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Tomorrow I'll be headed to Madagascar, the final stop of my latest trip before I begin the long process of returning home. But at the moment, I've been spending the past three hours sitting on the floor of the bathroom during a brief stopover in Johannesburg. Why the bathroom? Because it's freezing here in Johannesburg—we're now in the middle of the southern hemisphere winter—and the only heater in my room is located by the sink.
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There are few things more awkward than sitting in a bookstore by yourself with a row of empty chairs in front of you. As people approach, you hope they're coming to say hi ... until they head to the Gardening section. Other people walk by with bags that look like they might contain cupcakes, and your heart lifts for a brief moment ...
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Thanks so much to everyone out there who was a part of the 63-city Unconventional Book Tour, which just wrapped up in beautiful Vancouver last weekend. We're working on a bigger project to document the whole experience for everyone, but for now I just wanted to express my gratefulness.
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Have you heard the news about the death of publishing? Books are going extinct! Paper will cease to exist! Buy stock in digital ink.
Seth Godin, a mentor to me and the rest of the internet, recently announced his retirement from traditional publishing. Seth is perpetually ahead of the curve, so as usual, most people completely missed the point in responding to the news. When I read his interview, I thought “Wow, I need to catch up.” If I had twelve bestselling books, I'd say farewell to traditional publishing too. So everyone else in publishing, traditional or otherwise, who doesn't have twelve bestselling books needs to get to work.
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I don't claim to be an expert, but I've been writing 1,000 words a day almost every day for the past 120 weeks. That's the most important tip of all—to be a writer, start writing. You'll figure out a lot of things along the way.
But for all of you overachievers out there, here are some other ideas that may help.
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I wrote a feature article for Writer's Digest this month, and it looks like it just hit the newsstands. I also received permission to include the full PDF here if you're interested: Changing the Rules for Unconventional Success. You can also read a brief online supplement on their site here.
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Friends and readers, here is my second manifesto, 279 Days to Overnight Success.
It tells the story of this web site, but more importantly, it offers 11,000 words of free advice on how to create your own success with your own project. I offer this information freely, but please use it wisely.
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I’m sitting in a bar in Washington, D.C., listening to another writer talk about the untimely demise of her blog. The blog in question started at almost the same time as The Art of Nonconformity. When I first read her writing last year, I knew she was going places. The posts were crisp, funny, and helpful at the same time.
In fact, when I read almost any of her writing, I thought it was better than most of mine. Then, after a few months of steady content, one day she stopped writing.
Naturally, I wondered, “Why? What happened?”
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