Kevin Tumlinson's Blog, page 5

Pants Branding

I made one joke, more than five years ago, about "pants" being an inherently funny word, and now "being pantsless" is the most memorable part of my brand. Now that is funny. 

It think it just resonates with people. It means something, even if they aren't sure what. It's this vulnerable moment in everyone's life, when you're standing (or sitting) with your pants around your ankles. And you can either continue to be vulnerable, get humiliated and embarrassed, or you can own it, and let it empower you. I went with the latter, and it became the strongest part of my brand.

I've even built a platform around "pants-free living and career." So now the joke is helping me make a living. And that is really funny.

What is it you're avoiding when it comes to "being known?" And how can you own it and leverage it to make it an asset rather than a roadblock to your success?

Growing Up vs Being an Author

Q: “I want to be an author when I grow up. Am I insane?”

Neil Gaiman: “Yes. Growing up is highly overrated. Just be an author.”

[source: https://greenbaywriters.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/neil-gaiman-quote.jpg]

Just because it's easy doesn't mean it's wrong

Here's irony for you—I spent a huge chunk of my life writing for a living until I could figure out what I wanted to do for a living. 

I kept trying out new careers and new industries, taking new jobs and building new businesses, and all the while doing anything but considering writing as my career. 

What makes it worse is that all the while, I was saying things like, "I wish I could win the lottery or get a job or build a business that gives me the time to just write full time." I kept putting off actually writing, waiting for "some day" to come, so that I could finally start writing.

What a profound disrespect for the skill that has served me so well, all of my life. 

I'm not sure why—maybe it's because writing came easy to me. Maybe I subconsciously thought, "Anything that comes easy, that I love this much, can't be something I do for a living." What a huge disservice to myself! All those years, fighting my way through jobs I hated or work that was completely unfulfilling, writing what I could on the side but treating it like a hobby more than a career—and I could have been focused on the writing itself the whole time.

I still do this, by the way. I had lunch with one of my mentors yesterday, to talk about keynote speaking and tweaking my platform. I gave her a list of topics I have in mind, and we talked them out. And at one point she asked, "Why are you trying to talk about everything but the writing?"

That hit me like a ton of bricks. Because more than once, especially in the past year, I have chastised myself for doing exactly that. I fight to keep myself focused on the fact that writing is my career, and here I was ignoring it. Again.

But when we did talk about writing, about the ins and outs of building an author business, about getting past the hurdles of writing a book (even if writing a book isn't something you particularly want to do), I was on fire. I got so excited and so passionate, I could hardly sit still! The business of writing, and the writing itself, are things that I love talking about.

That's my topic.

There's a lesson to be learned here, and it applies to everyone. The truth is, a lot of us probably overlook that "thing" we can do. We think it's too easy or too simple. We forget that not everyone knows what we know, or even cares about the things we care about. We can be passionate about something in a way that could inspire others to be passionate about it as well, but we have to recognize that passion first.

My friend and writing partner, Nick Thacker, is really good at finding the MVP—the "minimal viable product." It's a concept I've known about for years, but until he and I started working together I had a tendency to ignore it. The idea is that you don't have to have an elaborate and complex system, service, or product before you can go to market. You need to start with the simplest version, the one that is the quickest and easiest to implement, and get the momentum started. You make an offer, and from there you can grow. 

My MVP is writing. It's the simplest thing for me to talk about and to write about, and it sets me on fire with a passion and drive to share what I know and what I've learned. I love working with people who want to be authors, helping them learn the ins and outs of building that business. I love writing my own books, too, and telling stories that entertain or inform or inspire (or all the above). I love talking about and writing about writing, so it's the simplest and easiest platform for me to build on.

I'm glad I had that coffee yesterday. I'm glad I got that wakeup call. It means scrapping some of what I'm doing, and starting again on some things. But it's a better direction, a more sure direction, than where I started. It's the thing that will inspire me to keep writing and creating, and keep sharing and building. It's the thing that will fuel my passion, so that I can awaken passion in others. 

