Excitement And Life Goals

This has been an exciting couple of weeks. And not necessarily “exciting” in a good way. I don’t just mean what’s happened in the news since my last post. Seems like every time we build our worlds up, something comes along to knock them back down. And right now, the worlds around me are doing a fantastic impression of dominoes, falling one after another. The aftershocks are intense.

Creatively, I’ve had excitement, too. The good kind. The Kickstarter backer-exclusive bonus story went out. I’ve finished, edited, and signed a contract for the story that will be published in the anthology. Heady stuff.

And I plan to be at Readercon in July. Anyone else going?

In my time off from the day job, I’ve been able to focus my time and energy on writing. It’s been a wonderful renewal of conviction for one of my biggest life goals: spending every day doing something I love and am passionate about. Without worrying about a paycheck.

Oh, reality. How I wish I could sometimes live without you. Particularly when you come bearing bills. And Crises.

But life goals. It’s funny when you accomplish them, even in part. (I like the recurring kind of life goal — the one you can reach over and over again.) They always seem like things I won’t know if I’ve accomplished until the end of my life. Except I’m 27, and I think I’ve already got a decent start. I don’t always realize them until they’ve started to happen, but here are a few I’m conscious of:

• I want to inspire people, especially to push boundaries and take risks. Case in point: my 15-year-old niece discovering a sudden desire to visit Ecuador.
• To be mistaken as a local of any country I travel to. Sometimes — like my trips to Japan — I can only manage to sound like a local, but I’ll take what I can get. Even in Ecuador, with my Spanish skills so rusty I’m not sure they’re even at survival-level, I had people complimenting my pronunciation, or asking where I was from…in Ecuador. It’s amazing how people see what they want to see, but that’s a whole other post.
• To see as much of the world as possible
• And, of course, I want to live my life in stories and creativity. Lately, it feels like I might finally have  a start on that, too.

Happy May Day!