(Picture is of me somewhere around 1997-2000ish, I might’ve been 19 not 17, but who’s counting?)
Twenty-five years ago, give or take a day, I graduated from high school. I wasn’t anywhere near the top of my class, but I wasn’t at the bottom (was somewhere in the middle of the pack). I had a lot of plans. I was going to be a best-selling novelist (fantasy, sci-fi, and romance), I was going to be an international business woman with a bachelor or masters in international finance who spoke three to five languages, and I was going to be a wife and mother (how many children depended on how old I was when you asked–I think at that time it was four kids). I was also going to be well-traveled with a passport full of stamps and dozens of memories of different places to turn into story settings.
Before I turned 19, I’d derailed a chunk of those when I got dazzled into going into a trade school (that no longer exists) because it would be a fast track into the then newly booming IT field. I was supposed to learn computers and networking then get a bunch of certifications and find myself on easy street with a nearly six-figure income before I was 25. Suffice to say that didn’t turn out as planned–the trade school was a huge farce (when I can read Wheel of Time internet forums and still practically ace the courses there’s a problem). They changed the program I was in midway through to straight up electronics because they started a separate networking course. I did not sign up to do hardware and electronics and quite frankly didn’t give a damn about it, but I was already on the hook for the 18K in tuition so I figured I’d at least finish it and see if I got anything out of it.
I didn’t.
So now here I am. The year is 2022 and 25 years after high school I haven’t accomplished any of younger me’s dreams. In fact, several of them have fallen by the wayside. I’ll be 43 in a bit less than a month (June 15 to be precise), there isn’t a significant other or any children in sight and I’ve since discovered I don’t really have a desire for either (I do, however, have two fantastic nieces and one wonderful nephew though and my roommate is pretty rad). I have a pile of college credits (that may or may not be expired now since I last attended classes in 2011) and more student debt, but no degree to show for it. I don’t have dozens of stamps in a passport…I don’t even have a passport (it’s on the to-do list, been on it for the last decade).
However, I never did let go of my dream to be a best selling writer. Even when everything else was put aside, my dream to write remained firm. Though I probably am not really inclined towards writing romance (at this time) except as a facet of my fantasy and sci-fi stories. Even though my progress is slow, I keep moving slowly towards making that dream a reality.
Starting in 2023 (exact timing TBD) I am going to hard launch a YouTube Channel and possibly a few months later a Twitch stream. A lot of the details are still up in the air, but the plans are slowly forming. Right now I’m trying to gather all the starting pieces for my channel including using my MasterClass subscription to learn about VO work–not to break into the industry, but to utilize with my channel and maybe while I’m DMing. I am also trying to decide on a channel name currently “Myriai’s Myriad of Worlds” (or maybe Words?) is frontrunning with “Myriai’s Multiverse” in second, but neither name is set in stone–I intend Multiverse as a call to D & D, but most will take it as a Marvel reference. The channel will have a lot of D & D on it, I know YT is bloated with D & D content anymore, but it’s near and dear to my heart so it’s going to be there. I intend to use the VO lessons to start reading chapters of my story for the entertainment (theoretically) of my viewers. Eventually it will diversify into the worlds of my writing including “The Girl who would be King” and “Ashigo’s Shadow” (Also known as the Imperium Chronicles…oddly enough loosely based on another TTRPG) and probably a bit into writing territory as I find my footing and figure out where I’m going to get myself to fit in.
My first task right now, however, is to figure out the first video and how I’m going to film and edit things. More on that next month I think.
It’s going to be an interesting journey.
Let the Adventure Begin.
Myriai's Myriad 