I'm a writer. It's time to own that. It's time to get to work.

[NEW VIDEO] Book signings and a typical Wordslinger Day

Yesterday I did a book signing at Boling High Schoo, in Boling Texas. I took 50 books with me, and came home with only two … so I’m checking the box next to “good day.”

Speaking of days, I thought you folks might get a kick out of hearing what a typical Wordslinger Day is like. I break down all the early-morning goodness in this video, including how I determine how many words I should write in a day.

8-Ball's Tale [A Sawyer Jackson short story!]

If you've read my Sawyer Jackson books, you'll immediately recognize 8-Ball—the Akashic Sphere who is the sum total of all knowledge in the Omni. He also happens to be best buds with Xander Travel, and eventually Sawyer Jackson himself.

I say "he," but I really don't like to. Because 8-Ball really is the epitome of "gender neutral." A fact that makes it incredibly challenging to write about him directly. In my head, 8-Ball is probably male-ish. But she could also be whatever they want to be. It really doesn't have a gender. 

All pronoun confusion aside, the story that follows is a quick look at an infinite being with a really, really big burden to bear. I hope you love this story! Be sure to leave comments below!

8-Ball's Tale
(A Sawyer Jackson Short)

It ain't easy, knowing everything.

8-Ball might be the Akashic Sphere—the embodiment of all knowledge in the Omni—but that didn't mean life was simple.

Quite the opposite, actually. Because knowing everything that could ever be known from the past, present, and future, and from all the Layers of the Omni, meant being responsible for it all. It meant that relationships took a distant second place to the needs of all reality. It was a lonely sort of life.

For all intents and purposes, 8-Ball was the Omni. When you are the embodiment of all information that ever has existed or ever could exist, there's really no difference between you and, well, everything. 8-Ball knew that a couple of atoms would collide and cause a reaction that would spark a release of energy that would attract more atoms that would coalesce into matter that would form a star that would ... well, this goes on for a while.

But every bit of it, every second of it, was known to 8-Ball, and was part of 8-Ball. And so, of course, it was inevitable for 8-Ball would eventually meet the culmination of that series of events, and make friends with him. Sort of.

Xander Travel was an Exemplar—one of the models for the pattern of human life throughout the Omni—and the last of his kind. His fellow Exemplars had all given themselves over to the Omni, long ago. Most had decided that, after eons of life, they had explored and learned everything the Omni had to offer, so there was no point in continuing, really. 

They had no idea.

8-Ball found it kind of sad that the Exemplars were so bored with their existence that they let themselves fade back into the knotwork, becoming a part of the pattern that "was" rather than the pattern that "is." It showed a shocking lack of imagination, frankly. Because, the Omni was, after all, infinite. Did they really believe that they'd explored all of it? They were practically a blink.

Xander, though, was still in love. He loved the mystery of every day of his life. He loved the fact that no matter how much he'd seen and experienced in his long existence, there were still things that could surprise him. Even the fact that some patterns repeated, that some events played out again and again, seemed surprising to Xander. He somehow managed to keep his wide-eyed curiosity about the Omni. And that made him useful.

It hadn't always been that way, though. There was a time when Xander nearly joined the rest of the Exemplars as just another set of patterns in the knotwork. And 8-Ball couldn't let that happen. Xander was still needed.

8-Ball was more than just the repository of all knowledge in the Omni. The sum total of all creation needed an agent to work on its behalf, to make sure that some events happened and others didn't. The future could be rewritten, or nudged in the right direction, or influenced to unfold just so. 8-Ball could work as that agent, to help move things in the right direction, to keep the Omni turning and growing and creating more life. But there were certain ... limitations.

Interfering directly with events had drawbacks. Every instant that 8-Ball nudged or tinkered with would ripple outward into bigger events elsewhere. Moving so much as a single atom in empty space, even in a deep Layer far from all other realities, would eventually lead to a massive ripple of creation and change and new twists and patterns in the knotwork somewhere else. 

