The Final Day of My Twenties

Well, today is my final day as a twenty-something, as I turn 30 tomorrow. I didn't expect to feel sentimental about turning thirty, but over the past few weeks I have been taking stock, with a focus on my twenties. Let's review, shall we...(you might want to get a snack before reading the rest of this post)

I turned 20 the summer before my sophomore year at St. Olaf. I've written two novels.

I turned 21 in St. Petersburg, Russia. I fell asleep during a performance by the legendary Petersburg ballet. Two months later, my mother died, casting a deep shadow over my junior year and all subsequent years.

One month after I turned 22, Sept. 11th occurred. I wrote my third, and generally worst, novel in this year, half of which I spent abroad in England, the Caribbean, and mainland Europe. I graduated from St. Olaf College and entered the cold, cruel world of temp. employment.

I spent my 23rd year working full-time at River Lake Eye Clinic. This would begin a vicious, soul destroying five year period of working as an optician. I also began work on my fourth novel, Knocking Over the Fishbowl.

I started grad school at Hamline University for writing shortly after turning 24. Yay! My soul is revived. Work on Fishbowl continues. Good grad school friends are made.

A few weeks after turning 25, I form an alliance with Jonathan Lyons, Literary Agent to the Stars. We will now spend about two years shopping Fishbowl around New York without success. Still, a joyous year. I begin work on The Suicide Collectors.

26 is foggy. The Suicide Collectors nears completion. I graduate from Hamline with an MFA in Writing. I quit my job in the spring, travel around England, France, and Ireland.

27. Return to the eye clinic for one more horrible year. Meet a girl, decide to move to Boise with her. Two weeks before we leave, I find out St. Martin's Press wants to publish The Suicide Collectors.

28. The Lost Year. Spent almost entirely in Boise, Idaho, pounding out the 700 pages that will become Wormwood, Nevada.

29. Return from Boise to St. Paul. Write 8th novel, From the Void. In December The Suicide Collectors is published to good reviews and a horrible economy. Work at the U of MN history department as a temp for six months. When assignment ends, enjoy vagabond summer, meet new girl (from same history dept). Begin work on 9th novel, The Floating Luminosity.

There. That about sums it up.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Dave! Sounds like a well-lived-in life, congratulations... Warm wishes to you from the cyber space!!

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