What
do you think makes a great travel story?
As
a world traveler I was and am always inspired when I meet and talk
with others who share the same affinity for adventure off the beaten
track, not staying in their comfort zones, but avoiding conformity,
and embracing diversity. The conversation with these kinds of
travelers goes inwards towards the center of that foreign land we are
in, removing any obstacle that gets in the way of an authentic
experience, an experience that only that perspective can bring, and
it is that perspective that evolves the more one travels inward, so
to speak, to touch the root of any particular culture.
What
inspired you when writing How
to Lose Yourself in Volcano: A Radical Way of Travel?
Well,
I had just completed a 21-day fast sequestered in a cabin on the Big
Island of Hawaii, and I felt a strong urge pulling up towards the
volcano known as Kilauea. Kilauea, the home of the Hawaiian goddess
Pele, is the most active on Hawaii island, in fact, the whole world.
I was in such a pure detoxified state that my experience transcended
my ordinary reality. I just had to share this in my journal, but I
just kept writing and writing and could not stop until I had a rough
draft of a manuscript in front of me.
What
are your ambitions for your writing career? Full time? Part time?
I
am continuing to blog on various sites; I cannot stop that, I love to
write and share with others. Continuing to write non-fiction with
naturally progress without much effort, as I write from my
impressions, it comes naturally. Now, I do have an interest in
fiction and am beginning to explore that realm with short stores and
coaching from my mentor.
When
did you decide to become a writer?
I
have always resisted calling myself a writer vs. an experiencer. I
was under my self-imposed impression that if you write down your
experiences or if you take photos of where you travel that would
impede the authenticity of the moment, what you are looking at,
breathing in, sensing all around yourself. I felt that your senses
would suffer from the act as a writer is always looking at things
from a literary point of view like a photographer looks at the world
through the lens of a camera. Whew, okay, just wanted to get that out
of the way, now, I began writing in 2008 when I opened a health
spa/yoga studio in Bangalore India. I wrote copy mostly, websites,
manuals, pdf documents, courses, etc. It wasn't until I arrived in
Hawaii that I really because a full-time writer, this happened in
2013. Now I have several books on their way, and one of them has been
published.
When
writing How
to Lose Yourself in Volcano: A Radical Way of Travel,
did anything stand out as particularly challenging?
Yes!
The most challenging in that it was a mystery that I chipped away at
arduously until the beast revealed some of her secrets to me, was
getting the manuscript polished and published, promoted. Wow! I
learned a lot of stuff that I would not do again. I made many
mistakes but hopefully will not repeat all of them.
How
did you pick which topics and stories to write about?
That
is easy, I mean I make this easy on me because I merely write or
follow the momentum of what excited me in my life. Writing about
topics that have changed my perspective to the degree that I look at
life from a slightly wider angle, to use a photographer's analogy. I
take more in with this newer perspective which changes all the time,
every time I go out of my comfort zone to a different place, a
foreign land or just my backyard, taking it all as new, in the fresh
everlasting mom
What
do you like to do when not writing?
Aside
from the obvious, traveling, I get out in nature as much as possible:
camping, swimming in a volcanically heated lagoon, exploring a jungle
or trekking in a volcano, or going for a long drive are activities I
yearn for when not glued to a screen. If I don't have time for those
outings, I enjoy a silent meditation and reading books of all types.
Besides
reading my new book (this is the most significant discovery a reader
can make), please visit my website: www.scschafer.com
Aloha,
CS
Schafer