Need a laugh in these trying times? How about 4,000 laughs? Would that help?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my 33rd published book, RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING, available now on Amazon and at Organic Books in Albuquerque (505-553-3823).
As most of you know, I've written daily Rules for Successful Living since 2009, distributing the addled adages via Facebook and Twitter. In 2012, I assembled 1,500 of the Rules into a self-published collection.
Lot of Rules under the bridge since then. The master list is at more than 4,400 now, and I'm still writing a new one every day. Around 4,000 made the cut for the latest collection, which is 220 pages in paperback.
A few of my favorites:
-Never argue with a man whose tattoos outnumber his teeth.
-A watched pot never boils, and a boiled watch isn't much good, either.
-Looking down your nose makes your head look fat.
-When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's myopia.
-It takes two to tango, but you can pirouette all by yourself.
-Circus people always refer to the lion tamer as "the new guy."
I often use the summer months to write a new novel. But like a lot of writers, I've been sort of frozen during the COVID quarantine. It's hard to concentrate on fiction while the world is going nuts all around you. Instead, I poured myself into editing and publishing the RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING, and into work at our family bookstore. Organic Books reopened to customers on July 1, and business has been brisk.
Tomorrow, I'm back to school, teaching my weekly writing class in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. The class will be taught mostly in person, and we'll all wear masks and keep our distance in an oversized classroom. It promises to be weird, but I've gotten accustomed to wearing a mask from my shifts at the bookstore.
I hope you and yours are healthy and happy and getting the laughs that you need.
