Monday, December 30, 2013

My Twenties at a Glance

In my twenties, I...

Led an all-girl band in a Battle of the Bands.
Directed two plays.
Made friends.
Lost friends.
Met Tad.
Graduated college.
Began life on my own with nothing more than a BA degree in writing, a car full of stuff, and $500 to my name.
Married Tad.
Worked as a waitress.
Worked as an Admissions Counselor.
Traveled to Boston, NYC; San Diego; Dallas; Atlanta; St. Louis; D.C.; Anaheim; Portland; Springfield, Mo.; Turkey; Chicago; Cleveland; Grand Rapids; Indianapolis; The Blue Ridge Mountains; Kansas City; and more.
Did odd-jobs for Chip MacGregor.
Wrote for Vera Bradley.
Wrote for Peg Perego.
Held two full-time-ish jobs for three years.
Started my own business.
Became an agent.
Met Nora Roberts' handler's daughter...then met the handler.
Saw Nora Roberts.
Participated in my first dance party.
Saw George RR Martin.
Met Charlaine Harris.
Received a hug from Ted Dekker. :/
Met Tosca Lee.
Saw Jim Carrey.
Saw Tim Gunn.
Saw that Giada lady.
Befriended numerous authors and editors.
Mistook Frank Peretti for a very confused, old man.
Was *this close* to convincing a big-time NFL player to do a book.
Wrote many words.
Freelanced for local papers.
Wrote two books. One fiction; one nonfiction.
Self-published my nonfiction book.
Got a dog.
Became obsessed with said dog.
Found a shampoo that allowed me to grow my fragile hair past my shoulders.
Moved into a rental house (life on the top floor of a random building had gotten old after five years of it).
Baked a pie.
Baked another pie, and another...
Grew out of my love for playing video games.
Grew into a love of working :/
Took up running.
Stopped running.
Took it up again.
Stopped again, meaning that I...
Gained weight.
Lost weight.
Etc.
Owned an Audi 100.
Owned a Jetta VLX GR6.
Now I own a Toyota Corolla :(
Reached the "Medium and sometimes Hard" levels on the drums on Rockband.
Drove a lot.
Flew a lot.
Navigated NYC (taxis, subways, publisher meetings, etc) on my own without having ever been there before.
Was inside the Flatiron building, the Woolworth building, and more.
Felt fancy at a number of NYC publisher parties.
Rode in an elevator with Mr. Romance 2011.
Went to a Broadway show.
Moved to Indiana.
Missed Chicago.
Became obsessed with genealogy.
Became an aunt.
Became a sister-in-law.
Began the hunt to buy a house.

In my thirties I will blow this list away.

(Me, on my birthday with one of my gifts.)

And I will also continue to be frozen in time as "forever 23."


8 comments:

  1. Cheers to a new year of new experiences. May the next decade bring just as many surprises and challenges :)

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  2. Amanda, I like the not so hidden dedication to Jordan! :) and maybe not so intentional, shout-out to possibly Disney's most amazing movie, yet! Frozen! Have you seen it? You're cool, Amanda, and take it from a forever 30-somethinger, it only gets better. And worse. And better again. :) -raj

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    1. Hah! No, I haven't seen Frozen, but I've heard it's good!!! Thanks for the 30-something pep talk :)

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  3. Love your condensed jar of decade moments! Especially the writing for Peg Perego and Vera Bradley! I would love to hear more about that. Were you writing ad copy for strollers and floral handbags?

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    1. Hah!! Yes, I wrote ad copy, catalogue copy, and web copy for VB. For Peg, I handled their online stuff. So I launched the blog, YouTube, and Facebook group that they have now. I got to write video scripts for them, blog posts, and some web copy. But in all of this, I wasn't a fan of quilted handbags, nor did I actually have children :)

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  4. I remember hearing the Frank Peretti story. So, so hilarious...

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  5. What a fascinating list! :-) Good luck in your 30's. (From an occasional reader.)

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