Susan here, with our Ask-A-Wench question for May, in which we ponder what might have been:
If you had not become a career writer, what sort of work do you think you'd be doing today?
Teacher, archaeologist, journalist, other dreams--we Wenches might all be in different places in life now if we hadn’t pursued the writing urge. Read on for our thoughts on what we had planned to do once upon a time, and how our paths changed. And then let us know what you might be doing today if you had taken a different path in life!
Pat here:
As a kid in elementary school, pecking away at my father’s typewriter on Nancy Drew style mysteries, I figured my chances of earning a living at writing were nil. I was pretty practical even then, and I didn’t want to end up as an old maid in an attic full of cats. Obviously, I read too much as well. <G>
So as a teen, I decided I’d be a journalist. I read newspapers front to back, could see the power of the pen, and knew I could write. Unfortunately, when I reached university and had to interview subjects for the school newspaper, my epic shyness insured that I fail big time. I gave up that dream and went to work full time in a Sears accounting department. I’d been working with finance since I was sixteen and realized it mostly allowed me to work without people. Voila—a new career!
I returned to school, got my accounting degree, passed the CPA test, and sold my first book the week I started my accounting career. It took years before my writing income exceeded my salary. . . Had my employer actually paid me a living wage, I might not be a writer today.
Oh c’mon, who am I fooling? I might have had to write at midnight, but I would never have quit writing.