Ha, I'm with you on the travel! Hopefully navigating my way to Australia in April 2019 but we will see how that all pans out.

I jumped straight in to a PhD from a Masters, really depends if you're passionate about what is you are studying. And I mean like, REALLY passionate as you will be researching that area for a long time and looking for research grants to fund your next projects.

For me, I did the PhD as I didn't have anything else lined up after my Degree (back in 2008). Could go on about it but hey, we are here today from the choices we've made previously :)

The community groups are pretty useful for getting a few more upvotes. You delegate your SP to them (or send Steem) and you get a bigger upvote. The more you delegate, the more you get back. Works on the "rising tide lifts all boats" principle.

Sounds pretty cool what you do with writing. I quite enjoy it myself, spend a lot of my time with a keyboard in front of me and tippy tappy :D Good luck with the agents and publishers. Send me a link over to your book :)

So what is your Masters going to be on?