The Personal Exodus of A Writer

Exodus - A New Novel from Geoff Livingston

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I stumbled across a marketing blogger named Geoff Livingston.

In fact, in was through Triberr and Dino Dogan’s tribe “The Ori” that I was introduced to this remarkable man.

Exodus - A New Novel from Geoff LivingstonIn the beginning Geoff wrote about marketing, and I shared his content via Triberr to my followers, because they were well written and well considered posts, worthy of sharing.
I also noticed the community behind the blog, the comments were (are) always interesting and supporting, always adding to the conversation.

As a blogger I know how difficult it is to gather such a following of loyal readers and commenters.

A Change of Pace

One of the reasons I stuck around on Geoff’s blog is because of his more personal articles. Some really personal and really deep. Some even touching really sensitive subjects like antisemitism in the United States. And not just in general, but revealing part of his personal history and conflicts.., heavy stuff.

I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia called Glenside between the ages of 2-8. We were the only Jewish family in an Irish Catholic neighborhood.

We (the readers of the blog) could feel something was up. And when the time came, we all understood the change.

We did not all accept this change, apparently a third of Geoff’s readers decided they wanted nothing to do with this more personal style of writing. Mind you, he still writes about marketing, just a little less.

Exodus

Exodus: Book One of the FundamentalistsOn 7th June Geoff revealed what his ‘secret project’ was and why his blog had turned such a personal corner.

He’d written a novel.

And he’d been working on this book for 19 (nineteen) years. I was thinking, if this book is as epic as the time it took to write.., then I surely want to read it. And, being a fan of Geoff I signed up to the ‘Exodus’ newsletter and was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy to sink my teeth into.

Now, when it comes to novels, I’m not a fast reader (that’s why I don’t start with Game of Thrones, I’d never finish it, heh). So, I haven’t finished the book yet. And in all honesty, this post isn’t about the book (although I’m loving it already).

No, this is about the personal journey of a writer. A journey put on display for everybody to read, to participate in, to comment on, to enjoy or to reject.

Courage

This post is about courage. The courage to take control of your life, to take a step back and re-evaluate, to change what needs to be changed. The courage to put yourself out there, for everybody to see, completely naked. Having 19 years of your life judged.

I watched “We Bought a Zoo” the other day, and despite having seen it before, it still got to me. And the “20 seconds of courage” rule Matt Damon’s character has is something that resonates with me. Because it’s true. It’s all you need to make that step, to hit “Publish”, to face the music. But to do it on a scale and openness that Geoff has exhibit the past year.., man.., we can learn from that.

I’ve learned from that.

Thanks Geoff, and good luck with the book.

For more on the book, watch the trailer below:

Author: Rogier Noort

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