INTO THE GREAT WIDE OPEN
Joyce and I have been trying to figure out what we want to do for a while now. The past few months have been depressing. We have felt bored, unchallenged and lost. Everybody around us is settling in for the long haul to retirement. Their careers are set; they are buying frilly lamps and matching pillows. There is nothing wrong with this. I am just not there. Not by a long shot. My career is not set. I have no clue about what I want to do. I don’t want to buy a house –I still query the idea of owning land, but that is for another conversation.
I know I want to write, but I have no idea about the subject matter, audience, voice and how to make a living off it. Journalism in New Zealand is a nasty and poor business. No creativity at all.
We have decided the best thing to do is to head away and get some perspective. We are moving to Taiwan in November. We will teach English for a year in a village in Taiwan. We have been offered positions with a reputable language school and can make some good cash. I will continue to write freelance bits and pieces –perhaps some travel writing-and work on developing my craft.
There are a couple of ‘dream jobs’ that we have gone for in New Zealand. If we have no luck in the next week with them, we will book our tickets and discover Asia for a year.
Maybe we will be back at this same place in a year from now, but at least we will have saved up a lot of money for our wedding and at least we saw a new part of the world.
