Sneak peak – eBook

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As some of you might know, I’ve been working on my eBook since returning from the Camino. I hope to have it completed and published by August.

Here is a sneak peak at a section – it describes my walking from Burgos to Hontanas, and worrying about getting a bed…

After several hours walking, I saw a figure up ahead. Perhaps because of the monotony, or perhaps out of sheer tiredness, I began to obsess that this person ahead of me would take the last remaining bed in Hontanas.

I’m not sure if my mind was playing tricks on me, because this started out as a joke to keep me amused, but it soon began to take hold. The person up ahead was a lone black figure – a silhouette against the white gravel track slicing through the green rolling hills.

He – I surmised it was a he because it walked like a “he” – took on a sinister form. Like a bandit. The person who was going to steal my bed from me. This dark marauder, always staying ahead of me no matter how fast I walked. This usurper of my coming night’s sleep.

I started to increase my speed. Bugger the pain. This thief wasn’t going to steal my bed! The last bed in town!

I was an ocean liner with throttles now pushed to the max. My engines were churning on overdrive. I was actually kicking up dust. I felt like Speedy Gonzales. This villain up ahead was getting closer. Kilometer after kilometer, I was slowly reeling him in.

Soon I’d be alongside him and I’d smile genially, and I’d say G’day mate, in my broadest Australian accent, if for no other reason than to disrupt his equilibrium. Put him off his pace. Then I’d discreetly surge ahead, so that by the time I got to Hontanas he’d be a mere stick figure in the distance behind me, choking on my plume of dust, and I’d have enough time to find the last remaining bed in town and claim it as my rightful own.

He stopped to get something out of his pack.

And I walked up to him.

What a nice guy!

His name was Wolfgang, as in Mozart he told me. I asked him who Mozart was and he looked at me blankly. Then I laughed. Australian sense of humor, I told him. He still looked at me blankly.

He was a Tax Inspector from Germany. In my mind, this put him on the same shelf as parking police and periodontists. To put this in perspective, on the next shelf down are people who kill baby seals. Even so, he was a delightful bloke and we had a good chat as we walked the last 8 kms into Hontanas.

The lone black figure

69 thoughts on “Sneak peak – eBook”

  1. We’ll buy the first copy if its out before we leave on August 13th!! We so like your writing and the way you capitivate a reader.
    Dale and Lynda

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  2. Mozart who!? Honestly Bill, I can see myself doing exactly the way you described it -imagining the villain as I try to catch up. You describe it so well. Its amazing what tricks your mind can play, especially when you have a good imagination to begin with.I look forward to the rest of your book.

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    • Thank you Sister!

      A very famous writer once said: Writing is easy. You sit in front of the typewriter and all you do is bang your head into the keyboard until blood flows.

      Yep that’s what it’s like for me!

      Bill

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  4. Bill, as an eBook I’ll be able to load it onto my iPad and take it with me. Looking forward to publication date. Keep us informed please.
    Blessings
    Anne

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  5. ::Doing a happy dance about your book:: I work with professionals helping them self-publish, and one of the big things I teach is if a person finds the scale of writing required for a book daunting, to just start a blog. With consistency, eventually a person will have enough for a book. You have done exactly that! Can I please use your story (and thus promote your book) when I give workshops in the future?

    I visit here daily to catch up with Bill’s story and now all of you. It is a peaceful way for me to center myself, and it sounds like many of you feel the same. And yes, Bill, your film expertise is obvious in the way you gently but brilliantly weave humor and humility into the spiritual lessons you give along the way.

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    • Hi Julie – yes, by all means use this blog and the book as an example. I’d be chuffed.

      I was trained as a journalist – spent 10 years working for the ABC in Australia – and have been writing screenplays since. I also occasionally do opinion pieces for newspapers as well.

      But writing a book is a whole other animal. And publishing now is in a state of flux, like the film industry. Any help or advice you could give me would be very much appreciated.

      Bill

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  6. Love it!!!!!! I like the bit about kicking up dust.
    You Rock!!!!
    I always admire people who can write. My brain works so fast at times that people struggle to keep up with my thought processes. Sitting down and writing can be painful as I just cant seem to slow down.

    Bill….did you find you had to slow down your rate of speaking on the Camino?
    I did, people just couldn’t understand me.. as Kiwi’s talk so fast. It wasn’t until I bumped into some Aussies one day and was talking to them (normal speed) that my American Camino friends realised like just how much slower I was speaking for them.