That's a pretty heavy responsibility for anyone to bear alone. Even the Akashic Sphere.

8-Ball knew that Xander Travel would take a keen interest in "fixing" the Omni, someday. It was just in the man's nature—the result of all those collisions and collections of atoms far away, long ago. 8-Ball also knew that Xander would go through a dark time, and that he would grow weary of his existence, just like all the other Exemplars. And so, 8-Ball had put things into motion, to nudge Xander to a specific place at a specific time. Xander's lowest time. Xander's darkest moment. 

There was just no way to avoid the necessity of it.

Xander Travel had to go into the Shadow Strait.

And this was scary for 8-Ball. Because beyond the Shadow Strait was an entirely different set of knowledge and information—one that was completely outside of the Omni, and thus completely unknown to 8-Ball. 

In all of creation and all of eternity, in all the winding and twisting patterns of the knotwork, in all of existence, there was nothing that was unknown to 8-Ball. So the existence of this "other place," this "dark Omni," was more than a little intriguing.

As impossible as it seemed, the Shadow Strait led to somewhere that could not be known. Unless you cheated.

The day came, and Xander was in that long, dark night of the soul that had been inevitable. He stood at the gateway to the Shadow Strait—a circle of stones that, at this point, were just mounds of boulders, and not the statues that would rise and eventually crumble on this spot. The civilization that would build monuments here had not yet risen, but they were on their way, a few atoms at a time. 

Xander stood in the circle of boulders, and looked out toward the Shadow Strait—a broad line of darkness that stretched like unmoving storm clouds across the horizon.

8-Ball knew that all of Xander's thoughts were focused on ending his long existence. Xander was—well, not bored with life, but mostly disillusioned by it. He had experienced so much, and was seeing so many repeating patterns. He had seen so much death, and so much tragedy. Joy, too. Wonders and excitement and happiness. But also the inevitable entropy that comes with the ever-expanding wave of of growth in the Omni. The consequences of new growth are the loss of the old. And Xander, even though he was a mere two thousand years or so—less than a blink!—was feeling so very, very old. 

Xander activated the gate, and let the Shadow Strait claim him, taking him, for the first time, out of the Omni, and into some place new.

8-Ball watched this intently, and for the first time in existence there was something new and exciting and unknown to pay attention to! There was something unknown to the one being in existence who knew everything.

Xander was gone for some time, in human terms, but to 8-Ball it seemed like seconds. Time tends to lose all of its bite, when you are infinite. 8-Ball was still good friends with Time, but they didn't talk much. They were more like passing acquaintances. As long as Time kept doing the job, there was no real reason for them to interact. Even in those Layers where Time wasn't doing much anymore, things were pretty much taken care of automatically. So their relationship had been reduced to something akin to a nod and a wave—acknowledgment between two infinite forces.

When Xander returned from the Shadow Strait—exhausted and dehydrated and half dead, but suddenly filled with more life and excitement than 8-Ball had previously known in him—a new flood of knowledge came into existence for the first time in all creation.

There was a Dark Omni—an inverted version of creation. It was filled with new knowledge and new life and new events that 8-Ball had never known! That, alone, was the most exciting thing 8-Ball had ever experienced.

Xander, too. Because as 8-Ball watched, Xander's knotwork shifted and changed and became wildly more complex than it had ever been before. New futures opened up by the billions. New realities got their budding starts on new layers that stacked in new multiverses. Xander's jaunt to the outside of existence was a starting point for more lives and more events than anyone but 8-Ball could count.

And that was interesting. Because unlike the Exemplars, who were long-lived but still finite, 8-Ball truly was infinite, and truly did know the beginning, middle, and end of the story. There was nothing new, in the Omni, to the sum total of the Omni's knowledge. Until now.

It was time to make some introductions.

