Sometimes, we detour...

I wrote for the non-profit for six years, but I yearned for a steady income from writing to support my children and me. Hmm, I thought nearly every day, how can I ditch my day job and still have an income? A chance encounter with a former advertiser from my television advertising days provided an opportunity, and the answer.

Mary Jo's new hubby had just signed on with an insurance company, and he was doing very, very well in his new profession. She told me he was looking for salespeople, and she'd recommended me. I'd sold another intangible, advertising, so she expected I'd do very well in insurance, too.

At her invitation, two thoughts ran riot simultaneously through my brain: first, I can be a full-time, stay-at-home mom; second, here's our income while I build my writer income. Bingo! I was in.

Turns out, insurance sales was a seven-year detour that stalled my writing career. I managed to write for the non-profit (and build more writing samples), but little else. What I hadn't counted on was this: to be a successful, money-generating insurance person, I had to spend lots of time studying for my license, then taking continuing ed courses to maintain it; learn the products I sold, attend meetings, make phone and cold calls morning, noon and night. Juggling two full-time careers and motherhood was a tough assignment.

That detour is behind me now. I knew I'd never again take on a second career to finance my first choice. My takeaway from the experience, though, was that, more than ever, I wanted to be an at-home writer.