Saturday Evening Post

What a fabulous week! Free books, contests, books and more! Grab a cuppa, snuggle into a rocker under the fans and let’s talk. Clyde is being sneaky, but helpful.

Wins!

More congratulations to Alexandra, Gloria and Prenin on their winning copies of Emma McClain’s Poems from Still Waters Running Deep. If you have not already, check out this week’s contest. Over there, in the right side bar. ===>

The mega entry is for offering your book up for the M3 Readers. It nets you 25 chances at a free book. And I am going to autograph it for you.

Books!

Yes, I released a book this week. T3 is not just an ebook this time. It is available in print. Kindle owners can pick up the ebook through Amazon.

To help hold myself accountable for staying on schedule, I am looking to release my next book in six weeks. Mantra for a Muse is filled with some of the poetry you have seen on M3, some which only recently resurfaced to the light of day and some which will never come to M3.

Much like the topics on M3, MFM is an eclectic mix of rhyme, rhythm and song spanning topics from aging to stupid to death. Yes, there are laughs and tears and quite a bit of head scratching.

Goals

How about the monthly goals report?

  • Posts: 570
  • New email followers: 17
  • Total unique visitors this year: 24,100
  • Internationality: 149 countries
  • Comments: Over 14,750 of 15,000!!
  • Words: 479,377 of 1,000,000
  • Visits: 97,470  of 150,000

Some goals are low, but the international gains have been huge. The American audience will not be over 50% of the M3 Readers at the rate we are going. M3 is translated into more than 30 languages, compliments of Google Translate, and is found through more than 20 Google international search engines.

We will shatter the yearly goal for comments in just a few weeks! However, unless I come up with something brilliant you are willing to share, the total hit goal will be a wash.

If you have been following along with the count meter in the right side bar (the angry red numbers), you can see the total hits are well over 300,000. The more moderate reporting is for real visitors (people who stay on the landing page more than 5 seconds), although the hit counter does not count anyone who comes from certain social media…because the developers of WP plugins think sites like G+, Chime.In, Linked.In, Scoop.It and many other social media outlets are spam.

By cross-referencing my counters, the most conservative number I have for legitimate hits is currently just under 121,250. I hate to have to use an algorithm to arrive at my stats, since it smacks of me putting my thumb on the scale…even if I know of the deficiencies of the counters I am using.

Authors

Do you know someone who would like to bask in the spotlight? I am looking for some authors to help me fill September! Reach out to your writerly friends and offer them the chance at an interview to promote their books!

Guests

I am going to take off a week…soon. This will be a real hiatus. Yes, that means no blogging. No writing. No working. No laptop. No BlackBerry. That kind of week off. If you would like to do a guest post for my week off, step into the inbox. I will hold off the crazies.

Right Turn, Clyde!

Right turn, Clyde.

Considering the spotlight for this week and the MAD post, time management has cropped up again in the comments as a proposed topic. The M3 Readers have always steered the posts around here, to the point I have thrown out more than 40,000 words because the comments took the conversation in a totally different direction than the one I had planned.

Rather than embark on a new series on time (especially given the fabulousness of the last one), Clyde thought a good compromise would be to highjack the SEP. In all honesty, it is what the SEP is for, after all: How M3 influences my life and how my life influences M3.

Background

Field stripped in record time.

Over the last two weeks, there were a few of you who noticed my absences. With the extensive amount of connectivity I have, when I am MIA, the APB does not go out immediately. My buffer got all the way to zero, and not just on Friday when I pen the Follies. My flesh and blood life was a veritable fire ant nest. (Hold onto that image. We will need it in a moment.)

Violence

In the flesh and blood world, I have had my hands full with a molestation of a juvenile, a (failed) relocation,  a nasty divorce, a handful of dysfunctional family relationships, terrible health news, careers on the skids (or life support) and other ancillary issues associated with such atrocities. I admitted to a fellow blogger I was prone to want to give someone a massage.

With honey.

And a cheese grater.

And a bed of fire ants. (Please reinsert image here.)

To say I am not willing to wish physical harm on people to get their undivided attention would be disingenuous. While my preferred wish will always be arson, at times, the idea of more natural solutions (like ants) is more the method of MAD which fits the bill. Remember what the Genie in Aladdin said?

