What’s something you’ve done that your past self would be proud of?
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The thing that my past self would be proudest of is that I am an indie author.
My past self lived to write. In those days, I wrote poetry. I told my mother I wanted to be a poet when I grew up, and she asked me if I liked to eat. I told her yes (of course) and she told me I would starve as a poet. I changed my answer to a doctor, which made her happier until she realized I would have to go to college to do that. My mom didn’t think I needed to go to college. It was a different world back then, where girls graduated from high school into marriage. Only some of us went to college.
My former self would not be impressed by my PhD. After all, I was always good at school, and the PhD was just more schooling. But my former self would be impressed that I wrote novels yet managed not to starve. If I had to depend on my books to feed me, I would certainly starve. But the PhD got me steady work that would allow me one hobby. Writing is my hobby.
