A few weeks ago, Kristin and I were hanging out with my good friends Tom and Michelle. While I was showing Tom the DVD on making puppet’s for stop-motion animation that I had recently purchased, Kristin exclaimed something like “Oh-no-not-another hobby!” I started explaining that this is an old hobby of mine that has been on hold since before I met her, and then Tom interjected, saying something like, “Kristin, don’t discourage him. C.K. is a professional hobbyist. He’s the king of making jobs out of his hobbies.”

Something about that resonated with me, because it is very true. My original career goal in life was to become a published author of fiction (at the time, in my head, fiction was spelled Literature with a capital L) and the safety-net backup plan was to become a full-time Professor in English. I’m still working towards both of these goals (although I am not certain if I am interested in that full-time part anymore); however, along the way, I started tinkering with technology, and suddenly found myself with a job in Instructional Technology, which since has become a viable career path.

Then somewhere along the way, I started blogging. While blogging a little site called 3650 and a 12-inch, I slapped together a little script called Share2Blue2th, which let someone share their Internet connection over Bluetooth with their Symbian-based cellphone. The script was popular. I landed a mention of the script in Mac OS X Unwired by Dori Smith and Tom Negrino. I wrote the editor of that book, Brian Jepson (who just so happens to be the editor of my current book), and asked if O’Reilly had any freelance writing type stuff. He said he was a regular reader of my site and said to pitch him some ideas. I did. He passed those ideas along to Rael Dornfest, and the next thing I knew I was writing 14 hacks for Mac OS X Panther Hacks. Then, after that rapped up, I pinged Rael and asked if there was any other writing to be done, and he put me in contact with Hadley Stern and I ended up writing 6 hacks for Hadley’s iPod & iTunes Hacks, and I even served as the tech editor for the book. Then, Hadley asked me to write for AppleMatters. I did and now that the book is wrapping up I will probably return to writing a few articles here and there. Then in April, Barb, Judith, and Jason contacted me, asking if I’d be interested in writing for TUAW. I was and I started on March 1st. Then shortly thereafter, I was promoted to lead blogger for the site. Then the PSP came out. I bought one and sent a quick email to Rael, saying “How about a PSP Hacks book?” He passed me along to Brian. I submitted a proposal, and suddenly I found myself writing my first book. It’s not a fiction book (spelled Literature), but it’s good. Suddenly, I find myself with another viable career path. Professional writer / blogger.

All these hobbies becoming my life and my work, and each time one of these hobbies becomes my work, of course, I have to find new hobbies. I wonder what’s ahead? ;-)

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