    I can t wait for your book to come out my friend. :o)

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    • Abbey, you make me laugh!!

      Actually, a weird thing happened on the Camino. I normally speak fairly slowly and I kind of go through a process of double checking before I say anything – but on the Camino I found the opposite. I spoke swiftly and strongly. And that’s stayed with me since returning.

      You’d think that the tranquility and the serenity of the Camino – and long periods of walking by yourself – would slow and soften down your speech patterns, but it didn’t with me. It sharpened them up.

      With Kiwis though, it’s almost impossible to understand them whether they speak fast or slow… usually the most lucid Kiwi is a drunk one.

      🙂 🙂 🙂

      Bill

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  7. Bill, You amaze me with your descriptive details and give me cause to reflect on my own Camino and add more description to the events. I tend to relay facts and you tend to relay stories. I am sure you have heard the old saying, “facts tell and stories sell”. You are a story teller and you enable the audience to come along and see exactly what you see. What a gift. I am also amazed at your dedication and devotion to responding to virtually every note sent your way. That, I know, takes a lot of time, but boy does it bring rewards. Thanks for letting me come along. Steve

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    • Hey Steve – good writing often looks effortless. Look at Hemingway.

      I’ve been writing professionally since I was 17, when still at school I started getting articles published in magazines as a freelancer. I then went to University and started out doing medicine, but while at Med School I kept up my freelancing as a photojournalist. I was enjoying that far more than studying anatomy and biochemistry, so I switched over to studying journalism.

      I then got a “cadetship” at the ABC and spent 10 years working as a journalist, before segueing into film.

      All I’ve ever wanted to do since I can remember is write and take photos.

      And each day, both challenge me.

      Bill

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      • Bill, You are an inspiration. Let me join the chorus of those who look forward to the eBook. And yes, it seems you are now committed to finishing it. 🙂

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        • Damn –

          I guess i do have to finish it then.

          🙂

          A book is like the Camino. You take a lot of small steps and eventually you get there.

          You’re proof of that, Steve.

          Bill

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  8. I book a copy! I have followed your past and present Camino and it has being really inspiring. Will be taking this inspiration with me when I do the Camino in Sept 13. I hope all goes well with your injuries. Greetings from a cold Cape Town. Maurice de Vos

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    • Hi Maurice – thank you!

      September is coming around fast – you must be excited!

      I hope your preparations are going well, and that you have good weather on your journey.

      And as for cold – Mudgee, where I live NW of Sydney – gets down to minus 5C this time of year. Brrrrrrr!

      Thanks again for your very kind words about the blog.

      Bill

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          • Not since global warming-we don’t even have white Christmasses much anymore.I was born in the North and grew up in Montreal, where 3-8ft snowbanks were the norm and we’d joke about winter being six months of the year.Bitter cold that froze the hairs in your nostrils when you inhaled. That’s the way I like it. Hot weather, especially humidity makes me feel exhausted and bad tempered!This past winter the ground didn’t even freeze, which makes it hard for the farmers come planting.Although so far this summer it looks like the rainforest.
            More information than you ever wanted to know, right?I’ll be quiet now.

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          • Hi Sister – freeze the hairs in your nostrils? Now THERE’S an image!

            We have a set up in this country where global warming has become a political hot potato – meanwhile Obama is getting on with it, bless his socks. I wish our politicians were as enlightened.

            (And please, don’t ever “be quiet!” Not on this blog!)

            Bill

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          • Its not unusual to see men with their mustaches and beards frozen, hunks of ice and snow.”Give us a kiss, eh?”
            So frozen nose hair isn’t so bad.

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          • I shot a movie in Nova Scotia – the pre-production was in January, and it was cold. I had on seven layers.

            I’ve never experienced cold like that.

            It took forever when I wanted to go to the loo.

            (should I be discussing my bathroom habits with a Sister?)

            🙂

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          • Bill, I don’t think our Sister is an ordinary, run of the mill, everyday Sister. I think we have a special one here. A bit more worldly and broad minded than one might expect. Steve

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          • Sister – I’m sitting in bed, it’s 8am here Sunday morning, and I’m trying to write my damn book and you’re making me laugh!

            Steve is right. You are out of the box!

            Bill

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  9. Can’t wait to read your book, Bill. Reading this excerpt, I felt my adrenaline rush. Love it!

