day job

4 Signs an Interview Has Gone South

I know, I know…I went through the month of November without a blog post; but Iâ€™m back with a super-sized entry rivaling the amount of food you may have enjoyed this past Thanksgiving. So, buckle up. This oneâ€™s a wild ride, to be sure.

Part of the reason Iâ€™ve been quiet here is on account of my current job hunt. Job hunting is never pleasant. Thereâ€™s a lot of stress involved in making sure the resume is up to par, the cover letter captures both briefly and succinctly who you are, and when the interview happens, you present the best representation of yourself. Itâ€™s a bit like dating, only thereâ€™s a steady paycheck, medical benefits, and a 401K plan involved.

And if the latter is involved when youâ€™re dating, youâ€™re seriously working too hard at this dating thing.

But I digressâ€¦

[Read more…]

Stranger on a Train XV

It’s the start to a new week, although it doesn’t feel like I ever finished last week. Immediately after Day Two of the new job, I polished up an audio chapter of Truly, Deeply Disturbed and sent that off to the review cue for the publisher. Then it was packing of the big pink travel bag; and Pip, Jett, Karina, and I mounted up and headed to Grimmoire Manor (the home of Brute Force Studios) to film a book trailer. That’s the challenge of being unemployed: You either sit on your rear waiting for things to right themselves, or you step up to projects and then suddenly find yourself juggling commitments.

Doesn’t mean I’m folding like a cheap lawn chair. I’m seeing all these projects through.

I learned something about steampunk over the weekend, something I don’t think I’ve heard a lot of people mention and maybe it should be mentioned more often: It’s a passion. Whether you are a crafter like Thomas, a model like Sarah (both of Brute Force), or writers like Pip and myself, it’s something we do (and in some instances, defend) because we love it. We have a lot of reasons why but that love is what runs our analytical engines. I am constantly blown away by the talent I meet in this genre, but those who excel at it nurture a real passion for steampunk. Sometimes, artists may not even realize they are dancing with steampunk; and that’s when what happens is less about aesthetic and more about art. Yeah, there is a deeper commitment and drive behind steampunk, and it’s inspiring.

Here’s a behind the scenes shot of our Sophia del Morte (Sarah Hunter). I got high hopes for this book trailer…

5 Things to Do after You Lose Your Job

Itâ€™s hard to believe, but last Friday marked a month since my last day at Intersections.

For the past four weeks, Iâ€™ve taken in a lot. Good and bad. Of course, the irony of all this is that when I was hired by Intersections, the Recession was in full swing. And at the beginning of 2012, where a variety of news outlets from around the world were all noticing an economic turnaround at the beginning of 2012, I was downsized.

In this month, from the day I was let go to now, Iâ€™ve learned a lot. Granted, each layoff is different. Some involve severance packages. Others do not. Some employers treat you with respect. Others waste no time in getting you out of the door. Itâ€™s hard to predict how bad news like this will come, but I can say â€” after a month of letting the dust settle â€” there are at least five things to keep in mind when Corporate America pulls the rug out from under you. [Read more…] about 5 Things to Do after You Lose Your Job

Stranger on a Train: New York Comic Con

And awwwaaaay we go!!!

Between the surprise priority video job at work, our child getting sick, the drama of getting out of Manassas, and WordPress for the iPhone borking on me and devouring my post, it is hard to believe we are on the way to New York Comic Con and yet here we are, chugging through New Jersey…

The recent crisis at work this week brought about an epiphany: some people are under the impression that video editing is the same as putting together a PowerPoint presentation. Thing is, you can’t do in PowerPoint what I put together in Final Cut Pro. You want more than you average slide presentation. Yes I get that. But as Jimmy has learned under The Commodore’s tutelage: You don’t get anything for free.

Boardwalk Empire. That’s some incredible storytelling there.

I am taking some cold comfort in that I did something no one else could do. It’s what my friend Al Garnett calls “the price of being a badass” â€” you raise the bar and people expect you to go Superman at a moment’s notice; but then again, no one does what I do there. No one could. That’s fact, bro. Straight up.

