In other news, it was my birthday last month, which means that I have managed to survive yet another orbit around our mid-class yellow star. It means that I have advanced a year further in my life, and this, more than anything, demands a moment of reflection:
I am now 29.
Anyway, having successfully completed my SIDAS Active English Weeks questline earlier this year, I returned to Malta to rest and recuperate. This coming winter, I’d been hoping to journey to Asia, but it looks like I’ll have to put that adventure on hold for a couple of years, due to other demands. I’m a firm believer in writing down goals, putting them into action, and creating accountability, so I’m just going to take advantage of this super public platform to tell you all about my deepest, most personal dreams and fears. Without further ado, here are the questlines I’ll be tackling at Level 29.
Secure my place in a masters’ program for graphic design
To do this, I first need to completely revamp my portfolio. Luckily, I’ve been doing a fair bit of design work in the past couple of years as part of projects with NGOs, so I’ve got most of the work to go in the portfolio. It’s just a matter of whipping it into shape, going through the application processes and hoping that I can manage funding once I find a program that fits.
Complete a draft of Novel Number Three
I’ve already written two novels, and I’m working on a third, so here’s hoping that I can finish a full draft of it before hitting Level 30. I’d also like to do more short stories, so that I’ll at least have a body of work that I can figure out what to do with.
Query my 1st novel (and hopefully secure an agent and a publisher)
I’ve already started this one, but unfortunately, it’s always a long and taxing process. Even if I manage to find an agent for my work this year, it’s unlikely that anything will be put into print until 2018. Still, I think it’s worth it to try to capture the attention of a major publisher, as it minimizes the amount of work that you as an author have to do in order to find more readers.
Start building my own author platform and releasing short work online
That said, I do think it’s super important to engage with readers however you can, and so I’m also hoping to release some of my work as webfiction. I’m hoping to do this via an author blog in conjunction with a Patreon. Keep an eye on this space if you might be interested in some world-bending fiction in the near future.
Spend a semester teaching English in a new city
Because let’s face it: I’m not giving up on the traveling and teaching any time soon!
In any case, as you can probably tell, I’m really hoping to use this year to buckle down on my writing aspirations. I’m also, of course, going to continue writing about TEFL and traveling, so keep watching, and stick with me while I figure out my next steps on these epic quests.
The Venture 