first post<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s the expanded version:<\/p>\nJuly 8, 2003.\u00c2\u00a0 iNetNow, the rollercoaster of a startup that I poured my heart and soul into for 4 years finally kicked the bucket.\u00c2\u00a0 I was told first thing in the morning the investors pulled the plug and we’d be shutting down midday.<\/p>\n
Wow.\u00c2\u00a0 It was over.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t know what to feel.\u00c2\u00a0 We’d had some stressful periods where we almost went out of business but always managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat.\u00c2\u00a0 But this time I felt oddly at ease.\u00c2\u00a0 BoRyan heard the news and swung by to talk about it.\u00c2\u00a0 We reminded each other of the “do not resuscitate” pact we made after the last near miss, and we both knew it was time to move on.\u00c2\u00a0 (To this day I don’t know if we really could have saved it again, and if we could have I don’t know if I regret this decision to not even try, but that’s another story…)<\/p>\n
Before digging in to plan the shutdown, I jotted off a quick email to my buddy Jon Mack in Luxembourg who had watched the ups and downs from afar for all these years.\u00c2\u00a0 Our thread over the next 90 minutes sealed my fate.<\/p>\n
———————————<\/p>\n
Me:\u00c2\u00a0 Looks like we’re finally going down for real today…<\/p>\n
Him:\u00c2\u00a0 About time.\u00c2\u00a0 What are you going to do next?<\/p>\n
Me:\u00c2\u00a0 Drink and complain :)\u00c2\u00a0 Seriously?\u00c2\u00a0 Dunno.\u00c2\u00a0 Take some time off.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I’ll write a book.<\/p>\n
Him:\u00c2\u00a0 Come to Lux, do it here.<\/p>\n
———————————<\/p>\n
When I threw out the “maybe I’ll write a book” line it was completely off the cuff and mostly in jest.\u00c2\u00a0 I loved writing, had a degree in screenwriting and it was the reason I moved to LA.\u00c2\u00a0 But I quickly got disillusioned with the lack of control over a finished product a screenwriter has, and then my trial by fire in the startup world took hold and I just didn’t have any time to write.\u00c2\u00a0 But now I did, so it seemed worth it to at least give it a shot.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I wasn’t kidding.<\/p>\n
The next couple days were a bender to detox from the workaholism of the previous 4 years.\u00c2\u00a0 I was sad to see iNet go, but at the same time a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.\u00c2\u00a0 People I used to work with commented on how I was more relaxed than they had ever seen me before.<\/p>\n
Could I really write a book?\u00c2\u00a0 My short attention span and penchant for procrastination and distraction might be my undoing.\u00c2\u00a0 But my mind kept coming back to Jon’s email.<\/p>\n
“Come to Lux, do it here.”<\/p>\n
This just might work.<\/p>\n
I gave him a call to check in and ask if he was serious.\u00c2\u00a0 He said he was.\u00c2\u00a0 His take:<\/p>\n
“It’ll be great.\u00c2\u00a0 You can sleep on my couch for free.\u00c2\u00a0 You can write on my laptop during the day, and we’ll go out at night and go to other countries on the weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 You won’t know anyone, most of the locals don’t speak English, the TV and radio are in French and German, and the internet connection is slow as shit.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re a good writer.\u00c2\u00a0 Do it.”<\/p>\n
I told him I’d think about it.\u00c2\u00a0 (Interesting aside:\u00c2\u00a0 We recounted this tale while on the Florida trip last week, and Jon confessed that he was actually joking with the original invite to Lux much as I was with the “I’ll write a book” comment.\u00c2\u00a0 But we both called each other’s bluff and the rest fell into place.\u00c2\u00a0 Weird how things like that happen.)<\/p>\n
What would I write about?\u00c2\u00a0 The wild tale of iNetNow was the first logical choice, but I felt too close to it and wanted to distance myself.\u00c2\u00a0 What was I passionate about?\u00c2\u00a0 Bowling.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Time travel.\u00c2\u00a0 Music.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hmmm…<\/p>\n
(To be continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back from my trip and ready to kick off the series of behind the scenes and commentary posts.\u00c2\u00a0 But before we go chapter by chapter, it feels like a little more detail on the origins of the project would be appropriate. I alluded to the “Maybe I’ll write a book” quote in the first post.\u00c2\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","tag-inetnow","tag-jon-mack","tag-luxembourg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-10-10-am-automatic\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":0},"title":"Commentary 10: 10 A.M. Automatic","author":"LBDG","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Our hero pays a visit to his sister for a progress report, and ends up in a place that was as surprising to the author as it was to the character. Read on... Observational blinks alternate between being up high, down low, or (almost) just right to keep things interesting.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-18-18-and-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":1},"title":"Commentary 18: 18 And Life","author":"LBDG","date":"June 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This chapter doesn't have a whole lot of fun facts compared to the others. It mainly serves as a catch-up on what's changed in the new present and bridges us to the beginning of the resolution. The silver lining of a new, time travel free life is the return of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-6-6ix\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":2},"title":"Commentary 6: 6ix","author":"LBDG","date":"April 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Back at the bowling alley in search of answers, our hero confronts the old man. This chapter is exposition heavy on early time travel nuts and bolts, and one I struggled with most in rewrites. 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