Appearing on Sunrise with Mel and Kochie

It was great to be asked to appear on Channel 7's Sunrise this week (Monday 14 August) with Mel and Kochie. Sunrise was doing a segment on changing careers so I spoke as the author of my book So Now What? How to figure out the rest of your life. (www.SoNowWhat.com.au)

In the writing business, I'm often chatting to people who are considering a career change. I've had one myself - I began life as an accountant before taking the plunge and going into public relations and finally finding my passion as a writer.

The great thing about writing is that you can easily get a taste of it before you embrace it full time. Writing is something that you can do on weekends or in your spare time. So if you take baby steps, the transition into becoming a writer doesn't have to be a big, scary leap.

If you are perfectly happy with your day job but want write "on the side", you can do that too. I know many people who write - and get published - in their spare time but continue their jobs as bankers, university lecturers, actors and others during the day.

If you are considering writing as a career, dip your toe in. Try submitting article as a freelancer to your favourite publications. You'ver got nothing to lose. Who knows? One day you might decide you like it so much that you want to do it fulltime. That's exactly what happened to me.