Greetings from the great white North.
Well, actually it’s pretty effing hot up here.
Yes, as you may have gathered from my dazzling Instagram, I am coming to you semi-live from Rochester, NY. The city built for living (or something) and also, home to my parents and siblings for the past ten years. I’m wandering through the streets getting hopped up on sublime coffee (Joe Bean is NOT messing around, people), and uncovering all sorts of local gems.
I’ll be here for a few weeks as I continue to work on the blog, look for freelance writing gigs, and take advantage of the city’s proximity to interesting places and super cheap airfare to JFK.
Morris is loving it. He and Molly (my dog, then my parents dog) are getting along famously, and although he doesn’t know what my family’s cats ARE, he seems to like them well enough. We’ve been hiking and exploring, eating and drinking my parents out of house and home and all around, having a wonderful time.
So what’s this travel essayist hooplah all about?
Did I fool some magazine or publication to putting my awkward sense of humor and occasional profanities on display?
….no! I didn’t.
I made it up!
I made it up, guys!
I tried to put a label on what my particular brand of writing is, and I think that’s it. I’m an essayist. My long and tedious blog posts aren’t articles or quips, they’re essays! The idea came brilliantly to me the other day, ironically, as I was writing a piece about declaring what you are.
I’ve been calling myself an aspiring travel writer/writer/adventurer for years. I’ve been traveling for years. Then, inspired by my conference with Liz Gilbert back in May, I realized I’m not aspiring to be anything. I AM a travel writer/writer/adventurer!
I write more than I eat or drink water on a daily basis. I wake up, I write. I write before I go to sleep. I’m always thinking of where I want to go next, how what I’m experiencing could translate into a great story.
In the past two years, I’ve been to Iceland, Spain, France, Germany, Asheville, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Norfolk, Wilmington, Savannah. This blog currently has 200+ posts on it!
I mean, yeah. That’ll do it. I’m a travel essayist. Curiosity is my business, adventure is my office space.
So what I’d like for you to take from this caffeine induced post is the inspiration to call yourself whatever it is YOU are. No more aspiring! Define yourself. Live by it. Find a way to support it, and remember something (another Gilbert-ism) really important about following your dreams: No one ever promised you’d get it right the first time.
(Also, if LinkedIn says it, it must be true! See below!)
