The book
A book about regeneration, told through my own life: a promise made in 2014, a proposal with Dane Johnson, an ending still being lived.
At a glance
- Role
- Author
- When
- 2014 to now
- Where
- Portland, San Juan del Sur, and wherever I am
- Team
- Co-writer on the proposal: Dane Johnson
- Scope
- Daily writing, a book proposal and chapter drafts
Results
- 149,788Words written by February 2015
- July 2017Book proposal, Re:Generation, with Dane Johnson
- 3,000People in the hall when I was handed THE END
July 2014, Portland, Oregon. About 3,000 people at the World Domination Summit were out of their seats, and I was on stage beside Chris Guillebeau, holding a typewriter with a single page in it. The page read THE END. They’d already written the last page. I had to write the rest.
A flag in the ground
It started earlier that weekend in a time-capsule booth at the conference. From behind a white canvas wall a voice asked, what’s your life like in 2020? I said it out loud: I’m writing a book. Setting the goal and telling people about it put a flag in the ground.
So I wrote. Every day, in five mini notebooks I kept in my pocket and then on the computer. By February 2015 I had 149,788 words. Most of it will never be in a book. Writing that much taught me as much about myself as about the story.
Word engineering
In March 2017 I was in my corner office on the third floor of Casa Oro, writing the first draft by pen and paper because the power was out. Beside me was Dane Johnson, my fellow founding student at the Experience Institute, a published poet and musician, who came to San Juan del Sur to write it with me. We worked from nearly 60 questions. What is a regenerative business model? How can we apply design inspired by nature to shape society? What’s love got to do with it?
At a writing conference in Los Angeles, Elizabeth Gilbert told us to write for one specific reader, so we picked ours. By July 2017 we had a book proposal, Re:Generation, for a book of 70,000 to 90,000 words with photos between the chapters, and drafts of chapters one, two and six. Chapter two asks how a stuttering brown kid can feel normal. Chapter six is called What Is This Hippy Bullshit?
What it’s about
It’s the story of a kid from the Chicago suburbs who left a fast track in finance to build regenerative businesses in Central America. It’s about getting into the slipstream of synchronicity and staying there, about turning weakness into strength, and about regeneration: leaving people, places and economies better than you found them.
More book to be lived
Somewhere in the proposal I realized there was more of the book to live before I could finish it. Since then: a storm, a wrongful arrest, a chocolate company, a shop in Chicago and a cacao company. The book is still being lived. When it’s time, it’ll be published, and the writing on this site is where it started.
What I did
- Committed to the book at the World Domination Summit in Portland in July 2014, and was handed its last page, THE END, on stage in front of about 3,000 people
- Wrote every day, in five pocket notebooks and then on the computer: 149,788 words by February 2015
- Co-wrote a book proposal, Re:Generation, with Dane Johnson in 2017, for a book of 70,000 to 90,000 words with photos between the chapters
- Built it from nearly 60 questions and a profile of the one reader it’s written for
- Drafted chapters one, two and six
- Paused it when I saw there was more of the book to live
Deliverables
- A book proposal, Re:Generation (July 2017)
- Drafts of chapters one, two and six
- A 60-question outline and a reader profile
- 149,788 words of daily writing, by February 2015
- A newsletter series on the writing, and years of posts on this site
Skills
- Long-form nonfiction writing
- Book proposals and structure
- Co-writing and editing with a partner
- A daily writing practice
What I learned
Writing every day taught me more about myself than about the book. Telling people about a goal puts a flag in the ground; finishing it on your own timing is allowed.
Related work
Casa Oro Group
Founder and CEO
Five guesthouses, three places to eat, tours, shuttles, chocolate and a farm in San Juan del Sur, built since 2015 to give back more than it takes.
San Juan del Sur, 2015 to now
Experience Institute
Founding student
A self-designed graduate year at the Experience Institute, 2013 to 2014: three apprenticeships in Australia, the Philippines and Chicago, and one question.
Chicago, Australia, the Philippines, 2013 to 2014
Rancho Regeneración
Developer and designer
80 acres in El Carrizal, south of San Juan del Sur, now a registered private wildlife reserve: water, roads, compost, food, trees and an earthbag dome.
El Carrizal, San Juan del Sur, 2015 to now