When my husband recently took a transfer to work in another state, we were faced with some difficult decisions. We finally decided I would stay here in Denver and he would live and work in the new city, but we would take turns flying back and forth to see each other as frequently as we could. Practically speaking, the cost of plane tickets and supporting two separate households meant we would need additional income.

As a modestly successful writer, I hated, and I mean hated, the idea of having to go back to work at a “real” job that would steal time from the writing life I love. So I didn’t. I put my creative brain to work instead. I asked myself what jobs would make me happy, and then I listed them on paper. First on the list, of course, was the job I adore most: writing for profit. However, as any budding author will tell you, breaking into the publishing arena can be a painful and sometimes disheartening venture. Earning a decent living at one’s writing takes time, talent, patience and a heck of a lot of resilience. So next I listed editing and proofreading unpublished fiction. I had already done a great deal of both for the National Writers Association www.nationalwriters.com , and found the work enjoyable and rewarding. My list continued with hobbies and activities I enjoy that could possibly be turned into business ventures. Once I’d completed the list, I assigned each activity a number, one being least enjoyable and ten being most enjoyable. After just a few minutes of honest analysis, it became clear that fiction writing (ten points), combined with my editing skills (nine points), could lead to the solid, money-making venture I’d been hoping to stumble upon. The creative nature can conjure plenty of doubts, "what ifs", and "what if it doesn’t works". With effort, I shoved all those negatives aside, found two brilliant 13- year-olds to build my web site for a reasonable amount of money, submitted my paperwork to the government, and "voila!", Pro-Edits was born. Next, I began networking at writers’ conferences, getting the word out to fellow writers who may need my editing and proofreading services, informing small publishers in my area of my availability and directing them to my web site www.pro-edits.com for more information. The positive results were, and still are, phenomenal.

The grandest feature of my new “job” is that I’m doing what most people only dream about: I’m getting paid for doing what I love to do and what I know I was born to do. In other words, I write and earn money for writing, and I supplement my writing career with work that both fulfills and teaches me. An additional plus is that my job is portable; I can take manuscripts with me whenever I travel. Best of all is that the glorious fragrance of roses saturates every moment.