Today is the first day of the rest of my life . . . ?

I have stepped off the precipice into the great unknown. Definitely not the best time to be looking for a job. What I will be doing in the next six months is anyone’s guess. This is at the same time exciting and terrifying.

I have been teaching the intro class to the visual arts (art appreciation) at the college level for about 14 years. It is a class that none of the full-time faculty wants to teach, but I have grown to love it. I get to see the light-bulb go on over students’ heads when they begin to make connections. But adjunct faculty are expendable and don’t even get unemployment benefits. And who knows, there may be a class to teach in the distant future, but it is not something I can count on.

I keep waiting for the heavens to open and a great booming voice to tell me what I am supposed to do next.

Times change, and so must I. But it is getting more and more difficult to morph into something else, I have done it four or five times already. Will I be a jewelry designer? Or a quilt artist? Or will I be flipping burgers with my highly prestigious Masters degree in Art History?

If you have any insight or encouraging words, I’d love hear them.

Happy 4th of July -- Independence Day

Summer seems to speeding past a break-neck speed. Wasn't it just Memorial Day? So much can happen in a short time.

Here I am teaching college student the joys of knowing and understanding art in the first short semester of the summer and -- poof! -- I do not have a teaching job in the fall! After this coming week, which holds my husband's birthday and my parents' 53rd anniversary (on the same day), essays, exams and final grads, I will be free -- at loose ends. What to do?

Suddenly I am freed from the espectations involved in teaching -- not that I am happy about that.

I am waiting for the heavens to open up and tell me what I am supposed to to with the rest of my life. Perhaps this is a time for me to take stock of my life and start getting serious about my art and my jewelry. I have been dabbling all my life. Maybe now is the time to test myself, to push myself creatively. I have been following the artistic adventures of my blog friends in the left-hand column for about two years now. They have led the way, now it is my turn to march to a very different drummer than before.

I would appreciate some encouraging words. How did you get started? What prompted you on your crative path? Is the adventure worth the anxiety? What is the best advice you got/can give in starting an arts-based business?

To tempt you to your keyboard, I am offering a pair of earrings to one randomly selected response. Since life promised to be crazy this coming week, I will draw the winner on Saturday, July 11th.

Share this with your blog friends, the more responses the better. I am looking forward to your encouragment.