My Top Ten Motivational Quotes for 2010

With so much turmoil in the world, so many people hurting from the economic downturn, and so much cynicism in the political arena, I thought it might be time to recharge the batteries, and get myself motivated for an awesome 2010!  I believe 2010 is going to be the best year of my life.  And it can be for you, too!

To help you get revved up for the coming year, I thought I would post a list of some of my favorite motivational quotes.

— Kevin

• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.”  — Mark Twain

• “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”  — Jim Rohn

• “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”  — Vince Lombardi

• “I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve.”  — Anthony Robbins

• “Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence and determination will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these.”  — James Whitcomb Riley

• “If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price.”  — Bud Wilkinson

• “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”  — Brian Tracy

• “The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces.”  — Unknown Author

• “You have to recognize that every ‘out front’ maneuver you make is going to be lonely, but if you feel entirely comfortable, then you’re not far enough ahead to do any good. That warm sense of everything going well is usually the body temperature at the center of the herd.”  — John Masters

• “When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winner’s circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.”  — Pat Riley

Merry Christmas 2009 from Kevin & Rebecca

December 2009

Dear Family and Friends (Fair-Weather or Foul — take your pick),

As we turn the page on the calendar and yet another decade, we realize — to our disgust and utter horror — someone got us a 2010 Tiger Woods calendar! What a way to begin a decade…

We lived through The Eighties.  We survived The Nineties.  What do we call the last decade?  The Aughties/Oughties? (for Ought-One, Ought-Two, etc.) — or The Naughties? (Naught is an integer of Zero) — or The Oh-Oh’s? These past ten years started with the Millennium Bug and ended with the crash of both the housing market and Tiger Woods’ Escalade.  Since this has been the most willy-nilly decade of our lifetimes and Nil stands for Zero, I settled on The Nillies. The label seems apt.

We still live in Minnesota, although neither of us can figure out — Why?!  Of all the places we’ve ever lived, we’d have to say the Twin Cities is one of them.

Rebecca is professor (ninth year) at North Central University — voice and music guru and resident tea barista.  She has a passion for teaching and it’s a good thing — because she invests a minimum 80 hours a week teaching, grading, and prepping classes.  Becka plans on pursuing her doctorate this coming year and writing a book for beginning voice teachers.  And why not? She has nothing else on her day planner between midnite and 6 a.m.!

I (Kevin) am currently writing my novel Tevye and The Streets of Gold — the sequel to Fiddler On the Roof.  After three years of research, one year of story development, and six years of procrastination, (as Tevye the Dairyman would say:) “It’s time to take the bull by the tail and look him in the eye!”  The novel should be published before the polar ice cap melts, which we’re being told is certain to happen almost any day now.  (Good for me.  Bad for the ice cap.)  More info at http://www.TheTevyeProject.com.

Our son Kris and daughter-in-law Ellie (Elizabeth) live and work in the Twin Cities, and we’re always happy to see them on birthdays and holidays.  No grandkids yet.  We’re still too young.

Mom used to say:  “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Which makes this a very short letter!

In closing, let us all turn the page on the Year of Our Lord 2009 and the Decade of The Nillies, as we lift our voices ala George Frideric Handel in grandiose proclamation to sing . . .

♫ ♪ Hall-e-lu-jah!! ♪ ♫

Boomer - our l'il buddy

“Sing”cerely,

Kevin & Rebecca Norberg

THE RULES — for Men

Men are always hearing “The Rules” from the female perspective.  So here are some rules from the male point-of-view.

Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.

Sunday = sports. It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

Don’t cut your hair. Ever. Long hair is always more attractive than short hair. One of the big reasons guys fear getting married is that married women always cut their hair… and by then you’re stuck with them.

Shopping is NOT a sport. And we are never going to think of it that way.

Crying is blackmail.

Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

We don’t remember dates. Mark birthdays and anniversaries on a calendar. Remind us frequently beforehand and don’t assume our forgeting one is failing some sort of love-test.

Most guys own three pairs of shoes – tops. What makes you think we’d be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?

