If you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate your dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!

If you will allow me a few moments of woolgathering today…

In a brief moment of insanity the other day, I was perusing (which I believe is an old Spanish word that means living in Peru, isn’t it?) my stats, something I almost never do (because I usually forget), and noticed a humongous spike in traffic during the month of July.

Sheesh, nearly 6 times the number of unique visitors I had in June! Holy moley, I thought, what could have caused that? I mean, I knew I’d been getting better and better at this blogging thing (he said with a straight face), but didn’t know I was gettin’ that good (so please allow me my delusions, if you don’t mind).

A quick check revealed the spike started on July 16, which lo and behold just happens to coincide with the day the new book Age of Conversation was released! Aha! mystery solved!

Wow, did that book ever make a splash in the publishing world! (sound of big splash) As far as we know, it’s the first of its kind; a collaborative effort from over a hundred authors, all on a single general subject (sortof like we do here each month with the What I Learned From… series, but on a much bigger scale.)

There’s even a chapter from yours truly, so when you get your copy, I’m on page 46 (hey, you DID order one for yourself and one for a friend, right? After all, the profits go to charity.) Imagine that - I’m actually a published author! (Well, other than here at the Zone, that is.) About the only bone I have to pick is they changed my title - I had named it simply “Bridges”. Oh, well… no biggie.

Anyhoo -

Speaking of publishing, I thought I’d try something new this week here at the Zone. Kevin Eikenberry, author of a new book titled Remarkable Leadership due out on Wednesday, August 22, contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to help publicize his book. Well, I’m always willing to help out a fellow author, but since I don’t really do interviews, book reports or stuff like that, and since we just finished another round of What I Learned From stories, I suggested he write a story about what he learned from writing his book.

Folks, I can tell you with confidence (since I’ve already read it) on Wednesday you’re in for a treat! I’ll be posting a special bonus What I Learned From… written by Kevin. I can tell you now, there are some great lessons learned, not just for writers, but for everyone who currently experiences real life!

So don’t forget to tune in on Wednesday (then again, why not tune in everyday?) to find out what Kevin learned about publishing a book. Even if you’re not a writer, you’ll find the lessons have a surprisingly broad application.

Oh, one last thing -

I finally got around tuit and revised the ol’ blogroll to include some of my most favorite folks. Many apologies for waiting so long to do it. So if you find yourself in the list over there on the right, then congratulations! You’re on a roll!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!