Liberty Press August 2012
Book Review
By Sheryl LeSage and William N Proctor-Artz

This deceptively thin paperback is a genuinely helpful guide to office politics. I know what you're thinking: you're thinking that you hate office politics. And of course you do. You're a decent human being, who just wants to get your work done with a minimum of drama and as few meetings as possible. But we both know that you work with some folks who need to have their meds adjusted, right? And those people? Those people love office politics and they play those games better than you ever have. Until now.

Now you have a trainer in your corner and will be able to defend yourself, to see attacks before they can hurt you, and to put yourself in a beneficial position (without breaking any laws, even!).

The book might seem lightweight because it takes a lighthearted approach to its subject matter, but it seems pretty well-grounded in behavioral science, and addresses a topic most of us would prefer to never know anything about. But you can't ignore the worlds' narcissists, passive-aggressive backbiters, or control freaks. This book allows you to keep them contained and to not let them destroy your professional life. Recommended.

2012 Fall Tour: Minnesota and Northern Michigan

I have decided to travel up to Minnesota and Northern Michigan (the UP) at the end of September this year. I'll pop in on family and see if I can't schedule in some book signings and/or presentations. If you have any leads, let me know!

First Book Signing Event

You are cordially invited to my first book signing for Beginner's Guide to Office Boxing: The How-To's of Workplace Self-Defense. The event is during Lawrence's Final Friday's (artwalk) on Friday, June 29 from 6:00-8:00 pm. The location is at Do's Deluxe, 416 East 9th Street, Lawrence, KS. My book release/signing is in conjunction with an art reception for Jennifer Joie Webster and Marty Olson. (Marty did all the inside artwork on my book.)

Come on by and check out the art (written, painted, printed, etc.)! If you can't make it (or would like leave a comment for others online), please visit Amazon, CreateSpace, Smashwords, or my blog.

Woot woot! We're now available on Amazon.com! Check it out (use the link on the right side of this page).

We're live! The paperback version of Office Boxing is now available at CreateSpace (take the link on the right). It will soon be available at Amazon.com -- and I'm working to make it avaible at some real live book stores.

What Boxer Am I?

I have wondered what people would ask me the most about Office Boxing. So far it is: “What boxer do you think I am?” It’s a tough question. Really, there is no immediate answer unless I know you well. And, of course, there is a high probability that you are none of the boxers; your idiosyncrasies—odd or endearing as they may be—aren’t the stuff (or enough of the stuff) to make you personality disordered.

The boxers in the book are archetypes: models, standards, epitomes of a personality disorder. Most people will have a trait here or there in common with one of the boxers. The more traits you have in common, the more apt you are to be that type of boxer. I have found that people will often dislike the description of the boxer with whom they most closely resemble. But… be careful! During my research I took on each and every boxer profile and thought “that’s me!”

Beginner's Guide to Office Boxing is now available in several eFormats at http://www.smashwords.com/. The cost is $5.50. You can view 20% of the book free. The 20% starts at the beginning, so you get a lot of introduction text.... For the real meat of the book--the opponents--you'll have to make the purchase. A sample opponent--Sam the Saboteur--is provided here.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped me with this book. Sirrka Heikenen, my collaborator. Marty Olson did the opponent artwork. Jud Kite did the cover design. Sue DuCharme and Carol Rasor edited the book. Linda Gwaltney and Carol Aydelott made sure I didn't lose sight of the everyday world. Millions of you helped me with the examples, and a million more were readers who really helped me work out the kinks. Thank you all!

I'm now working on the paperback version. Due to be out... soon. :)

About Office Boxing

I struggled for years with "what people should do" and "what is fair" and I was pretty stubborn when it came to letting the real world horn in on my rosy view of it. One day I was feeling particularly beat up by a person I was working with. I made a comment about it being like a fight, which led to boxing, which led to research and the book on Office Boxing.

Because I had such a hard time recognizing and dealing with people with personality disorders, and because there is so very much to know about each disorder, I decided I would call the book a beginner's guide. Once I got going, I used "beginner's guide" to help determine how deep to go into each area. The "beginner's guide" was also a helpful gauge for Sirrka, my collaborator with a doctorate and many years experience in psychology. Sirrka, who has northern roots, would say "only a foot of snow" deep -- which might seem like a lot in most places, but not the upper mid west. So, the book is like that: pretty deep if you're not used to it, but otherwise just the start of things.

Contents done, Cover done, what else can there be?

The writing is done and edited. The cover is near done (missing a bar code). I have only to format the extremely important flow chart so it not only fits on the page but is readable in eBook and paper versions; finalize the look of the opening page of the chapters, get the website (this blog) going, and a few hundred other things.

The extremely important flow chart is actually important. The book was written the way a person might train to become a boxer: learn the basics of offense and defense before hopping into the ring with opponents. BUT... that is rather overwhelming (and not nearly as fun) as reading about the person at work who is driving you crazy. The flow chart helps you figure out who you have and jump right to the description. You can always go back and learn about offense and defense later.

The flow chart will appear as a graphic (not text), so it will not resize in eBook format. Because of it's girth (it really takes up a full 8.5 x 11" page), that graphic would be pretty darn small on screen. So, I need to break it up. Actually it barely fits on the printed page either. I think I'll publish the original layout in the blog later as a handy reference tool.