I’m trying to figure out how/where to make a living.
History: When I graduated from high school in '81, I was completely ignorant of things like federal loans, etc., and I was on my own. So I went to work in the secretarial field. I slaved away at those types of jobs until December of 2004. I graduated with a B.A. (cum laude) in August of 2004, and decided to give Child Protective Services a try.
I made it 9 months.
Now I’m back to temping in a clerical position. I actually really like the company I’m at, and I like even more the fact that I can get all my work done in about 2 hours a day (most days), which leaves me 6 hours a day to write. But I’m making next to nothing.
I have been planning to teach middle school English. I got accepted into an alternative certification program, but I have been unable to find a job yet. I’ve also been thwarted at every turn as I’ve tried to arrange classroom observation visits (20 hours of which are required before I start the training class this summer, as is a teaching job).
I’ve been growing increasingly ambivalent about whether I really want to teach. Early last week, the vice president in our office asked me what it would take to keep me there. I gave him a figure that is considerably more than I’m making now, but still less than I’d make teaching. My rationale was that if I can get paid to write for 6 hours a day, I don’t mind making a little less than teaching! He said that he’d check with corporate to see if they can get it approved.
I know that the figure I told him is probably way higher than they would normally pay for that position. However, they have traditionally had two people working that job, and even then weren’t getting the kind of turnaround that I give them. I figure that the ability to get the day’s work done in 2 hours a day (and of course, I’m there all day so that if someone needs something I immediately take care of it) by one person has got to be worth something.
So while I’m waiting to hear whether he can swing my salary, I’m facing the possibility that he can’t. I’ve also spent the week training a temporary who’s filling in for me while I’m on vacation the next week and a half. This woman has been driving me up the wall!!! My irritation with her has made me question even more whether I should go into teaching. I do things fast–learn fast, type fast, work fast–and accurately. She is a very slow learner, and is extremely inaccurate. I have tried to be very patient, but I know my frustration has been obvious at times.
I’ve been planning to teach middle school English. That means that I may have a few people in my classes who want to be there, along with a whole lot of people who don’t. There will be people who learn quickly, and people who don’t. If I am losing my patience with this temporary over a 5-day training period, what am I going to do with my students over the course of a semester?
Granted that I am very good with kids; I have very close relationships with my friends’ kids. I have taught Sunday School frequently, and do very well there. While I was at CPS, there was only one kid that I couldn’t get to talk to me. I have the ability to make children feel very much at ease and very comfortable with me.
But that still doesn’t mean I’d be a good teacher. Heck–I’d probably be a better child psychologist than a teacher!
But in the meantime, I’ve got to make a living. The thought of staying in clerical work–except in my current position–is incredibly depressing. I feel like teaching isn’t the best move to make. I know CPS was wrong for me.
So what do I do?
I’m a good writer. I’m a decent editor. I do distributed proofreading for Project Gutenberg. I have two books–one a tween novel for girls of my religion, and the other a group of life’s lessons–that have been published by an e-book company. I have also translated Quo Vadis from a mixture of archaic English and Latin into modern English for the same publisher. I have done editing and copy editing for that publisher and another. I’m currently writing three books. One definitely has the potential to be a best-seller. The others probably don’t, but I still believe they can do respectably well. But I’m still so far from completion on any of them. I know that it’s going to be a good long while before I’ll see any money from these books.
I would genuinely appreciate any suggestions/input you can provide me. Thanks in advance!