I recently met a friendly bartender in Reykjavik, Iceland.
I think the bar was on this street closer to the water.
We had a charming conversation and he shared with me three rules he follows.
- Never watch the movie Titanic
- Never have a Facebook account
- Never buy an iPhone
At the time I had only broken one of his rules. I’ve seen the movie Titanic. More than once. The bartender admitted he broke one of his one rules and had a Facebook page. So I didn’t feel so bad. Of course I don’t live my life according to his rules.
However, I did think of the bartender today. You see, I broke another one of his rules. I started an author’s Facebook account. Many of you encouraged me to do so and I knew you guys were right but I was still resistant. My concern was keeping up with everything. Then again, if I want my writing career to take off, I have to try every avenue. So I’m announcing that I finally did it. Here’s my Facebook page. One more thing off the list. Let me think, what should I do next?
Have a wonderful weekend!
50 Year Project 
He he he… I broke too 🙂 but I don’t have facebook account (yet) maybe never… What can I say, this man should know something maybe…. Thanks dear, Have a nice weekend, love, nia
Thanks, Nia. You too!
Whats wrong with Titanic… I think I’ve watched it 5 or 6 times.. I love it…
Me too. I think the song ruined it for him. But we talked more about mass consumerism and not the movie.
Its only a little bit of your soul to sell – you don’t have to let it take over your life 😉
Very wise words.
Oh dear. I believe I’ve broken all of the bartender’s rules. 🙂
It’ll be our little secret.
Again – yayyyyyy!!
Thanks, Cindy.
I agree about Titanic, but he was so wrong about the others. Facebook isn’t my favorite thing, but it is a necessary tool for marketing these days. Welcome aboard!
Wait, have you seen the movie?
Yes, unfortunately. I didn’t like it at all. The old version with Barbara Stanwyk and Robert Wagner is soooo much better.
Not sure I’ve seen that version. will add it to my list.
Dearest TBM
i follow this simple 3 rules
Watch inspirational movies like Pursuit of happiness, Rocky,etc
Read amazing books like “Tuesdays with morrie”, “who will cry when you die” etc
Spend time with family and friends more than social networking sites 🙂
I dont have a facebook account but i keep following your updates in goodreads.com 🙂
Good luck and cheers
Supreet
Great rules! I recently watched Rocky and I saw they had a Rocky marathon on the telly today, but I didn’t watch all of them. Thanks for the encouragement and it’s great to continue our friendship on goodreads. happy reading!
Somebody wise (who?) said you’d always know what people in any society did by looking at the rules made to stop them doing it. You don’t make rules and laws to ban things nobody does, do you?
And anyway, rules are made to be broken. Some other wise guy said that.
I say that second saying quite a bit 😉
You, in a bar? Surely not. I am not a facebook user, I have never seen Titanic and I do not have an iPhone.
You have never seen Titanic? Really?
Really!
I agree with the last two, although I begrudgingly opened a facebook account, I never look at it!!!
Well since you don’t look at your FB account, I won’t tell on you.
Welcome to facebook 🙂
I didn’t do much in my FB, I care more about my turtle’s page than my own page. I like twitter more
I need to work on my Twitter skills.
Well, I didn’t follow any of those rules – I’ve watched Titanic so many times, I’ve lost count, I’ve had a Facebook page for the blog since I started it and have my own personal account even longer (great for connecting with friends and family oversees) and as of today, I own an iPhone!!! 🙂 So yeah, not following those rules – AT ALL!!! 😉
Way to be your own person, Susi! I got a chuckle when I learned his three rules of life. I wonder how people come up with these things.
I’ve broken one rule so far. The Titanic rule but I think a Facebook page is a good thing for promoting either the blog or a book, so I’m not saying never but not as a personal tool.
I’m curious to see how the FB thing works out. I broke the Titanic rule a long time ago. I think I saw the movie the day it opened.
