Week Eight

Eight weeks feels like a long time and in the world of job hunting it’s not long at all. Not these days. I figured it’s time to take stock for a moment and see where I am.Every day I continue to check the internet job sites and follow the guidelines from one agency that if you spend more than half an hour a day on this aspect of the hunt then you’re doing something wrong. Sure enough, I see the same ads on multiple sites and not that many get listed in any given day. I apply to the ones I think worth attempting, occasionally taking a wild shot to see if something’s a reach or not.Every morning does begin, though, with e-mail and tapping the network. Again, we’re told time and again, and I truly have come to believe it, that the network will get a job more often than the agencies or job sites. I’ve had three interviews, all through the network. After hosting the Comedy Central/Spike TV panel last week for example, I got in touch with each panelist, and explored new network connections, which I hope will bear fruit.Every job applied to and every person contacted gets carefully logged on a tracking document so I can make sure I do follow ups as necessary. This has also proven helpful.The rest of the daylight hours are spent on the various freelance writing projects. While none will make me fabulously wealthy, I am in a position now where I am writing for a wider variety of markets than I ever have before. Peers remain impressed by how much I managed to land in a short amount of time, something I need to be reminded of now and then.In review:Weekly World News: One week from Monday, the March 20 issue, should have my first column chronicling the adventures of Matt Daemon, SOS (Seeker of Obscure Supernaturals). Each week Matt deals with some grade B (or below) threat and defeats it with three common household items. So the challenge each week is to mix and match. So far, this has been a lot of fun. My other weekly writing is done under circumstances I can’t discuss publicly but my first effort in that realm saw print in the March 6 issue. Each Monday, the week starts with these two columns.Scifi.com will launch something, any minute now that I have contributed to.Pocket Books recently received two batches of writing for something that should be going live on their web site in the next few months.Additionally, I have turned in my story for the Star Trek: Constellations anthology.I’m awaiting feedback on “Troubleshooting,” my Corps of Engineers eBook. Once I tweak that, it’ll be off to the patient editor.That very same editor has also invited me to be a part of another project that’s too early to talk about.For Rosen Books, I am nearly complete with In the News: Suicide Bombers to be followed by Careers in Artificial Intelligence.For Actionopolis, I’m finishing a proposal that once is fully accepted and signed, we’ll talk about.Fairfield Magazine has asked me to write an article on what teenagers can do on the weekend, addressing the age old complaint, “there’s nothing to do in this town.”I’m awaiting licensor approval of a media tie-in novel that I’ve been asked to co-write with Michael Jan Friedman.There’s my urban fantasy original novel that needs addressing as well as an original shared universe project that pokes along here and there.All in all, plenty to do, a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction.