When I look back over my life, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had chosen to follow a different path. A time came when I considered three options: apply to medical school, become a Spanish professor, or study English and become a writer. Which do you think I chose?
Number one. Yes, I chose the medical school route and entered graduate school in anatomy. While much of my experience there was intriguing and enlightening (holding a real human brain in my hands was life-changing), I felt like a mechanic. I was so bored that I cried real tears while studying Gray’s Anatomy (the medical manual, not the TV show). I have tremendous respect for those hardy souls who have the capacity and passion to learn the mechanics of the body and heal people.
After much soul searching, I resigned from the program before my first year was up. I ditched the idea of becoming a professor and instead earned an MS in Counseling and Guidance. With my degree in hand, I first became an EAP counselor. I then landed a position as a career counselor at the same university where I’d earned my undergraduate degree in psychology. After a few years there, self-employment beckoned, and I opened my practice as a home-based career counselor.
By now you’re probably wondering what happened to my passion for language. Without intending it or trying to make it happen, my love for words kept surfacing in every job I held. I edited resumes for college students and curriculum vitae (CVs) for doctors. I created handouts, manuals, newsletters, and grant applications.
Eventually, the opportunity to edit a trio of community business magazines appeared, the result of a conversation with the owner at a trade show. I not only edited those periodicals but wrote feature stories and articles. Soon more writing and editing gigs came my way. I created an email course on self-editing, taught myself HTML, created web content, crafted a series of how-to videos, and wrote marketing materials for businesses. Eventually, I landed my first book editing project, which led to more of the same.
I now provide editing services for authors and business writers. I teach self-editing to writers who intend to self-publish. And I’m working on a few of my own books, which are in various stages of completion.
Although I took a meandering path to get here, I have circled back to my love of words. I don’t regret any of the side trips I’ve taken. On the contrary, they have made me a better writer and a more creative and skilled editor. But I know now that this is what I was always meant to do.