So I got a Kindle for my birthday, which is awesome because a. with the life and career I’m trying to make for myself, I can’t justify not having one and b. I was genuinely more excited about this present than my family expected. Most of my life, you see, I’ve been the old-fashioned one by far when it comes to the technological. My mom sometimes spins it kindly and calls me an “old soul.” My sisters just shake their heads at the fact that even now I send a text maybe once a week. When Kindle first came out, I was one of those people who started talking about the magic of holding a book, smelling the paper, etc.

So what happened? I was on the Metro one day, people-watching for a moment, and realized that all these people on the car with me with their heads bent over a screen were reading. And it didn’t matter at all whether they turned a page or swiped the screen with one finger, because it was the same story. Lizzie rolled her eyes when I told her that (“You mean you changed your mind about Kindle because you were pleased that society was reading? I thought it would have been the weight, how many books you have access to…”), but it’s true. What matters to me is people reading, is stories making it to people who might be entertained or educated or changed by them. That matters to me more than any feature, although I’m sure as I play with my Kindle I’ll start to pick up some excitement about those, too.

My mom and I ended up getting into a whole conversation about the publishing process and what e-publishing means. How I could get involved in it. Sometimes I focus so narrowly on my day-to-day to keep from getting overwhelmed by my schedule that I forget to remind myself that I’m not in this to be a clerk at a law firm forever. I need to keep looking at the bigger world of what I want to do, and let myself get excited, and maybe even take a leap. Maybe I do need to consider putting together something to publish myself, in addition to sending manuscripts and queries the traditional way. Maybe I use the design knowledge I’ve picked up in classes and internships to help other people make their work stand out. Who knows? In any case, I’m excited about what I want to do again, which is just what I needed to start another year in my life.