Liam Klenk's Blog, page 35

My 1st Radio Interview Tonight!

Heading to London for an adventurous week of interviews, book promos, and – of course – the London Book Fair. TONIGHT, I’ve got my very first radio interview (ever) with Talk Radio London! Tune in from 6pm (BST – British Summer Time) to hear me discussing Paralian on “Drive Time” with Yasmeen Khan while hopefully not embarrassing myself too badly wink emoticon You can listen here: https://lnkd.in/ewr78mw

A Lesson From Mr. Bojangles

A little taste from Chapter 7, ‘Atlantic Ocean’:

As I turned with Cinnebar to walk her out of the paddock, Mr. Bojangles closed the distance between us in a few powerful strides. Shocked, I turned towards him. He reared up and kicked me in the stomach with the full force of both his hind legs. Suddenly I was on the ground, struggling to catch a breath. Excruciating pain shot through my entire abdominal region.

I had fallen very close to the fence. Instinct took over and I rolled under the wire to safety. As I slowly caught my breath, I could see my host mom, Katie, through the kitchen window, shaking her head.

Feeling sorry for myself, I walked indoors hoping for some reassuring pats on the back. “Should have stood your ground,” Katie told me, in a voice hard as steel. “You should have gotten back on no matter how much it hurt or how scared you were. You’ll never be able to go into that paddock again.” She was right. Mr. Bojangles never respected me again. From then on, the moment I approached the fence, he would run at me, his head held high, his nostrils flaring.

The metaphorical significance of my experience didn’t escape me. I had rolled under the fence too often as a child. For most of my early school life, I had stood quietly in a corner, trying to avoid bruises and flying spittle. Mr. Bojangles taught me the need to believe in myself and face my opponents, no matter how unpleasant the experience might turn out to be. I needed to respect myself enough to stand up in the face of adversity. How else would I ever manage to belong in the world?

An Over-The-Moon Author

The enchanted moment when I saw my book for the very first time… with a touch of Twilight Zone due to having multiple copies of myself staring right back at me in high resolution ;)

Postal Marathon

This last week was a high-speed marathon involving serious family team work (and a pinch of drama):

The first 100 copies of Paralian arrived at my dad’s place in Germany beginning of the week.

Dad managed to organize stamps and boxes after battling rigid German postal authorities.

I spent hours (days really) soothing my slightly panicked and overstrained parent over Skype.

Then Hanna and I arrived yesterday to a perfect postal workshop set-up in Dad’s living room.

Turns out he even made a gadget out of a sponge and a butter tray to help us wet stamps.

Hanna and I rolled up those proverbial sleeves and proceeded to spend hours on the living room floor, postal paraphernalia spread out all around us.

Bocelli, Dad’s cat, watched over the boxes and made sure we packed them correctly.

Seven hours later all books were inscribed and packaged, ready to be sent out to the 100 amazing people who together donated over 10’000 USD towards Paralian.

At 1am we loaded the packages into Dad’s car to be mailed to every corner of the world after Easter.

2am saw Hanna and I driving back to Zurich… with me spending an hour slapping myself to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.

While Bocelli is most likely still guarding the odd box or two today, I’m home, feeling the aftermath of our postal marathon. I am flat on the couch, hardly moving a muscle, just breathing in and out… catching my breath and snuggling under several warm blankets. I’m a lucky guy.

Don’t Wait…

I’m a regular fountain of wisdom ;)

 

Arrival in Paradise

A little taste of ‘Paralian’ from my time in the Maldives… Arrival in paradise…

“The staff accommodation set up was very amusing. I was reminded of Alcatraz as Judith showed me A-Block, B-Block, and C-Block as each small accumulation of staff rooms was called. My solitary confinement dwelling was located in C-Block, a long L-shaped building with many small doors, leading to very small rooms. Judith and her partner Rowan had secured an air conditioning unit for my little sanctuary. Some other people were bound to leave soon. I hoped to scrounge a few pieces of furniture and decorations from them. As I stood in the doorway of C-7 I realized that there wasn’t much need for decorations since there was hardly any space for them. Each of our rooms was about six square meters, with barely enough room to squeeze between the queen-sized bed, night table and wardrobe to reach the bathroom door.”

Launching on May 28, 2016! You can already preorder from Troubador, Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith, and the Apple ibooks store.

Arrival in Paradise

A little taste of ‘Paralian’ from my time in the Maldives… Arrival in paradise…

“The staff accommodation set up was very amusing. I was reminded of Alcatraz as Judith showed me A-Block, B-Block, and C-Block as each small accumulation of staff rooms was called. My solitary confinement dwelling was located in C-Block, a long L-shaped building with many small doors, leading to very small rooms. Judith and her partner Rowan had secured an air conditioning unit for my little sanctuary. Some other people were bound to leave soon. I hoped to scrounge a few pieces of furniture and decorations from them. As I stood in the doorway of C-7 I realized that there wasn’t much need for decorations since there was hardly any space for them. Each of our rooms was about six square meters, with barely enough room to squeeze between the queen-sized bed, night table and wardrobe to reach the bathroom door.”

Launching on May 28, 2016! You can already preorder from Troubador, Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith, and the Apple ibooks store.

Paralian Finished Printing!

*** EXCITING NEWS *** Just heard from my publisher TODAY that Paralian has finished printing and a few copies are on their way to me!!! In about 2 weeks I’ll hold the real-life copy of my very first book in my hands. What a fabulous adventure!

Pirouetting Dolphins

Here I am, drawing an island while working on the island. One of my many passions in turquoise paradise was guiding boats. On our way to wherever we were heading that day, I would draw each dive site briefing on a little chalk board while the fellow ocean enthusiasts I was guiding that day would watch my drawing progress with sparkling eyes and eager anticipation…

Happiness in a puff of chalk and a splash of water.

However, life on the island wasn’t all pirouetting dolphins, sunshine and margaritas. Even in the most magnificent of places, life can be tough when you are confined to a tiny pile of sand with a whole bunch of individuals, all of them (including you) experiencing bouts of island fever on a regular basis…

I wouldn’t want to miss any of it. It is so worth it (at least for me) to go out there, take risks, leave materialistic values and a safe existence behind. It’s invaluable to meet a whole bunch of people from all over the world and all kinds of backgrounds; to live and work with them, laugh with them, be annoyed by them, and experience cultures from the inside (not just as a visiting tourist in two-week-wonderland).

Throwing myself into all kinds of challenging life and work experiences abroad was one of the best things I ever did. I can’t even count how many times I was ready to rip my hair out or hijack a plane to get the hell out of there… but, I always persevered and never regretted it.

When I wrote my book, my four years as a diving instructor and hyperbaric chamber operator in the Maldives spanned four chapters. The life lessons I took away from these adventures were infinite. On the other hand, the very secure, comfortable job I held in Switzerland before heading out into the unknown barely added up to half a chapter in ‘Paralian’.

So I wonder about the wisdom of amassing materialistic wealth and security. I’d rather let go and explore the world together with my soul mate with wide-eyed curiosity and an open mind.

Another Quote…

… this one a bit cheesy I know ;) but true nonetheless :D Here some more words of wisdom by yours truly, “hot off the tweet” from my publisher: