You'd Better Work...

Hi, 

Welcome back to the Shore of Night, or welcome if you're new. I'm Grim, a nonbinary, autistic person who blogs about too much stuff. 

In a world where blog advice is to focus on one subject, Shores is more like a walk along the beach, discovering what the sea's washed up. A place of flotsam and jetsam, if you will. 

Photo by Jason Mavrommatis on Unsplash

I'm trying to blog more, so you'll hopefully see more entries... but that does mean you'll be getting quite a few small pieces about my life, which you may actually like. 

Anyway, today, I'm thinking about work... again. 

Partly, that's because my annual review is coming up, and one of the questions was about my career goals. I've been going back and forth on this for ages, but when I had that question, I suddenly knew. Slightly annoyingly, it wasn't anything new but a confirmation of the things I'm interested in. 

Neurodiversity advocacy, particularly in universities. Since I discovered that I'm autistic (just in case you didn't know), it's become pretty obvious to me how much neurodiverse people are failed by the systems built for neurotypical people. 

Having worked in Higher Education for most of my adult life, I honestly feel that there's a challenge in making them suitable for all minds, not just those that tick the right boxes. As we get better at diagnosing people, and we learn there are probably more neurodivergent people and more neurotypes, we'll have to adapt the world to help them thrive, and tertiary education will have to be a part of that. Thankfully, there are already some universities leading the charge. I want to be part of that. 

Working as an information officer or in knowledge management for something to do with the environment. That could be part of a charity or working for the government. 

Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Unsplash

I care deeply about the environment (in the "we only have one planet... maybe stop fucking it up, eh?" sort of way) and about accessibility of knowledge, so a role focusing on that would be quite fulfilling.

Both are important to me, not just as ways to earn money, but as causes and issues I'm passionate about. I want to align my life with my passions, and not just my writing. 

I remember a former colleague telling me everyone needed a "bread and butter" job to get by, and the nice things had to really be something on the side. 

I think, as a writer, that may be true. 

Most authors have a day job as well as their writing work, so it makes sense to find something that pays the bills. No matter how I slice it, I'm not about to start photosynthesising any time soon, and keeping a roof over my head is important. Especially as I want to relocate to Wales and don't want my books to get soggy. 

The thing I want, though, is a role that feels more purposeful while I (finally) build the writing career I want. 

I won't lie, there's a bit of "oh gods, now what do I do next?" now that I'm digesting all this, and a shy wave from the part of me that would like to be a librarian... 

All in all, however, it's a better place to be in than "Not a clue, um, let's keep doing this thing, even though the end of the admissions cycle always makes me feel like my brain's turning into confetti". 

Onwards and upwards, full rocket burn.

Let's see where this takes me.