One of my many coworkers is a senior guy named Jim who works the afternoon shift on West Coast departures. When I worked afternoons, I enjoyed being his “pod-mate” (our office is arranged in “pods” of 3 desks each) because he was a great storyteller and had dozens of stories to tell. At some point he decided to collect many of his stories into a book. After a long time writing and refining his book, he finally published The Path of Least Resistance last year through a self-publishing company. Follow the link to buy a copy on Amazon so he’ll get a couple extra bucks in royalties. I’m about halfway through my copy and am really enjoying it! His flair for storytelling and his personality definitely come through in his writing. I admire both his dedication and his talent. Just writing anything of quality takes hard work, much less refining one’s entire life into a book-length collection of stories that both entertain the reader and support any kind of thesis. Self-publishing seems to be increasingly popular these days. You decide which services you want, pay the publishing company a fee, and provide the manuscript. They lay out and print your book and can also distribute or even market the book for you.

Jim’s success made me wonder if I would ever have the guts and dedication to write an autobiography, and whether anyone other than my mom would actually buy it. I’ve had a fairly interesting life I suppose, and I’ve been told by a few people that I have some talent. But an entire book full of stories about me? As fun as it might be, I don’t think I’m up for it right now. My own Path of Least Resistance currently involves simply enjoying the rest of Jim’s book and wondering, deep inside, whether someday I might follow in his footsteps.