It’s Halloween, and I have to be here half an hour later than normal, which should cut down on my work time, but also gives me an extra half hour to sit around and ponder.

I had a meeting with my boss today, which I knew was coming, to discuss my future. This was one of those “Someday, we need to … ” meetings, and someday turned out to be today. I’m rather resistant to trying to figure out “what I want to do when I grow up,” but the bottom line is that I work in a job with slim chances for promotion (yeah, I got a title change recently, but only internally – according to Human Resources, I am still “Humanities/Social Sciences Research Associate IV,” whatever the hell that means), and I’ve been in this position for seven and a half years full time. I have plans that will keep me ensconced here until the summer of 2009, and there’s no hurry for me to leave, but at the same time, as my boss so helpfully put it, it’s good to have a plan so that I can start laying the ground for what comes next.

Well, that and I’m slowly coming to the realization that my long-hoped-for plan involving some rich educational consultant who would swoop out of nowhere and offer me a large annual salary and overly competitive benefits package (plus travel!) to do what I do now, only without the labyrinthine state bureaucracy, is probably beyond the realm of possibility. That apparently only happens to man-whores in Washington state.

So, we sort of laid out three long term plans. One, I can go for a doctorate in History. Two, I can go for a different kind of doctorate in Education. Three, I be a professional administrator. Each has its pros and cons. And as usual, my reaction is to not want to think about it. I’m very good at that, and that’s not an admirable skill, unfortunately.

The good news is that I don’t have to choose right now.

Then, of course, there’s the other thing I oughter decide sooner rather than later. November is National Novel Writing Month – didja know? The whole point is to get people (like me) who just know they’ve got a book in them to churn one out, for better or worse. Basically, they suggest that writing a 50,000 word book in 30 days equals 1,667 words a day, which is the equivalent of a really long e-mail, and the purpose is to get you over the mental hurdle of having to write that much. The point is to put editing, fact-checking, even plot aside, and just write. Should I do it? I ask myself.

Will? Shin? You guys in?

Tags: Books, decisions, education, life, novels, salary, writing