At my old gig, we had an accounting program that allowed the user to “drill down” and get specific information about a line item in the budget.  It actually had a little drill icon for affect. It was a basic, but very good way to get from the general to the specific.

A seemingly random thought for a Tuesday morning.  Except it’s not.

I woke up this morning thinking about how a year ago this month I gave notice and was well on my way to self-employment.  It was my first step to no longer working as a drone in The System. Yay me.

But I had to be honest with myself.  Working from home was only part of what I wanted.  My dream was to make a living as a writer (please stop laughing, I can hear you).  I’m certainly not there, but I am on my way.  One of the happiest days of my life was the first time I received payment for words that I had written.  I was floating all day.  

Back to drilling down.  It’s great getting paid to write.  It will be even better getting paid for writing what I want instead of writing to demand.  It’s like a painter who is commissioned to paint something specific for a patron (family portrait, village landscape, etc) as a opposed to selling the paintings that were the result of her passion and muse joining forces and creating something interesting.  

Of course, getting paid for writing is a step toward making a living as a writer.  

I’m drilling down and getting closer to my true goal.