Weekend Reading: The Holy Smokes Things Got Busy Edition

I've started the formatting work on Annorlunda Books' next release. I should have a cover to show soon, and when I do, I'll put up a webpage with a blurb and all of that. So... stay tuned! And in the meantime, don't forget to check out the most recent release, Unspotted.

I've also got a talk coming up, and am planning some celebratory things around Tungsten Hippo's upcoming second birthday, and am also planning to offer my "intro to project management for non-project managers" class again. I originally called the class Get More Done, but then realized that there is a far more famous book by the same name, and so I need to rebrand my class. Suggestions for a new name will be gratefully accepted. I hate naming things.

And, as a I discussed a bit on Twitter last night, Petunia's 6th birthday is coming up, and we've decided to do the same thing we did for Pumpkin's 6th birthday: go to Disneyland. I need to get some aspects of that trip planned out and booked ASAP, because eating with the princesses books out early. And of course we want to eat with the princesses.

So, what I'm saying is, holy smokes! Things got busy! For the first time since leaving my full time job, I've felt the need to print out some monthly calendars and schedule out my work. I kept calendars with release dates, vacation times, etc., when I was a group leader, because I was trying to run multiple projects at once, and had five employees and a gaggle of contractors whose schedules I needed to respect. Now it is just me (and my family) whose schedules need considering, but I'm back to having multiple projects. I like it that way, so it is all good.

Before I get to the links, a little blatant self-promotion. One of the things on the calendar for next week is to run a promotion to sign up more mailing list subscribers, both for my Management Monthly list and for my Founding Chaos list. The inducement I have is two books by Laura Vanderkam to give away- I'll give a copy of the print version of her What the Most Successful People Do... series to a subscriber of the Management Monthly list, and a copy of 168 hours to a subscriber of the Founding Chaos list.

The prizes

I was the random winner of them in a Twitter chat I participated in around the release of her latest book, I Know How She Does It (which I reviewed), and since I already have copies of both of these books, I'm going to pass the marketing love on and give the new ones away to randomly selected subscribers of my most relevant newsletters.

Both newsletters come out monthly. Management Monthly includes links to the management/productivity things I've written that month under my real name, links to other management and productivity things I've found on the web, and other relevant notes I feel like making. It also includes announcements of classes and seminars I'm giving. You can see its archive and sign up here.

Founding Chaos is a slightly more personal newsletter that includes a story about life as someone trying to start a company, promos of things I've released, and links that I've liked. You can see its archive and sign up here.

I'll be picking the winners next Sunday (8/30) at 9 p.m. pacific time. I'll make a few more announcements on Twitter next week, but you don't have to wait for those. Sign up now! And yes, you can sign up to both lists. The content overlaps, but not by much. It also only overlaps a little with these links posts.

Alright, enough of that. On to the links:

A new report from Bain and Company found that companies "drain" women's ambition in two years. Reading this was a bit like reading the intro to What Works for Women and Work- affirming, but a little too close to home for comfort. I guess I should be glad I lasted as long as I did? On the other hand, I don't think all companies are equal in this regard, and if I start the clock at the time I started at my last company... I lasted not much longer than two years. Interesting.

The timing found in the study made me think of this post on Corprette, which is my favorite site for ideas about how to dress like a professional, but also occasionally has posts about other career-related topics. Note the quoted comment about how anyone can do any job for two years. When I contemplate the fact that how the way biotech works made it likely that I wouldn't be in any job for more than two years...  yeah, a little close to home. (Although I had some GREAT years at some of my jobs, so it isn't all gloomy.)

Some of you may be wondering why I spend time on a site with ideas for how to dress like a professional. Surely, I can just go to a store and buy things? Well, I have big boobs. And the fashion industry doesn't make things for women like me. Anytime I have to do a targeted shopping excursion looking for something I need for an interview or a talk, I come home angry and depressed. Far better to keep an eye on a few sites and buy things that are likely to work for me when they come along. Also, Corprette is the site that led me to my Lo and Sons computer bag, which I outright love.

