He went to college, achieved a Computer Science Bachelor’s degree, and then moved home to Brooklyn and immediately got a job in programming, and has transitioned into bigger and better jobs since then. He has built websites, programmed and fixed giant deployment tools, coded stuff, taught himself mobile phone programming, and reads articles about techie stuff in his free time.
My husband loves what he does. He is passionate about his chosen career field, and is 100% certain that he is doing the right thing for him. He is creative in a techie/mathy way that actually creates something out of nothing, using his lines of code, which is really cool.
I am 10 years deep in a career I sort of fell into after college. I am good at sales, I am decently successful in my field, and I have been lucky enough and have worked hard enough to move into good positions with great companies, and work with amazing bosses. I like my job.
But I am not passionate about my job the way Hubs is. I don’t take the same depth of satisfaction from mine as he does when he’s solving a code crisis. I didn’t know at 14 that this is what I would be doing.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a singer, songwriter, illustrator, writer, or lawyer. I was always told I was good at arguing and should be a lawyer, so I’m not sure if I wanted to be that, or if it just seemed like a good back-up plan.
As an adult, my hobbies include singing, songwriting, and writing. None of those are my career and none of them are paid. I still am passionate about them, I love doing them, and I let my creative flag fly free.
Listening to Hubs talk about work and the projects he is working on (I have learned SO MUCH about computer-y things in the last 6 years!) and the problems he faces, the solutions he finds, acting as a sounding board and suggesting things from a different point of view, seeing the gratification he gets from a job well done, a project completed, and a good review from his boss, has inspired the hell out of me.
I recently turned 30, and also marked 5 years of having my personal blog. It is a creative outlet full of rants, ramblings, coherent articles, doodles, lyrics, and lists. For some reason, I assumed if my blog was entertaining enough, it would magically attract readers and I could maybe get some ad revenue out of it, or somehow parlay that into a writing career. Well, that hasn’t happened, but I have gotten a lot of happiness and satisfaction from maintaining my blog, so that’s awesome.
When I turned 30, I started examining my writing goals. I have journals full of poetry and lyrics, and 2 half-started books on my computer (one is a young adult novel, one a self-help book on confidence), I have a small demo with a couple of songs I wrote and recorded, and I already had a few articles posted as a guest contributor on one website that was not my blog.
I wasn’t actively taking steps forward to write elsewhere or try to get paid. But the truth is, I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and getting published isn’t just going to fall out a window and hit me. If I’m going to be a writer, I needed to start making a real concerted effort to write.
And I have. Since my birthday in June, I’ve added several more websites to the list of places that publish my articles, including my most recent achievement of Huffington Post blogger platform. I’ve applied to several part time writer/editor positions, and have started working on a couple of pieces to submit to writing contests. I am continuing to apply to websites to be a guest contributor.
I’ve blogged and posted articles on sites significantly more often than before, I’ve taken more time to work on my book, and I’ve carved out time weekly to just sit at a computer and WRITE. Even when I’m not sure what to say.
It’s tough sometimes, and I get frustrated or I have nothing to say. I try to pay more attention to the news, so I can write more relevant articles instead of rants or funny posts that were more for my personal blog and less for a wider audience. I have started thinking a lot more about keywords and SEO and what appeals to people who are not me.
It’s also exciting and interesting and new and shiny. I have always wanted to be a writer and every single time I see my byline and thumbnail photo on a new website, I get giddy and happy.
My husband loves what he does, even when it annoys or frustrates him. Seeing him happy and successful and fulfilled inspires me to find that as well. His passion and drive inspire me to do better and improve. And that is pretty awesome.
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