I'm very excited to head out to visit Seoul, Korea for most of this week. I've been to Korea before, including a brief trip to the north, but I've never given lectures or held public events before. This week I'll be working with my local publisher and speaking at several events, filming for Korean TV, and signing at bookstores.
There's an old story about a salesperson who was disappointed in losing an important sale.
He talked with the boss about why it didn't work out. "I guess," he said, "It just proves you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
"Maybe," said the boss, "But let me give you some advice: your job is not to make him drink. It's to make him thirsty."
Over the past few years, I've hosted more than 100 events with readers in eight countries. There is no “author school” where one learns to do these things—it's very much been a make-it-up-as-I-go process.
I've also received a lot of questions from other authors, aspiring authors, musicians, artists, and other readers who like the idea of taking their show on the road.
In this (long!) post I'll share a few stories, highlights, and lessons learned from the past three years of coordinating and hosting book events. I hope something here will be helpful to anyone who hopes to reach more people with their message.
I'm home and writing this week and next. From the research files -->
"What advice would you give to someone else who wants to pursue a big dream but feels hesitant or uncertain?"
"Do it. Just do it. You will feel inadequate. You will feel you can't do it, but you owe it to yourself to try. You might only have a 50/50 chance of making it, but you're looking at a 100% chance of failure if you don't even try."
"It was true: the entire ball game was what you gave attention to vs. what you willed yourself to not." -David Foster Wallace There are many things on the typical daily list of tasks and appointments that can be ignored or mindlessly plodded through. For best results, don't just make a to-do list; make a to-stop-doing list. I wrote about to-stop-doing lists in the original AONC book.
Every year when the calendar rolls around to January 1, it's time for me to get back out on the road. I love travel and I love doing events—I've been in eight cities in the past ten days—but I also have to get back to work on requalifying my elite status with all my favorite airlines and hotels.
Last year I hit the mark for the highest status with American Airlines, Hyatt, and Hilton hotels. This year I'm hoping to requalify for each, with the addition of more Starwood stays to earn the highest status with them as well.
Why bother? Because it makes my traveling life easier, and also because it's fun.
I'm back on the road, talking with interesting people every night. Many of them ask questions about "changing the system.” Everyone agrees it's broken and frustration is expressed all around. But what is this system, why isn't it working, and how can we change it?
A few weeks ago, your humble correspondent was sitting on a modest balcony in a guest house in Tuvalu, a tiny nation in the South Pacific that is now known as country #192 in his mind. The island itself was somewhat depressing, at least for a modern traveler. He walked the entire island—and then back around the other way—in less than one morning.
This month I've been talking to people from all over the world, beginning the outlining and research for a new book. It's a long process and I have a long way to go. Nevertheless, a few observations are slowly coming through.
It's been nice to be home for another two week stretch. I ran Mount Tabor (pictured) several times, I did some overdue work on planning the year, and I began outlining a book ...
Jon was inspired by a blog post that told him to quit his job and start a business. He dutifully did so, firing off a farewell message to his boss and former colleagues. Having heard about becoming “location independent,” he bought a backpack and went off to the world. What was it about that business thing? How would he actually make a living? He would figure it out along the way, he assured himself ...
I came back from Tuvalu and my gym was packed with dozens of people I had never seen before—an influx of New Year's Resolutions. "How many of them will still be here in February?" I wondered. Whether you're pro- or anti-resolution, there's nothing inherently special about a new calendar year. If you don't like the western calendar, there are plenty of others.
I did it. I made it to Tuvalu, the penultimate country! It took a while to get here, but that's to be expected.
Someone said they spent 20 minutes reading the Tuvalu Wikipedia page the other day. I said I was surprised it took 20 minutes—that's the same amount of time it took me to run the length of the entire island of Funafuti last night.
Anyway, 192 countries down. File under your choice of: Wow, WTF, tired, or awesome.
Greetings from the Pacific Ocean! Happy New Year's to everyone in advance. I'm currently flying over the water and will miss New Year's Eve (all of it) due to crossing the international date line today. Don't feel bad for me, though—I'm en route to my penultimate country. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be on Tuvalu and only one country away from ... all of them. (Also: I like the word penultimate. I think it means “almost there.”)
Where did you go in 2012? Feel free to share with other readers … my own notes are below.
Every year as part of the Annual Review, I look back on where I've been. As usual, this year's list is fairly long—though not as long as some previous years in terms of new countries. This year has been more of a clean-up mission, where I've visited a number of places that have eluded me over the previous few years.
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