As it's Labour Day weekend in Canada, and Labor Day weekend in the USA, why don't we all write about our dream job and steps we have taken to get it?
If your dream job is Homemaker and Mother, that is fabulous, and please go ahead and write it in the combox, although instead of mentioning steps you have taken (since this is one profession that you can't WORK to get), tell us of any courses you may have taken to become an even better Homemaker and Mother.
My dream job is to be a bestselling fiction-writer. I realize that the "bestselling" part isn't entirely up to me, but the image I keep having is of a glorious writer's office, like Meryl Streep's in Romancing the Stone or Emma Thompson's in Stranger than Fiction. Okay, at least a proper desk. Offices and desks cost money.
I also have an image of putting down a phone and saying to B.A. "Oh, guess what, darling. My agent says I'm being offered [fabulous sum] for [projected bestseller]" and B.A. saying "Hooray! We should get a holiday flat in [Mediterranean town]."
Nobody should write primarily for money, but if you write all the time anyway, money for writing becomes kind of a thing.
The steps I have taken include reading, blogging, writing short stories; writing articles for newspapers and journals; writing five novels, one of which has been accepted for publication; writing one non-fiction book, which has been accepted for publication in three countries; joining a writers' group to get some feedback; writing to the Scottish Book Trust for advice; and submitting short stories for publication (so far big 0 on the short stories). I write almost every single day. I carry a notebook everywhere and write in it frequently. I pay careful attention to the way both Scots and Poles reinvent English.
Enough about me. Your dream jobs please.
24 comments:
Ultimately, my dream job is to be a stay-at-home wife and mother... the best step I've taken towards that is, on top of years of babysitting and helping out at home, the summer before my senior year of college, I spent 3 months at home running my parents' house; both of my parents were working and I was fully responsible for cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, chauffeuring... you name it, I did it. It was the best way I could have spent that summer, as I moved in to my first apartment that fall and knew how to keep house, unlike my roommates.
I view this whole "dream job" thing as fairly fluid - I have a number of things that I think would be great jobs, but am not sure how it will play out. I'd like to work in some sort of law enforcement/prosecutorial role in human trafficking issues. I also love to write but don't do so often enough, but writing a novel or series would be great. And I enjoyed being a teacher, so maybe I'd teach law. I would also like a family, but I'm going to have to make decisions on that as it comes up. I don't see myself not having outside employment, but maybe more like my mom, few hours until school, etc. - not sure, will depend on so many factors. I am at law school, so that's the biggest step. In terms of dream job as a fantasy, historic document preservation.
My dream job is to be a tax accountant, and work from home eventually. Right now, I am working in an Accounts Receivable position and taking online classes towards an Accounting Certificate. My fantasy job would require that I live in a foreign country, UK and Germany being my top picks.
Ladywisdom
My dream job is to be a stay-at-home (and homeschooling) wife and mother. Things I have done that I hope will help me in that role are: helping my mom with the household tasks and my younger siblings throughout high school, teaching two of my brothers and two other students for one year under the supervision of a licensed teacher, and choosing college courses that I would be able to use in that role. I have an Associates in Small business entrepreneurship, so my specialty is starting and running my own business. When choosing my generals, I decided to take Sign Language (great for toddlers, and less politics than the other options, besides) and developmental psychology, for example.
I'd also like to be a writer, so I blog and write little things here and there (and took creative writing in college.) And someday I think I'd like to have a business involving cooking, so right now I'm working in the kitchen/dining room of an assisted living facility.
War correspondent!
I've been trying to learn as many languages as possible and working at newspapers during my summer's off from school. Hopefully in a few years I'll be checking this blog from the other side of the world.
Sorry, that's "summers."
This is why my dream job is not editor.
