Bringing a Story of Business and Ayahuasca to Life Reedsy

Bringing a Story of Business and Ayahuasca to Life Reedsy Making "Ayahuasca, An Executive's Enlightenment" Come To Life We love a good adventure story here at Reedsy, so we were delighted to help Michael Sanders bring his book,  Ayahuasca: An Executive’s Enlightenment, to life. Becoming worn down as the vice president of an advertising agency and the co-founder of a startup company, Michael made a life-changing decision to venture out into the Amazon jungle to discover his path to self-transcendence. Michael drinks the psychedelic plant medicine Ayahuasca in three shamanistic ceremonies and connects with the Mother of the Rainforest and creator of the universe. This remarkable story examines the very essence of human nature and how this experience gave Michael absolute clarity as to his purpose and path in life.Michael needed an editor and designer to help take his book to the next level. So he came to Reedsy and now decided to share his experience with us. Enjoy the interview!Hi Michael thanks for chatting to us, just to start with, tell us a little about your book and what brought you to wr ite it.Ayahuasca: An Executive’s Enlightenment is about my journey into the Amazon jungle to drink the sacred and psychedelic plant medicine known as Ayahuasca.At the start of 2013, I was experiencing extreme fatigue. I was working as the vice president of an advertising agency and as the co-founder of a startup in the gaming industry, and I was training athletically and intensely 10 to 14 times each week.I decided to consult with a naturopath who helped me develop a daily meditation and play practice. After a few months working with him, my friend Sid suggested we venture to the Amazon to drink Ayahuasca- something that had been on my radar for about 18 months.Sid, another friend Carl, and I ventured down to the Peruvian jungle on Boxing Day of 2013. We trekked through the Amazon for a week- encountering all sorts of incredible wildlife and adventure, and developing a bond with nature that transcended my previous notions of connecting with the Earth.On New Year’s Eve, we arrived at the ceremonial grounds of Nihue Rao where we had our first Ayahuasca ceremony. Drinking Ayahuasca shattered the paradigm of reality in which I formerly operated and showed me something beyond my wildest imagination. In a nutshell, all of my life’s existential contemplations were resolved during three Ayahuasca ceremonies over the course of four nights.One of my intentions for my ceremonies was to determine a clearer career path, and it was revealed to me that I need to hone my gift for storytelling and write a book. How did you hear about Reedsy and why did you think it was the right place to develop your book to the next stage?I heard about Reedsy while working with Publishizer. Publishizer is a crowdfunding platform for authors, and the company’s CEO Guy Vincent encouraged me to check out Reedsy for all of my editing and design needs.I checked out Reedsy’s website and loved the intuitive design. It was so easy for me to find skilled editors and designers, to communicate with them, and to receive quotes on how much their work would cost.Tell us how you came about choosing Maria D’Marco as your editorI was scrolling through editors and Maria's headline jumped out at me: â€Å"Empathetic, bespoke editor - collaborative partnerships - developmental specialist, copy editor, book marketing, front-to-back support.† Empathy is exactly what I was looking for in an editor, and I also saw that she had worked on a number of fantastic books. When Maria and I chatted, she really resonated with my story, so I knew she was the perfect editor for me.What did she bring that elevated the story the book in some way?Maria brought an objective perspective and a set of fresh eyes. I had worked with seven editors along the way- all of whom are friends of mine- and for the final edit, I wanted someone who hadn’t seen the work before.Maria’s goal wasn’t to infuse her own thinking into my story, but to instead allow me to best tell the story that I wanted to tell. She wasn’t afraid to challenge me: she was very direct and blunt with what needed to be done. My story was pretty polished by the time Maria had her first read, so I didn’t need to make a ton of changes, but the changes she did suggest elevated the narrative substantially.Specifically, Maria had me include more physical descriptions of the characters in my book, which was a really interesting process. Because the people I had traveled with were so familiar to my mind, I had f orgotten that the reader wouldn’t know what the characters looked like. So, adding the physical descriptions really brought the other characters to life.Additionally, Maria suggested I completely change my introduction. Maria explained that the introduction I first presented to her wouldn’t grip anyone who wasn’t familiar with Ayahuasca. I understood her point, and after some contemplation, we arrived at a much better introduction. I’m thrilled that I took Maria’s advice: So many people have told me that they were hooked right from the first page.Now let's talk about Peter, how did you choose him and how did you finalize on the design of the book cover with him?I already had a minimal cover concept in mind, and I was looking for someone to execute it. Searching through designers, Peter’s portfolio of work grabbed me- minimal and evocative. After chatting with Peter, he seemed like the right person for the job.Peter was a joy to communicate w ith, he worked quickly, and he was very responsive and accommodating. He did a fantastic job on the design- both the interior and exterior- and was very knowledgeable on formatting for both the print and electronic versions.Finally, is there any advice you would like to give people who are thinking of self-publishing?Do it.In terms of execution, I recommend writing the book first. Once you have had some friends and editors give you feedback and you have a solid manuscript, you might consider crowdfunding the publication. Crowdfunding only works if you think you can connect with a wide audience and you can offer your backers awesome incentives: it’s important to remember that other people don’t care as much about your dream as you do, so you really have to incentivize them to pay for a book before it’s published. If you’re willing to put in the work to connect with a wide audience and provide awesome incentives, then crowdfunding is an amazing way to gener ate momentum prior to the book’s release.In terms of editing and design, I fully recommend Reedsy. It’s a wonderful and intuitive platform.Lastly, enjoy the journey 🙂You can buy "Ayahuasca: An Executive’s Enlightenment" on Amazon  here.How did you go about publishing your book? Have you considered crowdfunding before? Tell us about your experiences, or ask Michael any question you want, in the comments below!

