For the Love of Books
Photo Credit: Amelia-Jane
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
I LOVE BOOKS
However, they’re not easy to write. No sir.
Ernest Heminway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Robert Frost said, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” F. Scott Fitzgerald explained, “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”
Writing is a beast.
WHEN YOU HOLD A BOOK
When you hold a book, you hold a work of art. An artifact of someone’s ideas. Ideas which have been carefully crafted, honed and researched for over a year or two (six years in my case).
“I cannot live without books.”
― Thomas Jefferson
When you look at a book, you are literally looking at something that someone (actually, probably an army of people if it’s traditionally published) slaved over, cried over, stressed over, poured over. You’re looking at something that took many sleepless nights and an ocean of courage to put into the world. Something someone took a chance on. Something someone was willing to take a risk for. Something someone felt so strongly about they left themselves vulnerable and exposed to critique and perhaps ridicule.
I don’t consider myself a good writer. I’ll leave that to Twain. However, trying to write has given me the greatest respect for writers.
Writing takes guts.
BLURB!
I haven’t revealed much yet about my new book The Power of Starting Something Stupid. So here’s a little something I’m really excited about. Before a book goes to press, you send out your manuscript to people you admire in hopes they’ll give you an endorsement–a blurb. It’s been thrilling to receive endorsements. In fact, they make my mom cry. (Hi, Mom!) Here’s one from one of my heroes Jack Canfield:
“Once in a great while a new author bursts on the scene to light a fire under us. Richie Norton is that rare spark. His certainty that the secret to success is to start something stupid is right on and will alter your future. Thirty publishers thought Chicken Soup was stupid before it sold over 100 million copies. This new book could not have come at a better time and Richie’s urgent and authentic style is readable, convincing and a compelling blueprint for success. Be smart: read The Power of Starting Something Stupid.”
— Jack Canfield, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Success Principles, and cocreator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series
I’m humbled that Jack would give such a glowing blurb. My goal is that the book will be a source of inspiration for some of the coolest things you do in life and business. I hope The Power of Starting Somethings Stupid helps you to live a life of adventure. To turn those crazy ideas (dreams) inside your head into reality, help you influence the world for good and help your career / business thrive.
THE GALLEY
(Cell phone picture of the digital version of the galley on my laptop.)
The book is at the “galley” stage. I’ve written it (YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!), with the help of my beautiful wife, Natalie. A couple weeks ago the book was typeset at the publishing house. The fonts were chosen. The pages were numbered. The artwork and models were polished and placed. The cover art and dust jacket were refined. I received the digital copy and thanks to the hard work of my gracious publishing team at Shadow Mountain, the book looks gorgeous.
All I want to do now is curl up in my bed and finally get some sleep. But I can’t. I’m too excited. I can’t wait for you to read it. Actually. Not really. I can’t wait for you to read it and then go and do something you’ve always wanted because you feel inspired and armed with principles and tools to make stuff happen.
I wish I could just get the book in your hands right now! But alas, traditional publishing is a slow process. There are a million steps between the time the book goes from an idea, to selling the idea to a publisher, to writing the book (yes, I sold it before I wrote it), to being edited, to rewriting, to going to press to hitting the shelves. Perhaps I’ll write a post on the book process another day, but I digress…
A very limited run of galley copies have gone to press and are being sent out to the media for review. SO EXCITING!
Note: Galleys (or “uncorrected proofs”) are rare, privately released copies of the book. They are an expensive pre-publication—also known as an advance reading copy (ARC). The galley is unique because it may still contain errors. Also, changes will most likely be made after the galley is printed and before the book is finalized for retailer distribution.
Birthing a book is an interesting process to say the least.
COngrats bud! Hope you get to pursue some of those ideas we talked about. i’m still interested in helping if needed. good luck!
Thanks, Marc! I’ll be in touch for sure.
I’d love to flip through this! Looking forward to the release and hearing success stories (and stories of failure for that matter excuse that is when we learn the most!)
Thanks SO much, Kent!
* because…not excuse, dang small iPhone keyboard
This post was really inspiring. I am in the first stages of writing a thesis and seriously overwhelmed right now. this was a good boost. Thanks Richie.
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