My Reverse Application

Anyone who has ever searched for a job will tell you it’s hard. They all have an opinion about it too. It’s all about who you know. Just keep at it. Quality over quantity.

I created this blog to talk about my journey into the publishing world. One thing I've steered far away from is the hardship of finding that place. Honestly, before now I wasn't sure how to phrase it so that I seemed continuously hopeful. But sometimes it feels like hope is, in fact, lost.

It’s the nature of the beast.

I am talking about this now because I have been going through a beasty phase recently. My most recent best hope for breaking in fell through. Discouragement about my future is kinda a given.

But I have an amazing supportive boyfriend who always tries to lift me up from my beasty times. And he sent me a link that gave me an idea (hence this entry).

The Link? The reverse application by Andrew Horner.

http://www.reversejobapplication.com/

On this site there is a detailed description of what this guy is looking for in an employer and an application for the company representative to fill it out. Genius!

Now, while I may be done talking about what I want to do and ready to get in there and do it. I am not ready to completely rely on Andrew’s strategy, which is to sit back and let employers come to him.

I have no idea if this worked for the man. For all I know, he is still sitting at home waiting for someone to fill it out - living with his mother because he has no money to pay rent. Moms are awesome.

Or he could be working for the company of his dreams, in the job he wants and making millions. Like I said; I have no idea. But the idea struck me as brilliant - I mean why shouldn't I also create a list of qualities that I am looking for in a company?

So, using Andrew’s site as a template and some of his descriptions as well:

ABOUT ME

I AM:

• Creative. I am a writer, it’s a given.
• A leader. Leadership comes in many styles. I am verse in nearly all of them.
• Willing to tackle tasks outside my comfort zone. This means I like learn new things. Some people call it a lifetime learner.
• A local and global thinker. I am detail oriented for sure, but I keep a constant eye on long terms goals.
• Willing to ask questions. Because so many do not, and I find you learn so much from asking.

I AM NOT:

• A robot. I am an individual with my own thoughts, opinions, and ideas. And I will let you know them.
• A mercenary. There are jobs I am not willing to do for money alone. I have to be happy with my daily life.
• Opposed to relocating. I will go where I need to for a great job. Just give me some warning please.

 ABOUT YOU

YOU MUST:

• Be passionate about your industry and your work. If you don’t love what you do every day, then why should you expect me to?
• Be flexible. Stand out in your industry, by changing with it. Be open to new ideas and try a few new things.
• Believe in ethics and helping the community. I like to help others, help me to help them.

YOU SHOULD:

• Have a sense of humor. It’s important to laugh with others.
• “Encourage me to make new friends. Networking opportunities will help me grow and ensure that my ideas stay fresh. “
• Take risks: consumer trends require companies to think outside the box and try things no one else has before.

So there you have it. The main qualities I am looking for in a company.

As I said before I am not willing to rely on this tactic in order to find a job. However, I’m also not opposed to employers contacting me if they happen to see this and feel the need to hire me immediately… my email is pretty easy to figure out LisaWicks01(at)gmail(dot)com.



Novel Nirvana

First off, I think you should know; Nirvana is my title for my book but it will not actually be the title for the book. I struggle with the titling of it now because 10 years has changed a lot and it’s no longer about a dream like state – and yet it is. IT’S COMPLEX.

Ok so… I said I was going to write my novel via my cell phone for a week and I did. In fact I started it the exact day that I wrote “Writing in the City” and on that day I wrote a total of TWO paragraphs. “Wow! That’s a lot Lisa.”

Hush inner sarcastic me.

Truth is – it was more than I had written in a long time. I stopped going to my NY SCBWI group because I wasn’t feeling the support from them. I have yet to find another one and I suspect that starting a group of my own, like I did in Florida, may just be the added investment I need. My excuse for not doing so yet is that my current job schedule varies weekly.

Anyway, this week proved to be inspiring…. Writing for me has a domino effect. If I start writing, I will continue writing. So two paragraphs turned into two pages and then two more pages and by the end of the week, I had a total of …

Did you add it up yet?

FOUR PAGES!

Some days during this week, I wrote more than others. On the weekend, the trains seemed to be faster and more jerky; so I wasn’t able to write as much. But in all; I very much think this is a very viable way to finish writing my book.

Now, the pages need to be edited. But as a rough draft, they are pretty good if I do say so myself. Next, I need to set aside a day to look it all over and fix it up.

Since this experiment has worked out so well, I’ve decided to keep doing it. “Sounds like a great idea Lisa!”

There’s really no need to be cheeky inner sarcastic me.  ^.^'

Writing in the City

My typical morning is getting ready for work then leaving an hour and a half before my shift starts to ensure I get there in time. You never know with the trains, especially on the weekends. Fifteen minutes of that hour and a half is occupied by walking to the train station. My train ride is then about 30 minutes into the city with a few minutes walking to my work. That is a lot of time wasted sleeping on the train or what have you. Time that, if I had a car would be spent driving.

