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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...said the literary agent. Since committing myself to releasing a wanderlust guide about a trip through 24 countries on the cheap, I've been making my way though the system in place to maximize the experience. I went to the Writers' League of Texas conference last month and spoke with some agents with an intention to use a traditional publisher. Until book stores and traditional distribution are obsolete, there's something to be said about the format. Maybe it's like the record album, but I still love holding a former tree and reading from it. So I'm focusing on this new entity called "Spin the World Around." It is the name of the memoir, but it's also a way of living. What keeps the planet spinning? The force from the beginning. ~Daft Punk All esoterics aside, I took some really cool pictures along the way, and I thought that sharing them would be a nice platform to illustrate the manifestation. My plan is to post a single high-res photograph each day until the book is released. With so many photos, I should have a platform by then. Here are the social network icons, without the names... Dig it! Ok, well, so here's what i learned at the conference:
1. Twitter: you should be posting 4x per day and only 20% of your posts are about you. 2. Facebook: sadly, it helps to pay them to promote you For the photo posting idea, here's a list (and my accounts for Spin the World Around): 1. Flikr lets you share high-resolution photos 2. Pintrest: photos pushed from Fliker whose locations can be added to a map 3. tumblr: similar to Flikr, but maybe not as high-res 4. instagram: has additional effects and a forced resolution, so postings are a separate work of art that can be re-posted to Flikr as such 5. imgr: for memes and funny pictures 6. Reddit to re-post photos Oh the games of online meeting
Words and pictures, feelings fleeting It’s hard to build a solid base When there is just a still-frame face Managing a false facade While living from a matrix pod The carrot dangles; illusion stands Until a meeting on physical lands Hopes stay low as the game goes on With only so much to act upon Peering at an electronic device It’s only natural to think twice With intuition as the only advice When I ask you questions
But I get no response I wonder in the session As you show your nonchalance It could mean that you’re busy You’ve got so much to do When living in a tizzy It takes some time from you But when I see your posts At five to ten per day The message that it boasts Is for me to fade away |
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