So, I’ve got a job, actually, 2 jobs, I think, but fortunately I’ve managed to steer clear of much adult-hood still bc these jobs are not the buckle-down and be professional every day sort. I’m a freelancer and a substitute teacher. Freee as a birdd. The freelancing gig involves calling up business owners, interviewing them a bit about their business, then writing a 250 word profile for the Montrealplus website. So basically, I don’t have to leave my house if I don’t want to. I do have to speak in French a lot, but I have been quite good at that in the past, and have had no problems, aside from nerves, in doing it so far, and I’ve done two of these profiles already. So- good for the old bilingual in me, plus it pays 25 bucks a pop, and I can usually do them in under an hour.

And then, just when I was thinking, “man, all those work-type clothes which I bought in abeyance to the ‘built it they will come’ philosophy did the trick, got the job to come, but turns out I don’t need them for it, crap.” I get this phone call from the principle of the high school where I submitted my resume to sub.

Ok. I admit it. It’s my old high school. But I’m not going to regress into a sticky-sweet nostaligic bubble of grossness, I swear. I just think sub-ing is kind of an ideal job for a writer: it’s unsteady (just like a writer) and the pay is pretty good, and there’s usually a lesson plan all laid out that you can either follow or not. You can just sit and watch them pass notes, if you like. Or you can do a dramatic reading of The Waste Land for an hour, or teach them how to make origami penguins, or lecture on the importance of free software. Or, if, like me, one of the projects you are working on is a young adult novel for teenage girls, and you are sub’ing in an all girls school, you can do direct market research, and even, if the kids are cool, get them to help you map out the story.