Lately I find myself looking at the job opportunities that I see listed in the local paper and The Globe and Mail. A pointless exercise because I am still waiting on my permanent residency application to be approved, but I do it anyway. There was a job at the local museum listed last week that sounded like fun. The director needed a temporary assistant to help coordinate school visits, plan activities and lead tours. A love of history and an education background were the two biggest requirements. Aside from the fact that the hours wouldn’t work for me until Katy is in school full-time, it sounded like a great job. Note that I did not say “career”. I am not interested in a career. I have one and that’s writing. Being a writer is where my heart and soul lies and I am not going to forget that again. However, I do miss the day to day that goes along with a “real” job sometimes and it would be nice to bring in a little extra cash to off-set expenses since we are talking again about building a house. And when I am not looking at want ads, I think about taking classes. I grabbed the Continuing Education Guide for MacEwan College today as I was leaving the Safeway. They have a professional writing degree program there that has a few classes that would help me out with my writing career – copyediting, magazine writing, creative non-fiction and web designing. Valuable skills all.

 

So why don’t I just work on my writing and not worry about getting a job or going back to school? Partly because I am in a rut again. I have a lot of work currently out and haven’t heard back on anything yet. While this is frustrating, the other side of the coin is my fear that by having work out I am breaking some sort of rule. I don’t think I am because no one is going to pay me money even if they do want to use my work. The magazines I have targeted tend to pay you in subscriptions or copies of the edition you are published in. It is one of those resume-building things that writers do. Trade pay for writing credits that you can use to get more serious publications, agents and publishers to take you seriously. And there is the fact that at ten months I am well over past the longest stint I have gone without working since I was 14 years old. One would think that after thirty years of working for someone else, being self-employed would be a nice change, but that just goes to show you how ingrained work ethic and self-sufficiency can be. I am a product of my generation – the Joneses (1954 -1964) not Boomers or GenXer’s, we are the stable middle that keeps those two groups from exploding on each other. I learned my lessons too well, as my generation is wont to do and know I feel a bit untethered. Not that I am not nearly always busy. I have much to do and the days fly by. But I miss beng around people who are not my family on a my regular basis than writing group or yoga class.

 

Despite my dilemma, teaching is not calling loudly in my ear. I should be able to obtain an Alberta license sometime this spring and knowing what I do about education, I could easily sub next year. I don’t find that as interesting however as working in a museum. Or maybe studying to become a yogini. Yes, there is a yoga studio that I am going to switch to that offers training and certification for yoga instruction. How cool would that be?

 

“So what do you do?”

 

“I’m a writer and I teach yoga.”

 

Or.

“I write primarily but I also work part-time at the local museum designing educational programs for elementary and secondary students.”

 

Yeah, substitute teacher just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?

 

Of course there is also Rob’s dream of building green houses.

 

“I write and I maintain the website for my husband’s company. He designs and builds green homes.”

 

Maybe I just want to be trendy? Not like most SAHM who venture back into employment by getting their realtor’s license or open up dayhomes. I don’t want to be anymore of a cliché than I am – teacher turn writer. Though in my case, it has always been writer with teaching being my side tracking.

 

I think that both employment and school probably represent nothing more than my frustration. I am hemmed in by a child who isn’t in full day school yet, a lack of status that keeps me from trying out jobs or classes and the interminable waiting that goes along with submitting writing pieces. The last is just a matter of finding that elusive audience for the things I like to write.

 

Probably what I really need is just a vacation.