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead At first glance, the Mexican custom of the Dà ­a de Muertos- the Day of the Dead- may sound much like the U.S. custom of Halloween. After all, the celebration traditionally starts at midnight the night of Oct. 31, and the festivities are abundant in images related to death. But the customs have different origins, and their attitudes toward death are different. In the typical Halloween festivities, which are of Celtic origin, death is something to be feared. But in the Dà ­a de Muertos, death- or at least the memories of those who have died- is something to be celebrated.  The Dà ­a de Muertos, which continues until Nov. 2, has become one of the biggest holidays in Mexico, and celebrations are becoming more common in areas of the United States with a large Hispanic population. Its origins are distinctly Mexican: During the time of the Aztecs, a monthlong summer celebration was overseen by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead. After the Aztecs were conquered by Spain and Catholicism became the dominant religion, the customs became intertwined with the Christian commemoration of All Saints Day. Specifics of the celebration vary by region, but one of the most common customs is the making of elaborate altars to welcome departed spirits home. Vigils are held, and families often go to cemeteries to fix up the graves of their departed relatives. Festivities also frequently include traditional foods such as pan de muerto (bread of the dead), which can conceal a miniature skeleton. Here is a glossary of Spanish terms used in connection with the Day of the Dead: los angelitos  - literally, little angels; young children whose spirits returnla calaca  - a skeleton figure representing death, similar to the Grim Reaperel calavera  - a reckless fellowla calavera  - skullla calaverada  - crazy, foolish behaviorel difunto  - the departedla hojaldra  - a bread for the Day of the Deadla ofrenda  - an offering left for the souls of the deadzempasà ºchitl  - the traditional name for the yellow marigolds used to mark a pathway to the altar Childrens Books for Day of the Dead

