Image by S and C via Flickr
My life is amazingly coincidental--maybe all lives are when we open our eyes, pay attention, and retain our experiences to draw upon in the future. Most of y'all know what I'm up to in my quest to become a published author; passing along the things that I've learned about life and love. In the past week, I've had three conversations about teaching. Last week my aunt, a recipient of the Kansas Teacher of the Year award, told me that she thought I'd be a fantastic substitute teacher. The same week, a long-time friend, mentor, and my editor asked to speak with me about joining him in the effort to help troubled kids at his charter school. And today, I walked into Starbucks, sat down with my hot tea, and met a gentleman who has been substituting for three years. We spoke of the challenges and rewards of the work. We spoke of connecting with the kids. We spoke of generating loyalty with the teachers that you substitute for so that they continue to request
you specifically.
As is usually the case, it's not so different from marketing a product, where the product just happens to be
me.
Since I left the technology marketing world, I've done well to follow two passions: writing and doing good. Connecting with kids, even just one kid, would absolutely qualify as doing good. And, as a sub, it would generate some income to help me get from here (writing my arse off) to there (a published author). Often people assume that getting from here to there means I give up what got me there, but I don't consider that in my plan, at all. If I work hard enough and find myself lucky enough to get there, then I believe there gives me a greater opportunity to do
more good.
I'm paying attention to the coincidences, are you?
