The Return!!!!!

So, it's been over a month since I've last posted anything, though really much longer since the last few postings were some creative stories. I actually have felt quite guilty about not writing anything recently, so I'm forcing myself to start writing again. I actually have a couple of books to review, so that should get done in the near future.

To sort of sum up how the last month has been, I haven't really done much of anything. I've of course been applying to jobs, but haven't really had any hits. Well...that's not completely true. I do have an interview tomorrow with Lexington Books in Lanham, MD. Played around on the web site for a bit, and it seems pretty cool. It's an academic humanities publisher meaning that most of the books they publisher are academia based in a variety of topics that are all pretty interesting to me. History, Politics, Literature, Psychology, etc, etc. Hopefully it'll go well. You who know me know that I'm very good in person, and I keep telling myself that just give me three interviews and I'll have a job. Well, this here's the third interview, so... One of the things I've given a lot of thought about is my interviews and my answers. I mean, “Tell us a little bit about yourself” is the most difficult and annoying question to answer, and, thinking back to my first interview, I think I gave a disaster of a response. I think I've got a really good idea in my head of a response now, I just get worried that in my attempts to give that answer, my mind will go off on another tangent and I'll leave out all the good bits I thought hard about.

I've taken a good amount of time sort of thinking a lot about this job search, and its frustrations. I just wish I knew why I can't get call backs. In a way, I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. I don't really have the job experience that goes along with my education level and the salary it commands, but said education level also makes me overqualified for the entry level positions that my experience level dictates I apply to. Sigh. I interviewed at a temp agency recently and asked my resume handler exactly a question about that sort of thing: How does my graduate degree translate to experience? She couldn't even give me a definitive answer which was annoying. Maybe I'm selling myself short by not demanding more money when they ask for salary requirements, but I feel that I need to undercut my position in order to not price myself out of these jobs. Of course, the job market is still weak so there aren't even a lot of jobs out there. Just have to keep plugging away. Still, Starbucks is becoming very appealing right now, even though they fired my sister...bastards.

Otherwise, I've felt very lethargic in the past month. I haven't gotten inspired to learn that many new guitar songs in the last month. A couple of Incubus songs, but not much else. I haven't done very much reading either. Once I finished the Fountainhead, I sort of took a break. Well, not completely, I then had to do my McSweeney's reading which I'd been putting off, but then once I did finish it (not a very good batch this time I must say though one was pretty creative), I sat on it for like 2 and a half weeks before sending in my recommendations. Not particularly responsible on my part. I haven't really done any creative writing either or gone back and worked on those stories. I haven't really been struck with a sudden awesome idea. I sat done one or twice and starting writing, but it just felt like crap and I stopped. Or rather, it felt very cliché. I think part of the point of those two stories were that they were meant to be a little different. Walter's Story certainly posed an interesting idea, and Runaway Fist was meant to sort of reflect my own interesting way of talking/saying ludicrous things to get a reaction. Walter's Story was also meant to reflect this from a narratorial perspective. I'm just having difficulty figuring out how to combine those things into a modern story that isn't pure dialogue. (PS. It's raining so hard right now that I can barely see out my window. I hope it stops. I'm supposed to go into DC tonight.) I've been looking at some of the stories and books I've been reading and examining how they do it when the author writes in a way similar to how I want to. I'd really like to take a creative writing class and see what they have to say, but that is one of those wants as opposed to needs, so I'm going to hold off on that. Either way, I hope to get back into it soon because I do enjoy it. Hopefully, once I get a job and I'm back in a situation where I need to use my brain again, I can break this lethargy. Until then, just trying to stay strong and positive.

Think that'll about do it for now. I'll write again soon.

Music listened to while writing this post: Andy Mckee