Men believe that yes and no are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

If you won’t dress like Victoria’s Secret girls, don’t expect us to act like soap opera guys.

If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us and force us to lie or plead the Fifth Amendment.

If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.<

Let us ogle. We are going to look anyway; it’s genetic. (It doesn’t mean we don’t love you anymore. We’re hard-wired to ogle.)

You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials… unless it’s a sports car commercial.

Christopher Columbus didn’t need directions, and neither do we.

The relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out. Get over it.

ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

We are not mind-readers and never will be. Our lack of mind-reading ability is not proof of how little we care about you.

If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but figure you really want to punish us with your inscrutability.

If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.

When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.

Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss the shotgun formation or monster trucks.

You have enough clothes.

You have too many shoes.

Foreign films are best left to foreigners. (Unless it’s Bruce Lee or some war flick where it doesn’t really matter what they’re saying anyway.)

I am in shape. ROUND is a shape.

(Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know we really don’t mind that; it’s like camping.)

NaNoWriMo R2: National Novel Writing Month, Round 2!

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is almost over (ends November 30th).  But I’ve decided to up the ante!  I’m doing a self-imposed Round 2 — going for a second 50,000 words in December.

In November, I made the Big Push for NaNoWriMo iand took off on writing my novel: Tevye and The Streets of Gold — the sequel to Fiddler On The Roof.

It was a good move.  I went from zero to 50,000 words in 25 days!

And now I’m going to continue that pace through December…

NaNoWriMo November 2009 Winner's Certificate

Thanks to NaNoWriMo Round 1, my novel is about half finished.  I’m projecting the finished project will be 110,000 words.  So with NaNoWriMo 2, I should get there by the end of the year.

For those of you who aren’t up-to-speed on the project, here’s the summary:

* * *

In Tevye and The Streets of Gold, the sequel to Fiddler On The Roof,  set against the backdrop of Ellis Island and the tenements and sweatshops of New York City in 1911, Tevye the Dairyman — a pious pushcart peddler-philosopher and Russian-Jewish immigrant — struggles to find acceptance as a “real” American and make a better life for himself and his daughters, while confronting the squalor of the Lower East Side and the growing pressure to assimilate.

TEVYE AND THE STREETS OF GOLD is the long-awaited sequel to one of Broadway’s most beloved and critically-acclaimed musicals – Fiddler On The Roof.  Inspired by the same characters and stories of Sholem Aleichem on which Fiddler was based, the sequel follows Tevye on a new adventure to America.  Tevye’s two youngest daughters, Shprintze and Bielke, aspire to be “real” Americans and will do anything to escape the intolerable conditions of their tenement sweatshop.  One daughter chooses a fairytale romance with a millionaire assimilationist.  The other decides to force change by confronting the sweatshop boss, which dooms her own romance and threatens her family.  Meanwhile, Tevye makes a small fortune and loses it, all on the same day on the Streets of Gold.  When the Jewish immigrants and tenement dwellers stand up to the privileged class and their concept of the American “Melting Pot,” Tevye learns that acceptance among strangers may come at too high of a high price.  It’s a story of laughter and love, wit and charm, of acceptance and assimilation, and the American Dream of every immigrant to make a better life while remaining true to oneself.

* * *

Bookmark this Blog or subscribe to the RSS feed and you can keep updated on progress.  I’ll also be posting it on my Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/kevinnorberg

 

As Tevye would say:  At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.

See you in the Blogosphere and thanks for your support!!

— Kevin

NaNoWriMo is a Recipe For Success! 50,000+ Words in 25 days

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month (November) and the goal is one novel of 50,000 words in 30 days.

Thanks to NaNoWriMo — I just passed 50,000 words in 25 days! 50,672, so far.

Tevye and The Streets of Gold (the sequel to Fiddler On the Roof) is well on its way to a becoming a finished First Draft.  I’ll be assembling my submission kit package this weekend to set about finding an agent and a publisher.

