Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Authors Are People Too

Hi Everyone! It's wonderful and a little scary to be here today. I confess after reading Cat's and Emma Rae's posts that I felt a little intimidated, but you know what? It's no big deal. As Emma Rae said, we're all unique. We all make our own choices and follow our own paths. So here's the rambling path I've chosen to walk for a little while. It's not about writing, it's about living.

It's impossible not to notice that when a person is given a particular title like, actor or writer, or NFL quarterback, lol, that others start to view them in a different light. These people suddenly become more than people. They're suddenly endowed with some superpower that sets them apart from everyone else. Well...I'm here to tell you, as an author, I ain't no superwoman, LOL!

I grew up the youngest of three siblings. My parents weren't rich. My dad worked construction and we moved from place to place for a long time, following the jobs. Until I was in jr. high, we never lived in one place more than two years. We lived mostly in a trailer that we pulled along with us when we moved. We weren't rich by any means, but my parents loved us and my memories are filled with warmth and laughter.

We moved to a little town called Canandaigua, in Upstate NY when I started jr. high. We lived there for ten years. It was the first time I lived in an actual house and not a trailer. My dad worked his construction jobs and my mom ran a motel that was open during the summer months. I worked at the motel in the summer for $1.50 an hour, cleaning rooms, scrubbing toilets etc. What a way to spend the summer! Yuck. LOL! When I was old enough, I got a job at a local plant nursery which I really enjoyed. I'd made a few friends in highschool and a few at work, but I was such a backward thing and even though I longed for them, boys terrified me.

I hated school. Having moved from place to place made it just that much more difficult to fit in each time. By the time I got to high school, I was a total misfit, introvert. Going to college was totally out of the question. Even if I could have afforded it, when I graduated I swore I'd never go back to any school of any kind.

When my parents decided to make the move back home to Indiana, I chose to go with them. Even though I was in my twenties, I wasn't about to leave Mom and Dad. They were my security against the big bad world. I got a job at a place that grew roses in greenhouses. They were the largest producers of cut roses in the country. I worked there for seventeen years and hated it with a passion. I loved the people I was working with, I actually made advances in the company from working on the production line, to transferring into billing and even made it to an office where I had my first encounters with computer work. But the job itself did nothing for me. I was empty and unfulfilled. When the company had to severely downsize due to the foreign import of cut flowers, I was laid off and then found myself working at the local Walmart. Yep, that's right. Walmart. Retail hell. For eight long years.

Through all the years of dead end jobs, reading was my one big joy in life. I devoured books like candy. I also devoured a lot of candy and other things, but that's another story, lol. A little over two and half years ago while reading a book I'd purchased from Ellora's Cave, I suddenly got the wild idea that I could do this, I could write a book. Amazingly enough, I was right. I could, I did, I was published! I was a writer, an author, a person with a career and a title. Did that make me a different person? Did it make me better than anyone else? No. I'm still me. I just did the one thing that only the most fortunate of human beings can do. I found a job that I love.

I believe that actors, authors, football heros, CEOs of large companies, anyone who others believe to be special, are merely those who've discovered themselves. They've found a job that they love. Some people seem to instinctively know what they want in life, where their talents lie and what they can do that will make them happy. Some people, like me, stumble into it by accident. I think the best advice I could give anyone would be that if you have a job you hate, you need to start using your head. Think about yourself. What makes you happy? What do you do well? Get some guidance. Go to a career councilor if you have to. Don't waste your life being miserable. You are as special as anyone else. You may never be famous, but heck, I'll take happy over famous anyday!

I'm being published by Ellora's Cave, Changeling Press and Loose-Id. I'm an author. I'm just me.

Kate
www.katesteele.com

Posted by Alecia Monaco :: 11:36 AM :: 6 Comments:

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