best. But the fact is that I only submitted 8 stories for publication during that time, scoring with 7. Two were good enough to win against solid competition and serve as the centerpiece for the printed anthology "The Best of Times," available now on Amazon as a $199.95 "collectible." (Note: The flood that washed away much of My possessions in September 2008 took some 18 copies of the book and several folders of stories, ideas and notes. That still hurts.)

With the encouragement of My Special One, My family, friends and numerous near-strangers who have ready My stories over the years and been unanimously supportive, I finally decided that if I was ever going to do something with this writing thing I have, then the time to do it was now. It's a fact that the Internet and e-book technology have greatly leveled the playing field so that writers and other creative artists can place their works in the global public eye with greater ease than ever before.

In that effort, I am happy to have the help of X-cito Media, a local (as in "Based in Puerto Rico") e-business seeking to develop a presence as a digital publisher. Unlike traditional publishing, where space is at a premium, on the Web attention is the coin of the realm, the limited commodity that determines level of success. Part of the effort X-cito Media and I are making to attract that commodity is to quickly generate a catalogue of e-books, which brings Me back to My past. And present.

I love writing. I've been writing since I was 13 and can't imagine having anything like a career without writing as a part of it. For years I subsumed the fiction part of My writing in favor of...I don't know. Money, maybe. Practicality, perhaps. Some misguided attempt at being "serious" about My time. In any case, that lack of fiction writing tinged every success I had in other endeavors with a slight shadow of "but..."

No buts now. It's time to write as much fiction as I can, enjoying as I always have the process of coming up with a story that I would love to read and hopefully, find an audience that wants to read  that kind of story as well. Okay, there is one "but": No fiction in The Jenius. Hasn't happened and won't happen. For as long as I post here about what I see and think about My Island, it won't be fiction. Even though there are plenty of times when I wish it were.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Mulling And Pondering

You may or may not be interested to know that I bookmark dozens of articles and websites for The Jenius, but that I eventually end up using only a few. I once did a post of stuff I had bookmarked and then left filed, but don't want to repeat that format until some day in the future when I'm too nauseous to sit up straight for more than a few minutes at a time. (I like the format: it's just that I could write that anytime, you know?)

(The song now playing is "Since I Fell For You," the Lenny Welch cover. Hold on while I take it in...)

The point of My bookmarking is that for many of the posts I write, I go through about 10-12 "items" related to it. For example, for My recent "Statistics" posts, I ended up using only a handful of sites after reading through several more for each post. What happens is that I take My starting point ("Puerto Rico's unemployment rate," for example) and then go down a variety of paths to explore whatever strikes My fancy and often end up someplace unexpected.

In this case, My original "angle" was to get snarky about how lazy We as a people are for (a) not really wanting to work at being worthy to work and (b) having a government too lazy, too stupid and too greedy to make actual progress happen (thus creating more jobs.) However, (a) didn't strike Me as being something I wanted to jump on yet and (b) is something I've jumped on to the point where I want to bitch-slap the next Fool I trip over. (Been feeling that way since 1981. My self-control is admirable. I know.)

And yet in that search, I noticed that Our unemployment rate had always been 2-3 times higher than that reported by Uncle Sam. That observation led to the post you may or may not have read. In any case, I'm stating that although there are times when I sit down and just start typing away (like now), there are many times when My typing is the end result of hours of mulling and pondering.

So?

So who else is doing this? Who else is mulling and pondering what We are, what We are doing and where We are going to a serious extent? The Jenius is not the only one, and there are only a few more I know about: Don Dees over at Dondequiera; and formerly Gabo Pagán over at I Can't Spell are two that come to mind immediately, with maybe 2-3 others I could mention, mainly Spanish-language bloggers. Maybe blogs aren't the most fertile ground for this kind of pensive analysis, but given the decrepit spinelessness and water-logged brains We have in Our traditional media, what else is there?

(Hold on: Aaron Neville. I gotta take this in...)

Now I don't think a blog, or a newspaper column, is going to magically transform Puerto Rico by the power of words. If that could be done, The Jenius would have had all Fools tossed into the ocean for shark bait by late 2007. No, what I am aiming at is a push for a higher quality of expression about Puerto Rico, a deeper form of mulling and pondering and writing/commenting about Our society and its actions. Which also means having a people who actively seek this input in order for them to mull and ponder what it might mean. In effect, I'm asking for a wider spread of the higher intellectual level of Us.

