Hey folks, I have a big announcement:
My job is sending me to Afghanistan for a year in late January / early February.
After being unemployed for most of 2011, I decided to take a job in Afghanistan for a year. So after I take my physicals, get my shots, do my paperwork, and learn my job, it is off to the vast unknown.
While I am there I will still try to write, but I am not sure how close I am going to be able to follow baseball in America. I'll try to do some interviews if at all possible - maybe I can email people some questions and post their answers here. Maybe I can find people who are playing baseball in Afghanistan and talk to them. A quick google search on "Afghanistan baseball" brings up articles on baseball being played in Afghanistan as early as 1946, baseball currently growing in popularity in Afghanistan, Army soldiers teaching Afghans baseball, the South Asian Baseball Tournament between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and other Americans keeping their baseball love strong by playing at bases thousands of miles from home. So there should be some interesting subjects to write about.
But I won't be going to any games until Spring Training 2013.
Wow, that seems so far away, since we aren't even in Spring Training 2012. But by the time the 2012 World Series finishes and the season is officially over, I'll only have a few months left. The way I see it, following baseball will get me through to November, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, New Years, then I'll be counting down the days on my fingers and toes.
Baseball history is full of players who travel and come back more successful. A few examples include Cecil Fielder, Orestes Destrade, and current Ranger hurler Colby Lewis. For these players, their time overseas helped them focus, seize their potential, and become better ballplayers. My goal is to do the same with writing. Along with the possibility of emailing Q&As, I also have some short stories I want to finish during my time away. Even though I will be out of the loop, I refuse to get rusty as a writer. With not much else to do besides work, I would be foolish not to take the time to improve my craft.
Another one of the benefits of going overseas for a year is the pay and the fact that I won't be spending anything in regards to bills for a year. Perhaps I will do a trek of minor league parks when I return. We'll see.
