Rochester, NY
It’s been a good but interesting morning. I just came back in from next door as my younger cousin had to file a police report on his car that was broken into last night. It is strange because this is not a normal occurrence around here. It seems like a lot of effort for a CD player that will net someone 40 or 50 bucks, but desperate people do desperate things.
I took a phone call from a new acquaintance this morning who has read the opening chapters of my book. She offered some great advice and tips on how to make it better. This call, compounded by another call from Friday with another reader has me eager to get editing on the opening of the book. It is incredible what happens from other people’s feedback. New ideas, new ways of thinking, and a new direction.
Man, I have been stressed for the previous days about the book and what is going to happen. But when other people read and say you are on the path, it helps. Granted, there is still much work to be done, but the book is getting close. The goal is to have the entire rough draft done by the 1st of April, also the two year anniversary of my last day of work in Charlotte.
My new job is a lot different. The paychecks aren’t steady. I don’t have a boss to bounce ideas off of and to get praise from. I have minimal social interaction during the week as I sit and type in my room most days (I try to make up for that on the weekends). But man, even after two years, 40,000 miles, 105 interviews, media coverage, and public speaking, I feel like I am on the right track. There is so much information for me to share from my experiences but more so from the people that I interviewed. I have to do what I need to do in order to make this happen.
There are times I waver back and forth about going back to the world I was in before. I’ve been close to going back, even drawing up contracts for other jobs. But once the decision was put in front of me, in my gut and in my heart, I couldn’t do it. I know I have to keep at this. I have a job to do and to leave it unfinished, which right now means the book, would be something I would look back on and regret for years and years. So now I hunker down and try and meet my April 1 deadline.
I have sent out some book proposals to agents and have a lead on one that may be a good fit. The book industry is quite unique and I am finding that it takes an incredible amount of patience. That is not my strong suit, but I do what I can. An agent, a publisher, then who knows what’s next. If I have it my way, more talks, more sharing, more travels, more people, and more of this journey that keeps evolving. The exciting part is that I don’t know what is next. That is the hard part too.