I mentioned the other day that I was going to post my career memo assignment here since I felt that it's the appropriate place to do so. So, here goes!

My career plans entail a good deal of writing. My ultimate goal is to become an established and respected research scientist in the field of Vertebrate Paleontology. This will require me to be able to communicate clearly, primarily in writing, any facts, data, and information I gather to other professional scientists as well as the general public and non-scientists. Starting out by writing articles for publication in both scientific and non-scientific subjects will establish me as a capable writer and communicator. Once I am published, I intend to alter my focus towards the sciences, at which point I can work on writing books based on my personal research projects. In the meantime, while I am writing, and to make a decent living, I am hoping to get employment in the scientific research and consulting business where writing skills will be very essential.

My long term career plans are likely to take a great deal of time to develop. I already know this and am preparing for this as much as possible. I already have several research projects that I have chosen and even attempted to start over the past couple years. What I must do is focus and produce real, tangible, and useful results. The article writing direction doubles both as a solution to get my writings out there into the publishing world and as an income stream. I recently attended a workshop about freelance writing for publication which gave me a good perspective and the motivation as well as a lot of workable ideas to get started on. One of the most useful pieces of information I got out of the workshop was: if one has a certain topic they want to focus on, they can write articles that get published but also end up as material for a book. In essence, a specific series of articles can be relatively easily converted into chapters or sections of a book. The woman heading the workshop said that my focus as a geoscientist will be very beneficial to me. I have actually started implementing my work on my research projects: first, by choosing one project to start and focus my attention on; next, by starting my own online web log (blog) tracking my progress, and keeping myself accountable and on track with the chosen project; and finally, by continuing to take classes and workshops in writing and the sciences, especially those most useful to me and my plans.

In the mean time, I must make a living while I write my articles and work on my projects. The most beneficial field for my interests and capabilities is the scientific research and consulting business, where writing in various formats will be very essential. This also makes it possible for me to make more progress as an established researcher and scientist. I am hoping to put all this to some use in the very near future. I look forward to putting my plans to the test.

Well, that's it - in a memorandum nutshell! I don't know how well it was recieved by my instructor - but I am definitely thinking positive. She even mentioned helping me with my career intention statement for possible grad school. Since Graduate school is part of the plan - I do think I will take her up on the offer. Talk about wow! Things are really moving fast now - except I don't yet have much of the project itself to show. I feel like I'm constantly in the planning and preparing stages - but maybe it's more because right now I'm doing two classes and with other things going on right now - lots of my time is taken up focussing on everything else. Fortunately, I'm only taking the one course this coming fall semester - hopefully, that will free up more of my time to devote to the research and article writing - and job hunting.

Until next time, signing off!