Pardon My French

This weekend was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California.

While I am a firm believer that you can never have too many books, I was most excited about checking out the event because my mentor Jonathan Freedman was at the festival selling his brand new book “Bounce.”

Jonathan and I in front of the A Word With You Press tent at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Jonathan gave me a copy of his book!

Because Jonathan lives in San Francisco, I don’t get to see him very often. Since first meeting Jonathan at a writing workshop he headed a few months back, the two of us have been staying in touch via email and he has been very supportive of my work. He also recently wrote a very powerful letter of recommendation on my behalf, which I included in my application to an online journalism graduate program USC’s Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism. ( I am still impatiently patiently waiting to learn if I have been accepted.) It’s the only time in my life that a successful professional has shown a vested interest in my career and taken me under their wing.

After the festival wrapped for the day, a group that included Jonathan’s wife Isabelle (Her book called “Angus Macdream and the Roktopus Rogue” was also recently published) and their two children went out for dinner. I really enjoyed listening to him tell me about life during the 1960s (including once serving as Allen Ginsberg’s personal chauffeur), some of his reporting assignments and his world travels, including his expedition to The Hotel Jaguar, located in the middle of the Amazon Jungle. I had such a great time listening to him speak and I feel like I have so much to learn from him. I just wish that we could meet more often.

The Festival of Books reminded me a lot of The Ann Arbor Art Fair. It was made up of rows and rows of identical tents where vendors sold books, journals, T-shirts with literary figures and quotes on them, reading lamps, cloth tote bags, etc. What was so neat was that there was a mix of chain book stores, educational groups, library advocates, independent booksellers and even independent publishers. (Like, say my friends at A Word With You Press.) Some musicians performed on stage and even a few well known authors gave talks related to their work.

I recently read and greatly enjoyed Patti Smith’s memoir “Just Kids”, the story of her friendship with legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and how they chased their dreams through even the worst of times. “Just Kids” has been added to my list of favorite books and Smith, one of my favorite authors. Naturally, that’s why I was a bit disappointed when I found out that I missed Smith speak at the festival the day that I was there. She had spoken earlier in the day, before I had arrived. I hope that I haven’t missed out on meeting her all together and that our paths will cross again someday.

It was by a strange chain of events that I came to be mentored by a Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist.

Earlier this year, I came upon a writing contest called “The Coffee Shop Chronicles” while looking for writing gigs on Craigslist. My story could be featured in anthology the publishers were assembling and the winner could earn a gift card to their favorite coffee shop. The rules were simple: be creative, keep it short, and the story should have something to do with coffee.

I sat down at my computer and started writing. I didn’t stop for several hours and came up with a story that wasn’t short enough to be eligible for the contest. I posted it to my blog, considered the entire writing experience an inspiration and then put the whole thing to bed.

The very next day I woke up to a comment from a man named Thorn Sully of A Word With You Press, Publishers and Purveyors of Fine Stories. He was thrilled that his contest was able to inspire me, agreed that my story was a bit long, but posted it to his blog, anyway. It turns out that Thorn is a very kind human being who has a lot of passion for words. As I am always inspired by people who love what they do, We stayed in touch via email and I kept up with his blog.

Some months later, I found out that the creative team had decided to be bend the rules a little bit and publish my story in the anthology “The Coffee Shop Chronicles Vol. 1: Oh The Places I Have Bean” anyway. I was thrilled, as I have never been published before.

A Word With You Press isn’t just a publishing house, however. They also offer workshops and seminars. And I recently attended one of these workshops.

I drove out to their headquarters in Oceanside, California, which is about an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles to attend a workshop put on by Jonathan Freedman. Freedman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his series of editorials that urged the passage of the first major immigration reform act in 34 years. (These were published in The Tribune in San Diego, Calif.) I was pretty excited to attend as I had first read his work during college and it struck a cord with me. It’s one of those pieces of writing that every time you pick it up, doesn’t matter how many times you’ve read it, you have to read it all the way through. That’s how good it is.

