The Next Big Thing!

Posted on January 30, 2013 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Two writer friends of mine, Paul Anthony and Clive Eaton, recently “tagged” me for a “chain blog” called The Next Big Thing.MH900444369

It works like this: you answer a specific set of questions about your current work-in-progress and then invite several other authors to do the same thing. Next, you place links to their blogs and they do the same for you. The concept is to generate interest in your work and to help your blog readers learn a little more about you and other writers.

So, without further discussion, here are my answers to the questions that Paul and Clive directed for me to answer. And, after reading them, please take a moment to click on their names for a visit to their blog sites also.

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What is the working title of your next book?

Lethal Medicine

Where did the idea for your book come from?

Several years ago, I sold my pharmacy business. Soon, I realized that I missed the work, the people and the patients. My wife suggested that I write about it. I liked the idea, but that presented a whole new set of challenges: do I write a “how-to” book, a memoir or something else? I chose the something else. I always dreamed of writing fiction, but never had the time. Now I had the time and a rich history in clinical pharmacy to draw upon. I decided to write a suspense novel about a clinical pharmacy practice turning sinister.

What genre does your book fall under?

Mystery/Suspense.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hugh Jackman would play Jon Masters, Nicole Kidman would play Gwen Masters, and Javier Bardem would play Jorge Nuevo.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?

The life of a successful clinical pharmacist implodes when he discovers that the investigational drug study he’s managing is a sham, causing him to be indicted for drug trafficking and leading him on a quest to prove his innocence as he uncovers a global network of illegal drugs destined to become the nation’s latest and most addictive recreational substance.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About two years.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Little has been written about a pharmacist protagonist who battles an international crime organization, so my book is unique in that respect. I would say that this novel is a mixture of those by Joseph Finder and Robin Cook. Joseph Finder puts everyday people into impossible situations that test their talents to the limit, and Robin Cook always focuses on some sinister aspect of medicine and the medical profession.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Being an avid murder mystery and thriller reader for many years, I would often turn to my wife and say, “What would happen if…?” One day a few years ago, while waiting for a flight to travel on vacation, I turned to my wife and asked her that very question. We began discussing a plot and then added some characters to the equation. By the time we had boarded the flight, I’d given the characters names and my wife suggested that I write a story outline. That outline turned into this first novel and I’ve been writing ever since.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

This book focuses on infusion pharmacy, a little known aspect of the practice of pharmacy. It also offers an interesting perspective on modern life in China.

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Thanks for allowing me to share thoughts about my debut novel. I plan to publish this work by late spring and hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

I’ve “tagged” the following authors to post answers to these same questions in the near future on their blog sites: Tina Frisco, Ruth Watson-Morris, Pritpal Nanua, Carol Carroll, and James Osborne. Please click their links to learn more about them and their writing projects.

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Blog Rolls, Blog Trends, Blog Writers, Blogging, The Next Big Thing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Medication Errors – A Killer

Posted on January 23, 2013 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

As a follow-up to its landmark report, To Err Is Human, the Institute of MH900406756Medicine has determined that medication errors are a serious public health risk and that the risk remains a widespread and growing threat.

Medication errors result in at least 1.5 million preventable injuries per year, four hundred thousand of which occur in this country’s hospitals. It’s estimated that medication errors add at least $3.5 billion in extra yearly medical costs.

The errors are spread across all age groups, but older adults are the most likely to be hospitalized for medication-related injuries, according to the Food andMH900448701 Drug Administration. It’s been estimated that almost half of these errors occur in those over the age of 60.

That’s not a surprising statistic, considering that older people take more medications on average than other age groups. And, with more medication use, there are more opportunities for mishaps.

Bar coding, not shelving similarly named medications close together, and other mistake-prevention measures go a long way toward eliminating errors. But, although prescriptions are double-checked (and often triple checked), errors still occur.

