Yeahyeah, it's time for "Val frets about her future" post.

This time, though I have made a decision. And that decision is that there is no way I will ever decide, so I just have to pursue everything. I have to just stop putting off taking steps towards whatever I want to do and just start taking steps towards everything. :) :(

I have decided that I am going to be a writer/web designer/photographer. I am also going to be a food stylist, but that is only in conjunction with the photography and web design. And maybe an editor, just 'cause.

Thing is that I like my job. And I think it is just going to get better and better over the years. But at the same time I want more freedom to travel and set my own hours and not put on pants if I don't want to...

So, here are the steps I plan to take over the next five years (You'll probably better off not wasting your time reading this)...

Writing
In a few months I will have my Masters Degree in writing. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing. I don't plan on taking any more formal classes in writing. I will continue to keep my eye out on things though and hopefully take a seminar or two in young adult fiction and memoirs (hopefully in another country...) I also plan to actually try to get some things published.
Steps:
- Work on essays and short stories.
- Work on them some more.
- Research markets.
- Send them out to magazines and journals.
- Get rejected.
- Hopefully some day get published.
- Continue to work on the memoir/novel.
- Research agents.
- After gaining some publishing experience and having a finished, polished draft, send out to agents.
- Pray that all my hard work pays off.

Photography
Every other day someone tells me that I should be a photographer. That I should hone my skills, try to show at galleries, or be a wedding/pet/anything else photographer. Truthfully (as if you couldn't tell already) photography is one of those things that I love to do and have consistantly loved and never gotten tired of for a long long time now. So yeah, it probably is time that I started to take it more seriously and see where it takes me. Even if I don't make a career out of it, I can probably make a nice side job or at least just really nice prints :) I looked around and think I might check out this place: The Chicago Photography Center". They have a free 1.5 hour intoduction and then a few classes. Ideally I'd like to really study it, like at the program at Columbia College...but I will most likely never have the time or money or pacience to get another Bachelors Degree
Steps:
- Take the free intro session at the Chicago Photography Center.
- Take begginning/intermediate/advanced classes in photography.
- ??? I don't know exactly where I'll go from there. But I will definietly go somewhere.

Web Design
Web Design is another passion. But really, I don't know what I'm doing. I need to hone up on my HTML/CSS/Dreamweaver skills. I need to learn some languages that will make my sites more functional (java, php, mysql...). I need to really learn all Photoshop, etc. have to offer so I can create better images. I love the web editing I do now, but I'd like to do more...
Steps:
- The first step is to brush up and really master the basics: HTML and CSS. I know the basics but really need to learn them. THe good news is that I think I will be able to swing taking some of these classes on my company's bill and even during a work day for professional development.
- The next step is learning things that will build off of that, like php, mysql, java, photoshop, flash. All of those I know the basics of, but again, I'd like to be more advanced in them.
- Hopefully at this point, between honing my skills and gaining experience at Lyric, I'll be able to really start looking into working on freelance projects.
- From there I want to start learning even more advanced applications to create really amazingly awesome and functional websites.

Culinary Arts
So I have always loved to cook. I don't want to be a chef or a baker or anything though. But I would like to incorporate my love of food into my career. If you haven't already noticed, I love to take photos of my food. This got me to thinking that I could have a specialty of creating websites for restaurants, and could be a one stop shop of creating the website and also styling and photographing the food. I also would like to tone my basic culinary skills.
Steps:
- Go through a certificate program in the basics of culinary arts
- Attend the 2-day session on food styling at the New School
- Attend the 7-day food styling course offered in Chicago.
(this may be more of a longer-term thing, and not right away)

Editing
I don't really have a plan for editing, except as it being a supplement to my other work...and something that can be done freelance. I am going to start apllying for editing tests for computer manuals. We'll see how that goes :)

So, this is my massive 5-year plan. If you read this far I'd be shocked. I guess it's not really a 5-year plan since I don't have any timelines or anything like that...It's more like a bunch of goals Val has that will hopefully make her get off her butt and do stuff so she eventually won't have to do stuff anymore. But I say this is official.

We'll see how this goes.

Wish me luck...