Freedman’s career hasn’t been rooted exclusively in editorial writing, however. He has also worked as a foreign correspondent, written novels, books meant to inspire social change and children’s books.

I have been trying to will my pen to write fiction for some time, but because the world of journalism and fiction exist on opposite ends of the universe, this is something that doesn’t necessarily come easy to me. I saw this as the most perfect venue to bridge my passions– with someone who is an expert in both media.

At first I was very intimidated by Jonathan, but he was actually very warm and receptive to what I had to say. I ended up picking his brain, asking him questions about his voice and how he had come to develop his eye for detail. We ended up talking about my own journalism project, Perfect Stranger L.A. and he seemed genuinely impressed. Later, he offered to be my mentor to help guide me toward success. I, of course, was speechless.

I have never before had any professional in the field take an interest in my work.

I’ve always felt very jealous upon hearing friends and colleagues talk about the great contacts that they have made in their designated fields. Networking is something that I have never excelled at. I can wander up to any stranger and ask them about their day in the life, but I have a very difficult time putting myself up on a pedestal and explaining to people why I am worth their time.

I’m just happy that I can now say that I have at least made some beginning steps in the right direction.

I shouted out into the big echoey universe, demanded that it give me a job and it actually responded: by giving me a job.

I’m going to be an “Editorial Assistant” at a trade publication and I start Monday at 8:30 a.m.. (The quotes are necessary here because while that is my title, I have understood that I won’t be fetching coffee, making copies, or running a highlighting tool across the occasional body of text. I’ll actually be doing some writing!) This mag in particular is made with people in the irrigation and landscaping industries in mind so, ladies and gentleman, I will be writing about erosion, lawn mowers and other similar, somewhat technical topics of which I have little to no understanding.

But, I’m a pretty creative person. That’s why (not to brag or anything) my boss picked me out of a whollllle bunch of other candidates. And I’m very confident that I can gain an understanding of this stuff, make it interesting and write it so that it makes sense to readers. If I can write about local government, I can definitely do this. (Even without the whole taxpayers dollars personally affecting any and all members of the community factor playing into the equation.)

I’m excited to be a contributing member of society, again, and better yet, in a role that involves the use of my degree, includes benefits and a salary.

Phil and I haven’t really been concerned about finances since we’ve been here. We saved a lot to prepare for our move and Phil’s job has been keeping us afloat. But what’s really great about landing this job is that we are doubling the income we were living fine on. It’s nice–we’re going to be able to save some money, travel during the holidays, hire someone to help me further develop Perfect Stranger LA, take care of a few pricey car maintenance issues we weren’t able to afford before, paint the walls of the apartment and do a little decorating. (Obviously not all at once.)

One of my few goals I set for myself for 2010 was to secure myself in a career related job. It took six months of hard searching (three months in 2009, checking out work online) to find it and I’m so relieved that it finally happened. (Now I just have to….eerrrr…finally finish that great big piece of writing I’m supposed to be hard at work on. Now I have NO excuse.)

Here’s to getting my feet off the ground and hopefully more great advancements to my career. (With lots of hard work involved, of course.)

I know. Hearing about my ongoing search for a great job isn’t getting any more interesting. But, it’s a big part of my life right now.

Since my recent resignation from, again, that nameless local frozen yogurt establishment, I have been hitting the pavement pretty hard, looking for work in both journalism and in other fields.

Ideally, I would like to either be freelancing full-time (which, sounds like a bit of an oxymoron at first, but truly, if I had my hands full with freelance work everyday, I would be very happy.) or working full-time as a reporter at a magazine or news daily.

When it comes to looking for part-time work, I have spent a lot of time looking a bank teller job listings at businesses across the city.

Here’s why: 1.) A work week at a bank has predictable, daytime hours, which leaves me time during the evening to write. 2.) I can receive benefits there and 3.) The work itself isn’t very challenging or exhausting.

Lately, I have applied to work at several different companies, but have so far received just one call back. The company is nationally known, a name that everyone knows, but I’ll, again, keep this bank nameless so that I do not pop up on some CEO’s Google Alert.