All of that is to say: dudes, you have no idea how easy you have it when it comes to dressing professionally.

Speaking of things that are different for women than for men... I really liked this post from Lara Hogan about celebrating achievements as a woman. I remember seeing one of her tweets of a celebratory doughnut and that is probably what planted the seed for my idea that I should celebrate my milestones. Maybe I should tweet out a picture of the shells I find each time? It is an interesting idea.

I had a couple of Twitter rants about that NYT piece on Amazon, over at my real name account. I was starting to think I would need to write a post summarizing the research we have on long hours. It is not as strong as I'd like, but it does at least suggest that working long hours is as counterproductive as I argue it is. Luckily for me, Sarah Green Carmichael summarized the research for me.

Speaking of work/life stuff: this Fast Company piece about the start up founder who had to bring a toddler with her to Y Combinator didn't get as much attention as I thought it would when I saw it. The founder in question has made it clear she bears no ill will towards Y Combinator... but I still think the rest of us can say "hey, this isn't alright." Y Combinator absolutely could afford to make things a little less terrible for parents who want to participate in its program. It just chooses not to, for whatever reason.

Reading that post and the little bit of response I saw, reminded me of an old post I wrote about trying to imagine a world in which the necessary work of raising the next generation could be better integrated into the other work in society. I still feel like my imagination needs to stretch more in this area. But I don't think the Y Combinator way is a good way, I really don't.

Gene Demby wrote an amazing, heartbreaking piece about the Black reporters who are covering the Black Lives Matter movement and related topics. Apparently the comments are a nightmare. I haven't dared to look.

This article on racism in the classroom makes me want to cry. I tweeted something about how everyone in a public job should get training on implicit bias. I don't think it would solve the problem, but it might make it better. I think people have to be in the right frame of mind to accept the message of the training, though, and I don't know how you achieve that in a society where someone like Donald Trump can poll as well as he does, and even the "moderate" Republican candidate for president is saying racist things about immigration, and where Shaun King has to write a post like this.

Some of the other prominent activists in the Black Lives Matter movement have started a project called Campaign Zero to end police violence.

This cartoon about converting ethics into economics questions is funny/sad.

This is a long essay about being a journalist right now... but I swear it is worth your time.

Albert Burneko's post on raising kids is awesome.

I really like today's Tungsten Hippo quote:

"It’s an odd sort of future, but sometimes the only thing to do is thank God there’s no zombies, and just make the best of it all."

It is from a novella by Maia Sepp called An Etiquette Guide to the End Times which I also loved.

This is a cool story about a bridge.

My husband sent me this video in an email titled "we should totally have another one:"



We aren't going to, but it does capture the awesomeness of having a toddler.

I love this:

It me. pic.twitter.com/x5qjeUclFZ

— Karen McGrane (@karenmcgrane) August 21, 2015

Ask Cloud: Time Management for List-Haters

I have a new Ask Cloud question, and it is a hard one. I'm really hoping my readers can help out!

List-Averse asks:

"I read your book [Note: that would be Taming the Work Week] and a lot of your blog posts on productivity.  I need all the advice I can get on being productive and keeping the work hours sane.  One thing that I keep seeing are making lists (daily lists... weekly... long-term).  Lists do not work for me!  I write things down and then I forget where I wrote things down/never get around to actually looking at the lists/priorities change and yesterday's lists become obsolete.  Do you have any suggestions for further reading on productivity/project management for people who are list-averse?"

I followed up to ask what problem List-Averse is trying to solve- not making good use of time? Forgetting important things? Something else? Here was the answer, lightly edited to preserve anonymity:

"My goal is to use time wisely.  I am somewhat disorganized and I am horrible at strategy.  There are all these different things (sometimes from different projects) that have to be done.  I end up wasting a huge amount of time because I tend to forget that before starting thing A, I need to prepare B, C and get G.  I drive 30 minutes to get G, but forget to ask about X and Y for project Z that I will need to start in two weeks.

