Many years ago Gaynor and I were regulars at Liberties (as was) our local pub in Camden. It was an Irish bar and the centre of ours (and a lot of other peoples’) social lives. Such was its reputation for the craic and late night lock ins, that people knew that they could just turn up, often after months away, and just slot back into the old routine. As a result, it was, invariably packed. One such was Brian, probably in his late 20’s, who, every so often, would turn up and get his old job back behind the bar for a few months. One evening one of the customers asked him what he did while he was away and he explained that he loved Goa and just came back to the pub just to earn enough money to return to Goa. Upon which the customer asked him, “But, Brian, what are you going to do with your life?” To which the response was “I’m doing it!”
Which brings me to my point which is that lucky are those people who really know what they want to do with their life, while luckier still are those who do that at an early age and, even luckier, are those who make a living out of it.
Now, at long last, I’m now doing one of the things that I long convinced myself that I couldn’t. Fair enough so far. However, what has been the real change is that I’m starting to earn a living by one of those things I enjoy while the other one, writing, may also reap rewards at last. You see, after many years of trying, a literary agent has asked me to submit the manuscript of my latest book. And that feels really good. So, if there’s anything that you really want to do, what’s stopping you? Perhaps Brian had it right all along.