Ugly Beckett

On Friday i headed to the book store (the one that has yet to call me about a job) and decided to do some research for the job market i plan on entering.

The bookstore has aisles of potential magazines and book publishing companies that i may want to work for. And plus i got to have coffee while i was doing all this.

So far all i know is that i don't want to end up working at clothes store post college. It seems like a complete waste to spend four years earning a degree just to fold clothes at The Gap. Despite getting the coveted merchandise discount, it's not what i want to do with my year off.

The best opportunity for me rests in the arms of the many publishing companies located in the northeast. This ranges from your basic book publishing company to assistant positions with magazines that I regularly read.

Ideally i would land a job in the editorial department as some assistant to somebody. It would be challenging of course, tiring perhaps, but i would learn a lot about publishing. This job would be an asset when i apply to graduate school. I mean The New School has a whole class on writers and publishers. I guess the class will teach the writers how to handle the aspect of publishing that comes with completing a work.

If i land a job at a publishing company i can literally learn first hand about that stuff, and sometimes i need to be smacked in the face with the "real world" in order to really grasp it. In my mind i know it isn't easy to write something and get it publish (unless you are Stephen King), and being able to see what the process looks like (and make a little money while i do so) can't hurt.

I have all but put New Haven on the back burner for now. After a talk with my uncle (who besides being a funny drunk has some interesting things to say) who suggested that getting a job first should be top priority instead of apartment hunting, my plans have changed. My conversation with him with something like:

"I don't want you calling me from the bus station saying you just got kicked out of your apartment because you don't have a job yet to pay your rent".

God i love my family. Besides using his scare tactics, he did have a valid point. I don't really have a job lined up for New Haven or the City. Geez i don't even have a interview locked down. I do have a resume ( from last summer) but the all important COVER LETTER is non existent. My fashion saavy aunt and her non potty trained baby said i could come stay with her for a couple of weeks in White Plains (just outside the city) until i land something. By then i will have sent out all my CV's and resumes to publishing companies in the city or in the surrounding areas.

I hate that i don't know what i want to do. I am not as lucky as Marie, who had a Pig Farming calling. I know with a lot of grammar revisiting, i can do this whole writing thing. But i didn't know there was so many things i could do with writing.

Lately i have been reading Thomas Kohnstamm memoir, travelogue, or confessional "Do Travel Writers Go to Hell". It's a pretty hilarious book for a guy who kind of hates his job. He's an attractive 30 something, who really hated his clerical job and decided to become a freelance writer for Lonely Planet. Basically LP gives you a small advance to be a travel writer. You can tell he's trying to give you a 101 reasons why being a travel writer sucks...but of course I'm intrigued by the idea.

As i flipped through several magazines, books, and How To Guides the possibilities of my writer career overwhelmed me.

Possible Entry Level Career #1: Beckett the...TRAVEL WRITER?
Despite only traveling on the East Coast, i am in love with the idea of traveling. I have this intense need to see the whole world, be immersed in the culture, and get out of the comfort of the USA. Travel writing may be my niche. I am a conscious traveler, i too read those horrible travel guides, and hey...i could finally get some traveling under my belt. But traveling won't be a luxury if it's a job. The pay is pretty shitty, the time away from family and the friends i have yet to make could be a bummer, and i have to have some experience traveling before i can travel.

Possible Entry Level Career # 2: Beckett the....FASHION WRITER?
A lot of the magazine jobs i have been looking at are fashion oriented. The idea is almost laughable. I have the fashion sense of a...poor college student. I do however read GQ likes it the bible. I have interest in men's fashion because men in hot suits is sort of a turn on. Ask me what is popular in men's fashion and i may have the answer, ask me what is popular is women's fashion and you will most likely get my very confused face. However in the high world of fashion i would feel...like a dork. I mean this could be A Devil Wears Prada or Ugly Betty venture for me, but i don't know if I'm up for the task. I imagine being surrounded by a room full of girls dressed like they know fashion and me in my converse and THE STROKES t-shirt.

Possible Entry Level Career # 3: Beckett the...MUSIC /ENTERTAINMENT WRITER?
Oh yeah. I'm secretly a 80's metal head. I know a shit load about music and movies, and it would be interesting to review something other than books. Other than country and mainstream rap, i listen to everything. Of course i would probably be able to write a piece about Gavin Degraw and Sufjan Stevens better than some other artist but you get what i'm saying. There aren't really any cons to this one except that there are probably a lot of post grads hoping to land a job at some Rolling Stones type magazine.

Possible Entry Level Career # 4: Beckett the....FOOD, WINE, YADDA YADDA
Need i say more.

As i fill out this editorial positions for all the entry level careers listed above (which in actuality have less to do with writing and more to do with getting someone coffee) i feel like these positinos are so way out of my league. I don't have any experience with anything editorial except sheer enthusiasm. But I don't know how good "really excited about working here" will look on my application.

Right Now Random House and Harper's Collins are the two publishing companies i am looking at. They specifically hire recent college grads, and though i doubt i will get to write anything beyond "get 5 coffees, 3 danish, and a low fat thingy" being an assistant doesn't seem to bad. At least it will give me some time to figure out what kind of writing i want to do.