My New Book, Spin the World Around, is available now on Amazon At the end of my trip around the world through 24 countries, I found myself with a 750,000-word draft “travel book.” It was gargantuan. After months of editing, I realized I needed to split it into two books, and of course, continue editing. The first book was a guide for someone to travel deeply and cheaply entitled How to Spin the World Around. Now, I present a nonfiction narrative entitled Spin the World Around, in which the protagonist (me) essentially discovers the methodology of travel later outlined in the first book.  The experience of writing a memoir has been a time-consuming process, and it taught me about how we can play with time. Just the other day, I was cleaning out my garage and I found a journal in a filing cabinet. I opened it to an entry I had written when I was in high school, and it was about the desire to travel the world for adventure. “I’m not afraid of death,” was one of the lines written in the journal entry. I hadn’t read this entry probably in decades, but I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the same line written in my high school journal was later said during a key moment by a person I met years later in this book I’m about to release – about my world travel adventure. Be careful what you wish for; I’m glad that’s behind me. Then, I realize that this book I’m about to release actually ended about 3 years ago, and the protagonist was not only growing and changing over the course of the book, but once the book ended, I continued to grow and and change. I realize and accept that I am no longer the person I was in this book, just as a river is ever-changing and never the same moment to moment. That said, capturing the river in a given moment with a photograph or a story is a worthwhile creative endeavor. Learning to look back at our past selves with compassion is also worth it.  A certain amount of time was needed between the completion of the events and the manifesting of storyline omniscience. This allowed me to write a nonfiction narrative instead of just regurgitate a slew of chronological journal entries. Editing became key, as well as generating a story arc and developing a writing style. I worked with several editors and learned something from each of them. Before I even split to two books, I was encouraged to focus on action-based parts from the first editor. “More Action! Action! Action!” she’d write in the margins. The second editor was actually a writer who I paid up front through a proxy, but they never got back to me after they got paid. One guy offered to edit, but after reading the first chapter, he claimed to already know how it ended, so I knew I was in for another re-write. The editor I ended up crediting on the title page spent the most time with me and made the most impact on the writing style. The entire process helped make me a better writer… and editor. The good editors would generate writing assignments for more writing to be further edited. This process could go on for infinity, but eventually I needed to let it go. I encourage everyone to write their own memoir, if only to learn about oneself through creating it and become a better writer (and editor). In the mean time, I hope you enjoy my story and find my message valuable. With that, I present to you – Spin the World Around. Available now.
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I originally published this article with Austin Daze back in 2013, but I've been seeing the images disappear on my original article, so I wanted to reprint the article here for eternity! Rumor has it, Jamiroquai is about to release a new album in 2016. This month marks the 3-year anniversary of their Latin America tour. Back in February of 2013, Jamiroquai played a show in Monterrey, Mexico. Local Austinites took a trip to give you this report:  Downtown Monterrey
Usually, when I travel, the first thing that people say when I tell them where I’m going is, “Wow, that’s going to be awesome!” When I said we were going to Mexico to see Jamiroquai, the response was, “Be careful.”
Knowing that attitude is everything, my buddy JB and I figured embracing every moment with positive intentions and no fear would result in a great trip, and we’d be totally safe the entire time. With that, we drove to Laredo and ditched JB's car at Wal-Mart so we could take a cab to the bus station. By the border in downtown Laredo, bus companies abound, and each bus leaves at a different time. We meandered for 15 minutes, missing each by 5 minutes until we found one. We boarded it 3-hours direct to Monterrey. Though we saw a beater of a bus at the border that was worse, Greyhound was definitely not the nicest bus option. Ours was a luxury coach with only 2 other passengers, and the trip was only $25 each.  In 2015, I attended a publicity conference to learn how to land radio interviews, and since then, I've been going on the radio to talk about my projects and causes! Specifically, how to save money on cheap flights around the world, how to use social networks like Couchsurfing to meet locals and live with them for free, and how to travel mindfully. I've also done a couple of interviews about my Guided Meditation Treks project, and one about my silent disco project.
I love to do radio interviews because they help me verbally express ideas in a concise manner. The added pressure of a 'performance' situation has always helped me be at my best. Knowing that I have a limited timeframe and that potentially many people are listening, combined with the fact that I try to tape most of my interviews for eternity means that these narrow windows of communication have the potential to spread information and knowledge far and wide. Tuning into the brainwaves of a good radio host is also a great practice as well. Their penchant for brevity and packing lots of info in a short space to people with a limited attention span helps me to get my points across in the most efficient way possible. Here is a collection of radio interviews I've done to date:
I love a good radio interview as part of a wider approach to getting the word out.  After traveling the world for a year, living the life of a movie character, averaging under $100 for each of my flights, and living for free in the homes of locals through 24 countries, I wrote a "How To" book to teach everyone how they too can see the world on a shoestring budget while having rich experiences at the same time. This small book is an easy read, and it is loaded full of all the latest and greatest web sites, social networks, and travel apps to make your smartphone a personal travel agent. It also goes in depth about mindfulness strategies to help you go deeper on your next trip. Check out the press release from Spin the World Around. Or, just go straight to Amazon.com and get yourself a copy. Guaranteed you will save more money in a single transaction during your travels than you spend on this book.
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