Once Upon a Writer
About a year ago, I felt like I was living in a fairytale.
Not a good Disney fairytale where animals help you get dressed in the morning. No, it was scary, more like one of those cautionary European folk tales the Brothers Grimm would have collected – if they were disaffected millennials.
I had started to feel trapped in the ivory tower of my career and I couldn’t just grow my hair and wait for a handsome prince to climb up my braid and kiss it better – that would be totally inappropriate for the workplace!
It really was such a first world problem, but it was the proverbial pea under my mattress keeping me awake at night:
I was proud of what I had achieved in my career in communications but unsure what to do next. I liked the organisation I worked for but worried about becoming stagnant if I didn’t seek out new horizons.
However, I was unsure of even where to begin looking for something new beyond a handful of freelance opportunities that had come my way.
After the publication of my first book, Bae for Pay, in late 2020, there was increasing demand for me as a writer and as a coach helping others put pen to paper.
I took the big step of quitting my day job to see what these opportunities would bring.
You see, I write comedies about the quarterlife crisis, and life was starting to imitate art a bit too much for my liking…
It was at that time that my own fairy godmother, Samantha Leeman of Once Upon a Tech Recruiter, came into my life.
Sam wanted to help others find jobs they love through blogs about her experiences as a recruiter. I had worked on everything from finance to Feng Shui, but not recruitment, so I was intrigued by the opportunity to help her with her writing and social media.
As I read her blogs about how recruiters had helped so many people find jobs they love (including Sam herself) I began to wonder what speaking to a recruiter could do for me.
Before working with Sam, recruiters had seemed like mythical beasts that helped other people, not me, but I could see my own desire for fulfilment reflected in blogs like her temp to perm piece.
Inspired by Sam, I submitted my CV to a recruitment agency and was snapped up pretty quickly.
I have had stints in local and national government that suited me as I worked on the final stages of my second novel, Boo for Who? (launching on 4 July 2022).
The new experiences helped clarify both what I wanted for myself and from my employer, something I never would have had without working with Sam. I am now on a contract in the same organisation that I left a year ago, but I feel much more in control of my own destiny and am loving the work.
My story hasn’t involved any glass slippers or talking snowmen, but it’s my version of a happily ever after.
If you’re reading this, I hope you find yours too.
New Book Out Now
After a successful launch party at Typewronger Books Melissa’s Boo for Who? is available to order online. So, if the thought of reading comedies about the quarterlife crisis, and life has made you curious, you can order her latest book here:
(I know what I’ll be reading on my summer holiday this year)