8-Ball continued to follow Xander Travel as he embarked on a new mission, with a new vigor and a new commitment. What he'd seen in the Dark Omni had been exhilarating, but it had also been frightening. It had awakened an awareness in Xander that his fellow Exemplars had never known.

The Omni, as it turned out, wasn't inevitable. There were nudges here and there that made it all work. There were events that needed to happen so that more events could come. There were patches where it needed a bit of repair.

The Omni need a caretaker. 

8-Ball watched as Xander started moving about the Omni, hopping from Layer to Layer using button holes and other means. Eventually, Xander encountered the Teth—a new bloodline of humans who could manipulate the knotwork that shaped and created all of reality. Who better to help in Xander's new quest to be the custodian and curator of all creation? He made friends quickly among the Teth, many of whom were eager to learn his secret to long life. But many more were dran to the idea of protecting and serving the knotwork that they, alone, connected to so intimately. 

Xander nurtured relationships, and he set about his new task. In short order, he had an elite team of Teth trained to help him find and fix thinning or torn patches in the knotwork. He had friends now, who helped him with his self-appointed (or so he thought) mission. He add allies. He had friends. And those friends helped him find new meaning in every day, and to search for new wonders in every corner of the infinite Omni.

It was time to make some introductions.

Xander had been busily bouncing among the Layers, with his Teth friends in tow, and had stopped for a respite in a reality that offered peace and safety. It was the sort of place Xander loved, and would return to again and again. He knew the value of quiet down time, of reflection. He knew that it was important to take a moment to breathe, and to watch the world a bit. You couldn't very well see what needs fixing, after all, if you never took a moment to look.

Xander was enjoying some down time in a small town on a Layer that he and his Teth had made safe long ago. He was eating a light meal at a cafe, drinking coffee and watching animals run and play games with each other in a park across the street. He was happy. He was content. 

8-Ball hovered into view, directly in front of him.

"Oh ..." Xander said, putting his coffee down and looking closer. "I've never seen one of you fly before. You're something special, aren't you?"

8-Ball could have said so much. There was nothing that prevented or forbade talking or acting directly. There was no reason to even be in the shape and form of this ironic plastic toy, bearing a mark that looked suspiciously like the symbol for "infinity." But this form was a favorite, possibly because of the irony and symbolism of it. And, in the end, there was a more practical reason for it.

There was a singular fact that 8-Ball had made into a rule, of sorts: Too much information is dangerous. And so, the majority of the time, it's better to give vague nudges than straight answers. 

8-Ball shook in mid air, as if some unseen child were at work. In a moment, the shaking stopped, and an answer floated to the surface of the little window, opposite the "8" symbol. A triangle appeared through the blue, murky waters, revealing itself in the window.

Xander leaned forward and read aloud. "Without a doubt."

Xander smiled, and then laughed. "Oh, you're going to be a fun one," he said..

"You may rely on it," 8-Ball replied. Because this was the moment when that was what 8-Ball said. And this was the moment when Xander would read these answers and laugh and smile, and consider 8-Ball a new friend.

This was the moment when Xander Travel got a new ally that he'd had all along.

Super Secret Pro Writer Tip - Burn after reading

Writing is weird. 

It's simultaneously the hardest and the easiest thing most of us do. Hard, because for most people the thought of sitting down and chunking out something long and involved, like a book, is daunting. We love the idea of it, but we dread the work. We have flashbacks to middle school and high school, where writing was forced on us as formulaic oppression. Write, or suffer.

Easy, though, because we do it every single day without even thinking about it. We write emails, social media posts, text messages, and quick notes to let our spouse know where we are. Automatic, natural writing happens for us all the time, and we totally don't give ourselves credit. 

But we should. Because that's a huge output in our daily lives. That's a lot of words. A lot of opportunity to get better at this stuff.

The Write Stuff

If you have any love for writing, and any aspiration or inspiration to do it for a living, then the first rule is this: All writing is writing.

Obvious, right? But the point is that any writing you do is the "work." So do it right. Make the effort to use this stuff to shape your voice and style, to hone your skill, to improve in the areas where you might be weak. Want to be a professional writer? Treat all writing professionally.

Some of the biggest leaps I've made as a writer came from the stuff I was writing outside of my "job." The blog and social media posts I've written over the years were playgrounds for figuring out exactly how to do this. Emails were sandboxes for learning how to communicate effectively while maintaining my voice. Text messages and tweets were a training ground for making writing concise while building rich layers of contextual meaning. I got meta, man.

When I work with author clients, getting them to think in terms of a daily writing habit is the first step, and one of the most difficult for them to implement. But I've had the most success with pointing out everything you just read. Writing is hard, but it's the easiest hard thing you'll ever do.

All Writing is Professional Writing

Just keep that in mind, and you're going to be just fine, kid. Treat every email, every text, every blog post, every tweet as a chance to improve your mad skillz. Practice spelling and punctuation and grammar. But even more important than grammar and mechanics (though the Grammar Nazis may have me beaten), use all of your everyday writing to develop your voice. 

Here's the truth about making a living as a writer—whether you're trying to be an ace copywriter or write books for a living: Your voice and style will be what sets you apart from everyone else.

Think about it. Grammar and mechanics? Spelling and punctuation? Anyone who has any interest in writing professionally is going to focus on those things, because those are the rules. They're the system, the structure, the framework. But the highly skilled, highly valued, beloved writer has an edge that sets him or her apart. And that edge is always, and unfailingly, their voice and style.

Master mechanics, but spend your energy on perfecting your voice and style. Find new ways to express what you're thinking on the page or screen. Think of ways to convey your personality in your writing. Actually, go a step beyond that. Figure out how to be an actor in your writing—with the ability to take on new roles as they're needed. 

Ever watch a truly good actor in a film or on television and realize they've disappeared into their role? "I've seen this person in dozens of roles, but I never think of them as the actor. I always think of them as the character!" That's what you're trying to achieve as a writer. Your voice and style need to be so fluid that you can disappear in the work. The reader doesn't notice you. They notice what you've created. They're too busy being moved or inspired or entertained to stop and be bothered by you.

Good writers get out of the way. 

That's it. That's the secret. You can be a good writer by paying attention to your own voice, in every single thing you write. Dedicate yourself to the idea of improving with every word you write, and you'll do exactly that.

Now, go get out of the way. And happy writing. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Drop me a line and keep me up to date!

Here's what's coming up for the Wordslinger in 2015!

2014 was an amazing year, and 2015 is off to a great start! There's a lot happening in Wordslinger land. Here's what's up—

—New books!—
Citadel: Omnibus is now available, pulling together the entire Citadel Trilogy for the first time in one volume: http://amzn.to/1zRE60J

"Sawyer Jackson and the Shadow Strait," Book 2 in the Sawyer Jackson series, is now available for Kindle: http://amzn.to/1yx8Mcg

"Evergreen" is now in edit, and has a target release date of February 15th!

—Wordslinger Podcast— 
Every week, I interview someone who inspires me with their story. Past guests have included Marianne Cantwell, Andy Nulman, Sean Platt, and Joanna Penn. This year, I already have John Kovalic ("Dork Tower") lined up! 

Listen in at www.kevintumlinson.com/podcast every Friday to hear from my latest guest!

