Susannah Hardy | Who Am I?

One of the things I get asked a lot is what I’d be if I weren’t a writer. I always give a little giggle inside when I hear that. Because that’s part of the fun of being a writer. I can be whomever I want to be, or at least my characters can on the page. And I get to bring the reader along with me on my pretend journey.

A few of the occupations that fascinate me are:

Archaeologist: I was a history major in college, and I also took some archaeology courses. Studying artifacts that come out of the ground is engrossing. Unfortunately, actually digging those things out of the ground is backbreaking, tedious, dirty work. Turns out I’d much rather read or watch television shows about the process and the findings. Interestingly, though, my son is off to college now to study—you guessed it—archaeology! So at least I know I brought the right baby home from the hospital. Forensic Anthropology and Facial Reconstructions: I’m a big, big nerd when it comes to this stuff. Analyzing bones and teeth to determine what ancient, or even not so ancient, people ate, where they lived, and what diseases they suffered from? I could learn about this all day long, and I could see myself, in another life, working in a lab doing this work. And those artists who take skulls, or fragments of skulls, and manage to reconstruct faces, whether they belong to Neandertals or King Richard III who was recently found or a woman who died under mysterious circumstances a few decades ago? It’s the perfect blending of science and art and I wish I had those kinds of skills. Instead, I’m content to admire others’ work. Professional Organizer: I think I’d be really good at this, not that you’d know it from my own desk or kitchen cupboards. But paperwork, especially, would be fun to organize for other people, because it would be a great excuse to buy a lot of fun office supplies, like sticky notes, and colored pens, and pretty file folders and notebooks. Just recently I helped a friend reorganize and declutter a room in her home that had gotten out of control and we had such fun—probably because we were doing it together. Maybe I should have her come over and help me with my junk drawer and kitchen storage container cabinet!

The truth is, even if we can’t physically “be” everything we want to, or wanted
to when we were kids, there are always books that allow us to imagine what it
would be like. We can learn a lot about just about anything simply by searching
the Internet. We can look for free classes online, or even pay for a course
through your town’s adult education or community college’s personal enrichment
programs. So don’t be afraid to indulge your passions!