Fire

I wanted to keep the fire burning, but ohhhh, no. You lot just had to keep job hunting. Well now we're doomed.

Yeah, so, it's that time again. Time for yours truly to knuckle under, ignore the massive amount of other things he has to do, and start looking for another internship. The agency I'm a reader for is great, but part time. I'm a man. I have needs. I can't be satisfied with any less than two internships.

Because a writing group, a part time internship, graduate studies and writing a novel is apparently just not enough. It's official. I'm a masochist.

This is proven by the fact that I want to work in publishing. To some extent, applying for a job is applying for the job. Trolling career sites and trying to get through to specific people, or getting a call back. Arriving at an interview only to find that the whole thing is pro forma and they're not interested in you because they've already made their choice but corporate procedures dictate a minimum number of applicants be interviewed. The whole thing's a nightmare.

Publishing is just particularly bad. Not that publishers or those who work there are nasty or anything. In fact, it's probably the other way around. But it's a tight industry. Not a lot of open room, and less thanks to a recession and the fact that the digital revolution is finally, finally getting through to their business models. I love the industry, but if I told you I didn't think it was a bit reactionary, I'd be lying.

Anyway, we're looking at an inudstry where a major publisher might have 500 applicants to fill ten spaces in a three month unpaid internship program- and half of them have years of professional experience and/or their master's degree under their belt already. It's not easy for a 25 year old guy still finishing his MS to distinguish himself. Plus, many publishers are overwhelmingly female, which doesn't help my chances. And there's all the positions that have gone free lance. Fortunately (?) for me, I have no artistic talent and no desire to play copy editor, but for others in the industry, it can make finding a place to be difficult.

If any of you, my loyal readers, want to break into the business yourselves, remember the low salaries, the difficulty finding a job, the high turnover rate, and decide whether doing really interesting work is worth the sacrafice or if you should've listened to your mother and gotten that CPA certification.