The Secret of my Success

I work at a great independent bookstore called Turnrow Book Company. It's something I thoroughly enjoy because I am exposed to so many books and we get advanced copies that the owner let's me take home to read. It's an easy little part-time job that I can forget about once I step over the threshold and I like that. I'm making a little pocket money and no stress is involved.

I also got to interview Grisham when he came in November and that was a thrill even though I'm not a big fan of his work. I was a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Ole Miss with his youngest sister. Of course, back then I didn't know her brother would be "John Grisham, world-wide best selling author" In fact, I didn't think she could possibly have any relative that could be very literary. She was, to put it delicately, a little rough around the edges.That's why when she told me her brother just wrote a book, I kind of shrugged and wondered if her brother was doing a how-to book about shotgunning beer or killing something.

She took me to her room to see a review a local paper did of "A Time to Kill." I didn't think too much about it until much later when "The Firm" became a best-seller and I recalled how I didn't make a big enough fuss about her brother back in 1988. Too bad I wasn't clairvoyant enough to buddy up with her and become her BFF so I could go to the movie premier. Oh, the regret!!!

Last night, the bookstore hosted three authors while debuting a new second story porch that patrons can lounge on with a cold beer in hand while browsing a book. Kevin Sessums, Vanity Fair and Allure magazine editor and now, #35 on the New York Times Best Seller list, read from his new book Mississippi Sissy. Sonny Brooks,an Alabama author, read from his unfinished manuscript. Davids Adams Richards, author of Friends of Meager Fortune, read from his book and Steve Yarbrough, End of California, introduced everybody. It was so great to hear people read from their own books. These people are at the top of their game and I was in awe and a little jealous because that's what I want be. I want to have a book with a real cover with my name on it to read from. This is my way of practicing "The Secret" I am putting it out to the universe and now I will attempt to do the work to make that happen. Thank goodness I didn't have to actually buy that crazy book to learn that bit of wisdom. I do something I call my daily "Secret" I Ching.

I grab the book off the shelf and randomly open it to see what the universe wants me to know on that particular day. Yesterday I found out that if I want money I have to visualize it and speak about money as if I have a lot of it. I had to say things like, "Money is no object for a big spender like myself." "My pockets are jammed full of mad money." I gleaned from those wise pages that I should just order the new Gucci bag I've been admiring on the internet because acting like you have money attacts the money molecules. That purchase shows the universe I believe I am rich and we all know rich people attract money. That's why they're rich. So by believing I am rich, speaking like I'm a millionaire and carrying the accessories of the rich will make me...a broke idiot. That's the real secret.