You can just do things.
Like write a book. And put “and” at the start of. sentences. And then when you write a book you can make all sorts of fun choices.
I’ll tell you about these choices I made, but first?
#1 Deeper, more personal reflective writing
In The Pathless Path, I had 200+ references. Part of this was because I had so many ideas I felt compelled to synthesize. That was the book I had to write at that time. Another reason for the references is that they were easier than going deeper with my own words: I was still maturing as a writer.
In this book, I pushed myself to bring my experiences alive in a more personal way. I think I succeeded What resulted is something that will likely feel fresh, much closer to a memoir than a traditional non-fiction book.
#2 Angie’s perspective
In this book, I wanted to share how
Angie Wang
and I balance work and family, especially now that we have a child. I also wanted to tell the story of her pathless path over the past five years, which has been inspiring to see up close.
When people meet Angie they often have a much better understanding of how I’m able to keep going on this path. We both value many of the same things and feed off each other in powerful ways.
Luckily, as she’s currently writing her book, she’s been thinking about these things too. After many requests, she agreed to contribute multiple passages to Chapter 4, which details her “search for good work.” Based on early feedback, this has been many people’s favorite chapter.
#3 Illustrations
I found an amazing illustrator on 99 designs and she did a bunch of different drawings for me. They are either inspired by real pictures or experiences or fun things that I thought fit with the chapter. For example:
#4 Fiction Epilogue
I’ve been dabbling with fiction.
What started as something I wanted to share as the final chapter turned into a sort of “bonus chapter” / epilogue. It’s experimental and fun.
#5 Quotes Selection
I love it when books have quotes sections. In travel books, there is a good tradition of doing this. I loved how Bruce Chatwick did this in Songlines and similarly how Rolf Potts shared them in Vagabonding.
I didn’t want as many quotes in the main text so I have quotes pages at the beginning of each part and also at the end, where I have a grab bag of quotes that inspired me while writing.
#6 Pathless Publishing
With The Pathless Path, I was shocked you can just say “Published by Paul Millerd.” One line item and boom — I’m a publisher.
I decided to lean into it a little more and rename it Pathless Publishing. Do I have any plans to publish other people’s book? No plans but you never know.
#7 Subtle Injection of Branding
On the back cover and in a couple of chapters you’ll notice the following little line:
This is actually from something I designed with Nate Kadlac several months back. It’s the same line from this version of PATHLESS I’ve been using:
And also from the t-shirts and hats I created (but haven’t promoted much)
Fun to see it all come together!
Seven fun things I did with "Good Work" (and I finally got the book)