You may have noticed a distinct lack of writing appearing on the Between Gigs blog as of late. There is a good reason for that. No, I haven’t been too sick to write, (although those that know me well can see where that might have been the case). No, my computer didn’t wash away in the tremendous amount of rain we have been experiencing in California in the past few weeks. I have been safe, dry, connected to the internet, and (relatively) healthy.
You might remember this blog post from not too long ago, where I mentioned that I’d sent off a resume and some writing samples to not one, but two different potential freelance writing jobs. Each of them, at that time, had sent me an email to acknowledge that they received what I sent, and that they would get back to me.
I joked that “someday” I’d hear from them, not really expecting to. Like everyone else who is unemployed right now, I have sent countless resumes and applications to a wide variety of potential jobs that I never hear from ever again. I’ll never know what happened to those jobs. There will never be a reason given as to why they decided not to hire me. It’s all in a maddening “limbo” of non-information.
Perhaps I’ve become jaded, but I’m at the point now where I completely believe that it’s best to assume I didn’t get the job, whatever the job may be, than to think I had a chance, only to become disappointed later, when I finally figure out that this employer never intended on calling me back. This is especially true for jobs that I actually want to do. How heartbreaking would it be if I let myself believe that “someday” one of the freelance writing jobs would get back to me, and I waited and waited and waited…. and they never did?
To my surprise and amazement, one of the two freelance writing jobs I had applied for did keep their word, and get back to me. I couldn’t believe it. I figured I must have been dreaming, but there, on my computer screen, was an email saying I’d been hired. I can now happily say that I am a freelance writer. For the moment, this is true.
Now, before you get overly excited, let me explain a bit about the job. It has an endpoint, which is coming up soon. I knew this when I applied for the job, so that is perfectly acceptable. I am writing non-fiction articles about a variety of topics they select for some projects they are working on. The pay is nicer than anything else I have earned as a writer. Keep in mind, this is my first gig. This is not a “Quit your day job and hire an agent” type job. One has to start somewhere, however, and this particular “somewhere” is a great place to be.
Most of my time lately has been spent happily writing little articles for this particular company to use in their projects. I’m enjoying it immensely. I’ve been “in the zone”, writing words, for a large part of this week, and continually amazed that I’ve been hired to be a writer. I’m extremely happy.
I am still learning how to juggle the rest of my obligations around the writing. This blog, for example, got pretty much ignored, and I intend to find a way to prevent that from happening. I’ve got a bunch of other little projects that I do every week that so far, I’ve managed to keep up with. Things are sliding into place.
There is one thing that I keep thinking about. Let’s pretend that I never lost my job as a paraeducator, and that I was working there all this time. The Between Gigs blog never would have existed. I wouldn’t have been looking for work, so I probably would have missed the want ads I found about employers seeking writers.
If, by random chance, I did happen to see the ad that got me the gig I am doing right now, there wouldn’t have been a way for me to take it. I would have been spending full time hours at school, and would have been too mentally exhausted after school to put in the kind of effort required for me do the writing they hired me for. It just wouldn’t have been possible to put in the time and effort I would need to write as well as I can when it’s my only focus. It would have taken longer, and, since this job has a predetermined endpoint, having a job as a paraeducator may very well have cost me the job as a writer. I’d much rather be a writer.
When I lost my job as a paraeducator, with no warning, and for no given reason, I couldn’t imagine why on earth that happened to me. One can argue that things don’t always happen for a reason, they just happen. Religious folks might say that God always has a reason, we just don’t always get to know what it is. Whatever the case may be, it feels to me like there was a reason why I needed to be unemployed right now after all. It’s “someday”.
Tags: work