Aliens in the Desert

Wow.  So here we are.  The end of 2009 is quickly approaching.  It has been some damn year.

Since January I went into business for myself as an independent contractor.  I started a company.  I went to multiple conferences up and down the West Coast — my first Casual Connect and my first E3 being among those.  I was on a panel at IndieCade.  I wrote a workbook for game designers (its not available yet).  And I put my thesis project up on Kickstarter for people to fund. I even went back to Georgia Tech and talked about my life so far (and doled out plenty of advice to future game developers).

I’ve learned alot in the last year.  Mostly about business, some about myself.  I’ve worked on lots of projects — mostly for kids, which has been fun.  I’ve even found space for personal pursuits — taking some classes, painting.  And I think my social life (outside of the workplace) has also improved.

It’s been a really fun year, but hard too.  Lots of uncertainty about money.  Lots of stress over “am I taking the right path in my life?”  I have gotten to spend alot of time with my family, which means more to me than I can say, but the big career questions can at times be crippling.

Looking forward to 2010, I have plans galore.  Most of them revolve around making space for me to work on my own projects without going broke.  Its a scary world right now in terms of money, but its also a very exciting time to go off on one’s own.

The thing I am most excited about right now is that the IGDA will be offering health plans through a partner organization come January.  This has been a big hole in our lives.  Last night, my daughter (now 2 and alternating between charming and exasperating on a second by second basis) stuck a bead way up her nose.  My husband and I were freaking out that it was emergency room time.  I was terrified of what that would cost us.  Fortunately he was able to massage it out, but I’ll feel much better when we have health insurance and medical emergencies aren’t also financial emergencies.

I have no doubt that I have had a much richer year, in terms of learning, variety of projects I’ve worked on, and especially family life than I would have had working for a company somewhere.  The scariest thing is the question “How long can I keep this up?”

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