Plans don't start books
...is what I would have said two weeks ago
This kind of thing happens to me all the time…
An artist friend called me this morning to tell me to check my email. She had started a book, and she sent me the first chapter.
I had no idea she ever wanted to write a book. Neither did she. And she was so flipping excited that she wanted to tell someone. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT A PERSON SHOULD DO WHEN SHE STARTS A BOOK – or anything for that matter. I was giddy to be that someone.
The best part of this story is the story.
The artist is Lisa Lala. Look her up. She’s a successful amazing artist who I mention in my book Start More Than You Can Finish (because she had a great story about making art from strapping metal she found on the side of the highway).
A few days ago, Lisa responded to my post on Facebook lamenting how powerless I feel about things I don’t like in the world. She commented that she dealt with her similar feelings by making a PERSONAL ACTION PLAN for a BETTER WORLD. She made it sound easy peasy, and it piqued my curiosity.
Lisa is tons of fun, and she LIVES ON A LAKE. So I suggested we get in her kayaks and spend an afternoon talking about these personal action plans.
Well, this suggestion happened in front of God and everybody on Facebook, so don’t you know, other people wanted to get in on that action.
In no surprise to anyone, Lisa and I woke up this morning to a text from a friend asking for an invitation to the kayak planning party, and it got Lisa thinking. “Maybe lots of people need to learn what I know about personal action heal-the-world plans. I don’t have enough kayaks for all of them, so I’ll write a book.”
Since Lisa is a bonafied stARTist, she knows that the best time to act on an idea is when the excitement is high. So she sat her creative self down on a beautiful Saturday morning and wrote an introduction…an introduction which pretty much contains the outline for a very lovely book.
This is how it’s done, people.
When an idea visits us, it’s best to drop what we’re doing and give the idea a chair – ask it what’s on its mind. Talk long enough to learn what the first step is, then take action like Lisa did.
My ACTION PLAN for a BETTER WORLD will begin with what I learned writing my book: acting on our ideas reveals the best of who we are.
The world needs our best.
It doesn’t matter what our politics are. The world needs fast, fearless starting. Our world needs healing from the ravages of COVID 19, from the devastation of war and from the pain our divisiveness. It’s going to take untold words, art, inventions, architecture and power grids.
We can’t fix everything from the comfort of a friend’s kayak, but we can start there. (Well, I can. You need to wrangle your own invitation.)
You can now pre-order my new book, Start More Than You Can Finish, wherever books are sold!