Travel Writing

I signed up for an online travel writing course through a local university back in January, and I'm almost halfway through at this point. I've taken a few online writing courses so far: an editing one, one on writing mystery novels, and another on romances. This travel writing one was next on my list, and I've been eyeing it all fall. Money kept me from signing up right away. A pair of part time jobs at minimum wage doesn't pay much, and expensive dog food for Grace's sensitive stomach takes a toll on my wallet.

Near the end of December and just before Christmas, I caught "Eat, Pray, Love" on one of the movie channels. I'd been meaning to watch it eventually because the movie trailer back when it first came out intrigued me. Plus I'm also a fan of Javier Bardem. I thought it'd be a fun, light movie to kill a couple hours. And it was, to a point. 

"Eat, Pray, Love" is based on a memoir written by Elizabeth Gilbert and follows her yearlong travels in Italy, India, and Bali. She learns to deal with her divorce, her spirituality, and falling in love again. The movie wasn't an Oscar contender, and it won't go down in the history of cinema for being one of the best movies of all time. 

But "Eat, Pray, Love" resonated with me. I'm not going through the same kinds of challenges Elizabeth Gilbert faced; I'm not looking to heal from a broken relationship or find inner peace. My hurdles amount to finding a stable career, producing publishable written work, and venturing out to find my place in the world. None of those are small feats, to be sure, however even the biggest challenges can be chipped away with small steps. 

So I signed up for the travel writing class. I don't regret that or the money spent on tuition, even though I often feel frustrated with the lack of actual writing assignments and any substantial/critical feedback from the other students. I'm learning. That's what's important. 

The assignment for this past Wednesday was to list the places I'd like to visit and to write about. The instructor suggested about 50 places, to include places both realistic in the near future and dream locations, and to post the list somewhere I'd see it every day. 

My list hit 75 places because I just kept coming up with more and more. These are places I know I'll visit some day and others I know I'll be able to visit in the next couple of years. Just looking at this list gets me excited at the possibilities. And I can't wait until I can start crossing places off of it. 

1.       Gettysburg, PA

2.       Brisbane, Australia

3.       Sydney, Australia

4.       New Zealand

5.       Hawaii

6.       London, England

7.       Budapest, Hungary

8.       Dublin, Ireland

9.       Glasgow, Scotland

10.   Edinburgh, Scotland

11.   Barcelona, Spain

12.   Seville, Spain

13.   Athens, Greece

14.   Paris, France

15.   Normandy, France

16.   Charlotte, NC

17.   Talladega, AL

18.   San Diego, CA

19.   Los Angeles, CA

20.   Las Vegas, NV

21.   Seattle, Washington

22.   Maine

23.   Daytona Beach, Florida

24.   New Orleans, LA

25.   Newfoundland, Canada

26.   Vicksburg, MS

27.   Quebec, Canada

28.   Niagara Falls

29.   Grand Canyon

30.   St. Maarten

31.   San Juan, Puerto Rico

32.   Calgary, Canada

33.   Dracula’s Castle

34.   Inverness, Scotland

35.   Charleston, SC

36.   Darlington, SC

37.   Outer Banks, NC

38.   Columbus, OH

39.   Richmond, VA

40.   Savannah, GA

41.   Newport, RI

42.   Hyannis, MA

43.   Edith Wharton House, MA

44.   Philadelphia, PA

45.   Gold Coast, Australia

46.   Salem, MA

47.   Japan

48.   Stockholm, Sweden

49.   Watkins Glen, NY

50.   Mount Rushmore

51.   The Australian Outback

52.   Bristol, TN

53.   Nashville, TN

54.   Memphis, TN

55.   Mount Vernon

56.   Casper, WY

57.   Appomattox Court House, VA

58.   Virginia Beach, VA

59.   Rome, Italy

60.   Sorrento, Italy

61.   Florence, Italy

62.   Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius

63.   Venice, Italy

64.   Costa Del Sol, Spain

65.   Buenos Aires, Argentina

66.   Montana

67.   San Antonio, TX

68.   Martinsville/Ridgeway, VA

69.   Concord, NC

70.   Hershey, PA

71.   Erie, PA

72.   Florida Keys

73.   Canary Islands

74.   Fort Lauderdale, FL

75.   Miami, FL

Resolutions for 2013

            I make New Year’s Resolutions every year, and every year my momentum seems to fizzle out between February and April. I come up with excuses not to follow through. Last year my two resolutions met the same fate. 

