7 Years
I moved to Charlotte on June 1st of 2005, meaning that 10 Cities / 10 Years has just celebrated its 7th birthday (it got sauced, like any good 7-year-old). In that time, I could have completed a doctorate in English. Or I could have worked my way up the ranks in some company, maybe be an executive or a head copywriter somewhere. In some other timeline, maybe I’m married… with children.
But, I’m here, in this timeline (the darkest?), 3 years out from finishing a project I made up partially out of boredom and partially out of anxiety. As the weeks pass and the finish line draws closer, I find myself consumed with thoughts of post-10 Cities. How will I write the book? How long will I remain settled before I want to hit the road again? Is there any form of domestic normalcy ahead of me? Will the bridges I’ve burnt outnumber the connections I’ve made? Is there a career in vagabondhood?
7 years gone. 3 years left.
3 Months
3 months left. Just 3 months remain for me here in Seattle. Just 3 months separate me from my first experience of New Orleans.
I’ve started putting my feelers out for apartments. Soon, I’ll be trying to find a job from 2,100 miles away. I’ll attempt to balance work and a personal life, a task that will be especially complicated as my depleted funds necessitate that I work as much overtime as I can steal. I haven’t had the definitive Seattle experience (nor will I), but in these last 3 months I hope I can do my best to fill out my year here with good stories, fun excursions and cheap whiskey.
3 months more to make it count.
400 Posts
I began this blog, 10cities10years.com, a month before I moved from San Francisco to Chicago (back then it still had ‘wordpress’ in the address). That makes this site almost 3-years-old. Since then, between updates on the project, social commentary, whiskey-fueled mishaps, satire pieces, essays on music and movies, poetry and short stories, and countless diatribes against faith, homophobia, conservatism and/or ignorance, I reached 400 posts.
That’s a whole lot of talking to myself.
This site exists so that I have a place to put my writing. As long as I still need this outlet, it will continue to exist. What’s to become of it if I ever achieve my dream of being a professional writer (I mean, more than the odd publishing here or there)? I don’t know, maybe it’ll convert into a community space to discuss the eventual book and the vagabond life that manifests itself in a million different ways among a million different people. Or maybe it’ll go the way of Xanga.
400 posts written.
3 months to go.
7 years completed.
To be continued…
10 Cities/10 Years 
That was a great post. I really enjoyed it very much. Thanks so much for sharing.
Enjoy writing? We would love for you to join us!
Writers Wanted
It is quite an ambitious project and a large chunk of time out of your life! Not something the average person would attempt! Have you come up with a definative Seattle personality? I will be looking forward to reading your eventual book to see what your focus is. I love writing, too and feel compelled to write. I write for a newspaper as a reader columnist and hope to continue writing, but I do it just because I love it so. I think if I ‘had’ to write, it might not be so fun. I do wish you success and hope to follow along as you go. You are a very interesting writer.
I don’t think I’d say there’s a definitive Seattle personality (especially since so many of the people I’ve met aren’t originally from here), but it’s definitely a slower city than the bigger East Coast cities (or even Chicago), which can be nice but is usually just frustrating to a guy like me who prefers a faster pace.
I think in a way, I do “have” to write, in that I can’t imagine life without it. But I know what you mean.
Thank you for your support and your thoughts. I hope the eventual book will be an enjoyable one.