Lisa Terry's Blog - Posts Tagged "nomad"
I live in a van
Right now in San Francisco.
I’m not going through financial hardship. I don’t have a mental illness. And I’m not trying to prove a point. This is a life I choose, and keep choosing every day.
I used to live a “stable” life. I rented a few apartments, but they don’t appreciate it when you break the
lease. Who knew? I owned a house at one time, but staying in one place all the time bored me out of my mind. I drove an RV for awhile, but that was a pain in the butt.
Enter the van.
I’ve been wanting to share some things about me with my readers, but up until now I wasn’t sure what. Selling books in this day and age isn’t about just the words on the page, it’s about selling yourself, too. Building a connection, sharing relevant details, standing out. I was talking about it to a friend the other day. “You need to share more about your life with readers,” he said.
“Like what? Nothing interesting here.”
He laughed at me.
“Traveling? Lots of people travel. Hello, travel writers?”
“No. You live in a van! There’s your interesting.”
And I realized that I’ve been living the turtle lifestyle so long that it didn’t seem unique anymore. And
part of me still thinks that if you really find that unique, then you must be subscribing to a different set of YouTube channels than I am. But my friend is right - this is a different way of life, and most people will never experience it. So here it is.
I live in my van.
I’m a writer.
And I’d like to tell you about it.
I’m not going through financial hardship. I don’t have a mental illness. And I’m not trying to prove a point. This is a life I choose, and keep choosing every day.
I used to live a “stable” life. I rented a few apartments, but they don’t appreciate it when you break the
lease. Who knew? I owned a house at one time, but staying in one place all the time bored me out of my mind. I drove an RV for awhile, but that was a pain in the butt.
Enter the van.
I’ve been wanting to share some things about me with my readers, but up until now I wasn’t sure what. Selling books in this day and age isn’t about just the words on the page, it’s about selling yourself, too. Building a connection, sharing relevant details, standing out. I was talking about it to a friend the other day. “You need to share more about your life with readers,” he said.
“Like what? Nothing interesting here.”
He laughed at me.
“Traveling? Lots of people travel. Hello, travel writers?”
“No. You live in a van! There’s your interesting.”
And I realized that I’ve been living the turtle lifestyle so long that it didn’t seem unique anymore. And
part of me still thinks that if you really find that unique, then you must be subscribing to a different set of YouTube channels than I am. But my friend is right - this is a different way of life, and most people will never experience it. So here it is.
I live in my van.
I’m a writer.
And I’d like to tell you about it.