Yes, I'm saying that (a) I'm squarely in the group representing "the higher intellectual level of Us," and (b) that We need more of it, now, immediately and for the long term. Frankly, (a) should not surprise you and neither should (b): Brainpower alone can't solve everything, but a deficit of brainpower in a human society makes everything worse.

And when it comes to analyzing Ourselves and bringing solutions to the fore, We are definitely in a brainpower deficit.

Okay, I started out with My bookmarks, passed sublimely through Lenny Welch and Aaron Neville and ended up calling Us "not smart enough as a people" to effectively deal with Our current crises. Yeah. I'm done here.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

The More We Do, The More We Can

[Note: My very belated Thanks to Janine-Mendes Franco for picking up a recent Jenius post on the local "strike."]

The More We Do, The More We Can. Mientras Más Hacemos, Más Podemos.

That's the name of My "Let's get more grant proposals written and submitted" plan, mentioned in My previous post.

The purpose of this plan is to significantly increase the number of federal grant proposals dealing with Puerto Rico's social and economic woes and not only gain much-needed experience of how to be successful at it, but also gain the much-needed funding to correct or halt the downward spiral We see in so many areas.

My initial point was to reduce My fee per proposal from $3,000 to $600. The expertise is the same, the writing ability is the same, but the accessibility has changed. By making My abilities more accessible, it opens the door to more organizations and individuals to participate and learn. And for those concerned about My income, I can always fall back on "I'll make it up on volume." Maybe, maybe not. But the goal is "more proposals," and that's the only measurement I count on My side.

There are four additional points that make up the core of this plan. The second point is that the increased number of proposals means an increased level of feedback. My goal is to take that feedback and share it with every participant that submitted a proposal with Me. The benefit is that they will (eventually) learn in days what could take them months or years to absorb: the bottom-line details and fine-tunings that make the difference between a grant and "good try."

The third point addresses a weakness I have dealt with before, but must do so again: few people know where to look for grant funding. And beyond that, they also need to know/imagine what would work in Puerto Rico and what won't. For that, I have started a daily Twitter feed under @FederalFundsPR that quickly lists grant programs that I believe have high applicability to Puerto Rico. In some cases, Puerto Rico has the "minority" advantage, in others it might be related to socioeconomic factors. In any case, follow @FederalFundsPR (you can see it at the top of the left sidebar here on Gil The Jenius, under "Federal Grant Programs") and learn what's available.

I'll point out that the programs apply as well to the Greater U.S. of part of A. My focus is My Island, but proposals that could help Puerto Ricans or others in the States are equally valid in My plan. The money might stay "there," but the experience will come "here."

A fourth point is the launching of a Facebook page and a website--www.factorefectivo.com--to help support the plan and extend the levels of contacts to reach as many entities as possible. I'm not happy so far with the Facebook effort and the website has a broader application that is under development, but they will become part of the plan.

And the fifth point is a PDF I wrote, which I will update periodically, titled Cómo Conseguir Fondos Federales (How to Get Federal Funds.) It is free. Yes, free, for now. Just leave your e-mail address in the Comments, send Me a Direct Message tweet over in @FederalFundsPR or wait for Me to update this post with a link to download a copy (free; I mentioned that already, right?) from Facebook and/or FactorEfectivo.com.

The More We Do, The More We Can. Mientras Más Hacemos, Más Podemos. 

Join Me.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Anger

Anger.

Anger runs through The Jenius like a cataract of water through a narrow pipe. It's one of the first things people tell Me when (not if: when) they discuss this blog with Yours Truly. Some folks comment on the anger in a tone of surprise, as if the level of anger they perceive is somehow odd, abnormal, aberrant, an ugly bug on the front door screen. Others find it energizing and curious, especially the sense of anger being targeted and focused, not so much as a(n occasionally) foulmouthed rant, but as a knife or razor wielded to do much damage with short strokes.

Then there are those who speak to me about the anger as if it were somehow dangerous...to Me. Their take is that it will trigger something in others and I will then become the target of the others' anger and reaction. I've discussed this before (you can look it up; try the "personal" tag) and can conclude that (a) "they" don't care and (b) neither do I.