My dream job would be a history teacher at a university or high quality secondary school (ie., with curriculum I would want to teach) -- but the PhD market is so glutted right now that the professor thing is going off the table (for now), and I'll focus on middle or high schools. Of course my dream job includes a healthy focus on my central areas of interest, but I would end up teaching very general classes, so. (And my dream job also has a salary that I can travel on... edging into fantasy territory.) I got a BA in history w/ a medieval studies cert, but I'll need to tack on a Teaching Masters and (another hope) maybe an additional MA in my field of interest. Right now I've been doing two years of reading tutoring/in-class student teaching with Americorps for elementary kids. For a year in the middle I was an au pair for five children in Munich. These experiences have taught me that I don't want to work long term with young children! They are great -- really they are... somewhere inside there... -- but they make me want to drink every night.
My dream job is as a tenured science professor and researcher. In addition to working as hard as I can to do the best science that I can possibly manage and publish, I read the academic blogs for behind-the-scenes career advice, talk with faculty, go to meetings and network like mad, and take an active interest in anything that will serve me in the great game of how to get an academic job. Since academic jobs are so scarce right now, the art of how to snag one is just as important as the art of how to do really kick-butt research.
Just because it's fun - total fantasy land, I'd be the Doctor's first American companion (nerdy Doctor Who reference..). ;-)
Hey Nzie - save a seat for me in the TARDIS! Two American companions could also work. :)
For myself - just 2 months ago I got hired in my first full-time, benefited position in my field - I'm a zookeeper, and this is my dream job. I was a volunteer/unpaid intern throughout high school and college, got my B.S. in Wildlife Biology and then moved 2000 miles from home by myself to take a paid apprenticeship, which I held for a little over a year before getting my current job. I work with lions, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, and all kinds of antelope, small carnivores, and birds. I love everything about it and am very happy to be here, but I could see myself someday moving to a zoo that will send me to participate in international conservation projects. A goal to work towards!
My dream job would be to keep house part time for my family and to work part time as a family physician.
The steps I have taken toward being good at the first part are cake decorating classes and having friends over for dinner frequently to practice cleaning, cooking, and hospitality.
For the second part, I have completed medical school and have less than a year left of residency. When I finish my training, I plan to move north, to a big city closer to my parents' home, which is quite Catholic and could be one step closer to achieving my first goal. ;)
I have a couple but probably only one when the cold clear light of a reality check hits them:
1. Own a second hand bookshop/cafe
2. Own a bar in Havana
3. Work at the Vatican museums
4. Be the wife of [insert member of European Catholic royal family here]
5. Start up an Institute for the promotion of Christian Art/Architecture
6. Church restoration
7. Combination of 1-6
Things I have done to help me get there:
BA in English and Crim
Most of a Law degree
Most of a Grad Dip in Heritage
Almost 10 years in medical admin
Lots of travel
This could actually work!
I want to be a Poet Mom. Neither half of that title draws a salary! Right now I am heading down the shaky path of teaching Latin part time and writing in the afternoon. To be a poet I have read lots of books, including poems in other languages. I have blogged about literature and worked for Dappled Things, of which I have recently become editor in chief. I even write poetry sometimes when I really feel like it... lol. This is the hardest part, actually - there is always something more urgent than the writing of a poem.
As for the Mom part... I give only God the credit for this, but I'm marrying a wonderful man in April! I already know how to cook and shop for groceries and such, courtesy of my mom who taught me to make pie crust when I was twelve. I don't have much experience with small children, but I'm sure I'll figure it all out as I go.
My ideal work existence involves writing poetry, getting occasional checks for prose articles, and running my own rather informal Latin school or tutoring operation, in which I would use Hans Orberg's Lingua Latina book and speak Latin to the children as Erasmus or Thomas More would have done.
Good heavens! Gerald Durrell is ALIVE and READING MY BLOG!
Joking aside, Kristen, I am very impressed.
Actually, I am very impressed by all the solid dream-yet-rooted-in-reality jobs (NOT "companion of Doctor", m'kay) and the work you girls have put in towards them.
And Meredith, that's certainly news! Best wishes!
Meredith is a long-time reader, everybody!
I mean, Kristin!
What an interesting collection of different readers with different dreams, jobs and all you have, S.!
