Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] What if you were to take a train journey and the destination was you?
[00:00:10] Hey, good morning, Bradley Sherbonneau. It's super early on a Sunday morning. I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, been kind of traveling for a week here in the US And Kindle Vela is closing down. Now, if you don't know Kindle Vella, it's kind of short stories, it's episodes, it's a shorter version delivered episode, like very much like a podcast or a Netflix series or Apple TV series where you have, you know, 10 episodes or over 100 episodes and delivered every week. And so that was the idea behind Kindle Vella. I have to admit, I didn't really use it or really know of it much. I think I got the message because it's closing down. And so I went and checked it out. And it's a pity, actually, because it's very much episode like very much like a podcast and also very much like Serial S E R I A L, the one podcast that really exploded the whole podcast scene. So this morning, again, it's super early. And I shouldn't even preface my early morning messages with the idea that it's super early because. Because it's always super early when I have my ideas. And that's just a shout out to what I'm going to talk about here for the next few minutes. And that is getting to know your creative self. And if you don't feel like you know your creative self, how to get to know your creative self better. And while you're at it, why don't we get to know your rational self and your emotional self and your mind, heart and gut, and your mathematician and your magician combining into your mathematician.
[00:02:01] So here's what I like to do and the reason for this. And if you, if you're listening to this and thinking, why is Bradley speaking in the dark at six something in the morning on a Sunday?
[00:02:16] Here's why. This is my most creative time. It's right when I wake up. And in fact, it's not just me. Most people, they go from different sort of waves or frequencies of our sort of awakeness or awareness, even from, you know, beta and theta and gamma and the different wavelengths that I should probably know better. But basically, right when you wake up and right before you're about to go to sleep, it's a bit like a sun, sunrise and a sunset. There's this. If you're a photographer, the lighting is just beautiful. And you don't need special filters or lighting. You just use a natural light. And so Very much along those lines.
[00:03:02] This is the way it works in the mornings and in the evenings, before you go to sleep, there's a period of clarity where you're. You're in between being awake and being asleep, and you're. Your thoughts and your mind and your. Your heart and your gut sort of can combine and you get some serious clarity. So this is. This happens for me pretty much every morning. Although I have to say, pro tip here. You have to be aware of it and conscious of it and take advantage of it. And this is exactly why I'm often recording before the break of dawn, because this is when I know my best and strongest and most clear ideas come to life.
[00:03:46] So, without further ado, back to Kindle Vella and the idea for this morning's creative direction. And that is. So I went on Kindle Vella and of course, it's mostly fiction, right? And I mostly write nonfiction. So, however, I'm always intrigued. I've written some fiction. I'm always intrigued by fiction and storytelling, and I. I just love it. I just feel like I don't.
[00:04:13] Well, or I don't have so much experience doing it, so I feel like, oh, I can't do that. However, here's what I'm thinking, and I'd love to hear what you think of this idea.
[00:04:26] There's another author who did something similar. There's many authors who have done something similar. But I'm going to go the train route. I've heard planes, I've heard other vehicles of transportation, but I love trains. And here's how I see this playing out. I would like to do sort of a journey of discovering of discovery of your own self and with specifically getting to know your mind and your heart and your gut.
[00:04:59] And then I think there's going to be a special appearance by your mathematician and your magician. I don't know. So here's how I see it. I see I love trains. I live in Europe. I take trains all the time. I love train travel. If there's an option to take the train, I will. And I'll never forget here. You'll get an idea of my personality here. I remember I was in Munich, Germany, and I was going to Prague in the Czech Republic. And I go up to the train station and I go ask at the desk. I say, hi, can I get the slowest train to Prague? Like, what's the most amount of time I can spend on a train and get from A to B? So clearly my goal was not the speed. My goal was not necessarily B. My goal was the journey. Sorry I can't say that word without being kind of snarky, but my goal was the journey. And I gotta say that's still my goal. I still enjoy the journey, often more than the destination.
[00:06:01] So what am I looking at here? I. Here's how I foresee it. Let me know what you think. I'd really like to hear what you think about this. If you leave me a comment or in YouTube or on the podcast or any, anywhere I'd like to, you or I, or you know, the person, the subject matter goes on a train ride and at the various stops along the way, the different parts of our being, and I like to call them also decision making centers, are going to get on the train. So I would think first it would be mind and then gut, and then heart and then gut. So it's like a first stop our mind is going to get on. And I think this is where. And I could use some help with fiction and storytelling and, and tension building and stuff like that. But I, I think it would be neat for. Okay, the mind, your mind gets on the train. So how would that work? Right? How would would you know? It's your mind and so you're going to have a conscious discussion about, oh, that's my mind. I'm going to go pick my brain.
[00:07:11] I like that. I'm gonna go pick my brain. And then.
[00:07:15] Or is it not clear that it's your mind? But it's like, wait a minute, what's going on here? I mean, that could involve some fantasy and some mystery. That could be pretty cool, right? So then I don't know how it works. Does your mind get off and then your heart gets on and you talk to your heart and it's again, just another passenger, but you're like, wait a minute, this like this guy's like my own heart. What?
[00:07:41] And then your heart gets off and the gut gets on. So interesting. So what about. So that, that's, that's the bulk of my story here.
[00:07:53] Okay, I'm at eight minutes. Keep this under 10. I'm really going to keep it under 10 today. So that's those, the three, your three main characters, right? The three characters who make up who you are and also how you make decisions. So then I. But I want to pull in the mathematician. The math. Well, the mathematician. The mathematician and the magician. So the math and the mag. This is sort of the math is the habits, the hard stuff, the regular stuff, the routines. And the magician is more the fun stuff, the wild and crazy stuff. The unexpected, the unknown, the magical world, right? So I want both. And if you know me at all, I want the magic. I love the magic. Although I know that it takes math. It takes routine, it takes habit, takes consistency to reach that magic. And that's sort of the secret ingredient as I see it. So how do those two guys come into the train, right? Maybe it's the conductor. Maybe it's a ticket. Ticket? I don't know. Maybe it's another passenger. I don't know. Okay, I'm at nine minutes and I want to wrap this up. So that's my thought. What do you think of making, like, a fictional story? If I were to make a fictional story of this trip and I. Again, I love calling it treasure maps. I love train travel. So I can see, you know, we're going through different. I don't know, we go through different time zones, we go through different landscapes depending on, you know, mind, heart, gut. And then how does a math magician and the. I keep saying mathematician, right? Pretty cool. How does a math and the magic play? Okay, I gotta wrap this up. Thanks for listening. Let me know what you think. If you think this fictional idea, this story would be something interesting to read or probably even better to listen to as a serial podcast episode. Okay, that's it for Sunday morning. Early from Phoenix, Arizona, on to Las Vegas, next for all week for a writers conference. Bye for now.
