Friday, February 22, 2013

Working artist... Artist working...


Back in the job hunt world, I thought I’d talk about something I’ve been noticing the past few months.

Mind you, in the past few months I’ve held a couple of different positions and have been on multiple interviews and have had even more conversations via email and I’ve found something so consistently not adding up that it’s starting to piss me off. Basically, it turns out that as much as people were dubious about a writer who wanted to work full time they are even more dubious, scared even, of a writer who just wants to work part time.

Here’s the thing. In two jobs I’ve recently held, I’ve been asked, “Are you going to be able to put in the hours we need you to work?” Sure, I say. That’s why I want to work part time, so it’s easy to fit in my writing schedule. I even had someone tell me they were afraid I’d get too involved in my writing to be able to work, and my reply was along the lines of, “Are you kidding? This is part time.” Both of these jobs ended, by the way, when the employer pulled out – because they didn’t have the hours in one case and because they wanted to pay someone less in another. But in that second case, they tried to use the whole, “We want someone who won’t be busy with other things,” line. Other things? It was four measly hours a day!

In job interviews, I’m asked if I can fit the job in my life. In phone interviews, I’m told they want someone who can focus. Who do they think they’re talking to? A Chihuahua? I have an attention span. Honest. Care to test it?

You see, the downside of this whole writing thing is that everybody has their own preconceptions about what that is. I could work full time and not devote myself to my writing but Vicky and I decided to give it a shot and I am incredibly indebted/impressed/blown-away by the fact that she has backed me up, even with everything that has meant. (It means I bring in shit for money, that’s what it means.)

So, when I was working full-time, I couldn’t mention my writing or my employer would act like I wasn’t loyal to the company, despite my job performance. Now, working part time, employers can’t believe a person can do more than one thing in a day. They imagine I can’t schedule my hours.

I guess one rule has not changed. People have this idea that being an artist means being unreliable… and that’s bullshit.

Sorry. Just had to vent. I’m still going to be out here, looking for work in a world that seems to think that’s not possible. If my book sales pick up, maybe I can stop worry about this… but, that hasn’t happened yet.

I’ll keep going.

Friday, February 15, 2013

So Dream Something, featuring Kat Brooks...

You can find the new episode of So Dream Something at this location:
http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-4

This week's episode features Kat Brooks of Indies Unlimited and we talk about writing and photography as well as...

Droopy the Dog, IndiesUnlimited.com, Lust for Danger, Jada Book of the Year, Cambridge Books, Agent Night, Mr. Pish, Washington State, eHow, Glass Houses, bobcats, cougars, Jim Brandenburg, artistic families, ADHD, photography, AOL Weird News, Yves Saint Laurent, Beware the Black Car, Maryland, home improvement, Big Sky, Scarlett O'Hara, support networks, J.D. Mader, David Antrobus, LinkedIn, self-publishing, Facebook, Stephen Hise, CreateSpace, Bird Watching, lightning, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Night Undone, Writing "Faction", Lynne Cantwell, Throwing Shit Against The Wall, Hugh Howey, Newton Love, Parasols, Pina Coladas, Calcutta, Living Life On Your Own Terms, Cynthia Underwood, and Climbing Maya!
I hope you enjoy it!

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Beware the videogame boogeyman...

Why are we more concerned about video game "violence" than actual bullet holes in kid's bodies? Hell, we might as well ask about the boogeyman while we're at it!

And you can start here: http://greenheritagenews.com/beware-the-videogame-boogeyman/

Dreams and back seats...

With Vicky in the hospital last month, I found myself having to shift my priorities a bit. I am used to focusing on my dreams, which I mostly have Vicky to thank for, but now I realized that it was important to reprioritize. And I was fine with that because it turns out that Vicky is more important.

And so, when I wrote for Recorvering The Self this month, I decided to write about just that.

You can read it here: http://www.recoveringself.com/fulfilling-your-dreams/when-dreams-take-a-back-seat.

I hope you enjoy it.

Friday, February 01, 2013

So Dream Something, episode 3 featuring Douglas Lain...

My guest on the new episode of So Dream Something is author, philosopher, and surrealist Douglas Lain.


You can find the new episode on the web at:
http://sodreamsomething.libsyn.com/so-dream-something-episode-3

Or listen to it here:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/sodreamsomething/So_Dream_Something_episode_3.mp3


We covered a lot of territory in this episode, including...
Diet Soap, Climbing Maya, surrealism, Billy Moon, Tor Books, Christopher Robin Milne, Last Week’s Apocalypse, Fall Into Time, Wave of Mutilation, Pick Your Battle, Henri Lefebvre, Production of Space, Theodor Adorno, Ideological State Apparatus, Plato's cave, Capitalism, Star Trek, hole full of pudding, Bemis Art Museum, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, space travel, Van Gogh, Kafka, praise-worthy, Portland, Does the Center Hold?, Robert Anton Wilson, Phillip K. Dick, Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Clarion West, Amazing Stories, Instant Labor, Kurt Vonnegut, Oregon Symphony, The Situationist International, The Society of the Spectacle, The ‘84 Regress, Nightshade Books, Selling Jesus, virtual reality, A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, May 1968, Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, The Marx Brothers, Zeppo Marx, The Doom That Came To LOLCATS, Eraserhead Press, H.P. Lovecraft, Kat Brooks