My dream job: Living on a (mountain) farm, together with a husband who is the farmer (because me alone, I would never dare start my own farm, as I really don't know enough about it). I would have children; it would work quite well to do farmwork and have my little children around somewhere. I would keep my own sheep. I love sheep.
What have I done to achieve this? Hm, moving to Switzerland, for instance, so at least I am geographically near to potential husband-farmers... :-) Studying agronomy (okay, that doesn't make me fit for the practical work, but it helps me with my actual choice of work, i.e. in science); working on a farm for one year and several times for a shorter period during university; looking a friend over the shoulder who spent several summers on Swiss mountain farms.
This may never come true, so at the moment I am quite content with working at a research institute with sustainable agriculture as main topic (second dream: working somewhere where I can contribute to sustainable food production and preserving nature. I love nature.)
Congratulations, Meredith! And I wouldn't worry about not having a lot of experience with children. My mom was an only child who ended up with 8 kids, and she did just fine... And my older sister, who always wanted to be a mom, babysat a lot, etc., still asked my mom for advice with her kids, etc. - even stuff I'm sure she knew at one point (too much to remember). Having good values puts you and your husband on solid footing. :D
And Seraphic, it was just a bit of fun... both Kristin and I listed real things, too. :-) (And in the non-reality, Kristin, we can totally be co-companions.) :D
~Nzie
My dream job...
I would love to eventually be a stay at home wife/mom. But if getting a job comes first, I would to work in a parish or school setting and teach religion and about the teachings of the faith. In particular, I hope I can go into family life ministry.
I think the closest translation for my dream job is state attorney. Of course, I would love to get married and have lots and lots of babies as well.
To acomplish this, I finished law school last year and I'm currently very fortunate to practice in a very nice firm in my home town. One has to pass very difficult tests to get my dream job, so I study everyday I don't know how many hours.
For my second goal, well, I have no game plan, just playing by ear.
Wow! Lots of interesting dream jobs. I myself would say writer/stay at home mom. I have kind of finished a novel--lots to be revised. I am also getting married next June. So who knows my dream could come true :) On a side note, I have been reading Seraphic for a few years, and met my fiance in the mean time. He is a wonderful Catholic man, and I did follow many bits of advice that I read hear, all the while quite enjoying all the things Seraphic has had to say. I don't comment too much, but have been reading all along the journey I have had toward marriage. Also by the way I will be 35 when I get married so--and I didn't see it coming! He did kind of come out of nowwhere into my group of Catholic friends. Thanks be to God!
My dream job involves getting paid for doing what I now do for free: developing public policy and being a spokewsoman.
Energy law would also be fun. (Fingers crossed) making some headway there.
~theobromophile
Right now my dream job is working as an editor, either for a magazine or for a company where the need for good, clear writing is contributing something important to society, in whatever way that will be. To achieve that goal I went back to school to get a master's in creative writing, spent a while doing freelance editing jobs and am now working at a small magazine where I'm learning the ropes of magazine publishing, copyediting, and now some writing as well. I've also written a young adult novel but don't feel like it's polished enough to start shopping around for agents yet, but it's always at the back of my mind, bugging me. I love having my finger's in other peoples' writing, though, so I think editing has become the thing that I see myself doing primarily.
I actually have my dream job, but it turned out not to be as dreamy as I thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite grateful for it! But now I'm on the hunt for a new dream, or rather a passion for something or another. I know, however, that I would be hesitant to spend so much time and energy following this next dream since the first one turned out not as fulfilling as I expected. So far, I'm praying that my heart will be moved Dramatically, in a way I won't miss :) Any advice on how to find a dream?
Frivoling
Dream job: living in New York and singing on Broadway, or at least, just making a living from my artistic pursuits alone.
Things I've done: got a music degree, taken voice lessons for almost 22 years, sung in choirs, performed in shows, taken dance classes, taken workshops, worked for free, paid to work, sent in countless headshots & CVs, and gone to auditions over and over and over...and prayed. And prayed.
Don't know that I'm any closer than I ever was...and I'm too old for the dream now, really...but I don't have any others :(
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