For anyone who ever launched themselves toward their dreams only to be rebuffed...

The Sea of the Unknown lays before us, cold and callous. Behind us stand the comforts of home, the assurance of a path well-trodden. But some of us feel called to something else - something unseen, undefinable. Those hopes and nebulous dreams rest out over the horizon, beyond the chop and spray of the slate-gray sea that crashes at our feet. We know not how to reach those dreams; we know only that we must try.

From the moment I figured out how to operate a crayon, I started writing stories to fill a fantasy world of my own creation. I dreamed of sharing that world, of bringing it to life in the imagination of readers and movie-goers. And I dreamed of building my own life in Paris - the city that most nourished my creativity. But the real world always seemed to send its own monsters to resist and throw me off my route.

This is the story of how I launched myself into the sea, time and time again - how my early attempts at charting a course in the real world failed, my hopes of making a living as a creative in Paris floundering, cracking beneath me, and sinking below the waves. It’s a story of perseverance, of picking up the pieces, rebuilding my raft, and plotting another new course. There is no map in here for others to follow, but if I can make it this far out into the Sea of the Unknown and live to tell the tale, then so can you.

Jay Swanson is an American author and YouTuber living in Paris, France. His videos on YouTube have racked up over seven million views with his guides to Paris most popular among them. This book follows Jay's journey back to Paris, from the recession of 2008 through volunteering on a hospital ship in West Africa to traveling around the United States as a consultant (a lifestyle frighteningly similar to George Clooney's in Up in the Air).