Careers and Hobbies
March 4th, 2010
I was catching up with an old friend of mine a little while ago when he asked what my new (as of then, relatively. as of now, not so much) job was like. I said it was great, and I meant it. The people are nice, the work’s even sort of fun (I work in a bakery) and it keeps me busy but allows me to rest my creative side at the same time.
To my disappointment, after explaining how much I liked the job, my friend sighed to himself and told me I should be an art teacher. I was a bit taken aback, and appreciated the thought until I heard his reasoning. The phrase ‘waste your talents’ came up more than once, and I know he meant it in the best way…But still.
It bothered me a little once I thought about it again later. Truth is I had already thought of teaching as a career path, and I’m still considering it.
Put simply, I think I’d go insane if my day job (because that’s what it is to me. ’Writer’ is the career title I’d rather have on my sleeve) was in the least bit creative. I think it was in Ignore Everybody (Hugh MacLeod) that a point was raised about a man who went after the dream job that started as a hobby and ended up just as depressed as he was working the meaningless cubicle work. The hobby died away.
When and/or if I become a professional writer, painting will be my hobby. Right now they both are, which is why I’m so freakin’ busy. This was the mistake I saw in considering to be a graphic novelist — sure, it’s a story and it’s made all pretty; that should suit both my talents fine, right? But it’s a whole other skill set I just don’t have. It’ll never be a career; nor, I think, would I truly want it to be. Side projects done for the simple joy of it.
So hell. I might yet consider the teaching thing for if ever the bills get tight, but for now I’d rather keep my passions in the realm of hobbydom. As hobbies, my writing and art is mine and mine alone. They’re like toddlers to me. I’m not nearly ready to let go of them yet.
