Friday, July 18, 2014

What's Up Friday

What’s up Wednesday is a blog meme that I’ve been interested in doing for a while. But I haven’t quite gotten around to it. In the meantime here’s my What’s Up Friday.

What I’m Doing

Finishing a resume. I haven’t written one of these in two decades. Ugh. It’s interesting though—who knew there were fads in resume writing. I looked at resumes of technical writers (that’s what a lot of my past jobs have been) and I discovered some…creativity. One tech writer (currently with a very reputable laboratory) had a resume with a “cowboy theme.” In fact, one phrase mentioned “wrangling words and people.”

Why are there fads in resumes? Why can’t we just list our past jobs, list our degrees, and promise to work really hard? I mean, what else is there?

What I’m Writing

Editing. And more editing. I’m two-thirds of the way through an edit of my latest work-in-progress. The 2/3s mark is always writing/editing kryptonite for me. I’m just starting to get burned out, but not quite burned out enough to say, “What the heck.” So instead, I experience huge amounts of self-doubt. Do the themes work? Is the character development arc legitimate?  Just how underwritten is this puppy? Will anyone want to read it? And, am I EVER going to hit the necessary word count?

What I’m Reading

 
Earlier this week I got my next book to review for “Blogging for Books.” It’s A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. I’m not far into it, but the words and phrases are so lovely. It’s like entering a spell cast by a muse’s fairy godmother.

The setting is interesting—Chechnya, the characters are sympathetic, and pacing is spot-on, so I just hope, hope, hope that the author can pull off a wonderful plot. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

If you missed my review of the last B4B book I read, click here.




5 comments:

  1. I love this, Connie! I hope you decide to join up on What's Up Wednesday. It's a great way for people to stay in touch.

    Good luck with your job hunt. This is something we can also do together!

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  2. A themed resume? OY. I'd think that sort of "cutesy" stuff would be very annoying. If I were looking to hire someone, I'd be more like Jack Webb: "Just the facts, ma'am." But with a wee bit of personality, of course...

    LOTS of people will read your next book, so stop with the self-doubt. You've got a great thing going with your series. Honest.

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  3. Good luck with your resume. I've never heard of a themed resume, but I'll be the one you want to write, the one with all the important information and no cuteness to it, is more professional and will strike editors as such.

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  4. Not sure why resumes have to be fancy either. I guess maybe people think they're making themselves stand out?

    All of us experience what you're going through with your book. I have one I'm not sure will ever end, but I keep moving forward.

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  5. I've always heard that those themed ones don't do as well - but maybe they do?? I've haven't written one in ages either. I hope I never have to again. lol

    I'm about at the 2/3 mark on one of my wips and feel just like you! :)

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