A Book Birthday...and Bringing YOUR Creativity to Life

Now is the right time to create

Mar 24, 2025

Happy birthday to…a book!

We just had a birthday around here.

This March marks the eighth birthday of The Nobody Bible: Uncovering the Simple Wisdom in Ordinary Life.

Cover of The Nobody Bible: Uncovering the Simple Wisdom in Ordinary Life

The Nobody Bible takes you on a journey with Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, and more, showing you how you connect with these great figures – and their wisdom traditions – just by doing what you do every day.

In other words, you’re already wise!

You get nuggets of wisdom, (hopefully) some laughs, and you even get to create a Book of YOU!

If I met you at a speaking event or you heard me on some podcast out there in the ether, then you may already know that The Nobody Bible lived in my head and on scrap paper for YEARS until an unexpected bolt of inspiration struck, and it came out in full first-draft form in two weeks.

The editing and publishing bit took a while, but after a long and winding road, it emerged for sale – on March 16, 2017.

Birthing The Nobody Bible…

For any of you reading this that have a creative passion, you know there is rarely a straight line from idea to finished product.

Any goal set at the start of a creative journey can change, leaving you standing at the finish line (if there even is such a thing) in a place you never expected.

Trust me.

I struggled to get wings on my idea.

Then, there were many (many!) edits.

Then, there was doubt. Lots of doubt.

Then there was the literary agent who “had to have this book!”

But alas, wherever she shopped it, (inevitable?) questions arose:

· Is he a barefoot guru? (Yes, this was a real question, and no, I am not…although I’ve learned from a few of them)
· Does he live in a cave? (Yes, this was a real question, and no I do not…but I’d kind of like to)
· How many social media followers does he have?
· Etc.
· Etc.
· Aaaaaand etc.

After I pulled the book from representation, it found an offer with a publisher who refused to negotiate on key terms with me. It felt like bad-faith business, so I politely declined.

After all that - and a lot more - my wife, Melissa, and I had an open and real conversation where we made a big decision: I would put it out independently and guide its journey myself.

And I did.

There’s nothing wrong with traditional publishing. There’s nothing wrong with self- or indie publishing. There’s nothing wrong with NOT publishing.

There is only the path you feel is right for your work…or, more accurately, the path that happens to find you and your work.

The crooked path led to some great destinations

Yada, yada, yada, it’s eight years later.

Along the way, there’s been some struggles, some awards, another book (An Audible Silence), and a few more books in the works (more on that coming soon)!

But after all the stops and starts, getting The Nobody Bible out there led to speaking invites from professional groups, mindfulness classes, the TEDx stage, and so many more wonderful and interesting things.

For all the ins and outs, I honestly wouldn’t change the path.

Maybe I’d TWEAK the path a bit, but, y’know, that’s just the perfectionist in me.

And isn’t that the way with so many of us?

The point is, instead of saying, “Well, that path didn’t work out. I guess I’ll just toss this in a drawer,” I put something out there and got so many “somethings” back, I could hardly believe it.

I didn’t need permission. I just needed action.

You never know, so don’t delay

Here’s the MtE tip: Take a step today to bring your creative idea into the world.

Here’s the thing: You never can guess where a creative venture will take you.

But if you never get it out of your head and into the world in some form – any form – you’ll never find out.

It doesn’t have to be a book or a sculpture.

It can be a poem scribbled on a napkin that you read to a friend or a funny sketch on a piece of scrap paper that you give to a child you know. It could be a short blog or social media post about a passion you have or…well…anything else you can imagine!

Oh, and don’t force it.

If you have an urge to create, but you don’t feel quite ready for the world-at-large, keep what you want to create in mind, and see if the world doesn’t just turn in your creative favor one day - presenting you the tools and the opportunity to get it into the world.

It took years to get The Nobody Bible out there, and it was those years that made it the best it could be

Eight years later.

Here’s to celebrating again next year.

And here’s to celebrating YOUR creativity every single day.

Mastering the Everyday

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