First, my reading has changed. I could barely pick up a work of fiction before, and now it's what I mostly try to read. Mainly because I want to write it. This desire truly felt like it came out of nowhere (though the Harry Potter incident - see previous post - helped it along considerably). My brain has been busily scouting for books and running through ideas like a madman running down the street. I admit that feel so behind. I haven't read fiction in a while and this is part of the equation of getting good at it. So much to do!
Second, I've decided on a career path. YES CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I've decided to pursue technical writing/editing as my money-making endeavor. I'd been talking to a friend last weekend and she was telling me about her writing and getting grants. I started thinking about grants...and grant writing...and I remembered a position at the UA for a grant/technical writer that looked interesting to me. Someone in this position would write proposals, help write/edit manuscripts, write for grants, and do other similar work. I decided to research technical writing. Now a week later, I'm a member of the Society for Technical Communication. I've started looking into certification and degree programs, but I'm hoping to talk to a professional and see what kind of education I really need. Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University offer technical/professional master's degrees that I can take online AND I receive a considerable discount since I'm a UA employee (tuition at one of these institutions is $25 for 9 credits...yeah...).
As with everything else, these things could fade, but I don't think they will. Not soon anyway. The reason I believe this is because with everything else I've considered doing, there has been a giant "wall" I would have needed to climb. The wall was made of significantly more education and involved returning to an environment (formal schooling) that I didn't much care for. These barriers don't exist in this situation...which makes a future in writing easier to pursue.
Always good to have a game plan for a career path. My mom is / was a technical writer ( I'm not sure how much she does it these days with other things coming up ), but it seemed decent for her. Good Luck and have fun.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/technical-writers.htm
ReplyDeleteI've followed your blog for a long time, and your thoughts on career development inspired me to think a lot about my own career too. I'll share my two cents here :) As a graduate student, I saw my advisor struggling writing grant proposal every year to keep the lab funded. That is to say, this is definitely a challenging career, but very exciting as well, especially when your grant proposal actually gets funded for millions! It seems like for a technical writer, you'll need excellent writing ability (which you already have), and some technical background is crucial too (confirmed by the link provided above). So maybe some effort on strengthening that part will get you further in this career path! Again very happy for you to find a career worth pursuing!