About this time yesterday, I was feeling as high as a centipede's belly. I had that brief exchange of opinions with my parents about banking procedures in the morning, pretty much hollowed out my new bank account with the money owed to Nippon Express, and was starting to feel the strain of staying home a lot without a regular job. Did NOT feel like writing about anything, although I think that's where my future may lie.
Fortunately, that much-vaunted snowstorm that CP24 and all of the other Toronto networks had been warning about (although one of the weather specialists was hedging his bets by saying "...now, it's not a done deal just yet...) turned out to be a mere drizzle so far so that Dad and I could go to the mall. I ended up reading magazines in the local library when I read the latest issue of "MacLeans"and came across an article which featured fashion journalist and amateur tailor J.J. Lee. He has just won some prize for non-fiction because of his book, "The Measure of a Man". There was an excerpt from the book in which he talks about his father and his epiphany about the importance of being well-dressed. Just from the excerpt alone, I extrapolated that his book would be a good read...it was descriptive but not wordy or jargonized, and yet he could give insight on a topic that most of us wouldn't be too sussed about...just looking good for the day.
And I thought...yes, I can do this, too. I may never win a prize for it but all I want is just to be able to make a living out of it, if possible. My experience teaching a couple of weeks ago has made me wonder if it is time for that sea change.
Just before dinner last night, in my ugly mood, I managed to look up a couple of websites where budding writers could try some stuff out for some pittance. There were"Suite 101" and "Yahoo Voices"(formerly, Associated Content). I haven't applied yet since I wanted to get a feel for what it was like to write for these guys. I came across a lot of emotional reviews from both sides of the aisle for both sites. Mind you, the most recent broadsides seemed to have been back in 2009. But we shall see.
