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  ¶ 9:49 PM