That’s what she wrote.  Then she wrote:

We met at a U2 concert in New Delhi, India. You were walking backwards & stopped to light my cigarette w/ your Elvis Zippo. We became instant friends. You were Indian and I was American. You loved to take advantage of my ignorance and told me that chai was some magical potion that would make me feel like I was flying. You took me to your chai walla and bought me a glass. My head spun and I fell into your arms, your dirty fingers to my lips. “Shhhhhh…,” you whispered, “here comes a dragon.”

Will serendipity ever show an end?  I think and hope not.  You see, just recently, over the past two months, I’ve mentioned to a few friends that I’d love to get into writing short stories.  Just random ones… maybe make a form that people can submit raw ideas… like what you do with an improv troupe…. and I’d flesh out the story.  Only an hour or two a day.

This was a wonderful opportunity.  How we met immediately came to me, and this was my response:

I don’t remember being Indian… I thought it was in Spain… when I was wearing my rainbow bright socks, and a sweatband while rollerskating (yeah… quads) the wrong way while everyone else was running from the bulls…. you threw down a massive chain of salami links from the 2nd story, and swung me to safety. When I finished climbing through the window, I took my skates off, caught by breath, and jumped on you in gratitude… which was when the aged floor crumbled under the combined weight, and we fell through into the marshmallow fluff factory below. A sticky situation indeed. The rest of the evening was spent drinking good Spanish wine, enjoying pleasant conversation about our mutual world travels, and trying to remove the remaining fluff.

Lisa and I became fast friends… speaking in our first conversation as if we’ve been friends forever. Many personal topics were broached.  Many personal questions were asked.  Many stories of world travels were shared.

For those people out there who try to differentiate between Social Media, and the real world.. I urge you not to.  Sure, you can do certain things in person that you can’t do over the web… but the people out there– they are your friends, your lovers, your clients, your audience, your believers, your community.  And you can always meet up in person later.

Are there memorable people that you’ve connected with instantly through Facebook?

This is a really information packed post about the processes, tools, and philosophies that I’ve learned about writing over the last few weeks.  I’m sure they’ll help you whether you’re writing a play, a novel, or a blog post. Please share this post, as it will help a lot of people overcome writer’s block, focus, be productive, and much more.

I admit that I often don’t know what day of the week it is. Couchsurfing takes me around to different people in many places, and I keep growing because of it.  Day of the week… not important most of the time.  But now that I’m actually working with a goal (remember:  Goals are dreams with a deadline) of writing my book, I am racing the clock.

The first lesson is probably the most important, and that is

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a wonderful poem by Jules Feiffer called “The Impostor Fantasy”.  I am honored to post it for you in my writing.

(Take it away Jules):

I felt like a fraud.

So I learned to fly an airplane.

At 50,000 feet I thought: Read the rest of this entry »

In this post, I actually give you a real set of stories from my travels… but I’m not 100% sure how to format my book.  I’d really love your feedback!

ARGH! Who knew a book was tough to write? Well, I guess everyone, ’cause not everyone does it… but once you get started, all these little details come up: Read the rest of this entry »

Dear friend – yes you!

I have something really important to tell you. It’s very exciting, and very difficult for me all at once.

I’ve arrived here in La Jolla, CA where the weather is truly amazing, and I am house-sitting for the next 5-6 weeks.

On my drive here from Austin, TX I had a lot of time to think, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the best answers come from asking the right questions. My question that I chose was “How do I make the best use of house-sitting near the beach for 6 weeks?”

I came up with many ideas, but the ones that made the most sense are also the most difficult, and I’d like to share them with you.

I have completed 3.5 years of couchsurfing around the USA.  I’ve met the most incredible people that I could ever imagine.  I have had amazing adventures, where Read the rest of this entry »

A most Epic picture of me over a fiery death

My friend Elizabeth was writing that she’s not feeling very Epic.  That she had a blog post in her head, but it wasn’t coming out the way she wanted.  Sounded like she was being harsh on herself.

Most people would (and did) say “It’s ok… even writing about having nothing to say is saying something…” or “your observations are great, something that isn’t Epic for you, might be for someone else.”

My good friends can rely on me though to give a unique perspective, and Elizabeth has been relying on me to call her out on her excuses or bullshit.

So, when I read this cry for help, I had to put in my 4 cents.  So here it is, what I wrote in response to Elizabeth’s Post on not being Epic. (With italicized & colorful commentary for y’all):

you’ll listen, damnit!   ( Elizabeth said that despite that people would leave advice, she probably wouldn’t listen )
How to be epic: Read the rest of this entry »

There are to do's, and not-to-do's when setting goals.

I was asked if I had any resolutions for this year.  I said, yes of course! 1920×1200 of course!  (For you non-geeks, that’s my laptop’s screen resolution. It’s measured in pixels).  I don’t believe in resolutions.  Why?  Because they’re usually crap… they are something that doesn’t mean anything.  They are the reasons that gyms are in business.  All that holiday food, and now everyone wants  six-pack abs, buys a gym membership, and then doesn’t do anything with it. I don’t do resolutions, I do goals.

Goal setting has been scientifically proven to make achievement more likely.  They say your goal should be big and hard (don’t start with the perv jokes just yet… it’s only day 1 of the year… oh heck! Let’s have a fun year.. make your perv jokes), or it won’t inspire you enough to get it done.    If you don’t MAKE goals (by the way, only about 3% of the USA population actually knows how or bothers to set goals).

Don’t worry… this isn’t a “How to set Goals so they work” post.  This is me talking a little bit about that, and a little bit about what I’m looking to do for 2010. Read the rest of this entry »