TICO TALES
The Accidental Expat
A Writer’s Lament
I used to think I was moving to the ideal location for living the writer’s life. Here in Costa Rica, the weather is always perfect (except when it isn’t), the pace is slow, and nobody seems to worry about anything much.
Here, I can sink into a hammock, laptop in place, and pound on the keyboard all day long without a care in the world. When I started to write this essay, my book was nearly finished, and I just needed to tidy it up and do a final edit before sending it off.
So, why was I stalled at this point for several weeks? Maybe months? Well, for starters, I blame my To-Do List and the out-of-control “Little Man in my Head” who just will not STFU.
Excuses
At 5:11 AM every morning, daylight crawls in on eight hairy legs. I bound out of bed, have a good pee, turn on the coffee, put last night’s clean dishes away, pour myself a cuppa, and crawl back in the sack with my laptop to catch up on the news and emails.
Oh, and Facebook, Substack, Medium, NYT, WaPo, Seattle Times (just for the comics), and whatever messages have come in over FB Messenger, iMessage, Skype, and WhatsApp. I left Twitter a while ago, permanently.