Insanity

Heigh, ho! Heigh ho! To the funny farm we go!

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. (Thank you, Einstein.)

So, how is it when the whole world has spun hopelessly out of control is it feasible to get dressed, go to work, play on social media, eat dinner, watch television, go to bed and pretend nothing is amiss?

We all know to hold in stress and trauma allows it to chew up our emotions, self-esteem and soul, like a bed of ants. (Reinsert image here.) What are we really doing when we continue on the path as though doing what we have always done will miraculously win over the inane protocols, bureaucratic red tape, closed minds and hard hearts of those who do us wrong?

Proposal

NOTHING

When we refuse to stand up for ourselves and our rights and our own well-being (physical and mental), we are doing nothing. We are tacitly agreeing with whatever is being heaped on our heads. We are endorsing the bad behavior of others.

Insanity.

We see abuse happening. We know it happens as bad or worse when we cannot see it. Others abuse us: our good nature, our kindness, our charity, our integrity. We abuse ourselves, day after day, physically and mentally. We go blithely on our way as though the abuser (even when it is us) will come to some kind of epiphany and independently decide to cease and desist.

Insanity.

We go to work into dangerous situations with ill- or unkempt, outdated equipment. We need help, but our requests for it are denied or deflected. We see malfeasance and nonfeasance rewarded. We go blithely to work each day and continue to keep our noses to the grind stone as though safer situations will emerge spontaneously and abusers will turn from their ways.

Insanity.

We engage people who are vile, malicious, spiteful, vulgar, criminal, amoral (perhaps, even sociopathic), abusive, inconsiderate, inconvenient, clingy and taxing. We excuse this bad behavior because we have similar genetic material to theirs. We blithely subject ourselves to their vitriol and condemnation as though our tolerance will be the shining example to turn them from their detestable ways.

Insanity.

Are you tired of being insane?

Insanity is a full time profession. It takes a massive amount of time, energy and emotional capital to beat one’s head against a rock. The rock, on the other hand, is spending a total of zero energy to lie there, unperturbed.

Pick Axe & Hammer

End the vicious time suck of insanity by trying something different. Even if what you attempt is wrong, it is better than where you now stand. How can I know that?

If you are wrong, you now know two ways which will not break the rock. If the hammer does not work, grab the pick axe. Picking up an equalizer is not dirty pool: It is leveling the playing field.

When the rock does not break, at least it is moved. When the stone is chipped, it may well know you are searching for a better implement. Even the slightest nick shows you the chance of breaking it. Long odds are better than the odds of nothing.

Pea Gravel?

Not every situation will break into uniform pieces which you can use to make a beautiful memorial garden. There will be big chunks and powder. There will be a dent in the ground. Your tool will be marred. Is it worth it?

Aren’t you?

Until next time,

Red Signature~~~~~~~~~~


I rarely ask you to do this, but I feel it is important tonight. This SEP is heavily linked to topics we have covered with viable help in each area. If you feel you disagree with an area, take a moment to learn a little more how these solutions came to emerge.

Has insanity caused you emotional bankruptcy? Are you willing to stop being insane? Will you help someone else to stop being insane? Is there something in your life you will stand up to and break the cycle?

© Red Dwyer 2012
Image of the seven dwarves: Public domain, original © Buena Vista & Walt Disney Studios
Re-Blogging of this or any other post on The M3 Blog
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51 Comments

  1. I find what Kat said very interesting. I also lived like that and was happy, until boom, I was stricken with undiagnosed, lingering, disabling illness.

    Since I had isolated myself so much, it turned into a negative thing. No one there to help. Now it’s become a burden and I want people, need people, want to get out … I guess the grass is always greener, isn’t it?

    If it was not for the “evil” Internet, I would have lost my sanity. I dread when the power goes out.
    Alexandra Heep recently posted..You Might be a Facebook Addict if:My Profile

    Reply
    • You are one of the reasons I have started a series I hope to finish for September. The isolation is good for some things, but not so hot for others…

      Reply
  2. I have to admit, I don’t see many of the Insanities you describe in my own life.