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  10. Hello Mr. Bennett,
    I have been reading your blog and I am enjoying it very much. My parents, both deceased, were both from Galicia. They migrated to Cuba at a young age. There they met and formed a family. We left Cuba for the U.S. in 1965. Galicia always “called” my father back. It seems to be calling me back now. I lost my mother in 2010. She died in her sleep in Florida (I live in New York) and I feel that I did not get a chance to say goodbye. Sometimes I feel my father’s presence but not my mother’s. I am hoping that during the walk I might somehow feel both their presence there, where they were born. I know it sounds crazy, but it is what I feel.I am approaching 63 and I am not very fit. I found a travel group were I can do the walk from Sarria. They will make arrangements at small hotels for overnight stays in certain towns. I have read some criticism about people who do the walk (or small part) that way. I just do not think I can do it otherwise. It is not a vacation I am looking for. Is it wrong not doing it the “right” way?
    Right now I am considering to do the walk from Sarria in October, hoping that I will be walking on my mother’s birthday October 13.
    Thank you for any advice you can give me.
    Rosa

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    • Dear Rosa – what a wonderful thing for you to do! And if ever there’s a place for you to reconnect with your mother and father spiritually, it will be the Camino.

      So let me allay some fears or worries:

      1) Please don’t be put off by criticism by others of what’s the “right” way to walk the Camino. There is no right way, and those that judge other pilgrims should do half a dozen full Caminos in penance 😉 because they have no right to judge.

      Whether you walk 100kms or 1,000kms, whether you walk with a backpack or you get it shipped ahead, whether you take taxis or trains or whether you walk on your knees carrying a cross on your back, you are still a pilgrim. It’s what’s in your heart that counts, and your intention.

      Your intention is deeply spiritual, and respectful, and so you are already a pilgrim, because it kicks in way before you take your first step on The Way.

      2) You don’t need to be particularly fit. I set off from St. Jean with a bloke who was very very overweight. Very overweight. I didn’t think he would make it past Pamplona. And he arrived in Santiago same day as me – and I’d trained hard beforehand.

      3) Even though this will probably be a very emotional journey for you, make sure to have fun! The Camino is a place where you will meet some wonderful people, eat some glorious food and drink some very drinkable wine – so take the time to really enjoy yourself.

      I hope that all helps!

      Bill

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      • Dear Rosa, I echo Bill – walk your own Camino. It is of no importance what other people think. It probably will be an emotional journey for you, somehow I think it will be one of joy. Once you touch Galician soil, you will be connected to your roots and you will not be walking “alone”. I hope you have time to continue on to Fisterra, however it was Muxia for me where I felt most at peace and a quest fulfilled. October is a wonderful months to walk, brisk autumn mornings and cooler nights, but lovely walking weather with the most magnificent rainbows after the heavens cry. Buen Camino Ingrid

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    • Hello Rosa. I have been following Bill’s blog for some time now and all the postings have helped me in my preparations. I am sure you will have a strong connection to the land upon which you will walk.
      I plan to walk from Leon, starting on 25 September. Maybe we will meet along the Way. I am not fit, female and walking alone. Have no set plan except to fly out of Madrid on 21 October. As they say “the Camino will provide”. I place my trust (and my life) in this statement.
      Good luck with your preparations.
      Blessings
      Anne

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      • Hello Anne and everyone who have been so kind with their words.
        Anne I hope we do meet. I don’t know what the timing will be. I plan to leave from Sarria probably around the second week in October. I have not made any air or land arrangements yet. I am debating whether I should make plans with a tour or do it all on my own. I just have this fear that I will not find a place to sleep at the end of the day. But since something greater than me is pulling me to do it, I am sure everything will be alright. It is funny because on my first post just the other day I had said that I had not felt my mother’s presence. Not more than a few hours later, I was doing some cleaning and thinking about the Camino when I heard (more like felt) my mother’s words that she would say to me when she thought I was working too hard : “my hijita del alma”. It was exactly with her enunciation, her accent. I try to hear it again, but it does not come exactly the same way in my mind. Only that time it was like her saying it. I am sorry, you probably think I am crazy. It’s funny how I feel free to say these things to strangers I have never met, when I won’t say any of this to my own family.
        Anyway, if you see a 5’7″ 200 pound old lady with short gray hair wearing a dark pink rain jacket, it’s probably me.
        Rosa

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        • Rosa, I have read your concerns and all the great advice given to you. I just returned from the Camino 5 days ago. I dont think you will have any trouble with places to stay in October. I also was concerned with that and booked hotels/hostels ahead at the end, but only 1 or 2 days in advance. I just did not want to think about where i would be staying, tho sometimes trying the place i booked was challenging. There is no right or wrong way, but i would avoid the added expense of a tour. Spend it on yourself. Buen Camino. Steve

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      • Hi Anne – the only way to do the Camino is to trust. I was nervous as hell before I left. And I travel a lot and have been to some tough parts of the world.

