A multinational well-travelled book-in-progress battles its way towards fruition

And so, in 2012, in the university summer holidays, I set off on my own to my favourite island, Ko Phangan, for one full month. I got myself my usual beachside spartan bungalow, complete with verandah and hammock and stunning beach and ocean views. Here my book was born!

My task was to create lots of time and space for myself, with zero distractions (I ignore all technology when I’m on the islands), and create the list of contents, all the chapter headings and the general direction of the book. I had such a beautiful and divine time. I was no longer getting to my favourite islands much, now that I lived much further away in the north of Thailand.

On that trip, the cost of my bungalow, renting a motorbike, three delicious meals each day, and one or two bottles of beer each evening, was 1000 baht per day, about £20 or $30! As usual by the sea, my health was turbocharged and heaven was enjoyed for the whole month. I was also tremendously excited: after nearly 20 years my dream of writing a book was up and running.

But, it just took so long to write! Somehow, and I just can’t explain why, it was an eight-year journey, which took a lot out of me, and tested me fully, including frequently having to do the very things I was writing about, that is, walk my own talk!! During all those years I was living out the contents of what I was writing. As I often say, it’s one thing KNOWING what to do to enjoy a healthy and happy life, but not always so easy to DO it. We all carry so many bad habits, harmful thought patterns, and the voice that says we’re not good enough, and it’s a constant work in progress to overcome. This is why I say that real learning is lifelong learning.

I battled procrastination, perfectionism, and many other challenges. At one point, I fractured my femur bone down in Krabi Province in southern Thailand, slipping on a very slippery tiled bathroom floor after my shower. I had gone down there to, again, ‘finally’ finish the book! Instead I was flown home early to get surgery at my local hospital. First bone I had ever broken!

Everywhere I went I had my bag with notebooks and pens in, in case I had a good idea and needed to write it down before forgetting it. When I failed to write for a day or a few days, I ‘felt bad’. I missed out on lots of things by pressuring myself to be writing; and then I often I didn’t do any, and could have done those things in the first place. But, I also had my long-practised spiritual ability to accept everything that came my way. More and more I began to trust the universe was guiding my hand.

It must be said, though, that I also did enjoy going to cafes, rustic shacks, and various places in nature with my laptop, specifically to do work and to write, and to trigger creativity in me by being in beautiful surroundings. Sometimes the writing flowed! Other times I’d bang out 2000 words, read through them and then delete! My book has about 140,000 words, but I reckon it’s no exaggeration to say that I deleted, or did not use, over a million words. Maybe it means the words that made it in the final cut are loaded with quality and extra energy…!!

Being a frequent traveller, it turns out that parts of my book were written in various countries… all over the place in Thailand, and in Australia, England, Bali in Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia and Malaysia. I wrote quite a lot in Bali, in Sanur Beach and in Ubud, which infused my soul to the brim and filled me with creativity and clarity of mind.

My wife and I had gone there because our plan to return to Nepal was dashed by two successive huge earthquakes that year. We had gone there in 2009 for our honeymoon. We did a six day trek in the Annapurnas, and this was one of the top highlights of my life. However, for the first two days it was pretty much uphill all the way, and my wife calls it our ‘torturemoon’. She looks really miserable in the photos at the outset, but then stunning and beautiful and filled with joy when the downhill bits came!

Chilling lakeside in Pokhara… I continue to fantasise about getting back to Nepal, and find it hard to realise I’ve not yet done so.

At one point during the book’s odyssey we did a road trip from Chiang Mai down to Phuket, which is over 1500 kms, stopping off at lots of great places on the way down, and on the way back. Newness, nature and travel are high motivators for me, unleashing my full creative forces. Always with me was my trusty shoulder bag with its notebooks and pens in it! Sitting in bungalows overlooking the ocean and white sand beaches, or in a lush jungle resort, with my laptop, was a rather nice office to be in.