Iris Recognition System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Iris Recognition System - Essay Example There are a number of advancements in the globalized world to tackle certain issues related to security and safety of people. Biometric systems are developed with a recognition capability of people on unique patterns and distinct characteristics of individuals. The distinct features of human beings which vary greatly from one another include finger prints, facial features, voice, handwriting etc. The work of biometric systems is dependent on a complex process whereby the sample of distinct characteristic is saved for recognition of the individual. The distinct feature is then translated in a biometric template by applying a particular mathematical function. The mathematical function converts the recognition feature to a differentiating and unique representation of the characteristic chosen or used. This distinct biometric template is then easily recognized from many others available for a particular individual. The biometric technology is highly dependent on the feature that it selec ts to recognize and differentiate between individuals. This technology is, hence, designed with the importance that organizations or operative areas of its use give to security and privacy of data, field or communicational phase. This biometric technology is the entry tool for specific individual to any specific area, field or data. The efficiency of the system depends on how unique and unmatchable is the feature which is used for recognition. The lower is the level of chance of matching feature in individuals which is used in the biometric system; the higher is the efficiency of the system designed (Henahan 2002). The feature chosen for the biometric system needs to be stable and distinct for every individual to avoid any instances of fraud or misrepresentation of feature. Knowing the traits of biometric system, the name of Iris recognition system clearly indicates how this biometric system works and what distinguishing criteria it selects to differentiate between individuals. An i ris is a human organ which is visible in the eye of a person. It is a distinctive epigenetic pattern which stays unchanged throughout a person's life. The ophthalmologist Frank Burch anticipated the idea of iris patterns to be used as a tool of recognition during 1936. Further research extended the debate of how to utilize this phenomenon in recognition technologies. Dr. John Daughman designed and developed a mathematical algorithm to stabilize and situate automated recognition of human iris. During 1994, Dr. Daugman was awarded patent for his work in designing algorithms for the recognition system (NCSC 2005). Overview and details regarding the application The Iris recognition system is a new technology that speeds up the procedures involved in the security system of different organizations. It helps in recognizing the irides of authenticated travelers at the airport. It speeds up the process of recognizing authenticated travelers and minimizes customer complaints on waiting in the long lines that are found usually at the airports. However, these systems are in limited use today. They are found to be working and efficient in Europe and the United States. The use of Iris recognition system is also helpful in tracking terrorists to enter the state. This system identifies the human Iris and recognizes it the next time that person uses this system. The Iris Recognition immigration System (IRIS) provides a benefit to the travelers to easily and quickly cross the recognition and authentication barriers. The Iris recognition immigration System registers the user within the timeframe of 5-10 minutes and the traveler can cross the recognition system within 20 seconds. The older and time consuming systems are replaced for the immigrants by IRIS in order to provide easeful and secured systems (UKBA 2006). The Iris recognition systems are also increasingly grabbing the attention of homeland security departments. The fact that newer technologies have enhanced the capturin g power and speed

Royal Chocolate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Royal Chocolate - Essay Example The inventory management system is required to be automated to make it more efficient and effective, so that reordering can be done at lower levels, thus saving cost of ordering and the inventory carrying costs. To satisfy the requirements of quick and fast communication, the company needs to upgrade its obsolete machines. As the company has purchased 10 new desktops, 5 of these should be provided to the 5 people working in the office. These people do not require notebooks since they do not move along often. The remaining 5 desktops should be installed at the plant site, so that plant management and employees can have access to the company's network. In order to produce reliable and accurate office documents quickly and efficiently, and to extract the full potential of office automation software, the company should purchase enterprise wide licenses of the latest Microsoft Office 2007 suite; which contains MS Word for documents generation and reporting, MS Excel for financial spreadsheets and numerical analysis, MS Power Point for presentation development, and MS Outlook to support emails. Royal Chocolates has a high volume of inter-office correspondence (assumption). An intranet email facility can eliminate most paper based communication. The system will provide instantaneous delivery, significantly reducing the time and manual record keeping overhead costs. The company is recommended to implement Exchange Server 2003 for better management of email system. One of the newly acquired servers should be used as email server. Appropriate software should be installed that include not only the exchange server software, but also email clients like MS Outlook, antivirus software and others. Intranet and Extranet To provide the necessary infrastructure for internal office correspondence, and email facility, the company should implement an intranet for communication between people in the office, and between office and plant. In addition, extranet needs to be developed to communicate with vendors and suppliers. The development of intranets and extranets is a part of e-business which can be said to include e-service, the provision of services and tasks online (Nelson, 2001). The extranet will allow the company to establish a VPN (Virtual Private Network) with the vendors, who

