“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” –Flannery O’Connor
I love this quote. It comes from early 20th century American novelist Flannery O’Connor. Perhaps ironically, I’m not familiar with any of O’Connor’s books. But someone shared this quote with me years ago and I find it to be 100% spot-on.
The act of writing is both therapeutic and insightful.
It’s therapeutic in the sense that we all carry around a bunch of information in our head all day, every day. Our brain expertly processes this information for us. It instantly goes to work trying to filter out the “noise” so we can focus only on what’s important.
This gives us a greater understanding of the information we’ve taken in. And the act of putting that information to paper feels something like a release. It’s like a weight’s been lifted from our shoulders. As a writer, we feel like we’ve done something important when we put out what we consider to be quality content.
Writing is also incredibly insightful. As we sit down and try to communicate our understanding of the information we deem important… our understanding grows. To me, this magical. I can’t explain it.
There have been plenty of times when I’ve been writing up my analysis of a certain event or theme – analysis that I thought I knew inside and out – and then even deeper insight came to me. I realized there was even more to the story than I had thought… and suddenly my writing went in whole new directions. Like a self-driving car, it just started steering itself. I had no choice but to simply go along for the ride.
Then when we finally stopped, I read what I had written and couldn’t help but be impressed. Somehow, like magic, I discovered that I had even more nuanced thoughts and analysis on the topic. On occasion, these thoughts and analysis were things I couldn’t find anywhere else. My pen had birthed them by itself.
There’s something about this act of creation that is immensely satisfying. And I think that’s true of all forms of creation – not just writing. I think that’s embedded in the human experience.
Years ago I read something that really resonated with me. Like O’Connor’s quote above, I felt in my heart that it was true. A guy was trying to communicate some interesting nuances around moral philosophy. And he pointed out that the Bible has been translated many times.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The New Testament was written in an early Greek dialect. Then it was translated into “Old Latin”. And in the 4th century St. Jerome translated it into a modern form of Latin.
Then throughout the Middle Ages various people translated the Bible into several European languages. And it wasn’t until the 14th century that people started to translate the Bible into English. Now there are well over twenty English versions of the Bible that are readily available today. And it’s been translated into numerous other languages as well.
Here’s the point…
This gentleman was researching the oldest translations of the Bible. And he felt very strongly that Jesus of Nazareth told his disciples that humans are “one step removed” from angels. That we are living creators in this world.
That comment has been lost in translation, but I found it incredibly profound. Then I look at the world around me and I can’t help but notice – we are indeed the only creatures on Earth capable of creating at will.
As best I can tell, all other creatures have very specific purposes. Bumble bees take nectar from flowers and use it to make honey. That honey creates a highly dense source of energy that fuels life. Meanwhile, this same act pollinates the flowers and helps them spread. Those same flowers produce oxygen which all land-based creatures need to breathe in order to live.
There are plenty of other examples of creatures having a very specific purpose. But the thing is – that’s all they can do. They can’t create new purposes. We can. That makes us creators in this world… just as the Nazarene pointed out per this ancient translation.
So why am I sharing all this with you?
Well, over the past few years I’ve been working on a passion project. It’s a new book titled Beyond the Nest Egg, How to Be Financially Independent Outside of a Broken System.
When I sat down to write the book, my goal was threefold. I wanted to de-mystify what’s been happening in the economy. Then I wanted to propose a step-by-step approach that anyone can use to create true financial security for themselves and their family. And lastly I wanted to lay bare a tried-and-true process for building passive income streams. If we want to be financially independent, we need passive income.
I’ve spent considerable time researching all these items. And I’ve applied this approach to personal finance in my own life with great success. We launched our investment membership The Phoenician League to help others implement these same systems as well.
So I figured I already had all the knowledge I needed to write a book. Then I started writing and found that I had even greater insight into these matters than I thought.
When I passed the finished manuscript on to my editor, she was more complimentary of it than anybody has ever been complimentary of anything I’ve ever done. She told me that she knew nearly nothing about the matters we discuss in the book, but she walked away feeling like she had a firm grasp on everything. She told me that I did a wonderful job breaking down complex topics into easy-to-read, highly digestible material. As a writer, that’s exactly what you strive for.
We’re going to publish the book on Amazon this week. It will need to go through their review process, but it should be live by Wednesday. When it’s up, I’ll provide a link if you’re interested in checking it out.
I’d also like to share with you a few excerpts from the book this week. That way you can get a feel for if this is something you might be interested in. I know we all stay busy… so the decision to buy a new book is a major time commitment. I’ll pull back the curtain for you this week so you can make an informed decision.
More to come tomorrow,
-Joe Withrow
P.S. If you would like a little more information on the book ahead of its launch this week, just go here: Beyond the Nest Egg Book Launch