It is hard to be an academic. The schooling is long and exhausting, the competition is fierce, and the job prospects are slim. Then, if you do find a job, assuming it's more secure than the nightmare that is being an Adjunct professor, you have the joy of teaching uninspired students and the pressure to publish. Intellectually rewarding- yes. Emotionally fulfilling- perversely. Easy- absolutely not.
I spent seven years going to school to get, first a Bachelors, and then a Masters degree, in Literature. I love books. I love reading them, I love buying them, I love researching them, I love talking about them, and, hopefully, someday, writing them. But I also have a yearning for visible creativity, challenges I know I can master, and short term successes. And, frankly, I hate being an Adjunct. So I've decided to become a baker instead.
The shift is less dramatic than it sounds. My life goal for a long time has been to be a writer, and I thought I'd just teach Literature to pay the bills while working on my novels. Any other possibilities didn't really stand out to me.
I've been baking since I was a child. I used to help my mother in the kitchen and I've been baking holiday cookies, with her and on my own for a few years now. Then I tried my hand at baking bread, and it was good. And then I slipped into pies and cakes and it was love.
When I found myself daydreaming about cakes I'd like to make, smiling wistfully to myself, I realized that maybe there was another path for me, one that would give me a creative outlet, a higher likelihood of job security, and a wider range of potential jobs. The moment I started seriously considering going back to school, not for literature, but for baking, I felt a great joy and contentment settle over me. My life looked much more hopeful, and tasty, and so the decision was made.
I already know I can bake yummy things, now I just need to hone my skills and learn the all important art of decorating.
I created this blog to record my journey through the kitchen. I'll share my successes, and, if I'm feeling brave, my failures. Hopefully this will show the progress of a gifted novice hobby baker to the rank of successful businesswoman, or, at least, a happy employee baking for a nice company, with a large personal kitchen of her own waiting for when the shift ends.
Wish me luck- and cupcakes!
Congrats on starting the blog and many, many wishes for success along the baking trail!
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