Future

It has been quite some time since I last did a post about writing.  And even then, those posts were mainly about ME writing or just updating you on where I was with my current project.  I honestly could not tell you the last time I wrote a post about writing in general.  So let's see how rusty I've gotten, shall we?

First of all, I could update you on where I'm at with CATCH ME, since I am at a good stopping point.

Chapters: 8 (complete)
Pages: 73
Words: 23,504

And now that that's out of the way,  I give you a little piece of what my mind has been like recently.  But, you know, a little more coherent.

The future has been something I've really been thinking about.  You know, it kind of just dawned on me that I can no longer say Oh, I still have plenty of time left to decide what I want to do with my life!  I still have years of high school left! And while part of that is true, by sophomore year you should have a pretty good idea of what your educational plans are post-high school.  I also always thought that I knew straight-up what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to go to Ohio State and I knew that I wanted to get my degree to become a teacher.  However, I had no idea what I wanted to major in or anything like that.  And that thought absolutely terrified me!  I've spent some time talking with my cousin who attended OSU and he said that majority of teachers majored in a math, science, or history.  My three least favorite subjects.  This, in turn, made me think about if teaching was actually the right career path for me. 

Let me take a break here to mention something.  YES.  I STILL WANT TO BE AN AUTHOR. But there is pretty much no way that that is going to happen between now and college, and if it did, there's no way that I could solely support myself on my writing.  I have always planned on getting a degree to fall back on, there is simply no way around it.  I want to have a profession that I can use to support myself if need be.  There will always be the chance that writing will not be enough.  As much as that is a dream of mine, it's not a very sturdy dream.  A degree is pretty essential.

Anyway, so like I was saying, I've been thrown into this debate about whether or not I really want to be a teacher.  I love talking, I love helping kids, and I'd love to inspire others to love literature - whether that be reading or writing (or both).  My mom was a teacher, and maybe that's why I've always felt like I HAD to go into that profession. 

But as I've debated it, I've thought about what else I'd possibly like to be.  Of course there's photographer and a journalist, but neither are very easy fields to go into and make much of a profit on.  There's so many photography groups around and a lot end up barely getting by or end up closing because they can't.  Journalist is an option that I would adore if I could go overseas and visit with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (if there's still a war going on when I get to that point - and I dearly hope there is not).  But journalism isn't exactly what I enjoy writing.  I've done it, on a small scale, but I never enjoyed Newspaper (club) as much as I did Power of the Pen (creative writing club). 

And thus I thought about other things that interested me.  I have become increasingly more obsessed with crime shows.  I have a cousin who's a cop and I think his job is pretty awesome - even if (thankfully) he doesn't see a lot of action at work.  Cops are pretty awesome and I've often wondered how I would like that job.  But, I think I'm more in love with the IDEA of being a cop than actually BEING one.  I know that the physical demands of it would likely not fit who I am.  Plus I like to worry - well, okay, I don't LIKE to worry, but I do worry.  A lot.  So that's pretty much out of the question.

So I started thinking about careers that are similar to law enforcement.  More specifically, lawyers. 

And this idea greatly appealed to me. 

But lawyers have to go through a lot of schooling.  And I've read a law student's blog about how terrible 1L is and I remember thinking to myself Why would you put yourself through that? However, the more I've thought about it and the more I watch The Good Wife and Harry's Law the more the idea appeals to me.  Yet I still wonder if this is the same thing I thought about with the cop idea.  Am I more in love with the IDEA of being a lawyer than actually being one? 

So while I've been thinking about that, I've also been thinking a lot about the insane amount of homework I have and how I could possibly manage to keep writing in my busy schedule.

And last night, my friend suggested that I do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  50,000 words.  One month.  You're supposed to finish your novel in a month.  Holy.  Crap.

While I've often considered doing NaNoWriMo, I've always backed out because I knew that there was very slim chance that I could get through 50k words in a month - even doing the daily count.  When I write, it's often words in the groups of hundreds - not thousands.  My chapters are roughly 3,000 words a piece. 

But I've also been thinking that NaNoWriMo could be just what I need.  I've struggled this year to get into a good writing habit because of how crazy my life has been.  Maybe I need this to force me to write.  Any thoughts?

Actually, any thoughts on any of this?

And since I have completely wasted a good chunk of your time, I will stop now. :)