Amazon case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Amazon case study - Essay Example evolution includes change of ownership as everyone is incorporated since the owners decides issues based on the long terms motivated by the excess opportunities available in the modern world due to development in technology, labor quality increase over the times since hiring and placement must be done to acquire competent efforts who can pursue diversification in all aspects. Companies diversify in different ways. Some uses the same line of products to produce more known as the related diversifies while others chose to go different line known as the unrelated diversifiers. Thus those who chose to be in the same line tends to make more profit than the firms that deviate to other goods since the companies diversifying in similar products tends to specialize and produce quality goods which can compete relatively in prices at the market. Amazon is a company that is customer obsesses ion and tries to satisfy them by all means since they are the key to the growth of the firm hence participates in various inventions to improve productivity (KENNY, 200). The organization also believes in spending the right way to achieve self-efficiency of the diversification, increase sales volume and become more resourceful and innovations to all sectors in the company. Amazon chose to diversify into unrelated business so as to expand their growth and the evolution as gone over times. The company was started as an online bookstore selling but that has since changed over the times. The company has now incorporated diversity in other areas which includes, software’s, MP3s, video games electronics, food to consumers, music CDs, video tapes, equipment, fashion and many more. The company also has got a multi-product strategy in the market as it plans to enter the sale of air tickets online and hotel rooms. The company has since acquired a substantial share of the market of the bookstore. However as a result of the diversification, the sales volume has greatly reduced over the times

Information Systems Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Information Systems Strategy - Essay Example As the overall definition of strategy goes strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation with a long-term perspective that aims at putting the organization in an advantageous position by reorganizing its own resources to meet the challenging business environments. In the process, strategy tries to match the requirements of the market and to meet the demands of the stakeholders of the firm. Strategies do exist at different levels of the organization. Some strategies are formed at corporate level and few others are formed at the business levels. The overall strategies when broken down take the form of operational strategies. It is also imperative for any organization to have its systems regarding the collection and dissemination of information in place so that the top management of the firm is supplied with valid inputs for making effective managerial decisions affecting the business of the firm. A proper alignment of the business strategies and the information system strategi es will enable the firm to plan its resources more effectively to accelerate the growth of its business. With this background this paper makes a detailed report on the role the information system and information technology strategies play in the development of a business along with the potential benefits that may arise to the business out of the implementation of the information systems strategies along with the business strategies. 2.0 Role of Information Systems Strate

Tank Leak Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tank Leak - Personal Statement Example The issues of soil contamination will need to be addressed and the abandoned tank removed for reasons of safety and structural stability. The local agency responsible for the environment may have to be consulted to determine the magnitude and extent of risk of environmental contamination the leakage poses. That agency may also require to be consulted before an appropriate remediation programme is adopted and the soil contamination cleaned up. Following are a few remediation techniques published in the Oil Remediation Index that we could choose from: 1. Dig and dump - As the name suggests this method involves removing all the contaminated soil and disposing it off to the nearest landfill site. While excavation and dumping is becoming increasingly expensive, this is the most effective of the methods for removal of contamination and possibly most appropriate for your site as we are already in the process of excavation. 2. Soil Vapour Extraction - This is an in-situ process that involves inducing an air flow through the soil to remove the volatile components of the contaminant. Since oil is not as volatile as say petrol, this technique might not be very appropriate here. 4. Bio-remediation - This method involves using micro-organisms such as fungi, bacteria etc to degrade organic contaminants.