Welcome to All Things Stacey Longo
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Bibliography
  • In the News
  • Contact

Pursuing Your Dreams: One Lunatic's Experience

1/16/2015

 
There are two types of people in this world. One is the sensible, rational type. They set realistic, achievable goals: grow up, get a job you like and are good at, meet someone awesome, get married and have two awesome children. My sister is one of these people. So is my sister-in-law.

The other type knows maybe what they want, which may or may not be sensible and/or achievable, and comes up with wild, perhaps unrealistic, ways to achieve those dreams. That’s probably me.

When I was a kid, I read a lot, played with the farm cats a lot, and I had the obnoxious tendency to correct other people’s grammar. But I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up: a writer.

That’s not entirely accurate. I wanted to be a writer and Wonder Woman. But when I found out that the job of Wonder Woman was already taken by Lynda Carter, I settled for just writer. So how did I decide to go about attaining that goal? Let’s take a look:

Idea #1:  Move to an isolated island where I can write all day.

Hahahaha! The naiveté dripping off of that sentence still cracks me up. After college, I moved to Block Island in an effort to be one of those reclusive writers that sits on the beach all day and writes about the waves and crap. Did it work? Ha! Here’s the thing: it is expensive to live on a resort island year-round. Bills need to be paid. I indulged my dreams of writing by churning out a weekly column for the local paper, but I worked full time for the town, took on bookkeeping jobs to keep the lights on, and was surprised when the publisher of the newspaper asked me if I’d moonlight as a proofreader. Hmm. That obnoxious “let me correct your grammar” thing had gotten me a side job. But none of these things really gave me time to write. It was time to move back to the mainland.

Idea #2: Open a bookstore so I can read and write all day.

Sounds perfect, right? In an era where independent and chain bookstores were failing every day, why not open a bookstore? I loved it. And I hated it. I was writing sporadically, reading even less, and I was doing things like reconciling accounts payable and receivable, doing taxes, and talking to customers all day. And, of course, correcting their grammar in my head. The business, and my writing, suffered.

Idea #3: Get a day job I like and am good at to support my writing habit.

Those sensible people of the world with realistic goals might be on to something. I’d worked in human resources in the past, but although I was good at it, I didn’t enjoy it. So what to do? What was I qualified to do that I could stand doing? And then one little line jumped out at me on my résumé--Proofreader, The Block Island Times.

Could I parlay that into a job I liked? Was it possible that someone would actually pay me to correct their grammar? The answer, I am happy to report, is yes.

To all of you aspiring authors out there, I recommend this: Sure, you can try the crazy stuff, like moving to an island or opening a bookstore. But if you want to write, find a day job you love. Mostly because it makes it a lot easier at night when you sit down at your computer if the power is still on, plus, you won’t be ready to jump off a bridge due to said day job. Maybe that job is in customer service, because you like people. Maybe it’s as a medical billing specialist, because you don’t like people. Or, if you’re like me, maybe you can take one of your most obnoxious personality quirks and turn it into a paycheck. Because I can tell you this: I am a writer and I am a copy editor.  No matter if I’m working as one or the other, I love what I’m doing. And sometimes, I even wear my Wonder Woman tiara while doing it.
Picture
Note the super cool Wonder Woman bracelet, too.
amy bouchard
1/16/2015 06:16:58 am

I love it! You're super FANCY and fancy is fun.....I knew I loved you when we were 7 and gathering up a dozen cats AND kittens (an occasional pig) and dress them in doll clothes! The kittens loved the clothes and being carried in baskets!
:)
We're CRAZY---FANCY, I mean fancy:) and I too wear my superhero accessories when no one is around:)
😎👸👑👙👠

Stacey
1/16/2015 08:37:38 am

Thanks, Amy! We were/are still a bit crazy, which isn't a bad thing!


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Pretty and perfect in every way.

    Archives

    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

    Categories

    All
    Aging Gracefully
    Andy Kaufman
    Art
    Bad Actors
    Bad Habits
    Bad Life Choices
    Batman
    Beauty Tips
    Birthdays
    Block Island
    Bloom County
    Bookstore Owner
    Bucket List
    Celebrities
    Christmas Tv Specials
    Connecticut
    Conventions
    Dating Advice
    David Bowie
    Death
    Dieting
    Disney
    Downton Abbey
    Driving
    Duran Duran
    Easter Candy
    Editing
    Etiquette
    Exercise
    Family
    Fashion
    Father
    Fishing
    Gardening
    Generation X
    Greek
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Horror
    Illness
    Iphone
    Kennedy
    Life Lessons
    Love Songs
    Lyme Disease
    Marriage
    Mother
    Mother Nature
    Movies
    Movie Stars
    Music
    News
    Painkillers
    Parenting
    Penn State Football
    Pets
    Philanthropy
    Pms
    Politics
    Potluck
    Presidential Assassination Theories
    Psychic Abilities
    Reading
    Relationships
    Resolutions
    Restaurants
    Ron Jeremy
    Science
    Sexy Actors
    Shopping
    Sisters
    Social Media
    Star Trek
    Stephen King
    Telephones
    Television
    The Storyside
    Tick Removal
    Travel
    Truman Capote
    Vacation
    Weather
    Working
    Writing
    Zombie Apocalypse

Web Hosting by iPage