Oh yes, I'm here! I've been publishing all my blogs and work on my blogsite at AuthorKnown.com. After years unpublished manuscripts and a self-induced, self-motivated 7-day Author Challenge, I wrote and published a book on Amazon. First time ever!
If you haven't read that little book yet, I encourage you to because what I am about to share here is a continuation, Part 2 of A Glitch in the Mirror: The Illusionist's Truth.
Wabi-Sabi America
The Purpose of Brokenness
by Author Known
To Isaiah and Cupcake and everyone else—
You didn’t just support my work. You reminded me it had weight. Thank you for your gifts at BuyMeACoffee.
This book was never meant to be written—until you all made it clear that I had something worth saying.
To those who supported A Glitch in the Mirror, you lit the fuse.
To those who followed, funded, encouraged, or even just silently read—you’ve done more than you'll ever know.
To the seven-year-old boy inside me—You’re the one who whispered this whole thing into my ear. I heard you. I’m still listening.
“Nothing lasts. Nothing is finished. Nothing is perfect. And that’s beautiful.”
— Wabi-Sabi
Introduction
Welcome to the Glitch in the Mirror
I debated including the meaning of Wabi-Sabi here at the beginning. Then I thought, maybe it belongs at the end. In the end, something happened when I read the book summary to my friend. The summary didn’t mention the meaning of Wabi-Sabi. And when I asked her if she’d like me to explain it, she said no. She didn’t want me, or vocabulary, or even accuracy to distort what she had just felt from hearing the summary. She said the book told the meaning and she wanted to experience the meaning of Wabi-Sabi, not be told it.
If you don’t know what Wabi-Sabi is—if you’ve never heard of it—I urge you to read the Wabi-Sabi series, exclusive to Buy Me a Coffee readers until I publish it as a book. Discover the meaning through the lens of your own enlightenment experience. If patience isn’t your virtue and you simply must know now, you are, of course, one scroll away from the microwave version of the entire experience.
This is not a book about healing. I published this book because I realized I was living in the richest empire in human history—living like a king among queens, surrounded by fast food, faster Wi-Fi, high-resolution distractions, and high-functioning depression.
Everywhere I turn, people are full of things and starving for meaning. They are people full of opinions and bankrupt in wonder. They are those who are full of “followers” and alone in rooms that echo. We have more therapists than carpenters, more influencers than welders, and more curated lives than real ones. I’m not mad about it, I’m just—curious.
As if it could talk back, I asked the glitch in the mirror, “Why are we so obsessed with fixing everything, instead of letting it simply just mean something?”
The glitch didn’t answer me in English or spoken words, of course. It answered in silence: in rust, in dust. It answered in the chipped coffee mug I’ve refused to throw away for ten years and in the worn, rubberized safety grip of my grandfather’s old Craftsman hammer that he used to build the house he raised his family in. It answered in the scar on my forearm that no longer hurts, but still tells the truth. They certainly don’t make ‘em like they used to, but I digress. That’s when I found Wabi-Sabi. I didn’t find it in Japan, not in a Zen monastery, not even on a minimalist Pinterest board. I found it in a broken fence post on my Kentucky farm, where the imperfection itself was holding the post in place tighter than any screw could’ve done.
Wabi-Sabi is the art of seeing beauty in imperfection, and it’s more than that. It’s the philosophy that decay is not the end of value—it’s the beginning of reverence. It’s the idea that maybe we’re not meant to be shiny, maybe we’re meant to be seasoned. That maybe, just maybe, the soul was never supposed to be smooth.
I call this book Wabi-Sabi America not to suggest we’ve arrived—but to ask: “What if we stopped trying to be a masterpiece and started becoming a memory?” Not a legacy, not a brand, not a perfectly optimized routine. Just a memory. Handmade. Weathered. Worth something.
If you’re here to get fixed, turn back now. This book won’t glue your pieces back together. It’ll just point to the gold veins running through the glitches you already carry—and tell you they’re not proof of failure. They’re evidence that you lived.
Now, let’s walk slow. And let the wind whisper something holy.
Ready for Chapter 1? You'll have to let me know. Like Waldo, you'll have to find me and reach out. It is not difficult, I'm everywhere and nowhere in between. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Now all this writing made me thirsty and tired, I need some arabica.
...to be continued...
Stay tuned, next Wednesday at 8 pm sharp, 2000 hours Eastern Standard Time, I will publish Chapter 1 of 10. The Richest Beggar in the World. So until then, do a little homework, wouldja? Share this project with your friends, your contacts, your family and those who you know might need a little bit of gold filter for the cracks in their bowl. Here's an easy copy/paste message for you to post on your walls:
Hey friends! You ever hear about our experience those new shows on the tubes the aired every week and your entire week after each airing kept your anxiety levels high? Lemme tell you about this Wabi-Sabi America project by Author Known. Every Wednesday at 8 pm EST, a new chapter is published. They are short chapters and they lack some new, enlightening and, well, freakishly odd and pleasant at the same time. Go here, get caught up and get on the notification list. You'll be happy you did!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/authorknown/wabi-sabi-america
© 2025 Author Known. All rights reserved.