Way back in the future...

"I moved to California when I was 24".

Someday I'll utter these words in nostalgic remembrance, preferably at some question and answer session--which I will audibly laud as terrifying but will secretly relish in despite my extreme social anxiety--in anticipation of the fourth book of my series or some such. I'll be answering some question like "How did you get started?" or "When did you really get into writing your first book?" or maybe even "When did your authorial life begin?". Some audience member will ask it in quiet earnest, possibly someone who wants to be an author themselves, and is at the time drowning in ideas that they placate in the form of various AU fanfictions of my characters. I'll tell them I moved to California when I was 24, just after I finished college earning two degrees which have nothing to do with what I'm making a living doing.

 I'll mean it as a caveat and as encouragement. This person may be a middle-aged mother of two who reads my books to escape back to her younger years, or it might be a 15 year old boy who spends his every waking hour (even on his phone at school) on tumblr or whatever site is the big deal at the time, flailing about the release of my book which is the ultimate reason for this gathering. I'll tell them I couldn't decide what the hell I wanted to do with my life until way too late, and not late enough. I'll tell them I just knew my life would start when I escaped Texas. And maybe I'll let them know I relied a little too much on the intangible and yet very real thing of just "getting out"; that I bought into the idea that if you can just get out, escape, get on the road, then things will fall into place. I'll tell them I rationally kept in the back of my mind the warning that this only happens in coming-of-age novels that sometimes end up as bestsellers (such as -hopefully- my own), but also sometimes end up in the bargain bin about a month after publication.

However, I will tell them that this shouldn't deter them from holding fast to the "get out" idea, if they so wish to adopt it in the first place. It's an infectious thing--it can make you happier just thinking about it. It works for me. I know I'm going to have a hard time at first, finding a job and settling in and everything, but to me its worth it. And that's what matters.

And also it will be nice to say "I moved to California when I was 24" someday. Because it will sound like that's when my life began, and in a way, it will be.