Everyone has a superpower. "Oh, he's such a quilter, always first place at the county fair" or "She a great cabinet maker, better than the Amish" or in my case, "If you need funding? Alan is a successful grant writer." Grant writing is still my superpower. I've had at least a few bucks to defray the costs of my writing and documentary movie projects.
Like everyone, I've been waiting for my ship to come in. Over the years, I've boarded a number of vessels and ships of all sizes, sailed uncertain seas, and ended up as a full-time storyteller here on Amazon dot com.
I had a successful career in local and tribal government administration. All those years I was a writer and storyteller but didn't consider myself one. Those experiences taught me to balance perfection with accuracy which greatly influences my creative writing today.
I decided to board the free-enterprise ship that took me from Wyoming to Colorado. Breaking into a new market was challenging. Whatever experience I had, didn't matter. I've been having to reinvent myself since 1993.
The biggest jolt came when I was laid off a couple jobs following 9/11. I qualified for unemployment, and was told by my friends to take a risk and try something I’ve always wanted to do, but didn’t because I was always stuck in a “job.”
That advice led me to some video production classes at the local public access TV station, and learned screenwriting. I ultimately fell back on my writing super power and now produce mostly documentary movies, and write books.
I haven’t looked back.
Self-employment isn’t without its challenges. Every morning I wake up unemployed with no co-workers. I constantly wonder about my next unknown adventure and the stories that will abound.
Like the time I was on my death bed in 2013 and snapped out of it; or the emergency landing with a fire in the cockpit in 1996 that touched down in Oklahoma City; or losing my Ford Pinto in the Big Thompson Flood in 1976.
I'm still broke, trying to be at least quasi-retired. I was talking to a high school classmate of mine. We're both trying to stop working.
"You spend your entire career trying to develop a good reputation, By the time that happens, it's time to quit," he said. That's why I keep doing this and enjoying it because I keep answering the phone. Maybe my ship will come in and I'll decide to board it. Regardless, the few bucks I'm making from selling these books be plowed into nonprofit work and not lining my pockets.
My writing life is a gestalt that started in 1967 when I wrote for the Carey Junior High School newspaper, "The Tumbleweed," through high school and college and then writing for a small paper in Wyoming.
I swam with the dolphins in the headwaters of the Amazon in Peru. Who knew I'd be swimming with the sharks at Amazon dot com - Alan O.
