Here Goes Nothing

You know how when you're a kid you have that dream job and you tell everyone you know that's what you want to be when you grow up? I don't know what my dream job was. I don't remember ever wanting to be a doctor, teacher, firefighter, etc.

I have thought about this a lot. It doesn't seem possible that I didn't have that dream job. Since that time, I've narrowed it down to astronaut. I would love to be an astronaut. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

So I came up with a brilliant plan. Even though I don't remember what I wanted to be when I grew up, surely someone does. That's when I asked my grandma.

"Grandma, did I ever tell you what I wanted to be when I grew up?"
"Yes. You said you wanted to be a writer."

Huh? Really? Me? I don't remember saying that. Ever. In fact, I remember saying things to the contrary. When I was getting that degree in English people would ask, "So, what are you going to do with that degree? Be a writer?" No sir. Not me. I'm not a writer. While most of my teachers tell me I'm a good writer, I just don't have original ideas. Then I would start to wonder what it must have been like inside Shakespeare or (yikes) Poe's minds.

Since that time, I have become a teacher. An English teacher at that. (So what, I like a healthy mix of fragments, run-ons, and comma splices--don't judge.) I absolutely love being a teacher. I know without a doubt that this is the career path for me. Obviously I am not in it for the money. I just love to teach. When I get in front of a classroom of students I feel like I can really be me.

Having said this, that conversation with my grandma still bothers me. Me? A writer? Have I not somehow inadvertently chosen a career that keeps me close to writing by choosing to be an English teacher?

When I was a child, I occasionally tried to keep a diary. I probably still have three or four diaries from my childhood and adolescence. However, all of those diaries have one or two entries, and then nothing. Many years ago I started a blog. I blogged fairly regularly for a few years, but then (wonder of all wonders) people stopped using xanga, and I found that writing a blog isn't much fun when no one is reading it. So then I started another blog. And another. And another.

Now I have started this blog. Apparently I am supposed to be a writer, so I am going to write. On Wednesdays. Hence the name, "Wednesday Is for Writing."

Wish me luck.