If I couldn’t be a writer, what would I do?

I think I’ve been asking myself this question since I was old enough to know that there was a choice. One might say that, due to the staggeringly low chances of making a living at this gig, I should have a backup plan.

There are the practical choices. Ones I’ve already taken at various points of my life. I have a degree in technical writing and did a year long internship. I’ve used that degree in almost every job I’ve had (everyone needs manuals and no one likes to write them). I also have an MBA somewhere in there.

I spent a year as a corporate trainer. I spent five years in a start up web design company doing HTML, graphic arts, and project management. I spent ten years at a major tech company doing business and customer analysis (living in spreadsheets and numbers) and project management again. And now I own a company (Authors On A Dime) where I put all those together with my passion.

I feel like I have the practical covered. That leaves the impractical, which I think is more what this question is about. If I dreamed another dream, what would it look like?

Honestly, I love being a writer so much, it’s a bit of an obsession. But…

I would LOVE to be one of the film historians/introducers/researchers/hosts at TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I have watched classic movies all my life. I’m not like 1980s. I’m talking all the way back to the beginning of film. It started with musicals, but that just led me to all the other fantastic films out there. The stories, the acting, the golden age of Hollywood. Love it all! I would be in hog heaven being able to delve into classics, talk about them with other classics lovers, view them, analyze them. In fact, in high school, that was my top job pick. I just had no idea how to go about getting that job.

But…sigh…it’s too late now. Guess I’ll just have to stick with this dream!

What about you? What would you do if you weren’t doing what you do? 😉