In honor of our labors…

Work is a world apart from jobs. Work is the way you occupy your mind and hand and eye and whole body when they’re informed by your imagination and wit, by your keenest perceptions, by your most profound reflections on everything you’ve read and seen and heard and been a part of. You may or may not be paid to do your work.- Alice Koller

            I Googled myself. This is a practice for the brave. The first thing that popped up was the story Money Down the Toilet #2. The story summed up what followed.

            My blog was quoted as having a profit of $8.95 or fifteen cents per day.(Their math didn’t add up). My blog generates no income, zip, nada. After site fees, snacks, and chocolate to keep up strength and spirits, I show a deficit. There was no mention of the short story successes or the book on submission. Or the heart. Or the soul. Google doesn’t know everything.

            The next thing that popped up was my profile for a former library job. I didn’t make much more than $8.95 (a per hour at least) at the library, a service job to support the work.  

            I couldn’t imagine a life without art and creativity, the things that give me a reason to breathe. As a job, my work may seem like it’s worthless, but my work gives me the satisfaction of a million bucks.

            If you care how the outside world defines you, don’t Google yourself.