    I hope you have a fantastic time away, and get some much deserved rest.
    And ,barring that, that you get everything that needs attention tended too.
    El Guapo recently posted..Trifextra – The Great Garbanzo Bean IncidentMy Profile

    Reply
    • I think you and TMWGITU have a good thing. I know your crowded trains can be a pain in the keister, but a lot of the insanity I am seeing these days is what I described. And speaking of rest, you and TMWGITU could use at least a weekend getaway…You know what I am saying to you?

      Reply
      • Sadly, we planned a trip to Portland OR that we will probably cancel and might not be able to get refunded for. But if we don’t go on that, we’ll take a few long weekends in the near future…

        I wonder if I’m confusing the degree of insanity. Some of those elements are there, but it’s so much easier to ignore those that have them then it is to engage and get dragged down…
        El Guapo recently posted..Trifextra – The Great Garbanzo Bean IncidentMy Profile

        Reply
        • There are a good number infected with the neurosis who are best left to their own self-inflicted demise. I hope you can actually make your trip. You have a powerful prayer force behind you.

          Reply
  3. Hi Red! 🙂

    Sounds like you have your hands full hun! 🙁

    All I can do is pray you get everything sorted out soon.

    From what you have said there’s going to be some rough roads ahead for you my friend! 🙁

    I find it supremely ironic that those who drove me insane now try to pretend it was ‘all in my mind’, but full-time paranoid schizophrenia does have its advantages! 🙂

    Love and hugs always!

    Prenin.
    prenin recently posted..Saturday – quiet day.My Profile

    Reply
    • I say the same thing about OCD. It is a great coping tool…especially when dealing with the inane and insane. {HUGZ} Red.

      Reply
  4. Have you seen my FB profile header lately?
    MJ Logan

    MJ ~member of the happily insane.
    MJ Logan recently posted..Merry Go RoundMy Profile

    Reply
  5. so if you do it differently but get the same result is it stilll insanity? I have had a visitor from the past re connect but although I feel llike I have been transported back a year or so.. things are mostly ther same on that side..I am no longer accepting any ..,not one small bit of ill treatment from there.. more then once, I have cut of the ties again.. and informed the other party I will not tolerate it a minute .. they are free to call me when they can behave.. it usually takes a day or less.. but I reald this at the right time.. I was feeling weak in my resolve,, but I am crazy enough without insanity… i dont need it anymore…
    Love and hugs
    Lizzie
    Lizzie Cracked recently posted..A Single Mom’s (ok, Dad’s too) Summer Survival GuideMy Profile

    Reply
    • Good for you. The most powerful button on your tele is the end button. I have quite a few who wish the ties had never been severed (and then I have stalkers, too), but I am firm with “There is enough drama and insanity in my life without your adding vinaigrette to the fruit salad. TYVM for GTF.”

      Love and strength, Lizzie. Just keep saying no. Call on all those parent super powers. If you can tell a child no, well…everyone is someone’s child…even the ones who never grow up.
      {HUGZ}
      Red.

      Reply
  6. Thanks for the win Red! 🙂

    Emma’s poems are very good and I immediately identified with the first one: ‘My Victory Song’!

    I can’t find where I’m supposed to leave this comment, so I left it here! 🙂

    Thanks again for choosing me Bear! 🙂

    God bless to you and yours!

    Prenin.
    prenin recently posted..Thursday – Another Phishing email…My Profile

    Reply
  7. No insanity here, at least for me. A few crazies try to suck me in, but I refuse. I choose sanity!
    Angela Young recently posted..Super Granny?My Profile

    Reply
    • Great choice, Angie. Glad to see you today. I hope things are beginning to settle for you. 🙂

      Reply
  8. “Are you tired of being insane?” …. My favorite line, which made me laugh out loud. I’m ready for the infomercial! I just gave myself a charley horse from raising my arm up so high with thunderous waving.

    Everyday I swim in the pool of insanity. It resides in my home and my children are the worthless lifeguards that standby, talking and laughing with each other, while I drown in the depths of servitude. Here’s hoping my insanity ends when a couple of them become grownups (hmmmm…) and go on their merry way.
    Lorre recently posted..Even Super Heroes Need A Place To Call HomeMy Profile

    Reply
    • I can attest to the insanity tide ebbing a bit when the teens flock elsewhere. Just be careful not to backfill their void with adults of similar nature. Great to see you! xxx

      Reply

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