Repossible

Three minutes talking inspiration, struggle, and letting go with 104-year-old artist Tony.

Here’s a quick cut of laughter from a man who has a history of joy.

“I just can’t find the time to write.” Small Wins “How do you find the time to write?” I replied, “I don’t find the time, I make the time.” She looked a little dejected as perhaps she was hoping for a simpler answer although my answer, in my opinion, is both the good news and the bad news. It’s both the silver bullet, the easy way, something that’s under your control while at the same time it’s something as large as the elephant in the room, in fact, it is the elephant in the room. Procrastination is a disease that spreads like wildfire. In fact, just like fire it spreads so simply and easily and can begin with something as small as a match. Just like wildfire, something that begins with the spark can turn into a raging forest fire that can decimate the grandest of ideas, the most important stories, and at the same time your confidence, belief, and passion. We spoke together for only maybe five minutes, while I was in the middle of going through decades of junk in my attic. She just stopped by to hand off something to my mom and had no idea I was going to drag her down into the depths of passionate persistence to rise up and leap out of the water and give her the answer to her dreams: small wins. My second answer as to how I did it, or how I do it, is to write every single day. I made the decision on November 1, 2012, to write every day and I have never wavered from that decision. If you only think about the words, “write every day,” they sound so simple, so innocent, yet they have been possibly three of the most powerful words, when put together in that order, that I have ever encountered. To give her a bit of relief I reminded her that she doesn’t need to write 5,000 words or spend four hours writing every day but rather to begin small, wake up just 15 minutes earlier and, no, you can’t check your Facebook, pay that bill, or fix your son’s lunch. This time is exclusively and deliciously for you and for you only. It is your safe haven, it is your heaven, it is your place and time on this earth to do what you want to do, perhaps what you are meant to do, or at the very least what you are meant to do for these next 15 minutes. One of the side effects of writing every day and making the decision to do so are the unexpected benefits you accrue over time. Accrue meaning that they build up, that your muscles get stronger, that you get better at the work, that you make the 15 minutes more easily, that the 15 minutes turns into 20 minutes and that turns into 30 minutes, and eventually it might turn into a whopping hour of pleasure, of joy, of you living your passion. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For her, it’s going to start with just 15 minutes per morning. Getting up before the kids, not letting anything, no, really, anything, get in her way, focus, sit and write. If that sounds brutal that’s because to your ears it might be brutal. To my ears it’s the joy of the peace of every morning. She asked me if I could mentor her every day and give her a little pep talk to help her write even just a small bit every day and build her confidence. Knowing that she knows that I don’t even live in this country and that meeting with her every day is not really an option on the table, she then said, “Maybe I should just write it on my arm. Maybe I should write it in permanent ink.” Without saying anything, and benefiting from the e...

It’s Thursday. Imagine. After Wednesday and before Friday. Crazy. I know. Where’s your inspiration coming from this week? Here’s mine.

Wait, did you say 70% commission on audiobook sales? Authors Direct seems to be positioning themselves to be the Book Funnel of audiobooks. Let’s have a quick look at their offering. https://vimeo.com/227320182

A short story from the Charlie Holiday vault. “Gotta do the deed, dude.” Charlie looked up from his phone but didn’t yet look over to the guy who said it. He thought about asking what he said and the whole who-are-you-and-why-are-you-talking-to-me but it had become so common that so-called strangers just struck up conversations with him that he wasn’t going to bother. He thought to himself, Going to skip all of those pleasantries and get into it. “And what deed might that be,” he said in his best sophisticated accent, especially good, he thought, in response to the scratchy ruffian voice that asked the question. Charlie still didn’t look at the man, choosing instead to look straight ahead and leave something with his imagination. “Embrace the shadow.” Charlie nodded as he took it in. He understood the words but was pretty certain there was some ridiculously important meaning behind them. He also calculated, with lightning-speed efficiency, the man was going to explain further if Charlie didn’t quite catch on immediately. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. Charlie was waiting for the man to make an explanation, but none was coming. In a staring contest without looking, Charlie was about to lose. He was indeed curious and couldn’t deny he wanted to know what the man meant. He had absolutely more important things to do the same afternoon, he was sure he did. He looked at his watch in a blatant and old-school sign that he did have better things to do, but they both knew nothing was better than the topic at hand. Charlie turned his head. The whole dude reference had implanted a vision of a younger man, but not to the extent he saw now next to him. The guy, no, the dude, couldn’t have been past his mid-twenties. If wrinkles around the eyes and a bit of stubble in a beard were signs of intelligence, experience, and all-around worldly importance, this kid had none of that. He was fresh off the boat of innocence. What could this kid possibly know about Charlie, about some shadow of, what was it? Embracing? Charlie thought to himself as he looked into the eyes of the young man next to him. But his eyes were unwavering. If his blemish-free skin and clean-cut hair were signs of youth, his eyes held a deeper soul that had no trouble holding ground with the powerful gaze of Charlie Holiday. It was clear the boy wasn’t going to give in and speak again. Charlie had things to do, he was sure of it, he needed to move on to other matters of the day. Still, he had to know. “OK, I give in,” he started. “What does it mean to embrace the shadow?” “What do you think it means?” the boy responded immediately as if he had been waiting for the question. Charlie hadn’t been waiting for the question to his question and before he could reply with some delaying tactic like that, he stopped to actually think about it. Embrace the shadow. He let it roll around in his brain a few times. The idea bounced around like a Bingo number in one of those air poppers—lots of air and one ball made of plastic. With witty commentary on the tip of his tongue, something about Bingo balls and empty space, a pang hit him in his gut as if the man punched him. Of course, the man was sitting still, very still in fact, and hadn’t moved a muscle. At least not a physical muscle. It was as if the young dude had hit Charlie in the stomach with a thought. The thought of embracing the shadow. It sank in quickly, like a strong punch, and the ache spread further throughout his stomach to his back and up to his heart. In another instant he knew what the pain was: he knew what embrace the shadow meant. The problem was that he didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to talk about this. He wanted to get back to whatever it was he was doing, which was guaranteed to be more fun than this...

