I am currently (supposed to be) working on a large project at work. It's the kind of thing i keep wanting to put off, not because it's hard, but because it's drudgery. I have to email just under 200 companies for their listings in our directory. And that's just step one. Ick.

Also, I'm really annoyed with this guy (who in real life is probably not a bad guy). He's very suspicious of one of our writers, who wants just a little information on his company so that the writer can finish his article. He's asking us to send reprints of articles (which we normally ask that they pay for), and it's been a complicated process with his email not accepting attachment, and hopefully he'll get them through snail mail, and can we give background info on the author, and blah, blah, blah. I can only assume that he's been burned by reporters in the past, hence the paranoia, and maybe he's an older guy who's not quite comfortable with the whole computer thing (my dad's like that). But man, he is definitely making my life more difficult, when I've got other things I'm supposed to be doing.

2/3 of my goals from last week were completed.
I have no excuses really, except maybe exhaustion. Yeah, okay, so I'll go with that one. Actually, I was so tired on Sunday that I was almost feeling sick, so it's not a total fabrication.

My writing partner contacted me last week, and we're starting to launch into our dark comedy script again. I'm very excited about that. I have homework this week, namely I'm to write the script in short story format, then pass it along to him, and he will add and change.

Collaboration is a very interesting process. This back and forth routine, where a little of each person comes out. I find also that I'm learning a lot from him about the process of writing a screenplay. Normally I'm not so good at laying down the foundational prep work. I normally just launch into the script and get all annoyed when it starts to crumble. I definitely need to practice more of this outlining and general prep stuff, in my short stories and novels, as well as my scripts. Maybe that will help me actually finish things. I won't be coming up to that wall where I don't know where its going or what the characters are going to do next.


( Seven goals this week. )

I completed zero of the six goals that I set for myself last week. We were going to press last week over at Light Metal Age with a very strict deadline, and we were slightly behind on our editorial. By the time I got home after my crazed work days, the last thing I wanted to do was get on a computer, or do anything else other than read a fun book and veg in front of the tv. I also had to work Saturday, so that we could get the blueline today.

Final edits all seem to be made, and everything looks good. Even with having to pull so much more together at the last minute and running around like a crazy person to get it all done, this issue was still easier to put out than December's 666 issue (Vol. 66, No. 6). At least this time authors were helpful and quick to respond, making all our lives a lot easier.

But having slacked on my personal goals/to-do last week means that I have to jump to it this week.

( Seven goals/to-do this week )

It was an interesting and challenging day today.

I'm working with The Red Wheelbarrow, De Anza's student literary magazine, as the managing editor. Editors are allowed to submit to the magazine, and all submissions are anonymous, so that people won't be persuading by knowing the writer.

So I submitted some of my work: 1 script, 1 short short story, and 5 poems. Today I had to listen to the discussion of my poetry. And it was fucking hard.

( Read more... )

My first day as an intern went well. It was laid back and almost easy. I met some of the other interns, they both seemed like good peeps. We digitized some originals to get them reading to be type set, although the scanning process tends to mess everything up on the page. So we have to go back and do the corrections tomorrow. Once those are done we do two person proof reading. One person reads the original out loud while the other person goes over our copy to make sure that both copies math up. Then they get sent to an entirely different set of editors, and eventually typesetters. Don't know much about the rest of what happens.

This process has to be repeated with every poem, story, and essay in the anthology. So this is what I will be doing for a significant amount of time while I'm there. Though I'm sure that eventually I'll be doing some other things, such as helping to get permissions, preparing shipments, etc.

The only thing I'm not really feeling happy about right now is the parking situation. Parking sucks. I don't mind having to make the commute; it's the parking that kills me. So I'm considering taking Bart or CalTrans, or using a parking lot that's ten blocks away. I haven't really come to a decision about that one yet.

It's pretty exciting to be a part of all this though, even if the day to day tasks can be kind of tedious. I'm happy.

Not much is going on right now. I've been sending out submissions, getting some writing done, checking stuff off my to-do list. Took my car to the car wash, so it's shiny and clean (no more crumbs). All good things.

I'm also starting my internship at Aunt Lute Books tomorrow. A little nervous as i am about all new things. I can handle it, though. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say tomorrow about how it all went.

So, I've put it all together and sent my resume out to four publishing companies. With two of them I'm only looking at internship opportunities, but I'm all for that, if only because I need the experience to put on future resumes.

I was a little nervous about it before I sent them out, but now I'm feeling good. I think I wrote some pretty good cover letters. We'll just have to see what comes of it.

Well, I finally got my resume to where I want it to be. I was frustrated, because I didn't have any editing experience to list on my resume. But with some help, I've reworked the format to focus on the aspects of my past jobs that involve writing or editing.

Now that I can breathe again, I just need to focus on writing the perfect cover letter.

It's going well. I like my teacher and he seems to be pretty knowledgeable about things.

But the best part is that the copyediting assignments I'm taking home are getting easier. I still don't have it 100 percent down, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting it. Only a few weeks ago I walked out of one of the classes feeling like a complete idiot, and under the firm belief that I would never be able to make it as a copyeditor. Now I'm feeling pretty good about things. There's hope for me yet.

After leaving my editing class last night, I drove up to the parking-lot pay booth and handed the woman my ticket. After a moment she turned back to me and asked for $12.50. I fished for my wallet and began to pull out the money, only to discover that I had something close to $11.75 in cash on me. I sighed (I knew this might happen), but I handed her the money, every cent I had.

"Wait, wait," she said, "This doesn't work. This isn't enough."

"It's all the money I have."

"Well, I can't do anything about it."

When I left for Berkley I thought I had it all figured out. I would use my bank card at the gas station, using my last $40 on a full tank to be able to get there and back. I arrived an hour and a half early (in order to escape the hellish traffic that made me late last time). I had already figured out how much (I thought) I would be spending on parking, so I went ahead and bought myself a mocha, thinking I would have just enough later to pay for parking.

I considered explaining all this to her, that I literally had no money. I considered asking her for a break, especially since we were talking about less than a dollar. But something in her manner suggested that her position on this was immutable.

Instead, I hopped out, leaving the door open, the car running beside the booth, and the women holding what was the last of my money. I walked up to the car behind me and asked the woman inside if she had a dollar.

"She won't let you go?" she asked. I shook my head. The woman in the car rooted around inside her bag and finally held out four quarters.

I thanked her, walked back to my car, payed the lady in the booth, and drove away. Not five seconds out from the parking lot, I began to cry. I was so grateful to her for giving me that dollar. So little, but I needed it, and she had been kind enough to give it. Wherever she is, thank you, thank you.

x-posted to infinitethanks

I'm taking off for my first day of class through UC Berkely Extention called Editorial Workshop I: Introduction to Copyediting. They have a three course program at the end of which I get a certificate in Editing. I don't know how much it'll really help me, but it will definitely make me feel more confident in applying for the jobs and internships I want.