Growing up in a time and place where there were two polarities of moral virtue, the glib, clipped and certain world of perfect and it’s shadowy opposite different, Bob Ross’s messages of imperfection and self acceptance were an impossible to measure blessing.

I do not think that I could attempt to write a book without the recognition of this:

We don't make mistakes -- we just have happy accidents.

The Book of (W)rong Answers has been unfolding here, one day and one draft at a time.

You’ve born witness to many of my happy accidents. Let me tell you about the filing system that I’ve established entirely unintentionally.

I mentioned a while back that part of my writing process involves a (re)Markable 2 Tablet. This is a neat device designed for distraction free use. It converts my handwriting to text.

I write on this tablet every day. I write the date on pretty much every page. Every single blog post here has a series of notes attached to it on my tablet.

As the book is developed, I can - and have been - using the date from a post here to easily find the notes that were written on my tablet. I can’t stress enough how wonderful this is. Directions that I didn’t take in writing the draft you see are available to me easily.

What’s better? It all comes from the hen scratch that I call handwriting. Between knowing the date I published something here, and having each of my entries dated on my tablet, it has been incredibly easy to stay organized. In actual fact? I’m organized by mistake.

I didn’t intend to have a filing system. My filing system is just a happy accident made possible by technology.

One Derful Thing

Let it out slowly

Take a large deep breath.

Let it out slowly.

How slowly can you let it out?

How long can you hold it?

Be careful!

Don’t do this so long you faint.

And,

As for the rest of life?

Where are you holding your breath and letting it out slowly?

How long will it last?