December 18th, 2009
"Changes Ahead"
After ten months in the country, my goal for Australia - the completion of my manuscript - came down to the wire. Since October, my writing weeks had elongated to 60+ hours each. Faced with a self-imposed deadline, my final week was chaos: a mad dash of writing bracketed by glossy-eyed 4am nights and squinting 8am mornings, mixed with the selling of furniture, cleaning and moving out of our flat, and packing my life back into two suitcases.
Despite the rushed ending, the past half year was nice. Rebecca and I saw my closest friend get married in San Francisco, took a trip to Tasmania, and enjoyed the early days of a warm and sunny Australian summer.
Four flights and 36 hours of travel landed me in Minnesota. My first full day there, it was 100F (38C) in the city I left behind, and -6F (-21C) in the city where I ended up. Arriving without a jacket made the transition even more abrupt than need be. A warm house and a bright white layer of snow outside made the change worthwhile, however - as did the impending feel of Christmas that Australia utterly lacked.
The manuscript, finished on my final evening in Australia, clocks in at 244,700 words (33 chapters and 600 pages). It was an exhausting and emotional end. By the end, the keys on my “new” laptop were polished and shiny, and a patch of varnish was worn off our ex-kitchen table on the spot where I navigated my wireless mouse (and Windows users take note: not one Mac crash nor a word lost all year). This draft was much more work than I’d anticipated, and while I recognize that it’s not a work of literary genius, it’s something, and I’m happy with that. I had hoped to get this far in a matter of months, but no matter; writing, I found, is a lot of work, even with dedicated effort.
Now I need a break - a day or two (or ten) to wake up and not think about writing.
And? The book project is shelved for a while (it needs major revision and another half year of work before it can begin to morph into printable form). I’m in Minnesota for a quick week, then off to England to spend the holidays with my girlfriend’s family in the West Midlands. Two weeks later, we are off to India for a half year. All good, all exciting.
And then? I don’t know.
The idealist in me continues to be challenged with the question: how does one combine a life of whimsy, romance, and diversion with the realities of the modern world? I seem to be doing pretty well so far, but I haven’t yet established - at age 33 - the degree of stability I imagined I’d have figured out a decade ago. Good or bad? A mix of both, mostly good. 2010 promises some interesting changes.
Updates will begin to appear more regularly now. Six months in the subcontinent should provide good fodder for some interesting stories, as will sharing the experience with someone (Rebecca) who’s neither been to India nor travelled anywhere for longer than a few short weeks. It's going to be fun!
"Even in a personal sense, after all, art is an intensified life."
(Thomas Mann)
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.