I feel like a theme of this blog thus far has been “I’m trying something new with my life!” Which is probably appropriate for the blog of a writer in her 20s, and I’ve done some pretty cool things in the last few years, but I would like to transition into more of a theme of stability sometime in the next century. To that end, the new new thing I’ve doing with my life is about to be teaching. Starting essentially simultaneously, I will be embarking upon two lit teaching jobs for the summer, one online for elementary school kids and one in person for a huge range of ages. Long term job? Not yet. But maybe this time, that’s the road I’m starting down.

Obviously, I already have a long term job, which is writing. (Actually, when speaking to my mom recently about all my friends who are obtaining shiny new degrees and professions, I remarked, “Everyone’s becoming what they’re going to be.” Without missing a beat, my mom immediately replied, “Well, you’ve been what you’re going to be for a long time. You’re a writer.” In conclusion, my mom is amazing and every creatively-inclined individual should be so lucky.) But I also want to have a long term, also beloved day job, and I’m pretty sure that teaching will fit that bill. I’ve been a TA, a private tutor, a camp counselor, and even a home school English teacher, and now it’s time for me to get in front of my own class and see what happens.

When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was talk about books. Of course, that’s still all I want to do. As a rule, I’ve been pretty consistent in the things I love. That’s how I was able to realize so early in life that I wanted to be a writer. I’m not sure why it’s taken me until now to commit to my other love of literary analysis and teaching as a career path. I guess it’s always seemed a little daunting to teach and write at the same time, since both require a lot of energy. I never wanted to shortchange my writing. I still don’t; no matter what, I need to make sure that writing remains a top priority in my life.

However, I think that it will be easier to commit myself to my writing when the rest of my time is also spent doing things that I love. Passion requires energy, sure, but it also gives it back to you. That’s what I’m betting on, anyway. So here’s to this new experiment! If I can’t have stability yet, at least I can have fun.