Ditto patiodog's thoughts.
How are you doing, dupre?
Thanks for asking. I'm a bit nervous. I prepared a good cover letter and resume and have narrowed down the search to four publishers, two of whom represent a large collection of houses. All are publishing in genres I've have worked with before. One even distributes for the house from which I'm currently getting projects. I'm sending the cover letters and resumes out tomorrow.
I may not hear from them for many weeks, so I have to wait. And then, even if they do respond and I get projects from them, it can take up to 75 days to get paid. I can squeak through till Oct. 15 without an outside source of income.
With my current publisher there's always a lag time in between projects. I tried to get her to send me two, so that when I'm sending one back, I'll have another to work on--no down time. Maybe she just didn't have two ready to go, but she did send me one, so I've got work for now.
Thanks for asking. I'm tempted to get some sort of temporary, flexible job to fill in the down time, but I will wait three weeks before I do. Maybe I will get a quick response and be on my way to some real income.
There are also a few local houses here in Austin. One is publishing academic material and I know they do use freelance proofreaders. My office is within a mile of the place. Nonfiction would be a stretch of my skills, but not an impossible one, since as a proofreader I just compare proofs to the manuscript. The copyeditor does the real work, so I might just be up for it.
Sometimes, where I work now, the copyeditors don't do a good job, so my skills fill in a much-needed gap. That might not be necessary for this local publisher, so I may have a good chance there.
Sorry my response is so detailed.
I feel vulnerable, but there are always part-time jobs available in Austin. I can get through this. The last job was full-time and it was just too much too handle, especially with the long commute.
Thanks for letting me air out my concerns. A possible part-time job in my future is really the bottom-line worst of it. I should quit trembling and whining. Whew!
dupre, i'm so glad to see that you've been looking at your options and trying to be smart about things. It's awfully difficult when you're not sure what will happen next.
Take care, c'mon back and rant and rave and (i know you love it when i say this :wink: ) - take care of yourself! i mean it in the best possible way.
Good luck from me, too, dupre.....fingers are crossed!
Thanks. It's nice to know that someone cares. It means a lot to me.
dupre wrote:I should quit trembling and whining. Whew!
Trembling and whining is the reason I posted this thread in the first place. If we can't help directly, at least we can listen.
dupre, we've got some enormous ears, and shoulders here. I mean this in so many ways.
Oh God I love the picture! I keep telling my son to just give me a big plastic ear for Christmas. This picture will do!
Thanks for letting me whine. I always hoped there would be an appropriate place for such behavior!
You got it, dupre! This is the place!
siddown, have a cuppa tea, or an iced tea and rant. or talk.
sounds like you need to get outta dodge, Rae.
Thanks, ehBeth.
Three days after I started this job, I was looking for another one.
My next step, and last resort, will be the temp agencies.
I simply cannot do this anymore.
Hoping those rude words aren't directed at me!
I'm going to sleep now.....another fun-filled day at The Money Pit awaits me.
Thanks for the good thoughts.
Ohmigod! Anxiety attacks at work? You poor darling.
I'm so sorry you are going through this.
I do hope you get another position soon.
There's no reason to go through that kind of abuse at work.
Rae--You deserve so much better. I'm glad you recognise that. Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. (That is if I may be so bold as to speak for the others here.)
If ever there was a place to ramble and rant, Rae, this is it! I'll be thinking about you tomorrow - I hope a temp agency grabs you right up! (Hope the doctor visit goes well, too.) Let us know what happens!
Rae, those rude words were most definitely not directed at you. They were directed at the horrid
, horrid
people you have to deal with. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The Traveling Girl Gangsters are available for some roughing-up and ankle-biting... (The sozlet confirmed that she's an ankle-biter.)
