Recently I've come to realize that self-employment might be the best way for me to work. I'm self-motivated and like controlling my work projects and hours. Of course there are parts I really don't like: the constant selling, the insecurity of not knowing where money is coming from. But I'm going to give it a try while I don't have a lot of commitments or debt.

I expect that my career will play a big part in my life. Writing fiction and non-fiction, editing, creating Web sites, studying are all things I would do in my spare time if, for some reason, I couldn't make a living doing them. But I'd much rather try to do what I want full time rather than have a day job and base my identity on what I do off hours.

I think my generation is more confident than my parents' generation. More of us have the opportunity to do exactly what we want rather than the jobs others tell us are 'good for us.' Even though I think we have more courage, it's still the biggest challenge facing people in the workplace: to make sure you don't settle for something that's not quite what you're interested in or, worse, pick a career just because it will make you a lot of money.

I had the benefit, in retrospect, of being in a job that I really didn't like during university. When I left I felt like I'd wasted so much of my time. I learned that working for money is not good enough. You have to do something you enjoy. Of course it's easier said than done, but I think that a person will be more motivated to do something they're really keen about, and their passion will make them succeed.

It's difficult to carry out your ideals when you're starting out like I am now and worrying that you won't make enough this month to meet all your expenses. I also have a lot of friends who are working for themselves as freelance writers, photographers and Web designers who are already doing a lot better than I am, so I often wonder, "what if there just isn't room for one more?" But I guess you have to ignore those questions or you'd just fail anyway.

I think my generation expects work to be a big part of their lives but are also concerned about having a fuller life, doing what we like, taking time to travel and becoming whole people.

I think that our generation realizes that a career can be balanced with a good quality of life. We're more willing to change careers and try new things. In our more self-aware moments we can look at our jobs as a way of learning and think of work experience in terms of what it can do for us, rather than what we can do for the company. That's also probably because it's not as easy to get a job nowadays.

Most jobs today don't last as long as they did for our parents. So we're forced into self-sufficiency. We're more likely to take time off to travel and figure ourselves out. We're more tolerant than our parents' generation, not only in terms of difference but in terms of not necessarily having to define ourselves by how far up the corporate ladder we've travelled. I'd like to think that men in our generation are starting to realize they can also benefit by being more involved in a household, in terms of a better relationship with their partners and a more rounded life for themselves.

Sometimes I see gender as an issue in a workplace, especially when I occasionally encounter surprise over the fact that I know anything about computers and that I'm interested in technical issues. I used to look around and the only other people in my office who knew how to really troubleshoot computer problems were male. But I do think we've progressed since my mother was in school. Many women have gained confidence and know they can do what they put their minds to.

Since I'm just starting out as a self-employed person, the work-life balance is something I've been trying to sort out. I enjoy the work I do so it doesn't always feel like work. If anything, my tendency is to overwork, especially since my office is in my home and I feel guilty if I quit for the day when there's still work left to do. There are also parts of being self-employed that I'm not good at. I'm kind of introverted so selling my work is difficult for me.

I don't want to lose touch with spending time on non-work things that don't earn me income but that are essential to my life, like writing fiction. I run a literary Web journal called Another Toronto Quarterly that I don't want to give up just because it doesn't make me any money. I think we're progressing to a work era in which many people will make their living doing work part-time and will be happier with that flexibility.