Incipit vita nova

Today is a big day for me. After more than six years, I finally gave up my job at Blip. It wasn't easy to make the decision to leave – it's a great place to work, and I will miss my friends and colleagues there enormously. However, I have big plans.

As of today, I am now unemployed. I am not, however, unoccupied. The goal of giving up my job was to take some months off to work on my own projects, primarily writing, travel and photography. This is something that I've been dreaming about for a long time. The catalyst that made it finally happen was being accepted to the Clarion Writer's Workshop. I had applied without any real expectation that I would be accepted. When the email came saying "You're in", I realized that it was time to make some major changes. For anyone who wants to write speculative fiction, Clarion is a big deal. It wasn't an opportunity that I could let pass.

So in some senses, today is the beginning of a new life for me. I'm not exactly trying to reinvent myself, but I am giving myself the time and space to try new things, to learn new skills and to really work at the things that I enjoy doing. Getting accepted to Clarion feels as if I successfully walked a tightrope – I'm proud of the achievement, but it's a beginning rather than an end. When I look up, there are dozens upon dozens of other tightropes, all of them higher and longer, and I have to walk them all if I want to arrive anywhere. That realization is both frightening and exhilarating.

So the next few months of my life are going to be about saying 'yes' to all opportunities, and trying new things, and re-doing old ones, and pushing myself as hard as I can, and not hiding from things that seem scary. It's exciting, it's terrifying, it begins right now.

On Tuesday, I fly to Eastern Europe for a vacation. At the end of June, I fly to San Diego for Clarion. After that, my plans are still in flux, but if everything goes as I hope it will, there'll be more words, more pictures, more countries, and more adventures.

I aim to misbehave.