I am good at concentrating and working on things that are right in front of me, but anything that requires strategic planning is a challenge...  I've tried making lists, but my brain just doesn't seem to be all that compatible with lists.  I either forget I made a list (and find it months later), or can't find it, or don't have it with me when I need it.

I can function reasonably well in [my] "as is" state, but I do waste time that I'd rather be spending with the family... or reading... or sleeping.  So, I am wondering - is there a method for planning projects and managing time, other than making lists?"

This is a hard question for me to answer, because I love lists! But I'll take a shot at it, and then I encourage my readers- particularly anyone who doesn't care for lists!- to weigh in.

I think List-Averse is off to a good start by recognizing what doesn't work. Too often, we are looking for a sort of one size fits all "trick" that will make this stuff easy. But improving productivity isn't easy. I still work at it, and I've been paying attention to my time use and productivity for years. So don't feel bad if it feels hard. It is hard, but (at least to me) it is worth the effort, because the reward is the feeling that you're spending your time on the things that matter to you.

OK, so what could List-Averse try? Here are my ideas, in no particular order.

Try a more visual list

I've noticed when I work with people on project management that some people who hate Work Breakdown Structures (the list-like "project plans" you often see) and Gantt charts really love card based systems like Trello. Maybe it is something about the visual nature, or the fact that you can organize your cards in multiple ways? I don't know.

I use both Trello and work breakdown structures. To me, one isn't better than the other- they have different strengths and weaknesses, and I use them in different situations. I've yet to find a tool better than a WBS for tracking dependencies, but I love the less-structured format of Trello for capturing my backlog.

(I've also used KanbanFlow, as discussed in this old post. I find, though, that if I'm doing really Kanban-like project management, I prefer a physical board.)

One of the great things about Trello is that there are many ways of using it. The best way is the way that works for you. However, sometimes it is helpful to have a point to start from, so I'll share my current Trello set up. I currently use it only for my work things, and it looks like this:

• I have one "Master" board for the things that I'm working on now or will be working on soon. It has lanes named: Prioritized, This Month, Doing, Parked, and Done. 
• I have a board for each area of focus, which right now means: Annorlunda Books, Design (i.e., my Etsy store), Tungsten Hippo, Writing, Consulting, and Overhead.
• Each "focus" board has lanes named: To Do, Prioritized, and Done
• I've set up labels that match the areas of focus. This allows me to "tag" the cards on my Master board so that there is a color code for the area of focus the card relates to.
• When a new idea occurs to me or I decide I should do a new project, I add it to the appropriate board. 
• If it is something I'll do "sometime," it goes in the To Do lane on the appropriate focus board
• If it is something I'll do "soon," it either goes in the Prioritized lane of the focus board or the Prioritized lane of the Master board, depending on how soon I think I should do it. This is not an exact thing.
• If it is something I'll do this month, it goes in the This Month lane on the Master board.
• If I'm already doing it, it goes in the Doing lane on the Master board.
• Once a week or so, I open up my Trello board, move things to Done or Parked, and move the other cards around based on my plans. I move things from the focus boards to the Master board as needed, and then add a color coded label. I also think a bit about what I should be doing, either now or in the future, and make cards for those. I consider this time spent on short term strategy. 
• Every once and awhile, I move things from Done on the Master board to Done on the appropriate focus board. This serves no real purpose but makes me happy.
• I try to limit the number of things in the Doing lane to 5 or less. That is my personal optimal number of things in flight. I like to have a lot of things in flight. Other people might like to set a smaller work in progress limit. (This is an idea I took from kanban.)

Try lists that cover shorter periods of time

I consider my Trello board to be my "grand plan." I know some people manage their day to day work off of a board, but I don't. I manage my day to day work off of an old school list on paper. I use a small spiral notebook these days, because one of my kids gave me a small spiral notebook as a gift (I can't remember for which occasion- probably my birthday or Mother's day last year), and this was my idea of how to use it. It has worked out really well. I currently work from home on my own projects (i.e., not onsite and a client) on Wednesdays and Fridays. I also generally spend an hour or two on the other days on my own projects. So right now, I make a page for Monday-Tuesday, a page for Wednesday, a page for Thursday (but it is a short list), a page for Friday, and a page for Weekend (this list might be empty or have only "fun" work, like writing blog posts, unless I'm on a crunch time). 