But My take on the anger that is The Jenius is that it simply cannot be any other way. The Jenius and the anger are one and the same. How else would I--as The Jenius--have the patience and determination to put together over 900 of these little diatribes/essays unless I (it) were fueled by anger? What else could the fuel be? Love? Puh-lease. True love doesn't need this much expression; just ask any poet if s/he writes more poems when happy in love or when pissed off at love unrequited or lost. (No, Puerto Rico hasn't scorned Me.)

Passion? Passion for what? Passion for Puerto Rico? Maybe, but I could have all the passion in the world for Puerto Rico and still not find enough to make Me sit before a keyboard and pound out something trenchant, insightful, witty, crass and useful 3 times a week. (I always aim for at least 3-out-of-5, if you really want to know.)

A search for power? Shut up. There are hundreds of ways to gain and use power that are light-years easier than blogging. A search for fame? Ditto. For further evidence, check out My marketing efforts for The Jenius. That's right: you can't find 'em. I don't do anything but write what The Jenius has to say. Marketing is for people who need affirmation.

And in any case, anger has ever been My fuel. It was there as a child and as a teen, as a young adult and as an older adult. It rides Me and I enjoy riding it. Anger is under-appreciated as a motivational force, deemed bad when, in fact, well-directed, it can literally move mountains. Maybe faith can do that, too, but faith would wait where anger would just grab a sledgehammer and beat the living daylights out of the damn thing right now.

Am I bothered by the anger shown here? Only in the sense that it should be more apparent where it is directed. Sometimes I use a shotgun rather than a rifle. Maybe 900+ pulls of the trigger are just enough to get the windage and distance and make the next shots all that much more accurate.

But shotguns are damned effective too...


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Jenius: Tone and Momentum

Thanks to Jenius Reader/Commenter Pax, I've become a little more aware of what I say and how I say it. From Day One of The Jenius, I've had gentle and even very ungentle reactions from My posts, in terms of words, concepts and tone.

Uh-huh. So?

Pax brings up a cogent point in one of his comments to "We're Number 35! We're Number 35!" in that a negative tone and sarcasm are not conducive to change and that by engaging in that manner, one contributes to the problem and not the solution.

Agreed. A positive attitude does help and I have commented long before Pax that I get down on Myself for the consistent negativity, a trait I don't evince in My off-Jenius life. However, I see The Jenius as the darker side and the permanent record of things I tend to say in public, about politicians, business leaders, the media and the gamut of topics covered here.

Does it make me right? No, My tone is probably--if not certainly--wrong. What makes Me right are My ideas, the framework they are presented in and the conclusions, which are very often right. Could I improve on it? Seems to me I could only do so by altering the tone...and I don't want to do that. Calling a muddy spade a dirty shovel is satisfying. Encapsulating a defective political leader with a nickname is fun (if you oppose him/her; otherwise, it ticks you off. Like I care.) And pointing out that what Our "leaders" are trying to do almost NEVER has anything to do with OUR welfare but has EVERYTHING to do with THEIRS--and WHY--is absolutely necessary--because not enough of Us are doing it.

Yes, We have tons of problems. Yes, We should try to enhance the dialogue rather than add to the shouting. But here's the thing: until you get the other's person full attention, you don't have a chance at a meaningful dialogue. If My tone brings someone up short and makes them pause, good: it's a start. If My framing of a situation makes a person tilt their head and say "Hey, I didn't see that before," good: it's an inkling of motion. If My conclusions and predictions are borne out as they often are, good: it creates momentum.

There will come a day, if I keep this up long enough, when enough people will see what I have done, absorb what I have presented and learned to separate the ounces of wheat from the megatons of chaff. They will add their voices, not to Mine, but to make a more meaningful dialogue happen. And that will help make a difference.

Do I believe that? I have 848 often snarky examples over nearly 5 years that clearly answer that question.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

A Jenial 2-for-1

In the next few days, I will read My 120th book of 2008, keeping alive a yearly streak of at least 10 books a month that dates back to last century. Not that I actually read 10 books every month, for unlike other years, this year I was behind My pace until early November. 

I read that many books because (a) I love to read; (b) Hate to chit-chat, so when in public places, I read and (c) By reading that much, I can take a few chances and try out new things without much stress.

Out of 120 books or so (as many as 147 in 2002), I'll take 20-25 chances a year on books I normally wouldn't bother with, whether it's fiction or non-fiction. The beauty of this system is that more often than not, I discover a whole new world to explore and can then add that section of books to My expanding mental list of "good to read."

And if it turns out that the book was a clunker, no big deal. That's what the rest of My "To Read" library (currently sitting at 97 books just to the left of me as I write) is for: to make up for that.

