What’s the Origin Story of The Last Deliver Driver?

Hi, my name’s Chris Kelley. I’m the creator and co-author of The Last Delivery Driver.

The main objective of this post is to give a little context to the story — novel The Last Delivery Driver: Broken Fences, which is now available on Amazon.

The idea and origin story of the Last Delivery Driver dates back to 2016. I was working on a food delivery start-up that I founded called Spoonr, imagining what it would be like to deliver in the future. Fascinated with the new technologies of rideshare and the rise of on-demand platforms, I imagined a future where drones, AI, and robotics had overtaken many roles in society.

I thought, what would this world look like? What would it be like to be one of the last humans, doing the work I was involved in driving and delivering.  

A Story Emerges

On Christmas of 2015, I received the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. My mom gifted a used copy to me. It’s a guide to cultivating creativity and personal growth. With the new guidebook, I focused on journaling each day as prescribed in the guide. It was an important goal to improve my writing and communication skills. Six years later, I’ve stayed committed to the oath I took (see image), and nearly every day, I reflect in a journal. I now have stacks of journals covering each day.   

With the newfound habit of writing in 2016, I carried an enthusiasm for storytelling that I haven’t let go of. 

The notes, the idea, and the story of LDD were all tiny seeds. I knew if I was going to see out my vision, I was in for a lot of work. First of which was to become a better storyteller. I had never written anything besides a short story in college, so I began to train myself as a writer.

Taking my Pen, Pad, and Story Back to School

In the fall of 2016, I enrolled in a class at Rice’s Continuing Education Program called Publishing Your Story: Pathways and Pitfalls, taught by Alexis Glynn Latner. It covered the ways to publish for aspiring writers. It gave me a perspective on the new landscape and helped me understand my ultimately taken route, self-publishing.

“This is the most hopeful time in a generation to be a new writer.” — Alexis Glynn Latner.

I felt more confident I could pull it off but knew it would be a lot of work. I ended the year with a very rough draft with two chapters and loads of notes, diagrams, and sketches I’d been storing away.

A significant element of the Artist Way is the principle, “There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life – including ourselves.” After a year of work on The Last Delivery Driver, I got a sense of the creative potential I possessed. Its underlying nature was being nurtured, and it was a satisfying sensation. I formed a much better relationship between my inputs and outputs. It can be an intense flurry of information in today’s world with the internet, social media, and devices that never leave us. We become blocked or creatively constipated if we don’t create, build, or act. 

My big hurdle was getting over the fear of making something awful. I knew my first drafts were rough. But, I stayed with the guide’s advice. The critical action isn’t so much the words you’re putting down but that you are putting something down. That’s what the Artist’s Way Morning Pages taught me. You can put anything on them—they’re not meant for public showing, nor are they supposed to be art. Their point is to free you from your restraints and boundaries and stop taking the censor as the sole voice of reason and learn to hear it but not abide by it.