What Else Can You Do?

I think I’m going to go for a Master’s degree in mental health therapy.

I’m still writing my books. That’s something I don’t think I can ever truly give up. Right now I am searching through my new book 2 in hopes of finding a beginning and first half that is equally as strong as the already finished second half. I have three pages written for the beginning. 😝

I’m also doing a beta swap with someone very fun. I’m letting them read my current book one as well as the scraps I have for new book 2 while I read over their urban fantasy new adult vampire novel. Oh, how I enjoy doing this (still seeking more beta readers, if anyone’s interested)!

All that said, I’m not having much luck right now getting into any publishing or literary agent internships. Last year, I wanted to go back to college to studying linguistics, due to a renewed enjoyment of working with a foreign language and working with words. That fell through when I realized I’d still need to take out loans to pursue a Masters and careers in Linguistics were looking grim in the age of rising AI. Same problem happened while looking at Creative Writing careers. (Hopefully we are really starting to see the AI craze die down and companies and people will finally see genAI for the problems it creates.)

However. I am a rounded individual. When pursuing my BA, I casually picked up minors in Music, Creative Writing, Anthropology, and Philosophy. My interests are in many things (not math. XD). In high school, I originally wanted to go into counseling because I found people often coming to me for advice (weirdly enough dating advice even though this aro/ace person has still no real track record in dating).

The only reason I talked myself out of pursuing that career was because my psychology class in high school had a lot of brain science and I got scared. Years later, I’m casually looking up brain trauma problems to imagine fanfiction for my OCs in an environment where they will be loved and healed. I’ve also continued to grow my stark love for understanding and advocating for others, specifically in neurodiversity.

Recently I had another conversation with a person I work with about problems in their life and renewed my love and interest in therapy. I looked up whether that would be a career that would actually offer a job by the end of schooling, and was delighted to find that the job demand is indeed growing (in this decade? With this US government? In this economy? Surprise surprise~).

I am still a little daunted by the cost of college. My debt from getting my BA is currently gathering dust and interest in my studentaid account. It’s the main reason I didn’t jump into getting a Master’s right after college. But I’m increasingly disheartened by my current life opportunities. I feel like I’m fading, wavering, fallen and I can’t get off the cold, hard ground to a fulfilling purpose in life. If piling on more debt doesn’t kill me, staying where I am instead more likely will.

So, I’m hoping I can push myself to go for it despite the financial hesitation. I want to do many things in this life, and we only get one life, so it’s time to throw some caution to the wind. I’ve been trying to pick one identity, just be a writer, but it is taking too long for that kite to take off, so while I continue to build it, I think I’ll try to chase the other dreams as well.

Life is what you mold it to be from the clay you are given. God molded many things in the clay of existence. Why not find out how many things you might be made for?

Note: I do not give consent for any of my written or spoken words to be used to train AI. I know I don’t have much control over that, but that’s that.