I’ve just received another 5 star review on Amazon – from Peter Fanning, who is a regular on this blog.

Thank you Peter – very much appreciated. This will help get the film out to a wider audience.

For those of you who have read the book but haven’t yet posted a review, here’s a link to make it easier!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-My-ebook/dp/B00FB313KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380414249&sr=8-1&keywords=the+way+my+way+bill+bennett

Tomorrow, or today (whichever time zone you’re in!) is the last chance to get my book free.

If you want a copy, then please email me on – billpgsblog@gmail.com

Again, all I ask is that you respect my Intellectual Property Rights – and if you like the book, please write a review on Amazon, Smashwords, and Goodreads.

For those of you who’ve read the book – I’d really appreciate your posting a review. So far I only have reviews from Pat (Wayfarer) and Libby Pashley – and both have been very glowing! (Thank you guys!!)

Reviews help with search algorithms, and enable the book to reach a wider audience. If I’m able to get some really good five star reviews, then it will be enormously helpful.

Thanks!

Jennifer and I have a saying… we talk about “letting go the rope.”

This concept came to Jennifer in one moment of insight while she was driving – it was a very clear vision, of her in a playground with a see-saw, and a couple playing a game of tug-of-war.

Immediately it struck her that the game of tug-of-war was like what she was going through at the time, with some issues that had been troubling her.

This is the concept: you’re at one end of the rope. There’s something at the other end of the rope – it can be a person, a circumstance, an addiction, an event, an ongoing issue in your life. It can be anything that’s creating disharmony. Something, or someone you’re struggling with. That’s wanting to pull you in a particular direction.

It could be one of your children, a work colleague, a neighbour, your partner – or it could be an illness, a financial concern, an unpleasant decision that has to be made… whatever it is, it’s a struggle in your life. It’s a tug-of-war with whatever it is you’re struggling with.

What struck Jennifer at that moment, when she had the vision of the playground, is that if you’re pulling and pulling and pulling, and the other side is pulling and pulling and pulling, and it’s a huge struggle, creating all sorts of discord and disharmony, and then suddenly you decide that you’re not going to play this game anymore, and you let go your end of the rope, then the other side falls in a heap.

You walk away and the struggle is over.

But, the other end of the rope – whatever that is – will be angry, Furious. It will want you to play again. It will do all in its power to make you want to continue the game – the struggle.

You might have got used to this game. You might have, on some level, actually enjoyed the struggle. Enjoyed the energy that it infused within you. Same with the other side – they too might have so enjoyed the game. They will entice you to play again.

So you have to be very determined not to pick up that rope again. But sometimes you do, and then you have to be very disciplined to let it go again. Walk away.

Sometimes it’s handy to have a simple way of looking at complex emotions or issues. Using this tug-of-war concept makes It really simple – you can let go. From an energetic point of view, you’re releasing that energy from your life.

What you’re saying to yourself is I’m not going to engage in the way I’ve always engaged – I’m going to let you “win” this. But in fact although it appears you’re letting the other side win, you’re not. There’s no winning and no losing, you’re just put putting an end to a game you no longer wish to play.

I mention this because two things have come up that have made me think about it – one is a struggle a dear friend of mine is having with his son. His son is exceedingly bright, and has an opportunity to go to Med School. But the young lad wants to live a little – do some traveling, and take at least a year off.

My friend has had some big blues with him, telling him that if he takes a year off, the offer to go to Med School may not be there when he returns. He’s switching courses – and so it is at this stage a one-off offer.

The more my friend tries to argue with his son, the more his son backs away, and affirms his desire to take a year off.

I told my friend to let go the rope, and see what happens. It could be that his son is enjoying the game, of exerting power over his father. But if that power is taken away from him, and he’s left having to make a major life decision on his own, what will he do?

The second example is something which I believe shows clearly how this can work.

I follow a blog by a well known independent film producer, Ted Hope. In a recent guest post, a filmmaker detailed the struggle he’d been going through to get a film up.

He’d made two critically acclaimed films which had made no money. He’d done the rounds of Hollywood, and everyone had blown smoke up his butt like they do in Hollywood, but no-one would give him a job. He spent many years getting more and more frustrated and angry.

And then one day he just “snapped,” in his words, and he packed up and left Hollywood. He drove up the coast to San Francisco, vowing he would give up making films and try and find a regular job.

He found a shared apartment, and was introduced to various people who had nothing to do with the film industry. “Real” people. And he began to see clearly what was happening in the world outside the insular bubble of Hollywood.

He started to realise that there was a growing gap in the US economy that was having a major impact on the middle class, and so he decided to make a documentary about it. But who wants to see a documentary about the American middle class struggling in a flat economy? And who would finance such a film?

Cut to: the filmmaker has made his film, and it’s getting a major theatrical release around the country. To get a theatrical release for a film at the moment is really difficult – to get a theatrical release for a documentary is unheard of. The guy has smashed it out of the park.

What happened? He let go the rope. As soon as he said I don’t want to play this game anymore, things started happening for him.

If you’re interested, here are links to his story. For me though, it’s a classic instance of letting go the rope, walking away from the struggle, and winning.

PART 1:
http://hopeforfilm.com/?p=10344

PART 2:
http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/2013/09/how-i-gave-up-on-the-film-industry-and-did-what-i-loved-part-2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TrulyFreeFilm+%28Truly+Free+Film%29

I posted a couple of days ago that I was in a dilemma over a business decision I had to make. And Jennifer suggested that I ask for a sign.

Well, I think I got it. I happened to be scrolling through some old photographs and I came upon a shot I took of my youngest sister, on her first day of school. There’s 15 years between us, and I was 21 when she had her first day at school.

The decision I had to make concerned a project I’ve had in development for several years with the tertiary institution where I’m an Adjunct Professor. It’s an online course to teach students how to make movies.

I’ve been frustrated though in how long everything has taken. I had no idea academic institutions were so dysfunctional when it came to making decisions. In the world of independent filmmaking, you’ve got to make decisions fast, otherwise you miss out on opportunities.

The agreement took four months to get signed. And I was on the verge of bailing out of the whole thing, because I wondered whether I could work within an organisation that was so moribund with “due process.”

But then I saw the photo, and it reminded me how important education is. And how I have to give back. I have a lot of experience, and within this online course I can pass that on to future filmmakers. And so I decided to go with it.

Would I have done so, had I not seen that photo?

I’m not sure…

I won’t post the photo until I’ve got the permission of my sister to do so. I actually captured a moment where she was swinging her school bag, but she was wearing a short school dress and her knickers were showing… I reprinted this just recently and gave it to her for her birthday. She told me I should be locked up… : )

Do you think there are any protocols on the Camino?

For instance, talking on the phone while you’re walking.

A couple of times I got some very filthy looks from other pilgrims as they passed me, while I was on the phone to my wife. I got the distinct impression it was something you just shouldn’t do – talk on the phone while you’re walking.

Then there’s the top bunk and the bottom bunk.

Isn’t there a protocol that the younger pilgrims should offer up their bottom bunk to the more elderly, and take the top bunk themselves? If so, it seems to be a protocol that isn’t followed very assiduously.

Touching someone while they’re sleeping.

I saw a pilgrim physically try and wake another pilgrim during the night, because she was snoring loudly. The snorer – a woman – was visibly distraught at being touched by this man in the middle of the night in a darkened albergue. Isn’t it a protocol that you don’t touch someone while they’re sleeping?

Do you know of any other protocols?

I finished my two day water fast this morning –

Two days of just water and Chinese green tea. Last night I watched Anthony Bourdain in Dubai, eating the most glorious food. Man, it was tough!  🙂

(Why did I feel compelled to watch that show last night??)

I weighed myself this morning and in the two days I’ve lost 8.5lbs, or nearly 4kgs. That happens every time I do a two day water fast. I usually lose that amount. It’s largely water, because I’m not ingesting salt, and my body isn’t holding onto water.

I feel great. I don’t feel at all hungry. I could continue this water fast for another 2-3 days without much trouble, but there’s no point. It’s done what I wanted it to do – it’s cleansed out my body, stopped my routine of eating at certain times of the day, stopped my double espressos, and it’s brought my mind back under my control – rather than under the control of my desires.

So now I have my mind back, I can transition into my juice fast phase.

This morning I’ll have an apple and kiwi-fruit juice for breakfast, probably carrot and celery for lunch, and maybe beetroot and pear for dinner.

Tomorrow is Jennifer’s mother’s birthday – she’ll be 83 years old – and the family traditionally has a big dinner for her birthday. Roast lamb, baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and home-made cakes. Yummy. Jennifer’s sister, who lives next door, is almost a professional grade cake-maker.

So tomorrow night will be tough. But that’s okay. I’ll join in, I just won’t eat.

They all think I’m weird…

Why does anyone walk the Camino a second or third time? Or more?