The first resolution of 2012 was to work on my novel for an hour a day and then on short stories for another hour. I did really well gluing my butt to my chair and staying off the internet the whole time until I started feeling the guilt of working on personal things rather than schoolwork. I convinced myself that I would have plenty of time to write after graduation. And so that resolution failed.

            My second resolution was to run a 5k. I started out really well, running the loop around the Hollins University campus for about two and a half months. I got to the point where I could run for four minutes straight. But then I got out of my routine after Spring Break. I stopped making myself change into my running clothes, stretch, and head outside into the chilly spring air.

            So, what’s going to make my 2013 resolutions any different from those of 2012? I’m not longer a college student living in Virginia, and I’m currently struggling to stand on my own two feet financially thanks to two minimum wage part time jobs. I am also looking at the world in a different way right now. I’m a grown-up even if I haven’t quite come to terms with that reality.

            The world is mine to conquer as long as I put in the effort. I don’t want to look back and feel regret for the things I didn’t do.  

New Year’s Resolutions for 2013

1. Write for at least two hours a day: Ideally I’d like to work on my novel for an hour and then use the second hour to work on articles for publication in the local paper or in other local interest publications

2. Project 365: A good friend of mine did the 365 Day Photo Project last year as part of her New Year’s Resolution, and she did really well with it. I always loved seeing the pictures she posted for it. I did a shorter version for the final 100 days of my college career last spring. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to create a new blog to post the pictures or to post them on Facebook.

3. Visit Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: This year is the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg which occurred July 1-3, 1863. I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I won’t be able to afford a trip to the battlefield for the actual battle anniversary. It would probably be way too crowed for me to really enjoy the experience anyway. But the anniversary celebration will probably be a yearlong event, and I can enjoy it just as much during a September visit. Plus it won’t be as hot.

4. Get Healthy: I don’t like thinking about what’s in the stuff I eat. My family has never been big on eating healthy. The nature of fending for ourselves meant eating a lot of frozen food from the freezer. So this year I’m going to eat more salads, chicken, and keep an eye on how much I eat. I’d also like to start exercising. Maybe walking the neighborhood with Grace and using my brother’s weights downstairs. I’d also like to make a doctor’s appointment. I haven’t been since before college, and I think I’m long overdue.  

5. Find a full time job: I’m getting tired of working two part time jobs and not seeming to get anywhere. Now the challenge will be convincing employers to hire me.

6. Put away a sizeable chunk of money toward National K-9 School for Dog Trainers: I will become a dog trainer. That’s what I want to do with my life, and I can see loving pretty much every moment of that career. For right now, I just need to keep plugging along and putting a few hundred dollars away toward it every month.

Resolutions for Grace

1. Daily Training: I’ve lost the time I had for Grace thanks to the two part time jobs, and I’ve noticed how that lack of training has impacted her. So I’m going to make it a goal to spend at least thirty minutes every day working with her on things ranging from obedience to clipping her nails to tricks.

2. Sharing the House: Grace has become very territorial at home when people come inside the house. I know I’m to blame for this because I haven’t had anyone in and out to expose her to that. So I, and the whole family, will be working on having people over at least once every week and teaching Grace that the house belongs to us, not her.

3. Visit the Beach: I live about half an hour from the beach, and I don’t usually venture out there to enjoy it. But I’d like to take Grace. I know she’d love it, and it would be a fantastic teaching moment. She could have the opportunity to show even more people how polite and good I know she is capable of being.

