Nicholas Bate

Bram, A Spy Story

It’s 1988, a time-for most-before personal computers and mobile phones. Margaret Thatcher is the UK’s PM and George Bush is US president. Phil Collins has released A Groovy Kind of Love, Bran Muffins are incredibly popular as the low-cholesterol craze peaks and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time is a best-seller.

Bram has a mission. 

If you have read Meet Molly and Molly and The Isle of Kasta you will have met Bram who had a minor part in the former and a significant role in the latter. This is his back-story.

This is a story of coming of age, of Queen and country and the origins of Covid-19.

Read it here. 

 

Important, 7

1. Routine & Ritual. Get the critical stuff, the vital stuff, the oh-so-easily-neglected stuff embedded. Make it a ritual. Make it a routine. Make it a habit. Every other drink is a beaker of water. No 'if's, no 'but's. 
2. Sense & Sensibility.  Hang onto hi-tech, but don't neglect hi-touch. Electrons inform. Encouraging words motivate.
3. Work & Wisdom. We don't work for money. We work for purpose, to discover who we are and to acquire wisdom. Money is one form of recognition for our endeavours. When we lose work for a purpose we start to sell our soul. 
4. Less & Lean. From attic to body to wood-shed to larder, less and lean energises, gets things done and allows us to spend time with what is truly important: people and places and sunsets. And do it with vitality.
5. Time & Time. There's time, what's ticking. There's time, in the moment. Sometimes, just sometimes, lose the watch for an hour or so, leave the phone in a desk drawer and experience the latter time.
6. Art & Action. There's 'big A' art produced by Michelangelo. And awe inspiring it is.  But producing our own art is fun, therapeutic and returns us to the moment. Grab those coloured pens now.
7. Cook & Chat. Two of the greatest human pleasures being lost to the convenience meal and digital interrupt. Just say no.

Friday Catch-Up, 36

1. 25 Mini Standards.
2. The Writing Primer.
3. Bram, A Spy Story is now out; a story of coming of age, of Queen and country and the origins of Covid-19.
   
4. How to Start your Very Own Business.
5. Instant Productivity.
6. Seven choices.
7. 22 Essentials.
8. How to Create your Home Office.
9. plus The Start Up Myths
10. Stay STRONG
11. Crazy Bold Experiments
12. Just say NO to PPT
13. The Marketing Primer.
14. Being the Best version of you, the book, back in stock.
15. Redundancy
16. Hunter-Gatherer 21C
17. Tackling Stress.
18. Manage that career
19. Be Bold 101
20. You still haven’t read Being The Best?! 
21. Things They Don’t Teach at Business School
22. the secrets of success
23. Life Tips 101
24. Zen & Art of Cubicle Freedom
25. Carnage At Kodak
26. The Very Best Drugs You Need
27. Billions of Light Years Away In Another Galaxy
28. 22 Routes To Your Non Fiction Book
29. Lists For The Life You Love
30. How To Lessen E-Mail Pain
31. Professionalism 101
32. 21 Ways to Improve your Zoom Conference Call.
33. Productivity Primer
34. 101, redux
35. The Basic Basics.
36. Not a single one made the NYT best-seller list. 

Slow Down, 7

1. Otherwise 
2. You 
3. Will 
4. Bad
5. Mood
6. Too 
7. Fast.

Deadly Corporate Sins, 7

1. Making the simple, complex.
2. Being reactive in a world which requires us to be proactive.
3. Mistaking The Human Resources Rule-Book for effecting sheer undiluted passion, inspiration and 'I love what I do'.
4. Thinking a stream of electrons is thinking.
5. Aiming for anything less than excellence in everything and anything touched.
6. Only copying the competitor/s, not aiming to leap them.
7. Believing money is the only motivator. 

Necessarily, 7

1. Knowing isn't doing, necessarily
2. Spatially in the room isn't being in the room, necessarily
3. Ideas aren't invoices, necessarily
4. Certificates aren't competence, necessarily
5. Revenue isn't profit, necessarily
6. A plan isn't implementation, necessarily
7. No (to plan, manuscript, pitch...) isn't the end, necessarily.

How to Get a Breakthrough on a Monday, 7

1. Sky: get out of the meeting room. Look out of the window. Dream a little. Get perspective. Especially, get  l o n g  perspective.
2. Atom:get detailed. No, more detailed than that. Drill down to atomic level. Get numbers and measures. Get nuts and bolts.
3. Earth: take a walk. A long one. Leave your phone behind. Mooch a bit.
4. Contact: make a phone call. Talk to someone. Really listen to their perspective.
5. Discard: fill sheets of paper with frustrations, angers, 'if onlys' until some sense and optimism appears. It always does
6. Bean: make a great cup of coffee. Sit on the porch. Life is simple after all...
7. Action: go take an action. Right or wrong you've got momentum again.

You'll get the breakthrough you want, need and deserve.

Sunday Catch-Up, 36

1. 25 Mini Standards.
2. The Writing Primer.
3. Bram, A Spy Story is now out; a story of coming of age, of Queen and country and the origins of Covid-19.
   
4. How to Start your Very Own Business.
5. Instant Productivity.
6. Seven choices.
7. 22 Essentials.
8. How to Create your Home Office.
9. plus The Start Up Myths
10. Stay STRONG
11. Crazy Bold Experiments
12. Just say NO to PPT
13. The Marketing Primer.
14. Being the Best version of you, the book, back in stock.
15. Redundancy
16. Hunter-Gatherer 21C
17. Tackling Stress.
18. Manage that career
19. Be Bold 101
20. You still haven’t read Being The Best?! 
21. Things They Don’t Teach at Business School
22. the secrets of success
23. Life Tips 101
24. Zen & Art of Cubicle Freedom
25. Carnage At Kodak
26. The Very Best Drugs You Need
27. Billions of Light Years Away In Another Galaxy
28. 22 Routes To Your Non Fiction Book
29. Lists For The Life You Love
30. How To Lessen E-Mail Pain
31. Professionalism 101
32. 21 Ways to Improve your Zoom Conference Call.
33. Productivity Primer
34. 101, redux
35. The Basic Basics.
36. Not a single one made the NYT best-seller list. 

Without

1. without a dream there is no direction;
2. without a true friend there is no reality;
3. without a notebook there is no reflection;
4. without a challenge there is no ooomph;
5. without a sunrise there is no fresh start;
6. without a seashore or mountains or desert there is no perspective;
7. without a sunset there is no 'job well done'.

Bram, A Spy Story

Many thanks for the questions and comments re Bram, A Spy Story. The two predominant questions were:

’Can it be read stand-alone or is it dependent upon the Molly books?’

It can be read stand-alone.

’Will there be a third Molly book?’

Certainly, yes. Concerning word count and story it is 50% there but those out there who write will know there is a very long-tail of proofing once story and word-count are finalised. But certainly this year.

A very big thanks to Michael Wade and others who have given the book a mention. I very much appreciate it. 

So there you go: three possible books for the weekend. Meet Molly; Molly and the Isle of Kasta; Bram, A Spy Story.