This year I reach an important milestone: ten years working in the literary industry. In 2013 I entered my first ‘real’ lit job, as an editorial assistant at a small magazine publisher in North Melbourne. I had worked as an intern at two other publishing companies during my master’s, but this was the first time I would actually be paid for what I had studied for five years to do—really, as a voracious reader and writer, for my whole life.

As I think back to my first day in my first lit job, I can remember the sickening mingled exhilaration and horror of finally being able to work in a field where I truly felt I belonged. Yes, I was scared, but I was also entitled. I was meant to be there, working with words. This was my calling.