Hi all
First time poster here. Also don't understand the abbreviations/acronyms you guys use, so please go easy on me!
I have a 12 year old daughter who is in private school (please keep your opinions about this to yourself, it is a non-negotiable aspect of my choices for her as a gifted student).
I have a good educational background to MA level, and work in a copywriting role in marketing. I am reasonably good at what I do, and earn just enough to scrape by.
I'm a single parent (since pregnancy) and her dad contributes £250 a month. He has her for 4 nights a month and lives too far away to help much more (not that he would do anyway!)
I would very much like to get into a different career path, but with about 7 years experience in marketing behind me, I have no idea how I could make a change without jeopardising my finances, which are stretched to capacity as it is.
I'd dearly like to go back into academia and take a PhD, and/or perhaps even go into teaching/lecturing.
In an ideal world, I would like to do graphic design or illustration, start a business or finally start writing fiction (my MA is in Creative Writing). Working full time and bringing up my daughter means there is very little time for my creative pursuits and after a day's work writing my imagination is pretty empty for creative writing! I draw and paint, which I am good at, but have not the finances nor the skills to get my art made digital, then optimised for printing/selling online.
Clearly, I have options and dreams which I'd like to achieve, but with the need to earn a good salary and do that old balancing act of work/parenting alone, it's feeling a bit hopeless.
I wonder if anyone has made a big career change or gone back into academia as a single parent? Any advice would be most welcome!