Wishcraft was written in 1979. I was a young mother from a blue-collar
family, with a 2-year-old son, and another one on the way. Up until
then, I had worked at various jobs, mostly in accounting, which I
hated with a passion.
Laid off from my part-time accounting job with an insurance company
(They could "tell" I wasn't happy there.), I was looking for a new
direction. I'm not sure now how I became aware of "Wishcraft", but I
bought it and it made me think differently about life and jobs.
It had never occurred to me that you could get a job without having
all of the formal credentials required. I liked that way of thinking!
There were so many things I wanted to do!
So I went to the Virginia Unemployment office, and began reading job
descriptions of things that I'd like to do, whether I was qualified to
do them or not.
I saw a part-time teaching job, working with CETA students (in this
case, high-school dropouts with kids) to teach them Data Entry.
I had once *done* data entry, so I figured I could teach it! (Dumb, I
know.) So I took the listing to the agent and asked them to call the
place and see if they would take "experience" in lieu of a teaching
degree. The guy looked at me funny, but made the call, and they said
"Sure - send her over."
And that's where my teaching / training career began. It's wandered
all over the place over the last 30 years, and 14 years ago I started
my own technical training company, and went on to teach overseas and
at several "real" colleges.
I believe in my heart that if I had not read "Wishcraft" I would have
ended up typing for someone for a living, and my kids would have had
far fewer opportunities in life.
Instead, my oldest came to work for me, as a trainer. As a technical trainer, he's been able to travel to Europe and Australia. Nowadays, he's a senior Oracle database administrator, but he still loves to teach, so he often tutors friends in a make-shift classroom in his basement.
My youngest is now a web architect in San Francisco, as well as a
world-class athlete representing the USA in competitions in South
Africa and England.
So the path my life took changed, and resulted in my children's lives
changing -- and hopefully the future generations that will follow us
-- all because Barbara took a risk and wrote a book, based on some
workshops that weren't making any money.
Is it any wonder that I am in awe of her?
Every 30 years or so, she comes into my life -- and changes everything.
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