The most common error resulting in injury is substituting the wrong drug by MH900406754mistake. Other types of errors include incorrectly interpreting the doctor’s instructions when generating the prescription labels, and dispensing wrong dosages of correct medications.

A recent study of prescription errors found that almost ninety percent of reported mistakes were discovered during medication counseling offered at the prescription counter and were then corrected before a patient left the store. It appears that this one simple action can prevent a large majority of errors from happening.

I think back at how often I’ve been at a prescription counter when a pharmacy clerk asks a customer if he or she would like to talk with a pharmacist about a new medication being picked up. More often than not, the customer refuses the service, presumably because of time constraints.

If pharmacy customers would take a moment to review a new medication with the pharmacist, many errors would be discovered and corrected before aMH900409126 customer leaves the pharmacy. During such a consult, the pharmacist looks at the medication and dosage, and confirms that it’s intended for whatever condition you discussed with your doctor.

Another potential lifesaver is that, when refilling a prescription, take a few moments at the drug counter to open the container and make sure it’s the same medication you usually take. If the medication looks different, don’t assume that it’s merely a different generic brand. Question the difference to confirm that it is the same medication by a different manufacturer.

The most important thing to remember is that all health professionals are human and they can make mistakes when distracted or rushed. We, as patients and customers, must realize that it’s our responsibility to question anything that doesn’t seem or look right to protect our own health and keep preventable errors to a minimum.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

This year I’m “passing it forward” by ending my blogs with a shout out to some of my writer friends and ask that you take a moment to stop by their blogs and websites also.  This week check out: 

http://www.goodreads.com/terrybrooks

http://jamesosbornenovels.wordpress.com

http://andyszpuk.wordpress.com

http://webofdeceitdotorg.wordpress.com

http://Intheshadowofthedragon.blogspot.fr/

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, Drug Misadventures, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals, The Pharmacy Profession, The Practice of Pharmacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Mysteries vs Thrillers

Posted on January 16, 2013 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

A few years ago, mysteries were the hot genre. It seemed as if everyone wasMH900427785 reading a mystery novel. The thrill of guessing, “Who done it!” was the excitement that kept me, and many others, reading book after book.

More recently, however, thrillers have made up more and more of the bestsellers list. It seems as if the excitement of solving the puzzle of a mystery, even murder mysteries, is now taking second place to the thrill of the chase between the protagonist and the antagonist.

This evolution is subtle but the psychology behind the shift is not. In order to fully explain what I mean, allow me to take a step back and explain the basic differences in these two genres.

A Mystery Novel:  These stories involve a puzzle, a specific unknown the MH900385446reader isn’t expected to know about until the end.  Mysteries are often more cerebral and are considered works of revelation. There’s more mental action than physical in a mystery. The primary action (or crime) has already occurred, so the element of suspense is not necessarily the main focus of the novel. It’s in solving the puzzle.

A Thriller Novel:  These stories involve intrigue and action. A catastrophic event may have happened, as in a mystery, but the thriller novel differs in that the event triggers the possibility of an even greater catastrophe. In a thriller, the protagonist’s job is to prevent further calamity.

If the above explanation is about as clear as mud, then let me explain further. Various charts have been developed that characterize these types of novels as follows:

Mysteries ═►Suspense Novels ═►Thrillers

The main difference is in the delivery of suspense. Mysteries let the reader know up front that something bad has happened, but the reader doesn’t know who the villain is. The reader must plow through to the end of the book, or be very clever at identifying the clues along the way, to find out who the antagonist is. The mystery of “Who done it!” is not revealed until the end.

In a thriller, however, the writer is appealing to the emotions of the reader who yearns for excitement. Thriller plots create a desire to confront extreme dangerMH900443241 and defeat nasty villains. This differs from a mystery in that the reader is informed at some point early on who the villains are. The thrill doesn’t revolve around solving the mystery because we already know who the bad guys are. The excitement is the heightened emotions brought on by the chase, that literary dance between the hero and the villain when you’re not really certain who will win.

