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Shoes and ships and sealing wax...
Sep. 25th, 2007 11:23 am...or maybe just a bunch of miscellaneous junk thrown into one post, since I noticed I hadn't updated in quite a while.
Well, I got the job here in town (one last hurdle...I still have to get a physical this Thursday, but since I have basically no health issues that's not a big deal). This means more money, better benefits, and a five-minute commute. Life is good. Of course this was after being subjected to the following:
• A clerical test (which actually had a mistake in the grammar section...I pointed it out to them)
• A typing test
• A Microsoft Word test
• An Adobe InDesign test
• An interview with a panel of FIVE people
• An interview with a panel of THREE people
• A background check complete with fingerprinting
• A DMV check
Man, I get tired just looking at that. :-P This is the most comprehensive and lengthy hiring process I've ever gone through (and that includes when I was teaching!). I mean, I applied for this job at the end of MAY. But anyway, I start on October 8th, so at least the end is in sight (or maybe the beginning).
I went through a black pit of despair about my writing about ten days ago. Don't ask me why -- I think it was mainly hormonal. However, I snapped out of it (especially after I reminded myself of the shite I copy-edited over the summer. If that crap can get published, then I have a fighting chance). Then I got a bug up my butt and dug out one of my old manuscripts (literally, since it had gotten buried in the storage room in the garage. I still don't know where my other ancient manuscript went to) to see if it was salvageable. Well, it needs work, but I thought it was worth polishing. I've always had issues with "macro" edits -- you know, the kind where you pull the story apart, delete scenes, add new ones, introduce new themes, all that fun stuff. I just never thought I was capable of it. But lo and behold! That's what I'm doing with this one. I got a great book on editing this summer (The Artful Edit by Susan Bell; highly recommended!), and she stressed the importance of getting distance from your writing before you go back to do the editing. Well, I had plenty of distance with this novel, since I wrote it at least twelve years ago. It's really helping me to see where things are weak, what things need to be deleted altogether. I also had an epiphany on the world-building side that's helped me a lot as well. So, all in all, I think it's been a really valuable process. I'm not quite a third of the way through -- since I'm working on fics at the same time as the original stuff, it's not going as quickly as I'd like, but I've always preferred to have multiple projects going at once, since at least that way if I get stuck on one I can go to something else but still be writing.
Speaking of which, I'm waffling on Nano. If I hadn't gotten this job, I wouldn't be so ambivalent. I guess I'll just have to see how much of my mental energies this position is going to require. I remarked to Erik the other day that it wasn't the work itself that wore me out at my last job -- it was that horrendous commute. But that won't be an issue anymore, so maybe I'll still be able to get some writing done in the evenings. Still, I'm not sure Nano is where I should put my energies this year. I've already won twice in a row, and I know I can complete a novel -- hell, if you count my fics (and I do, since they have the word count), I've completed ten novels. Yikes. So maybe this year I should just concentrate on finishing the edit of this novel and going back and doing some work on Sympathy for the Devil when I'm done with that. But I love Nano -- I love the energy of it and its insanity and the feeling of community with all the other psychos who are doing it at the same time. Ack. Oh, well, I guess I don't have to decide right now. However, if I want to write the time-travel romance I'd been considering, I'm going to have to decide in the near future, because it's going to require a lot of research. Hmm. You know, sometimes I think it would be nice if I had a simple, uncomplicated hobby like needlepoint or something. :-P
Heh -- this entry had turned into a novel of its own. Guess I'd better stop here for now.
Oh, behind the cut is the cover art I made for the original novel I'm currently editing. I put my possible pseudonym on the cover, just to be different. Playing in Photoshop relaxes me when I'm feeling blocked on the writing. :-)
Well, I got the job here in town (one last hurdle...I still have to get a physical this Thursday, but since I have basically no health issues that's not a big deal). This means more money, better benefits, and a five-minute commute. Life is good. Of course this was after being subjected to the following:
• A clerical test (which actually had a mistake in the grammar section...I pointed it out to them)
• A typing test
• A Microsoft Word test
• An Adobe InDesign test
• An interview with a panel of FIVE people
• An interview with a panel of THREE people
• A background check complete with fingerprinting
• A DMV check
Man, I get tired just looking at that. :-P This is the most comprehensive and lengthy hiring process I've ever gone through (and that includes when I was teaching!). I mean, I applied for this job at the end of MAY. But anyway, I start on October 8th, so at least the end is in sight (or maybe the beginning).
I went through a black pit of despair about my writing about ten days ago. Don't ask me why -- I think it was mainly hormonal. However, I snapped out of it (especially after I reminded myself of the shite I copy-edited over the summer. If that crap can get published, then I have a fighting chance). Then I got a bug up my butt and dug out one of my old manuscripts (literally, since it had gotten buried in the storage room in the garage. I still don't know where my other ancient manuscript went to) to see if it was salvageable. Well, it needs work, but I thought it was worth polishing. I've always had issues with "macro" edits -- you know, the kind where you pull the story apart, delete scenes, add new ones, introduce new themes, all that fun stuff. I just never thought I was capable of it. But lo and behold! That's what I'm doing with this one. I got a great book on editing this summer (The Artful Edit by Susan Bell; highly recommended!), and she stressed the importance of getting distance from your writing before you go back to do the editing. Well, I had plenty of distance with this novel, since I wrote it at least twelve years ago. It's really helping me to see where things are weak, what things need to be deleted altogether. I also had an epiphany on the world-building side that's helped me a lot as well. So, all in all, I think it's been a really valuable process. I'm not quite a third of the way through -- since I'm working on fics at the same time as the original stuff, it's not going as quickly as I'd like, but I've always preferred to have multiple projects going at once, since at least that way if I get stuck on one I can go to something else but still be writing.
Speaking of which, I'm waffling on Nano. If I hadn't gotten this job, I wouldn't be so ambivalent. I guess I'll just have to see how much of my mental energies this position is going to require. I remarked to Erik the other day that it wasn't the work itself that wore me out at my last job -- it was that horrendous commute. But that won't be an issue anymore, so maybe I'll still be able to get some writing done in the evenings. Still, I'm not sure Nano is where I should put my energies this year. I've already won twice in a row, and I know I can complete a novel -- hell, if you count my fics (and I do, since they have the word count), I've completed ten novels. Yikes. So maybe this year I should just concentrate on finishing the edit of this novel and going back and doing some work on Sympathy for the Devil when I'm done with that. But I love Nano -- I love the energy of it and its insanity and the feeling of community with all the other psychos who are doing it at the same time. Ack. Oh, well, I guess I don't have to decide right now. However, if I want to write the time-travel romance I'd been considering, I'm going to have to decide in the near future, because it's going to require a lot of research. Hmm. You know, sometimes I think it would be nice if I had a simple, uncomplicated hobby like needlepoint or something. :-P
Heh -- this entry had turned into a novel of its own. Guess I'd better stop here for now.
Oh, behind the cut is the cover art I made for the original novel I'm currently editing. I put my possible pseudonym on the cover, just to be different. Playing in Photoshop relaxes me when I'm feeling blocked on the writing. :-)
