Walking Between Worlds: Why I Choose the Long Way

People often ask what I really do.

I help people write books.

I write books of all sorts. I try new genres.
I run writing retreats. In real places. with real humans.
I work with AI tools.
I’ve spent years inside startups, technology, and publishing.
I’ve walked ancient pilgrim roads and sat in modern pitch rooms.
I’ve run events and learnt, first-hand, how investors think. And how much work goes into a real life event. And how much value you get from one.

Where on earth are you, Susan? I hear that all the time. Why does it matter?

In reality, it’s one path.

You Can’t Outsource the Walking

Pilgrimages teach you something quickly:
there is no shortcut that doesn’t cost you something. That something may have unexpected unpleasant consequences.

On the Camino, your body keeps the score. Sometimes you just have to stop earlier than planned. Sometimes, it just gives up in the middle of the night and you have to rush to the loo and throw up – food, expectations, and vanity.
At the Kumbh Mela, faith manifests as heaving crowds and flowing water.
On long roads, ego falls away—not because you planned it, but because it’s too heavy to carry.

That lesson never left me.

Writing a book is the same kind of journey.
So is building a business.
So is thinking deeply enough to be worth listening to.

You can’t outsource the walking.
And you can’t fake having done it.

Books Are Not Products. They’re Proof.

Somewhere along the way, books became “content.”
Fast. Strategic. Optimised.

I don’t see them that way.

A book is proof that someone stayed with an idea long enough to finish their thinking.

That’s why most books fail—not because the writing is bad, but because the thinking isn’t complete.

A strong book:

• clarifies who you are

• signals how you think

• and quietly changes how others perceive you

That’s authority.
Not volume. Not hype. Not visibility for its own sake.

AI Is a Tool, Not a Substitute

I work with AI. I teach it. I use it daily. It fills in the blanks in my talents – like, I can’t draw!

But I’m very clear about one thing:

AI does not create authority.
It reveals whether you have any.

Used well, AI is like a walking stick—it supports clarity, execution, and craft.
Used badly, it becomes a crutch for people who haven’t done the work.

If you use AI to write your book for you, you outsource the very thinking that gives the book its power.

If you use AI to execute clear thinking—to design, structure, visualise, refine—then it becomes an amplifier, not a replacement.

The difference matters.

What Startups and Investing Taught Me

Working with startups—and running an event with Let’s Venture—sharpened this perspective.

Founders don’t fail because they lack ideas.
They fail because they haven’t finished their thinking.

Investors aren’t listening for excitement.
They’re listening for clarity, coherence, and conviction.

A good pitch and a good book have more in common than people realise:

• a defined problem

• a clear audience

• a believable path forward

• and a human being who understands their own “why”

Execution wins.
Finishers win.

I Build for the Long Term

I don’t build fast for the sake of fast.
I don’t post daily to stay visible.
I don’t chase trends I won’t recognise in five years.

I work with people who want to:

• leave a legacy

• change how they are seen

• finish something that matters

• and do it with integrity

Books last.
Thinking lasts.
Quiet authority lasts.

Why I Walk Between Worlds

Pilgrimage keeps me honest.
Technology keeps me relevant.
Startups keep me sharp.
Books keep me human.

I walk between worlds because each one tests a different part of me—and strips away what doesn’t belong.

That’s the work I trust.
That’s the work I teach.

And I’m still walking. Still writing. Still helping others to write.