A novel — and the sequel to Fiddler On the Roof

My novel’s been keeping warm on the back burner for some time now — 10 years, to be exact.  Combine three years of research, slowly stir in one year of story development mixed with the Dramatica Pro software treatment, knead together and let simmer with procrastination for six years and you have the recipe for — um, well… a 10-year outline!

But… mix in one month of NaNoWriMo and you have a Recipe for Success!!

It’s Day 25 and I just surpassed the 50,000 word milestone!

Judging by where I am in the story, I’m somewhere between 40% and 60% finished… my completed novel should weigh in at 75,000 to 125,000 words.   Which means I’ll still be writing three to four weeks from now (late December 2009).  But the good news is this: my First draft is pretty solid, so there should only be minimal editing/re-writing to get to a completed manuscript.

Some of you who have been following this process know I’ve been planning a three-pronged approach:

1. write the novel — Tevye and The Streets of Gold.

2. write and perform a solo stage presentation — Tevye! The One-Man Show.

3. write and produce the fully-staged musical — Fiddler in America.

I’m going to be in pre-production for the one-man show while I’m in the process of finding an agent and a publisher for the book.  I plan to begin performing this show this winter in smaller venues here in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Kevin Norberg as Tevye — the world's most famous Milkman!

But once I locate a publisher and begin negotiating a contract, the goal is to release a national tour of the one-man show to coincide with the publication of the novel.  We’ll map out thirty cities or so for the solo performance in larger venue theaters.  And I’ll be developing and producing a multi-media presentation to complement and accompany the one-man performance.  We’ll use multiple screens with stills, graphics and images including panoramas of streets scenes, city skylines and set backdrops to visually enhance the one-man performance and make it into an event!

Ideally,  the smaller venue performances will take place in the winter, spring and summer of 2010, while the larger venue production of Tevye The One-Man Show will roll out with the publishing of the novel in the Fall of 2010.

The third phase will then be to complete the script and compose/arrange the music for the fully-staged musical FIddler in America for Fall 2011 in a regional theater somewhere.

So there’s my battle plan for The Tevye Project.  You can read more about the entire project here:  http://www.TheTevyeProject.com

and on the novel and NaNoWriMo here: http://www.nanowrimo.org///eng/user/553371

Tevye! The One-Man Show poster

By the way, some interesting things happened along the way on my writers journey… my characters surprised me by some of their actions!

I had a pretty complete outline for the main plot points and sub-plots, the characters involved,  etc..  But once I turned the characters loose and they began to interact with one another on their own, they did some unexpected things.

One sequence involved Tevye’s youngest daughter, Bielke, who meets a rich, Uptown bachelor.  I had already sketched out where their meeting would take place.  But she and another character did something so unexpected that it completely changed the way her romantic interest meets her and reacts to her.  It was totally appropriate to her character and to the story.  But it wasn’t something I even remotely considered when plotting the story.  Now my novel is many times the richer because of what she did and how he reacts to it.

Three benefits resulted from this unexpected occurrence:

1. The reader is surprised by what happens, because the characters themselves are surprised by their own actions;

2. The characters become richer and deeper, more three-dimensional, as  a result; and

3. Because the characters acted unpredictably, the reader moves on with the story not knowing what to expect next!

Very cool!

I’ve gotten to the point in writing that I can’t wait for the next scene to unfold, because I, myself, can’t be sure what the characters in my novel are going to say, nor do I know everything they’re going to do until I put them together, turn them loose, and begin writing what happens!

This being my first novel, I didn’t know that would happen.  It’s made the process of writing so worthwhile and the journey thrilling!  I guess if the novel becomes a “page-turner” for the author, then maybe it has a better chance of being “unputdownable” for the reader, as well!

So, enough celebrating the 50k hurdle.  On with the next 50k!!…

—Kevin Norberg

author, Tevye and the Streets of Gold / Fiddler in America

NaNoWriMo: Earning My Doctoral Degree in Literature!

After three years spent researching the subject of my new novel, I feel as though I put myself through grad school and completed a self-imposed “Master’s degree” on the subjects of Eastern European Jews, New York’s Lower East Side, and the immigrant experience in the year 1911.

