Are You On The Right Team?

By Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

We writers are drawn by the latest flashy trend or quirky story. But when it comes to career planning, are we on the right team? When I left the Army to go to college, I wanted to become a writer or a marine biologist. Taking advice from others I respected, I ended up with a business degree.

Graduating during the recession in the early 1980s, I couldn’t get a job and worked as a temporary receptionist. Fed up, I figured if I couldn’t get a job as a business person, I might as well go do what I loved in the first place. Used the rest of my G.I. Bill money and got a Journalism Technology Degree. Never looked back.

Advisors mean well but if their advice doesn’t fit your passion, screw it. Any vocation requires hard work and dedication, so we better like how we choose to spend our life energy. Money is not the be all and end all of life. If it was, there would be no poets. And we’ve got to have poets amongst us.

This past weekend I enjoyed the movie Big Miracle. With gray whale stars and Drew Barrymore, how could I lose? Been a huge whale fan my whole life, watching them traverse the Oregon Coast. While working on the newspaper in Newport, Oregon, I got to interview whale researchers and rescuers. My editor nicknamed me the marine mammal reporter. Dreams do come true.

We can listen to advice from other writers and authors, agents and coaches, but we have to listen to our own creative hearts. Find what makes you happy and pursue it. The movie is inspired by a true story about how diverse people came together to help three whales. Teamwork can move obstacles and whales. So, are you on the right creative team?