Job Gone, Stress Gone, Gone, Gone...

So I was laid off yesterday. Kind of expected. I have been working as a recruiter for a growing company. For the past two weeks they've been laying people off, so I pretty much thought the need for this awesome recruiter was probably not there any more. When they let me go, very nicely explaining all the cut backs, I was like, "No problem, I was expecting this." The look of shock on the bosses face was priceless. Was he expecting tears? In the past few months every department was crying about money.  A few of the good people quit, others suddenly let go and in their place unqualified people were placed. Everyone was walking around saying how tense the place was getting. A few people confided in me how unhappy they were in their jobs. The clues were there, saw them accepted them. I worked for a company years ago that fell into bankruptcy so I knew the signs. (not that I know that this company is headed there...who knows what goes on in upper management?)

Surprisingly, I feel great. My coworkers were texting me like crazy yesterday as the news spread telling me how sorry they were about it. I spent the afternoon reassuring them I was fine. I hope they believed me. The stress of dealing with the tension of that office is gone. I'll miss my coworkers, there were a lot of great people there. Superstars that were slipping into the void the company was settling into. I hope they find another great place to work. That place was great for a while. I don't know what brought the moral down. Was it money? Or something else? Either way, I'm out of there!

Hello future! Let's go on an adventure! 

New Job Sucking My Writing Time

A new job, started last June, has stolen all my writing time. It's been consuming my mind and making it difficult to focus on anything else. Half learning as I go and half over thinking what has to be done next. It's more complicated than the last two jobs I've muddled through with this company, so it's always on my mind. One day I go in and think; Easy, I got this! The next I think: WTF am I doing?

Either way, my WIP sits in a heap on my desk. I look at it and have to turn away. My mind is just too full of everything I have to or want to do in the real life job. Now, I'm in September and that's four months of rocking between easy-peasey and WTF.  Okay, maybe there are more easy days now, but they bring -if it's so easy, I must be forgetting something!

I really need to start writing. I'm always calmer when working on a story. It turns on something inside me and soothes the soul.

This weekend I'm locking myself in and not coming out until my brain clears!

Wish me luck...

How to Edit Socially

I work in a place where I often see writing that needs a little help. Now, I'm no grammar expert but I think I have a basic handle on it. I've been at it for years and have been published here and there. Hopefully, that counts as something.

When I see mistakes, missing commas, repetitive writing, etc. the corrections sometimes just pop right out of my mouth. I went on a job interview once where the owner of the company was using a word wrong and he kept repeating it. Suddenly, in the  middle of the interview I blurted out, "You're using that word wrong." I couldn't help it. My mouth had a mind of its own and my poor little grammar lovin' heart couldn't take it any more.
Surprisingly, I got a call the next day with a job offer.
I turned it down.

Now back to work. My job is nothing spectacular. I answer phones, process mail, write stuff, and help everyone else in the building do everything. And I love it. There's always work to do, the people are happy, and the bosses are great. Everything my last job wasn't. Except for writing. My pet writing peeves take a hit almost every day.

Peeves;
1. Repetitive words. The home was devastated and needed repairs. The devastated condos were devastated. For God's sake get a Thesaurus...or hit shift F7.

2. Starting each sentence with the same word. When they fixed the home... When it was time for... When the family... Think outside the box. There are millions of words out there. Something else will work just as well as that one word.

3. Run on sentences. If you're sentence runs three or four lines and takes up three separate thoughts....Separate them!

4. And as the guilt washes over me from #3...pet peeve #4...No exclamation points in business writing. I once had a journalism prof tell me, "No exclamation points unless you're on fire." Good advice.

5. Almost as annoying as repetitive words is repetitive thoughts. Turning one sentence around and saying the same thing as the previous sentence. Same thought, different words. They worked day and night to get the job done. Everyday they worked long into the night and finished the job.

Enough of my peeves, what's yours? And what's the best way to bring it to the person's attention? Some don't like to be corrected. Then I vacillate between taking it to a manager or just forgetting about it. Not my circus, not my monkey.
But I like the company and want it to do well.
Dilemma.

The Missing Ingredient in Your Writing

I was just over at Blogging on the Side (whom I found on Pinterest) and realized something that made me feel stupid.
I love writing.
No, that's not what made me feel dumb.
I have several blogs, some more active, some neglected. A few that I have great ideas for but for some reason, never execute any. And then Blogging on the Side posts this one; How to hit 1,000,000 in a year of Blogging.  The biggest thing I learned from this article is discipline. Something my piano teacher once said, "We must learn to discipline our talents."  I believe this is especially true for writers.

Writers usually have a project they're working on. Whether its a book, articles for work, or other writing, actually getting the words on paper, cutting out that time slot, is the hardest part. I can write. So why don't I?

I can ask myself the same thing about dieting. It's not that I don't know how to lose weight, it's that I don't know why I don't do it. (Hic!) I almost said "I'm not stupid."  (see first paragraph;)~

Discipline. I wonder how many people decide to tattoo that somewhere? Its an often forgotten element to any work from home/self-employed career where we have to find the motivation within. The day job is easy; go to work, do what you need to do or get fired. Simple.
Writing? Not so simple. If I don't go to work I'm stagnant. I don't move forward, but I'm not going backwards.