I went in for a group interview yesterday at one of the bank’s main branches in downtown Hollywood. Behind the glass door of a conference room in the back of the branch, I found myself a seat at a long table. It was packed on both sides with prospective employees, approximately 20 in total, all wearing professional dress. At the far end of the table, a representative from the bank facilitated the group interview.

We were told to introduce ourselves, list an abridged version of our experience with cash handling and customer service, our past sales goals and, just for “fun”, mention a hobby.

Some mentioned that they liked to read, enjoyed playing golf or the guitar. The guy sitting to my left, who took orders at Home Depot for the last three years, told the group facilitator that he had a fish collection.

I was shocked when this woman, who was clearly straight business in her professional wear and name tag on her lapel, squealed loudly in delight in response to this.

“I have never heard of a hobby that’s so interesting in any interview I’ve conducted, ever,” she beamed. Everyone sitting around the table nodded in agreement.

“Seriously?” I thought to myself. “A FISH COLLECTION made this woman jump out of her chair?” In this moment, I lost a bit of confidence in my ability to be a bank teller.

The rest of the interview went pretty predictably and I gave what I feel were some pretty good answers to some fairly tough questions. As I walked away, though, I didn’t feel good about myself. I didn’t feel like I was being true to myself in that room and frankly I felt that neither was anyone else who was sitting around me. Smiles were superficial, personalities had been painted on, and even their answers felt fake. Now that I think about it, I realize that’s probably just business as usual in this field, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about it.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wah! Wah! Wah! A job’s a job!” And what’s difficult about all of this is that I know that you’re right. I need to take what I can get right now and shut my mouth.

Recently, my friend Kim, who is also a journalist. mentioned that she had a really rough couple of years with employment. She was laid off shortly after securing a job in journalism. Later, she got her hopes up after applying for a few other great opportunities. Multiple times in the last year, she said, the decision came down her and another candidate and every case, it was the other person who was chosen.

Only recently She finally found her dream job, after what sounds like years of struggling. Times are tough, money is tight and journalism is dying. I know, I know, I know. But, there are people out there, people who I know, who have been landing these great jobs. Why can’t I?

I’m afraid that I will end up working a crappy part-time job for forever–or that my journey for a job in the J-field, not even a great job, will take years. And these are real fears that keep me awake at night. They are a possible reality that I find to be extremely daunting.

There’s a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill BIll Vol. 1″ when Uma Thurman’s then nameless character is instructing her toes to “wiggle”, the starting point for resuscitating her hospital weakened muscles back into use.

“As I lay in the back of Buck’s truck, trying to will my limbs out of entropy,” a voice over narration begins, “I could see the faces of the cunts that did this to me and the dicks responsible.”

It’s a moment in pop culture that really bothers Phil.

“Entropy is a physics term,” he pointed out to me last Fall in an instant message. “Atrophy is what happens to muscles when you don’t use them. It’s not even important, but it makes me insane.”

“Being a copy editor blows. It’s like living in this little bubble where you’re always upset, but very few other people get it and most think that you’re psychotic.”

It’s one the many things about him that I really admire: his eye for detail.

Since the start of Perfect Stranger L.A., every story that I have freelanced since last April, and each brave attempt at fiction writing, Phil has graciously edited everything that I have written. (With the exception of blogs. All those commas splices and unnecessary hyphens are my fault, not his.) He was my editor way back when and he’s my editor now.

He always fixes my awkward wording (I write how I talk and I also enjoy pauses.), provides me with a more focused direction and gives me encouragement. I don’t know what I would do without his help.

Since I have quit my part-time job, we’re again at a place where Phil, unfortunately, is carrying the financial weight. I have been spending my time looking around on the internet for employment opportunities, but he’s not rushing me. He’s been encouraging me to take this time to work on the short story I recently began, pick up where I left off on that memoir that’s been haunting me for years, conduct more interviews for PSLA–just be creative and happy.

(But, I am seriously frantically looking for some kind job.)