Printer, Publisher, Packer, Painter, Psychologist ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

         Printer might have been a good career choice for me.  My grandfather, my father's father, was a printer and quite a respected and accomplished printer at that.  Sadly I never got to meet him since he died well before I was born.  My father was only 12 years old when his father died in 1936.  From what I've read about my grandfather, he was not only highly proficient at his job, but he was considered to be one of the most well-read men in Clarksburg WV.  Sounds like a man that I would have liked to have met and sat down to talk about history and what he had read.  Maybe some printer gene was passed down to me since I am so fascinated by printed works and newspapers.  I never went into any kind of print profession, but I guess I could have.

        Maybe I could get into publishing one day. I know there are some bloggers who are also publishers of books and such. Publishing would certainly give me some advantage to having my own books published, but I guess I'll leave that job to someone else.  That is, if I ever have a book that needs to be published. And that could happen you know. 

         A number of my previous jobs have involved packing whether it was packing boxes to ship to customers or packing truckloads to ship to wherever. Packing is something that I enjoy.  It's much like putting a puzzle together at times.  When I was working on roadshows, the first packing of the truck was usually a bit of a challenge to get everything onboard just right the first time.  After that we would always pack the truck the same way to make the process fast and expedient. Of course, since I was manager, I was usually involved in the business of the show itself while everyone else did most of the packing. But over the years I did plenty of my share of that work.  I didn't mind it at all for the most part.

        Prior to going on the road with a show, I was involved in much of the show prep and a big part of that was painting sets, props, and show cases so I did a lot of wielding of paintbrushes during those times.  I've also painted walls in houses--my own and others.  In my senior year of high school my parents let me paint our family room with a wild psychedelic design and that became a gathering place for many of my friends for a number of years.  After I moved out of the house they eventually painted and then paneled over my artwork.  I wonder if anyone will ever discover it years from now and wonder about it all?

         My plan going into college was to major in psychology and become a psychologist or something in that field.   I pursued that aim for a couple of years until I switched over to a major in English.  Psychology still interests me a great deal, but I'm probably better off for not having gone into the profession.  I've got enough problems of my own let alone take on someone else's crazy problems.  I'm good at listening, but I'm not sure I give the best advice.

        Did you follow through on your initial career aims of high school?   How are your organizational skills when it comes to packing?   Have you found a good publisher that has helped you achieve your writing goals?