I Hope You’re Happy Now Craig Price

A little less than a year ago I was at a conference and I heard a keynote speaker who made me laugh, and made me think about things a little differently.  The laughing is one thing but I’m usually not in the business of thinking unless I absolutely have to.  I hear a lot of speakers and typically forget them as soon as they’re done talking, but this character, this Craig Price, stuck in my memory.  I spoke with Craig at a reception later that day, and I was really in a huff because not only is he smart and funny, not only does he have a thriving career as a speaker and writer…he used to be a stand-up comedian.  Apparently a good one too. This man is living my life!  Well, maybe not my real life but the one I always assumed I’d have before I followed my other dream of becoming a legal administrator.  Dastardly.  This imposter calls himself The Realist.  http://craigprice.therealistsguide.com/

As I was asking Craig how he was able to sneak off in the night with my life, he had the nerve to give me good advice about my book.  Advice I eventually took.  I figured I should make him pay.  I got in touch with him recently and asked if he would read my manuscript and write a short review.  I was very touched when he didn’t hang up after he said “who is this again?” and with that we bonded as if we’d known each other all his stolen life.  Craig agreed to help, so now on top of everything else he’s nice and encouraging too.  I am about as ticked off as I could be.

I started feeling sheepish that Craig did all this for me and I never even read his book, Half a Glass:  The Realists Guide.  Did Craig let me buy a copy?  Nooo, he had to be Mr. Nice Guy and send one to me.  Of course, not only does his book not suck…it’s really good.  I’m not kidding.  I’ve read somewhere north of 12,000 business/self-help type books and I can count the good ones on one hand.  Well, I could until Craig’s book turned out to be high quality.  Now I need the thumb on my second hand to count his too.  Crap.  Don’t take my word for it, buy the book!  http://therealistsguide.com/products/half-a-glass/order-now/

Craig doesn’t write about throwing fish or moving cheese or finding our inner rock star; Mr. Realist says that even if I close my eyes and click my heels and visualize until the cows come home, I’m not going to be a Prima Ballerina.  Nervy, right?  And I had just cut the tag off my tutu.  Instead he gives some really solid, practical advice on how to harness the inevitable negativity in the world and make it productive.  And as if that wasn’t enough, the book is also hilariously funny.  To hear him tell it someone could, I don’t know, get cancer, and turn it into something positive and funny.  As if!

If that was as far as it went maybe I would have just been slightly steamed and moved on with my life…but there’s more.  Footnotes.  Not the ibid et al ad infinitum type either, really funny footnotes.  When a footnote on page 72 made me snort soda through my nose, I wanted to read it to Dan but I was laughing too hard.  So he snatched the book and read it for himself.  And then it happened.  Dan laughed. Not a half-smirky, gee that’s cute laugh; we’re talking about a full out loud laugh.  Then he tugged on his mustache and laughed again.

There you have it.  Not only did Craig Price steal my life, but after 25 years of me doing bad Mike Tyson impersonations in failed attempts to make my husband laugh, now he’s gone and done that too.  The made my husband laugh part, not the Mike Tyson part.  I can’t speak to the Mike Tyson part, but for all I know he’s good at that too.  Hmmph.

Realistically, this was bound to happen.  Thanks Craig-I mean it.