I caught a glimpse of a book that made me take a second look.

“How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead” by Ariel Gore.

I grab the book, buy myself a tall latte (skinny) and settle into one of the armchairs.

And I’m spellbound for the next hour or so.

This book is raw, rough as guts, down and dirty and a book that I desperately needed to read at this time in my life.

The quick outline: get out there and become an author yourself … no one’s gonna do it for ya. Take control. Fight like a dog. Do whatever it takes.

It captured my imagination that Yup, I can do it too … it took me out of my semi-cozy comfort zone just enough for me to take some action - I purchased that book!

Sometimes taking a second glance can change your life … or at least get you moving.

For those who don’t know me: I’m an ideas kind of a guy. I’m also a spur of the moment kind of guy. And sometimes that is not a good match.

I’ve tried my hand at literally dozens of different ventures - I’ve been known to have at the height of my idea-to-venture mayhem 128 domain names under my belt. Some ventures work, some fizzle out. Some I get bored with, most I don’t give enough attention to.

B’ah! It’s the internet. A Domain name costs under $10. So little risk.

Now this post over at WebWorkerDaily really caught my attention because, well … it is me. I do often change directions, even jump into totally different niches. I get bored because I no doubt have not found what I’m looking for. It’s been an eternal journey … but I can safely say (yeah, wait a month and I’m probably gone a wandering) that I’m figuring things out. I’ve tried it all, mixed and mashed. Tested and twiddled. And now I have 99% clarity.

One part of the post that grabbed me…

Whatever reasons you have for leaving, it’s important that you don’t burn all your bridges - you might want to come back. Sometimes, leaving a project isn’t permanent. You probably just want to spend some time away from it temporarily so that you can return with a fresh perspective. Since this might be the case, it’s best to keep the ties you had with your colleagues and check up on them once in a while.

I do tend to give ventures that I’ve “let go” a second or third try. Maybe after I’ve thought them through a bit. ;-)

As a writer that was fanatical about being economical with his words (”Know what to leave out”), I can easily see Hemingway sweating over the computer trying to get those 140 characters just right. Especially during his journalism career, where he would labour ever so hard so as not to waste one lousy word.

Imagine an editor telling Mr Hemingway we need your dispatches at, or under, 140 characters.

Brian Clark, over at Copyblogger, stating that Hemingway was an extremely minimalist writer whose ethos was to write the truest and shortest sentence - it was all about simplicity…

Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence prowess was when he was challenged to tell an entire story in only 6 words:

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

Not bad. 33 characters - and that includes the spaces.

But then again, I can just as easily see him grabbing the PC and hurling it out the window and going back to his pens and papers cursing that damn technology and what about instead getting out and living and drinking and loving…

I guess we’ll never know. Different time, Different place.