Life can change so quickly, especially in the course of the course of a few days.
(This is my way of saying hey: I got a new contract!)
Lately, I’ve started to just kind of…let go of my fears of applying to wherever.
In fact, I’ve really started encouraging myself to just out-right ask, “Are you hiring or accepting applications?” In another time, I’d have waited to see calls for applications, or maybe, would have asked around to get some insider information from friends and acquaintances in the field. I might have even been a bit more “patient” and waited to see if other things came in first.
But this is 2020, and that means being incredibly direct during a rather dire time. There’s no room for politely dancing around my needs: I’ve had to really learn how to get directly to the point, for the benefit of all parties involved.
So last week, I decided to just cold contact a publisher on Twitter and ask, “Are you open to reviewers OR accepting applications for editors?” Thankfully, the answer was yes, which prompted me to let them know to expect an email from me within a matter of hours. Soon after that, I got my stuff together, tweaked my introduction, attached my resume, and promptly hit send, expecting the response to take time.
Lo and behold, I got a response, and after completing an editor test a day later… I joined the team, landed a contract, and got assigned my first project.
(Also, I was called a “great fit”, which is just the bee’s knees.)
Naturally, I’m under an NDA so I can’t say much else: what I can say is that I’m working on a full-length novel, which is…pretty exciting. Unexpected, but pretty exciting. After all, so far, I’ve largely worked with articles and contributors: now, I’ll be editing products that will be commercially avaliable. I’ve even got a style guide and everything, which makes me feel extra professional.
I’ll also be doing copyediting, which I haven’t done a lot of yet, but am eager to try my hand at.
This year still isn’t what I envisioned, COVID-19 or not. It’s been full of an uncountable number of proverbial dips, ditches, and potholes that have threated to take away every bit of enthusiasm I’ve got. As a creative, that’s been hard: enthusiasm is my bread and butter. Without, articles don’t get created and work doesn’t get done.
Yet, somehow, I’m still doing and creating, even in a year bereft of almost all creativity. It’s not my usual amount of enthusiasm, but at this point in 2020, I’ll take what I can get. I’m starting to think that having a big project like this might actually boost my enthusiasm, which might lead to those articles getting written.
I’m certainly feeling optomistic about my chances.
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Backlit Pixels 