Archive for the ‘ Work ’ Category

Having It All

Author: Erika

Feb 1

One of Liz Lemon’s running in-jokes on the show 30 Rock is that she’s trying to have it all: Career, personal fulfillment, a family. That she rarely achieves even 2/3 of her goals is the source of much of the show’s humor, but it’s also an interesting examination of the plight of the post-feminist woman.

I’ve had plenty of time to think of this, especially during the first year of my time as a stay at home mother. I loved my job. When Aidan was small and the challenges of new motherhood seemed so much bigger than I was capable of handling, I wondered if I wasn’t a little crazy to give up my much-beloved career.

After all, what did it say about me that I was willing to trade in an engaging career for a never ending river of spit-up?

Don’t get me wrong, staying at home with Aidan has been and will always be the right move. It’s in line with my goals and priorities as a parent, it fulfills me in ways no career ever could, and I can see the benefits of it every time Aidan decides to behave himself.

The writing certainly helps. I have a stimulating hobby that manages to not only give me a creative outlet but also makes me feel like I’m still doing something tangibly worthwhile with my time. It helps. And it’s fun.

Now that I’m pregnant and have let my writing simmer on the back burner, that old post-feminist pestering is back. My ambitious nature goads me daily, telling me I should be working, not napping. That I’m willingly letting my dreams get hijacked by two little people who don’t even realize it.

Someone I follow on Twitter recently asked whether it was always necessary to choose between kids and goals, and why that was. I notice a lot of my peers struggling with this same frustration. They have goals, dreams, and ambitions and feel stymied by the limitations incumbent to a mother with young children.

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Filed under: Opinionated much?, Work, Writing | Tagged as: ,

Satisfying Anythings

Author: Erika

Nov 18

You know what’s fun?  Interviewing people.  The interview process is a whole different beast from this side of things.  I got dressed up fancy-nice today (by which I mean I wore a non-spit up-stained shirt) and sat in on three interviews, trying to find my replacement.

I had fun, because those three people had to like me.  I’m not terribly articulate, and often think of too many words at the same time and trip over them, but the three people we interviewed were not allowed to think I was a blundering weirdo.  Because I was doing the interviews.  Mwa ha ha ha!

We met some nice people, found a really awesome person who we think will totally bring it, and I’m counting the whole thing as a win.  My co-workers are taking us out to dinner on Friday night to say goodbye to me, and I have faith I’m leaving them in good hands.

As for my new career, however…Well, it’s entirely in my hands now.  I’m reading my new book, 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, and taking notes like crazy.  I kinda feel like I’m cramming for a degree in creative writing, but I’m learning a lot so that’s good.

Things like character arcs (I’ve never had one of those), 3 act structures (black moment ha-what?!), and literary agents (I need one).  I’m taking the whole getting published thing as seriously as I can, and that means researching and learning.  This can only help, so long as I don’t allow myself to get intimidated.

To be honest, the whole prospect of entering short story contests (a great way to get your name out there. Winning gives you credibility and makes publishers and agents more likely to look at you) or attending conferences is a bit daunting.  But, the best thing to do to get started is to take a step.  Then another, then another.

So that’s what I’ll be doing.  High-stepping my way to…Something.

In NaNoWriMo news, I’m up to 37,278 words.  My plot’s holding steady under the deluge, though I’ll definitely have to go back and fix some stuff at the beginning.  My hope is that I’ll finish it and then not hate it when I re-visit it in a few weeks.  Revision is hard enough, but it’s even harder when you absolutely hate everything you’ve written!

And with that, I leave you with an entirely unsatisfying ending.  Because I wrote over 2,500 words today and I’m fresh out of really satisfying anythings.

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Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Work

Fear No Beer

Author: Erika

Nov 12

Oh, the outpouring of support and encouragement that greeted my last post was euphoric!  I was expecting a lot of people to greet the news with scorn, but everyone’s just been so sweet!

Perhaps the sweetest person was Wes, who came home yesterday bearing chocolate, a how-to-get-paid-for-your-fiction book, and the news that he purchased a laptop for me!  I can finally realize my dream of being able to write while sitting in a coffee shop, and lo, it will be sweet.

I was afraid that by declaring my intention to pursue publication to the universe that I would psych myself into being too intimidated, but thankfully my novel is still scooting right along.  I stopped writing at 26,130 words this morning, which makes me a little over halfway done with my NaNoWriMo word count!

Truthfully, I see this novel going longer than 50K, and it’ll likely finish up at around 75K.  Which means I’m not halfway at all.  But I’m going to celebrate anyway.

While I write away, I’m also wrapping up my work for Bottle Your Brand.  Because the work I do for them requires such a specific skill set, I’ve volunteered to sift through the resumes of applicants in hopes of finding them some good candidates.