If research was my “Master’s” then writing the novel is proving to be the Doctoral Dissertation!

 

Hester Street, New York's Lower East Side, around 1910

I WORK BEST on a deadline. Most creative types do! Give me an achievable goal for a passionate project with a fixed date to get it done, and I crank!!

NaNoWriMo is just the spark I needed to move my novel off the back burner to First Draft. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, invites authors to write an original novel of a minimum 50,000 words in just 30 days –  the month of November.

 

Today is Day 14, and I’ve written almost 29,000 words so far.

MY NOVEL BEGAN 10 years ago with a germ of an idea: “I wonder what happened to Tevye and the girls when they left Russia and came to America as immigrants?” Remember, at the end of Fiddler On the Roof? Tevye and his wife and two youngest daughters flee the pogroms (persecution) of Czarist Russia and head to America to live with Uncle Abram (only he doesn’t know it yet).

So what happens next?  Wish someone would write a sequel.

No one ever did.

So that someone turned out to be me!

All of us are sons and daughters of immigrants.  We all came from someplace else. So it’s a story whose roots are common to all of our family trees.

THAT IDEA LED to three years of research into the immigrant experience in America: Ellis Island, the Streets of Gold, the realities of the Lower East Side, poverty, disease, sweatshops and tenements. Educating myself on what the immigrants faced when they came to America.

I spent three years with as many as a hundred books checked out of the library – at the SAME time!

You might say I put myself through grad school and completed a self-imposed “Master’s degree” on the subjects of Eastern European immigrants, New York, and the immigrant experience in 1911.

NEXT, I LAUNCHED into the story treatment.  That was another year’s work. Weaving the main plot and crafting the trails of sub-plots and characters, scenes and settings.   Turns out there were more stories about Tevye the Dairyman, written over a century ago.  Stories that had never been adapted before.  After reading those stories, I decided to weave some of the original plot lines with my own and create a unique sequel.  My story begins five years after Fiddler ends,  with Ellis Island and the Lower East Side as a backdrop.

If research was my “Master’s Degree,” writing the novel is proving to be the Doctoral Dissertation!

the novel and sequel to "Fiddler On the Roof"

And that is quickly becoming the manuscript for Tevye and The Streets of Gold – the novel.  Thanks to NaNoWriMo, the first draft of my novel will be mostly finished by the end of November, and I hope to put the wraps on it by early 2010.  In fact, I’ve already begun the process of looking for an agent and a publisher.

I’m also planning a one-man show adaptation — Tevye! The One-Man Show — which I’ll be performing as the world’s most famous dairyman, starting sometime in 2010.

And a fully-staged musical will follow, most likely in 2011: Fiddler in America.

Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish writer and contemporary of Mark Twain, created Tevye.  Fiddler On The Roof, the acclaimed Broadway musical, immortalized him. And now, with my novel and subsequent stage production(s), the tradition continues… this time in America!

I’ll soon have my self-imposed Doctorate in Literature, resulting in the long-awaited sequel to Fiddler On The Roof.

If you were a rich man, you couldn’t buy a better story, a better character, or a better country for the setting: Fiddler in America!

You can follow progress at my website:  http://www.TheTevyeProject.com

Here at my blog:  http://kevinnorberg.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KevinNorberg

And at the NaNoWriMo site:  http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/553371

—Kevin Norberg (Tevye), author

Fail, Fail, Fail!! Have You Ever Felt You “Just Can’t Win?”

HE EXPERIENCED A difficult childhood. When he was only seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality. He went to work to support his family, and at nine, his mother died. He completed less than one year of formal schooling.

At twenty-two, he lost his job as a store clerk. His desire was to go to law school, but his lack of education restricted him from being admitted. He borrowed money to become a partner in a small business. A few years later, his partner died, leaving him swamped in debt that took seventeen years to repay.

In 1832, he was defeated for the legislature; this was followed by another business failure one year later.

In 1835, the young woman he loved refused to marry him, and a woman he had loved earlier died, leaving him rejected, confused and heartbroken. He was defeated for speaker in 1838 and defeated for the elector in 1840. Two years later he married into a burdensome life and an ultimately unhappy relationship.

