Darlene's Book Nook: Guest Post and Giveaway with Greg Messel, author of The Illusion of Certainty

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Guest Post and Giveaway with Greg Messel, author of The Illusion of Certainty

Hi, everyone!

I am pleased to participate in Greg Messel's The Illusion of Certainty Virtual Book Publicity Tour hosted by Pump Up Your Book.

About Greg:

Greg Messel has written three novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. Greg has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol.

You can visit his website at www.gregmessel.com. Connect with Greg on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gregmessel or Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.messel.

Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Greg!

Greg has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to him.

The Death of the 8 to 5 Job
Guest Post by Greg Messel

I’ve been around long enough that I can almost pinpoint the moment when the standard “8 to 5” job began to change.

There was a time, not that many years ago, when my company’s executives would give us pep talks about keeping our lives “balanced.” We should not only be dedicated to the company and our jobs but we should spend time with our families and give back to the community.

If an employee never took their leave, your boss would likely tell you that you need to take some time off. It was important, according to the prevailing thinking at that point in time, that employees take days off to “recharge their batteries.” Taking some time away from the job would invigorate the employee and prevent burn out. Time off would actually re-energize the employee.

Looking back on that time, it now appears that we lived on a different planet, than the one where we now live.

Now, no one seems concerned if an employee’s life is balanced. In fact, outside activities should not cut into the time you are expected to spend at the office. At one time, there was talk of working four ten-hour days to give employees a three-day weekend. Now the standard is more like five ten-hour days.

The quality of life for employees has deteriorated to a point where a worker needs to apologize or explain why you are leaving at 5 p.m. Generally, most offices are full of people until 6:30. Then when you do go home, you carefully monitor e mail traffic on your Blackberry to make sure you don’t miss anything.

The impact of this technology was that you are still mentally at the office. I came to notice that if I sent an e mail to my boss at 10 p.m., I usually got a response in a few moments. After our ten-hour day, I found myself sitting in my home already talking about the issues that my boss and colleagues would deal with when tomorrow came.

In my novel, The Illusion of Certainty, I tried to tap into the stresses created by being married to your job.

Much of the uncertainty that comes into the lives of two of the main characters, Marc and Aimee, is aggravated by the pressures at work. Marc and Aimee schedule their days and ultimately their relationship into whatever remains of their day after work is done. Their work is often never done.

Even, when they go away to a beach house on the weekend with their best friends, two of the friends have to have conference calls on Saturday to take care of demands back at the office. This was a weekend which was key to Marc and Aimee’s repairing their tattered relationship.

Eventually Marc discovers that Aimee was sneaking away having a torrid affair which blew their family apart. Marc was not suspicious about his wife’s long absences from home. He assumed she was just at work.

Many Americans can relate to Marc’s story, whether they lost their own high-powered careers during the recession or find themselves completely consumed with work, putting off their time with families and maintaining relationships.

In The Illusion of Certainty, the protagonists realize that their dedication to their job doesn’t provide security and certainty into their future. When the economy collapses and corporates are under pressure in 2008, some of the characters in the novel are unceremoniously dumped.

Corporate America considered Marc and his co-workers “excess” when the downturn hit the bottom line.

The crisis which came into Marc’s life after losing his job, helped him to begin to focus on the real meaning of his life. Marc had isolated himself and became a true “road warrior” in pursuit of his company. Ultimately he discovers that the only fulfillment comes from feeling the human touch in his life. All of the business relationships are not a substitute for family relationships and ultimately love.

The recurring theme in The Illusion of Certainty is that we are not in control of all of the events of our life but often are left to just react to the challenges that come upon us.

We carefully schedule our life, keep track of our spouse and children and our daily activities. Often the control we think we have is done via technology that is available to the 21st Century men and women.

However, any certainty we think we have in our lives is only an illusion.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Greg!

Giveaway:

One lucky winner will win a paperback copy of The Illusion of Certainty.

This giveaway is open to entrants from Canada and the United States only at the author's request.

SYNOPSIS:
The Illusion of Certainty follows two parallel storylines. Marc is a successful businessman who seems to have everything—a great job, a beautiful wife, a house in an upscale neighborhood of Portland, Oregon and two great kids who are preparing for college. But something is not right. Marc is unsettled by the sudden change in his wife, Aimee, who seems distant and unhappy. What’s going on with her?

The second storyline involves a successful young attorney, Alexandra Mattson. Alex, as she is called by her friends, meets a handsome young cop, Sean, during an unexpected crisis in her neighborhood. Sean and Alex seem made for each other and begin to merge their futures in a world of uncertainty.

The only certainty in life is that we will face uncertainty. Despite all of the technology and controls available in the modern world, sometimes the only comfort comes from the human touch.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below.

This giveaway is open to entrants from Canada and the United States only until 12:01 AM EST on January 11, 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway