Thursday, November 09, 2006
  Job Interview
Last week I saw that a local paper conglomerate (they publish eight papers) is hiring three reporters. So I applied.

I've been thinking about moving from free-lance into a straight job for a variety of reasons. I'm getting to an age where if I don't get a "real job" it will get increasingly difficult to do so, and I'd really like to have a career. It's intellectually stimulating. I'm going to have a kid in college soon and extra income will be needed at that point. I do want to retire with a decent standard of living some day. My youngest is now in school full time, so I have a lot more time on my hands. The prospect of being a full-time reporter at a decent sized daily paper is just cool. I've come to realize that despite the fact that I'm quite a loner, I find people extremely interesting, especially their motivations and what makes them tick. That's a good trait for a writer, especially a journalist.

The drawbacks are obvious -- reduced time for writing fiction/poetry/commentary and the problem of being "written out" at the end of the day. Not being home right after school, which means it'll be all the more important for my oldest to get her driver's license. And, of course, the impact on vacation time, especially during the summer.

Anyway, the editors called back and they want to interview me on Monday! I'm completely thrilled, and twice as nervous. My wardrobe, while really nice for conducting interviews and being my hippie self, has NOTHING appropriate for a job interview. I'm going to have to go shopping. And I've got to get some more clips prepared for them. (My resume has three online clips in it, but they'd like to see more.) And I need to do a bunch of research on the company/various papers it publishes. I get one of the weeklies they publish at my doorstep, and I subscribed to one other so we could get the Sunday paper (my youngest LOVES the comic pages). But I need to read a lot more copies of them, and in particular the paper I'd be working for.

YOWZA!

I usually think of myself as a high energy person, but I feel like I'm running at double speed at the moment.

Anyway, here's hoping and praying I get the job. It seems like a perfect match -- a local paper covering the next town over from where I live so it's close to home. It's the sort of reporing I like best -- local flavor, interesting characters, local politics -- real people stuff. It's not exactly an entry level job, for which I'd be overqualified, but it's not so big a newspaper that they wouldn't consider my freelancing as insignificant work experience -- sort of a middle ground which is perfect for me at my age and my experience level. What I've read of the papers this company publish, I really like. High quality, interesting stories. I hope they feel as good about me as I am feeling about them!

Personal, Writing
 
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Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.


What I'm reading now



Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

To see an archive of all the books I've read (well the ones I've read and review since I started the blog) with comments, please click here

Causes Worth Supporting

This is just a short list -- a few of my favorites.

English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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