—Self Publishing Answers Podcast—
Nick Thacker and I co-host this weekly podcast that gives a valuable look into the self publishing industry. Join us and our guests every Friday, and have a little fun with two guys who like to take bubble baths.

www.writehacked.com

—Happy Pants Books—
I've relaunched Happy Pants Books to provide author services such as ghoswriting, branded fiction, and author coaching. Now you can be the author you always wanted to be, and Happy Pants Books can help!

www.happypantsbooks.com

—Keynote speaking and coaching—
I love a good story. I love helping to SHAPE a good story even more. And now I'm helping people just like you shape the story that shapes their lives. In 2015 I'll start doing more keynote speaking, and working with more coaching clients to help find the story that matters most, and shape their lives on purpose.

www.kevintumlinson.com

—Support the Wordslinger on Patreon!—
Want to help support the show and all my other work? I have a new Patreon campaign that lets you contribute and help me help you (and some other folks too!). www.patreon.com/kevintumlinson

—

Need help shaping your story for 2015? Visit me online and let's chat! I know I can help. I really want to see you be the best you can be, and have the career and the life you always wanted.

Development Diary: Evergreen

In early November I had a dream that led to an idea, which eventually led to me starting a new book. This was something completely outside of either Citadel or Sawyer Jackson—a new, independent story that could stand on its own or become a series in its own right. I titled the story “Evergreen.”

The basic premise is this: What if you had the ability to absorb all the thoughts, memories, and skills of anyone you touched? One touch, and Evergreen knows everything you know.

This opens up a lot of potential consequences and ramifications, and thus a whole mess of interesting stuff to explore. 

I found myself thinking about what it would mean to suddenly have someone else’s life in your head. What would this ability mean for social adjustment and relationships? What would it mean from a moral or ethical standpoint? Could this character ever really know who he was, if he had other voices inside his head?

I put a few limits on the ability. For starters, he has to make skin-to-skin contact. He can only absorb someone’s memories for 30 minutes, and then those memories are completely gone—he can’t recall anything about the person that he didn’t experience directly. And he can replicate skills, but those also fade when the memories go.

I decided to take it a little further with some serious downsides to the power. If he absorbs multiple engrams, it can get a little hectic in his head, with conflicting memories and personalities vying for dominance.

Taking it even further, if he comes into contact too often with the same person, their engram becomes permanent. Sort of like practicing a new habit or skill—over time his brain rewires itself to include that engram. 

And just because that didn’t seem far enough, I added a quirk to his power that really has some potential to complicate things: If he touches someone who has died within the past 15 minutes, their engram is automatically permanent.

The whole permanent engram thing has some really intriguing ramifications. How can you have a strong relationship with someone you can never touch? And what does it mean, philosophically, that a person’s engram permanently attaches to you after death, like a shipwreck survivor scrambling for a lifeboat? What happens if you have someone’s permanent engram in your head, and they dislike the choices made by their real-world counterpart? 

I look at a lot of these ideas in the book, in the framework of a guy caught up in a bit of international intrigue. It was a fun exercise, and one I’ll probably repeat.

I hinted a bit at the idea of the alphabet agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc.) having some interest in our hero, but I didn’t dig into that too much. Instead I focused on what it would be like for someone with this ability to live in a heavily populated city like New York. It helped a great deal that Kara and I spent a week in Manhattan right as I was starting this book. It added the perfect flavor to the story, in my opinion. 

Evergreen (his reluctant “code name”) starts out by scratching a living as a data thief with a solid reputation in the underworld for being able to get his hands on some very close-kept information. He’s incredibly paranoid, taking great lengths to hide himself, and using his abilities to stay a step ahead of anyone who might be looking for him. But he eventually finds himself embroiled in something on a whole new level, and he’s forced to rise to the occasion.

I’m editing and rewriting this book now, and I’ll hand it over to my beta readers and editors for a second round of revision when I’m done. I’m looking for a mid-February release, so far. 

I think this is a fantastic book, with an intriguing premise and an engrossing plot. I’m not sure where I’ll go with it from here, but the potential for a sequel or even a series is definitely there. 

Look for more development notes on this and a release announcement in the future!

Younger Kevin was a smart guy (Journaling to shape your personal story)

This morning I decided to start going through my old journals, stretching all the way back to 1989—my first "official" journal. I have an old "Diary" that was sort of a guided writing book. But my earliest, honest-to-God journal started in a black and red records book.

