When it comes to travel, these last almost three years, we’ve all had to put those dreams on hold and take a collective deep breath, waiting to see how the world unfolds. And the world is still transforming. But I love that God is still in control. That’s such a comfort to me in these turbulent times.
Now back to travel. In Australia, not being able to travel is like being locked in an enormous, really amazing house, but no matter how great the house is, you still yearn to see a world that, for us, is very far away.
Aussies love to travel and for us, the cost of travel is not just in prices, but in hours. To reach London from Sydney is honestly anywhere between 24 46hours (depending on your flights and length of stopovers). It’s 13 hours straight on a plane just to reach Los Angeles. So, when an Aussie gets to travel, we make it for a good chunk of time, as who knows when we’ll get to go back again.
In one week, I’m heading to the USA to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conference! This has been a dream of mine ever since I discovered Christian Fiction (CF) in 2009 and started writing it not long after. Being able to go means being able to pitch to agents in person, meet authors, and attend classes. Virtual conferences are great and I’ll never get enough of them being so far on the other side of the world. But when I got the chance to go in person—I jumped on it!
Achieving dreams is both a wonderful and scary thing all at once. It’s scary because something you’ve longed for is finally coming true and what if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be? It probably won’t be. But it will be better than what you thought it was going to be—even if it doesn’t look how you imagined it.
For me, going to the ACFW Conference is taking a big step towards becoming a traditionally published author. Surrounding myself with others who love to write in the area I write in will be great. Writers write alone, but hanging out with others just like me, who all have imaginary friends, is a balm to the soul. I can’t wait!