Winners and Losers

One of my favorite authors, back in the day, was a fellow who would write about his life.

He was a kind of down on his luck fellow.

Who marched to his own beat and never fit in anywhere.

But he would find a place with fellow beat marchers wherever he went.

And he went a lot of places.

He was in search of answers.

Like a lot of us.

And so he wrote about them.

Like a lot of us should.

He wrote about how his first book didn't sell.

And that that was how he became a successful author.

For you see, the books that didn't sell were sold for pennies on the dollar to a discounter liquidator that ultimately were bought by someone who used them to fill the back book sections of truck stops.

Next to trashy romance novels.

And you know what happened?

Oldish ladies started buying his books back there.

They, some not all, picked it over Fabio.

And, as they say on the race track, they're off!

He became a pretty successful author with a very niche following.

Wrote a whole bunch of good books.

But then, almost in a blink, he turned into this business guru.

Telling everyone what to do.

And he became huge(ish).

Writing all about how to run a business.

How to tell a story.

He became a brand.

Never writing books like he used to.

About his journey.

About his life.

And I always thought "Wow, good for him. But why not write the old way, too?"

And I learned that the reason he stopped was simple:

"I didn't want to be Loser ____ [his first name] anymore."

He said that many people would tell him how much they missed the old book style.

But that he was over it.

That he wasn't that guy anymore.

He didn't want to be that guy anymore.

He was a success!

And what makes me sad about it all, really, is that he thought that dude was a loser.

Because really, really, I think he has it all backwards.

When I last looked him up, he was kicking butt.

Owning stages.

Owning pods.

Owning and selling books.

Courses.

Upsells to corporate entities where eager people have large budgets and no skin in the game so they are itching to spend it.

Easy pickings.

I walked as far as I could as he transformed.

As he changed.

And when he became a little too, hmm what's the word, certain?

I had to part ways.

I missed the old ways.

I missed Winner ____.

And it made me a lil sad to think he saw it a different way.

To winners and losers.

And how we define them.

And to telling good stories.

And learning how to write them.

And to truck stops who still have spinny things in the back that hold books.

Have you ever considered carrying Highest Success?

I could get you a really good deal.

Winner!!!