A Career Change

I need to make a career change. The problem is, what is my career now, and where do I want to take it?  The answers to both questions, unfortunately, are complex.

While I would like to say that I am a writer/publicist as it is noted on my email signature, when it is considered a career, it's not exactly correct. I do some writing and promotion for various clients on an inconsistent basis, yet I also work in several other industries including accounting for an interior designer, computer consulting for a realtor and weekly scanning of UPCs for a market research company.

The household duties of being a mother and wife also put me into an experience level of time management, chauffeur, chef, laundress,  volunteer director, teacher, housekeeping, accounting again with home bills, shopping expert (getting the best deals), dietitian and medical advisor.

Where I want to take it is going to depend on my goal for a career, and that too is unclear. Do I want to enjoy what I do with all my soul or do I want to make money? Can I do my career part time so that I can fulfill my first and ultimate goal first - to be an awesome wife and mother?

I DO want to be a full time writer/publicist but the work has to meet the needs of family income, and sometimes it is just not enough to earn a few hundred dollars a month doing it. The other problem is writing on a project that I enjoy, but that makes money. I have at least three book ideas but making the time to sit down and write while not earning anything seems to get crowded out in the other tasks I am trying to accomplish in my current job status and the family obligations.

I have come to the realization that to make a career change - to become a full time writer of newsworthy articles and eventually, and/or a book, I will need to apply myself to writing 200 words a day to develop my writing skills. After my children have graduated from high school with scholarships and left the home, with some of the above responsibilities removed, then I will be able to throw myself into the work of writing more than a half hour each day.

Time will make it happen for me, if only I wasn't so impatient for that career change.