Jay Lake (jaylake) wrote,
Jay Lake
jaylake

[personal] Conceiving audacity, antipodeal edition

So I’m thinking about setting a very big pin in my life for 2012 or 2013. I want to do something interesting and audacious once I emerge from cancer.

The current more-or-less insane idea is to open up a Kickstarter account to fund me on a blogging and photography trip to Antarctica. This would also qualify as a research trip for an as-yet-unspecified future novel. If I did this, I would document every step of the preparation and travel.

I figure I’d need about $15,000 for travel and equipment, assuming a charter or cruise trip to the Antarctic peninsula, and possibly stops at a few other places including Tierra del Fuego or South Georgia. (That doesn’t actually include the cost of a better camera and lens kits, which would probably be to the point, but that’s several thousand more dollars right there most likely.) My social media footprint reaches about 10,000 people these days, so if I could get 10% participation and few generous anchor donors or sponsors, this could spread pretty widely.

It would give me something to aim for on the far side of the cancer fog, and it would be an unspeakably cool trip to make. I think I’d get some damned fine images and blogging out of it, maybe some nonfiction articles or other pieces, and a hell of an on-the-ground basis for a future book.

Question is, is there enough support for this? And do I really want to do it?

Your thoughts?

Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.

Tags: antarctica, cancer, health, personal, travel
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