Why I’m Writing This Book
- Lowell Sheppard
- May 3
- 2 min read
And Why I Hope You’ll Support It!
This week, I’ve started writing the first draft of what might be the most important book I’ve ever attempted — and I’d love your support.
It’s called A Journey Beyond the Blue Zone, and it is about the difference between just living long... and living well, independently, and with purpose. The kind of life we all hope for, even if we don’t talk about it out loud.
Over the past two months, I’ve travelled the length of Japan, from Okinawa to the Northern Prefecture of Iwate, visiting places where people live the longest and are often the healthiest. It’s part of a journey I’ve been on for a long time, nearly 30 years of slow travel, over 80 ports, and now, having visited all 47 prefectures of Japan.
Along the way, I’ve met farmers in their 90s still tending fields, barbers who cut hair well into their 80s, and communities where no one dies in disasters, not because of luck but because of wisdom handed down for over a thousand years.
This book is about those stories and what they can teach all of us, no matter where we live or what age we are.
I’ve written nine books before, several with mainstream publishers. But I’ve chosen to crowdfund this one because I want it to go where it needs to go: to people, not just markets—to readers, families, thinkers, and doers. It’s a legacy book but also a practical one.
A book to inspire conversations around the dinner table and maybe even change how we prepare for the years ahead.
It was inspired, in part, by something ancient and something very modern.
The old: the tsunami stones of Japan, carved by villagers over a thousand years ago to warn future generations about the power of nature. One island, Miyato, lost no lives in the 2011 tsunami. Why? Because 55 generations earlier, a community learned the hard way, and made sure no one forgot.
And the modern? A video by La Vagabonde, a young family of sailors who mentioned Okinawa as a Blue Zone, reminded me that I had just spent 15 months living there without realizing I was in one of the world’s healthiest places.
Sometimes, we’re standing in wisdom without knowing it.
So now I’m writing, and each day, I share progress and tips for others who might be dreaming of writing a book, too. You can follow along if that’s your thing.
But if what I’ve described here speaks to you—the spirit of Never Too Late, the desire to live fully, the idea that we have something valuable to pass on—then I invite you to support the book through my Kickstarter campaign by preordering copies or bundles, which runs until May 20.
You can pre-order copies, join behind-the-scenes livestreams, or even hop aboard Wahine, my sailboat and floating writing room, for a retreat on a remote island in southern Japan.
Thanks for reading — and for being part of this journey.
Lowell