He was defeated for Congress in 1843, but finally, after his third try was elected in 1846. Two years later, at thirty-nine, he ran again and failed to be reelected.

His personal life was also in shambles. His four-year-old son died (in fact, only one of his four sons lived past eighteen). At this point, he experienced a nervous breakdown. The next year, he failed to get an appointment to the U.S. Land Office.

At forty-five, he ran and was badly defeated for the US Senate. Two years later, in 1856, he became candidate for the vice presidency and again experienced defeat.

Failure stood at his door in 1858 when he was again badly defeated for the US Senate.

Amazingly enough, at the age of fifty-one, this man withstood a lifetime of crisis, criticism, public denial, personal defeat, deep depression, and loneliness to become the President of the United States in 1860.

His name?

Abraham Lincoln.

I can accept failure.  What I can’t accept is not trying.

—Kevin Norberg

Week 1 NaNoWriMo Results: 15,349 words!

Kevin Norberg as Tevye, author of TEVYE and THE STREETS OF GOLD

Week 1 of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is in the bag.  Here are my results as well as worldwide results from all authors…

• Personal Word Count (Week 1 / Days 1 – 7):  15,349 words

• Total Collective Word Count (Week 1 / Days 1 – 7, all novelists):  591,689,307 words

The goal is writing a novel with a minimum 50,000 words in 30 days (November 1 – 30). But my personal goal is 75,000+ words.

A novel - the sequel to "Fiddler On The Roof"

In case you just tuned in, my project is: Tevye and the Streets of Gold, the long-awaited sequel to Fiddler On The Roof.

My original novel is inspired by the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish writer whose Tevye the Dairyman stories also birthed the original Fiddler.

I’ve now completed the First Draft for seven chapters – 15,000+ words.

Now, on to Week Two.  Hope to finish at 30k+!

Stay tuned…

—Kevin (Tevye)

Tevye’s Official NaNoWriMo site:  http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/553371

Stop by my website for the Master Plan:  http://www.TheTevyeProject.com

Subscribe to my RSS newsfeed for this blog. You can also follow me on Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/kevinnorberg

I’m also in pre-production for TEVYE! THE ONE-MAN SHOW. Performances are planned for winter 2010.

NaNoWriMo Totals: 5042 words (Days 1 – 2)

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) continues….

• Yesterday, Day 1:  I wrote 2233 words.
• Today, Day 2:  another 2809 words.

Cumulative total, Days 1 – 2: 5042 words

The goal is writing a novel with a minimum 50,000 words in 30 days. (I’m actually shooting more for 75,000.)

The Long-Awaited Sequel to FIDDLER

My project: TEVYE AND THE STREETS OF GOLD, the long-awaited sequel to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

My original novel is inspired by the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish writer whose Tevye the Dairyman stories also birthed the original Fiddler.

I’ve now completed the First Draft for the Prologue and Chapters 1 and 2. Tomorrow, moving on to Chapter 3.

—Kevin (Tevye)

Stop by my website for the Master Plan:  http://www.TheTevyeProject.com

Subscribe to my RSS newsfeed for this blog. You can also follow me on Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/kevinnorberg

I’m also in pre-production for TEVYE! THE ONE-MAN SHOW. Performances are planned for winter 2010.

NaNoWriMo – Day 1 Results: 2233 words

book jacket, TEVYE AND THE STREETS OF GOLD

Day 1 of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is now in the Bag.

And I’m 2233 words closer to my goal of finishing TEVYE AND THE STREETS OF GOLD in 30 days!

By the end of November I’m working toward a finished First Draft of the novel, which tells the story of what happens to Tevye and his daughters as new immigrants to America.

Stop by my website for the Master Plan:  http://www.TheTevyeProject.com

I’m also in pre-production for TEVYE! THE ONE-MAN SHOW. Performances are planned for winter 2010.

Subscribe to my RSS newsfeed for this blog. You can also follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kevinnorberg

Mazeltov!

—Kevin