Not green with envy

One of the great things about working at a place like Chiat/Day is the opportunity to encounter truly talented people. Artistic people whose insight and ability to tap into the human condition far exceed the confines of advertising.

Early in my career, I met Hillary Jordan, an exceptional writer who left advertising to become a full time novelist. Her book Mudbound has won several awards and earned highly critical acclaim.

Another novelist to have passed through the halls of Chiat is Kathy Hepinstall. She has three published books. Not only am I thoroughly impressed with the quantity of her writing, the quality is not bad either. Kathy is a real writer. She uses complex sentences, metaphors, similes, even subtext. You'd be hard-pressed to look at anything I've written and find subtext.

And of course there's April Winchell, who has just published her hilarious book Regretsy. While her book doesn't stand as any great literary achievement it does remind me how much funnier she is than me.

Suffice to say, all this success has left me feeling quite jealous.

But then there's Nigel Williams. I worked alongside Nigel a long time ago. He was an Art Director at the time. But now he has written a book. You may recognize him from the TV infommercials hawking his book The Green Millionaire.

The website describes the book as a bestseller which strikes me as ironic since he gives the book away for free. And therein lies the catch. I did a little digging and discovered the Green Millionaire is nothing more than a come-on designed to put consumers on the hook for a magazine subscription they cannot cancel.

Currently it's in the allegation stage and in the hands of the courts and the Better Business Bureau. Nevertheless it is a little upsetting, because I like to think of Nigel as a decent guy and not someone who would scam his way to wealth.

Professional envy can have its ups and downs. I may never write anything meaningful or worthwhile, but at least I'll have shared some laughs along the way. And in the morning I can wake up and look myself in the mirror.

I won't like what I see, but that's more about what I'm eating not what I'm writing.