Let me start by saying that I love my new house. Fall is here, the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and I cannot say how much I adore watching the season’s approach from my backyard. I do not regret buying my place, no matter how much chaos my finances are in currently.
However, this weekend I got into a serious funk, unwilling to deal with anything that smacked of being responsible. I felt like a complete failure.
I figured out the reasons for this:
1—I haven’t sold my condo. Because I take an active approach, I feel like I failed. Mind you, I know logically that I did everything possible to sell it. I had a good agent. He had open houses every other weekend. I had several nibbles, people coming back to see the place more than once, but no bites. But there are some problems with my building — see below.
2—A year ago this past weekend I left Seattle for New Orleans. It was a Big Adventure. I don’t have any Big Adventures planned at this point. I know where I’m going to be in a year. I am settling into a routine with my life.
3—I’m in the first year of serious long-term planning, re: my burgeoning publishing empire. It’s all baby steps and slow.
So to deal with these things, here’s my plan:
For #1: My building is currently on the verge of a law suit and there’s massive construction going on that involves the foundation of the building. So I’ve decided to put my condo up for rent for the next 12-18 months — putting it back on the market come 2013. Hopefully the economy will be better, all the building’s problems finished, and I’ll be able to sell it at that point. (Here’s a link to the Craigslist ad.)
For #2: I need to plan the next Big Adventure. I need to get out of the country next year. I haven’t been able to plan such a thing (see not selling the condo and being extremely house broke, above.) I was initially thinking that almost every penny I made from rent would go onto the mortgage. Now I’m thinking that I’m going to take a couple of months rent and put it into the Big Adventure fund. I don’t know where I’m going, or what I’ll be doing, but I need to go somewhere for a couple of weeks, where I don’t speak the language and I don’t know the area and I have to figure out everything on my own. I define myself as Writer/Traveler for a reason. Both halves are extremely important, and are essential to my soul.
For #3: Celebrate the teeny, tiny victories. Don’t discount them. Sure, I’m only making 1-2 sales a week with the electronic stories. Remember, I’ve only had them up for three weeks. 1-2 sales a week in these circumstances is not bad. Take chill pill, relax and celebrate each and every one of these. Everything that I’m doing is important. I’m laying the foundation for more grand things to come. Small is not bad. From small beginnings great things can grow.
As a child, Jolene learned she had a gift. She could see people’s fates: they appeared as a golden charm around the person’s neck. She didn’t want her gift, though. She just wanted a normal life—a job, a husband, and kids. Three years later, Jolene can’t get pregnant. What kind of strange beings in the creole fairy court must she deal with? What does she sacrifice to make her dreams come true?