            So here’s a toast to the year 2013. May yours be happy, successful, and full of good memories. Happy New Year, everyone. 

Sense of Space

                The thermostat in my room read 64.5 degrees at six this morning. I wanted to crawl back under my flannel sheets as soon as my feet touched the carpet. I dressed in a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and jeans before putting on my parka, jacket, gloves, and hat before taking Grace out. Despite all those layers, the cold permeated my jeans and clung to the fabric against my skin.

                That cold got me thinking while I drove home after dropping Grace off at doggy day care. My mind returned to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and their constant presence at the edge of the Hollins University campus. It journeyed back over a year to the expanse of road and land around me as I drove away from Charlotte, North Carolina. All the while in the present, I drove down a two-lane road with frost-covered houses and trees crowding the gutter on either side of me.

                I’ve always been a touch claustrophobic while in crowds. But I didn’t realize the nervousness and tension applied to the physical world around me until I stood at the top of a hill on campus and looked at the buildings below, the mountains encircling me, and the wide open sky above.

I miss that sense of space.

                Even now as I type this entry and look out my window my view is crowded by the leafless trees in the swamp across the street. And the trees’ sharp branches scratch the sky, blocking any hope of seeing the openness I came to love in Virginia.

                I admire the charm of New England’s old homes and the diversity in their architecture, but the houses sit close together on small plots of land. A few sit back away from the road, at the end of long, winding driveways which lead into the woods. But the streets I drive through my hometown and the surrounding ones still feel small.

                At least once a week, I think about packing up the car and the dog. I’d drive west along I-84 until I hit Scranton, Pennsylvania and then pick up I-81 for a ride all the way down through southwest Virginia. Then branch off that south of Blacksburg, near Wytheville, onto I-77 and head straight for Charlotte.

                It wouldn’t take the whole drive south to ease the tension hovering in my muscles and bones. There’s a section of 81 in Pennsylvania where the mountains on one side of the highway give way and reveal the valley below. The mountains surround the town in the valley much like the sides of a bowl around the base. And the blue sky seems to stretch above and around the valley for miles.

                Whenever I drove this stretch of highway on my way to or from school, calm resonated outward from the deepest part of my chest. I would feel at peace.

                But the promise of the south and its expanse of space aren’t enough to uproot me right now. Responsibility always breaks that daydream. My savings account isn’t exactly full right now and what about a job to bring money in? I’ve had a hard enough time finding part time work here in Massachusetts, and even that isn’t coming close to paying my loan payments and for Grace.

                Responsibility also reminds me about my plan to attend dog trainer school at National K-9 in Ohio. I know that I’ll love being a dog trainer and that it’s a career I can take wherever I want to live. I’m budgeting just over $10,000 for tuition, housing, and expenses. I already have a quarter of the money, but saving is slow going. I can only afford to put a few hundred away toward it a month. Being me, I did the math and figured out that it’ll take me a couple years to get there. I also have to save for a German Shepherd Dog to take with me and train while there; well-bred shepherds aren’t cheap.

                I’m impatient. I also feel guilty about admitting to being impatient. I hear news stories every day about the unemployment rate in the country, and I think that I should be grateful to have two part time jobs. I should be thankful that I’m getting around thirty hours a week between the two jobs. Heck, I’ve even heard that I shouldn’t get on my employers’ bad sides by cutting hours one place to work at the other because of the flailing job market.

                I’m done feeling guilty. I shouldn’t have to feel bad for being dissatisfied with my jobs because I’m not making enough money to support myself. I shouldn’t have to put a smile on my face when I’m told for the twentieth time that I’m way overqualified for the position I applied for or the job I have.

                I’m tired of waiting in cold, claustrophobic Massachusetts. I want warm weather, my own apartment with Grace, and a job that’ll actually pay my bills. But what I want most of all, with every fiber inside of me, is the calmness I felt when I stood at the top of the Hollins campus and looked out at the mountains and the open sky.  I want to feel free.