Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
One of the first things I want people to know about me is that I’m just an average person, but I decided not to live an average life. Born into a middle-class family in a suburb of Tacoma, Washington, I decided that chasing dreams was a good idea, and most of the dreams I chased have come true.
These dreams included riding a bicycle from Washington State to California when I was 18 years old, hitchhiking from London to Central Africa when I was 20, and finding success in business and life as I grew into an adult without losing my youthful enthusiasm. A few of the practical and impractical dreams that have come true include graduating near the top of my class at UCLA and received a master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Virginia, traveling to over 80 countries around the world, creating and selling successful businesses, summiting the highest mountains of nine countries and eight states, and writing a book.
I’ve written thousands of pages for myself, magazines, and academic papers, but my first completed book was just released in October 2018.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The full name of my latest book is Ordinary to Extraordinary: Stories of Exotic Places and Remarkable People & How Purpose and Belonging Can Transform Your Life.
Even the super-long title seems to break the rules, but I’ve found that breaking rules is one of the first “rules” of living an intentional life. The book originally began as a series of true first-person narratives about my life, and after showing it to a few friends, I realized that it could turn into something beyond just a few stories for myself. It took three years working though the narratives and weaving in a larger narrative about the meaning of life.
The book’s focus is on how the experiences helped me find meaning through pillars of belonging, purpose, transcendence, and storytelling. These pillars are from a book called The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith, and they helped me harness where meaning could be found in my life, and in Ordinary to Extraordinary, I try to help readers reflect on where meaning can be recognized in their own lives as well.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Absolutely! Many of my most creative thoughts occur in the early morning hours, and I’ve learned that when one of them strikes, I need to get out of bed and get it down right away, or it will be lost by the following morning.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Early on, the French existentialists had a big impact on both my thoughts and my writing. More recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time with books about breaking the mold and creating the life we want to live rather than just going through motions. Some of these authors include Tim Ferriss and Jesse Cole.
What are you working on now?
Since I’ve just completed Ordinary to Extraordinary, I’m excited to begin working on two projects already in the works. One is transforming my master’s thesis about living with the Wayana Indians in the Amazon into a complete book, and the other is about small changes that can make giant transformations in our lives with what I call “success habits”.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still figuring things out, but I’ve had a lot of support from fellow authors, and right now it is all about creating stronger connections with those already in my network.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Do not edit while you write. Just let it flow and worry about typos and unfinished thoughts later.
Second is, you need a professional editor. I taught grammar for over ten years, and I still make grammar errors which are invisible to me since my brain knows what I want to say, it fills in the gaps correcting obvious errors in my manuscript without even letting me see the errors. A professional editor is a necessary step in creating the best book you have in you.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In my first year of graduate school, one of my professors said to me, “If you try to read every page of every book on your course reading list, you’ll fail.” He was telling me that learning how to prioritize what is important is more valuable than trying to complete everything.
What are you reading now?
Bigger Than You by Kelly Roach
What’s next for you as a writer?
My biggest challenge, which I think a lot of writers have, is filtering through all my great ideas and focusing on one at a time. My next two projects include an anthropologically based book about the Wayana Indians (whom I lived with in the Amazon for six months in the early ‘90s), and a book about simple but Extraordinary Habits that transform lives without a lot of effort.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, Either / Or by Soren Kierkegaard, Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
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