I write items on the list for the appropriate day as I decide I should do something on that day. This is also not an exact science. I tend to have items on lists a day or two ahead, and then when I'm sitting down to start work on a given day, I review the items and add to them as needed. Here is today's list, which is mostly completed because it is almost time to stop working:

My daily to do lists don't always get completed, but when they don't, I spend the last little bit of work time that day looking at what didn't get done and moving it to another day's list or consciously deciding not to do it right now.

I have a similar set of lists at my desk onsite with my main client, for the work I do there.

I also write mini-lists on sticky notes to shuttle ideas that occur to me at one place to the place where the list I need exists. I know that electronic lists would solve this, but there is a certain joy I get out of crossing things off on a physical list, so I stick to paper. (I have used Workflowy in the past, though, and it is a good option for people who like online lists. I've also heard good things about Evernote, but haven't used it much myself.)

Consider a schedule

I am painfully aware of the fact that my first two ideas are essentially "make different lists." Like I said at the top, I'm genuinely struggling to come up with other ideas for remembering what you need to do and having a more strategic approach to time use.

One other possibility, though, would be to try to schedule your time. Routines help us remember things, so if it is possible to set it up so that the disparate things you need to do settle into a routine, it might help. A trivial example is, I always do grocery shopping on Sunday, so I don't need to write "buy groceries" on a list for my weekend chores. (I still do, though, because of the joy of crossing things off... but that's my own little weirdness.)

If you can take the same basic idea and expand it to cover more aspects of the things you need to do, you might find that the frazzled feeling calms down, and you're more confident that you aren't forgetting things.

Change your mindset about lists

One theme I noticed in List-Averse's emails was that lists got forgotten or changed... and that was bad. I wonder if the problem with lists is that they seem like a prescription instead of a plan? I change my lists all the time. I scratch things out on my written lists (a line all the way through an item means "I'm not going to do this") and I delete things from Trello or kick something I put in Prioritized back to To Do. My lists are a commitment I make to myself. If I decide that the commitment needs to change, I can change it.

Also, I have gone to the grocery store many times and realize I left my list at home. But I'll shop anyway, and usually I get most things that were on my list. The reason for this is that writing something down helps me remember it. So even if you lose a list you wrote, it might have helped you remember what you needed to do.

Maybe you will feel better about lists if you let go of the idea that there is a "right way" to use them? 

I don't know, though... List-Averse, I'm reading a lot between the lines in your emails, and this suggestion may be way off base. Please disregard it if it doesn't ring true to you.

Try different technology

If you lose your written lists, try writing them on a sticky note and sticking them in the appropriate location. I tend to stick lists to my laptop lid a lot.

There are also a gazillion to do list apps these days, and perhaps putting one of those on yoru phone would solve the problem of not having the list when you need it.

Another technological tool that might help is Google Docs. I will sometimes start a document with some free form notes about a project idea. Then, when I'm ready to start the project, I search Google Docs to find the document and use it as a starting point.

Reduce the number of things in flight

I know of some very productive people who do not use to do lists. They say that it is always obvious what they should be working on. This works for them because they have managed to arrange their work life such that they can focus on one or maybe two projects at a time. They do a "deep dive" into their project and so it is always obvious to them what the next priority should be.

Not everyone can set up their work life in this way, but we can all try to mimic it, by limiting our "work in progress." Like I mentioned above, I like to have about five things in flight. That is a fairly high number, but it works for me. Maybe List-Averse is someone whose natural "work in progress limit" is closer to one or two. People who have low "WIP limits" can sometimes mimic the "one project a time" work situation by have a backlog and only pulling allowing one or two things off the backlog at a time. 

The backlog is just a to do list, but it is a to do list that you specifically are saying you aren't going to do right now. I think of my deep backlog (the To Do lanes in Trello) like an external memory bank. I store things there so that I can take them out of my working memory. If you can do this and only have one or two things in progress at a time, the backlog might be the only list you need.

