My name is Jacqueline, and has been an accountant, by practical choice, for the last 14 years. I have a CPA, and did quite well for myself, until last month, when I was suddenly 'let go' - I would guess due to downsizing. I was devastated, and as a single mother of a 4 year old, somewhat overwhelmed as well.

I'm going through the motions of looking within the same line of work, but not enthusiastic I must say. I've always wanted to be a writer, and was good with people, and always full of ideas for the companies I've worked for. So being forever the optimist, I wonder daily if this recent loss of my job could be an opportunity for me to go after my dreams of being a writer, or do something else which would employ my other strengths.

And being a writer has always been exactly that - a dream - it's daunting thinking of where to start, how I could make a living out of it, what kind of work should I take on in the transition phase to survive, etc.

Help! Accounting has always afforded me a good life, and I now have a home I must keep because of my little boy; is this a good time to make the transition, and if so, how should I go about this?


Any help/advice is much appreciated!

Regards,
Jacqueline

Reply by Peter Fisher

It can be very daunting, facing an uncertain future especially with a young child and being on your own. It is not surprising that you are looking at doing something else like writing, when the job you have been doing for so long has been taken away.

Dreams of becoming a writer are wonderful, but unlikely to quickly replace the income you were making unless you are exceptionally talented and lucky.

However you could set something in motion to see if writing is a career path you could follow. Have you read my section on this website about writing as a career?

You might find by making some efforts in that direction, that your motivation to continue earning in accountancy would return because you could see an eventual route away from 'bean-counting' when your writing starts to pay off.

Writing as a career can involve so many different things, writing:

• a book or a novel
  
• articles for publication
  
• short stories
  
• consumer reports
  
• proposals
  
• business plan outlines
  
• blogging about an interest
  
• technical writing
  
• travel writing

As well as being a career coach, I am a writer - producing original content for this website and writing CVs and resumes for my clients, so there are so many different ways of writing that may satisfy your wishes. But accountancy will pay the bills while you get there.