A Second Act of Snowbirding

It's time to flee the snow in my native New York for good.  I hope blogging is what will enable my escape.

In my case, I will be turning 60 later this year.   Every winter, here in upstate NY, seems harsher and harsher.  Walking in downtown Binghamton can be downright hazardous.

This past winter, with the grand total of one slippery-slidey morning, was a huge blessing.  I know it won't repeat.  Next winter, we may be back to our normal 80 plus inches of the white stuff.

I don't ever want to see another winter, experience walking in minus degree weather, or shovel ever again.   Yet, I love upstate NY, and want to continue to live here in the summer and fall.

I've been blogging every day for a little over a year now.  A half hour, an hour, of writing practice.  One day, I hope to have enough skills to be able to earn enough money through blogging, or writing, to make my dream come true.

This isn't the first time I've tried to write, though.

When I was in junior high, I wrote a book about a man who was stranded on one of the Canary Islands,   He found a race of civilized canary-men, and had various adventures with them.  By total coincidence, many of these adventures bore a striking similarity to those experienced by one John Carter in the Barsoom books of Edgar Rice Burroughs that I loved so much. 

Then, a month short of my 13th birthday, my mother died suddenly.

The bird-men book was forgotten.  Now, writing became my refuge from a world that felt like an atomic bomb had been dropped on it.  I poured out my pain on page after page of spiral notebooks, staying up sometimes to 1 or 2 in the morning. 

Then, I passed through my teenaged years and those writings were lost and forgotten, too.

Three years ago I discovered blogging and all that pent-up writing started to pour out. Then, in September of last year, my neighborhood, my area, flooded and once again blogging was a lifeline to sanity.

Blogging is so different from how I make my living now.  I have a full time job in an industry I have worked in for 35 years.  I have never been self-employed.

I am still thinking this through, and don't know exactly how I will structure my second act. Will I be able to ever have enough skills to freelance?  Could I write some kind of e-book?  And then what? Become a snowbird?  I know several people who snowbird, and this appeals to me.   I will have to work at least part time after retirement to make it happen.  If I can work from home - well, so much the better.

I will try my best to keep up that 1/2 to 1 hour a day pace.  Day after day.  One day I will be ready.

Will I be able to achieve my snowbirding dreams?  I can't wait to find out.