Of Dream Jobs and Paychecks
When the pipe dream meets the practical
I always wanted to be a writer.
And, technically, I almost always, since I started on my professional career path, have been a writer. In some form or another, “writing” or “writer” have been part of my job responsibility and/or my job title.
I am a writer.
However, I am not the author and novelist I had aspired to be as a child. This is disappointing, without question. But it doesn’t make me unhappy.
If money were no object, I would be a published novelist by now, because I would have the time it takes to do the work.
It takes a lot of work to be a published author. And I haven’t given up on that dream — I have completed an entire novel, and I am chipping away at another — but at this point in my life as a professional writer, mom, and wife, taking on the further work of getting published is too large an ask. It would honestly be like working a third job, one that would be unpaid at that.
This Writer’s Life
When I was in sixth grade, and as part of the “gifted” program in which I participated, I had a poem published. I had started writing poetry in fourth grade, and that’s when I decided I wanted to be a writer (a career my mother, who, along with my father, was a pharmacist and business owner, didn’t think was going to be very practical).
The poem was one of several I had entered in a writing contest. It was entitled “Halloween” and I remember exactly the four words that ended it: “… after all, it’s Halloween!”
In high school, I wrote for and eventually became the managing editor of the student newspaper. I started the literary magazine, which we called “she says…” (I went to an all-girl Catholic high school). I was also a photographer and writer for the yearbook. My English teachers all loved me, as did my journalism teacher.
Because I was — I am — a good writer.
I graduated from college after three-and-a-half semesters with a degree in print journalism and a minor in American literature.
Some of my job titles have included editorial assistant, content writer, copy writer, and content and copy specialist. I have published poetry and articles, blogs and other digital media, and written a whole entire book.
For a stretch of years, I freelanced and did admin assistant work as well. I have been laid off or let go from jobs, writing jobs, three times, which let me tell you, is a serious blow to the ego. (Mom’s advice: “Don’t be your job.” It’s great advice for any creative who has found their so-called dream job, which I have, twice.)
I am currently employed full-time, as a content writer, at a good, solid company, with health insurance and a 401K. Content writer, content writer (say it both ways). CONtent, conTENT.
It’s not the writerly life I had pictured in fourth grade. Some days, the writerly life seems out of reach in the day-to-day drudgery of life — laundry and bills, a dog that needs to be walked, and children that need to be fed and helped with homework.
If I Could, I Would… Wouldn’t I?
Sometimes, my dear husband asks me what my dream job was. “I wanted to be a journalist and work for Rolling Stone magazine,” I confess. This is the truth. I also wanted to be the next Stephen King.
I am neither of those things, and that’s okay.
I have my work to support our life, and I have my small creative outlets to sustain my soul.
Yes, I want to publish novels, although it’s unlikely I’ll ever be Stehpen King, and that’s okay. (The man has published A LOT of books.) Wishes are only words, but the work is in the writing. That’s what I’m doing here.