It’s been said that the threat from an unknown source is never as great as a known, villainous danger.  In other words, there’s much more suspense when we know what our hero is up against but can’t quite figure out how the hero will either survive, eliminate a specific threat or save the world. The key word here is SUSPENSE. It’s both the link and the difference between mysteries and thrillers.

A mystery may have a degree of suspense, but the story progresses logically MH900414033toward a resolution of the puzzle and this stimulates the mind. A thriller, on the other hand, stimulates the senses. The emotional rush of apprehension and exhilaration imbedded within the plot of a thriller drives the narrative at a constant, and at times a breakneck, pace.  The SUSPENSE is heightened by the known threat of the villain and his/her unexpected actions.

Author L.J. Sellers states the difference between mysteries and thrillers a bit uniquely.  She explains that in a thriller, the villain drives the story, whereas in a mystery, the protagonist drives the story.  That’s an interesting explanation that takes me back to the idea that it’s the degree of SUSPENSE that distinguishes these two genres and my previous statement that the threat from an unknown villain is never as great as that of a known one.

SUSPENSE happens when the protagonist is in danger.  In a pure suspense genre novel, the protagonist becomes aware of the danger only gradually and the suspense builds slowly as the story unfolds.  Thus, the relationship among the mystery, suspense and thriller genres become somewhat blurred.

But the basic premise of protagonist danger and degree of suspense defines what genre a book falls into.  In mysteries, the main character is occupied in tracking down the truth about an event, often a murder, but the protagonist is in relatively little danger. In thrillers, however, the protagonist is often in danger from the onset or is placed in danger by his actions and/or that of the antagonist.

So, which are my favorites? See my website and you’ll know. And I hope they’re your favorites also.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Now to “pass it forward”, I’d like to give a shout out to some of my writer friends. Please take a moment to stop by their blogs and websites this week also.

http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/

http://www.cliveeaton.com/

http://caredoe.wordpress.com/

http://jimlwright.wordpress.com

http://alles5starreviews.blogspot.com

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Difference Between Mysteries and Thrillers, Mysteries and Thrillers Compared, Mysteries Vs Thrillers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

A Forged Prescription!

Posted on January 9, 2013 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This New Year begins with fresh hope for all that’s possible in the days, weeks and months ahead; but I’d like to take a moment to share an unusual, yet true story that happened to me in the past.

Many years ago, while working on my advanced degree, I earned a living as aMH900321056 pharmacist on the “graveyard shift” of a 24-hour retail pharmacy located near a major medical center.  Seven area hospitals, each with an emergency room, provided a dribble of patients needing a variety of prescriptions filled in the dead of night.

I enjoyed the relative quiet of that shift, an ideal setting to both make money and yet have time to study and plan my clinical research.  Secretly, however, I always worried about the sinister side of working such a shift—would I be robbed at gunpoint for money, for the narcotics locked in the medical safe, or for both—and would I survive such an event or become yet another victim of a senseless shooting.

The prescription counter, as is usual, was situated at the rear of the store and elevated about a foot above the retail floor space.  That provided me with a panoramic view of the retail area and anyone entering the store.

One night I observed a twenty-something white male enter.  He was dressed in oversized jeans, a hoodie and a baseball cap worn backwards.  He looked around, spotted the prescription counter with me behind it and shuffled toward me.  I thought it odd that he looked down every aisle before approaching the pharmacy.  The acid started churning in my stomach.  It inched up my esophagus as I thought, “This is it.  I’m about to be robbed.”

He walked up to the prescription counter, smiled and merely stood there.  I looked at his hands for a possible gun, or a least a note demanding the store’s cash, or worse yet, all the narcotics.  Instead, he simply stood there and smiled.  I hesitated for as long as I dared, then squared my shoulders and walked toward him.  I made sure to position myself behind the cash register, the only barrier within sight.

