January is off to a great start. Trump, Putin, fires, ongoing war, A.I takeover, stock markets crashing, bitcoin craziness and this blog… this wonderful blog. Roysblog, with your words so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh… Oops sorry, got carried away. It’s Blog Post #119.

The new year is off to a great start… for me anyway. For the rest of the world? It could be better. It also could be worse… it can always be worse. Ugh. So, find a discarded old sock in a muddy puddle, dry it or don’t, then put it on your hand and let it guide your every decision going forward. Come on people. Get it together!

Success

What is success? I read that they recently asked several successful billionaires what success meant to them. Successful billionaires? I want to hear from the unsuccessful billionaires. Then, we’ll really learn something.

Writing Update

My next book, The Regrets We Can’t Have, has finally been started. It will be a series of fictional short stories for your reading pleasure. No A.I and no editor. It’ll be pure Roy goodness… like this blog. I’m hopeful for a 2026 release. Stay tuned for more details, including excerpts, in the coming months.

They say that when writing to try to use as few words as possible to make the point you’re making. No unnecessary words.

The Other Scene

Writing provides many great and rewarding moments. Recently, I had one of the best of these moments. In last month’s blog I wrote:

I recently watched a show where a couple bought a home and were very excited. “My new house is great. It has a large open area with beautiful details, eye catching finishes, and plenty of natural light. It’s also quite large with plenty of storage. This is the perfect home to sit comfortably… and spend all day scrolling my phone.”

A few days later, I was talking with my wife’s cousin about housing. She said: “I recently read this thing about having a house with a large open space and great details… the perfect home… to sit and spend all day scrolling on the phone.”

I replied, “You’re joking, right? Where’s the camera?”

She was not.

I said, “I wrote that. You’re quoting me back to me.”

It was like that scene in When Harry Met Sally. No, not that scene. The one where the Carrie Fisher character first meets the Bruno Kirby character, “I wrote that. I’ve never had anyone quote me back to me before.”

Words of Wisdom

1. Travel. It’s a way to get outside yourself and your problems and connect with a larger world.

My wife and I decided to cancel our trip to Mexico in March and instead head to northern Italy in May. Fantastico!

2. January is almost over… so take down your G.D. Xmas tree!

3. Learn languages. Just because A.I. makes it unnecessary, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It’s easy.

That’s it for this month’s blog. Stay tuned for updates on the next book. Thank you for supporting this blog. It’s now time for the ending joke that explains how easy learning English is. Enjoy!

What does the phrase ‘It’s a piece of cake mean?’

It’s easy.

Ok, but what does it mean?

That it is easy.

Then explain it to me.

It’s easy. It’s simple.

Great, then clarify what it means.