SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

always a reward for cleaning against my will: /look what i found


http://www.magtimeframes.com/video/ad_magtimeframes.wmv

this is how i met leonard stegmann. i'd come up with such a trend-setting, novel, utterly fantastic idea: mag time frames! the world's first handmade magnetic home decor frames! and then my brother, he planted the idea in me for a "create-your-own" kit..

i worked long and hard on that one.. experimenting for incalcuable hours with every possible foundation, metal weight, magnet strength/flexibility, every opportunity for instant display until i landed the perfect combination of raw materials, tested, tested, tested, wrote up simplified instructions, revised, revised, revised and then set to work on the packaging

and if you think coming up with a novel, fantastic idea/product and new trend is exciting, fun or rewarding, i assure you it is not. introducing a new concept and product to the consumer marketplace, no matter how wonderful and full of potential it is, is.. is..

well it's hell actually. terribly expensive. a great big pain in the ass really. -there is a much longer story to be told here.. about patents, attorneys, gargantuan trade shows where you pay big bucks for the priviledge of being ignored by buyers but seduced by thieves and liars

but i'm saving that longer story for another time. one of the upshots (and in my estimation God's greater plans) was that i learned the really-super-expensive-chapter 13-divorce-hard-way, that i needed to demonstrate my product; it did not sell itself.

no demonstration. no sales.
quick personal demonstration. good sales.

but with small children, a less than enthusiastic husband, growing debt, very limited time.. it was becoming harder and harder to get out there and demonstrate. the trade show.. where all the buyers come to you -yeah, write.

HUGE MISTAKE.

i tried instead, as many businesses/entrepreneurs do: a commercial! -some way of communicating to a larger audience without having to physically travel place to place, small crowd to small crowd



and here i learned a 30 sec spot -no sales.

so.. no demonstration/no sales.
30 sec commercial demonstration/no sales.

personal demonstration/good sales.

and so i am very curious how my 14 minute segment on robin fahr's show conversations will fair. -certainly my passion remains, and the new ideas keep coming..

BUT -and much, much more importantly.. had i not innovated mag time frames.. had i not listened to my brother and packaged the "create~your~own" mag time frame kit.. had my product sold without demonstrations... had i not been frustrated into experimenting with a local commercial


i would have never met LEONARD STEGMANN! MY squidmann! because he showed up with another camera man to film my mag time frame commercial in my then home's living room.

and just click on my commercial. isn't it packed with hope, creative inspiration and home town charm. (and in only 30 seconds!)

so anyway.. at some point i learn leonard is a writer (like me!), and when passing his desk in the comcast building, i see he has books for sale -like, write there- and i am very supportive of fellow writers, so of course, - i bought one-

and i enjoyed it so much. appreciated his authenticity and got his humor immediately.

wrote a thank you note w/my compliments, and that was that.

leonard quit comcast. i filed a chapter 13. -we went our very separate ways. it was 2003 i believe.

skip ahead a year or two.. yes, it was two: june 2005.

and i get an email announcement with a link to leonard stegmann's blog.

i don't think at the time i even knew the word or meaning of a blog. -but i clicked, and i am very supportive of fellow writers, so of course.. i read. and once again, and write away, i appreciated his authenticity and got his humor immediately. -and-

AND! -this ability to leave a comment.. to me.. the most utterly fantastic interactive fun any writer/reader could ever, ever, ask for. read AND comment. write then. write there. read, respond. -just like that!? who do i personally thank?! for this brilliant idea!

