"What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?"

After burning out from a 10-year stint as an elementary teacher, I was confronted with the very same question I had been asking my students for the last decade. The sad truth was that at 32 years old, I had not a clue. All I knew was that I didn't want to teach anymore.

Three years later, I had a vague idea-- I wanted to write. Write what, though, was the big question. I love to do it, it's what I'm best at, but I just didn't see how I could make money. So instead I languished in the accounting job I'd taken for "job security."

While I'm grateful to be employed in today's market, accounting is not really something that blows my hair back.  I love all the people I work with, I respect and admire my boss-- but still... There had to be something else out there career-wise. Accounting is a great fit for lots of people, just not for me.  Wanting out of my entry level accounting job and in hopes of getting a better paying position, I turned to the company's corporate recruiter to help "focus my career goals."

So we discussed all the jobs within the company that I thought I could do adequately. Each job position I brought up was met by the same sort of question:

"But do you think you could be passionate about doing ______________?"
"Do you have a passion for ______________?"
"Could you be passionate being ______________ for the long term?"

The questions dumbfounded me, frankly, and I wondered how anyone could honestly say they have a passion for any of these positions. I left my meeting with the corporate recruiter, feeling discouraged and irritated. Passion? I just need to not hate my job. I don't need to love it so much I'd want to marry it. First of all, you're lucky if you even have a job right now. If you have an actual "career", and not just a job, you are doubly blessed. Now, if you actually have a PASSION-- one off of which you can make a decent living... Well, that seems damn near impossible.

But then I really got to thinking about it. What really was my passion?

Easy: Writing.

Okay, well, why couldn't I make my passion my career? Is a career as a writer really that elusive? If other people can make a career out of their passion, why couldn't I?

The very least anyone can do is try. Even those who wait to win the Lottery have to get up and buy a ticket.

So as I actively and finally pursue my dream to become a professional writer, I want to talk to others who have succeeded or are trying to succeed in doing what they actually love to do.

The premise is this: Your Name, ____________________ (what you love to do)

How would you fill in your blank?