Reclaiming The Time for Stories

10.08.25. Welcome back, the short form essays.

Writing a book is an adventure. At times, a torture, but mostly joy. It consumes time and mental energy. The demands of the book suffocate other creative efforts. Maybe not for all, but for me. Luckily, the book is nearly done, and I am reclaiming time for writing essays and stories.

Turns out, my creativity functions for only a few hours a day, at best. So, as with time or physical effort, I must choose where to direct it and decide what creative projects I must relegate to the future. That is, of course, inconvenient. Seldom can I focus on a single thing and execute it from beginning to end. Life is juggling, shuffling among many projects, shifting the mind between competing tasks and pressing deadlines on the same day.

The win is the appearance of productivity. The loss is the shallowing of ideas. A glut of things in the head limits the potential quality to 95% of the possible. That is enough for most things. But the book demands more. The excellence is in the remaining five, and brilliance is in the tiny fraction of that.

While finishing writing and editing the final chapters, I had to stop writing essays. I didn’t like the decision. Essays are rewarding. They formalize loose ideas percolating in the mind into a coherent framework. I love sending them into the world. There is an instant adrenaline jolt of completing a work, and then the satisfaction of knowing that someone may appreciate it. They may agree or disagree, but they will think about the same observations in their own way. That is the writer’s bond with the reader.

But alas, life demands tough choices, even if it means giving up connection with the readers for a time.

Now, the good news: the initial drafts of the book are finished, and copies have gone out to beta readers. After their feedback, it will go to agents and then to publishers. In the meantime, I just have to wait, worry, and prepare for the next step.

It also means I can return to writing. Of course, I never stopped, but my writing became invisible, buried in the pages of a long-term project. So, I am excited to return to the past cadence or short-form written essays, in addition to the video episodes we’ve been producing.

Now I’m faced with a difficult choice. The political landscape in my old home, the United States, is fraught with the danger of disassembling from a democracy into an authoritarian chaos. Some days, the world seems to be burning. The compulsion to add to the chorus of voices advocating against the growing mayhem is strong.

Fortunately, the brilliant minds are already speaking, with deep comprehension of politics, and intellectual capacity to translate complexity with clarity. They are making an impact. Thus, we want to contribute elsewhere.

Blue Planet and Travel Banter will stay focused on travel stories—slow travel, in particular, and adventure travel occasionally—with the idea of reminding everyone, including ourselves, that life is not only about politics. It’s about connecting with the world, and taking little bits of knowledge and experience from people willing to share them—then passing them on to others who might incorporate the knowledge into their own lives in ways that improve them.

I believe in nuance, in the idea that subtle changes in perspective can bring monumental shifts in understanding. Dig into details of familiar things, talk to someone from another culture, and you may see what you discounted as no longer worthy of attention in a slightly different shade. That new nuance adds to the gamut of your understanding and pries open the mind. Lets you live a richer life.

So, Blue Planet and Travel Banter will remain about perspectives. Sharing the world through the eyes of other cultures, through the lens of video stories, and through the pages of essays. Thank you for following.