New Tricks

How are you? There have been a lot of articles in the UK over the last year saying: it's just like the war. Maybe it was a convenient tie-in with VE Day, (and now the end of the second world war), but no. After the inconvenience of a few months of lockdown, and seeing empty shelves in supermarkets I have a whole new appreciation for the relentlessness of years of home front deprivation, but is worrying about loo roll comparable to being bombed or shot at in Dunkirk? No. (That's my grandfather Hugh on the last train home, above). We've endured anxiety, loss - of jobs, friends, loved ones. We've never had less trust in our leaders. But are we at war?

I've just written a book set in WW2, so have spent a lot of this year 'there'. I'm reading tonight from the D-Day landings section for my writers' group. We all write in different genres and it's always a joy getting together to hear what everyone is working on, and celebrate successes. It's time for a break from war. The next book is a complete change - it's about female friendship, (think Beaches + Breakfast at Tiffany's). I've never been more grateful to change tack and spend the majority of my waking life in my fictional 50s universe of starlets and crowded jazz clubs where friends embrace and lovers don't have to wear a mask, rather than think about reality. Work is the one thing that hasn't changed during this year. But that's not the case for many. 'BC' was always our shorthand for life 'before children'. Now it's 'before coronavirus' and the world will never be the same again. 

Who knows what the long-term effects are for our children. It feels like that - the real implications of the pandemic - have yet to hit home. I remember there was a collective intake of breath at the last IRL parent's evening, (crowded auditorium, hugging friends - imagine), when the careers teacher told us: 'the jobs your children will be doing when they leave school probably don't exist yet'. Imagine. Now just jobs - any jobs - would be a plus.

I read an article a while ago that said in the course of a working life young people will have seventeen jobs over five careers. But hasn't that always been the case, particularly in the arts where juggling jobs when you are broke and starting out is all part of it? If you're facing a career change, or it would be helpful to brainstorm your skills to think about new directions, why not write down your seventeen? Here's mine:

1) Builders' labourer. (Dad had a construction company. If we wanted pocket money, we earned it painting barns, sweeping floors, cutting pipes. Child labour, what can I say)

2) Babysitter/mother's help

3) Mural painter

4) Secretary/PA/Receptionist

5) Harrods' sales assistant (twice - coats, moving up to designer room, enough stories for a novel)

6) Playleader 

7) Arts administrator

8) Festival events manager (again, so much material ...)

9) curator

10) art consultant

11) interior designer

12) travel writer

13) feature writer

14) workshop teacher

15) book club columnist

16) novelist

and ...

17) mother/cook/taxi driver/dogwalker/cleaner/PA, a job which salary.com estimated at $178k + worth (unpaid, worth every moment).

Hope this exercise is helpful in thinking about your skill set. Possibly more helpful than the UK government's skills assessment doing the rounds on Twitter in the last couple of days. In the creative sector it suggested I go for: actor, editor, **circus performer**. Salary: 'variable'. Dreams can come true, Ma. The tagline for the original blog 'What Kate Did Next' back in 2008 was: 'if your juggling skills could give the Cirque du Soleil a run for its money, this is the blog for you'. Perhaps it's not that crazy. You're never too old to learn a couple of new tricks.

Stay well, stay safe - good luck out there.