From what I understand, reading that much puts Me way ahead of the average person in the U.S. of part of A. and even further ahead of the average person in Puerto Rico. That's okay. The pack is for mules, anyway.

________

I am amused, in the most condescending sense of the word, by a local group of bloggers who are pasting their blogs with "awards," apparently handed out by each other, to serve as "recognition" of their work. How very 1996 of you all, when the Web was filled with sites parading dozens of awards in some feeble-minded efffort to provide legitimacy where none existed.

The "awards" don't make up for the fact that many of these bloggers are nothing but posers. One blogger has the temerity to say his blog is about calling out the truth because he's fed up with what he sees (or some smelly crap like that), but he uses an alias and doesn't show who s/he is. How very bold! Give him an(other) award!

Here's the thing: I understand the need for privacy, especially in this day and age of identity theft and spam. But when you talk the talk without walking the walk, you are nothing--nothing--but a hypocrite. And stamping your blogs with empty "awards" reminds Me of the Special Olympics, where every feeble-minded participant gets his or hers.

Unlike them, you utterly lack dignity. And maybe--just maybe--unlike them, you can actually do something about it.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

And There I Stand

Apropos of I don't remember what, I read this blog post on 3by9.com and have excerpted the following:

Many people use their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. to rant, snark, and other wise (sic) express themselves. In many of those writings the writer is sharing an experience, talking about something he/she does or doesn’t like, telling someone off, disagreeing with someone, agreeing with someone only to have others disagree with their opinion…it comes in many flavors. Do you think about how the person or company you’re writing or talking about will take what you’ve said? If you say something behind someone’s back did you think about how he/she will take it if they found out what you said?

...It is easy to sit back with the “shield” of the internet and throw stones criticizing people, many times with no real basis (you know, like facts) to back up what was written. It is very easy to take a “persona” and try to detach yourself from the persona saying the things that could land one in hot water. The common thought process is that the person writing will never see the person being written about, so why not?

Think again. 

...Did you expect the person you talked about behind their back to find out about it?

...Be careful what you say and how you say it yet be true to yourself. (Emphasis Mine.)

Just this week I interviewed the incoming House President Jenniffer González, or as I called her recently, Jenniffer "Gluttony" González. (I missed a chance to be very clever by not calling her "Gluttonny".) I have also interviewed current House President José "Puppet" Aponte, incoming governor Luis "Larva" Fortuño and current Mayor of Caguas Willie "Multiple Nicknamies" Miranda over the past two years.

First of all, I'm aghast that I have actually done this many interviews with parasites. (There I go again...) Second, I fully expect for these people to do one thing concerning My opinion of each of them: Ignore it.

For one, I'm not on their A-list of reading material, assuming they know how to read. (Uh-huh, doing it again...) Second, even if they did find out what I wrote about them, I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. Unlike the 3by9 post's argument of lacking facts, I always place My facts or rationale alongside My criticisms, attacks and/or pejorative nicknames. You may argue about the validity of the facts, but I have taken the time to include them aong with My thought processes and thus you and the person targeted have My viewpoint as complete as can be.

So when I highlighted the last two sentences of the excerpt, I did so with the intention of replying to their thrusts. Yes, I blog as if the people I write about will find out what I said about them. I may not think it likely that they will, but I am prepared if and when they do. For example, if "Gluttonny" (Oh boy, talk about a drumbeat...) had asked Me why I gave her that nickname, I would point to the post and say "You're in politics mainly for yourself." She could argue that I'm wrong, but the weight of the evidence--as I see it--shows her grabbing everything she can for her own benefit. Thus, "Gluttony," now "Gluttonny."

Offensive? Yes. Gluttony is a deadly sin. Inaccurate? No. And there I stand. For the last sentence I quoted above is where I have always stood, saying what I think in a manner consistent with My thoughts. You may argue about the style and many do, but no one--as I have said before--no one has ever accused Me of saying anything except what I believe.

Now as to whether this "opinion cloud" is right or should be managed in some other way is an entirely different discussion. For now, Jellyfish or Larva, Tantrum or Gluttony, Il Castrao or Puppet, let them read what I think and then decide if it merits attention or not. Either way, there I stand.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Writing and Ideas

I've been reading less lately and consequently, writing less. You can tell the difference between a serious writer (even if unpublished) and a mere dilettante by asking them what they are reading. Serious writers are always reading; would-be writers "don't have the time" or "want to remain pure" or some-such crap like that. Reading fuels writing, even if what you're reading are the early drafts of your own works as you furiously edit them.

