Earth as seen the edge of the solar system taken by Voyager 1 Image credit: Nasa
I’ve undergone a lot of soul-searching since arriving in the USA four months ago. I left behind a great job, an easy lifestyle, universal healthcare and a beautiful country to move to California. I’m also middle-aged and trying to build a career in a city which values the young. The shootings over the past weeks in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton certainly have made me question why I came.
I’m on the fourth month of my Los Angeles adventure and I have to admit it has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Change is hard, no matter who you are. Our brains simply don’t like it and they tend to freak out as soon as we leave the safe and secure zone of “but I’ve always done it this way!”
The process so far has been: “Ooh, ahh this is amazing” followed by “Oh my God, this place is insane, what am I doing here? then on to “I guess it’s not so bad, and the Mexican food is great.”
Los Angeles is a town where everyone is always pitching –
their screenplay, tv show, movie, music – you name it, so here’s my pitch: a
middle-aged New Zealand woman wins a green card and moves to Los Angeles to
chase her dream of becoming a screenwriter.
You know who you are, you have content to create, deadlines to meet and new projects on the horizon. Meantime, your website hasn’t been updated for a year, who knows when you’ll finish that blog post, and who has time for social media?
It’s a fast-paced world being a creative and often getting content out the door is your only focus, but you need to build your profile and keep it out there – and there are only so many hours in the day.