A week ago Katrina and I packed all of our possessions into boxes and flew across the country. After spending most of my adult life in Pittsburgh, I finally said goodbye to the place where I forged my greatest memories – not to mention my entire sense of self.
Some things in Pittsburgh were easy to say goodbye too. Others were not so easy. But when opportunity knocks, you answer and let it come in and drag you to Iowa.
The opportunity in question is a job that pays Katrina enough that I don’t technically need to get a traditional “job” job unless I get bored. So instead I have an opportunity of my own. The thought of leaving the big city behind to move out to the midwest scared the hell out of me, but I saw this as an opportunity and not a course.
I have the opportunity to spend all of my free time – which just so happens to be all of my time – doing the things I want to do. The things I love to do.
I am going to write my weird books, make some games, shoot a movie about cats in space but do it with puppets. This are all things I could’ve done in Pittsburgh, but I was burdened by my day job. Waking up early every day and commuting all the way across town just to make someone else’s life better and then get home barely before dark doesn’t really leave me with a lot of time or energy to work on creative projects. It took me a whole year to write Geeky Baby Names – which is barely a hundred pages of names – just because it was all I could get done before falling asleep from exhaustion.
We will only be in Iowa for about 8 months, but if I can self publish a book in 12 while working nine to five just imagine the what I can get done in 8 months with no job.