(Sep 7, 2012) Friday Writing Essentials: My Dream Career

Hello, Everyone!

What a LONG day it has been so far! I got up at 4:30am to take my hubby to work so I could have the car today. Heading to one of the nearby Costcos to meet the manager. That'll be fun. :-)

In case you missed the news last week, our baby is definitely a girl. Super excited about it! She kicks all the time, and yesterday, freaked me out when she moved and it shifted my whole entire stomach. I swear, sometimes it's like I've got an alien inside me. :-) But I'm sure she's an adorable little alien. :-)

On to the prompt!

Weirdness. We're not working on genre fiction anymore. Today I want to focus on dreams - as in, our dream job - what we dreamed we'd become when we were young, and how that panned out.

I wanted to be a nurse. Always, always. When I got to my teenage years, I decided a doctor would be cool too, and in college, I took a ton of medical classes. It wasn't until three or four years ago that I decided to be an author instead, but taking those classes still benefits me. First off, everyone asks me all the time what's wrong with them. (To which I reply - you're sick. Go see a doctor. :-)) But I understand a lot about disease and infection, which is what my husband does for work, so that really helped us get to know each other while dating.  

Things didn't go how I wanted them to. But I'm happy with how it's turned out. Minus the not figuring out earlier in life how great writing could be. Many of my fellow authors are light years ahead of me because they started as children/teenagers. I've had to work extra hard to learn things that others seem to have engrained in them.

In your prompt response, I want you to answer the following questions, as applicable:

1. What was the first "dream career" you ever wanted? (I've discovered not everyone has nurse/fireman/police officer on their list as a child. :-) My niece wants to be a taxi driver. I love it. :-))

2. What did that change to?

3. When you were a teenager, what did you want to be, and did you take steps toward it?

4. How did your dream progress as you got older?

5. How did life intervene? Did things go as you planned (once you were serious about that career)? Or have things changed again?

6. Are you happy with how life has gone, or do you wish you could go back and change certain aspects?

7. If someone presented you with the opportunity to get that dream job (the necessary schooling, a new position that has opened, etc.), would you do it?

8. At your age now (whatever it may be and you don't need to disclose) would the necessary steps be the same as they would have been when in high school/college to getting that career?

I'm constantly amazed when I see people nearing retirement change careers. Sometimes it happens whether they like it or not - as in the case of both my dad and my father-in-law. (My dad works in the computer industry. He constantly has to adapt.) Sometimes the change is a choice, where people are finally getting the chance to get that dream career. That's pretty cool.

I don't want this to be a negative experience for any of us - if something is too difficult to write, skip that part. Life really does change our plans and things sometimes seem to always be outside our grasp. If this prompt could be cathartic in anyway, let it be. :-)

I sure appreciate my fellow gatherites. Thanks for putting up with me for over a year now!

Remember:

You have until Thursday, September 13, 2012 at midnight to write and post, and it can be in any format.

I will read, comment on, and feature your responses a week from today.

* Have your title say FWE or Friday Writing Essential, and have the initials "MDC" (My Dream Career) in it.

* Make sure to post to the Writing Essential Group.

* Put FWE or Friday Writing Essentials and the initials "MDC" in your tags. (I won't find your post without these tags.)

Have a great week! :-)