Another thing about writing is that many people want to do it, but they project doing it "someday" or "when I have time." Fact is, you always have time to write, just as you always have time to fire-bomb City Hall. It boils down to a matter of choice. Somerset Maugham said it best: "If you are waiting to write, you are a waiter, not a writer."

Some people ask Me where I get My ideas. I tell them "Wal-mart", or if I'm in a snarky mood, "Condom World." It's a dumb question because there's only one source for ideas--the mind--and you get ideas because you want to get ideas. That applies to any endeavor, from business to arts. My deficiency here (if it can be called that) is that I don't use alcohol or drugs to "free My creative mind." There's long been a connection between creativity and substance abuse, often to the detriment of the artist. In My case, I guess I work on the opposite manner: My mind runs free and I rein it in most of the time. 

If I were to break down My thoughts re: expressing them, I figure they break down about like this:

A) Stuff no one ever wants to hear -- 15%

B) Stuff that would wreck My reputation (such as it is): -- 10%

C) Gross stuff -- 15%

D) Witty-but-awful stuff -- 20%

E) Witty-and-snarky stuff -- 20%

F) Cogent observations on Life and stuff -- 30%

G) Silly stuff -- 20%

H) Brilliant stuff -- 35%

I) Filler stuff -- 15%

J) Polite nothings that sound like good stuff -- 10%

K) Weird, weird, weird stuff -- 15%

L) Logical stuff that deadends in just logic -- 15%

M) Blogging ideas stuff -- 45%

N) Blogging stuff I write about -- 1%

Categories add up to over 100% because they do.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Blog Action Day: Time to Act

Yes, The Jenius is adding his 2 (billion) cents to Blog Action Day. Check out the action around the Internets!

And action is the operative word in that sentence. Now a blog isn't really a place for action, but it can be, if it at least espouses positions for improvement and/or solutions. And based on that criteria, The Jenius is falling short of His own expectations.

Look back at most of this year's posts and you might see what I see: A dearth of positive. Yes, there's plenty of pinpointing problems and negatives with no concurrent listing of what needs to be done. I'm certainly better at balancing those two elements than most pundits (3), essayists (5) and freaking idiots (19,341) inhabiting the realm of local media, but I'm definitely not happy with My level of balance: I expect--and must provide--more.

Time to situate My lucre with My oral aperture.

Over the next nine posts, I will provide My current best ideas for changing and improving Puerto Rico's economy, educational system, political system and security. I say "current" because (a) I don't know everything (shocking to Me, too), (b) things change, even solutions and (c) perfection is within My reach, but even I have to work for it.

So if you're reading this in chronological order, you have something more to look forward to in the coming three weeks. If you're reading "down" the list and have just arrived at the beginning, congratulations! If you're just passing through on your way to some other more relevant result, I hope you land on another Blog Action Day blog.

If you don't fit any of the above categories, good for you. Come back sometime and see if I've changed again.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Writer, Not Waiter

Lately I've been writing fiction again. (No, not here.) Despite some success in creating stories others are willing to read, I'd abandoned that practice in favor of more remunerative work. In other words, I wrote primarily to get paid. (No, not here.)

Writing is a solitary effort; it can be nothing else. Yes, ideas can be discussed, drafts can be bandied back and forth between writers, editors and readers, but in the end, one person will sit down--alone--and produce words leading to a finality. And unless those words receive some form of return, whether it's money, fame, notoriety, gratitude or criticism, there's an emptiness that exacerbates the void created in the effort.

Blogs are a form of immediate feedback, a way of reducing the writer's solitude because the very act of blogging implies an ever-present audience. Unlike other forms of writing--say a magazine article or a book--the blogger's audience is merely a "Post this" click away. I have stories written almost 20 years ago that have never been read by anyone but Me, but I am certain that every post in Jenius and GCSPrank has been read dozens, if not hundreds of times. In that sense, these pieces here may have been more "successful" than My stories.

But is that why I stopped writing stories? Because I wanted or needed an immediate audience? No, not really. I stopped writing stories because My time required a better investment. And yet, I continued to write here, where the investment return is certainly not money. Why?