        And on one level I enjoyed being nervous because it was an unfamiliar feeling for me – facing something daunting that scared me. But once I got over there, and started walking, all that disappeared. And I walked each day with complete trust. And invariably the Camino DID provide!

        Bill

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        • I believe, Bill that this nervous energy type of fear you describe so well, scours the spirit and the soul so they can be re-sensitised to both our inner voice and the impressions we receive from the soul/spirit energy of the Camino itself. If there wasnt some kind of emotional “cleanser”,we would be too saturated and preoccupied to clearly hear what these voices are trying to tell us.

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          • Hi Sister – what a refreshing way of looking at it! Because I couldn’t understand why I was getting so nervous. But if you say it’s a form of preparation, a cleansing, then this makes a lot of sense!

            Bill

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  11. Bill, You sent me your email address and I did not write it down because I knew I could scroll back through the blogs and pick it up. Well, guess what. I can not find that bit of exchange in the previous 4 blogs, so if you send it again, it would be great. You can send it to mine, if you like at steve@stevelangham.com. Then we can pick a time to talk, maybe tomorrow. I guess it is already tomorrow there, so definitely, no sooner than tomorrow. :-). I look forward to it. Steve

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  12. Bill, Your story is delightful, and the visual sense and forward motion serve you well here and must make you a natural for the film world. It’s fast moving and fun. May I nitpick one small phrase and you can growl at me if I’m overstepping. In paragraph 7 you introduce an “ocean liner” but immediately follow if by ‘kicking up dust’ and then back to water, you “reel” him in. Maybe kicking up an ocean of dust would tie the water and dust into one image. Yeah, I know, the dust is no doubt factual, while the water is metaphorical. It ‘s your story and it’s a great one, even if you tell me to keep my persnickety opinions to myself. 🙂 Looking forward to what comes next.

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    • haha Barbara – you’re a born editor!

      Yes, I was aware while I was writing of the mixed allusions. I have in previous chapters established the notion that I was like an ocean liner – with a course set and slowly and inevitably steaming towards a distant destination – but kicking up dust, yep, you caught me out. 🙂

      How I write is that I just splay it all out on the page, and then I go back and do detailed revisions, then polishes. Also Jennifer is a professional script editor, and she doesn’t let a thing slip past. So she too will be pulling me up with detail like this.

      At the moment though, I’m in draft stage, and it’s more important for me to write fast, get it out of my head and onto the page, then go back and do the fine-stitching later. That’s what takes the time in fact, the editing.

      Bill

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      • Bill, Not only is she a born editor, she also has a PhD in Creative Writing, so you were had by a pro. 🙂 As you can tell, she has the brains in the family. I must again say what I said when cousin Robert was suggesting how to frame a picture, professional photographer that he is. I am the simple one in the family, and these intellects do not speak for me. I just enjoy things simply and never caught any problems with framing your pictures or with an ocean liner kicking up dust. Looking forward to more. Steve

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        • Well, that explains her astute observation. I thought she must have had some teaching or writing experience, because only someone with an understanding of craft would have picked that up.

          Like I said, this stage of writing is about spurting it all out fast then later going back and doing what we call “fix-ups.” Jennifer is incredibly fastidious with that. Harper Collins brought her on to edit our daughter’s book – ONLY IN SPAIN – which is soon to be released in the US. The book is a memoir of her learning flamenco with the gypsies in the slums of Seville.

          But you do have a talented family. I’m sure you’re equally as talented

          Bill

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          • Then I shall keep my hands off my editing keyboard until and unless asked for (invited) after Jennifer and all invited editors have had their chance. You are so right that first thing is to get it all out of your head onto the page. Flow, baby, flow! And your flow is smashing!

            Confession: I have a few dozen poems and short stories out there in esoteric journals and books that my daughter labels “Who reads that??” I have NOT completed and published a book of my own. No novel, no collection, nada, nothing. So I felt kinda nervy mentioning your dust/ocean. Will continue reading with more restraint. Your stuff in inspiring and this book is downright fun!

