It can be very difficult to be taken seriously when you work outside of academic circles and yet I’m incredibly pleased to say that what I have worked on untangling for the last 15 years or more is indeed taken seriously. And I feel so privileged when anyone looks at my content over my lack of credentials.
I’m not able to chose between arts and sciences because I think they are equally vital to understand Us as human beings. And so I do think it’s a strength to have rejected the pressure to choose. I’m also so very lucky that have dedicated so many years to formal study.
I’m not going to lie: I find styles and other publishing expectations to be very difficult. But there are ways to build on strengths and use open access sources for a good deal of the rest.
This does mean I’m taking my difficulty with my operating system a bit more seriously and am going to back up my research even further than I expected.