Editor: To Be, or Not to Be?

Whenever someone finds out I am an English major, the next words out of their mouth are almost always “oh, so are you going to teach or..?” This accounts for about 99% of the “what is your major” type conversations, unfailingly so.

Do not get me wrong; teachers are absolutely amazing and if we didn’t have hard working, dedicated people like them our world (and education system) would grind to a halt, but having your major automatically attributed to one singular profession gets old, especially when there is so much you can do with an English degree. I won’t bore you with the list of professions or a lengthy rant, but while we do produce boatloads of people who will silently (or not so silently) correct other’s grammar, I promise we have not spent our undergrad years simply adjusting commas.

For a long time my dream job has been to be a book editor. I’m talking Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, but without scaring the living day light out of my coworkers. I have always loved to read and I have always loved English classes. Not only do I love books, but I despise bad books. I wanted to be able to be the person that said yes to the good books and sent the bad books packing. However, publishing is not the field you just jump into and immediately start climbing up the corporate ladder. It is competitive. It can take a while just to get that starting position at the company of your dreams. You have to work hard, and I’m both excited and nervous to do that.

While the publishing industry has always been on my mind, I am also oh-so curious about what else lies beyond the horizon. There are so many things that I want to do with this life. From traveling, journalism, non-profit work, entrepreneurship, working from home, or even risking it all and becoming a full-time writer, I can envision myself going down so many paths.

“So what are you going to do with all this uncertainty,” you ask? Well, two things really: Pray about it (like, a lot) and just let life happen and let God do His thing.

I am hopeful about my future, and honestly I’m along for the ride. Whether it takes me one year or ten or even more to find out what I want and what my purpose is, I’m really just excited for life. By no means does this mean that I am not at all nervous or occasionally anxious about finding my path. I most certainly am nervous and anxious at times, but I know that God has my life in His hands and we are told by Jesus in Matthew 6:34 not to be anxious for tomorrow, for it’ll be anxious for itself.  Like my favorite bible verse says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” Proverbs 3:5. I know He has a plan for me and I can’t wait to see it unfold before my eyes.

Always,

Emily