Tom Pfeifer's Blog
May 31, 2019
You may have been wondering what happened
to me. When I last posted my last newsletter,
my wife’s health had deteriorated to the point
that she needed constant care. That
newsletter was posted on Cathy’s 64th
birthday, and I fully expected I would care for
her for months to come. She passed away
six days later.
When Cathy was first diagnosed, we were told
that half of those in her condition were dead
within two years. She was gone in eight
months. It’s been a shock to the system. So,
I reacted as I always do to adversity. I got
busy. Three weeks after her death I was in
Henderson, Nevada, attending 2001 World
Champion of Public Speaking Darren
LaCroix’s Stage Time University Live. It’s a
two-day workshop for speakers and trainers. The first day is geared to presentation skills and the second day focuses on the business of public speaking. If you watch the videos from the first day, I’m the one sobbing every time a presenter said to dig deep to find the pain, because I didn’t have to dig very deep.
I then spent a week in Arizona visiting and catching up with my cousins on my dad’s side. When I returned home, I signed up for the Speakers Academy run by the National Speakers Association, DC chapter. It’s an intensive year-long program designed to make you a professional speaker or break you down into a sobbing loser. I also enrolled in LaCroix’s Business Mastery Program and bounce ideas off him, Ford Saeks of Prime Concepts Group, and others in the program twice a month.
When not learning, I’m doing. Look for the return of the Writing Accountability Project! (WAP!) this fall as well as some live workshops based on my first book, Write It, Speak It: Writing a Speech They’ll APPLAUD! I’m working on my second book, tentatively titled, The #1 Writing Secret, which grew out of WAP! Spoiler alert: The #1 secret to writing is to write. My book tells you how to do that in a way that you improve with each blog, business letter, or presentation. Look, as well, for online and live Writing Secret workshops.
On the Saturday between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, friends and family gathered for a bon voyage party to send Cathy onto her next adventure. It was a big ol’ party with lots of food, drink, and laughter because Cathy warned us not to have a funeral or memorial service lest she come back and haunt us.
Yes, there continue to be tears—some are flowing as I write this—but Cathy would want me to continue the work I set out to do before my time on this planet also comes to an end. I’m hoping for a long run, but there are no guarantees. The lack of guarantees makes this yet another great day to sing, dance, and laugh. I hope you’ll join me.
Write On!
###
(Leave a comment below.)
Tom Pfeifer is the managing partner and chief strategist for Consistent Voice Communications and author of Write It, Speak It: Writing a Speech They’ll APPLAUD! Reach him at Tom@YourConsistentVoice.com.