Island Campground (Steamboat, OR)
Sometimes I get confused between what I can do and what I would be happy doing. I also let finances enter into the equation. Its not that I am not willing to lower my standard of living from what I have had for the last 5 years, its just that I sometimes think it is harder to achieve the solitude I desire at a lower standard. Also, it seems I have a notion that there is a certain type of person I would have to associate with and certain type of work I would have to do at a lower standard. I don't look forward to either of those. I am pretty sure my assumptions are wrong, but there are still some wheels spinning in my subconscious and the answer has not come up yet.
One thought I had on this writing thing was to do something similar to what I did while I was on LOA for 5 weeks earlier this year. I set some specific goals for some trivial little children's games I had been tinkering around with in my spare time for a few years. I wanted to see if I could come up with a finished product that met the user's (mine) expectations and applied good engineering principles (i.e. had maintainable code). I did OK on the first part, but not so good on the last. I kept meaning to go back and clean up the code, but never got around to it. Anyone that knows the software industry has heard that story before.
So, I could set myself up in a place with a loan from my nest egg and not get a job for while, but set some specific goals on certain stories I wanted to write (short or long). The audience I would have in mind would be me. The goals would be similar, come up with "finished" stories that I was satisfied with and that followed good writing techniques. Not sure if I would want to put a specific time limit on it, but I probably should. At the end I would either have a small portfolio of work to try to build into a marketable career or would know where I stand as a writer. I am pretty sure it would end up the same. I would have a lot of good iideas that would satidy me, but not go back and do the editing necessary to make them into professional works. I know me.
I stopped at Island Campground near Steamboat around 7pm. It was another small camp, only 7 sites. Three sites looked like they had been taken by a fairly large group of rafters. I found a nice secluded site, took a quick dip in the cold rapids of the Umpqua and was in bed by 9 pm. I was tired. I had been driving a lot lately and the next day did not look too good either. I wanted to get back to Montana but did not want to go across Eastern Oregon to get there. I planned to make it back to Eastern Washington the next day somehow. Tomorrow was another day I had to find a place to stay.