It’s not just Apple that has a devilishly brilliant way of forcing people to “move onto the next thing.”
Life has one too.
The First Update
We’re so bombarded with pings, dings, and rings that everything and the birds seems to sing. So much so that our natural state is having a consistent stream of DMs/Emails. Being without them is…abnormal.
But writers cannot give in to the impulse.
In my early twenties I felt like:
The master of—wait, one sec, gotta answer that—multitasking
Being “abnormal” kept me one step ahead of the chain gang
Both of which turned out COMPLETELY bogus.
Around this time last year, after bouncing around Europe for the summer, I felt stuck, rudderless, and overdrawn.
Then I decided to update my Operations System (OS)
(but it’s been stuck on 99% for a while…)
How to Update Yourself
Almost EXACTLY one year ago today, Professor Eric Koester pressed the Update button on Mr. Jeremy Streich.
More or less, he dared me to jump into what I loved, what I had been keeping secret, what I was afraid of. He dared me to get off the treadmill and out onto the track. He said:
“Dude, publish your book…”
It was the dare I needed.
You know how babies love to throw spaghetti?
That was me with my book. I loved every minute of the writing, but the book was a hurricane-slop-of-half-chewed-spaghetti.
So, we spent the last year turning it into 400 pages of, well, fully chewed spa🍝ghetti
All the while, my OS was updating. Without realizing it…
Now that the book is releasing in MID-OCTOBER
I’m feeling a bit stuck at 99%.
And it won’t even tick up to complete on that spooky October release day.
No, if I really want to finish Updating my OS, to go “100% WRITER,” there’s something else I’ve got to do.
Start Book Two.✍️
The feedback for this newsletter has been amazing 🚀
A million thanks to you all for putting up with my nonsense 🙏
Take care my friends
—JFS
Austin, TX