Because writing here is how I manage to assuage the need to write. It's been said that people who wait to write are waiters, not writers. Even on My days of rest, I write, even if it's a short note or some potential ideas for posts, columns, articles or stories. I need to write like I need to eat: I seldom have to do it right this minute, but I have to it every day.

Some of My best writing, I think, has come in letters, or e-mails. Because the audience is there, is often well-known and sometimes well-loved, the act of writing becomes free, spontaneous and pleasurable. Other forms of writing lack that sense of connection, and in fact, may suffer from trying to make it happen. "Writing to the reader" is often the sign of a bad writer, but unless the writer can create a meaningful connection to the reader, his/her work will go unread.

The trick of course, is to not focus on the reader so much as to be aware of the reader and let the act of writing find its own voice and pace. To achieve that without feedback is so hard that maybe blogging is a way of "exercising the writing muscles" with less risk than a short story or a novel.

I obviously speak of bloggers who are writers and not just exhibitionists, the difference being evident in the quality and tone of the posts. Unfortunately, it is the latter who seem to garner the most attention and smudge the image of the rest of Us.

As to why someone would continue to labor in solitude, writing an ever-growing number of words about a topic near and dear to the heart, with little hope of fame or fortune, then one must look a little deeper, beyond a simple to need to write to a more significant source. In My case, it's the need to at least make the effort to bring about change. And though I feel it's My unique motivation, I think it's far more common than I would allow Myself to imagine.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Blogging Self-Analysis

Three lists about blogging and how I stack up against them.

The first two are common mistakes made by bloggers. The first list, from Kevin at Blogging Tips, refers to newbie bloggers. That ain't Me, but let's check it out:


· Repeating what other bloggers are saying - MAYBE. I quote, but My rants are unique.

· No Opinion / Scared to rock the boat - NOPE. No point doing this unless you take a clear stand.

· Link Trains - NOPE. Hate them.

· Spamming other blogs with comments - NOPE. They're on their own.

· Spending more time commentating that writing posts - NOPE. See above.

· Promoting their blog before its ready - NOPE. I don't promote it much. As for "ready"....

· Blogging about too many subjects - MAYBE. "Puerto Rico" is a broad subject.

· Erratic posting frequency - MAYBE. I stick to M-W-F, but write any day of the week.

· Trying to make money instead of just concentrating on running a good blog - NOPE!

· Expecting to have a successful blog within 3 months - NOPE!



Then over at Goal Success Blog, Brad Isaac adds these other 10 mistakes. Grading Me yields:


+ Getting into the mindset that a post should be a certain length and never exceeding or going below that length. -- NOPE. But size does matter...

+ Not spending adequate time proofing for errors and readability. -- MAYBE. The Picky Grammar Lady catches Me...and should help out Brad, too.

+ Giving up the first month. -- HA!

+ Not building a community by responding to comments. -- NOPE. I answer almost all.

+ Not writing every day (notice I didn't say posting) writing - this blogging stuff takes practice. -- NOPE. I write 6 days a week and sometimes I even read it.

+ Writing in a dry tone, no personality. You need to sell yourself baby! -- NOPE. But then again, I'm a Jenius! I don't need no stinkin' selling job!

+ Making the blog's subject too broad: Welcome to the Food blog. -- YEAH. But I try to stay within My self-defined "Puerto Rico" boundaries. Not successful all the time...

+ Not seeking out similar blogs to market to. -- YEAH. Don't care to.

+ Blogging negatively about the company they workED for. -- N/A. Unless you count a couple of My recent posts...

+ Not thinking through what they want from their blog before they begin it. -- MAYBE. I wanted a place to explore, discuss and vent My thoughts. I got the "explore" and "vent" parts right.


Finally, Robin Good weighs in on professional bloggers, often self-proclaimed blowhards who think they are in some way superior to the rest of you poor slobs. Here's his list in How I Recognize a Professional Blogger:


--Open-minded: CHECK. I'll listen to anybody's stupid opinion.

--Curious: CHECK. I don't know enough yet. Maybe by tomorrow.

--Humble: HA!

--Perseverant: CHECK. I prefer "Determined," but it ain't My list.

--Responsible: CHECK. I'm not perfect, but I do step up.

--Picky: CHECK. And from a blogging perspective, I have a Picky Grammar Lady, too!

--Committed: CHECK. I am, and many feel I should be. (hahahahahahahamental)

--Passionate: CHECK. You can't say you're aware of the world and remain indifferent.

