I Know What I Want to Be When I Grow Up
When I say “work” I only mean writing. Everything else is odd jobs. -Margaret Laurence
I don’t remember who was holding the camcorder at the time, but the question posed was, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” My brother Jim had just answered. “A photographer,” he said. He was nearing fifty-years-old at the time and had already had a couple of his weather photos published and won an award for one.
Next, it was my turn to answer. “A groupie,” I found myself saying just to watch my brother’s reaction.
“But no, seriously,” I continued. “I don’t want to sleep with musicians, I just want to meet them and interview them,” the Oprah Winfrey in me concluded.
Yesterday, I joked with my journalist friend Rick, who was recently outed as a blogger by his co-workers, that blogging is like “reality stand-up comedy without the fear of having real tomatoes thrown at you.” It’s also a bit like being a roving reporter covering the every day. Since blogging, I pay more attention to life’s details because who knows when a scene might re-create itself in my mind and make me run to find a pen to write it all down. Although I’m reluctant to admit, even to myself, that I might be blogging a story, I find myself taking a few pictures and asking a few more questions, just in case.
Maybe my dream job could come true. After more than a year of holding myself to the fire, writing every day and posting to my blog 6 days a week, my dedication has started to pay off in small and new ways. Early on in my blogging career, several of my entries went on to become local Public Radio essays that I read on the air. More recently, in the past couple of months, I’ve sold half-a-dozen pieces that originated from (or were adapted from) blog posts to our local newspaper. These include an informal interview, a play review, a book review, and conversational reports on local events.
Ever since I’ve been writing, a part of me has been thinking, “that was fun, but don’t expect it to happen again.” I’ve never wanted to write for a “job,” (not that anyone has offered) for two reasons. First, I’ve always feared that I wouldn’t be able to produce the quality and quantity of work that might be expected of me. Second, I feared that writing for a living would taint my love of doing it.
It’s a powerful validation for a writer to get paid for her work when she does so much of it for free. It’s doubly validating when that payment is for something she enjoyed writing. Recently, when the editor of our local paper asked me if I was working on anything new, the doubt and sense of pressure to produce that I would normally feel was superseded by the enthusiasm I felt when I answered her, “yes.”
November 12th, 2006 6:33 pm
Most exciting Colleen…I am not sure what I would do if I got “paid” for the writing I am doing now….It would be nice, of course—Very Very Nice—-but..That has not happened and I would worry, like you…if I could Perform Under Pressure! (lol)
Michele sent me though it looks like I skipped you…we posted at the same time, almost!
November 12th, 2006 6:43 pm
Yeah… today after hockey a friend was commenting on the fact that his boss was 700 miles away in Milwaukee and that the only thing that mattered was that his ‘numbers were good’. I can’t imagine having that kind of pressure put on with writing (though I did frequently write film reviews and articles for a local entertainment weekly, without too much chafe).
Here via Michele today.
p
November 12th, 2006 6:45 pm
The wonderful thing about your writing Colleen is that no matter the subject, format, or style your written voice is “spoken” in a tone of contentment. Yes, even in a post that is brief there is significant ripple of happiness that flows from it. This contentment and happiness is simply a symptom of a writer who is doing what she likes to do: write.
Writing will never taint your love of writing. In fact, it will only deepen it. I am so happy for you.
Please. Keep writing!
November 12th, 2006 6:48 pm
When I grow up I want to be a train engineer or a electrical lineman (I’ve always thought those two jobs to be special, don’t know why, probably because I’m haunted by trains and have always got a thrill out of heights)
November 12th, 2006 7:05 pm
That’s fabulous. You are a gifted writer, and you should feel proud and you should get paid.
November 12th, 2006 7:26 pm
I think one of the best things about blogging, no matter what others may say, is that you really DO pay more attention to life and the details. Just like you said. And I think that is wonderful. I notice more good things and beauty. It has to be theraputic.
But sometimes a comment or two not so nice can feel like a tomato in the face! Fortunately that hasn’t happened very often.
November 12th, 2006 8:33 pm
Congratulations on doing so well. When I was small I would say “I want to be a mom and an astronaut”. I never became the astonaut but I have no regrets. 🙂
November 12th, 2006 10:12 pm
Loved the post. I began studying grant writing a couple of years and discovered I needed to brush up on my writing skills. I was told it helps to write every day and eventually it becomes easier. I don’t know that to be true, but I have developed a love for it. Perhaps one day it’ll be a vocation for me, too. I have ideas, just haven’t figured out how to flesh them out yet.
November 12th, 2006 11:19 pm
Great stuff! I’d be thrilled too! Hope it continues to reward you!
I still don’t know what I want to be! Maybe I’d like to be able to sing more with people.
November 13th, 2006 7:35 am
Sorry about my link not working before. Apparently I left out an “E”
November 13th, 2006 10:13 am
I thoroughly agree that blogging increases my awareness, and I keep a pen and paper at hand always…I remember reading that Dickens started out by writing short descriptions of anything and everything that he saw (which became “Sketches by Boz”).
November 13th, 2006 10:37 am
I can relate to that. I love to edit for fun but putting myself in the position of depending on it for money seems an entirely different thing. Run with your passion or protect your passion from being overrun. That’s tricky to decide on. But your success alone seems to be weighing in on which could work…
November 13th, 2006 11:01 am
Good for you girlfriend…Isn’t writing for fun and profit every bloggers dream? Good for you for being successful at it!
November 13th, 2006 12:12 pm
Writing and photography certainly lend themselves to the daily, the small things. So much to learn, so little time. If I can’t travel to the wonders of the world, I must find the small wonders in my own back yard.
November 13th, 2006 5:49 pm
Sounds like the winds of fortune are blowing your way and you have the jib out! I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up because I secretly hope I never grow up.
November 13th, 2006 6:39 pm
Isn’t it wonderful to be able to do what you love the best? I feel that way about my flowers (but it would be nice to be paid for blogging…LOL). I suspect if someone offered me money to blog – I would become a dry well very quickly!
November 13th, 2006 8:01 pm
This is so cool! Glad you are getting the recognition you deserve.
Love the paintings by isa.
November 13th, 2006 9:08 pm
i’m sure something will come from your blog- it’s too good not to!
November 14th, 2006 2:54 am
i’m currently feeling a little apprehansion and panic as i’ve been asked to write small peices for a publication and it’s HARD!
blogging is so easy.. as it’s just for ourselves. to write knowing we have to fit to what someone else needs is a challenge for me..i look forward and felt hope after you said this time you felt enthusiasm. thank you 🙂
November 14th, 2006 10:17 am
You’re an amazing writer, Colleen 🙂
November 14th, 2006 11:38 am
I hope you’ll work something out with the local paper. While this kind of freelancing is not high paying, it is infinitely rewarding in other ways. It is what I do for a living, and while I could make better money, I would not have as much fun.
November 14th, 2006 1:35 pm
I think it would absolutely be perfect if I could actually get paid for something I love to do. Hmmm..
I hope more opportunities come your way. Your words seem to flow so easily and naturally.
November 14th, 2006 11:19 pm
Kudos to you on your successes and passion both! When I was a kid my attitude was that I didn’t care what I did for pay, so long as it supported my creative writing. When I’m paid for my creative writing it’s a bonus! (I can do corporate writing for a living because it’s another animal entirely.)