Dear Getting a Life and Your Money or Your Lifers:

Time once again to update everyone on the progress of Getting a Life and our activities. In January and February of this year we completed our “Radio Tour” as part of the promotion of the paperback version of the book. This meant that we stayed home and did lots of radio interviews on the phone with stations all over the country. Since then we have continued to do sporadic interviews for radio, TV and print. In February we were featured on a Seattle TV station as part of their local news show. In April, Jacque was asked to appear on a PBS-TV show called “Right on the Money” produced in St. Paul, MN. She was one of three “financial experts” asked to advise a woman trying to simplify her life. The show was broadcast in many markets nationally in late May. In August we had a great turn out at the Village Bookstore in Bellingham, Washington, and in October we participated in a local authors event in Tacoma, Washington. Jacque and Vicki Robin are co-authoring a column beginning this month in a newsletter sponsored by Co-op America called “Real Money.”

Since the paperback version of Getting a Life came out, we’ve continued to get many snail-mail and e-mail letters from readers (Our e-mail and mailing addresses were included in the paperback release). It’s been great to hear from readers who have changed the direction of their lives as a result of Getting a Life. For the first three months of the year we had a “banner ad” on the Simple Living Network. Although it’s hard to know how many book sales result from “hits” on the Web page, the ad did generate a lot of interest. By the way, we still have a lot of the Getting a Life promotional postcards in case any of you need a fresh supply.

In May we were notified that the hardback version of GAL would be “remaindered” meaning the remaining stock would be wholesaled out to outlets that specialize in selling remainders at drastically reduced prices. Therefore don’t be surprised if you see the GAL hardback at your local bargain book outlet or book club. We’ve already been notified that Quality Paperback Books offered it in a recent mailing at $3.95 a copy. We have purchased 1000 copies and have been reselling them in the local market, donating them to libraries and using them as promotional copies. If you are looking for an inexpensive gift for someone or would like a few copies to sell locally or give away, we are offering “Getting a Life” hardbacks for the bargain basement price of $2.00 each plus shipping (and sales tax if in Washington state.) Let us know by e-mail, phone or regular mail and we will ship them out right away. Note: if anyone wants case lots, they come 24 to a box. Let us know if you want them signed too. (NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

Many of you already know that a new edition of Your Money or Your Life was released in September. References to Getting a Life are included so we hope to pick up some coat tail effect as a result. One other thing that you could do to help our promotional efforts is to take a minute to add some positive “readers comments” to the “Getting a Life” page on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com on the Web.

Other things have been happening too. We spent four weeks from March through June at David’s mother’s house near Tacoma trying to sort out her 50 year accumulation of material possessions. David’s sister and her family moved into the large family home with Mom and we had to make room. This work culminated with a huge yard sale at the end of June. The event was very successful but we were sure glad when it was over. Also, in June we celebrated Jacque’s 50th birthday with a picnic/potluck party at a local park. Jacque’s 50th birthday present was a 3 week adventure at Genesis Farm in New Jersey. Genesis Farm can best be described as a spiritual renewal and learning center. The program includes study of “The Universe Story” by Brian Swimme among other things. Jacque was inspired to go to this program by Marilyn Bradley, one of the permanent staff members at the New Road Map Foundation who had attended last year. If anyone reading this newsletter is interested in more info on Genesis Farm please send an e-mail to Jacque and she’ll fill you in. You can also find info on the Web by searching on Genesis Farm.

In September, David spent a week on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as part of a 4-person crew that worked on a straw bale house that had been started earlier in the summer. They were able to completely “mud” the inside walls of the house and also learn much about Lakota culture including a traditional “sweat” in a sweat lodge. The only negative part of the trip was a collision with a deer near Butte, MT on the return trip. Fortunately no human was injured although the deer and the car were totaled!

Our daughter Kimberly and her husband Felipe decided earlier this year that they would spend the 1999 holiday season with his family in Mexico. We decided that this would be a perfect opportunity for us to meet Felipe’s family and see part of Mexico for the first time. Since we speak very little Spanish and his family speaks no English, Kim and Felipe will be our interpreters. We leave December 19th and will return January 8th so anyone who wants books, please place your order early!

Finally, many of you probably are aware of the big World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting coming up at the end of November here in Seattle. Over the last year we have become more knowledgeable about this powerful organization and the many negative impacts it is having on our world and it’s inhabitants. (If you want some details, check out www.peopleforfairtrade.org or www.tradewatch.org.) Therefore, we will be participating in some of the anti-WTO activities here.

We’d like to pass along a couple of books for “recommended reading” before closing. First, is Soul of a Citizen by another Seattle author, Paul Rogat Loeb. This powerful book shows how we all can make a difference in changing our world for the better without burning out. Second, is Choosing Simplicity by our friend Linda Breen Pierce of Carmel, California. Vicki Robin wrote the forward to Linda’s book which is self-published (Gallager Press) and will be out in January. She tells the stories of people who have found fulfillment and happiness by simplifying their lives using various methods. We got a chance to read a preliminary version and found it to be excellent. We wish you all the happiest of Holiday Seasons and a smooth transition into the next millennium.

David and Jacque

P.S. Some of you are getting this update for the first time. This occasional newsletter was originally started in 1996 as a “progress report” to those who were interviewed and whose stories were included in our book Getting a Life. Since then we’ve chosen to add a number of names to the distribution list as people have shown interest. With this edition we’ve added the names of readers who have contacted us over the last couple of years. To save postage, time and paper, we’re also distributing the “Book Report” via e-mail this time to all those that we have current e-mail addresses for. Otherwise we'll send it the “old fashioned” way. If you do receive this via regular mail and you DO have an e-mail address, please let us know what it is for future reference. Finally, if you receive this and do NOT want to get future editions, please let us know and we’ll gladly take your name off the list.