Well, it has been over year now since my last post. In said post I talked about my exit from trying to get a teaching job and to finding something more suitable to my interests and desires. Since writing that post I have thought a lot about what I should do for a living and aimlessly applied to many a job postings to no avail. I don't mind, though. In the end I'm glad that I didn't get a job I didn't really want to begin with.
377 days after the last blog post I think I may have finally settled on a career path. I want to be a technical writer.
My friend Greg is helping along the way as I meander towards some sort of career. He has been writing professionally for about a decade now so he knows a thing or two about the industry.
A few days ago he asked me why I wanted to be a technical writer. I suppose he wanted to know my intentions to make sure that they were for the right reasons. I see why he asked. Going into a field for the wrong reasons, say, for money, will most likely end in failure or worse - an unsatisfying career. You should do something because you want to do it not because you think you have to do something. Best to ignore the societal pressures that tell you to make a buck so you can do the whole American Dream thing as fast as possible. You know; tended lawn, white picket fence, dog, 2.5 kids, the whole nine yards. I do want those things. I want my own backyard for my son to play in. A house to call my own. A little extra in the bank account for a rainy day. But really, what's the rush? Helping with the family business is paying the bills for the time being. Besides, I'm wise enough to know that attaining the material version of the American Dream won't bring me to complete happiness anyway. There's always more to want. Still, it would be nice.
So why do I want to be a technical writer? I simply want to write for a living. I want to express my thoughts even if it may be in what is perceived by many as a very square format. The truth is I think I would be better writing in a more cerebral, analytic way than a more free and creative way. I can't write fiction - or at least I never really tried - and I don't want to write copy. Writing witty lines to sell designer jeans might be fun but I can't see myself racking my brain all the time just so I can sell a brand name. Don Draper does makes it look interesting, though.
Now my job is to focus my efforts and develop a skill base. I have potential but no real useful skills to an employer. For the next few months I will hyper-focus like a laser to achieve my goal. After all, my problem all along was that I never could focus. I wanted to do everything. Everything was interesting and I didn't want to limit my options. I'm a generalist at heart but unfortunately our economy doesn't want generalists (university professors are a rare exception). Our economy demands people with very specific skills to complete very specific tasks; plumbers, programmers, web content writers, carpenters, policemen and other village people. It needs people that have crafted themselves enough to do something that no one else can do. It doesn't need people that can make a witty joke about Marxism at a dinner party. Those people are interesting and probably know lots of neat stuff, but they are functionally useless.
I have an unfortunate resistance to learning a craft too well just so I can find a place in the division of labor (maybe an unconscious rebellion to "the man?"). I learn a little bit about something and move on to the next thing. I can change the spark plugs to my car but I'm certainly no mechanic. I can play a few Beethoven songs on the piano but I'm not a pianist. I can make a key-rack out of wood but I'm no craftsman. I can write in a personal blog but I'm not a writer... yet.
