PAN's Flea Bag

This is the perfect place for me to be creative. I first started working on my little project the year after I moved to D.C. It will hopefully become a full-length novel someday. It will hopefully be published. The story takes place here, the characters live here and many of the things that they find themselves going through, are inspired by my own experiences. The story, however, is not necessarily about me. My original thought was to try and capture the essence of my first year away from home, to make sure I don't forget, and to remind the people that were there with me. With time, the story began to divert from what it was originally meant to be, it came to life and became something of its own. I am still not sure what it will be once it is finished, but now, more than ever before - I am getting closer to the finish line. I am back in Washington D.C, just like I have been many times before. This time it is different. It is as if history is repeating itself, old questions are receiving answers and loose ends are being tied together. It is hard to explain, but it is almost as if the universe has somehow decided to present me with the ending for my book. I was here when I started writing, 5 years ago, and now I am here again to finish it. That is actually kind of perfect, isn't it?

 

Before moving here, I didn't have any stories. I wanted to write, I loved it, but I had nothing to write about. Moving to Washington D.C gave me the stories and experiences that I needed to get started, and it also taught me that we get our best stories from the people we surround ourselves with. I already know what my next book will be about, as well as the book after that. Every single person that I have ever met will be in my books somehow. Perhaps they won't have their own character and perhaps it won't be possible to recognize them, not all of them at least, but a small part of everyone is going to be in there. All those people have made an impression on me. Some have changed my life.

 

Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had not gone to the US that day in December 2007. If I had gone only one week later or a week earlier - everything would have been different. You see, when I first arrived, they brought me to a training school in NYC. I didn't know anyone, but one day, a tall Brazilian guy approached me. He became my friend for the days that we stayed there, and later, we ended up moving to the same city. Through him, I met all my other friends, and if it hadn't been for him, I would have probably never met my best friend. If I hadn't met my best friend, I would have never gone to Mexico, and I most definitely wouldn't have ended up living there for 3 years. I would have gone down a different path. Isn't that an interesting thought? If I had gone at a different time, my life would have never been what it is today. There would have been other stories than the ones I carry around now. Other people would have inspired the characters in my book. Or perhaps there wouldn't have been a book? Who knows. I do know, though, that if I had gone to the US on any other day, I would have been a very different person from the person that I am now. I will never know in what way I would have been different, but I know for a fact that nothing would have been the same. I look at the pictures posted above, all taken in the past couple of weeks, and I smile for the fact that I see the same people there that I surrounded myself with back in 2008. Same kids, same friends. Who knew that December 3rd, 2007, would be the start of all this? This year is when I complete the puzzle and when I finish my book. I have too many stories to write.

 

So yes, I started writing 5 years ago. I have several hundred pages written, half of them finshed, the other half still in the need of some work. I am getting there. I will be starting my search for Beta readers soon, to have someone go through it and give me their honest opinion. I suppose that is the scary part. Once having had it read and checked by a couple of Beta readers, I will revise it again with their comments in mind, and after that... who knows? All I know is that I don't want to self-publish. I want to be published. I don't in any way mind self-publishing, but it just isn't for me. I want to go through the whole process of finding a literary agent and getting the book out there. I want someone else to believe in my story the way that I do. Other than that, I am open to whatever the future throws at me. I think I am ready.