SXSW is over..and now I am off to Germany!

Today marks the end of SXSW and the beginning of the spring equinox. Coincidently, I found out today during a yoga class that the spring equinox symbolizes a new birth and the end of winter (I guess I could have figured this out but it was nice hearing it in hero's pose). In the last few weeks I have released a book, sublet my apartment, moved all my belongings, and officially and metaphorically prepared myself for a new existence. If all goes well, I will be in Brazil this summer writing and then Mongolia on the Fulbright Program (and still writing!). In two days, I will arrive in Germany and my new life will begin. After visiting K-town to do some writing for my second novel, Honey Dripping from the Barrel of a Gun, I will depart for India where I will finish the novel! Finally, I have finding fliers for Armageddon Skills in weird places, which makes me hopeful that people have been looking at them.

I have recently been bottling up inspiration and prose-based ideas for a hopeful creativity explosion after arriving in Dharamsala, India. SXSW should be considered fuel for this inspiration, and if it were a person I would thank it for the help! From seeing amazing bands, to a puppet play based on the Jungle (@Salvage Vanguard Theater)to basking in the depressing nature of Chicas Bonitas on a whim--I feel as if I were an open container this SXSW, being filled with ideas and hoping that some don't spill out (I meant to write a few down but I am such a believer in th power of memory that I forgot to!)

SO here is to a new year, although not officially New Years, and here is to every day from here on out being the start of a new year.

Moving, releasing a novel, preparing to travel, and getting ready for SXSW

WOW!

Time has been flying faster than a hummingbird. In the last two days I have distributed nearly 600 fliers advertising Armageddon Skills, and have particularly focused on the SXSW interactive crowd down in the convention center area. In fact, I will be there again tomorrow "strategically" placing fliers in places that I hope will catch someone's eye. I have also been moving my stuff out to a family house in Bastrop, which has taken about 4 trips as I have quite a large collection of bulky instruments: one sitar, 1 electric guitar, 1 acoustic electric, 2 unique acoustic guitars, 1 ektare, 1 dulcimer, 1 autoharp, 1 box of various percussion instruments and nepali instruments, 1 mandolin, a box full of drums, 1 Brazilian instrument which name currently is escaping me, and 1 juno keyboard. Needless to say...I could not fit all of this in my Honda Civic! The sitar alone stretches across the entire backseat and makes it nearly impossible to transport anything else.

I leave for Germany followed by India in one week, where I plan to finish my second novel (Honey Dripping from the Barrel of a Gun) and put a large chunk in my third novel (The Life and Times of a Blue Rubberband). And then there is SXSW, an excuse to try and attend as many free things as one can and hopefully see something rare in the process! So here is to the future, to chance and to opportunity!