A terrific new book available for pre-order!

WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from 

My Two-Decade Friendship with 

Humanitarian and Coach John Wooden to Help 

"Make Each Day Your Masterpiece"

Hi, friends! I have a special post today with some terrific news to share: my amazing dad, who also happens to be an amazing writer, has written a book about his relationship with the legendary coach and humanitarian John Wooden. The book is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter, and he needs your help to make this book's publication a reality! Do you ever feel adrift? Are you looking for more purpose, love and strength in your life? Maybe you're feeling overwhelmed by your goals or disappointed by setbacks that inevitably spring up. Or perhaps you are looking for a wise, heart-warming book to read this summer.

If you loved books like Tuesdays With Morrie, The Happiness Project, or Kitchen Table Wisdom, I know you will love WOODEN & ME! This book would also make a terrific Father's Day or graduation gift. Do you love basketball or have a basketball lover in your life? This is the book for you!

Here's how you can help:

1) Pre-order your copy at the Kickstarter campaign at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1138392258/wooden-and-me-book-and-e-book

 2) Share the link with your friends and family -- and ask them to do the same. Pledged supporters will receive a signed copy of WOODEN & ME this summer upon publication.

 3) Join the Facebook event and spread the word! https://www.facebook.com/events/630992526929012/633205676707697/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity 

Now I'll leave you with some words from my dad about the genesis of this project and what your support means to him:



As a longtime newspaper sports columnist in Southern California I am often asked to speak to civic groups – and the person audiences invariably want to hear more about during the Q&A afterward is Coach John Wooden. Listeners at these talks, as well as readers of my columns, over the years have encouraged me to write a book about my experiences with Coach.

Now I have, with the memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece.” It was in 1987 as a young sports writer and near-newlywed that I met Coach, who soon became a friend and mentor through the births of my two children and their growth into young adulthood; the death of my mother; career decisions; and more.

As I note in my completed manuscript: “One did not have to play for Coach Wooden in order to be one of his students, and of this I am a privileged example. I was not one of his basketball players – except for one glorious week at his youth camp in 1975 – but make no mistake, I was his pupil. No coach or teacher or professor has taught me more, or taught me more important things.”

Just as Coach Wooden was beloved and revered by people of all ages and all backgrounds, readers from teens to parents to grandparents, basketball fans and non-fans alike, will find WOODEN & ME enlightening and inspiring.

 * * *

“WOODEN & ME is an inspiring combination of Tuesdays With Morrie and Chicken Soup for the Soul” -- author Randy Robertson

Order your copy today! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1138392258/wooden-and-me-book-and-e-book

Use Competition to Boost Your Writing

This Saturday is the big rivalry football game for my alma mater, USC, versus UCLA. Amidst the playful trash-talking and revelrous build-up to the big game, I have been thinking about how rivalry and competition are a part of our lives in many ways, not just in the realm of sports.

In writing, for example, contests are forms of competition. Perhaps there is a "big game" of a contest that you enter every year, hoping to win the big prize. Or perhaps there is a writer you admire and consider a rival of sorts. While the green-eyed monster of jealousy is never something to court-- it can be paralyzing to your creativity and toxic to your happiness-- there are ways to use rivalry and competition as good motivators to get your writing in gear and your butt in the writing chair. Here are some ideas:

• Pair up with a writing friend and use each other to make headway on your goals. Perhaps you want to finally hammer out an outline for your novel, or send out more queries, or simply get more words on the page. Pick a goal and turn it into a competition with your friend. Whoever writes more words, sends out more queries, etc., is the winner for the week; the loser buys the winner lunch or coffee at your next get-together.  

• What writers do you admire? Search out their work. Read it; study it; learn from it. What do they do to create such compelling characters? How do they build such intricate and gripping plots? How does their writing build from words to sentences to paragraphs on the line level? 

• Even better, look up the websites of writers you admire and find their contact information. Send them a direct email or an old-fashioned letter in care of their publisher. Tell them what you admire about their work. Strike up a conversation and build a relationship. Get involved in the writing community!

• Annual competitions are great ways to mark your own progress. Perhaps you enter the same big-prize writing competition every year and have not won (yet!) ... You don't need to depend on a panel of judges to get something out of the contest. Use it as a catalyst to reflect on your writing and how your work has grown and changed in the last year. Are you pushing yourself? Are you putting in the time you want to be putting in? What goals can you set for yourself to focus on until the next contest comes around?

Rivalry week is always fun, and you can use competition as a positive source of motivation in your writing life. But when it comes down to it, remember that the only person you should really be in competition with is yourself!

Happy writing -- and, this Saturday, FIGHT ON TROJANS! Beat the Bruins! :)