Joey O'Connor's Blog
January 6, 2025
Who Told You to Stop Daydreaming?
WHOEVER TOLD YOU TO STOP daydreaming as a kid got it all wrong.
Take it from the son of a mortician.
They were dead wrong.
We are not going to our graves with unfulfilled dreams.
You are not “just” daydreaming.
You are here to daydream.
You are here to work at fulfilling your dreams.
To ignite your imagination into a bonfire of possibilities.
To catalyze your senses to feel and experience wonder and awe like never before.
Daydreaming is what makes your heart come alive.
You are hereby...
November 16, 2024
I Could NEVER Do That!
One of the greatest obstacles to getting after and accomplishing our dreams is buying into the lie that says, “I could NEVER do that.”
This simply isn’t true.
My friend Sue is an amazing chef. She is one of those rare, gifted people with culinary creativity who can make my taste buds and brain cells simultaneously explode.
I pitched her different title and subtitle ideas as I wrote this book. After honing in on my frequency that people are made to be and do certain things, her eyes gleaned a...
November 1, 2024
Protect Your Creative Passion
Do you listen to your critics or to your passion? Passion is the fire in your belly that fuels your desire to fulfill your dream. No one can create this passion for you. It must come from you. Your passion must flow from within.
Critics and whiners will poo-poo your dream — sorry souls they are — judging your motives and ability to pull it off. Let their petty judgments and nitpicking slide off like water on your back.
If anyone wants to take aim and hurl their accusations at you, consider it...
October 22, 2024
This is Hard — Why Your Creative Dream Requires Your Best Effort
This is hard. This is difficult. This is challenging. This sucks.
If your creative dream isn’t hard, it’s probably not worth pursuing. If it isn’t difficult, how will you be forced to excel at your craft? If it isn’t challenging, why are you doing something so easy?
Easy is not inspiring.
How are you and I usually inspired? I can’t speak for you, but I am inspired by people who overcome great challenges to do great things.
Name any human endeavor — athletics, academics, science, exploration,...
March 3, 2021
Confronting Crisis with Courage
In a very unexpected way, a personal crisis led me to step across a new threshold. It was and still is one of my life's greatest transitions.
Last November, I decided to resign from my position as executive director of The Grove Center for the Arts & Media, a non-profit arts organization I founded eighteen years ago.
Like many of life's transitions, what prompted this change was not a thrilling promotion or winning the lottery, but rather a series of events that began with a crisis.
In my cas...
December 21, 2020
Enter to Win Among Kings for Free!
I have a Goodreads Giveaway now listed for you to enter and win your free copy of Among Kings.
The contest runs through Monday, January 18.
If you're looking for a remarkable slice of historical fiction with a forgotten African American hero and a host of courageous people who brought down an evil European king, put Among Kings on your holiday reading list.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
October 25, 2020
Read Among Kings - Chapter One for Free
Chapter One
Congo Free State – 1875
The iridescent full moon reflecting on the Congo river faded against the brilliant morning sun rising in the east. Beneath the dense jungle canopy, fast hands slapped tight animal skins in a distinctive cadence. The high-pitched ta-ta-ta-ta interspersed with low bass notes. The drum beats rose above the hypnotizing hum of buzzing insects. The rising cries of kingfishers, guinea fowl, grey parrots and turacos created a pleasing morning chorus....
October 6, 2020
Why I Wrote Among Kings - The Story Behind the Story - Part 2
If you missed the first installment of Why I Wrote Among Kings, please read Part 1 on the previous blog post. Enjoy the new Among Kings book trailer above.
Despite the initial excitement of winning awards, the screenplay project languished for the next five years with dead-end producing efforts. We were like the Israelites wandering in the desert, but all of the wandering was not without purpose. Along the way, we encountered new people who became fascinated with William Sheppard's story and th...
September 25, 2020
Why I Wrote Among Kings - The Story Behind the Story - Part 1
It has often been said a writer doesn't go in search of a story. The story comes in search of the writer. Truer words cannot be said of this book.
My journey into the Congo began twelve years ago when my brother-in-law, Ken Straw, asked me, “Have you ever written a screenplay?”
I told him I had studied screenwriting for six months, written one bad screenplay, and went back to writing books. He pulled out a thin, 100 page book. "I want you to read this story," he said. "Tell me what you think."...
August 24, 2020
What Are You Cultivating?
Friends, let me ask you a simple question...
What are you cultivating?
It's a question I often ask myself.
But if I'm honest, perhaps not often enough?
Like it or not, things are always growing in the small gardens of our lives.
In my experience, fruit grows. Weeds grow. Gophers grow. And nefarious insects will grow and overpopulate my garden if I let them.
On the 12 acre organic lemon and avocado grove we farm for The Grove Center for the Arts & Media, (the non-profit a...
