Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
I've written previously on how Geeky/Fannish jobs, cool as they are, are also bloody hard at times. I want to follow up on that by praising one of the best traits of the job search and career growth that many geeks have more than they realize.
Endurance.
I'm a proud geek, a professional geek – Geek Upgraded, Geek 2.0 if you would. I make money with being a nerd, a fan, it's my life. A lot of us are, or are partially, but sometimes we miss something when talking to our fellow geeks and fans.
We miss that people are often made to feel BAD about their fannishness, what they geek over, etc. You, the reader, may be a person who'd like to make a living at what you love, but you're used to feeling that your hobbies are a bit silly, or immature, or irrelevant. Despite shows with geek heroes, it's a bit hard to stand up and say, for instance, that you really want to be a novelist of fantasy fiction (even with the success of say, JK Rowling or Terry Pratchett).
These self-esteem issues are difficult on the potential professional geek (if not the current professional geek). Most anyone knows that self-esteem issues can shoow down the greatest of minds and the deepest of imaginations.
Awhile ago you all witnessed me mitigate my disagreement with the "everyone must blog" feeling that seems to percolate around the internet, especially in the career-sphere. I admit that I still think not everyone needs to blog, but agree that blog involvement done right IS a good idea – it gets your name outs there, teaches discipline, builds connections, and informs people.
The problem is that a blog requires content otherwise it's really just a placeholder with an index attached to it. I've been doing this blog with Bonnie for over a year, and as our early readers noticed, we began adding more and more content over the last few months. So I'd thought I'd share just how I do non-news content.
First and foremost, let me reiterate what I've said before – don't blog about something if you dont have a reason to. In fact, these techniques won't help much if you don't have any real reason to write.