Taking time out

That's two out of two.

And this has taken me completely by surprise. I have been reading since ... I don't even remember since when.

In my ideal world Authors are good people. At least the ones I read. Only sensitive people can reach out and touch my mind and body. (Note that there is a major assumption here: that I am good too ;-)).

But as we all know the real world can be very different. In order that my ideal world remains intact, and in spite of my intense desire to communicate with the authors - just to thank them for all those wonderful books that they write (no hidden agenda here), I had refrained so far from sending them snail-mails (in the pre-Internet era) or e-mails.

But that was about to change. I wrote to the best selling authors of The Go-Giver, Bob Burg and John Mann. To my surprise I got a response. This response was not just a curt response e-mail. It was a longish reply from persons who really cared. See my post Reaching Out.

Naturally I was thrilled. So, last night I send an e-mail to Seth Godin, the author of Purple Cow. He zapped me. The turn around from the time I send that e-mail to him to his response must have been around 10 minutes. Check out my lens on Purple Cow - Book Review. His response is embedded there.

I am delighted that my ideal world is still intact.

Reading every e-mail and responding to each one of them is a discipline that we all need to inculcate. You can never be busy enough.

Reaching out

This is my 300th post for this blog. A milestone - not because of the number; rather because I will describe a most memorable event on my 300th post.

If you have read my previous post on Go-Giver, you would have realized that I am in love with that book. On a hunch I sent an e-mail to the authors, Bob Burg and John Mann, thanking them for writing such a wonderful book. I also told them to have a look at my review on Go-Giver. And guess what, yesterday morning the first mail I saw was the reply from Bob Burg. Then just before going to bed, I received a mail from John Mann. WOW! Especially because I did not expect a response - you know! Busy people and all that!

Am I delighted or am I delighted?

I am glad I started this blog - along the way I have made numerous friends who regularly read my posts. Many of them leave a comment or two. Some of them have featured posts from this blog on their blogs: Tothewire and Susancritelli(Please click on these links and visit their blogs to give them some e-love). Some do not leave a comment but I know they are there. When I get mails berating me for not celebrating Tintin's 75th birthday I know they are there. Or when I get an e-mail asking if I am alright on the day I do not blog, I know they are there. One of my readers actually called me to find out if the advice to my kids apply to me also. And then there are these bunch of cool guys at the Indiblogger forum.

I think I will be blogging for a long, long time.

Picture courtesy: Julia Freeman-Woolpert