Despite my nearly desperate attempts, I have had incredible difficulty trying to find my version of “it” in life. You know, it. I hear that it exists and that it is different for everyone. Apparently, many people discover what it is that they would like to do with their lives and then happily do that thing for years until they retire with a pension. That’s the rumor, anyway.
The one thing that has been a constant for me is writing. It’s the piece of my life that I’ve never stopped enjoying; although there was that brief period in college where I thought Father Powers ruined me because he wouldn’t put up with all of my extra words in English Comp. I thought I was being a “good” writer. It turns out I was being pretentious. My teachers always raved over my stories and poetry, and my mom was (and still is) so proud to tell people that she’s a huge fan of my work. I won a few awards, and teachers would often use my essays as examples for the class. Obviously, writing was something I was good at, and that made me feel good about myself.
I think I’ve known all along that writing was it for me. I fought it tooth and nail, though.
The idea of going to college to be a writer seemed impossible, maybe even frivolous. I think I had some sort of romantic notion that writers were born, not educated into being. So, I looked for areas of study that might actually lead to jobs. Let’s just say that I had varying degrees of success. If I lived in a different city, it’s quite likely that I would be pursuing a completely different career. Unfortunately, I had some trouble pursuing the thing that I thought might be it in my current place of residence.
After all those years of college and all of that student loan debt, I’ve sort of ended up where I started. I’m back to the comfort of writing. I’m doing something that I enjoy. I’m being creative on a daily basis. I’m even working for myself, which is darn scary but also extremely empowering. With luck, I will eventually be able to help other people do the same; as that is a goal that Tamara and I have worked into our overall business plan.
The freelancing aspect of this whole thing satisfies another drive in me, too. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. My mom owned and operated the first video store in a small town, and my dad had a take-and-bake pizza parlor long before Papa Murphy was a household name. I grew up watching them create their own opportunities, and I think some of it must have sunk in; as I’ve been known to try my hand at a few business ventures in my adult life. Again, I’ve had varying degrees of success with that. I have never been as excited as I am about this business, however. The fact that I get to combine writing with having my own business . . . well, maybe that’s it, after all.
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YES! YES! This sounds EXACTLY like me! I always thought that you could make money with writing only if you wrote a bestselling novel. I am close to having two degrees - one in elementary ed and the other in nursing. Writing, however, is something I’ve been doing forever, and it’s taken me almost THIRTY years to realize I could do it as a job. DUH!
I think that writing bestselling novels is the kind of glamorous writing that most people think about when they think of writer. Few realize that you can also earn money with less glamorous writing, like press releases and technical manuals.
Like both of you, I used to think that the only “successful” writers were the ones who published novels and got to go on Oprah to talk about them! I’ve changed my tune on that. (Although, I’d love to publish a novel!)