When I was in my early twenties, I accepted a challenge to live as a Blind man without using internet, at all, for one month. I was to write down my thoughts and experiences.
I kept a journal for that month and called it Off the Grid. I packaged everything up into some kind of order from beginning to end, and I thought I’d try to sell it.
In short, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I thought this would be unique enough to sell. I was right, but it took years to find a publisher willing to take it on.
Just because a publisher agreed to publish it, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the best book to be published. First of all, it’s short by traditional memoir standards. When I wrote it, I wasn’t anywhere close to being aware to social justice causes and issues as I am now. This resulted in me including scenes that could be seen as dismissive or insensitive. I didn’t mention how my experiment could impact Black and Brown people, as well as low-income people and other minorities.
It also had a few typos.
The publisher was bought in 2020. Rights have been reverted back to me. I’ve chosen to release it again as a free book.
The reason why I’m giving it away free is because the things I had to say then, I feel, are slightly out of touch with the current society we live in. I said this in the authors note but when I wrote the book, the struggles of other minorities weren’t in my consciousness like they are now. I’m always trying to do better, though, and that includes trying to evolve my writing.
Rather than having people pay for writing that isn’t reflective of my growth today, I’ve chosen to just give it away for free, in the hopes that I make some new friends that will ride this wild writing journey with me as I turn my attention to fresh projects.
You can download the book here. You can also freely adapt it, translate it, convert it. I only ask that you return to this website and stay a while. Read my newer stories and opinions.
Consider Off the Grid to be a really lengthy writing sample. A snapshot of my beginnings as a writer.
I hope, that once You’ve read the book and shared it, that you’ll stick with me on my writing journey. I couldn’t do this without you. Thank you all to those who support me presently, and welcome, new friends.