Get in the habit of doing a mental check

To tackle the problem of forgetting that you need to do A and B before you start C, try occasionally performing a mental check. Maybe do this first thing in the morning, or before sitting down to start work for the day, or whenever you feel like you are mentally freshest. Think about what needs to get done, and then take a minute to think about anything you need before you start. This is like a mental version of the chef's practice of gathering all your ingredients before you start.

That's all I can come up with, so readers, it is your turn? What ideas do you have for List-Averse?

Success, Big and Small

I intended to write this post over the weekend, but life had other ideas for me.

It was nothing bad or even dramatic- just gymnastics class, chores, play dates, birthday parties... and some unabashed fun: dinner at my sister's on Saturday and a family walk on the beach followed by dinner at Rubio's on Sunday.

All in all, it was a good weekend, although I was frustrated by my inability to squeeze some writing time in around the other things. Of course, if I'd really needed to write, I would have made the time. The simple fact was that the other things were higher priorities for me, so as much as I wanted to write, it didn't happen. Sometimes, you have more priorities than time to accommodate them. In my experience, it is usually best to just accept that and focus on the priorities you can fit in, rather than trying to bend the space-time continuum to cram more in. I managed to write my planned Tungsten Hippo post (a new Read Together post- check it out), but decided not to try to do more.

Anyhow, here I am writing the post today, so time marches on and yesterday's priority that got cut becomes today's priority that gets done.

We took the family walk on the beach because Pumpkin requested it and we had a mini heat wave this weekend, so it was 85 degrees in our house. Ocean breezes and dinner cooked somewhere other than our kitchen sounded great. I'm glad we went. We all had fun.

Fun.

Pumpkin wanted to walk on the beach because she wanted to look for seashells. I had gone for a walk on the beach on Friday and I found a sand dollar. I only found one, so I wouldn't give it to her- if I gave her the sand dollar, Petunia would surely have demanded one, too, and I did not have another.

Besides, I've endowed some meaning into that sand dollar.

I was walking on the beach on Friday as a celebration for publishing Unspotted. I decided that I should celebrate my milestones, just like I would at a "real" company. I considered going to get ice cream, but then considered the effect that repeated success could have on my waistline, and decided to plan for both success and still being able to fit into my pants and went for a walk on the beach instead. It is something I love to do that I don't do often enough.

So after lunch on Friday, I drove to Pacific Beach (my old neighborhood!) and went for a stroll. It was beautiful. The weather was warm, but there was a nice breeze. The water was warm (for the Pacific) and very clear.

Clear water, happy feet.

As I strolled, I picked up shells I found that I liked. My original plan, in as much as I had one, was to give them to my kids. But then I found the sand dollar. OK, I'll confess. First I found a different sand dollar. Then I accidentally broke it, and laughed to myself about it being a good thing that I hadn't put a lot of meaning into finding it. Then I found another, and managed to get it home without breaking it.

So yeah, I may adopt it as a sort of mascot. Finding two intact sand dollars in one stroll on a busy stretch of Pacific Beach is.... unlikely. If that can happen, maybe my business can make it, too. Or something like that.

My finds.

I let my kids each pick one non-sand dollar shell from my stash, and then I put the rest into a mason jar. I'm calling it my success jar. It will hold the shells I find during all of my celebratory walks on the beach.

I have vague plans to glue the sand dollar to the lid.

I'm still deciding what will constitute a milestone worthy of a walk on the beach. So far, I've decided I get a walk for each product release (books and seminars, only- I'm not serious enough about the t-shirts for those to count) and each time a product crosses into profitability. I'm sure I'll come up with a few other milestones, too, as my business plans adapt and mature.

I'm going to fill that jar up.

There are no guarantees on sand dollars, though- we didn't find a single one on yesterday's walk.

Weekend Reading: The Complicated World Edition

I, of course, think your weekend reading should be Unspotted.

But I understand that you may feel differently. So here are some links.