So where's your discipline?

Alternate Universes in a Writing Career

Since the damn Sequester has but a sizable dent in my unemployment income (22.5% cut!)and the job hunt in New Jersey is like banging your head against the wall (one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation), I'm searching for other writing venues while I wait for my books to hit the best seller list.

8-)~

In my web wanderings I found this site; http://writingcareer.com/

One of the places I found here is; http://pseudopod.org/guidelines/ Which accepts the darker side of writing; horror, Poe-esq stuff and the weirder side of our brain train. (Charles? Would some of your stuff fit here?)

I mostly write spiritual, light stuff but every once in a while something dark and evil falls out of my head and I just have to get it down on paper. I think the way the human brain functions will always fascinate me. I wonder what drives people to do things or why a seemingly nice person would suddenly bat a complete stranger over the head with a shovel?
How can you not wonder about this stuff? The newspapers and evening news are full of these weird happenings. And sometimes stories form and just beg to jump onto the page.

I often wonder about a pen name. If I write about God, dogs and angels, should I put my vampire, bat-crazy-shit, and evil dark stuff under a different name so my readers are warned about the dark side of the brain?

Write on, my friends...I'll see you in the pages....

Cubes, Writers, and Work

I fear the cube. I did it for a while, sat in the cube processing papers and managing nonsense for others.

And it ate my soul.

I know we need day jobs. I know the day job supports the real joy of our souls but I think it also works to stop the flow of creativity.

I think the brains of writers and artists are wired differently. These brains need space. They need room to breathe creativity in and out like most need oxygen.

Cubicles suck the creativity out of the brain. Its like the cube is a crushing box pushing and shoving the brain into a cramped square where no words can escape. No art can flow. It's where the voices in your head stop talking.

I have an interview tomorrow. I fear the outcome but not for the reasons most would think. Does this make me crazy?

Writing Time and Motivation

Even when I have time to write I'm getting little done. I'm scattered. I need a kick in the pants to get going. Unemployment is a weird state to be in. Although I make sure I'm up and ready to face the world early every morning, I get very little done.

I think, after being a stay at home mom for a lot of years before taking a full time job, I viewed the house as my job. When the kids were in school I'd clean, cook, wash, scrub and make sure everything was running like a well oiled clock. Then the kids grew up and I got  a job and life went on. Now back at home full time I find myself falling back into the stay at home mom job. Instead of looking at writing opportunities I'm cleaning! WTF!

I must be insane.

I've begged the universe to give me writing time and here it's handed to me and I blew it. Sheesh!

And today I got an interview. An opportunity to return to the real world. Why am I so bummed at the prospect of going back to 9 to 5?  Did I miss something I should have done? Am I subconsciously sabotaging myself?

Maybe.

But hey, an interview is no guarantee of a job. Perhaps this is my kick in the pants?

Unemployed and Uninspired

Maybe its the holiday season but getting a pink slip two weeks before Christmas can be a bit of a downer. Now you worry about money and doing all those things you're used to doing. First file for unemployment. Get that out of the way so some cash comes in while we decide what to do.

Reality? We show up for work on Monday morning, 2 of the bosses are sitting in reception. Look over and see none of the computers have monitors on them. Ut oh!

"Yeah," says boss #1, "Ut oh. We're closing up shop."

Just like that.

Everyone in the office is unemployed 2 weeks before Christmas. Merry you too.

To tell the truth I wasn't surprised. The last two months it seemed people had too much free time. When I brought this subject up others in the office weren't worried. "Look what good moods the bosses are in!" they would say. Good moods indeed. They were in that office every single day laughing and joking. This leads me to believe they did know what was coming and were probably milking the biz for all they could get. Why else would a floundering business put the powers in such a good mood. Get it while it's hot, folks!

So now what? To write or not to write? Better to use this time to finish one of the great American Novels I have under my keyboard or should I jump back into the rat race, find another boring job and kill my soul?

I vacillate back and forth trying to come up with the answer. Universe? Send me a sign!

Cat Litter

I have a weird cat. She won't cover anything in her litter box. I have to take the little scooper-rake and cover things up so they don't smell. To make matters worse she won't use the box again if things aren't covered. It's like a punishment for not keeping up on my job. She'll pick a throw rug or towel or piece of clothing left on the floor to use instead. Once she even peed on the dog, but I think that was more of a vengeance thing.
What does cat litter have to do with writing?
Sometimes I'm meaning to get some writing done, but something in my environment isn't perfect and I put it off. I promise myself I'll write today but then I realize the room really needs vacumning so I'll do that first. Or maybe I'll just do a load of laundry or bathe the dog (because of the cat), or after Judge Judy (because the coming attractions looked like something I just can't miss!).
Whatever! It seems like there's something in the litter box that puts me out of the game.
This is my problem.
Now how do I overcome it?
I think when a woman has been a stay-at-home mom it's more difficult. For years while the kids were younger this whole house was my job. Kids grow up, I get an outside job and still everything in the house still seems like my job. It's like having two jobs.
It's hard to overcome or let go so I can get some writing/editing done.
>sigh<