-and as you will read here on page 276 of his newest book (3rd book): a year on planet mercury, on the acknowledgements page:

...from my first posting in june 2005 up until and including last night's article, sandy has been there to read nearly every one of the hundreds of entries, and has written comments on most of them...

it's true! -and it is true that leonard stegmann saved my life. i want the whole wide world to know it. and he doesn't believe in God, but i do, and i know God put us together for good reason.

and he saved my life by just being himself and doing what he does: write.

and that extra step: sharing.

every morning during some of the most difficult times in my adult life, when one might be tempted to take drugs, drink large quantities of alcohol AND take drugs, when one might consider going numb, slicing a wrist or jumping off a bridge..

every morning, instead of going numb or feeling..

sorry for myself. i managed to get up and out of bed because i had leonard stegmann's authenticity and humor waiting for me. and there was something so very uplifting for me -a writer too- in that ability to comment. -to respond. -on the spot.

and then.. every time i responded, leonard would ACKNOWLEDGE my response.

and there was something so uplifting, and life-saving really, about this one person.. this one person, making me smile every morning and acknowledging my existence. it was fun! fun and life affirming.

i am here to testify that fun and friendship, and some opportunity to do what you love -read and write, for example, -even if only for a few moments each day,

this is much better for transforming and transcending and fixing your life than any of the other alternatives we might impulsively reach for

by august 2005, i had created my own blog too, thanks again to leonard stegmann. i started out awkward, like most.. unsure. uneasy. but willing.. wanting. started out by just posting favorite book passages -because your blog can be anything you want it to

little taste of that freedom woke up all my dormant creativity & spark.. and now i'm near 500 posts, with each year more of my own creative writing filling the menu

i'm quite sure that practice and healthy habit of reading/responding to leonard's blog every day for three years now, plus my own reading/writing on my blog, plus the other blog friends i've added along the way.. well, i can feel that it has my writing craft in top form.

and somewhere.. can't remember when.. somewhere along the line, my neighbor nancy handed me the book 84 charing cross road. i couldn't put it down. all that wonderful correspondence between helene hanff and frank doel. twenty years worth! -and how precious it was to watch their friendship evolve through letter's only. not phone calls or personal visits

i like to think of leonard and i as the 21st century version of 84 charing cross road. and we don't have 20 years of correspondence,

but because leonard is the world's first blogumnist -writing 7, then 5 days a week with great discipline and consistency; and because i've read/responded to nearly every one

i'm sure -when it comes to quantity- we've exceeded their letter count. -and because we are in the 21st century, with the internet and blogs.. this ability to communicate so rapidly

while they communicated across continents by snail mail only..

we compare and don't compare, really. certainly the correspondence, the playfulness, the friendship..

but it makes me laugh when i take it further, because frank doel.. such a proper englishman.

leonard stegmann; -well frank loved books. antiquarian bookseller. married. london/england. -but i got the feeling he would blush if you cussed in front of him.. and would be quite shocked to see all that can be found on the internet today.

leonard stegmann; -well, -proper is not the first word that comes to mind. porn surfaces near the top though... and book store, yes, but with the word "adult" in front of it.

when i think about it, really the only two things they have in common, leonard stegmann and frank doel is this: male. married.

and actually, i don't have so much in common with helene hanff either. female. single. writers. and i do love peppered salami too! -and share some of her need for dental work

but i LOVE to think about what their relationship would be like if it took place today.

helene hanff and frank doel in the 21st century with emails and blogs vs. letters. -with the internet vs. post office.

how much flirtier and daring i imagine helene. -she had that side; left so unexploited.

and frank.. proper, proper, careful, cautious, gentlemanly, frank..

i picture leonard pulling him to the side for a few minutes.. dusting off those old books, turning a few new pages in his life; corrupting his good nature; just enough to wake him up

(which ilom did for me/thanks ilom).

anyway.. helene never met frank in person. never met his wife. by the time she left new york to visit england, frank had already passed on. -their friendship grew exclusively through written correspondence, and this is the thing that makes me think leonard and i are the 21 century version

i did meet leonard in person.. long ago, when i made that charming 30 second commercial for my mag time frames

but haven't seen him since 2003. never talk on the phone, or anything like that.

it is a friendship growing exclusively by way of written correspondence: blogs.

and it is magical. -miraculous, really. and remains, to this day, my inspiration for getting out of bed every morning, when i'm so often tempted to quit and hide.

thanks leonard squidmann! and congratulations on book #3!

-now write back to it!

love, ~s.c