I’m addressing you, students, because you have the strength and will that older people mostly do not. Young people start nations; old people bitch about them. It’s the way of the world. If you’re not happy with your world right now, there are steps you can take today that can tangibly impact your world right this very second.

(And old people, if you want to join in, that’s cool, too.)

1. Listen.

One of the best things any of us can do is listen to other people. Try to avoid rushing to judgement, try to avoid rushing to a “fix.” Just listen. Ask questions. Make eye contact. Those simple things may make all the difference to someone, including you. You don’t have to change your mind about a topic, but you do have to leave room for it to marinate a bit. Let people’s stories impact you.

2. Don’t talk shit.

And on that note, don’t talk shit to or about other people. I talk so much shit, it’s unreal, but only when I’m alone in the car. And you know what? It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make me feel better, it doesn’t change the assholes from being assholes. (Seriously, who lets their dog crap twelve inches away from a free dog-poop-bag dispenser? The same able-bodied shitbags who park in handicapped spots, I bet.)

So, yes, it may feel good for a moment to rag on someone, but it is not helping the world. Especially petty, gossipy bullshit.

There are two people, two very specific people alive in this world today that I hate with the heat of a thousand burning suns. And you know what? That hate has done nothing for me. Not a thing. This year, I will forgive them. Somehow. Maybe with the help of some Metta meditation, maybe by sheer force of will, but I will do it. It’s not hurting them, it’s hurting me.

Furthermore, back-stabbing and shit-talking online has got to stop. Just don’t participate in that bottom-feeder bullshit. You’re better than that. We all are. Being a petty little shit online is for…petty little shits. We need fewer of those, and a lot more of people saying, “Hey, I’m here.”

Remember Random? Remember that that book was based on a true story? (Or, more likely, hundreds of true stories.) If our “hero” had simply spoken up, spoken kindly when she had the chance, a life might have been saved. Again, this was based on a true story. This happens every day in this country, and I’m sick of it, and you should be, too.

Be kind online or don’t even bother logging on. Post pictures of puppies and kittens if you want, but don’t get caught up in the rumor mill or hater spaces. I promise you have much better things to do than that. For example:

3. Ask him/her out.

Just do it! The worst that happens is nothing. You will have a great story to tell a few years from now, no matter the result. And don’t, like, text it or something. Man- or Woman-up and go face to face and say, “Hey, want to go grab some coffee sometime?” or whatever it is you think will work. Don’t be cutesy or clever, just be sincere. Smile. I swear to you, even if you get laughed at (you probably won’t), it will not be the end of the world if he/she says no. How much trouble might Tyler have saved himself if he’d just goddamned talked to Becky that first day? We’ll never know. But a kind smile and some nice words will go a long, long way toward making a friend or a date. Or both.

4. Reduce/eliminate eating meat.

I am not a climate scientist or medical doctor, nor do I claim to be, and I don’t give a shit whether you “believe in” science or not. That’s your issue. My issue is simply this: Reducing or eliminating your meat intake is good for your body, your neighborhood, your state, your country, and your planet. You do not have to go all-out vegan—my family is what I call “veering vegan” without making some kind of blood-oath of fealty to Mother Gaia. But we don’t have meat more than, say, once a month anymore. If everyone pulled back on meat consumption, there are benefits for everyone.

Just consider it, it’s all I ask. Google it. Here, I did it for you: What happens if we stop eating meat?

5. Do that thing you like doing, no matter what anyone says.

You have a thing you love to do. You know what it is. Maybe it’s writing stories or poetry or lyrics, or painting or drawing or sculpting, or golfing or dog walking or yoga or krav maga, or acting or directing or filming or editing….

You get the idea. There’s something you deeply love to do.

Go do that thing. Once a week, minimum, if possible. Once a month will do. You deserve to do that thing. (If it’s not, say, being a homicidal maniac, that is.) This world needs all of us to relentlessly pursue the things we love, the things that make us happy to be here, the things that define us. When we do that, we’re better able to deal with the crap that comes at us. Our stress level goes down, and our relationships improve. I hate the idea of anyone, anywhere, not being able to do at least a little bit of the thing they love. I may never sell another novel in my life, but I will still write several a year because it’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s one of the things that makes me, me.

So go do your thing.

6. Which reminds me, STAY THE FUCK HERE.

Not kidding. Suicide is fucking bullshit, period, full stop. Ask anyone who’s had to live with someone they love doing it. So, don’t. Ever. Just don’t. Wait. Give it a day or a week or a month or a year, but so help me baby Jesus, things will get better after high school, and even better after college-age. Ask me how I know. But you won’t find out if you don’t STAY HERE. Put the Suicide Prevention Hotline number into your phone right now and you call that thing the very moment it even crosses your mind.

Let’s make 2017 the year we didn’t lose one more kid to suicide.

You being here makes the world a better place. See how easy that is? Just stick around. Someone needs you. I know I do.

National Suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-273-8255

7. Watch the sunrise or sunset.

When you get a chance, take just a minute, or five, or ten, and watch the sun come up or set. If nothing else it’s a reminder to take a moment and breathe, clear your head, and put all the craziness of the world in its place. It works for me.

Here’s to 2017. We got this.

If you like a musician or an author or any other artist, you should consider paying them for their work. If you can’t pay for their work, you should at least support them with your time.

Here’s how it works. These are not actual numbers, but you’ll get the point:

Authors and other artists like musicians earn a “royalty” every time one of their books/albums/songs/whatever gets sold. (There’s more to it than that, but I want to keep this simple.) Let’s say I, as the author, make a 10% royalty on any book sold by my publisher. Let’s say that book is $10 at your local bookstore. How much do I make?

$1.00.

(That doesn’t include 15% or so for my agent…so really it’s .85 cents. It also doesn’t count taxes…but anyway.)

So if I sell 100 books, I get $100. Not a lot, but there’s a lot you could buy with $100. Would you like $100 right now?

So if 100 people illegally download my book, I get . . . $0.00. Zero is less than 100, last time I checked.

Listen:

First, I understand that e-book pricing is odd and inconsistent, and I’m sorry about that, but it’s out of my hands. Second, if you think hardcovers are overpriced, I urge you to write a 50,000 word novel, revise it, proofread it, have it proofread again, and again, and just once more to make sure it is flawless, then build an eye-catching and appealing cover, then dump the whole thing into InDesign and try doing a layout yourself so that the words look appealing on the page….then total up all those hours and tell me how much you think they were worth. It’ll be a lot more than $17.99.

(Of which I would get $1.80, by the way. Again, not counting my agent or taxes or…)

Third: Your local library has a METRIC SHIT TON of material FOR FREE. And if they don’t have it, they can get it. E-books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, novels, nonfiction. Tons of it online, tons of it at the library, and if they don’t have it, they can get it 90% of the time FROM ANOTHER LIBRARY FOR FREE.

By the way? You already paid for it. Your tax dollars at work. Go use some of that stuff. A lot of it, like on Freegal, you can download and keep forever. Did I mention that it was free?

As someone else pointed out, if you’re paying $5.20 for a cup of coffee but won’t pay .99 for an e-book? Dude. C’mon.

Anyway. If you’re gonna steal our shit, then at least, for the love of God, leave a review on Amazon. Not Goodreads. Amazon.com. I mean, Jesus, if you are reading/listening/in any way consuming an artist’s work, then you must like that artist, right? Don’t you want to support them, even if you won’t do it financially? Then leave goddamn review. It’s three minutes of your time. Small price to pay for a free song you’ll listen to for the next forty years or a novel you can re-read over and over.

And I mean, my God! You can get used hardcovers at Amazon for a penny! Would I rather you buy a shiny new hardcover at my book launch on August 18? Yes. But the next best thing is to just get the cheapest copy you can and then (wait for it)….leave a review.

And finally:

We love you.

You get that, right? Artists love people, otherwise we’d be A) stupid, and B) working in a vacuum.

Nothing delights us more than creating shit for you to enjoy.

It’s why we get up in the morning. I am not kidding about this. Ask around.

I don’t have a problem giving you stuff for free. If you’re that hard up, by all means, send me a message and I will do my level best to get a copy of my book out to you, because, see above. I love you, and I love doing this for you. More than once I have spent my own, unreimbursed money to send a hardcover out to someone because that’s the kind of person I am. I want you to have this book. I want you to love it. Or not! But I want you to have it.

Just don’t steal it. Please. I’m begging you. We have got to move away from this Everything Is Free Online culture. I have to buy groceries to feed my toddler, you know? That’s not free. You wouldn’t want the work you do at your company to go unrewarded. You work hard. I work hard. The dozen or so people it takes to get a book to market work hard.

Don’t steal. Please.

And leave reviews on Amazon. No joke. Please do it.

…Rant off.

And for those many, many, many of you to whom this does not apply, thank you. On behalf of authors and other artists everywhere, thank you. We cherish you so very, very much.

Tag Archives: art

7 Things Students Can Do Right Now To Make The World A Better Place