It's pretty clear that even at 16 and 17 I already wanted to be a writer full time. I reference this again and again, even quoting from writers I met who made their living doing the work.

I expressed my fears about failing at this at one point, after quoting an unnamed keynote speaker from Journalism Camp, who commented that people tell him they "always meant to write a book." My response to this:

“This statement awakened a fear in me. A realization that a lot of people want to do what I want to do. So, if I’m going to be the best, I have to get started.”

Pretty profound for a 16-year-old who had only written a handful of short stories and a few dozen newspaper articles to that point. I was already experiencing the angst that would plague me for the next 20 years, until I finally managed to write a book that other people saw. And that same angst plagued me further until I finally embraced being an author and treating it like a business.

I'm planning to spend more time in these journals. It's fun, but it's also enlightening. I can see now that there are some common themes that have been in my life since day one. Being a writer, for sure. Being a better Christian, definitely. Young Kevin has a lot to say on both, and it can be a bit profound.

I'm kind of proud of the kid I was back then. I was already thinking in terms of responsibility, love, happiness. I was already thinking in terms of growth. 

As 2015 edges closer, and as I commit to new ways of growing and improving my life, having these journals to reflect on is an amazing blessing. I wish I'd been more diligent about keeping them. I've committed to journaling more in the future, and I think that's something I won't regret.

If you don't keep a journal of your own, you certainly should. Especially if you want to be an author, but also if you have a drive to improve yourself in any way. Keeping a journal allows you to reflect on the changes that have taken place in your life, and to track your progress as you grow. You can look back at how you thought of the world, years ago, and compare it to how you think of the world now.

Often, we discover who we are by examining differences. Usually we look at the outside world, and compare ourselves to other people. We measure how or lives stack up against the lives of others. But wouldn't it be so much better to look at the differences between who we once were and who we are today? We can see the early seeds of the choices we make, and know the results of those choices. We can learn from the gaps between then and now, take the lessons we can from them, and grow further. 

We can also see the patterns of our lives, and determine what works and what doesn't. Just like marketing, the metrics of our lives matter. Knowing them gives us a foundation from which we can grow. 

I've always kept some kind of journal, though I've slipped from time to time. Looking back, though, I'm reminded of why it's so important. So I'm going to make a commitment to journal regularly. I'm aiming for every day. I think that's a good and helpful habit to develop.

Maybe you should do the same.

And it doesn't have to be you scrawling on the lined pages of a paper journal, by the way. I definitely keep my Moleskine notebooks handy for notes and thoughts, but I keep my primary journal in a digital file. You could do something like that, or turn your journal into a blog you post to regularly. Or maybe you could keep a video journal, talking to the camera of your smartphone each day to get record how your day went, and what you thought of it. Or you could draw something each day that expresses who you are and how you feel.

Keep a record, though. Date it (I like to put the date and the time, in case I do more than one entry per day). And, most important, review it every now and then. Maybe once a year, around Christmas, you could look back on your journal and learn from it. See how you did, see how you're doing, and decide how you want to live in the coming year.

You won't regret doing it. You'll be grateful for it, in the end. 

Go. Start crafting the story of your life. It has amazing benefits,.

3 tips for starting your own free range career

One of my new favorite things is interviewing people for my Wordslinger Podcast, which gives me an excuse to talk to anyone about anything. The show focuses on story—how it impacts our culture, our career, and our lives.

That's the tagline. But what it really means is that I get to chat with people every week and find out exactly what story they're telling themselves and the world, and how that story shapes them into who they are.

A lot of the people I interview are "free range humans" (to steal a term from Marianne Cantwell). Essentially, these are the folks who have figured out how to have the ultimate voice in their careers. They decide what they do for a living, how they do it, where they do it, and when they do it. Most of the time, this means working for yourself, which can be trying but almost always amazing. 

