Blurred Line

I'm back from Easter holidays, and rather pleased that I managed to make it through three separate holiday dinner without having to eat any turkey, which I'm not much of a fan of. Part of the whole holiday dinner routine is, of course, to catch up with those around you. For me, this means fielding questions about what I plan to do with the rest of my life. These conversations go a litte like this:

Relative: What are you taking in school?
Me: An English degree.
Relative: So, are you going to teach?
Me: Well, probably not.
Relative: What do you plan on doing, then? What else is there to do?
Me: Actually, after graduation I plan on getting myself a completely non-descript, anonymous white collar job where I spend my time waiting for the clock to hit five so I can go home.
Relative: Then why bother even taking an English degree?
Me: Well, these days you need a university education to get a job and I enjoy studying literature.
Relative: So...you're not going to teach?
Me: No. I'm not sure I'm really cut out for it.
Relative (with disapproving frown): Oh...well, I guess that's your choice, then.

Now, if this was specific to one or two relatives, I could deal with it. However, pretty much all of them seem to have the notion that, if I don't end up teaching or going into journalism, I'm wasting all that I've learned.

Am I? Well, maybe. Thing is, though, that I don't particularly want to teach, nor do I want to go into journalism. Furthmore, I don't really have any ambition for any job that's out there. I want something that isn't going to be too onerous and something that'll pay me just enough to support my writing habit. Becoming a full-time writer is the real goal. Unfortunately, as we all know, writing fiction doesn't exactly pay the bills, even if you've had a couple of novels published.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with teaching or journalism - it's just that they seem like something you need to be emotionally invested in to do well. And, frankly, I'd rather be flipping burgers at McDonald's than making a living as a teacher who doesn't really care about what he's doing. It seems to me that, if what I truly care about is writing (and that's the truth, for better or worse), then I'd be better off doing a job that's just there to pay the bills while I make a go at trying to make it as a writer.

So, maybe in a few years I'll be explaining to all of my relatives why my civil service job really is the job that's best suited to my studies in literature. We'll see.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Monday, April 17, 2006 - Three Conversations About One Thing I'm back from Easter holidays, and rather pleased that I managed to make it through three separate holiday dinner without having to eat any turkey, which I'm not much of a fan of. Part of the whole holiday dinner routine is, of course, to catch up with those around you. For me, this means fielding questions about what I plan to do with the rest of my life. These conversations go a litte like this: Relative: What are you taking in school? Me: An English degree. Relative: So, are you going to teach? Me: Well, probably not. Relative: What do you plan on doing, then? What else is there to do? Me: Actually, after graduation I plan on getting myself a completely non-descript, anonymous white collar job where I spend my time waiting for the clock to hit five so I can go home. Relative: Then why bother even taking an English degree? Me: Well, these days you need a university education to get a job and I enjoy studying literature. Relative: So...you're not going to teach? Me: No. I'm not sure I'm really cut out for it. Relative (with disapproving frown): Oh...well, I guess that's your choice, then. Now, if this was specific to one or two relatives, I could deal with it. However, pretty much all of them seem to have the notion that, if I don't end up teaching or going into journalism, I'm wasting all that I've learned. Am I? Well, maybe. Thing is, though, that I don't particularly want to teach, nor do I want to go into journalism. Furthmore, I don't really have any ambition for any job that's out there. I want something that isn't going to be too onerous and something that'll pay me just enough to support my writing habit. Becoming a full-time writer is the real goal. Unfortunately, as we all know, writing fiction doesn't exactly pay the bills, even if you've had a couple of novels published. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with teaching or journalism - it's just that they seem like something you need to be emotionally invested in to do well. And, frankly, I'd rather be flipping burgers at McDonald's than making a living as a teacher who doesn't really care about what he's doing. It seems to me that, if what I truly care about is writing (and that's the truth, for better or worse), then I'd be better off doing a job that's just there to pay the bills while I make a go at trying to make it as a writer. So, maybe in a few years I'll be explaining to all of my relatives why my civil service job really is the job that's best suited to my studies in literature. We'll see. Cavan blogged at 4:25 PM \| 6 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart