This morning I received an email from Richard Branson.
I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars – advice I followed quite literally. This Sunday (July 11), I couldn’t be more excited to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next Virgin Galactic spaceflight UNITY22, and I wanted to mark the moment with a special space edition of my LinkedIn Newsletter.
I’ve wanted to go to space ever since I was a young boy and watched the moon landings from our black and white television set. When commercial spaceflights did not look likely for my generation, I registered the name Virgin Galactic with the hope of creating a company that could make it happen.
Well, I didn’t have the dream of going into space, but I did dream of writing books. If Richard Branson can become an astronaut at age 70, I can surely become a writer at age 60. For one, writing doesn’t need billions of dollars invested, and second, it doesn’t need that level of physical fitness.
Speaking of writing books, I came across a brilliant concept from Austin Kelons’s blog this week.
He is reading Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet, pieced together from two trunks full of writing he left behind after he died.
Many writers leave behind trunks full of writing, writers like Kafka, Emily Dickinson…
I have often wondered what will happen with all my diaries and journals, which are now piling up when I leave this world. Will anyone take the trouble to go through them, pull out the good bits and publish them?
Then I thought, why don’t I do that myself.
Years ago, Marian Bantjes, a designer, artist, illustrator, typographer, and writer, wrote a letter for students who wanted to interview designers for school projects. She wrote:
Pretend we’re dead. Look at our work, read our books, read the articles and interviews we’ve all done, and watch the videos. Make notes and then form your own opinions on whatever it is you’re thinking about us.
You may find us feminine, feminist, egocentric, innovative, influential, systematic, iconoclastic or part of an overall movement …
Whatever it is, formulate an idea about our work, annotate your sources to support your premises, collect the images that support your ideas (and for student projects you are welcome to use anything on this site), give credit where credit is due, and write your report.
This gave me another idea.
Why don’t I read my own work as a student, annotate it, paraphrase here and there, rewrite other bits, and publish it.
By the time I die, I would have written a few books anyway. So why not approach my work as if I am already a published author.
“Why don’t you assume you’ve written your book already,” Stewart Brand once suggested to his friend, Brian Eno, “and all you have to do now is find it?”
I am on to finding my books in my diaries and journals.
Here are the links for this week’s articles.
I Am Reviving Authorpreneurs Publication
You Are Not On Medium To Make Money
Enjoy!
That’s it from me this week.
Take care.
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First , I must comment on the beautiful art piece . It’s absolutely beautiful!! We all have dreams. When we finally get to realize them, it feels really good. I have dreamt of writing books too. Nothing is impossible .Let’s make our dream possible Congrats on the start Neera.