Points North

So, OK, a full week after going back to work, I've finally changed the name of my blog. "Unemployed in Seattle" is no more (at least for the moment); in its place we have "Points North."

Why "Points North?" Well, first of all, I just like the way it sounds. But also because I think it captures what will be the blog's new focus.

See, I originally intended this blog to be a chronicle of jobhunting in the neo-Depression era; I thought it was a great idea for a blog; and when I got so peremptorily re-hired it was kind of a staggering blow. Yes, I'll take the money, and thank you very much, eating is a wonderful thing--but what on Earth should I write about now? True, the other crisis in my life, Sara's mom's cancer, is still ongoing, but I can't very well name the blog after THAT, and really, I don't want this space to become just a diary of my personal life. Over this last week re-employment has sunk in: my days have become normalized around the eight or ten hour bloc of hypnotic work; I don't have much energy left over afterwards. From a person full of panic and energy I've suddenly reverted to being a boring drone. What would the diary of such a person even be about? What, in such a life, is WORTH writing about?

Over the last week I toyed with alternate focuses for the blog, like making it political, or devoting it to reviews of Seattle cultural events (not that I've had time to go to any)...

But here's the thing: I'm not done. This success--getting rehired at another tech writing job--is not the be-all and end-all of my ambition. I am, first and foremost, an aspiring writer with a novel in progress, and despite derailing blows of every kind, that have shunted it aside these last two or three months, I remain defiantly on track with my goal of finishing it by the end of the year. Then, as regards my "career," I still intend to assault the fortress of freelance writing. I don't know how it's done, but I want to prove to myself that I'm capable of getting a byline for even one actual, literate article in a subject I enjoy. Finally, and this ties in with the above, Sara and I both want a life with more travel in it.

My life is still a crazy place, dominated by looming death, shaky finances, and emergency patches of every kind to keep it afloat. But in all respects my compass is still pointed North. I want to somehow get, in the face of all odds, from Here to There. And that's what this blog is going to be about.