Finnian Burnett

Well, I brought in the new year with a bang. More like a loud knocking. A clang? Seems while driving from Ohio to Iowa, with a stop in Michigan, I blew an engine rod. For those of you not in the know, that is not a good thing. In fact, it’s very bad. And it was very bad in a “I’m stuck in Illinois with a dead van and a bunch of stuff and a banjo and a dog” kind of way.

Still, as usual, the universe conspired to make life magical. My friend with whom I was travelling got us off of the turnpike and into the parking lot of a hotel. The hotel clerk called around until she found a mechanic who would look at the van that day. (A Sunday… the day before New Year’s Eve.) The mechanic called a couple of hotels to see who would take dogs, though we ended up taking the advice of the original hotel clerk and going to the La Quinta across the street. The mechanic’s dad drove us back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, once it was determined that the van was unfixable, I junked it and we started working on how to get ourselves out of Illinois. Friends from Iowa offered to come pick us up and drive us back. Friends from Michigan (who happen to be soul sisters from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival) offered to drive to Illinois and take us to Iowa. Hell of a long road trip for anyone, no matter how you look at it. In the end, we went with the friends from Michigan because we had to check out of the hotel by noon on Monday and we didn’t want to have to sit in the lobby waiting for our Iowa friends to have to make the long drive from there.

So, Michigan friends drove several hours to get us in the early morning of Monday, then helped put all of my stuff into their truck. We then all crammed into cab of the pick up and drove back Iowa.

For the record, Brutus was a champ throughout.

Fast forward. I am carless and in Iowa. I have three thousand dollars to spend on a vehicle. Sadly, that was going to be my “I don’t have to get a day job for several months, which will hopefully be long enough for me to start making some money on my writing” cushion.

Still, I have some time and I have my writing and my second novel is almost done and I know what the third novel is going to be about and I already have the outline. And oddly, I am halfway done with what is going to be my fourth book, but have put it aside because it is a dual work with my spiritual adviser, Jenny and she is *extremely* busy right now. Soooo… that one i going to have wait for a while.

I have to admit that I have been having some moments of doubt. I *try* to always be positive and I *try* to remind myself that I really do believe that everything will work out. But there are those moments when I think, I’m stuck. I’m in between residences and I am not ready to make a commitment to either one. And I have to get a job at some point in the near future and I am going to have to make a decision as to where that job is going to be.

But I’m not despairing. To the contrary, I am going full force. I am writing my fool ass off. I am learning new marketing tricks. I am connecting with more people every day. I need to get to California and soon. Need to meet my publisher and meet my mentor and see my sister and my nieces. (And hopefully have a book signing while I am there.)

I have a possible writer’s retreat to go to in Georgia in May. I have the GCLS literary conference in June in Dallas. I have Jenny’s ordination, also in June, in Michigan. I am still taking a full time class load. And somewhere in there, I need to take some time to make a little money.

So I am putting it out to the universe. Here are my intentions. I want to go to California for a visit… maybe three weeks or a month. I want Ellen to read my book and decide to have me on her show. I want to make enough money in the next three months that I do not have to look for work. I want an inexpensive car that is reliable for long distances and is big enough to hold a banjo, a drum, a dog, me, a couple duffel bags worth of clothes, a laptop computer, and maybe, a mini-trampoline. (Don’t ask.) And I want to master the banjo, learn sign language, become fluent in Italian, and get super fit.

It sounds ambitious, but you know, stranger things have happened. I once manifested a cheap car and a rolling nightstand for my friend, Aj. Seriously. And there have been several instances when I have thought about a person I haven’t spoken to in a while and they call me. Also, I proclaimed that I was going to manifest a banjo in December and my mother bought me one for Christmas. We can make things happen through the power of positive thinking and I am going to make things happen. Here it is in writing. This is what I want.

What do you want to do this year?