As everyone knows, graduation marks a turning point in life. For many, it means leaving behind what you've been doing and going on to either more school or some job out in the real world. For myself, it means blindly leaping from the safety and comfort of being a student and charging forward into the great unknown.
Whenever someone finds out that I've graduated, I am obligated to go through the same conversation with them that I've had with everyone I've come into contact with lately. It almost always sounds almost exactly like this:
"I just graduated from college in May."And so it goes every time. Here's how the conversation would go if I didn't run my language through a Social-Acceptability Filter:
"Really? So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm not really sure. I'm sort of figuring it out as I go along."
"Well what's your degree in?"
"Mathematics."
"Well do you want to teach?"
"Crap. I'm so sick of having this conversation. Is there a way I can cleverly avoid telling them that I've graduated?"Truth is, I don't have any clue what I want to do with my life, and I don't know whether my degree will have anything to do with what I end up doing. I think I would honestly prefer people to give me career advice without knowing what my degree is. I think that would be much more effective for both of us and make me much less likely to want to punch them in the face.
"Really? So what are you going to do now?"
"None of your damn business."
"Well what's your degree in?"
"Math. Don't you dare say anything about teaching."
"Well do you want to teach?"
"You know, I've never thought of that incredibly obvious answer. Thank you for solving all my problems in the brief three seconds that you've known I have them. You are truly a genius."
Honestly, the only thing that I know for sure I want to be a part of my life is writing. I love writing. I've read into becoming a professional author (so don't you dare start suggesting I do that for a career) and the catch is that until you have a finished work and get connected with a publisher, you must have another form of income. Then even once you have a work out there, the odds are not in your favor of that being your sole source of income. Thus, you must have some other job.
Whatever. I can live with that.
The other thing that I've found while researching the author life is that every single piece of advice says that if that's what you want to do, then you need to write for at least an hour every day. It's not really important what you write, just THAT you write. Now, in case you haven't noticed, I've been really bad about keeping up with this blog. The problem, I've decided, is that I've never been on a regular schedule with it, and that I'm easily distracted. I get bored writing it or run out of ideas and start working on something else instead. Thus, I have developed a solution:
The VeeBJamN Network!Four different and distinct blogs that will all be updated once a week on a different day. The idea here is that each blog will have a slightly (or possibly drastically) different feel to it and I will update one of them each night of the week. The other days, I will use the time I would normally spend writing blogs to research and write in the novels that I have rattling around in the back of my brain. Hopefully, with some accountabilibuddies out there (I'm currently accepting applications for the position.), I'll be able to write every day and crank out a novel in the not-too-distant future.
What are these blogs and when can I expect updates for them, you ask? Well I'm glad you asked:
- Beneath the Curls: This blog will continue to be what it's been. It will be a place for me to share with you whatever I've been thinking about. Hopefully if this is cut back to once a week, they can actually be mostly quality posts rather than awkward posts about having nothing to say. You can expect these updates on Sunday evenings.
GoldenAfro.blogspot.com - Get Me in Jail: The Irregular Misadventures of Franc Bar. Some of you have been following Franc's story for a little while now. If you haven't been keeping up with it, now is the time! As the stories of Franc, Kenneth, and Admiral continue to develop and begin to come together, things could get CRAZY! I'm super excited about this one which will be updated on Monday nights.
GetMeInJail.blogspot.com - Rollicking Regards: An all-new blog! Red is one of the founding members of the zoologically puppetastic a capella group Bought & Paid 4 (currently available for bookings) and is ready to answer some fanmail. If you need advice, would like Red's perspective, or would just like to tell him a cool story, send your letters to veebjamn@yahoo.com (because he hasn't figured out how to set up his own email address yet), and he will eagerly write back to you on Tuesday evenings.
RollickingRegards.blogspot.com - Let's Talk Talkies: I love TV shows and movies and probably spend far too much time thinking about them. I figured it was about time other people started hearing some of those thoughts and analyses. My goal here is to offer my thoughts on at least one movie or TV show every week. Who knows? There may even be the occasional guest reviewer. New reviews will be posted on Thursday nights.
LetsTalkTalkies.blogspot.com
veebjamn.webs.comTo my loyal followers up until now, I thank you for your support. For those that are new to my writings, I thank you for giving me a chance. For those that are sick of me saying thank you to vague groups of people, I thank you for keeping those opinions to yourself.
Welcome to the VeeBJamN Network!!!
