Unearthing Alicia

  I n his “Last Lecture,” Randy Pausch gave advice on how to achieve your childhood dream. This got me wondering what was my childhood dream? I don’t know that I had one clear dream. I listened to the radio constantly and dreamed of being a radio DJ, but I’ve done that. I was able to take a radio broadcasting class in high school, then got an internship and just kept showing up after I graduated until I earned an on-air shift. I started doing overnights on weekends, then Saturday evenings, and then a lunchtime shift with a request show. I operated the board on another station for the satellite morning show and voice tracked shifts on two more stations. I didn’t really think or even wish to be a national radio host, but my goal was to someday work at a station that starts with W (anywhere east of the Mississippi River) and work in a large market. When I was 19 I was hired to do weekends on WYYL in Memphis, TN, a large market. In two months I worked my way to afternoon drive before...

            Having things come naturally is a good thing, right?       It's nice to try something new and be pretty decent at it on the first try. It's fun to be able to do many things fairly well. The trouble comes when you have to focus and choose one thing.  I've been a McDonald's manager, radio DJ, a nanny in France, a driver's ed teacher, legal assistant, cake baker/decorator, and audiobook narrator/producer. And I've done well at them all. Heck, I've even been a beauty queen.           So the question for me is less about what am I good at and more about what do I really want to do.           I read a lot of information this week, but the advice I can't get out of my mind is to choose something that you're not only naturally good at, but " one where you lose track of the hours spent in it, and one where you would practice for the sake of practice alone." - Living...