Well, everyone, I am officially a professional freelance writer! I just got my first check in the mail for articles and work that I did for an Austin-based publication called Good Life Magazine. Yay! It wasn't a lot of money and it certainly won't pay the bills, but it's a start and it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something. Actually, that's a complete and total lie. I still question where I'm going. Still want to be somewhere else. Still don't know exactly what I'm doing. But I guess I have a sense of accomplishment that I haven't had in a while. It reminds me that I'm not just a bookseller at Barnes & Noble. I wasn't put here on earth just to kiss people's asses and ask them if they want to save 10% with a member card, or help them figure out the name of a book that they read about in last week's usa today that has the word "the" in the title and has a guy in it...("uh, i know it's called 'the something!' and it's got a blue or green cover. or maybe it's grey!")
I'm starting to rethink this whole working at a bookstore thing too. I'm just not making enough money. In Austin, people that work at Barnes & Noble make $7.50/hr. And that's after the initial temp rate and another performance based raise! Honestly, I'm thinking about going back to bartending. At least as a bartender, I could be rude to customers that deserved it and made more money with more free time. I'm starting to discover that customer service is customer service and it all sucks, so if i can make more money having to deal with customers less, I win!! Anyway, I digress! It was a great feeling to get that check! Even if I still don't know what I'm doing. Even if I'm looking at jobs to teach English in other far away countries as I write this. I mean, there's always something, right? Always something to be unhappy about. But, I'm on a track that feels alright for the moment. What else is there?