Hee he – I too have seen Titanic (is there anyone who hasn’t?) and I set up a Facebook page but solely to link it to my WordPress – not sure that I actually have any “friends” on it though 😉
maybe we should do a poll and see how many people haven’t seen the movie. I agree with you, I don’t think the number would be that high.
Congratulations on getting a Facebook account, TBM! Just ‘liked’ your Facebook page 🙂 Those three rules are quite interesting. So now the third rule is waiting to be broken 🙂
thanks, Vishy. Not sure I’ll break the iPhone one any time soon. It would be a shame to break all three in one year 😉
Ha, ha, ha! Yes, I agree 🙂
I’ve broken two of Bartender’s rules!
Congrats on your FB page, TBM. It’s a great way to promote your book.
Thanks!
Well, as long as you don’t have an iPhone… 😉 I popped over to Facebook to “Like” your page.
Thanks Robin!
Well, I broke 2 rules… but never ever rule 3 – I m not an IPhone fan 😉 Hope you had a great weekend 🙂
I have yet to break the iPhone rule as well. Weekend was nice, hope yours was enjoyable.
A bartender is a psycotherapist…without a degree. Oftentimes gives great advice…for free. Sounds like he passed along some good information for your writing career. Good luck!!! 🙂
I often enjoy my conversations with bartenders. I bet they see all walks of life. Thanks!
Have visited your new page and ‘liked’ it. I think I’m breaking all of the rules, although I don’t have an I-phone but only because I can’t part with my blackberry. Yikes.
Well I’ll give you a pass on the iphone rule then. Not sure the bartender will though. Thanks for the like!
I broke all of it :). I don’t care much for Titanic but I very dependent on my iPhone now and addicted to FB .. darn 🙂
Don’t worry, as someone said, rules are made to be broken.
LOL , I have to agree.
Well, I’ve broken all three rules.
I have a Facebook account, but rarely use it.
I have to admit, I really like my iPhone.
I considered getting an iPhone recently, but went for a Samsung instead. Maybe next time 🙂
Your book looks good. And I think you did the right thing in breaking the Facebook rule. Authors need to look good out there.
How’s your writing coming along?
Hey it’s coming along a little slower than I thought. I actually haven’t been blogging every day like I did last year, but taking a few days off so that I could finish my book, but then a friend of mine asked me to collaborate with him on a play that he was to take to his theatre early next year, so now I’m kind of trying to do both. But one of my “plans/bucket list items/resolutions” for the year was to finish that book that I started and never completed. I’m on a mission! I know I told you it was sort of a dark comedy. The funny thing is that as I was starting the project over again I realized all that blogging I did last year definitely improved my writing skills, and the play is helping out with dialogue 🙂
Excellent. I love a good dark comedy. And it is amazing how much blogging does help your writing. And reading other blogs helps as well. I wish you luck and I hope you complete the play and book soon. I’m dying to read it!
If you want you can still read the first chapter and let me know what you think. Or you can wait until I’m done and read the entire masterpiece all at once 🙂 And yes the blogging has helped. I was rewriting a couple of scenes in the play that I had written a while back and those pages were full of red ink corrections later that day, but the red ink was definitely worth it, made for better conversations 🙂
I’m always willing to read. You can send the first chapter or wait and send the whole thing when it’s done for input before you start looking for an agent or publisher. Depends on your comfort level. Oh I know the red ink. You should see when I get a draft back from the editor. I usually need a drink.
I’m really curious to know – how did you manage to set up a page without having to set up a personal account? I think the bartender is right – Facebook sucks, depending on how you use it. You’ve got the right idea. If, like me you use it to try and catch up with friends and family who live all over the place I’ve found it to be no less than soul destroying. You could also use it as a news reel and that’s good too. As a page it works really well but takes a lot of work to keep it going. Enjoy using it 🙂
I think they allow you to setup a business account without a personal account. I just googled how to setup a business account and there was a help section that walked me through it. If I had more time, I would like a personal account but I already struggle each day with keeping up with everything. And soul destroying doesn’t sound appealing 🙂