First Day at Work!

The first half of my day was spent in training,mostly we went through a script I am to read when I do calls.  As we discussed it, we also got a little bit into the theory behind cold calling and how it works.  I would be starting out with a script, but eventually I will become so comfortable I will be able to put a lot of my own spin on things.

The thing that struck me the most about this place is how nice everyone is.  Of course, they all like that show, "Coven", which I could barely stand the first half hour, so that is something funny, there will be a lot of laughs with this group, I expect.

And Yet More Good News!!!

Went down to the DMV today and passed the written test!!!  It took three tries, but I got it.

Then I went to the library and looked up books about cold calling and sales.  I sat there for awhile, thinking about what it will be like to start work tomorrow. 

Something occurred to me while I was sitting there.  My new job is as an appointment setter.  What do things like cold calling, sales, advertising, and marketing all have in common?  And what skill do they most use, while at the same time honing that same skill?

Writing, that's what!  There are so many different directions I can go with this.  Using words to persuade and capture hearts and minds.  As I sat there today, my head was swimming with possibilities.

Also, forgot to mention that this is a company that serves the LGBT community.  Is that cool, or what?  This job is gonna rule! 

Jupiter is certainly giving me lots of Xmas gifts this year!  How's that for Law of Attraction?

A Good News Day...

Today was a very good day.  I got a brand new job today.  The one I had didn’t suck, it was just becoming obvious to me that it was the wrong job for me, it didn’t fit.  I’m very grateful I was able to get it, but there are certain times when one needs to move on.

And today I saw the ad in Craigslist, a shiny, new ad that had just been posted, and said to myself, “Why not?  The worst that can happen is I don’t get it, but if I want to advance my career, I’ve got to do something now, and why not this?  It could just as easily be me as anyone else.”

I think what helped me was the fact that I *did* strike while the iron was hot, thereby securing the fact that I’d be one of the first they interviewed.  I’ve heard that’s one of the best job hunting tips:  always try to be the first one they talk to.

And this job is so great:  it’s entry level, yet it’s doing something very important.  I can learn a skill that I’ll have--this is a sales type of job, I’ve never done this type of thing before, but I feel like I’m up for the challenge.  Even if this eventually doesn’t work out, it is *still* an excellent experience to have.

I feel very “new chapter in my life” right now.  There are so many positive things about this job, and how it will help me in all kinds of areas of my life, and the other good things that are going on...There is something very “fresh and un-stale” about my life right now.

I don't have a shorthand.

Ernie Souchak, the columnist played by John Belushi in Continental Divide, invented his own.  There's something very cool about that to me.  Something that said he was a real writer.

I have no idea why, but that movie didn't have the critical acclaim that his earlier movies did.  I happen to like that movie a lot.

It's the story of a Chicago journalist who goes up against the Mob and corrupt politicians, has to go into hiding where he falls in love with Blair Brown, who I believe was cast due to her similarity to a young Katherine Hepburn.  There is romantic tension, and Belushi has to get back to Chicago, where he once again takes on corruption.

I like that he's a guy who is on the ropes, and rallies his way back.  And that he was a writer doing this.

It seems like during the eighties there were a whole lot of movies that revolved around writers and their problems.  Probably because they were being written by screenwriters.  The kind of screenwriters, it seems to me, that would be the type of guys who would have lunch with Robert Evans and those type of guys.

I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to have lunch with Robert Evans, but I sure wouldn't mind being a real writer, like Ernie Souchak.

The Decemberists Writing Challenge

So, I saw Mur Lafferty's podcast about the end of NaNoWriMo:  http://murverse.com/nanowrimo-podcast-day-30-the-end/

She didn't make the required number of words, but she (rightfully) didn't feel like a giant loser, either.  This got me thinking how I had blown off the 100 Day Writer Challenge on Twitter, and maybe I could STILL do some thing writerly for the end of the year, that I didn't have to spend the remaining days of 2013 in writing challenge Palookaville.

In a "pouring it on in the last moments" kind of way, I've devised my own kind of writing challenge, one for "wannabe" writers like me, who look at the people doing NaNoWriMo, and think, "Man, I wish I could do that!  Wish I had the time/skill/discipline/whatever that it takes."

I am one of those "scramble at the last moments" kind of people-- something always seems to get in the way.  But in the spirit of not feeling like a loser about it, this time, here is the challenge:  if, like me, you're a wannabe NaNoWriMo-er, but you feel it's too intimidating, how could you write that many words in a month, excuse dejour, etc, you can write in the last month of the year. 

And you get to set your own goal.  It could be so many words a day, it could be so many pages by the the end of the month--you are the one who knows how much time you have and how much writing you have in you.  But your comitment will be to writing something, it doesn't matter how little, every day of the month of December.

And I knew that The Decemberists have a song with lyrics that go, "I am a writer, writer of fictions/ I am the heart that you call home/And I've written pages upon pages/Trying to rid you from my bones."  So it seemed appropriate to name this The Decemberists Writing Challenge.  Hope they don't mind that I used their name.  Here's a video of the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4FErEVRlIU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Anybody wanna join me?  This is designed to be a no-pressure kinda thing.