The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer

In this issue:

* The Money Parachute That Transports Writers From Crisis to Opportunity

* How to Get Unstuck and Find Your Real Success

* Is Your Chief Writing Tool Slowly Killing You?

* Trading Joy for Joy (with Side Perks)

* The Ultimate Success Accelerator

* Building Up From Zero Confidence

Click here to read the August issue.

The latest issue of Independent Healing 

In this issue: How physicians are protecting themselves and their families during the pandemic.

Click here to read the August issue.

I’ve done a fair number of things in my career that I’m proud of. I’ve also done a few that I’m trying to forget – but developing Rancho Santana, a resort community on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, is not one of them.

Click here to read some of the latest Rancho Santana news.

Sensible advice from James Clear: “How to Automate a Habit and Never Think About It Again”

Read this on JamesClear.com

“How to Bleed in the First Line” by James Altucher

“I like to study first lines,” James writes. “They have to be powerful: a few simple words that compel us to read the next 300 pages. How do the authors do it? How can I do it?”

He goes on to give us 12 of his favorites. A few examples:

* From The Stranger by Albert Camus: “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.”

* From 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez: “He’s facing the firing squad. How did he get there?”

* From Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: “All this happened, more or less.”

* From A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan: “It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel.”

* From Beloved by Toni Morrison: “124 was spiteful.”

Click here to read James’s entire essay.

The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer

In this issue:

* Write About Real-Life “Happy Endings” and Get Paid $1500 to $2000 per Project

* Celebrating the “Anti-Goal” Could Bring You Bigger Writing Wins More Often

* The Writer’s Freedom Ladder for More Sunny Days and Checks En Route

* The “Non-Salesy” Steps I Took to Grow My Case Study Work

“An Uphill Battle” – a nostalgic essay from Taki’s Magazine. To read it, click here.

Fox 8, a novella by George Saunders

Fox 8 is an illustrated (line drawings by Chelsea Cardinal) story whose protagonist is a talking fox.

Saunders is a huge favorite of mine. His stories are emotionally compelling, darkly humorous, and wokely-smart. Formerly  a geophysical engineer, he has published four collections of short stories, the novel Lincoln in the Bardo (for which he won the Booker Prize), and a beautiful commencement speech: “Congratulations, by the Way – Some Thoughts on Kindness.”

The latest issue of Independent Healing

What medical care is safe during the pandemic? In this issue, you’ll learn about the 8 kinds of medical appointments you may be able to skip until the coronavirus threat passes… and 4 types of care you should never delay.

Plus:

* The one type of medical facility most likely to spread COVID-19

* 7 questions about coronavirus safety you should ask before going to an appointment

* The surprising coronavirus-Alzheimer’s connection

* If you have achy knees, you should never let your doctor give you this common treatment

* Contrary to what doctors have been saying for decades, eggs actually improve heart health

And much more…

Click here to read the July issue.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle 

First published in French in 1952, then in English translation in 1954, this is a page-turner about British POWs building a bridge for their Japanese captors in Burma in 1942. (The author – who later wrote Planet of the Apes – was held in captivity by the Japanese during the war.)

From The Japanese Times: “Under harsh conditions and the haughty perfectionism of Colonel Nicholson, the men rally to the labor of construction, turning the bridge into a symbol of work ethic and national honor, ‘a masterpiece which was to prove the superiority of the West.’”

Notes from our book club discussion: A critical account of both English and Japanese cultural views and prejudices during WWII… Heroics and hubris.