So, I’m sitting here in my dad’s pickup with Manda driving in Wisconsin en route to Chicago. Andy Schulze is housesitting for us, Steve is chewing a bone to my left, The Lucksmiths are singing from the iPod and the road is rolling under the wheels. I’m using my booklight to light my laptop screen because that conserves the laptop battery (don’t want to use that backlight on the laptop, that’s murder on the battery). Anyhow, we’re going to head to Ikea to buy a couch and an entertainment center and who knows what else. Reed and Jana are going to be there too. Yee-hah!

So, I’ve started my list for my 30s. So far I’ve got the following:

- record and release an album every year
- write, direct and release a feature film
- make Tumblur a multi-million dollar company
- have a baby
- move to another state
- buy a house
- get out of debt and stay that way for the rest of my life

I need some other things.. maybe something fitness related, but so far so good. My 20′s have been about learning, gaining experience, fighting to maintain my individuality while juggling responsibilities. My 30′s need to be about accomplishing things, making my life into exactly what I want it to be. Taking the things I’ve learned the last 10 years and running with them. I think I should be able to do that pretty well. In a lot of ways it’s a higher bar than I had set for myself going into my 20′s. I’m glad about that. I’m stronger and more capable now than I was at 19. I should be able to do more. The neatest thing is that since I’ve decided to move onto my 30′s list, I feel like my life has a new focus. When I set my mind to doing something it may take me a million years, but I don’t rest mentally until I do it. It’s not easy for me to accept failing at things. Anyhow, I feel like moving on to a new list is a great feeling, like I’m closing one chapter and beginning a second.

About the novel… I’ve been trying to complete a novel since I was 10. I’ve started several at various points in my life and made progress on them all. For some reason or another I have abandoned them all or not finished them with the intention of going back to them wthout ever actually doing so. Why? I can’t say for sure. I just don’t like what I write. I know what I want to write, I try to write it, I like it while I’m writing it and then I re-read it and I hate it and I ditch it and that’s it. The only written thing I’ve finished is a screenplay “Making Something Beautiful”. I couldn’t believe how great that felt, having it finished even though it isn’t REALLY finished until it’s a movie. Here are all the novels I’ve tried to write in my life and the results:

The Second Men in the Moon – This was in fourth grade. I attempted a sequel to an old H.G. Wells novel (The First Men in the Moon). I typed probably 40 pages (single spaced) on an old Remington typewriter and then gave up.
The Palace of Conservative Haircuts – This was a high school effort about a crazy girl who kidnapped an older guy because of something her ex-beatnik parents had told her. I wrote probably 100 pages and gave up when I decided it was crap.
The Bomb – Something I’ve worked with on and off for about 7 years now based on a dream I had about this rather odd alien plot involving hypnosis, neural bombs and lots of interstellar intrigue.
Spanish Poet – A love story I have worked on, abandoned, worked on and abandoned several times in the last 3 years. It’s about an art store employee and a business geek who fall in love. Oddly enough, I’m a business geek and my wife is now an art store employee. Life imitates art.
Tehd – Another sci-fi thing about an alien who bonds emotionally with an earth kid through dreams without knowing why. This is the most recent thing I’ve worked on and the most likely to be completed someday.

Maybe it boils down to the fact that I’m not really a writer. If there were a single art form that I most naturally fit into it’s filmmaking. I’m glad that’s on my list now so I can do it. :-)

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RyanSutter has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize.

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