Good Day, Yesterday? Yes, I Think So

So what if I didn't get a full draft of my tech comm proposal put together or actually do the reading for tech comm?

I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.

I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.

I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.

I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.

I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.

Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."

Secret Quotes--From Cheryl Klein

I infrequently follow the blog of children's book editor Cheryl Klein. This morning I stopped by for a peak at recent posts and found myself reading quotes about secrets that Cheryl had collected.

Here are a few of my favorites:

"Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company." — Rachel Naomi Remen

"I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are yours. Our secrets are human secrets, and our trusting each other enough to share them with each other has much to do with the secret of what it means to be human." — Frederick Buehner

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell therein." — Zora Neale Hurston

If you'd like to read more, check out Brooklyn Arden, the blog of Cheryl Klein.

So You Want to Be an Editor? (Maybe)

I always knew it would be hard. When I looked into it during my undergraduate career, I was sure there was no way I could get in. All the internships seemed to require previous internships, and some of them were just not affordable. I wasn't sure publishing institutes worked. Everywhere I looked everyone said being overeducated was a hindrance to getting in, so I didn't go to a publishing institute. Big mistake--though I'm still not sure I want to go into publishing, so a potential big mistake. We'll see. Anywho...

When I met Cheryl Klein this past November, she finally gave me all the information I had wanted:

Step 1. Develop an internet presence. Blog, tweet, comment on other blogs, comment on publishers' web sites. Learning this while in grad school is bad timing. I don't have time for all of this right now, but I'm gonna try. Once this semester starts, I'm committing myself to one blog a week. I'll probably talk about cooking almost as much as I talk about books.

Step 2. Read, read, read. Read the books you like, read reviews, read publisher's weekly. I already read nearly non-stop, and it's often not the stuff I'd be interested in editing. I'm in grad school. There are requirements, but I'll make it work. I'd heard some of this before, but Cheryl made the process seem so much less random, and much more productive.

Step 3. Learn the ropes. If you're still an undergrad, try to get an internship. A lot of large publishing companies offer unpaid internships, which can be invaluable, but you often need to receive college credit to qualify. If you're not an undergrad, take some courses in publishing. Cheryl Klein recommended the summer publishing institutes at Columbia and the University of Denver. I had looked at DU before, but I'm looking again with the assurance that it is worth it, but I'd really like to get a little closer to the action and go to Columbia.

Step 4. Get connected.  Attending a publishing institute is a good way to network, but if it doesn't pan out, get a job in NYC doing whatever so that you can do informational interviews. Cheryl suggested that a lot of people do informational interviews to leave an impression with hiring editors, to gain knowledge about publishers, and to get their resumes put on file.

This is the general plan that Cheryl gave out (with some edits by me), so this is my plan (if I decide I don't like tech writing, but I might love tech writing). It's weird writing this blog to no one, but I'm gonna do it, and perhaps it will stop being to no one. My roommate and I are going to split a subscription to publisher's weekly. I've started reading Cheryl Klein's blog, and I'm hoping to expand my awareness of editors' blogs over time. Does Harriet McDougal keep one?