Dress for the job you want, not...

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   eternals3ptemberposted 12 years ago

   The one you have... How would you dress?
   
   Currently, I'm torn between Imperial robes or a spacesuit.

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      Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You (and everyone else) will probably blow past this because it's dreamy and lame or whatever, and, obviously it's wayyyy too long for posts on the Internet ... but:
      
      I taught myself how to make chainmail because I love fantasy and that whole Renaissance universe thing—dressing for fantasy success. It took me years, and making one mail shirt was a project of seventh months of five hour days. I wore it for ONE  Renaissance party (OMG it's so heavy! lol). I had so much fun. Everyone was blown away by it. It's beautiful as a piece of art, and hangs on a stand in our house still. It really is cool.
      
      It was made from a half mile long spool of 14 gauge galvanized steel wire, slowly wound into rings, and then months and months of "knitting" them together into the actual shirt. For what? A stupid party? A "costume?"
      
      Yup.
      
      The discipline I had to embrace to make it translated to joy. And yes, it was a ridiculously long project. But, lame as it was, i wanted to "dress for the job" I wanted, which was not so much "knight" but just, fantasy ... something. Just to be part of the stuff I love. Lame or whatever.
      
      I also wanted, in keeping with that same sort of passion, and in a more serious way, to write fantasy. To be "an author." But I realized I was an uneducated piece of crap, so, making novels, like as in actual literate ones that people might buy, was not possible because I needed schooling (having bombed out of college the first time I tried). But, here's the thing... the labor of making that chainmail, the labor of slowly winding those links, one by one, and spending all those months knitting them together... it taught me that really cool sh!t can happen if you just decide to do it. And start. You just start. You start making rings of steel wire. You start taking one class at a time, even when it isn't an English class about writing. You just do what you need to do to march towards the goal. The slow goal that is going to take time and effort to get to.
      
      So, I did. I made that chainmail shirt and, for that one night of the party, I dressed for what I wanted to do for a living... medieval fantasy. I also did it for an English degree. And then another one.
      
      Well, now I have a master's degree in English and an Amazon best selling sci-fi/fantasy novel, and I've thrown off "traditional" jobs in favor of writing for a living. Full time. And no, I don't wear my chainmail while I write my books, but, it hangs there majestically in my house. Writing for a living IS a fantasy. And, at least in a way, all because I committed to dressing for the job I wanted.
      
      I know when you posted this you didn't plan on a longass post like mine, but, in these times, where people are clambering for "JOBS" and all that... someone should point out that having someone else create a job for you seems like its missing the point. Dress for your own success. Dream. Then do it. Like really try and do it. What could possibly be stupider than making chainmail and thinking you could make a living writing stories about dragons and orcs?
      
      Could it all fall apart tomorrow?  Yep. But so could your job, in the rat-race factory. So, yeah... make your chainmail. Life if short.

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      1. 92

         Judi Beeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Fabulous x

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   2. 79

      LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      As for the clothes I would wear for the job I want, it would be a pair of comfy jeans, a tank top, and usually a pair of tongs for handling rodents lol.

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         DrMark1961posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The great part of working with animals of any sort, be it ball pythons or dogs, is that they never complain about the clothes! I wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops every day and my dogs have never said anything about it. (As far as their owners are concerned, I could care less.)

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      LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For my husband he would probably want a full set of armor made out of dragon bones, the dork. <3

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   4. 79

      LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Eternal3September, sorry I hijacked the thread.

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2. 79

   LauraVerderberposted 12 years ago

   That's so inspirational. Sounds like you would be fun to hang out with. I wish I could breed ball pythons for a living and not go to college for a 'career'. I've been working on that for 5 years now and I finally have a decent collection and a small reputation. Maybe one day I can be my own boss too.

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      Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Do it. Learn everything. Be THE freaking ball python expert. Go where python people go. Get a website. Put yourself out there. People who are into that stuff will FEEL the joy filling you when you talk about the thing you love to do.