Why put yourself through that hardship and pain?

I ask myself this question, because yesterday I went for a 5km walk with the aid of a very expensive knee brace, and now I'm starting to think about getting my fitness back so that I can walk the Camino again.

Why?

I'd be fascinated to throw this out to you blogees – why have you, or would you, walk the Camino a second time, or multiple times?

Is it the cameraderie? The friendships you form? The challenge? The joy of walking and exploring a foreign country? Is it the food and wine? Is it the uncertainty of your experience that's exhilarating? That you're unsure if you'll make it, or if you'll get a bed each night, or if you'll come down sick or injured?

Or is it something deeper, more profound? Are you seeking a spiritual experience? A religious experience? Are you looking for answers? Are you hoping the Camino will sort out a particular problem?

It's easy to say: All of the above. But if you had to give one reason why you'd walk the Camino again, what would it be?

After you've told me yours, I'll tell you mine!

Having now finished the book, I feel like I’ve completed the walk. I didn’t realise, but I needed to write the book to make sense of what I’d done.

I didn’t set out to write a book when I started the Camino. The thought never crossed my mind. And even during the walk it was never a consideration. I was too focused on getting through each day.

It was only later, after Jennifer and I spent some time in Portugal, that we began to talk about it. Jennifer was quite adamant that I should write the book, and do it immediately – while everything was still fresh in my mind.

When I returned home I began to equivocate. Whilst I’d been working on a novel for some time, I’d never written non-fiction. My screenplay writing has all been drama, principally thrillers but a couple of comedies.

And writing a screenplay is a completely different craft to writing a book. It’s as different as playing golf to playing cricket.

It was an intimidating prospect, made more so because I’d seen what my daughter had gone through when she wrote her memoir, Only in Spain – which took her four years to write. (It’s been released in Australia and will be released in North America pre-summer.)

It was daunting. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a bad idea. These books don’t make money, and I’m judged by everything I put my name to. If I did it, it would have to be good – not something just dashed off, riffing off of my blog.

It had to be a stand-alone piece of original writing.

And that takes time – time I could better spend writing a new screenplay, which is my core business. So I decided not to go ahead with it. It would be too hard, and take too long.

But then I had that dream – such a vivid and disturbing dream. Of being in the Santiago Cathedral with a rifle, and shooting out the huge stained glass window. I woke up, distressed, and looked at the clock. It was 3:33am.

That was it. That was the kicker. I knew at that moment I had to write the book. I’d been directed to write the book, and I had to get on with it. There was no question about it.

I started that day.

As some of you might know from this blog, I wrote fast but I worked long hours. I didn’t stop for weekends. I just kept writing. I would start at 4:30am or 5am and write until 6pm. Some days I wrote 4,000 words, which is a lot. It seemed I never wrote any less than 2,000 words a day, which compared to the pace of my writing for my novel, was twice as fast.

It flowed. I didn’t have to think about it. And when I got to the end, at about 90,000 words, I then began the revisions. And then Jennifer came on board for the editing.

I chose to write in a light tone, because I think for me that’s the best way to tackle weighty issues. There are some Camino books out there that are light, but never scratch beneath the surface. They’re flip, superficial, and some of them are glib.

This is a pilgrimage, and it has to be respected as such, and whilst I’ve taken a humorous approach to some of it, at no time have I lost that deep abiding respect for the Camino, and what it stands for.

It is a memoir of a spiritual journey.

And now it’s done. And it occurred to me that the book has finally completed the walk for me. When I reached Santiago, I felt no sense of achievement. I was confused. Anyone who’s read the book will know that I didn’t actually even want to walk into the square. I stayed in a bar and had a beer, reluctant to walk the last kilometre to the Cathedral.

This is why I had to write the book – to understand the significance of the pilgrimage.  And of what I’d done. I feel now with its publication that it’s put a full stop on my Camino Frances, April/May 2013. I’ve finally finished my walk.

If you want to buy the book, you can do so here:

Amazon
Smashwords

If you want a free copy, the offer is open until the end of the week. Email me at billpgsblog@gmail.com. All I ask is that you respect the IP, and you write a review. But only if you love it!!

I’ve just come back from a 5.2km walk – the first walk since my Camino.

I wore the brace, I walked briskly, and I was pain free.

It was so wonderful to get back into the rhythm of walking. I’d forgotten how much I loved it – just the feel of the movement of my arms and the crunch of my boots.

To use an old surfing term: I’m stoked!