M has been telling me again that I need to figure out what I really want to do, after this class is over. I…hadn’t been giving it much thought.

Looking back over this blog, though, I get a couple of ideas. The thing is, most of what I want to do is creative in nature; and it works optimally with getting out of the house. The latter is something I haven’t been great at, over the last two years. (There are reasons for that, and not all of them are COVID-related.) I’m also not sure how much income I can derive from it, realistically.

There are three things I can see…that I could be really good at.

1. Writing for publication
2. Writing and illustrating a graphic novel/comic/webcomic
3. Developing beadwork patterns for distribution
   And the fourth?
4. Cataloging Librarianship: it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to find a job in this field, in my area, with my amount of experience, anytime soon.

Corresponding with this are a couple of things I’d need to do. There are skills I would be using which I could apply in other areas of my life:

1. Reading: I could work at a bookstore or library and interact with people to help them solve their information needs. Working at a bookstore gives me considerably more freedom than working at a library, though it probably pays less, with less opportunity for advancement — though that’s just something I think might be; not even an assumption.
2. Art: I could work at an art supply store and be their go-to-person for comic/manga/graphic novel illustration…of course, I’d need to actually read more graphic novels, to be fully competent at this (my earliest exposures were manga which I couldn’t read, due to their being written in 日本語 [Japanese language]). It’s fairly evident that a full-blown Graphic Artist might be better at this, than I would. A lot of this is computer-based, now, as well…
3. Beadwork: I could work at a bead store…which feels very much safer than working at a jewelry supply store (crystal and glass are relatively inexpensive). I also know a lot more about beads, than I do about gems or gold; I’m fairly decent where it comes to Sterling, Argentium, and various base metals (brasses, copper, the pewters…I almost got into bronze, in class, but ended up not casting). The drawback here? Gemstones have lore associated with them, which I see as essentially an ancient marketing ploy which I might be asked to help perpetuate. But then, what do I know.
4. Graphic Arts: developing instructional materials for beadwork calls Graphic Arts/Desktop Publishing skills into play.
5. English Teaching/Tutoring: I have a fairly strong command of the English language. Although I don’t necessarily (at this point) know technically, how to explain what I know, I can help people break sentences down into key components, which often shows why a sentence works, doesn’t work, or says something other than intended.
6. Illustration: I could employ my skills at drawing vis à vis the practice of Illustration for commercial publications (menus, etc.), without using the format of Sequential Art.
7. Writing: of course, I could always be an Administrative Assistant — though that requires answering the phone, which is hardly ever comfortable for me (I have trouble deciphering the television and people around me sometimes; and being on the spot as the only person who can answer [or hear] the query, is…not easy).
8. Writing: freelancing. Topics unknown, as of yet; may depend on my interests, and what I’m reading. This seems as though it could be very enriching for everyone involved, if I’m reading non-English works!

There are also some things that I want to do, as regards the future:

1. Learn Japanese language: which I should be doing, if we move where we were thinking of moving. This opens up Japanese-to-English translation as a potential job path (ideally, through the written word). Depending on the intensity of study, it may also open jobs in East Asian Libraries; for example, Cataloging Librarianship in East Asian Libraries.
2. Refresh my Spanish language: which is possible; and with effort, most probably will happen before I can substantively move forward with Japanese language. This also opens up Spanish-to-English translation, and potentially Spanish-to-Japanese translation and vice versa. I am more comfortable with picking up español by ear, than I am with Japanese language, at the moment. The hard part is finding decent stuff in Spanish to read; although from what I can see, there’s definitely an underserved market (if not many of them), here. If I had bookstore experience, I could open a Spanish-language bookstore, eventually.

That sounds good enough for a brainstorm for tonight!