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October 9, 2007
Odd jobs and an open window air vent
I've been quite ill since my return to the western part of our lovely state. I'm working on recovering, and as I do, in the same way one would expect to rake in leaves at this time of year, I seem to be gathering together a short list of odd jobs to sustain myself.
When I say "odd jobs," I don't mean that I'm going to be picking leaves out of gutters or cleaning upholstery; what I'll be doing, though, isn't full-time. Nor is it 100% consistent, likely to be repeatable, or what I thought I'd be doing with myself at this point in the year (most nearly five months since I graduated). I guess that defines the "odd" part since, most likely, they're only odd to me.
I know I've expressed my concern about finding a job before (and, yeah, I'm still a little worried). Fortunately I have a close-knitted network of friends and family and they're not afraid to advertise me. I was recruited by a friend who knows the joy I derive from web design to assist in an overhaul of her husband's website (he's an author), which has been up and running for awhile now but needed some TLC to make it more informative, aesthetically pleasing, and friendlier to users. This site is almost complete on the front end, but before I'm truly finish I intend to separate design elements from the HTML and create style sheets instead.
I had mentioned to family members that I was in the middle of working on this project, and that somehow got me involved in another website project. My grandmother's next door neighbor needs a complete redesign and content overhaul of her husband's website (he's an entertainer), so she volunteered that I might be able to help. We're working out details of what I'll be doing now.
I recently reconnected with a friend I hadn't seen in awhile, and I told her about the projects I was working on. Two days later she emailed me asking if I would be interested in tutoring a lady who needs to learn the basics of Excel. I agreed and, in our conversation, I learned that I might end up tutoring four or five people instead of just one.
In the meantime I'm brainstorming for freelance articles. I wrote seven articles for a site about a month ago and my editor asked me to think of other ideas I might like to write about. There's a bit of leeway on topics, which is nice, and writing for this site is fun since I get be informational and develop my own voice (instead of having to be stuffy).
Still searching for a full-time position... or maybe with this amount of outside opportunities I'll get something part-time to keep up with things... Who knows. They say when God closes a door he opens a window. Maybe I got an air vent so I stay cool while I wait for my window.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at October 9, 2007 8:09 PM
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Comments
Freelance work has its own attractions... one freelance writing job that I started while I was working on my MA turned into a full-time job with benefits, though I decided to enter a PhD program instead of pursuing that full-time job. You'll do fine, Karissa.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at October 10, 2007 12:08 AM
Thanks, Dr. Jerz. So far it's been pretty fun, actually. I mean, besides the whole stress factor, I'm doing things I like to do and, for a change, getting paid for them! Meanwhile the reading I've been doing has stimulated my creative writing side again, so I'm considering taking what I have, polishing it, and submitting some stories for publication. Nothing wrong with writing credit, right?
Posted by: Karissa at October 10, 2007 4:25 PM
Does Eye Contact take submissions from alumnae? I think the deadline is next week.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at October 10, 2007 5:07 PM
Yes, they do. It's the 15th (Monday)... Is that a subtle hint? Haha :)
Turns out I'm also going to pick up the newsletter for the coalition I worked on with my former employer for awhile. So I've got projects to tide me over, thankfully. Finally a little busier...
Posted by: Karissa at October 10, 2007 11:16 PM
If a client of your former employer wants to keep you on a project, that's a very good sign.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at October 11, 2007 9:19 AM