The History behind Invenio.

This took me twenty years to finish. I intend that to be neither an impressive nor mortifying fact, as this story has been on a journey far longer than the pages you see. It was started by a boy who did not know what he wanted to do with his life and was finished by a father who wanted to tell his boys that that's entirely okay. I began this all those years ago with the certainty that it was the makings of the next epic fantasy trilogy. Really. The dozens of pages you see before you were originally designed to be hundreds, if not thousands. It took me approximately one month and one hundred pages of writing to have equal certainty that I was out of my mind. What stood between me and the next masterpiece was patience, persistence, and talent. So close.

Those hundred pages sat and waited, aging less like fine wine and more like a cedar fence—clearly aging, but something about it was oddly functional (a glowing review, I know. Refer to the previous paragraph). Fast forward to May of 2020, in a hospital parking lot, as I sat idle waiting for my 9-month pregnant wife to finish a non-stress test (oh, the irony of this test's name. Though I assure you upfront all went well, and this story was not born out of any tragic events). I happened upon a "Freakonomics Radio" podcast centered on Kevin Kelly’s "68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice"—both entirely worth your time and full of brilliant wisdom. "Hey, that seems pretty easy, and I should do that too," is what I thought, and how I imagine most people begin when they are about to be in way over their heads.

So, over the proceeding hour, I frantically cobbled together barely coherent, though literate, life lessons of my own in the form of a note to my unborn child. I was quite pleased. It wasn’t Kevin Kelly-worthy, but I found it therapeutic, fulfilling, and a helpful reminder of the compass I use toward my own journey. But the themes from it were oddly familiar. As if I had written it all before. Because I had. Barely baked and only half-understood, but I had constructed it in the form of what was to be the next great fantasy trilogy years prior (again, if it wasn’t for that lack of talent…). Never one to toss out good wood, I tore up the aging cedar fence I called my fantasy novel and redesigned it into what you see before you today.

What you’ll find next is the intro to the note I wrote to my son that day. For a story that has no beginning, this note serves as the extrinsic opening to Invenio...

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Your mother was due 6 days ago. You’re a procrastinator, I get it. I used to be like that too, though after 36 years of life, I’ve matured into “just in time planning” and working “Agile” – these are all traits you’ll learn in the business world to make your procrastination sound really fancy. As the great Mark Twain once said, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” If you’ve never heard of him before reading this, then I’ve already failed you, so please put this down now and Google him (if that’s still a thing?)

As I sit here in the hospital parking lot while your mother has a “nonstress test” checkup, I am reflecting upon the fact that this, among many other things, will be my responsibility to teach you. The question you should now be asking yourself is – why is he sitting in the hospital parking lot while Mom is having a test? (At least, let me hope you are asking yourself this instead of assuming this is a trait you’d expect out of me). Well, you should know that we are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and seeing as you’re lucky enough to be born in the thick of it, I am not allowed in the hospital. Do not pity me. Instead, please pity your poor mother who has carried you for 9 months and now the only things that fit her are my largest pajama pants, whose elastic has broken – and this is how you repay her, by taking your sweet, sweet time. (Please get used to this guilt trip – as we get older this is a tendency that will only get worse, and we have no control over it).

I am getting sidetracked. Let me come back around to the point – 36 years on this earth, I’ve navigated through a few of the tricky points of life: schooling, career, relationships, etc., etc. (Feel free to use “etc., etc.” as a replacement when you know there should be more substance but are drawing a blank). During this time, I feel I’ve mustered up some knowledge balls of life experience that I feel compelled to present to you (FYI, the unintentional awkward things I say pale in comparison to your mother, best to just give it an eye roll here and move forward). But here it goes… from a nervous, anxious, and wonderfully excited father to his unborn son…

Searching for…
Invenio