*sob*
I'm not TWENTY-SOMETHING any more! I'm THIRTY! That's, like, a respectable age where I need to act like an adult, not wear t-shirts from high school, and start doing Adult Things. I have no clue what Adult Things are, but I have a vague idea that it involves working in a bank and wearing glasses.
By THIRTY a person should have their act together. You should have a house, and kids, or a husband, or a dog, or a career... oh. Wait. What's next?
This is not a rhetorical question, people, I have no idea what BEING THIRTY entails. If you asked me to write a book on the subject you'd get blank pages.
I'm not where I expected to be at thirty. When I was younger I planned on having my doctorate by 28. By 30 I was thinking I might have an apartment, a part-time boyfriend, and a lab filled with fish tanks. I expected to be thin, well educated, and buried in student debt.
Nowhere in my youthful daydreams did I imagine writing books. I wrote books when I was younger, but I didn't plan on being an Author. I still worry that some day the police are going to show up and arrest me impersonating a literate person. Authors are fancy people who can spell words like "marmalade" - or so I've been told - ... I got it on the first try. ;)The last year has been a whirlwind. About this time last year I found out I was expecting Baby #4 (big surprise!), we'd just moved, my husband had a new job, and I submitted my first non-short story for publication. Sure, I collected several rejection letters before EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE found a home at Breathless Press last December, but it was a big step.
In the past year I've published two original novellas, and put my short-story back list up for sale. I've had random people email me about my books. It's... flattering, and exciting, and intoxicating, and just a little bit weird to be honest. The first time someone tweeted me a picture saying, "Is this what your character looks like? I think this is him." and it wasn't someone I knew in person? That was priceless.
What does Year 30 have in store?
I honestly don't know. I'm working on finishing EVERY HERO NEEDS A VILLAIN and getting it out to my editor. Summer break slowed me down, a lot, that's life. I might finally kick JANE DOE out of the nest in search of an agent. I've coddled and babied that manuscript. It's a spoiled brat! I think it's time the pampered princess go out and earn her keep. You hear me, JANE? Get going! And, simmering on the back burner, I have another completed novel, set in the FEY LIGHTS universe, that needs a caring beta and a great publisher. That's coming too.
Year 30 is going to be busy! *throws the confetti* Happy birthday, me! You've done good.
Happy Birthday!!
ReplyDeleteBeing Thirty means continuing on from being Twenty-Nine. Honestly. There's no life-changing ways of thinking or doing anything. That comes gradually as you get older and learn from all the everyday occurrences we call Life.
As for being respectable and not wearing t-shirts from high school - pfft. If you can still wear the t-shirts, go ahead. Just don't be surprised if the young teenager crowd doesn't get the shirt references. Laugh with the people who do get them.
There's nothing that says being Adult means you can't have fun like the kids do. The only difference is that now we know what is potentially dangerous so we can avoid it. But aside from that, age really doesn't matter.
I don't know what it means to be 30, but I think having 4 kids is a great way to start. But I don't think sophistication is a requirement. At least, I hope not. Let me know. Cause if I need to be dignified once I'm 30, I want to know ahead of time.
ReplyDelete30 was so long ago...oh to be 30 again...every day is a life changing event. The decisions made today, even the small ones, shape what tomorrow brings. Enjoy your day, don't over think it, and above all, love life. You only get one.
ReplyDeleteI woke up one day this year and was 39. I still feel 28. Nothing changes but your volume of experiences. Just roll with it :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! And I still haven't met you in person ... maybe by the time we're 40? Nothing has changed much for me in my 30's except that I feel like I should be more responsible ...
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Liana. (I know I'm a day late. Blame 14+ hour work days at the day job.) I passed the big 3-0 milestone 5 years ago and I STILL have no clue where my life's going. I just roll with the punches as they come and hope to come out on the other side alive and with some new experience. Life is a journey.
ReplyDelete