Tynan gave a terrific talk for the Gotta Be Good Tour date in Austin about getting serious and doing great work.
Hanging out afterwards, he mentioned that he was learning language tapes and wasn't writing daily like his old habit was.
I was giving him a hard time about it. I said, what the heck is the use of learning basic Romanian? With all due respect to the Romani people of the world, I figure there's almost no chance that Tynan is ever going to translate or have really high level conversations in a language of a country he doesn't have an affinity to, he won't be a translator, and yet his best writing is incredibly meaningful and really makes a difference in people's lives.
There's a chance your best writing persists for a very long time; there's no chance that knowing a few more words and phrases in a country you're not strongly connected to is worth very much.
Well, turnabout being fair play and all, he gave me a hard time that I wasn't writing as much as I used to. And so on. And eventually -- I think it was his idea to start, because it sounds like something he'd come up with -- he asked how much I'd wager on writing every day.
And I just kind of blurted out, "10 grand. Two years."
And, umm, we hashed out some details, and here we are. So... yeah... looking forward to spending some time with you on here.