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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/29/19 11:19 AM, Tara Calishain
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CALr9bAX0_wf_FsDa67Ng9TtNYYWbj1L0tU8vTQX+kQm1cKrFvw@mail.gmail.com">
<div dir="ltr">Last fall I left a job which ate my life for a
dozen years. 60-80 hour weeks (unpaid overtime), difficult work,
no support from higher-ups. Nine years without a vacation. Three
years with no days off (and I don't mean I worked five days a
week. I mean I worked seven days a week for three years.) I
won't even tell you about sleeping in a warehouse five days a
week for four months.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It's been almost seven months since I left and I feel like
I'm only starting to feel human again. Sometimes when I go
outside and realize I have nobody breathing down my neck to
get things done, I cry. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I have been looking around in a desultory way for work, and
did get a columnist job at The Saturday Evening Post. Then
David Strom (bless him forever) hooked me up with a newsletter
job for Inside.com. The pay does not knock my socks off, but
it's a good base with my column job, Saturday Evening Post,
Patreon, and freelancing. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I will pitch and write articles (please think of me if you
need something done), but other than that I am not hustling. I
have made the deliberate choice to go into a lower gear for a
couple of years. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>During that time I plan to: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Exercise regularly, cook better, and lose some weight. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Learn to draw. I'm not a visual person and I want to
better that part of me. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Learn Spanish, because when I was in high school I took
German like a knucklehead. (Nothing against German people, but
there's a ton of people around here who speak Spanish.) </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Spend much time with my 95-year-old Granny and do things
that make her happy. (These include finding instruction
manuals for old cooking devices, burning 80 episodes of "The
Old Fashioned Revival Hour" to a CD, and sharing funny dog
videos.) </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Write fiction, because my mother keeps telling me to. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- Goober around a little with ResearchBuzz. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It's going to take me a long damn time to stop apologizing
for not working 40 hours a week, but I don't care. I haven't
been a happy person since I was nine years old, but I want to
try to be once more before I die. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Go for it. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Tara</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 11:04
AM Liam Kelly <<a href="mailto:ljkelly1888@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">ljkelly1888@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">Hey all,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I'm thinking to leave my position as editor of a
crypto-centric blog to pursue a few different options. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Likely I won't find anything as well-paid as this for a
few months, but I've been at this publication for a few
years now and I have the impression it's time for a bit of
progress.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The idea is to leave editing to the side and gather as
many bylines as possible in hopes of landing a staff
position at a larger publication. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But I was curious about a few things:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- If not writing, what other skills would <b>you</b> develop
during a similar break?</div>
<div>- Am I crazy to leave a position in which I'm paid a
flat rate to both write and edit?</div>
<div>- And, finally, any general thoughts on some personal
experiences related to this subject.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I've got savings, a handful of smaller clients that
I've been working with, and a dreadful feeling of
stagnation. All of this has culminated in this plan. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks in advance for any suggestions, relevant
stories, and/or links to things I should read before
making the "leap."</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Liam J. Kelly</div>
</div>
-- <br>
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rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc</pre>
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