t is nothing less than my 30th birthday tomorrow, and I’m not sure what to make of it. It is the beginning of many things–it is after all, the start of my fourth decade, as George Hrab so astutely put it–and, concurrently, it’s hard not to look at it as the end of others. It is in the current cultural vogue to look at one’s 20s as the “screw-up time,” when you try everything, make several mistakes, and lay the groundwork for who everyone will think of when they remember you. It’s a decade of broken bones and success in things you never expected to work, of failed relationships and the greatest friends you will ever have.

It’s the crucible of who you are, so you can be who you will become.

Here’s how I spent my third decade on this earth, in kind of, sort of, not really in chronological order

• Wrote and performed a solo show.
• Wrote a full-length play that was performed with a full cast
• Created, managed, and performed (juggling, human pincushion, escape art, electrocution) in a freak show
• Fell in love
• Graduated college
• Wrote an illustrated a comic strip in a nationally published magazine
• Moved out of my parent’s house, to Philadelphia
• Performed with the Lulu Tech Circus
• Performed with Laurie Wolf
• Ran a series of murder mystery dinners
• Founded, with four other authors, 365tomorrows.com
• Wrote over 100 stories
• Created 3 podcasts that explored what you can do with podcast fiction,
• Designed book covers for Matthew Wayne Selznick and P.C. Haring
• Got a job with my own office
• Lived through the death of my father
• Illustrated half of Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps
• Designed logos for Rich Sigfrit, Thomas Gideon, Mur Lafferty & Christiana Ellis
• Sold 8 stories
• Made 20 puppets, one of which was displayed in a museum
• Married JR Blackwell
• Modeled underwater
• Made 30 costumes
• Invited as a guest to several conventions, including Dragon*Con
• Filmed a short documentary
• Read 3 stories for Escape Pod
• Wrote a comic book column
• Wrote a novel
• Wrote a novella
• Got a literary agent
• Learned ballet
• Was on the cover model of a magazine
• Left the country
• Created props and costumes and puppets for 5 theatre productions
• Cooked 3 avante-guard X-Mas dinners
• Created a roleplaying adventure supplement for Nathan Paoletta’s Annalise
• Wrote for I Should Be Writing
• Created ALL WRITE! With Natalie Metzger
• Broke my ankle while trying to fly
• Became the face of steampunk on Wikipedia, thanks to Kyle Cassidy
• Fought in an Iron Chef-style competion
• Lectured about the history of the sideshow
• Taught writing workshops
• Hugged a dolphin
• Signed a graphic novel contract with Tor
• Met a series of incredibly talented people who I consider my dearest friends

My thirties have a lot to live up to.