Am I an author? Sure, why not? Even better, why not find out? Rather than be one of many, who have said and never done, I wish to fulfill a life's dream and write a book.

• Foremost, to personally experience the creative process of book writing.
• To effectively transfer the wonder and value of those experiences from my life abroad, such that the reader is moved to reflect on his/her personal paradigms, which are challenged as a result of book's messages.
• To successfully complete the writing process up to and including publishing, such that future activities are offered and supported (e.g. further book writing, readings, presentations, lectures, seminars, etc.).

It is going to be a novel, not about me nor anybody real, nevertheless it will contain many of my experiences from my life abroad. The book will present the reader with questions and provide unique glances into the process, how young adults confront and deal with their own future and how living abroad can contribute to this personal confrontation.

For now the book doesn't have a title. This will either come to me in a moment of inspiration or I'll wait until the enough of the book has been written to chose a title, which eloquently reflects the content.

The main character also acts as the main narrator of the story, which enables him to express his thoughts without the need of dialog. However, through his interaction with situations and other characters abroad, the novel uses these dialogs as the driving force or catalyst of the novel's main messages.

My goal is to average 5-10 written pages a week (currently more often 5 than 10). Over the years I have collected many notes, emails, pictures, cards etc. which I use to trigger my memory and inspiration in alignment with the message, which I wish to communicate. I have on main notebook, where I then hand write the book. This serves as a flexible and portable means of collecting my ideas in the form of an initial draft.

As a forced method to refine my ideas and clarify and/or expand my writing, I choose days on which I then type the already hand written book content. The result is usually an improved version of the draft, now in digital form. This mechanism also enables me to compare written to digital (typed) forms, such that I can better track the development of the story line, plot movements, character development, etc.

Once I have the initial draft of the first chapters in digital form, I will begin to inquire about grants, contests, publication, etc. Since this is my first attempt at book writing I can quite honestly say that I have no idea what I'm doing. Fortunately I do not believe that there is a standard process, so who's to say that my own magic will not lead to unique success?!

Number of finished pages, which have been hand written.

Number of finished pages, which have been typed.