--Professional: CHECK. I work freelance: I'd better be.

--Skilled real-time collaborator: CHECK. See above.

--Honest: CHECK. But I'd like to be more open about several things...

--Open to listen: CHECK. Sometimes I'm all ears, at others I'm a mouth on Pause; could improve.


So here's a question to other bloggers: How would you do on these lists?



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Web Wonder

Note: My Thanks again to Rebecca MacKinnon and Georgia Popplewell for selecting another Jenius post to Global Voices. It always surprises Me.


How indescribably odd this is... For weeks I've been thinking about an amazing short story titled "Slow Tuesday Night", an overlooked minor classic of science fiction writing by R.A. Lafferty. The basic premise is simple: Humanity speeded up. I read the story over 20 years ago and it stuck like few stories do, for not only was it engaging and fascinating in a "What I could do with this!" way, but it presented an uncanny prediction of Our very future.

For weeks I've been thinking about digging into My stored stacks of books for the Galaxy anthology the story's in, a much-thumbed red paperback bought for 10 cents at the 2-for-1 Paperbacks store in Oxford, MS. (I'm shading into GCSPrank territory here.) Instead of doing that, I sat down to surf the Web.

Imagine My surprise, My simple astonishment, to see in Metafilter a post that reads: Slow Tuesday Night by one Rafael Aloyius Lafferty.

I reread the story, with much joy. It still resonates with Me and I hope you take the time to read it. Won't take long, but I bet you won't forget it, either.

The Internet: I think I'll keep it.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Topics The Jenius Passed Up

How can You write so often?

I've been asked that fairly often about The Jenius and the answer is quite simple: I have a lot to say. For some reason, that answer tends to evoke almost no response. It's as if the person is (a) Mulling it over for accuracy, (b) Waiting for the punchline or (c) Unimpressed.

In My Opera bookmark files (I use Opera, which is what Firefox wants to be when it grows up), I have a "Gil The Jenius" folder. It contains a sub-folder called "Post Launches" and that virtual Fort Knox contains six separate folders with 347 bookmarks that I thought I should write about.

Let's look at one of these sub-folders and a handful of the topics I have not written about. Under "Entrepreneur" The Jenius has these unremarked finds:

--- 100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur: A long, chunky article that has some keen insights, some "duh-level" advice and some stuff I don't agree with. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? It felt too long for one post and not-important-enough for two. But it's been in My files for several months now and it still has meaning. So go read it if you're into building your own business or career.

--- Outspend or Out-teach: Working with start-ups in Puerto Rico has taught Me--and anyone else who's done it for more than a year--that "shoestring" is the only budget you really have. Because I never took a business or marketing course, I didn't have to unlearn crap to get to the point of successful marketing: give needed information simply. This article summarizes the key difference with laudable brevity and expanded links. If you wonder why your marketing budget swells but your sales don't, take a look at this. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? I think it's because I wanted to stay ahead of the pack by not "revealing" My method/point of view. Either that or I forgot this was in the files.

--- 9 Must-Reads Before You Launch a Start-Up: This kind of "list post" is extremely popular in the blogsphere, but unlike most of their ilk, this one is very good. It balances theory with experience, practicality with visionary and even throws in a voice that argues against being an entrepreneur. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Several of the links were commented on individually and that stopped Me from writing about the whole list as I felt it would have been redundant.

--- The Personal MBA: As a self-educated consultant, business developer, entrepreneur, etc., I've always been keen on reading the best and the brightest. In fact, I put more stock in Best Seller-dom than it actually warrants. So when I found Josh Kaufman's Personal MBA list, I was thrilled. Of his 42 resources, I had read 19 (now up to 22) and though I disagreed with a few of them, you could do far worse than follow Kaufman's suggestions. (Like, for example, actually getting an MBA.) Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Because I felt I'd have to provide My own list of "Personal MBA" sources and as time blew by Me, I barely got a list together of 14. Not enough, so here's Kaufman's list and you can get to work on it.

--- Cash Flow: To your business, cash flow is like oxygen to your brain: when it's missing, nothing else matters. Here's a simple, powerful primer on cash flow. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? I tried to once, but there really is no way to improve on this piece and simply saying "Here, go read this" seemed lame. So I drop it in here and say "Go read this." Lameness bypassed.

--- Here's To The Crazy Ones: Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Because all I could say was "Amen."


The Jenius Has Spoken.