“We’re all part of everything, and everything is part of us.”–Gobo Fraggle

When I got my first medical transcription job over seven years ago, I supposed that that was going to be how I earned my living for the rest of my life.  I figured that writing was just going to be a hobby, something I did for my own amusement and that of my friends.

But as is so often the case, things in my life haven’t worked out exactly the way I supposed they would, and I’m forced to find other means of paying the bills.  And with a Hamilton-esque word count of 66,089 words on this blog over the course of five months, writing seems like a skill that I could perhaps parlay into something more rewarding in actual money in addition to mere personal satisfaction.

The first step is putting together a portfolio, so I’ve been going through my old papers and such, reading through them and picking out the best ones.  I can’t tell you what a joy this is for me; the most recent of those articles and papers are nearly 10 years old, and some date back 15 years or longer.  I don’t even remember writing some of them, and so I can look at them with fresh eyes and appreciate what’s good about them without feeling egotistical.

But what is more interesting–not to mention encouraging–to me is even though some of those papers were topical at the time, and are therefore now dated, the themes that I explored in them are still relevant today.

When I say that the themes are relevant, I don’t only mean in a broad sense.  I’ve come across things that I wrote 10-15 years ago that are nevertheless relatable to the Schism in one way or another.

Initially, my decision to put my portfolio on this blog was purely utilitarian; I don’t have a very large online footprint, and I figured that my portfolio would be most visible on this site than on my other blogs.  And yet, going through those papers tonight, I realized that they’re not really out of place on a Muppet blog; on the contrary, they are related, however obliquely, to what I’m trying to accomplish here.  If need be, they are applicable to it.

My portfolio still needs work, however, so I’m not ready to post it yet, but keep watching the “HIRE ME” tab above for updates.