Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Our backgrounds don’t often determine our present.

I took one English class in high school. I took one English class in college.

Not much of a background in writing, huh? I have written half a dozen books (published) and over a hundred articles (published) as well as a hundred short stories (self-published) and all that.

How did my background lead to my present? I worked at it a little each day and continue to work at it a little each day.

The most important factor is that I wanted to write, and no one convinced me that my background was insufficient.

Now let’s pause a moment here: I have written and published and all that. I have not earned much money from all that. Doing something we want does not mean we can earn a living from it. It does, however, mean that we can do something we want.

What do we want to do, regardless of our background?