After months of planning, the momentum for The Longevity Habit book finally took over. With the Golden Mermaid Villa temporarily empty and the silence of the Azores surrounding me, I decided last Sunday was the moment to start. And what a journey it has been.
This isn’t my first attempt at being an author. A dozen years ago, I spent eight years working on a massive, complex “How to Dress Like a Pirate” book. That project was a logistical nightmare: designing outfits, manufacturing accessories, hiring models, photography, and endless coordination. It stalled because the friction was too high.
That experience taught me a powerful lesson I now apply to longevity: complex habits fail. That’s why the Longevity Habit is simple—stretching, walking, breathing, and intentional eating.
This new book, The Longevity Habit, started small—I imagined a short, 24-page e-booklet. But once the writing began, the entire system unfolded. By applying the principles of focus and efficiency I teach, I set an ambitious goal: write the first draft in 30 days.
I completed it in 14 days.
I spent about six solid hours each day immersed in research and writing, producing around 10 pages daily. Now, after just two week, the first draft is done, clocking in at 100 pages. I’ll easily passed the 75-page threshold for a printable color paperback through KDP.
For someone who has always struggled with the details of writing and language, this speed was only possible because of my co-pilot: Google Gemini 2.5.
This isn’t ghostwriting; this is line-editing and precision engineering for language. I write the rough, raw draft myself to get the ideas down. Then, I use the AI to correct spelling and grammar, and most importantly, ask it to make the content more readable and impactful while preserving my core voice and message. It’s the ultimate tool for reducing friction, allowing me to focus on the wisdom and the narrative, not the mechanics.
They say the post-writing phase takes at least six months. We’re about to test that theory.
I am currently working with Reedsy—a fantastic platform that provides writing tools and a marketplace of professional editors—to find an editor who can perform a developmental assessment of the manuscript. I need fresh eyes to ensure the blueprint is clear, the structure is sound, and the content flows perfectly.
This book is the written blueprint for the life we are building here in Ribeirinha. The moment the manuscript is polished and ready, The Golden Mermaid Villa will be ready too. The completion of the book marks the final step before we open the doors for the first trial month, offering a fully engineered environment where you can practice the habit effortlessly.
It’s exciting to realize that the habit I wrote about is the very reason I was able to write the book so quickly.
UPDATE: It’s now been about 30 days since I started writing this book. It has expanded from short, 24-page e-booklet to an actual full 150 page book. I plan on having it available in 4 formats: e-book, black and white soft back and, color hard back and audible book versions. It has already gone through a professional developmental editing. It is now in the Beta Reader stage, if you would like to participle (Nov 5 to 26), click on this link: https://storyoriginapp.com/betacopies/99838ae3-7ce9-4821-abc4-ed2dd87b8e61