If you’re reading your audiobook properly, you’re performing. Are you reading your audiobooks into your microphone or are you performing? It’s a big difference. In fact, it might be all of the difference. Listening to a guide in Valencia, Spain today reminded me the huge gap between someone who’s reading words and someone who’s performing.

How about a little magic, love, friendship, and adventure? In this episode of the Repossible podcast, Bandaluse interviews–en Español–La Cuarta Soñadora, author of Caminante y La Estirpe afortunada. The chance friendship between the son of a blacksmith and a war horse manages to revive the old love of a lady and a knight. Magic, love, friendship, and adventures are conjugated in a series of events, which manage to change the end of a legend. Español: La azarosa amistad entre el hijo de un herrero y un caballo de guerra logra renacer el antiguo amor de una dama y un caballero. Magia, amor, amistad y aventuras se conjugan en una serie de hechos, que consiguen cambiar el final de una leyenda. An interview–en Español–with La Cuarta Soñadora, author of Caminante y La Estirpe afortunada. As interviewed on July 19, 2018 in Aguadulce, Spain by Bandaluse. Questions for La Cuarta Soñadora How has writing your first book (and finishing it) changed your life? Is the 2nd book easier to write (and finish) than the first book? What’s your one main challenge at the moment? What has been something surprising about the whole process? What is your book about? Preguntas ¿Cómo le ha cambiado la vida escribir su primer libro (y terminarlo)? ¿Es el segundo libro más fácil de escribir (y terminar) que el primer libro? ¿Cuál es su principal desafío en este momento? ¿Qué ha sido algo sorprendente acerca de todo el proceso? ¿De qué trata su libro? July 19, 2018 in Aguadulce, Spain by Bandaluse. Caminante y La Estirpe afortunada

You never know what’s going to happen IF you get started. If you don’t get started with a First Thing, the chances of doing a Second Thing go down to, by definition, zero. I have a new book and accompanying course coming out next Tuesday. But this morning I’m thinking about a book I’m planning on launching in December–now half a year away. I even have 2 or 3 books between now and then. See what happened here? Do you know how long it took between books zero and book one? Let me put it in non-mathematical terms: forever. What about the amount of effort, energy, worry, denial, procrastination, insert – your – favorite – reason – here. Did you notice how long it took between book 1 and book 2? Or the difference between book 2 in book 3? How about book 3 book 4? Can you see the pattern even without a line graph? Because it’s going down. In fact, at one point it’s practically a negative number because I’m not even done with a book when I’m already working on the next one. What does this mean? It means that I’m productive, it means that I’m no longer scared of creating and putting it out into the world. It means that I am a creator, that I am a writer that I am a powerful being from which energy exudes like static electricity and ideas shoot out of my imagination faster than I can capture them. Compare that to the guy who hasn’t yet finished book number one. One thing will lead to another, but you need to start the one thing.

Does our voice resonate with listeners more than our words resonate with readers?

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He didn’t know why he knew what to do. He didn’t care and didn’t need to know or care. He just knew what he needed to do and that it was the right thing to do.

How complicated does it all have to be?

Hmm, there might be more than one.

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