Quote for the WeekKatharine Whitehorn, in Observer, 1975, said: "The best career advice given to the young is: Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it."
Work, these past few months, has been more fun than work despite the long hours and the volume of work. I absolutely love what I do for a living. Times like these make me know that I made the right choice. When you love what you do, work is never work.
Sure, there are times when I feel as if I couldn't pull another word from my brain. There's associated paperwork and administration responsibilities, if you're successful, just as there are in other careers. All in all though, writing is often sheer joy. Or should be. If it's not, take a step back and see what's stealing your joy away.
Takeaway Truth
If you work in words, always hold tight to the love of writing that got you in the business in the first place.
Sounds very much like my father's advice. He said there are two kinds of jobs. One, the kind where you make so much money you'd do anything, and the other kind where you love the work so much you'd do it no matter how little they pay you.
ReplyDeleteI think for most of us, writing falls into the second category
Your father is a wise man.
ReplyDeleteYou know what kind of writing pays best, don't you? Ransom notes and blackmail demands.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking of writing a story about a guy who figures he can make some money that way. He thinks that if he sends out 100,000 notes at random, most will be ignored, but he'll surely find someone who has a BIG secret and will pay $1,000,000 to keep it quiet.
The thing is, he hits the jackpot, and one of the recipients has a lot bigger secret than that: he'll kill to keep it a secret....
Feel free to steal the idea. I'd like a copy of the book if you write it, and to be invited to the opening if it gets made into a movie - but it's up to you.
No, you write it, Harl. It's your idea! Go for it. Then invite me for signing, opening, etc. Send a limo please with a nice bottle of bubbly.
ReplyDeleteLittle but Helpful Addition!
ReplyDeleteCareer Advice