Qualified

I'm not good at anything. Not officially, anyway. I used to be good at math, or at least that's what my Bachelor of Math degree claimed. I got a bunch of software jobs with my Bachelor of Math degree, and then I had some babies and stopped working, and I haven't had a software job for seven years. Do I miss it? No. Have I kept up with the technology? No. Am I interested in keeping up with the technology? Not really, no. Well… maybe a little bit. But not enough to be employable.

I'm good at writing. I'm good at editing. But I don't have any bits of paper to prove it, and that terrifies me. Every time I've considered changing careers I've always planned to first go to school and get a bit of paper, and then go ahead with the job-finding part. The thought of asking someone to hire me for something without the third-party validation of a degree makes me feel slightly ill.

On the other hand, I don't have the time or the money to go to school and get some kind of "I'm a Writer 4 Realz" certificate, and I do have a computer and a wee bit of natural talent. The only thing missing is the chutzpah to go out and tell people to hire me. Because I'm awesome.

Fortunately I already have one gig to be going on with, and another one lined up after that (assuming I don't utterly screw up the first one). Hopefully that will furnish my inner neurotic with enough validation to go beating the pavement in search of more work, which will beget more confidence, and so on.

Or maybe not – writers are notoriously insecure. Maybe this is the perfect career for me.