He smiled again and handed me a prescription.  He asked, “Can I wait for this? I’m really in pain.”  I exhaled audibly, but intelligent words failed me.  I looked down at the prescription.  It was written on one of the local hospital prescription pads.  I even recognized the doctor’s signature since I usually got several prescriptions a week from the emergency room staff of this particular hospital.

I swallowed down the acid, took a deep breath and managed to say, “Have a seat.  I’ll have it out in about ten minutes.”  I then walked away to process the prescription.

As I studied the paper, acid starting its upward climb again when I realized the prescription had been altered.  The order was written for Vicodin 10mg tablets, a popular pain-relieving drug containing the narcotic hydrocodone.  It was a prescription I’d often filled as a result of patients’ overnight emergency room visits.

What was unusual about this order was the quantity—an obvious one had been added in front of the originally ordered twenty. The change to one hundred and twenty tablets was subtle, but the ink was not quite a match to the ink on the remainder of the written prescription.

I knew I was holding a forged prescription!  My first thought was that I had to verify that the prescribing doctor had not had second thoughts and MH900409668sloppily added to the original quantity.  I didn’t believe that to be the case, but I had to verify before moving on to the next step.  I called the emergency room and verified that only the twenty tablets had been ordered.  The prescribing doctor gave me a verbal order to cancel the prescription and take further action.

I disconnected, looked toward the patient waiting area and found the person staring back at me.  I smiled, he smiled and I could taste bile mixing with freshly churned acid.  I moved to my computer terminal and pretended to process the prescription.  I stopped abruptly, as if a call had just come in, and answered a dead line.  I slowly dialed 911 and reported a forged prescription and requested immediate assistance from the nearest police cruiser in the area.  I was told to stall the customer and that help would arrive in five minutes.

I hung up the phone and looked again at the forger.  He stared at me and smiled.  I smiled back and again tucked my head down over my computer terminal as I occasionally glanced at the front door, hoping to see a blue uniform move through the doorframe.

After what seemed like hours instead of minutes, the front door to the pharmacy slowly opened and a blue uniformed officer quietly slipped in and proceeded toward the pharmacy.  He moved around the perimeter of the store from my left.  I looked toward the customer waiting area and almost didn’t believe what I saw next.

The forger was sticking his arm in the complimentary blood pressure machine.  He pressed the start button and the automatic cuff inflated around his upper arm.  I looked to my left and saw the police officer, with gun drawn, round the corner and head toward the prescription counter.  The officer and I made eye contact and I nodded toward the blood pressure machine to my right.

The officer approached slowly and quietly.  When he was about ten feet from the forger, the man spotted the officer and stood abruptly, presumably to run from the store.  But his arm was locked in the blood pressure cuff and he was pulled back into a sitting position, a sitting duck waiting to be apprehended.

I breathed a sigh of relief while the officer smiled and shook his head.  The forger shook his head also, but looked down with a very disheartened expression on his face.  The officer disengaged the accused from the machine, read him his rights and cuffed him.  I walked up and showed the officer the forged prescription.  I confirmed that I had verified it had been altered before I called for assistance.

The officer took the prescription into evidence, asked me a few clarifying questions, confirmed that I may be needed to testify if the case went to trial and then led the handcuffed man out of the store and into the back of the squad car.

The rest of that night shift was reasonably quiet with only a few other patients filtering in occasionally.  But, needless to say, my concentration was broken and I got no studying done for the rest of that night.

I was never called to testify and assume that the man agreed to a plea deal, or had a good lawyer that got him off.  Either way, I had a “good citizen feeling” about helping catch the guy.  But from that point forward, I always took a few extra minutes to study those emergency room prescriptions for accuracy before processing them.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

This year I want to “pass it forward” by ending my blogs with a shout out to some of my writer friends and ask that you take a moment to stop by their blogs and websites also.  This week check out: 

http://www.martachausee.blogspot.com/

http://seumasgallacher.com/

http://rgreyhoover.com/

http://wealdfaejournals.wordpress.com/

http://thomasrydder.wordpress.com/

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, Drug Misadventures, Forged Prescriptions, Prescription Forgers, The Pharmacy Profession, The Practice of Pharmacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

My Wish for You in 2013

Posted on January 1, 2013 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts;

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills; 



May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips;

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy;

May the problems you had forget your home address; 



IN SIMPLE WORDS …………

          MAY 2013 BE THE BEST YEAR OF YOUR LIFE!

                    HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!

(Author Unknown)

Posted in NEW YEAR'S WISH | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Posted on December 26, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

MH910215953

Seasons’ Greetings

and

Best Wishes

for a

Happy and Prosperous

New Year

Posted in Seasons' Greetings | 2 Comments

Latest Trends in Blogs

Posted on December 19, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

For almost a year I’ve been writing this weekly blog about various topics relatedwp81d8551f_05_06 to Murder, Mayhem and Medicine.  Since I write thrillers and murder mysteries, the blogs essentially have been an extension of my book research.  And from the comments I’ve received, I believe I’ve given valuable information to other writers in these genres.

The initial purpose for this blog was to highlight my writing and to connect with other writers and potential readers of my work.  It’s been a tool to further my craft on several different levels.

Along the way, however, I’ve seen interesting blog trends emerge.  Some fizzled quickly, but others have gained credibility and I’d like to share those with you today.

Three of the more important blog trends:

The Author Interview:  A great way to consistently have an interesting blog is to write about others—specifically, to have others write about themselves and their published, or soon-to-be-published work.  Recently, a fellow writer interviewed me for his blog.  It was fun, it highlighted my novel in progress and it gave my writer friend Clive Eaton enough blog material for that day.

The Next Big Thing:  This is an interesting, and quite new, phenomenon in blog writing.  It’s a kind of chain letter for writers to promote their work and have a ready-made blog all at the same time.  It goes like this: you construct five to ten questions and answers about your work and then post it on your blog.  You then tag five more people to do the same thing in the near future by providing a link to their blogs.

These tagged writers are supposed to post the same questions and their answers on their blog site and then tag five more people to do the same thing on their blogs at a later date.  In that way the blogs get linked and readers migrate from one blog to another.  The ultimate goal of this blog chain is to increase readership for your blog and others.

Since writers Lori Gordon and Peggy Bechko have tagged me recently for The Next Big Thing, the following is a demonstration of my follow-through for them.  Be sure to go to their blog sites for a visit and to see their answers.  They’d appreciate that.  I won’t tag five more blog writers today to carry on the thread since it’s the holiday season and everyone’s overloaded with other commitments.  I’ll save that for another time.

THE NEXT BIG THING INTERVIEW:

What is your working title of your book?

State of Illusion

Where did the idea come from for your book?

Several years ago, I sold my infusion pharmacies, but I missed the business.  My wife suggested that I write about it.  That presented a whole new set of challenges: do I write a “how-to” book, a memoir or something else?  I chose the something else.  I always dreamed of writing fiction, but never had the time.  Now I had the time and a rich history in clinical pharmacy to draw upon.  I decided to write a thriller about clinical pharmacy turning sinister.

What genre does your book fall under?

Thriller/Mystery.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For my protagonist, Jon Masters, I would say Gerard Butler, the Scottish actor.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Clinical pharmacist Jon Masters discovers that the investigational drug study he’s managing is a sham and his life implodes when evidence found at a murder scene implicates him in an elaborate scheme to distribute a cheap, yet pharmaceutical quality, street drug cleverly disguised as the experimental drug.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-Published.

How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About 9 months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Little has been written about a pharmacist protagonist who battles an international crime organization, so my book is unique in that respect.  But my inspirations come from the works of thriller authors Joseph Finder, Steve Martini and Robin Cook.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My wife.  Since I have always loved reading murder mysteries and thrillers, I would often turn to her and ask, “What would happen if…?”  I asked that question again one day, and she seemed interested to find out the answer and suggested I write about it.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

This book gives an interesting perspective of modern life in China.

