Contributed by:
Tabitha Dial, YourHub.com
Article Contributed on: 7/12/2006 3:19:41 PM
This is an update on my blog about me fantasizing about trading my jeep for a book deal.
OK. It didn't take me long to realize how very risky it would be for me to try to trade my jeep for a book deal (or, really, for a literary agent to give me a chance).
But it's taking me ages to figure out what I might use my money for when I sell the jeep. And I'm hoping I can sell it by the end of next month (of course, this means I actually have to advertise it).
Some options include:
1- Helping to fund grad school so I can earn an MFA in poetry and probably use that to get a job as an English professor.
2- Funding my cost of living for about half a year, in which I'll act as if I don't have any money and have to live by my wits and ambition and good faith alone.
3- A combination of the above?
It's tough. I like my job. But every now and again, that part of me starts to wimper about lost time and fading dreams. And I know I'm not alone.
This matter of money is really a matter of career. Should I take another path?
My current position is full time. I expected that after
moving outI'd have more time for my own activities.
This seems to be the case, but my motivation for my avocation waxes and wanes. Sometimes I just want my brain to turn a bit mushy. Sometimes I just have to take a vacation from revision. I don't want to send out query letters for my novel again until it's been revised. And that's not happening right now.
I can't say that I ever fully dismiss the writer side-- each week, a couple other poets and I try to meet and critique each other's latest offerings. And I am involved in the poetry community in other ways, too, attending free workshops, sometimes teaching them.
It's a good life. But do I want more? More of what, exactly, that'll pay the bills?
Editor's note: These possibilities almost certainly won't be undertaken shortly after I sell my jeep. Currently, I except any big changes to my job to take many a month-- I need loads of timebefore I can implement any plans.