A Pirate\’s Logbook

So, in the last post I was working at a local College as an IT Tutor, chugging along nicely like I had for the best part of a decade. Sometimes though, you start to get too settled and the Universe has to send you a wake up call.

Mine came in February when I was made redundant.

Yeah. After years of being told how valuable an asset to the College and how there would always be a place for me, suddenly it’s ‘BTW, your post is being made redundant in 6 weeks and there’s nothing else for you at the moment’. Hmmm. Fortunately, when you’ve been in a place for a long time with an impeccable service record and are well thought of by everyone you work with, you get treated rather well. I got some payout over and above what I was entitled to and since I got started straight away when I found out the situation, I walked out of one job into another. Plus, my payout cleared my debts and now I own stuff like my car and whatnot and I owe nobody anything.

However, what you find out when you re-enter the real world after almost a decade of stasis during which you’ve done nothing but train, is that you’re more valuable than the last place treated you. I got a job teaching basic skills and performing arts for a local charity, doing half the hours for the same money as before. Not bad at all. But what was I going to do with the rest of my week?

Well, if I was going to be teaching people how to take their creative skills and set themselves up in business, I figured I perhaps ought to do the same thing. I always dreamed of being either an art teacher or a children’s illustrator. Since I already had one in the bag, why not go freelance and work on some illustration?

I’ve been doing this now since the middle of March and while it’s been hard work, with very little time for recreational pursuits, it’s been worth it. I get to spend 4 days a week painting, drawing and selling my work, talking to people about possible illustration contracts and being my own boss. The other 3 I spend inspiring others to do the same. It’s amazing.