Author Update #26
I don’t want to sound like a broken record by, once again, saying that there’s been a lot going on. So, I will instead say that last week was one of the most momentous of the past year! I’ll say, it ends with me being a semi-pro writer, so read on.
On Monday (July 22), I taught my “Starting Your Memoir” workshop again, this time at Garden Grove. The experience was atypical in that the attendees were not as committed to the goals as usual. But, in the end, it was good to be back at it. I have not yet received any additional requests for the program, so I think that I will just leave that one for fate to decide. However, on my way home, I got a job!
On Tuesday (July 23), my BFF came to town for a whirlwind trip which was very refreshing.
On Wednesday, I got a job! Wait, what? Yes, I got two jobs in a week after applying for every job I felt qualified to do for over a year. The chaotic thing was that I had to begin training for the second job immediately — while trying to spend time with my BFF. Also, I’m running a bit behind on schoolwork. But I got really great feedback from my mentor.
After that, things sort of calmed down. So, taking a step back, I got the first job at a Claremont Colleges campus bookstore. It was surreal finally getting offered a job after trying so hard to get one for so long. The plan is to start on Aug. 15th at the bookstore and have hours that I don’t know for what is termed a “seasonal” position. I was completely happy having a job I didn’t have to commute for in a bookstore. Then the second job happened.
The second is an ACTUAL writing job — for one of the best comic/nerd culture websites on the internet. I was overjoyed at being offered the position, because A) I love talking about comics and comic-related movies and TV B) Holy crap! I got an actual writing job! The one downside for me is it has far less overall earning potential than the bookstore job since it is at industry-standard payments per article. I sort of thought “Heck, I’ll just do both jobs!” But I’m quickly realizing that is not possible. Each (roughly 1200-word blog post I do here takes at least an hour for author updates and simple opinion pieces. More complex and researched topics can take over three hours; I typically do them over the course of two days. The work I’ll be doing at this job is 1600 words and highly researched, so I don’t know if I can do both.
In the end, the writing job is more important for my goals even if the bookstore job could help cut my debt. Not sure what will happen, but I’ll be starting a new section of my blog called “Weekly Publications” with the date range, once I’ve started getting articles published. If you’re into nerd culture and like my writing, keep an eye out for that. I will try to keep writing here, as well. My narrative research project will be underway soon, and I will post some of that work, but it will be for members only and posted only for a short time due to the sensitive nature of the work. But, I’ll remind readers that membership is only $4 a month, so I’d say why not get it? Not just for me, but for the many amazing writers on Medium as well. It is well worth the cost of a single drip coffee at Starbucks or Coffee Bean every month.
