I believe that it is important to share our stories…notice what resonates, what turns us off and what turns us on; pay attention to what we can learn, what are we curious about, what are we inspired by. I also believe in writing as a practice, one that helps us to befriend ourselves, be present and honest and preserve those moments.
On this page, you can find links to my blogs, articles, updates on my books and other such things as I move from aspiring author to writer extraordinaire.
Blog: Here I share the story of the adventures while on my journey of personal transformation, wandering and exploring South America and living in Argentina. I also write about personal transformation practices, the cycles of change and other thoughts and musing on living a meaningful life.
Project Paper Crane Blog: I am on a quest to give away 1,000 paper cranes to those I meet only journey who inspire me and to whom I wish to express gratitude. I share their stories here in hopes of spreading inspiration to you.
Articles:
elephantjournal.com: Click here to read an article I wrote that shares some practical exercises I did at the beginning of my journey from the corporate world to Patagonia, on a pursuit to discover my passions.
I am also a writer for the Huffington Post and my articles can be found here. Follow me on Huffington Post to receive an email when I publish a new article.
My Books:
In January 2016, I self-published my first book, 100 Days of Transformative Adventure. It is a photographic journey of adventuring in nature and the transformation that comes about when we step out of our comfort zone.
My current passion project and life goal is to write a book, along with an interactive journal.
The Book: My first book falls into the Transformative Travel Memoir-ish category…it is my true and personal story of an adventure of the soul that took me from guiding corporate transformations as a management consultant to exploring South America on a quest to discover my passions and build a life around them. Nature, adventure, challenges, triumphs, passions, purpose are the theme of this journey.
The Interactive Journal: Using my years of experience in guiding people and organizations through change and my extensive experience with personal transformation practices, I am creating this book of thoughts, quotes, actions, exercises, wanders, practices and ideas for exploring what makes one feel the most alive and happy…a guide of sorts for responding to that feeling of wanting to do something more or different, wanting to shake things up a bit and live passionately.
Status: The most common questions for an author-in-the-making: “What’s your book about?” and then “How’s your book coming?” Now that I’ve answered the first question, here is the next answer.
JANUARY 2016 UPDATE:
While I was living in Patagonia up until March 2015, I had started writing my book for the third time. This time it really clicked, the flow was real. I wrote with the sunset on most days and ended up writing about half of the book.
I then came back to the States and the transition back has been the biggest challenge of my life. A whole new chapter to the book has emerged that I did not see coming. I have been away from writing it for several months as I simmer in this liminality.
While away from my book, I have been working on some faster, smaller projects and also starting my business…I need some funding on my path to becoming an author and I wanted to start giving from my skill set now.
My intention is to get back to writing the book soon. It’s my baby! Please stay tuned and thank you for the support!
What’s happened already:
Thousands of pages of journals from the last few years are transforming into the book itself. I estimate that I am about half way through a draft of the book. I have a strong outline of the interactive journal patiently awaiting my attention, which I hope to get to soon.
Current Writing Location:
I had been writing while living on a lake in the mountains of Argentina for 6 months before coming back to the USA. Now I am living in Denver, CO where I will continue to write. I hope to write as much of it in the mountains as possible, as they are a great source of inspiration for me.
I am always seeking an opportunity to return to Argentina, the country where most of the story took place and where my book wants to be written.
What’s Next?
I am starting to explore publishing, both self-publishing and the traditional route. After launching my business and getting some funding, I will continue writing the book.
In the mean time, I will be writing for my own blogs, Huffington Post and hopefully other publications as well.
Want to be involved?
If you like what you read here and you have interest in helping me bring this book to life, please consider making a donation. I have infinite gratitude for those who have generously supported me along the way and continue to do so. I could not follow this dream without you.
Also, a tremendous compliment is to follow and share my blogs.
APRIL 2015 UPDATE:
We have a title!
I always thought the name of my book would come to me and not be something I sat down to “think of”. And just like that it popped into my head the other day and I knew it was right. So for now, the working title is A Call to Adventure.
This is representative of a few things: It points to the Hero’s Journey pattern, which is something that inspired my journey and something I tend to geek out on. It calls attention to the feeling that grew inside of me, which triggered my journey. It also hints at adventure as a powerful tool for transformation, a key lesson for me along the way.
An extended version of what this project is all about:
After 9 years in management consulting in Corporate America, I had come to realize that I wanted a transformation of my own. I wanted to design a flexible and unconventional life around my passions. I just didn’t know what they were exactly and certainly didn’t know how to turn what I did for fun into a paycheck.
Not wanting to just change jobs, I started with what I did know. I know how to manage change. I know I love to travel. I know that the courage to get out of my comfort zone is often rewarded in some way.
So I sold my house, my car, and most of my belongings; quit my job; and showed up in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a three night reservation and a massive backpack. Serendipity would be my compass and I would use the tools, processes and my expertise in managing change to go on a journey of self-discovery and personal transformation.
I have learned that people want to be inspired and when they are, they want to know how to do it themselves. There are two main things I am trying to achieve with this project.
1. I am writing a book about my transformative adventure from the corporate world, to a life designed around my passions. The story includes the fears and challenges, the adventures and discoveries leading up to my journey and during my time in South America.
I hope the story is inspiring and a captivating read. It may resonate if you like reading about adventures in nature and foreign countries. It may resonate if you also want to make a life change and don’t know where to start, or if you aren’t sure of what your passions are or simply don’t know how to create a life around them.
Whatever may draw you to this story, I hope to write a beautiful book like the inspiring books I like to read.
2. The second part of this project is the ‘how to’. The scary part of making a change is all of the unknowns that show up along the way. This guidebook includes questions to explore and activities to do to take you on your own conscious journey of making a change in your life, big or small. It is meant to help you take conscious steps with a purpose and then also to help you process what shows up along the way.
This guidebook, or workbook, includes the things that I learned in my professional life as an expert in managing change that I then used on myself, treating myself like a client. It includes additional questions and exercises from my studies of personal change. Change is hard and fear of the unknown is often more terrifying than staying with known discomfort or stagnation. There are tools and processes that can break it down into not so scary, even exciting bits and pieces.
I hope that with this project I can use my expertise and my personal story to inspire you to figure out where you want to go and to make it easier to get there.
Still reading? Hi! How are you? How is your day going? Thanks for visiting my page!
A CALL TO ADVENTURE 
One thought on “Writing”
Comments are closed.