So now, Pip and I head for NY ComicCon. We want to get a hardbound copy of Phoenix Rising to Felicia Day, and I’d like to get Mark Hammil to sign my copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Funny thing â€” even with being pro, I’m still the fanboi.

I can live with that.

The New Gig: What I’m Doing and How I’m Doing

With a whopping 42 comments to it (and as that is the big answer, I thought the time was right for this postâ€¦), I think itâ€™s pretty much common knowledge by now that I got a new job. I didnâ€™t really consider how quickly the wheels got rolling on getting me in there; but on retrospect, this place did not diddle around. I was offered the job on August 4, taught my final class on August 14, and then on August 17 I walked in, filed paperwork, went through the orientation, and was then literally thrown into the thick of it. I didnâ€™t hit the ground running. I bitch-slapped the ground, made it call me a pretty girl, and had it beg for more when I was through with it.

And the really frightening bit? After a week, Iâ€™m still not sure how my voice mail works.

But what exactly is the job? I didnâ€™t really go into detail on that in â€œPerseverance and Peter Gabrielâ€ as that post was less about the job itself and more about the job hunt. Amidst the comments of congratulations and inspiration, a few of you have wondered â€œSo what is this job you got?â€ I wanted to wait until I finished the first week before I shared details, and Iâ€™m glad I did. Last week was overwhelming, amazing, and eye-opening, on a lot of levels.

I was also beat at the end of every day. Slept a lot. Now, with some of the blur that was last week processed, here it is…

Intersections is a security firm, based out of Chantilly, VA. Since 1996, Intersections has dealt with credit history and digital identity protection. They are in the business of making electronic transactions, be they financial or personal, safer; and I have been hired as their Social Media Manager. (Iâ€™d like to point out that this job falls under Corporate Communications, not Marketing. That thrills me like you wouldn’t believe.) They were looking for someone who could not only apply Social Media, but understand the different initiatives out there and what they offer.

They were also looking for someone who could write. Yeah, I think I got that covered, too.

What Iâ€™m particularly excited about with this job is the angle Intersections takes with Social Media. Obviously, Iâ€™m being called upon to manage blogs, create podcasts, edit video (which Iâ€™m doing right now), and manage an outreach program with Twitter and (soon) Facebook; but I am also being asked to investigate and research security in Social Media, something Iâ€™ve touched on in Bird House Rules but only scratched its surface. On Friday, I was forwarded some news about Social Media from a security perspective and I was floored. The ironic bit is, that morning I was catching up with The SpyCast and listening to a fantastic interview with Dr. Terry Gudaitis who specializes in cyberintelligence gathering. (Thatâ€™s the June 15, 2009 show if youâ€™re interested.)

I feel as if I am starting all over again in Social Media, this time from a new perspective I hope Blogworld will let me speak on this year. I am officially on their schedule. I’ve confirmed “But Honey, It’s For the Studio” but am working to change topics concerning my second talk. So, if you’re at Blogworld this year, stop me and say “Hi.” It should be good fun in Vegas this October!

So in the end, I am using my knowledge and background on Social Media for good, not for evil. While I will help in the promotion of what Intersections does, I will also be their on-call specialist in Social Media while I find out more about security matters with Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, and the like. My brain has been firing on all cylinders since Day One, and Iâ€™m soaking it up like a thirsty sponge. The first week just blinked by, and Iâ€™ve not slowed down yet.

If you were wondering, though, how the day job will affect my writing, it will only make me more productive. Now that I know my hours, I can regiment and manage my time efficiently. Iâ€™m still writing for AppAdvice; and this weekend Pip and I completed the first draft of Books & Braun: Phoenix Rising, our Steampunk CSI peppered with hints of James Bond. Iâ€™m also planning to dust off Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and start working on that. I’ll give up details with an upcoming Survival Guide to Writing Fantasyâ€¦and yes, that will be its final episode.

Itâ€™s a long story and a hard decision concerning The Guide, and Iâ€™ll save the rest for that show.

My job at Intersections is now underway, and my writing is moving forward. From here, all that I have to face now are the possibilities.