Well, I got a nice letter today accepting my resignation from my PhD, so I don't think anyone in science is going to want me for a decent period of time...

I honestly have no idea what I really want to do, and it isn't helped by a conviction that I could probably get away with anything. You know in the pooh books when Tigger is convinced that he likes any kind of food?

Excpet after trying them, he doesn't...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I was talking about this to someone the other day. Unless you've got a vocation to be, like, a nurse or a priest or something, most people don't really know what they want to do. I only know one person my age who works in the area their degree was in, for a start. And his degree was in Film and TV, so doesn't really count.

It depends, really. Do you want a job where you're really fulfilled, or do you want a job that just gets you enough money to live the other bits of your life the way you want to? It's quite rare to get both, I think, for some reason! Ie, you can work as a writer for peanuts, or you can take a crappy office job or something that basically brings in beer money.



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Do something pretty while you can...

Or you could always start your own business.



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

My parents used to have their own business. I would rather remove my toenails with a sharpened duck.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I can think of one or two people who would really want to talk to you PSD if you ever decided to live on this side of the pond.

One runs a newspaper(very small and a bit out of the mainstream, but very trendy and popular) the other runs a political research facility. If I didn't know better I would think that he and PSD were split at birth. They have similar looks(hair not included) and very similar temperments.

I have a friend who doesn't know what he wants to do and he's thinking of doing some time as a holiday rep.

Don't know how that's going to help, but still...

Something people-ish I reckon. You strike me as a people person. Like a customer-relations/PR guy?



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

Actually, after reading your blurty for this week (ish) I'd say you'd make a very good journalist. Go ask at your local newspaper or something. Or, if you're feeling ambitious, a bigger one.



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

Publish a magazine, I can't be alone in standing in the newsagents infront of hundreds of mags and yet find nothing to read. I don't want/need to know how to beat cellulite, or how to stencil my home to death or what handbag I need this season and for blokes it must be the same, its either porn or computer mags. Where are the mags that deal with 'stuff'.

Consdiering what I just had to clean out of my 3 year olds pants, may I suggest a career in child care? Why should I be the only one to suffer.

ah, the infamous 'poo bomb'. Great eh?

Never eat shredded wheat.

Not just a way to remember the points of the compass....



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

never feed your child curry is probably more apt. :-)

Neither curry nor shredded wheat. Do you really want me to go into the grim details? Okay...

*sounds of sudden skirmish and muffled yelling in background*

All right. Maybe I won't then....

In the last few years I have had to find something to supplement the music biz, which is spiritually fulfilling (usually) but pays squat. My very expensive music education is never going to pay for itself. My more recent training in printing and graphic arts will probably pay for itself in a year or so, even at part-time.

Writing is one of my hobbies, but is incredibly hard work--even trashy writing is hard. You must have incredible discipline to do it day in and day out, all by yourself... I took seven years to write a novel. Also the pay is dreadful unless you are Stephen King. I had a friend once who became a copy editor instead of a writer because it paid at least twice as well (though a more thankless job is hard to imagine); she has diversified in the last few years: I've seen her typesetting imprint in some books from Baen.

For me, writing was a bit too much like music: very qualitative, but extremely insecure and anti-lucrative. I needed something to address my anal-retentive side. One could use "detail-oriented person" and "prepress technician" interchangeably, so I went to printing school. I like being able to do something really practical in the gaps between rehearsals.

Sorry to ramble so incoherently; I have no idea if this is remotely useful, but I have found myself in the same boat before (and to a certain extent still, since I've just finished my program and job prospects are grim here) and this was my thought process. Good luck!

humilitas

PS My cat just meowed and yawned at me. Have you considered veterinarian? :)

Who was it said "publish a magazine"? Holly Daze, wasn't it? That's what I do (have been since '89), and (cue doomy music) there are pitfalls for the unwary...

For starters, here in the UK all newsagents are served by a cartel run by WH Smith. They run on a "sale or pulp" basis, not "sale or return" - which for an independent publisher is a bit scary, especially for someone like us publishing a music magazine with a free compilation CD every issue. Quite ffrankly (who's he and how did he get in here?) we couldn't afford the risk, so instead we're distributed through record shops as a "CD with a free magazine attached" rather than vice versa. This however isn't an option if you're doing a magazine on "home colostomy" or "macrame for cats" or whatever and are limited to newsagents and mail order as an outlet.

Secondly, if you want to be successful and go beyond the 5000 copy barrier which is generally accepted as being pretty much the upper limit for most independently published books, magazines and CDs, you have to be prepared to sell your soul to the man (as it were). In other words, accept advertising from products you don't in all conscience really want to be associated with, and write about things you don't necessarily care about. It's a difficult balance to make.

I won't clutter up the fforum with too much of this though - if anyone wants to discuss it further feel free to get touch off list...

There's always proof reading as a fill in while you look for something worth doing - as long as you've got a retentive memory, an eye for detail you can learn it in about five minutes. Read letter by letter, not word by word, check for typos and odd fonts, different spellings of the same word, for sense, tenses, style, incongruities, inaccuracies and anachronisms and you're away... sounds a bit much put like that, but it's not - really!

Doing freelance means you can fit it in round job applications/work and still earn a bit. A gift for making useful contacts (which I'd think you've got) will help get the work in initially.

Legal proof reading pays most but for that you need an incredibly high boredom threshold, more skill than most, and the jobs are generally in-house. Novels are much more fun!

If you do decide to have a go let me know and I'll give you a demo...

Ptolemy - which magazine?



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Do something pretty while you can...

Would you like me to post the bare essentials of the Differential Aptitude Test? It says what jobs you should like/be good at.

dante - the Terrascope; I've put a link to it as my "homepage" in my profile if you're interested.

And Intrigue, I'd be interested in seeing the Differential Aptitude Test! I've always thought I was in the wrong job, now's my chance to find out! Ha!

Ptolemy - looks interesting! Haven't heard of many of the bands, mind you. Liked the GBV interview.

Intrigue, I'd be interested in the differential aptitude test too!



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Do something pretty while you can...