Moving To The Great Unknown. Which Book Would You Bring?
Last month, I said I wanted to share a few insightful things I've learn from the Write Better Faster 101 course, but I got swamped with preparing for my move from Canada to Scotland.
I had finished and paid for my application back in June. Did my biometric appointment in Aug.
Then waiting began!
Each milestone was a rush of excitement and dread.
I'm just a smidge change adverse, something that's become more apparent with age. Had I always been this way? Or had I just got comfortable with the obstacles I had tamed? Or is a case that now that the boat has finally stopped rocking, I'm too afraid to paddle?
Oh please! Don’t rock the boat! I get sea sick!
I was cool as a cucumber for the most part, then had a full on meltdown by December, which may or may not have been a symptom of the flu that ravaged the next three weeks of my life. I recovered in time for Christmas with my family, but the cough lingered well into January.
I'm aware that I don't handle downtime well.
Okay, that's not true. Technically.
Planned downtime is one thing, but being sick is far from ever being planned. I had things I wanted to get done before the end of 2022, before the stress of the move hit me for real! I was better off just gaming or binge watching a show. Do you think I'll remember this lesson the next time I get sick? Yeah, I don't think so either.
By the end of the first week of January, I got my passport back. I was either travelling soon, my travel visa having been accepted, or I was rejected and I'd have to do the process all over again at the cost of another 3-grand.
I held my breath and riffle through the pages.
I have permission to move to Scotland.
I had permission to move as of the first of January, which was NOT the day I asked to leave, which was several months later.
Panic hit me like I just shoved a fork into an electrical socket. I need to leave like NOW!
To explain the context of the situation, a travel visa grants a limited time out of your home country. The visa I had chosen states an intent to marry and remain within the UK, which means I have to apply for another visa before my current visa expires. Because my visa's time allowance is ticking away day by day, I have less time to settle, get married, and fill out the second application, plus get all of the necessary paperwork for said application. No pressure, right?
I've done this all before. Granted, I didn't have to file for permissions and pay for visas as a tourist (thank you commonwealth), and there's a difference between visiting for a short period and moving your whole life over. Part of me wonders if I should have visited last year... or the year before... or when did the restrictions lift? Did they ever? Maybe I should have put off the big move for another year.... but with inflation being what it is, is that a good thing?
Since the second week of January, I've been going through the house trying to find all of my things, prioritizing what I should bring now vs what will go into storage, and donating pretty much everything else. Much to my delight, I was able to cram something like four books into my first luggage after repacking it when I found out I needed to do an inventory.
Packing all of these books requires expert level Tetris skills.
I'm hoping I can cram like 100 more books into my second luggage.
Obviously I'm going to have to play on expert Tetris mode to manage it! But it's doable, right?
Then there's the travel insurance (do you want covid-19 insurance? How about flight insurance? Do you need luggage insurance?), changing my bank information accordingly, updating my life insurance policy (ain't no one profiting from my death! I'm worth more alive to be sure!), and booking a courier service for my work kit (and might as well throw in my luggage too)... I'm still pretty much in over my head.
You know what's weird though? Through out it all, all the way back in June, hell even before that! Back in August 2021 when my fiancé and I first started gathering the paperwork, the constant thought that echoed in the back of my mind was 'What will I read if I have to leave all my books behind?' Which reminds me, I should buy up some digital copies of my books, and look into some audiobooks for some of the dryer material.
Because I have books on the brain, like hardcore because I have to repack and inventory my second luggage AND book the courier service this week (or else I loose my preferred shipping window), I thought I take a peek at a couple of my favorite sources for e-books sales and free e-books to try out some new-to-me authors.
I know it sounds like I'm procrastinating! But that's because I am! No shame in it! Moving makes me jittery. Books make me feel happy. So the question is: How many books do I need to acquire before I feel happy enough to pack that second bag?
Note to self: Bring physical book in handbag! My tablet only has 4-hrs of battery life.
A. V. Dalcourt is the author of the growing non-romantic dark fantasy series Awakening and Awakening Fractured Memories.
Using the subtleties of human behavior to craft her demons, rituals, and magic systems, A. V. Dalcourt is a lover of modern sorcery, psychological character portrayals, epic battles between good and evil and the huge grey area that separates them.