When I was struggling to write my book
and found myself stalling,
my Stanford professor for improvisational theater
—the one and only Patricia Ryan Madson—
said to me, “A book is a magic carpet ride.”
What she meant:
it will travel far and wide around the world
reaching people in ways you can’t imagine.
And she was right.
There’s only so much you can plan ahead.
At the time, I’d faced lot of pressure
from marketing friends to “reverse engineer” the future.
What did I want the book to do for me and my business?
Who was the “target audience”?
How did I want everything to unfold months from now?
These questions stymied me.
As an artist first and foremost,
I had to write from within
NOT KNOWING exactly who the material would touch,
but trusting that if I came from a pure place,
the book would have its own life.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Risk Forward came out one year ago this month (March 30!!)
and every week I receive notes and messages
from an unexpected and wide range of people.
Here are just a few from this last week alone:
- A technical writer at Google is publishing an article about Risk Forward to help Google engineers, focusing on the chapter about Full Spectrum
- A security specialist for the NBA was inspired to start writing poetry again. He sent me a message this week to share that he now has 6 of 11 tracks written and recorded for a Poetry/Hip Hop Album
- A corporate client who works in the financial sector is featuring Risk Forward for their business Book Club this summer
- A friend of a friend got the book for her son who is just out of college and struggling with his next moves in life. She said it has helped him immensely.
From the United States to the United Arab Emirates
and from Australia to Japan,
Risk Forward has reached people around the world.
It has indeed been a magic carpet ride.
Here in Los Angeles where I am now,
I just went into Barnes & Noble to sign a few copies.
I still grin with glee like a five-year-old
when I’m in a bookstore
and see it there on the shelf.
So trust yourself.
Begin your project…whatever it is.
You don’t always have to know
exactly where you’re heading
because the magic carpet ride of any project
created from a pure Throughline within
will take you to extraordinary places
and influence lives in ways
you can’t yet even imagine now.
So Risk Forward…and Rock On,
P.S. If you don’t yet have the book, please get a copy or two!
P.P.S. I can’t recommend the hardcover version enough. It’s very, very special and has elements that neither the e-book nor the audio contain. In honor of the 1 year anniversary, please stop by your local bookstore or go online to pick some up!