It’s been almost three years since I was a recruiter, but I’m pleased to say that those skills stick around for a good long while.  I continue to be appalled, however, by the laziness of some job applicants.

People who don’t update their resumes, who send form cover letters, whose job experience doesn’t even remotely match the job.  If I can offer any advice to job seekers, it’s this:

  • Personalize your cover letter to the job you’re applying for.  Start by explaining what about the job and company you’re excited about.  Hiring managers like to know that you think their company is cool.  Then go on to specify what exactly about your previous work experience qualifies you for the job you want.  Keep it short and awesome.
  • If you’re going to include an objective section in your resume, customize that section for the job you’re applying for.  No one cares that you’re looking to grow your skills with a thriving company.
  • Don’t get too familiar in the tone of your cover letter.  You’re not getting invited to a kegger, so why would you think a hiring manager would care about your favorite kind of beer?

I kid you not, someone actually wrote down their favorite kind of beer in their cover letter.  What is this world coming to?

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Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Opinionated much?, Work

I Am So Cool

Author: Erika

Aug 6

I say this, of course, knowing full well that I’m not actually cool.  I don’t know how to do my hair, my idea of dressing up is wearing my one pair of jeans and a shirt that hasn’t been crazily pulled out of shape by deceptively strong baby hands, and the last time I was culturally relevant was when I was a freshman in college watching the Friends finale surrounded by all the girls on my dorm floor.

Erika stagingBut!  I felt cool yesterday.  I felt cool because I spent the day hanging out in a Seattle loft, helping out at a photography shoot for my company.  We needed some new product shots, so we hired what may be the best commercial photographer in the whole state and booked half a day with him.

This loft was just so cool, you guys.  It was in this funky, ancient old Seattle building, and to get to the loft we had to ascend these tiny, weirdly tilted stairs and then walk down a hallway, the walls of which were adorned by all kinds of cool photos and artwork.  The work space itself, I guess you’d call it a studio, was large and full of cool props and light parachute-type-things.

Hank stagingMy co-worker (her name’s Cindy) and I hauled a whole truck’s worth of props up those weird stairs and set to work.  Five hours later, we were all exhausted but had some shots that make our products look so pretty they should be featured in magazines like Martha Stewart Living and, um, Oprah and stuff.

Of course, being at a photo shoot all day necessitated being away from my little Aidan, which was tough.  By the time I got home I was craving the smell of his little baby head and I also had so much milk backed up that I thought I was literally going to explode and douse my car with breastmilk.

Nevertheless.  I spent the day in a cool Seattle loft.  And no one puked on me.  And I saw what may have been a meth head standing at the corner of the freeway on-ramp.  How cool am I?  So cool.

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Filed under: Work

The Value of an Education, Part Deux

Author: Erika

Jun 25

I’m pleased as punch by the awesome discussion spurred by my last blog post!  I love tossing ideas out into the universe and then seeing what floats back.  After much discussion by a variety of people, I think a consensus has been reached and I thought I’d share it.

So far, whether or not a college education is valuable appears to be largely determined by how much debt you incur during the course of your studies.  One rule of thumb I found particularly helpful was the following:

If your annual income your first year out of school is not greater than or at the very least equal to the total amount of your student loans, your degree probably isn’t worth it.

So, if Aidan wants to go to university to study Russian literature, I’ll probably discourage the notion.  He can read all the Tolstoy and Dostoevsky he wants in his spare time without garnering thousands of dollars in debt for the privilege.

I heard from a lot of people who didn’t take on any debt while in college, and they all said they enjoyed college and found the experience very valuable.  Truthfully?  If I hadn’t had to work so much while in school and hadn’t graduated in so much debt, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more too.

The people I talked to who graduated in debt, however, were a lot less glowing in their reviews of the experience.  One person cracked me up with her suggestion that we stand on the side of a freeway offramp with a sign that read, “I graduated with a liberal arts degree.  Any bit helps!”

As for the idea that a college degree is the new high school degree, I’m starting to wonder if that’s an idea propagated by college admissions departments.  I’ve just met and talked to so many people who are successful and never finished college, the argument doesn’t seem to hold water.

It stands to reason that if you interview well, network your tail off, and do your job well, you stand as much of a chance of getting hired as anyone who graduated college.  How else can you explain a college drop-out who makes $80,000 a year doing Web design existing in the same city as the college graduate earning $35,000 a year doing data entry?

The gist of the conclusion I’ve drawn from this discussion is that if someone else is footing the bill for your college education, study whatever you want and enjoy yourself.  If you’re signing your life away in exchange for college credits, though, you’d better make sure you’re majoring in something that’ll pay well.  Or, just get really used to the idea of using half your monthly income every month to pay for your student loans.

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