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      1. 79

         LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It's true, everyone who knows me has started to not see snakes as that scary anymore or even come to like them. I guess because they see how much fun I have with them. I do want a website. I'm reading about how to set one up right now. I was actually thinking maybe I could make a living breeding snakes and doing freelance writing as well. Having a roof over my head and food in my belly is also important, so it's a hard balance. The two things I have a passion for, writing and snakes, are not stable markets. But perhaps I could make a living doing both at the same time? Also, I made my husband read your post because it was so inspiring. He liked it because he is trying to create a D&D book. If you don't mind me asking, how much time do you dedicate to writing in a day?

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            Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Get that site up! You can write niche articles about snakes. Feature the "snake of the day" from your readers on your Facebook page. Your site can become the go to resource. So you can use ad revenue from snake related stuff to buttress breeding income.
            
            And I love D&D (although not so in love with 4.0, but we'll see). What kind of book, like a novel set in a realm, or a game guide kind of book? We still play every few years or so when we can get enough people together, that's awesome. For time spent writing, I do it full time now, so, pretty much all day (It's not always writing: its writing, revising, editing, etc.) When I had a day job, I would spend an hour or two most week days, sometimes three or four if I had the energy, and then several hours on the weekends.

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            1. 79

               LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks for the encouragement! I took the plunge and I now have a website. lolsnake.com. I plan on having funny photos and true stories of reptiles and amphibians up on there. Maybe a category for insects and 'other'. There is no website specifically dedicated to this and herpers love seeing cute photos of their beloved pets. (Including me.)  Also, I figured it would attract non-reptile people who would laugh at the funny content and perhaps start to view some reptiles as cute and likeable instead of just pure evil. I'd also like the site to set the tone for responsible pet ownership, so I'll be previewing everything that goes on there. I have a friend who builds websites so he agreed to help figure out the process. (Isn't that nice of him?? He also has a pet boa and has had discrimination against him for owning one so he's all sorts of on board with this idea.)
               
               The husband is putting to together a book of 100 NPC characters. I'm helping come up with the backgrounds for them and he's putting the stats together. We're also working an original campaign book. We've never published a book but that is certainly on my bucket list of things to do so I'm really excited about this. Oh, and it's for Pathfinder. The hubby despises 4.0.

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                  Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Super congrats on your site. Go for it; do your site. Remember what you learn here at HP too... keywords etc.  Have your fun part (Facebook will be great for those pictures), but give real value to snake lovers. Do the work and learn stuff, bring research together, inform. Health stuff, food stuff... be the resource not just for fun but for learning and support. You really could make an empire out of a good website with a nice section of fun and another section of top notch facts and help.  I mean, yes, it's cool to have a part to help people get over their fear of snakes, but I think your self-supporting life comes from serving people who already love them and need a resource rather than trying to convert the people who think snakes are "oogy." It is a business after all.
                  
                  Think of how many kitten pics are on Facebook. You could slowly gather all the snakelovers to your page and swap pictures. Nobody else is. Your idea is awesome at its core. I'm actually pretty excited for you.
                  
                  ... and yeah, I think I"m going to go to Pathfinder too. Dumped a fortune into the new books, but it's awful. Don't want to buy new books, but hard to go back to 3.0 books with all these shiny new books that still creak when I open them.  (sigh)

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            2. 79

               LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Also, you might to try Skype to get more players together. Some of my husband's group play through Skype because they are too far away to make a regular drive.

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   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   @Shadesbreath, I love that chain mail analogy.

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4. 76

   Zabbellaposted 12 years ago

   Loved the post, Shadesbreath, it was worth reading.  It also was inspirational.  I took one watercoloring class. ( one)  My real passion is to one day illustrate children's books.  I hope the new electronic books don't kill my dream.

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      LauraVerderberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think so. There will always be people who appreciate art done with traditional media. Personally I miss hand drawn animation. It looks so different from the computer stuff they use now.

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      Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They don't kill your dream at all. Books are books. Besides, you can take a photoshop illustrator or some other graphics program class and start "watercolor painting" in digital format and start selling your services OR your own books all together. The world is changed. You can make your own stuff, you don't have to wait for some publishing house to decide you are good enough. YOU decide, and then DO it.

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5. 76

   Zabbellaposted 12 years ago

   Thank you, LauraV and Shadesbreath...my faith has been restored!

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6. 81

   Tealparadiseposted 12 years ago

   Pajamas.   I want to be self-sufficient and work from home.

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