My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

The world of social media and publishing is a vastly expanding universe.  It is complex and beautiful.  This is just one of the planets.  I call it planet Twitter.  I have rendered an image here.  (not to scale)

Planet Twitter

I write ever day.  Of late, I have been focusing on my novels, which are an integral part of my evil plan for world domination.  Canada, I’m coming for you first.  Tonight I am taking off from the novels, to go on a rant, or more accurately, to try to encourage a friend on Twitter, to go after a job she would like.

Her name is (unimportant), but she is wonderful.  She is a talented writer, has a great sense of humor and is an avid user of Twitter.  I want her to accept the task of applying.  She doesn’t seem convinced.

 Tonight I was chatting with a friend from Canada on Gchat, while watching my twitter stream.  I learned that Canada doesn’t have Diet Mt. Dew, because of some sort of draconian anti caffeine law.  This is when I moved them to the top of my world domination list.  I need to right that horrible wrong.  While sipping a Diet Dew (should always be capitalized), I caught part of a conversation between two friends of mine on twitter.  The basic gist is that Ms. Writer is being encouraged to apply for a Senior Editor position, by Mr. Fuzzypants (The names have been fictionalized to protect the innocent and to make me laugh).  The conversation went something like this.

“You should apply, you’d be great”

“I have never held a junior position, how can I apply for a senior position?”

“You have all the qualification.”

“I don’t think I am good enough.”

“Poppycock” said Mr. Fuzzypants, suddenly developing a British accent.

Our heroine is exceptionally talented.  I read her blog and she is a fine writer.  What’s more, she gets Twitter.  That may sound like a small thing, but it isn’t.  The state of the publishing industry is in a sorry mess, partly because a bunch of old people, who don’t get the changes in how information is consumed, run these companies.  They wouldn’t know a hash tag if it #bittheminthebutt.  They wouldn’t get that joke either.  I love fake hash taggery.  I digress.  Things are changing quickly, Twitter is the go to source when disaster strikes.  If you don’t believe it, look at how it was used for both the New Zealand and Japan quakes.  Twitter mobilizes entire populations to change their countries.  Good-bye Mr. Mubarak, nice of you to stop in and oppress us, and don’t try stealing any of the flat wear on your way out the door.  He loves butter knives.

The point is this, it is important.  I would wager that some of the applicants will have twitter accounts, though they won’t see the point.  Few will have a solid following and comprehend its power and place in publishing.  So why not go for it?

I have gotten jobs, which I wasn’t qualified for, but then excelled, at them.  I have also started my own company and had it fail miserably, leaving the aforementioned job where I made 75K per year, to do so.  So I say apply and try your best.  You will either get the job or you won’t.  Either way, it will probably change your life for the better.

Had I not failed so miserably with my company, I wouldn’t have ended up in Iowa, taking up woodworking.  This led to my blog.  Now I have written 2.5 novels, and have a gentleman who wants to publish it.  What are my writing credentials?  Well let me see.  Before Jan 2, 2010, I hated writing, and got mostly C’s in any course which required it (when I say C’s…I mean C- and Ds.)  I didn’t learn the parts of a sentence until I got a minor in French.  I am still awful at French, but I know the difference between an verb and a noun.  None of this stopped me from trying something.  Now I love writing and have completely gotten over my white hot piercing hatred of Mrs. Thompson, for those stupid sentence diagramming exercises in 8^th grade.  My life is better.

So why not apply?

You might get the job.  It might change your life.  It might lead to bigger and better things.

 You might make tons of money and decide to build houses in Africa, though Habitat for Humanity, and help countless people.

You might have fun.

If you don’t get the job, you might learn that it wasn’t as painful as you though.  You might try for a better job.  You might become a world leader who fights the good fight against the Evil woodworking blogger who tried to take over the world.  If you don’t do it for you, then do it for the Canadians.

Ok, now back to my plotting.  (Takes drink of Diet Dew)