A good old friend has left the company he had worked for five years. As he said, amazing five years. And when he left, this time and for the first time, he left a farewell celebration, as a song. It’s a song that you can listen, in Portuguese, and the lyrics are translated to English at the end. It went on like this:
Another book has come to an end. Together, the conquest, the arrival, mission accomplished. But too, the missing, the trajectory, that good vibe.
So, that is how he started, his reflective moment. And there are other great ones like that, or done as a reflection or meditation. But to me, as a writer for life, I am following along with my friend here. We know about the book of our lives, I know. But having him see his job’s mission, like a book, he had taken me back to that great way to see our work relationships like books, or like a Tour of Duty if you will. With that, and following along, I ask him and us:
Why Not Write a Book?
I say this because you said it first. I agree that another book was closed, and what’s next is a book, too. So, as for what’s next, to you and me and to us, I ask, and remind us too, why not write an actual book?
Because with a book, you can move forward. You could really use some time like that, couldn’t you? Could you be sponsored or protected by your own Foundation? So, there we are, allow me to celebrate: what a chance to learn, and to make progress.
What a chance for you, perhaps, to be closer to that kind of reflective writing that I know matters a lot to you. And as well, to be closer to that very audience that listens to you, the ones who make decisions, the same ones who need to make decisions with good thoughts.
With a book, you are too solving a problem — any problem — as you always do, naturally. But it’s interesting too because with a book you may not even need a specific problem. Maybe just a theme is enough. The book takes care of itself, the book unfolds from the theme.
With a book, I know, too, that whatever your next book is, it will also help you address those other challenges in the realm of our internal journey. It takes care of a problem for the outer and the things of our inner world.
What is interesting about the book is that we know or feel them quite close to us, don’t we? Even if it often feels far away. It’s mixed. And although it may seem lonely, it’s not; we know it too. How a book is such a collaborative journey with the world. It’s a good place to be there, through the journey. A good place and a meaningful duty to commit to.
With so many things happening right now, right next to us — on the outside, we know — and inside too, sometimes thinking about a book can be overwhelming, I know. But, a great writer, Dorothea Brande, in 1934, wrote that “you can write about anything which has been vivid enough to cause you to comment upon it.” This is it, isn’t it? The things we want to comment, the things we want to sing, or yell sometimes too.
This is a bit of how I walk now. Watching out, trying to be sensitive to these little sprouts of comments on my way. Comments I used to pass by, missing them, stepping on them. But they were there, and are there: small sprouts trying to break through, to rise, from our fertile garden. Those little things are the links to that vivid enough underlying thing, sometimes huge. It’s worth pouring water and words. Through writing.
So I wish you, today, to write an actual book. But if that book of yours doesn’t materialize as a book that looks like a book, yet one thing we have agreed with, already. It will always be a book.
Prólogo [Prologue] by Concept ACK
[verse]
Another book has come to an end
That mixed, unique, and confused taste
Together, the conquest, the arrival, mission accomplished
And too, I miss, that trajectory, that good vibe.
So what's the next?
[chorus]
This one is over, what will come next?
“All things must pass,” GH tells me
So much coherence...
[verse]
A fresh start not in a hurry,
Prologue!
After a farewell without bitterness, a see you later
Clean inventory, zero hours, no XP...
Which class should I choose?
[intermission]
[humming la-la-la]
[bridge]
In the six-one rhythm
The meter suppresses the pawn... the queen, the bishop
Not cool, guys, living by the card? Not cool...
What's next?
[verse]
Today, headphones have given way to the speaker
The sound fills my office...
now it's a studio
Without a gold chain, but with history
Who’s going to turn off the light?
It's not so dark anymore
[chorus]
A sprint without a backlog
The coffee is in another kitchen
The guitar came off the wall
The cursor blinks on the first line
Credits: Prologue, by Concept ACK
