Letters to the Editor
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Mid Life Crisis
Hey LW- I'm in my late 30s and have also been dealing with the mid life thing. Mine is the stage tho - coulda woulda shoulda been a star on Broadway, y'know? It's painful, isn't it?
So a couple of years ago I quit the dayjob and stayed home to work on my second love - writing. Wasn't going to let the muse escape me again. I wrote a really cool non-fiction book, promoted the hell out of it, got an agent, was on TV, in the papers, etc. But every time my book got up to bat - actually got a hearing at a publisher's editorial meeting - it was rejected by some drone in a suit mumbling about making money! What a jerk, right? :)
So here's the deal LW - I spent five years of my life on this thing and here I am dropped by my agent, having spent a lot of time, energy and love on a dream that will never be. I've been rejected by every publisher in NY. I can try again at some other time, but not soon.
Yeah, you can start a band, but what are your real goals? Do you want to make an album and have it go gold? You want to make a handsome living playing gigs? You can try but be prepared to face it if it doesn't work, even as you work your fingers to the bone trying to make it so.
I'm back in the dayjob scene at the same salary I was at when I left. It's not bad, I own a house and all, but if I'd known the dream wasn't going to work out I'd have worked harder at being a drone. Drones make good money, have accumulated lots of time off, and generally feel pretty safe. In fact they're so safe they have time for dangerous daydreams that draw them away like moths to flames ...