But first, a note about something I'm not including. Last night, my Twitter timeline erupted about an article an editor at The Chicago Tribune wrote that included reference to Hurricane Katrina. There was a lot of anger, and I am fairly certain it was justified. I am not going to link to that article. I gather the author has now apologized, sort of. From the reactions I've seen, it appears to have been an onomatapology:

Ergo @NPRMonkeySee, I believe, may have coined the term "onomatapology," which is all the noises of an apology without the actual remorse.

— Sarah Wendell (@SmartBitches) August 12, 2015

I started to write a post about this last night, and about my recollections of witnessing the horrifying aftermath of Katrina on my TV screen, but I am not up to the task. I have vivid memories of being utterly shocked and horrified, and deeply embarrassed that this was happening in my country. But I was not there. I was not anywhere close to there. This happened before I started reading a lot about racism and trying to understand its role in events in this country. Frankly, I just do not think I can do this topic justice.

I would love to include a link to something good that has been written about the upcoming 10th anniversary of that devastating storm, but I haven't really seen anything. Feel free to share anything you know of in the comments.

The other big topic in my Twitter timeline yesterday was the Sesame Street news. I am not thrilled to hear that Sesame Street is going to HBO, but I am glad they managed to structure the deal so that the episodes go to PBS eventually. This article from Alyssa Rosenberg is fairly close to my opinions on the matter.

I've written before how we, as a society, don't pay for content. There are a few companies that have figured out how to get us to pay: Netflix, Amazon, HBO... probably a few others. But I don't know that what they have figured out is anything general: I think each case is helped by some specific aspect of their company's history. I also don't know that they've figured out anything long term, even for themselves. It is a tough world for people who make "content," particularly if they aren't famous.

I am definitely no expert on entertainment, but I suspect the Sesame Street folks got the the best deal they could. I'm not sure what their other options really were, and that is never a strong negotiating position. Perhaps they could have tried a Kickstarter, a la Reading Rainbow.  (Side note: I understand that Petunia, The Girl Who Was NOT a Princess is going to be on the new Reading Rainbow app, and that delights me to no end.)

But to be honest, while I understand why people are so upset about this- it feels a bit like someone went back in time and stole candy from you as a 3 year old- I'm basically OK with this outcome. My kids have spent most of the summer watching the same few seasons of a show called Fireman Sam over and over and over.... I don't think the 9 month delay will impact the value of the show to kids.

What is truly outrageous is that we're relying on a TV show to provide early childhood education to any of our children. But that's another rant altogether.

This interview of Ta-Nehisi Coates by Roxane Gay is every bit as good as you'd expect, given the two people involved. Go read the entire thing. But this particular exchange is particularly great:

RG: How can allies best serve as allies? What is an ally? Are they needed?

TC: I don’t know. I think it’s probably terribly important to listen. It’s terribly important to try to become more knowledgeable. It’s important to not expect that acquiring of that knowledge — in this case of the force of racism in American history — to be a pleasant experience or to proceed along just lines. They certainly don’t proceed that way for black people. It’s going to be painful. Finally I think one has to even abandon the phrase “ally” and understand that you are not helping someone in a particular struggle; the fight is yours.

This is a really good idea for cutting down on the hate on the internet. 

However, it doesn't sound like it would stop people like the one described in this rather heartbreaking story.

From now on, I'm going to imagine every trollish comment I read was written by this pathetic dude who would rather lose his marriage and the chance to live with his child than stop being an asshole on the internet. What a sad human being.

I really liked this piece from Web Smith about why Twitter is struggling. He makes some really good points about how Twitter has the capacity to expose us to the unvarnished truth about our world more than any other social network. It is a great strength of Twitter. It is what I love about Twitter.

But he also makes some good points about how overwhelming that can be, particularly for those of us who are not used to being confronting with those truths. I think he is right that this is part of the reason Twitter is struggling to grow or become profitable.

I also think that we all have to learn how to modulate that exposure for ourselves. Otherwise, we get overwhelmed and the temptation to go back into the relative comfort of our previous ignorance is too high. To use an overused cliche, the effort to make the world better is a marathon, not a sprint.

