I have a couple of work friends who have been trying to get me to go to Burning Man in 2012, primarily because the experience will, “change my life.”
That was why I decided I wouldn’t go in 2012. Maybe 2013. But not next year.
When I sat down and thought about it, I realized that in the past 18 months I’ve done five things that have changed my life. At this point, I think spending a year or so on the same course, figuring out the new normal, would probably be good for me.
Will I go in 2013? Probably. At that point I’ll be ready for another change.
1) Someone pointed out Dean Wesley Smith’s series of posts on Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing. I recall that they thought he was being an idiot, but the snippet this person provided didn’t sound idiotic to me, so I went and read Dean’s blog. I got angry, really, really angry, both at him and at myself for about a week, because I had believed so many of those myths. Eventually I got over myself and started learning. Which lead me to Kris Rusch’s blog, The Freelancer’s Survival Guide and that started me rethinking my writing career, what I wanted to do, how to achieve those things. That one link led mt to change almost everything about my writing career, changes that are continuing to happen.
2) I discovered Primal Blueprint. I had cut all grains out of my cat’s diet, and the change in her was remarkable (coat changed from scraggly to bunny soft, and her energy levels went through the roof.) So the suggestion that I cut all grain out of my diet wasn’t too far of a stretch. It has made an incredible difference in my health, in how I feel on a day-to-day basis. I wouldn’t go back to eating grains. I’d probably starve first. So this changed my diet completely.
3) I moved to New Orleans for 6 months. This was something I’d done deliberately, because I knew I needed to change my life a bit more. It was a shifting of course, not as much of a change. But by being in New Orleans, I learned how to pace myself, how to both have fun as well as have discipline, how to have friends and still write. This probably produced the least dramatic change, but it had far reaching ripples (still has.)
4) I bought a house. I’m still trying to figure out what the new normal is in regards to being a home owner. I’m in debt again with a mortgage, which I don’t like, but I love everything else. I have no regrets for buying this place. The house has brought about many changes — for example, I have a garden. I had no idea that I liked gardening, putzing around outside like that, but I do. Because I am outside in the garden, I then end up spending more time outside over all. That’s just one small change that’s part of an entire building worth of change in my life because of the house — not to mention the vacation rental I run out of the basement.
5) I took a class on self-publishing. This one & #1 could be considered one change (because the class was taught by Dean) but it really isn’t. The self publishing class gave me the push I needed to start putting everything online. It became part of the whole writing career change, but I think of them as two separate things. By taking that class I’ve self-published 25 things (2 novels, 2 anthologies, and 21 short stories.) I’m not making a ton of money, but I see an increase every month. I’m getting lovely reviews for short stories I’ve never been able to sell. I’ve had a blast. I feel so good about my writing and my writing career.