Two jobs that no one understands

I currently hold two jobs that no one understands, both of which at present do not pay me anything.

It is a strange place to be.

Particularly now as I am meeting lots of new people, doctors, hairdressers, members of the choir Tim and I are joining if I don't botch my audition.  They all ask me.  What do you do?

I don't really know how to explain it.

Tim suggested I say this: "I am volunteering at my church and writing a novel".

I feel like such a fraud!   I had a very in-depth convo with a man at Centrelink who looked at my healthcare card form and asked "You don't have a job.  What do you do?"

And so I answered, "I am volunteering at my church and writing a novel".

He was so very interested.  How much had a written?  What kind of novel is it?  Are you getting to the exciting bit?  When do I think it will be done?  How am I going about getting it published?  I answered all his question, but I was apologetic and reserved.  He was treating me like an author.  Me, an author?  Surely not?  I felt like a fraud, and it felt particularly naughty to be a fraud to a government official!

I guess this is how everyone feels when their hobby in some way becomes their job, particularly when they aren't being paid for it.  This novel, this dream of being an author, has always been something that has just been between, me, God, my computer and my writing notebook.  A private thing.  Tim, I suppose, has been cheering from the side-lines.  And it always makes for a really interesting conversation starter when people ask what do you do in your free time.

But as a job?  It suggest that I am good at this, that this process is worthwhile not just as something to make me happy in my free time, but something that is worth devoting time to for it's own sake.  Scary.

Yet I'm doing it.  I'm taking 6 months off to write a novel.

And as of today, I'm 70,000 words in.

That's not just a hobby anymore.
love BG