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Monday, January 20, 2014

Miles-a-Minute Challenge #8: Godly Counsel

Here is my challenge answer for today's Miles-a-Minute video, "Hummingbird."

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Discuss/Describe one situation in your life that you could use wise and godly counsel.

Where to go in my career is a big one. I am at the point in my life where I really ought to be going into a career, rather than working all these low-paying, part-time jobs. I am out of college and have my degree, so it's time. 

But the world of writing and publishing is a big, scary place, a lot more complicated than I ever thought when I was younger and writing for myself. So I could use all the counsel I can get. I don't know people personally who might be able to counsel me in person, except maybe the people in the San Diego Christian Writers' Guild, but there are definitely resources online that I can consult, including The Anomaly forum (a Christian speculative fiction forum) that I haven't been on in ages. There's also the NaNoWriMo forums, among other online communities. I also subscribe to Writer's Digest, one of the top magazines for writers. So there are places I can get counsel for sure. I just need to be humble enough to seek it out, and to actually take it to heart. 

Cause humility is essential when it comes to taking counsel. In my Bible reading today, I was reading the story of David being anointed king and then his fight against Goliath. He was the youngest son and a shepherd, not the one you'd expect to be the next king. But he was the one God chose. And ultimately he was well spoken of; it was Saul's servants who suggested David join Saul's service. Yet interestingly, at the end of 1 Samuel 17, Saul asks his commander "whose son is that man who just killed Goliath?" David had been serving Saul in his palace for some time, and even became Saul's armor bearer, plus Saul had just been talking to David earlier that day before he went out to Goliath, yet he seems to have totally forgotten who David is. Odd. I would be surprised that David, who made such an impression on everyone else, failed to make a lasting impression on Saul at this point.

Sorry...tangent. Anyway, getting godly counsel for my career decisions would be a good thing.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

How to approach your career can involve any number of things, depending on what you want to do. When I first graduated, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and where I used to live jobs were really limited. I worked in retail for a long time, taking side jobs and whatever as I could. Not being able to utilize my degree was really frustrating for a long time, but all those side jobs....Gave me a pretty good sampling of the writing world. I interned with a literary agent, I worked as a research assistant, I was a content writer and later editor for a large web media firm. All of that a) gave me insight into different career paths) but also b) helped me build my resume.

Now I have a career as a technical writer, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I do also write some freelance, and that can be a good way to supplement your income, build your writing portfolio, and get an idea of different industries (I mainly freelance for an SEO company, and those articles cover a really diverse range of topics).....I think freelancing is a really good way to go :)

If you know what area you want to get into, it makes sense to go after jobs/writing opportunities in your field BUT if you don't - that's okay! Try everything and see what sticks :) You might be surprised by the things you find you enjoy (I never thought I'd be a technical writer! It wasn't even something I wanted to consider when I first graduated, but I work with great people at a great company and the work is engaging :)).