Weekly Prompt

I Am Part of All That I Have Known - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ over here for the past several weeks, on the long and arduous task of writing my first book. Some weeks I’m so flooded with words that I have to race to my office to jot things down day and night, while some weeks I sit and stare at my computer, like John Fetterman staring at a written piece of legislation. I - Want - Words. Why I didn’t start with a simple topic, say like….How Not To Be An Idiot In An Age of Idiots, or How To Simplify Your Diet: Eat Colors Instead of Counting Calories I’m not entirely sure. Give me a topic like that and I would’ve whipped this first book out in months not years. Instead, I’m cutting my publishing teeth on You Matter - to everyone yet to no one. What does that even mean?? It’s not a simple task to convince an audience just how much the way in which we conduct our lives matters, while at the same time pointing out just how insignificant we are. But I guess taking on a simple task wouldn’t be me now would it?

As I was listening to RFK Jr. give a speech this morning, announcing he will be running as an Independent in the 2024 election, he reminded me of a quote from the poem, Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I mean come on! A President who’s buff, beyond intelligent AND quotes poetry? I must be dreaming. Anyway, I had not thought to use this quote in my book (and my book is full of all my favorite quotes.) Tennyson put into nine words what I have thus far written 50,000 to accomplish. But this is why I am an author not a poet.

Decisions, Decisions chapter illustration for You Matter

We are part of everyone we have ever known. Not just our parents, our families, our friends and our neighbors. Not just the people we see daily or those we reach out to from our past. I mean everyone. And this is why we must conduct our lives in such a way that not only serves us, but also serves the world.