One of my favorite movies of all time is Ever After. And one of its best lines is delivered by Dougray Scott: "I used to think, if I cared at all, I would have to care about everything, and I'd go stark raving mad. But now I've found my purpose…. And I feel the most wonderful freedom."

I'm not exactly a prince with princely resources, nor am I setting out to open a university for Romanis. But probably, if you knew me in childhood, you'd have said that I was the pupil who was going to go places, going do things with her life: Gee, she's got the good grades, the smarts, and the drive to do anything she wants. I can't say that I haven't been exciting places, but as for a career direction, objectively speaking, it's been a somewhat amorphous area of my life. Too many things to do, too little time!

I've had a hard time settling on one thing to focus on because there are sooooo many possibilities. Just like Lenka sings, I want to be everything at once! So how does one even begin to choose? But now that I've begun scribbling away at novels like the young Jo March -- I'm almost done with a series of historical romance novels, and for NaNoWriMo 2014, I'll be embarking on a young adult sci-fi that is sure to blow your socks off (I hope!) -- I can say with Prince Henri that "I feel the most wonderful freedom."

Because, here I was today, delving into articles on TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), TDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation), and the ethics of neuro enhancement for military purposes. In which other hobby can one do that and also laugh one's way through a study of buccaneer slang, as well as still one's soul in the face of the economics of the 17th century transatlantic slave trade? In which other creative process can one fuse an understanding of human nature gleaned over a lifetime together with a superficial knowledge of wind power and astrophysics? How fun is that! Maybe I've finally found my calling. 