The Job Hunt Sucks... and now I have a killer headache

So, today I had an interview and 15 minutes after I left their office, the lady I met with sent me an email stating that they didn't choose me. Personally, I don't think that's very classy--they could have waited until the next day or maybe an hour afterward. Plus it took me 2.5 hours to drive home (when getting there only took 45 minutes--thanks rush hour). I'm not really disappointed that I didn't get this, but I am starting to feel hopeless about my ability to find a "career" job. I know that the economy sucks now, but I don't want to hear that anymore because it's not helpful (especially hearing it from people who already have work).

Friday my sister and I fly out to Nebraska to see family. I'm dreading it because my dad's a "fixer" and will constantly question me about my job finding skills, and will then suggest I print off 100 resumes and ship them off to companies, which is how you did it in the old days, I guess. I'm really not looking forward to that. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't happen. I'm not holding my breath though.

Anyway, the cartoon below represents my experience so far:

Big Plans for 2011

Now that I'm done with my MFA I need to keep myself motivated in regard to writing, submitting to journals, and editing old things. I feel like I want to set some goals for this up coming year, but I worry that I'll be disappointed if I put too much expectation behind things. Regardless, I want to list out a few things to hopefully keep myself honest in the upcoming months.

1. Edit/Revise novel and send it out to 1-2 readers.
2. Send query letters to agents/publishers.
3. Work on short story manuscript.
4. Submit to at least two contests.
5. Submit short stories to journals.
6. Finish the first draft on a new project.
7. Start revision/rewrite of old novel series.

There, seven feels like a nice round number to start with. My goal for the last 2.5 weeks of 2010 is to finish the first draft of the teen novel I'm working on. I'm about five chapters from the end, so I do see this happening. I'm excited to go back and revise/edit. I should give myself a little distance from it before doing this, but I'm not going to. Distance will come between later drafts I'm sure.

In other news, the first real snow of my first Maryland winter is now falling. It's so peaceful. In the words of Annie: "I think I'm gonna like it here."

It's Over Now: Hello MFA

It's official... I've earned my MFA degree.

My thesis has been turned in and after an amazing week visiting friends in New Hampshire (and doing my first public reading, which went very well even if I didn't engage much with the audience while reading) I'm back at home in Maryland. Now the job search starts all over again and hopefully I'll be able to finish my novel and start edits on it. I still cringe at the amount of debt I went into for this program, but it is what it is. Too bad the loan people are already riding my back asking for money. [Photo credit]

Anyway, the entire graduation experience was amazing. It feels so weird that now I'm completely done. 100% done. It's a little scary in a way because I feel like I should know what's next. I don't think I'm going for a PhD, but who knows. Maybe I should just focus in publication. Oh well. When my diploma comes I'll snap a shot and post it. :)

I started this blog to jot down my thoughts about the MFA process, classes, projects, etc. So now it might take a new twist and turn and become something else? A blog about the battle of publishing perhaps? Or possibly just a bunch of random entries about my life. I guess we'll see about that too.

By Thursday, I'll be Done

I'm printing out my final thesis as I type this. Then I'm on my way up to New Hampshire to defend it (Monday) and then have my public reading (Wednesday). I can't believe I'm almost done with all of this. It seems so crazy, like I just started and that I haven't really learned anything. I'm horrified to see any typos in this thing, but if they're there, they're there for good. :) Next time I post, I'll officially have my MFA degree.