I am going to write a book…
You will be my guinea pigs!
A whole lot of people have asked me when am I going to write a book based on my travels. My wife has been prodding me about that too. I’m going to start work on it this month. I don’t want to make it a traditional travel book. It will have to be something more than that. Let me explain why.
I have four living storytelling heroes who are still out there every day getting it done. Charles Kuralt of course passed away but remains my primary inspiration as a writer. Following in his footsteps are Wayne Freedman at KGO in San Francisco, Boyd Huppert at KARE11 in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Bob Dotson at NBC News and Steve Hartman at CBS News. These men have all been in the business of storytelling many, many more years than I.
Wayne Freedman and Bob Dotson have given me indispensable insight over my 13 years in the news business. And I have sat through storytelling teaching sessions by all but Hartman. Hartman, the only one of the four I haven’t met, used to do a segment called, “Everybody has a Story,” where he would blindly toss a dart at a map of the country, fly to wherever the dart landed, go to the nearest phone book, plop it open and randomly drop his index finger on some unsuspecting person’s name. He would call that person and say, “We’re coming to your house to tell your story.” And each story was warm and touching and funny and surprising.
Hartman, Dotson, Freedman and Huppert all know a great truth: Every person, at their core is like every other person. Each one experiencing enormous victories and devastating sadness. Each life has compelling human drama and each person –when they open up to a storyteller– is someone we all want to cry with and cheer for.
I spent the last eight years crisscrossing North and South Carolina. I’ve been in more places in these two states than just about anyone else. I’ve been to hundreds of towns, some of them no bigger than a “T” intersection with a two-pump gas station on one corner, a feed store on the other and farmland as far as the eye can see in every direction. I’ve met thousands of Carolinians… some originals, some transplants, all of them genuine.
But when I set out to tell the stories of the people and places of the Carolinas I got a huge surprise. With each person and each story I didn’t just get a TV segment. I got a lesson about life. I was learning something profound around every corner. Traveling became a classroom. I was the pupil. My subject matter: life… and how every day people get by in good times and bad.
After you do a hundred or so stories you start to identify themes. Great over arching principles of truth by which everyone lives. From a 90-year-old lady who has a house full of painted gourds to a teenager with no legs trying to play high school football, the same concepts for how to live a meaningful life kept spilling out.
So any “travel” book I write will have to include the lesson’s I learned on the road. Because I don’t want to produce a book that tells you simply what to do and where to eat and who to meet. I want you, my fellow travelers, to open to what the road wants to teach you.
Periodically as I write I’m going to use this website to experiment on you. In the coming days I’ll be blogging about my travels and testing the water for this type of travel writing.
You can help by asking me questions and making comments on what you want more or less of. Deal? Deal!
Smelling a different kind of travel book… MR
a different kind of book you say?? i would expect nothing less of you!!! can’t wait!!!
I think it’s an awesome idea for a book, one I would definatly buy! (and read too!)
It is crazy how we are working on similiar projects, with different vehicles, in different locations.
2011…premier episode of City Slicker with your host….moi.
I told you we should work together. Good Luck on the book. I am shopping mine: Dad Chronicles: Diary of an Aging Dude to Penguin at the moment.
I can hardly wait. I’ll place my order now for five copies. Keep on writing, you are the best!
My wife and I long to be road or day trippers. We’re looking to make a trip out the Outer Banks in the coming year or so. Neither one of has ever been, and we’re natives and in our early 30’s! With the help of your book, our journey will be twice as fulfilling! Adding your stories will make the 6-8 hour drive across NC not so bad just to see the Lighthouse and the horses!
So get crackin’ on that book!
That is what we need,, I am ready for your book signing !!
Can I pre-order one now? You have a gift for telling stories, and a gift for telling stories that make us smile, think, ponder, laugh out loud and cry like children.
Mike, you just made my day…something exciting to look forward to…can’t wait to start reading your book! I’ll try and be patient! You have such a special gift and I am soooooo glad you are willing to share it with all of us! Keep up the good work!
Mike,
Your book will be great no matter HOW it turns out, because it’ll be your perspective on these unique people & places!
When I was in elementary school (I grew up here in Charlotte) I came across a book about quirky, interesting N.C. & S.C. locations called “Who Said There Ain’t No Such Places?!” by Henry King and used it for a book report. I dunno if it’s still in print or not… but I still have a copy myself that Mr. King sent me after my bright-eyed, school-kid self wrote him a letter telling him how much I enjoyed reading his book.
What I remember of it when I was in elementary school, reminds me of how much I’d probably enjoy a similar book by you! Best of luck!
~Sherri Barth
Great news, I’ll gladly buy one… hey why not blog for money- http://www.gastongazette.com/news/bumeter-35070-blogging-money.html
Love both of these concepts, Josh!
mr
Great! That’ll be $1250.00.
Wait. Is $250.00 too much to charge for a book?
Hmmm.. let me get back to you… mr
Would love to be your guide.
Crackin’ away… mr
I think this is an awesome idea and I am right in line for a copy of the book as well…….God has blessed you with a wonderful talent of finding the story behind the story and then telling it in a way that it realtes to all who watch it……The book will be the same and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I’m sure it will be worth every penny!
When I was growing up in Kansas (and Dorothy and Toto are both dead) there was another storyteller that did Kansas people. Okay, there are really interesting people in Kansas. Even if it is flat.
Larry Hatteberg from KAKE TV is a Photojournalist I would recommend you use as a resource.
I always wanted to write a book. I thought about writing one on Ted Kennedy, My Sober Years. But 10 pages is a pamphlet, not a book.
Cannot wait for the book. You are such an amazing storyteller!
HEY! This is a great idea! By the time you get it finished, published and I buy one, my child will be in 4th grade ready to do NC history (all NC 4th graders do NC history projects!). She can use your book as a resource! And I can hook you up with some great “stories” – I’ve been collecting them for 9 years via Relay for Life! Talk about a life story and life lesson…
Looking forward to it!
Hey Cheryl! How are you? Good to see your name and read your comment!
mr
Any possibility for Carolina Traveler on DVD??? I would love to be able to watch them over and over again. I miss it so much!
I’ll have to order at least two – one for me and one for my mom. We are both such fans. Think you can finish before the end of August when I head to Folly Beach for vacation? Sounds like the perfect beach read – sitting in the sand, sipping an ice cold beverage. Can’t wait!!!
It’s a deal MR