I have actually gotten use to the motions of the train to be able to read. But books are heavy – especially 700 page hard backs that my mother lends to me. Audio books and e-readers cost disposable income I simply cannot spare right now, so...

Chair with a "No distractions" hood!

I’ve been working on my book for 10 years. Nearly every detail has been planned and the characters are as fleshed out as I can make them. I’m currently writing version 3.2 of the first book. Version 1 was written in high school and since then four other books have been planned. At this point, I simply need to write the damn thing. But I get tired after work and the prospect of writing something I’ve already written gets me down. Still, my dream and ultimate goal is to get it published. And if I locked myself up in a room with no distractions, I can guarantee it would be done quickly if I don’t get caught up in editing as I go; which usually happens. Anyway, needless to say – I don’t get the motivation to write often; except while traveling or right before I go somewhere.

Motivation can come at the most inconvenient times.

Because during these times of transient motivation – I have nothing to write with. Which is why I am and always will be a fan of the classic paper and pencil. You could carry those. The only major problem with them is that eventually you need them digitized. So once again – I end up writing what I’ve already written. Maybe I should be such a fan anymore.

And now that I'm not driving to and from work, there's a lapse in time that I would like to use for writing. My laptop is too big to deal with even though it’s relatively small. And an IPAD, which I suspect is the perfect size with the optimal storage power necessary to hold my entire book - so that I can simply continue to write from my last position - is expensive and simply not in the budget at this time. Which leaves the next smallest device that simply doesn't have the capacity as of yet to hold my growing document (that I know of). In addition, writing from the last sentence made can become confusing and I worry about continuity. However, it could just be my perception.

For example, I have no issue writing myself an email with notes for my next blog or even writing the whole thing while I ride the train (which is pretty much what I did here). But a book ...

I mean don't get me wrong the first draft of a blog post written on my cell is full of text speak and in need of major editing. But I'm ok with editing. But … books have dialogue and… other stuff.

However, I am reminded of lessons learned at the BEA.

http://www.figment.com/

I wrote about this before and I gotta say it made a big impression. Cell phone written books made by Japanese school girls posted to the web inciting followers, generating feedback, and eventually making it to print. I mean, why not me?

Figment.com is currently in its beta stage. When it’s up and running it will attempt to bring this Japanese phenomenon to America. I don’t think I’m ready to post anything on the web yet, it’s marketed towards teens anyway. But I see great potential for this site and for the motivational opportunities it will provide writers. I started in the SCBWI to have an audience who would analyze my work, keep me motivated with a deadline, and help to make it better. This site would serve this purpose as well.

However, writing on my cell phone? Dare I do it? I suppose trying it out wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean – it’s just like writing an email to myself right? I can do that. I just have to transfer it over to my larger document and edit out the text speak.

I feel like I sound old – being averse to writing with a blackberry - I have no issues texting with it all day long. If it gets my book done faster… and it’s not as if I’m ever without my phone.

I’ll try it out for a week and see how much actually gets done.

Printed Magazines

I want to start this out by saying; I’m not a magazine subscriber. I hate having them around the house. They just sit there. I keep them because I tell myself that I’ll get to the article I want to read eventually, but I never do. I end up throwing them out half a year later unread and then I feel dirty for wasting the paper like that. There can never be too many trees.

However, the one type of magazine I love to have around the house is interior design magazines. I have cut outs of everything I like and might someday own if I had a house. Now, that does mean that if there is a magazine in my living space then there may be some pictures missing here and there, maybe a page or two. But it’s literally the only type of magazine I will sit down with immediately to look at. My favorite is “Southern Living” (I mean who doesn’t love that one?). My future home collection is made from mostly that and catalogue cutouts.

There has been a lot of talk recently that many of the things we are used to, such as books and newspapers, are going out of print. Now, books going out of print – that’s just silly. I mean that won’t happen until YEARS from now. And even at that, I don’t think that they will ever really go away, I just think that the default will be digital. There’s a whole book about it by my technology management professor at Crummer that talks about this trend; it’s called “The Future of Less” by Allen Kupetz. A little ironic isn’t it. There’s a book about going digital. It makes me giggle.

Anyway, while out I perused a magazine that had a brief one page thing in the October issue of “Real Simple” about why magazines would not be going out of print anytime soon. The reason: “magazines do what the internet doesn't”.

What their saying is that magazines create brand loyalty by providing what the internet articles can't, and that is time. "Neither obsessed with immediacy nor trapped by the daily news cycle, magazines promote deeper connections. They create relationships."

The one page blurb also states that magazines are still the number one medium for driving sales. And I can believe that because hey – I started by telling you that I have cut out of things I want for my future not-yet existent house. So, in case you were worried about your favorite magazine going out of print or your collection of cutouts staying small. No worries.

Special note: I love fall!