www.inkthinkerblog.com — Tonight someone described publishing to me as “an accidental profession.” This struck me as odd for two reasons: (1) that the statement was made in a room of people who are actively pursuing a graduate degree in publishing, and (2) that I was the only one who really challenged it. An impromptu survey revealed that less than 25% of people in the room considered publishing as a deliberate career objective. Okay, obviously it’s their deliberate career objective now or they wouldn’t be in the class, but we’re talking more long term here, a goal whose attainment is the motivation for how they have structured their careers to date.
Publishing is literally what I have always wanted to do (except for about five minutes when, at the age of six, I announced that I would be pursuing a career at McDonalds–I outgrew the phase quickly). One of the things I love about this industry is that everyone comes to their place in it in a very different way. It may not necessarily be with a large sign that says, “Publishing, here I come!” but I think it’s a kind of siren song, less accidental and more fateful. Am I channeling someone more well-known than myself when I say that I didn’t choose publishing, publishing chose me?
Kristen
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Kristen,
I can relate to the thought that we end up in publishing (and perhaps other areas) on accident.
I’ve wondered if, as writers, we were destined to do what we do or did we truly choose it on our own.
In my own case, growing up I really really kinda sorta really didn’t care for the English courses. Maybe it had to do with the whole diagramming thing with adjectives, adverbs and andything that dangled.
Despite that, there was something which made me sign up for that journalism class in my senior year in high school.
Since then, off and on, I have written. I have even gone out of my way in various jobs I have held to make writing a part of it.
Today, I write more than I ever imagined I would back in the day. Is in an accident I got to this point? Was it just dumb luck? Was it because I am an indecisive, introverted Gemini? The world may never know.
David
the Unmotivated Motivational Writer
If you work at a fast food joint and have an understanding boss you might just be allowed to take leftovers home with you after work. If you work in publishing you’re ENCOURAGED to take leftovers home after work – great bundles of them in neat manuscript boxes – whether you have an understanding boss or not.
Publishing clearly holds all the aces.
Thanks for the comments, folks. :]
Kristen