I have officially now lived in Buffalo for 9 years....and I still feel like a visitor here. This town will never be home to me, no matter how long I stay. It's not a bad place to live, and there are aspects of its history that are interesting, but my home is LA. After that -- London. After that -- San Antonio.
I live here because this is where I can make enough of a living to pay off my debts and still be able to help my youngest brother. I don't leave because I travel a great deal so don't have the length of stay needed to grow irritable enough to pull up roots and go. I remain because there is nothing interesting enough for me to do to take me away from my writing...and I have written a lot.
I've published 5 books, republished 4 more, written 6 screenplays and slowly advanced my work on APoS. I've been able to travel to Ireland on several occasions to do research, often as a tail-end part of a packing job in the UK, and I've been to cities and countries I never would have gone to on my own. But for all of this I feel like I'm merely treading water, not advancing.
I also feel somewhat isolated. I've always been the type who prefers being alone, but even the most solitary person needs human contact now and then, and I don't have there here...outside of the people I work with. I never have made friends easily, and there's no one I'm even remotely interested in becoming friends with in this part of the world. Too many upstate rednecks are everywhere.
I'm in a comfortable space, however. My apartment's small but well-situated, relatively speaking. Toronto's not far away, and Niagara Falls is a fun place to visit...on the Canadian side. I'm not really bugged by the winters, and my car's doing all right even as it begins to get rusty...not surprising since I've had it for 20 years. But I am in the early stages of feeling restless.
Thing is, I don't want to move unless it's to an area of Ireland where I can work on APoS as well as Darian's Point, Return to Darian's Point, the beginning of the Darian's Point trilogy, and even Wide New World, all set in Ireland. Would that be Galway? Someplace in County Donegal, like Letterkenny or Buncrana? Maybe live in Derry for a while? I don't know.
I'm just feeling restless...
I live here because this is where I can make enough of a living to pay off my debts and still be able to help my youngest brother. I don't leave because I travel a great deal so don't have the length of stay needed to grow irritable enough to pull up roots and go. I remain because there is nothing interesting enough for me to do to take me away from my writing...and I have written a lot.
I've published 5 books, republished 4 more, written 6 screenplays and slowly advanced my work on APoS. I've been able to travel to Ireland on several occasions to do research, often as a tail-end part of a packing job in the UK, and I've been to cities and countries I never would have gone to on my own. But for all of this I feel like I'm merely treading water, not advancing.
I also feel somewhat isolated. I've always been the type who prefers being alone, but even the most solitary person needs human contact now and then, and I don't have there here...outside of the people I work with. I never have made friends easily, and there's no one I'm even remotely interested in becoming friends with in this part of the world. Too many upstate rednecks are everywhere.
I'm in a comfortable space, however. My apartment's small but well-situated, relatively speaking. Toronto's not far away, and Niagara Falls is a fun place to visit...on the Canadian side. I'm not really bugged by the winters, and my car's doing all right even as it begins to get rusty...not surprising since I've had it for 20 years. But I am in the early stages of feeling restless.
Thing is, I don't want to move unless it's to an area of Ireland where I can work on APoS as well as Darian's Point, Return to Darian's Point, the beginning of the Darian's Point trilogy, and even Wide New World, all set in Ireland. Would that be Galway? Someplace in County Donegal, like Letterkenny or Buncrana? Maybe live in Derry for a while? I don't know.
I'm just feeling restless...
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