The Vortext

So, as it turns out, I was offered both jobs–the editing position at the radio station and the co-authorship of the Hangzhou travel guide. Of course, I chose the latter, met with M., my fellow author, and Q., our Beijing-based corporate liaison with the goverment clients, and will, if all goes according to plan, sign a contract tomorrow. I still have visa issues to clarify, which might prevent me from taking them up on their offer to fly me to Hangzhou for the weekend to meet with the tourism bureau chiefs, but that’s not such a huge deal, and if my visa is entirely taken care of, that would be incredible. The idea as of now is that I would head down to Hangzhou by the end of next week, stay there for a month, all expenses paid, and fly back to Beijing a few days before I head home for my three-week jaunt in New York (with a side trip to Columbus, and perhaps West Philly, lol).

The deadline for my half of the manuscript would be January 19th, after which I could travel somewhere awesome with P., who’ll be in China for work (and pleasure) and then hopefully take on another book project for this same contractor. They’re currently in talks with the provincial governments of Yunnan and Sichuan. OMFG, either of those would be so incredible!!!!! Like actually really interesting places instead of just Hangzhou, which is intriguing more for the experience than for the place itself. Okay, I promise some posts with pictures and stuff in a bit, I’m just uploading them now and wanted to post this update. I know it’s been a lot of text and no color as of late. I swear that will change as I travel within China, exploring Hangzhou, taking photos for pay (and for posting on here), and boozing with officials, cronies, and their honored guests at lavish banquets.