The Blog Roll:  My friend, and fellow writer, Seumas Gallacher recently started this last trend in blogs, and it’s interesting how he links his site to others.  He calls his invention “The Blog Scratchers Union”, or “TBSU” for short.  Essentially, he promotes other writers and their blogs by simply writing a short intro to other writers and then lists their blog site links.  It’s a great way to get your blog link listed on other blogs.  The following sites constitute my “TBSU” for today and I invite you to check out these sites.

http://bookmavenpicks.wordpress.com

http://jimlwright.wordpress.com/

http://scifimagpie.blogspot.com/

http://www.shannonmcroberts.com/

http://thomasrydder.wordpress.com/

http://www.chaptersandchats.com

http://SaintsRestNovels.blogspot.com

http://danielabram.wordpress.com

http://www.lucaveste.com

Thanks for letting me mention my upcoming novel in “The Next Big Thing” as well as pay back the kindness of some of my fellow blog writers in “The Blog Scratchers Union” Blog Roll.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in #TBSU, About James J. Murray, About Writing, Blog Interviews, Blog Rolls, Blog Trends, Blogging, The Blog Scratchers Union, The Next Big Thing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

My First Interview as a Writer

Posted on December 12, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

About five years ago, I had a wild idea that I could be a writer.  Actually, I had entertained the thought for decades, but other things always came first.  I guess you could say the usual happened—life got in the way.

A marriage, a professional career, two children, mortgages and a few other things always took priority.  So, when it was time to retire, I simply had no excuse to delay the dream any longer.

Since I’ve been an avid reader of murder mysteries and thrillers most of my adult life, I would often play the “What if…?” game.  That’s how many wonderful novels are created—with just that one question that starts with “What if…?”

One day while waiting for a flight, I turned to my wife and asked that same question.  The difference that day was she called my bluff and answered the question.  That was the kick-start I needed to flesh out a plot and then add in some characters.  By the time we had boarded the flight, we’d given those characters names and I knew a novel was in my future.

Now fast-forwarding five years, I have one novel ready for publication after the first of the year and another one completed and in the editing stage.  Two more novels have names and preliminary plots have been conceived.

I’ve met some wonderful authors along the way who have been kind enough to share their knowledge, their mistakes and their successes.  They’ve even supported me in my weekly blogs as I describe various aspects of my favorite plot elements—Murder, Mayhem and Medicine.

This week is very special for me because an author friend persuaded me to share some things about my writing and myself in an author interview, and that interview posted on his blog site a couple of days ago.  As you might expect, it involves more Murder, Mayhem and Medicine.

So, if you’ll forgive me spotlighting a bit of my writing career thus far, I’d like to invite you to click this link to Clive Eaton’s blog and learn more about my writing and how it fits into my future.  And check out Clive’s published works while you’re there.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, About Writing, Drugs Used For Murder, Guest Blogging, Mastering Your Craft, The Art of Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

10,000 Hours

Posted on December 5, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Today, I have a very special guest for my weekly blog! I’d like you to welcome Walter Lapinsky and his interesting blog on achieving perfection in your endeavors.

1dc9472Walt has over 40 years of software development, business-to-business marketing and partner relationship management experience. Walt owns a software consulting firm and also serves as Vice President, Cloud Security for Purposeful Clouds, where he provides strategic and operational guidance on many fronts specifically leveraging his more than 15 years working in the DoD environment, concentrating on data security. Walt was recently named one of the top 100 bloggers on Cloud Computing by the Cloud Computing Journal. And now to his blog on perfecting your craft.

10,000 Hours

We have all heard the saying “Old age and treachery win out over youth and enthusiasm every time.”  I notice that I tend to use it more often as I get older.  The great thing about the saying is that it is usually true.  It seems that it takes 10,000 hours to really be good at something.

