Unemployment breaks my heart

Thanks BYH. I just feel lucky to have contacted someone you hadn't gotten to yet.

And thanks, sportschick. Although I'm not sure what's worse: being a kittyf*cker as you say BYH is, or being a puppyf*cker as he said I am. [/crossthread]

Boston, I'm actually pretty set on returning to school within a year or two to pick up a masters and eventually teach in college while writing on the side.

Rick, I just skimmed back up and re-read your post. Hang in there, man. Seriously, hang in there. I don't really know you that well, but if you're working enough to give your family food and a roof, you're not a failure. Maybe things aren't ideal, but we live in a broken world, and these days far too often feels like the duct tape's run out. Cheesy as it sounds, though, you gotta keep your head up.

And if anyone wants some random inspiration, check this YouTube clip out--I just stumbled back across it, it's the final 45 seconds of the Division II national championship in 2007. Wild stuff. Puts me in a better mood whenever I watch it.

 

I'm fine and employed now.

I spent five months unemployed last year. And the worst part is, I wasn't laid off, I just plain couldn't hack it at the job I had and they eventually had to fire me. *That's* a soul-sucker when you've got a family.

 

Altered to apply to others, ha.

Gotcha, Rick. Glad you're on your feet now.

 

As someone who faced all the darkness that comes with unemployment and denied unemployment benefits, I know all too well the pain that is associated with seeing yet another rejection letter. I know what it is to see your bank balance dwindle to nothing. In fact, mine was in the negative triple digits for several weeks. I know what it means to have to apply for food stamps and wonder if people behind you in the grocery line can see how much of a desperate f*ck you are.

It makes getting a job sweeter. It makes winning an unemployment appeal nicer. It makes depositing a humongous check in your now-positive bank account feel like sweet vindication. It makes me feel as though I've now written the epilogue to the story about the bell tolling for me back in November.

Walking through the grocery store when you have no way to pay for anything you see is deflating. Walking through aisles when you can't buy what's there because it's not food is deflating, even if empowerment is one aisle away, is awkward. Walking through those same aisles when you know you can buy anything you want and you simply choose not to is a feeling you can't measure.

Thank you for your encouragement as I made the transition from indigent to empowered working person. On behalf of all of us who have struggled with unemployment, thank you for your encouragement here on this thread. If we ever meet in person, your first beer's on me.

 

Word.

 

And keep us all posted on your job search.

When you get hired, let us all know so we can tip a few back in your honor.

 

When you're unemployed -- as I have been two times in the last four years -- you feel like you're in the penalty box. You feel like you're waiting on someone to spring you from that misery.

In all reality, the only one who can is yourself. I wouldn't just make calls about job opportunities, and I certainly wouldn't say "is there anything else?" And that's coming from a guy with a mortgage and a 5-year-old soon to start Catholic school. The last thing you want to sound like in that situation is desperate.

What people need to do is break down doors, elbow their way in, make their presence known, (add your favorite cliche here). Writing, like Sneed's doing, is wonderful, but so is volunteering or doing anything externally that showcases your skills and talents. It may not pay now, but you have to look at it as an investment in yourself that'll payoff down the road. Good luck, Sneed.

 

Thanks guys.

As of right now, I'm going to begin working part-time for a newspaper later in June or July (depending on when I move to the paper's city), working a few desk hours a week and writing a few stories a week. I'm also doing everything I can to get freelance work with magazines writing features--that's probably my favorite thing.

My big project right now and probably for the next six months or so is this book I've been working on since March. I haven't landed an agent yet or anything but am talking to some local, regional publishers and just researching and writing. It's been great having all this free time to work on that, honestly, but I gotta start finding something to pay some bills.

My ultimate goal is to write for magazines. I love newspapers, as I've said before, but I also love in-depth feature writing, so that's my goal. Like you said, F_H, while I'm basically writing this book for nothing right now, I see it as that investment in my future.

I'm in a decent situation right now, but can't wait for it to get better. Thanks again for all the good wishes.

 

Congrats on landing the part-time gig! Hope things work out for you getting a full-time writing gig or something else.