This is the last in a two-part series of posts based on my interview with Karen Swim. Come back Monday for the first of my two-part interview with Melia Dicker. Subscribe to the blog or become a fan on Facebook. Read other posts from the interview»
I guess I never thought of writing as a career because I’ve always had a very practical side—even growing up I was pretty practical. I mean, I started out with the typical childhood dream of becoming President of the United States, but then I researched the salary and decided that I didn’t think it paid enough given how much stress you’d have to deal with.
My plan was to go into the medical field, which made sense given that I grew up in hospitals – my mom was a nurse; my first job was working in a doctor’s office; and after school I’d go to the hospital. I even read the medical encyclopedia for fun.
Here’s a funny story. As a kid, I used to wake up in the middle of the night and read, kind of sleep reading. So, I would get up in the morning and encyclopedias would be open on my desk. I was a weird child.
My initial plan was to become a child psychologist. Once I got to college, I decided I really didn’t want to spend my days with heartbreaking stories.
I thought about becoming a brain surgeon. But I worked with a few doctors and decided I didn’t want to be defined by a career. Sure, they had a great job but if you aren’t connected to the people in your life, it’s worthless. I knew that I wanted to get married and have a family, and I didn’t want my kids to be calling my office on holidays saying, “Hey, where’s my mom?”
Now, after all that, I make a living as a writer.
So often, we have a vision for where we want to be and we plan out everything that’s going to happen along the way. But the adventure is far richer and far more rewarding than you could ever plan – but we have to open ourselves to the journey if we’re going to realize those rewards.
What’s next? Great question.
When I had that initial epiphany, “Hey, you could actually have a writing business.” I also had the thought that I might become a published author some day, too. So, my secondary plan has always been to fund the dream of being a fiction writer. Last year I realized that I’ve focused so much on building the business—that I haven’t taken any time to work on the dream. So I used the National Novel Writing Month as an opportunity to just jump in. I decided the week before that I would do it.
After 30 days—actually a little less than 30 days—I had a finished novel. I didn’t know how good it was, but I had it. I let it sit for 30 days before re-reading it and was actually pleased.
So, my dream is next. That means going through several rounds of editing and getting it to the point where I’m ready to start submitting queries to publishers.
I’m really excited about the next part of my journey. And that’s something that I’ve really come to understand over the past few years, when you think you’ve arrived, there’s always somewhere else to go. ♦
Karen Swim is grounded in a strength that can only come from trusting that she’s on the right path even if she doesn’t know where that path might lead. She’s a writer, a marketer, and a social media expert. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her through Rosa Say’s Joyful Jubilant Learning and I cannot recommend strongly enough that you take the time to get to know her, too. Read her blog. Friend her on Facebook. Connect on LinkedIn. Follow her on Twitter.
Published Tuesday, September, 22, 2009