I know that it is easier for some of us to step away for a bit than others. In fact, that is part of the problem we're trying to solve. But I still step away sometimes (like, for instance, last night, with the Katrina story). I am only human. I commit to myself that I will look back at the truth soon, and I go and organize photos of my kids. Or watch a TV show with my husband. Or something else.

On a completely different topic: this is an interesting piece about why public transit tends to suck in a lot of the US.

In my own city of San Diego, transit is slowly, slowly getting better. It is still too downtown centric, but they long term plans I've seen are good. I am cautiously optimistic that we'll be OK and avoid the traffic nightmare of LA. (LA is working on its transit system, too- but they started at a later point and in a worse place than San Diego did, at least to my relatively naive viewpoint.)

I want to read more on transit and growth. I think figuring this stuff out is really important, but I never feel like I understand the topic well enough to have a good opinion.

I'm too old for this. I like that mantra.

Ending on a lighter note: I really love Laura Vanderkam's idea of a mini-retreat. I am going to try this out myself soon!

Also, I've added a new category to the Crappy Things I Made to Stop the Whining tumblr: toy tableaux! Here is the first installment. You can submit your own (or your own homemade toys), too.

And the funny at the end: this xkcd cartoon makes me laugh.

Have a good weekend everyone!

A Different Sort of Release Day

I've done release day posts before- for my own books. Today's post is a different sort of release day post. It is release day for the first book written by somebody else that I'm publishing through my publishing company.

Unspotted, by Justin Fox, is a short ebook about the endangered Cape Mountain Leopards of South Africa, and about Quenton Martins and The Cape Leopard Trust, who are working to save these beautiful animals. It is also a travelogue of sorts as Fox journeyed into the Cederberg Mountains to try to see one of the elusive cats for himself.

Obviously, I really like this book- otherwise I wouldn't have bought it to publish! I think you'll like it, too, so check it out.

Two reviews from advance readers are already in:

• Jennifer Gruden says it is worth picking up- and compares it favorably to Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See, which is a book I also love.
• Natalie at Fill Your Bookshelf also liked it, although she would have liked it to be longer (I'll take that!)

You can find the links to all of the retail outlets on the Annorlunda Books page, but to make things easier for you, I'll put them here, too. Although I have a Kindle (OK, I love my Kindle), I don't want to see Amazon be the only source for ebooks- so I skipped the Kindle Unlimited program and have made this book widely available. You can get it for just $2.99 at:

• Amazon
• BN.com
• GumRoad (this is direct from me, and includes the MOBI for your Kindle, the ePub for other ereaders, and a PDF for those who want a hardcopy- you can print it out).
• iBooks
• Kobo
• Smashwords

It is also available at two subscription services:

• Oyster
• Scribd

I'll add links to other channels to the Annorlunda Books page for the book as they become available. Specifically, for the librarians in my audience: Overdrive is in process (via Smashwords). If you have suggestions for other places you'd like to see the book, let me know.

I also made it the pick of the week at Tungsten Hippo, so you can read more of what I thought of the book there.

And I added this edition to GoodReads (it had previously been published in South Africa by a now-defunct publisher).

If you want to help me make this book (and my publishing company!) a success, you can buy the book, read it on a subscription service, write a review (these really help), tell your friends about it, add it to your GoodReads shelf, or share it on social media.

If you want easy ways to share, you can reshare my Tungsten Hippo posts:

Here is the post about the book on the Tungsten Hippo Facebook page

and  here is the Tungsten Hippo tweet:

Today's book is the story of the rare Cape Mtn Leopard & the man trying to saving them, from @JustinFoxAfrica: http://t.co/WSbEJQzKS5

— Tungsten Hippo (@TungstenHippo) August 12, 2015

Although one of the great things about ebooks is that sales can build slowly over time, a big boost on release day can still really help a book, because it helps get the book promoted by the retailers' algorithms. So if you think you'll buy the book, please consider doing so today. A sale at anytime is great, but a sale today is extra helpful.

Regardless, thanks for reading. I'll be back to my usual random mix of posts soon.