I'm blessed to have a free range career. I've had the occasional "day job," but for the most part, my career has been a series of days spent writing books or talking to clients about all the ways I can help them craft a story that defines their success. Often, I have clients who ask me how to reach their own free range career.

There are a lot of ways that can happen, and the one you use depends on your own personal tastes and preferences, as well as your comfort level with certain technology, marketing tactics, and workload. But there are some general rules of thumb that you can use, right now, to help you craft the story of your own success.

Help someone get what they want

It's one of the most over-looked tenants of business, but the rule is "make something someone wants." It sounds too simple ... and that's the problem. It's the kind of thing that prompts you to say, "Well, duh." 

It's so simple, though, that many entrepreneurs miss it entirely. They focus instead on the really cool thing they're creating, and all the awesome things it can do, and all the money they can make from it. By the time they get around to asking, "Does anyone really want this?" it's usually a question that answers itself with a checking account balance of zero.

If you want to own your career, a good place to start (the only place to start) is with determining how you can help someone else get what they want. 

I call this the Zig Ziglar principle. If you've followed my work for any given length of time, you can probably quote along with me:

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Choose your own identity

All businesses have two major components: They meet a need and they tell a story.

We addressed the first half of this above. But even if you've figured out a way to meet a pressing need for your customers, it won't amount to much if they've never heard of you. That's why it's important to tell your story through marketing and promotion.

Marketing is the conversation you have with your customers and your audience. It's the verbalization of the story you've crafted for yourself and your business. It isn't the only form of storytelling in a business, but it's the one you've been exposed to most often, usually without even realizing it.

Good marketing means you understand exactly who you are and what you have to offer, as well as how your product or service meets a specific need for a specific audience. 

Determining who you are, especially as a free range human (read that as "an entrepreneur"), starts with crafting the synopsis of your story. In other words, you need a mission statement. 

This doesn't have to be anything complicated. In fact, the simpler you make it, the easier it is to fold into your story. 

For example, my mission statement as an author reads:

“I, Kevin Tumlinson, am a wealthy and successful full-time author.”

Notice how personalized that statement is? First person pronoun, my name to make it specific, three adjectives that describe the type of noun I want to be, and it's all present tense, because I want to be that person now, not later.

I also have a list of "personal definitions" where I define every term in that statement, so I know exactly what I mean by every word of it. 

I write that statement as an affirmation, fifteen times every day. It helps me to burn it into my subconscious, to make it an indelible part of my psyche. It's also something of a trigger, in the mornings, getting my brain into writing mode.

You don't have to have just one mission statement, by the way. I currently have two. The second focuses on helping others to craft their own stories and achieve success, however they define it. That's one of the reasons I'm writing this post.

Which leads to my final bit of advice ...

Reach your customers

Once you've determined how you can help meet a need, and you've determined exactly who you are and how you relate to your customers, it's time to take action. Guys like Seth Godin and even the late Steve Jobs would say that it's "time to ship."

Of course, all this assumes you've identified your customer, and how to reach them. There are tons of ways you can do this, but there's a basic rule you can observe that is guaranteed to help you find your target market:

“Find out where your customers are, and go there.”

Again, that sounds overly simplified. And if I'm being honest, it really is as simple as it seems.

If your target market is golfers, focus your marketing on publications and events that have their attention. If your market is indie authors, look for popular venues where those authors spend their time. If your market is people who need personal trainers, focus on finding places where they're looking for someone like you.

—

That's it. Simple. Meet a need, define yourself, and go where the customers are. Beginning, middle, and end. Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" played out in a free range career move. 

Of course, there are nuances upon nuances in everything I just wrote. But those are the bits that you build and refine as you answer the questions posed above. "What do I make? Who am I? Where are my customers?"

Building a career that's extraordinary happens when you have a commitment to crafting and telling your story, your way. You really do have all the power, here. You can define who you are as an entrepreneur, and live a pretty amazing life. I've seen it over and again. You will too.

Here's where you start.