Bobbie Barrett - Mad Men

On AMC’s Mad Men, Bobbie Barrett was the vivacious wife of a client of Don Draper’s. In time, she and Don had an affair which led to the crumbling of Don’s marriage. What she may have lacked in morality, Bobbie (played perfectly by Melinda McGraw) made up in wisdom when she said:

“This is America. Pick a job and then become the person that does it.”

And you know what, Bobbie is right. In America, a career isn’t confined by what has been done before, or what is readily available, or what we’ve been trained to do. It’s really about finding what you want to do and working your butt of until you get there. As any member of our little writer community will probably tell you, he or she didn’t get a guidebook on how to make it as a writer. Chances are, he or she didn’t even start out a writer. At some point along the way, each of us made the decision to write. We picked a job and became the people who do that job. Not only that, we’ve found creative ways to make a living doing what we love. So, I salute you, writers of Mad Men, one American made writer to another.