While this saying has been around for a long time, Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success did a lot to make the idea known.  The book debuted in 2008 at number one on both the New York Times and The Globe and Mail (Canada) non-fiction bestseller lists.

Michael Jackson probably reached his 10,000-hour mark by the time he was a teenager.  He continued right up to the end putting in extreme effort on all aspects of everything he did, whether a performance or his house and grounds.  You may not have liked him either as a performer or a person, but he sure was amazing at what he did.

The Beatles achieved their 10,000 mark in Germany before they want back to England in 1962, and to Ed Sullivan in 1964.

Your average airline pilot has more than 10,000 hours.  Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, the US Airways pilot who “landed” an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in 2009, had over 19,000 hours of experience at the time.  I think those passengers were really happy he had all of that experience.

This is true for almost any endeavor.  I really want an accountant that has reached that mark.  She will almost magically spot the silly stuff.  I would much rather have an experienced surgeon than one with a still-wet diploma.

Even your “average” child prodigy probably has close to 10,000 hours with his or her skill, although there is no arguing that innate talent is a big help.

What is 10,000 hours?  About five years if that is all you are doing.  Ten years is probably a better estimate; that works out to 3 hours of real “practice” a day.

Young folk make mistakes.  When I was learning to drive in Pennsylvania, you took a six-hour course that maybe had 30 minutes behind the wheel with a professional teacher, and maybe another 20 hours with your parents, always an interesting experience.  By the time our kids were learning to drive in California, they needed a 20-hour course with a professional and a minimum of 100 hours with a parent or experienced older driver.  Young drivers have great reflexes and excellent vision, and as long as nothing goes wrong they are usually OK.  But any “huh?” event can be fatal, whether it is texting, a flat tire or other mechanical failure, bad weather, or some other driver not paying attention.  This is a large reason why professional truck drivers have a much better safety record on a per driven mile basis than your normal casual driver: they have seen, and survived, a lot.  Their instincts have become attuned to the smallest change in their environment.

Perhaps the real key to the 10,000-hour rule is that it is very hard to get surprised.  You have seen it or something very much like it before.  You know what works and, more importantly, what does not in any given situation.

While devoting 10,000 hours may be necessary to be really good at something, it is not sufficient.  We have all had the really bad “experienced” teacher.  Every school day, your average teacher spends maybe four hours in front of a class and another couple of hours in planning, preparation and grading.  For this purpose, we can ignore the time spent in the purely administrative stuff and the workshop days.  Unless the teacher is teaching the teachers, that time is not performing the “teaching” job.  Thus this “average” teacher achieves 10,000 hours in nine or ten years.  One of the worst teachers I ever had was at the University of Delaware.  This guy had been teaching the same class for over 30 years and literally wrote the book.  But he had no classroom presence, ignored students, and got lost in his lectures.

Bill Gates, in a 2011 interview with his father, agreed with the 10,000-rule, but added that there were a few other requirements: luck, timing, and a certain level of fanaticism.  He claims that the key to getting to that level is surviving all of the attrition events. On average, 90% of the time people give up after 50 hours on something new, for any number of reasons.  This includes the opportunity for your employer to give up on you.  Another 90% give up after another 50 hours.  It can be very difficult to hang in there for the full term.

When you are looking for someone or an organization to help you or your company make a significant change, you ought to pay attention to the 10,000-hour rule.  You do not want to bring in a consultant who has recently taken a six-hour course on the subject; you would be better off taking the course yourself.

This can be a problem if you are looking to go to the Cloud.  There are a lot of Cloud certificate programs out there, many of which require that you spend around 100 hours studying up for the test, and send them some money.  I hold a Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge from the Cloud Security Alliance.  I probably spent about 100 hours specifically preparing for that certificate, but had spent the prior four years immersed in Cloud Computing in general and more specifically with security in the Cloud.  That experience is on top of another 30+ years working in a variety of enterprise-class environments where performance, availability and security concerns were critical.

