Figuring things out.

For the past few weeks I've been seriously considering a career change. It's sad since I've only been in my career for the past couple months and I already think it's not for me. I really want to switch industries, and books are probably where I want to be. Magazines are too temporary and don't have the same lasting affects that books do. Books can live on for years.

I'm playing with the idea of starting my own publishing company. It would be a small book press, nothing huge like Random House. One of the publishers that I admire is Chronicle Books, which is based in San Francisco. They make very chic and stylish books--the kind that you would never want to get dirty or would never let your friends borrow for fear that you won't get your beloved book back.

My reasons for wanting to become a book publisher are because the literary community in Hawaii is so small. I want to start a press that will publish fiction by local authors and first-time writers. There's some serious talent in Hawaii, and I hate that even I want to get my future book published from a mainland company instead of in-state. Hopefully it'll fly.

Being the dreamer that I am, I have already thought of names for my company. The first name was Elephant Books (because elephants are my favorite animal), but unfortunately there already is an Elephant Books/Publishing/Something based in Australia. Then I wanted Dinosaur Books, but again, there's already a similar company in Australia. Those Australians beat me to it!

I've decided on Saturday Books or Saturday Publishing. Only because Saturday is my favorite day of the week. And I have a a slight obsession with the song "Saturday In the Park" by Chicago. If anyone steals my name, I'll find his or her office, burn it down, then start my own press. Just kidding. Sorta.

Of course I have no revenue or a staff to start with. My friend Bruce said that I should start with grant money (ick, the government!) and then use that to get my feet off the ground. I think I could count on a few friends to help me if they were interested in joining the project. But I don't even know how to run a business. In fact, the whole business side of things is just as appealing as busting out of jail by crawling through miles of sewer pipes (bad Shawshank Redemption reference).

The whole concept/idea is still in the works. I have many ideas that never seem to get off the ground. I'm that since this is concerning my career and my future, I'll put more thought into it.

In other news, my aunty organized for our family to attend a walking tour of Chinatown. The tour has reaffirmed my love of Chinatown, from the food to the cool shops to the arts district. If Chinatown was safer, I'd totally live there. I was also able to slide in some research for my novel.

Speaking of which, so far the novel is about 32 pages double-spaced. I'm just typing out the action and the details will come later. Hopefully it'll come out okay. The story has a little chick-lit flair, but I think it'll be interesting.

Also, Aaron mentioned that he wants to live on the mainland, in the west coast. Maybe a brief stint in California, Oregon, or Washington is in our near future?