Losing the day job

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you likely know this already, but I lost my newspaper job on Tuesday. There was a pretty big reorganization and my position was eliminated. I was hoping that in the reorganization I'd be moved to a different department. It was a possibility, but it didn't happen.

I've been telling everyone that I'm OK with losing my job, and I am. Honestly. Thinking about a new job, a new career is exciting.

This company was the only one I'd worked for so there wasn't a lot of need to keep a real up to date resume. Any time I moved positions, they already had my work history on file. So that's what I'm doing today. Updating/creating a resume so I can get serious about my job search. I've spent some time this morning looking for jobs. I'm seeing some things that seem like they'd be lots of fun. Good jobs with good companies that could use the skills I've spent the last 14 years building.

Gina seems to be taking this job loss harder than I am in some ways. I think we are both understandably a little scared about what the future holds for us. We are in decent shape financially. We will be able to weather the storm for a while if I can't find something. And I've reassured her that I don't plan on being out of work for long. If I can't find a career job, I'll start looking for any job. I'm a healthy guy with two strong arms and two strong legs. I'm not proud. I'll put those to use if I have to. But that's not why she's sad. She keeps telling me this was your dream job. And it was.

Newspapers are all I've done since I graduated from college in 1997. They're all I'd wanted to do before that. Since I was a kid. In the fourth grade a friend and I drew up a newspaper. It had four or six pages. There was a sports section. There were comics. I made a World Series prediction. The Yankees to win it I think. This was 1983 or 1984 so I was way off. My friend's mom made photocopies of our creation and we passed them around the grade level at school. It was called Revealed.

I worked on the newspaper in sixth grade and then again in high school and in college. I was a journalism major. See? Newspapers were it for me. It took 10 years of professional work to get to the job I'd always wanted to do, the one I was doing when I was let go. I think that's what has Gina so sad. I was finally getting to do what I'd always wanted.

But I keep telling her that I got to do that job for four years, and it was a blessing. I did work I'm proud of and got to collaborate with some truly talented people. I won a couple of awards that will look good on that new resume I'm making. Would I have liked to keep the job? Of course. But I was in a vulnerable position in a company that's struggling, just like all newspaper companies are right now. It was just my time to go.

So, that's the update. The job search is on my mind a lot right now so you will be seeing more about it here. Hope you don't mind. And I hope you don't see much more, that'll mean I found something rather quickly.

In the meantime I'm looking at this as an opportunity to be a full-time job searcher/full-time writer. I am going to concentrate more on my writing and on getting the word out about Chasing Filthy Lucre and the world of New Eden that I've created.

So if you are inclined to help, you could do it by buying a copy of the book. I could use the 35 or 40 cents I get per copy. And, if you've already bought the book, you could leave a reviews somewhere. I can definitely use more of those. And if you've done both of those, you can help by telling others about Chasing Filthy Lucre.

To wrap this up, a lot of my writing friendships are the virtual kind. Many of you wouldn't know me if we passed in a crowded room, Still, you offered kind words when you heard about the layoff. I truly appreciate that. It's a comfort to me and to Gina.