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          • Ah Barbara – no need for restraint – Steve will tell you this is a gloves-off blog! Any comments that you make, or others make, especially criticisms, I take on board.

            Actually, if I’d been truly professional I would have done an edit on that section myself before I posted it. Jennifer hadn’t read it – and she doesn’t kick into editing mode until i get to the end anyway, but really I should have done those little “fix-ups” before I posted!

            I said to a journalist mate whom I met in Portugal – the only thing harder than writing is running a perfect mile.

            Bill

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          • Thanks Barbara – she’s just doing some revisions for the US edition now. I’m not sure when it will be coming out, but before Christmas I think is what they have planned.

            It’s available in some other territories now. She’s a clever writer. Very David Sedaris in style.

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  13. Thank you, Mr. Bennett for your kind words of encouragement. They brought me to tears.
    Here’s hoping to have un buen Camino!
    Rosa

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    • Dear Rosa – firstly, thank you very much for the mark of respect but please call me Bill.

      You’ll have an incredible time. And you might find that you’ll want to come back and do it again!

      Bill

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    • Rosa, May I just tell you…….it is very easy to find accomodation along the way. There is no *need* to pay a company lots of euros to find it for you. Of course, if it gives you peace of mind or it is simply how you would like to do it, then by all means, go ahead, but I would just like to reassure you that if you would like to wait and see how far you want to walk each day it is NO PROBLEM. I walked with my husband, eight children and father-in-law and in three weeks we NEVER missed out on getting a bed even though we were a large group.
      I will think of you on your mother’s birthday – it’s the same as mine!

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  14. WOW to all and sundry on this blog … it’s more Camino than the Camino!! – and go, Rosa, like Bill says, you’re already a pilgrim in your heart and soul, you just need to drag the body there – enjoy.

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  15. Hi Bill – ‘love the excerpt and I just can’t wait for the release date. Everyone – I’m just loving all the positive vibes coming through with the Comments – how fabulous is all of this! This book is going to be a winner Bill – ‘go for gold’, as I’ve said before.
    If you get stuck for a good ol’ Aussie expression to ‘pepper your prose’ with – the Aussie Dictionary has more hilarious expressions than some of us have had hot dinners!
    FYI for all … Bhasma and I walked together last year as part of a group from Leon to Santiago – during our Camino she (a) helped a friend get over major back pain with massage, (b) helped me hugely with leg and foot massages, (c) lent everyone a tennis ball at the end of the day so we could stimulate blood flow back into our feet – just roll the tennis ball under each foot for a couple of minutes (hey Bill – are you doing this? Might help the damaged nerves), and (d) was always so positive, generous and encouraging – a true pilgrim and a true Camino Angel … Thank you Bhasma – Cheers Bill and Everyone – JennyH

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    • Jenny – you bring such energy to the blog!

      I’ve been doing toe exercises for the foot – but I’ll get a tennis ball and try what you’ve suggested.

      Thank you!

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      • Thanks for the beautiful compliment Bill – much appreciated.
        I think that everyone will agree that the energy, passion and insights you’ve put ‘out there’ in your blog, just HAVE TO BE RESPONDED TO by all of us like-minded people … for example, the ‘global energy’ that JulieB spoke of (‘loved that post Julie!) and it’s the reason why your blog has been such a huge success, as indeed your ebook will be.
        Cheers – JennyH

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    • Hi there,
      Im going to echo Bhasma and Jenny’s tip regarding the balls.
      I find a tennis ball is a bit too big for me, so I use slightly smaller rubber ball. It will defiantly be in my pack on my Camino.
      I use it after walk/tramps and run it along my plantar/arch and then kneed it into my heel. That feels a bit freaky to start off with as their is some scar tissue in there. But after a while it is bliss.

      Now my other little tip (sorry men this may freak you out a bit…. but it works) is I use those toe separators that you use when you paint your toe nails. My toes tend to curl up if I do a lot of walking. By luck I was painting my toes one day after an 11km walk and used the separators….I left them in for longer than I should have…and when I took them off…my toes had straightened and my whole foot felt amazing. (So yep these are coming with me to Spain as well.)

      And like Jenny…I am loving the PGS family comments. You guys/gals are all fantastic.

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      • Hi Abbey – Thanks so much for the ideas in your comment. I’ll definitely give the toe separators a go! Your expression ‘PGS family’ is SO true – that is exactly what we are – this expression is here to stay Abbey! Go Girl! Cheers, Jenny

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