Ten people with 1,000 hours do not equal one person with 10,000.  As you look at the Cloud, look also at the real experience theses Cloud Service Providers and consultants have that are bombarding you with “opportunities to help you.”

Comments solicited.

Keep your sense of humor.

Walt.

Special Note: Walt usually gets the last word in his blogs, but today I get the chance. Whether it’s cyber security, the art of writing or that special sport that defines you, perfection is worth the effort. Walt has been my resource for all things “cyber” in my novel writing and he keeps my computer doublespeak believable. For that special interactive website you’ve always wanted, or the reliability of today’s cloud services that’s a must as your company goes high tech, Walt is your “go-to” guy.

Walt can be contacted through his websites:

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http://www.purposefulclouds.com/pc.logo.med.122610

Posted in Achieving Perfection, Cloud, Culture Shock, Data Security, Future Shock, Lapinsky, Mastering Your Craft, wrLapinsky | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

DEADLY GRAPEFRUIT

Posted on November 28, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

As I watched one of the national news feeds yesterday, I was reminded of how unaware the public is to one of the more serious drug-food interactions.

The subject of the feature was the adverse interaction between many drugs and grapefruit. It was presented as a “startling revelation” that there is a detrimental interaction between certain drugs and grapefruit when either the fruit or the juice from it is consumed concurrently with these medications.

The truth is that the medical community identified this harmful interaction at least ten years ago and now pharmacists routinely attach alert notices to certain prescription medications involved in these interactions.

The new information here is that the number of drugs that can cause a deadly interaction with grapefruit has doubled in just the last few years.  At present, 85 drugs interact with grapefruit to cause injury, 43 of which cause serious or deadly interactions.

The list of drugs that interact with grapefruit now includes many blood pressure medications, most of the cholesterol-lowering drugs, certain cardiac drugs, some anti-seizure medications, specific chemotherapy drugs and a few antibiotic medications.

What astounded me about this news broadcast was that the medical expert being interviewed recommended that patients who have been prescribed these medications “stop taking their medications and call their physicians for alternatives”.

The easier solution and a much better recommendation would be to simply STOP EATING GRAPEFRUIT!

Many of the drugs that interact with grapefruit are maintenance medications, those that patients take every day for chronic medical conditions. If a patient is achieving good therapeutic effects (especially long-term) with a drug therapy, it’s considered irresponsible to discontinue that drug in favor of a specific food in the diet.

The safer action is to keep the patient’s medical condition stable with that specific drug and to DISCONTINUE EATING THE OFFENDING FOOD.

As healthy and tasty as grapefruit is, if taken with certain medications it can be deadly.  As little as one-half grapefruit, or the equivalent in juice, can interfere with the metabolism of certain drugs.  A chemical in grapefruit called furanocoumarin causes some drugs to stay in the body much longer than expected and create an overdose effect when subsequent drug doses are given. Patients have died from respiratory failure, kidney failure and internal bleeding as a result of this accumulated drug effect.

As mentioned, this has been known for a long time and patients are now being warned about this serious interaction. The problem, however, remains a public health hazard for two reasons.

First, many people don’t read warning labels and, secondly, grapefruit is usually a food consumed as part of a healthy diet. People don’t associate a food as simple as grapefruit with having a deadly effect, and the problem is becoming more widespread as additional new drugs come on the market that have this potential interaction with grapefruit.

While it’s important to have news features to educate the public concerning this dangerous drug-food interaction, it should be emphasized that the recommended plan should be elimination of the offending food, not the beneficial drug.

It’s much easier to delete grapefruit from the diet than it is to find a replacement drug that would work as well as the one prescribed by your doctor, particularly if that drug is working well to control a medical condition.

Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear them!

Posted in Deadly Grapefruit, Food-Drug Interactions, Grapefruit and Drugs, Grapefruit-Drug Interactions | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments