Moving into October
Oct. 4th, 2025 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfSo the big personal news for this week is that I finally got a job interview to wrap up last week...back at the same company I've been contracting at for most of the last three years. Different manager though, and more interesting-sounding position. Seeing as I know the ropes pretty well, I'm getting the second interview this coming week and we'll see how it goes. If I get the offer, I have to take it since my former contracting company is paying for my unemployment and frankly, I'm not very up for eyeing the abyss of "what happens if unemployment ends/savings have to be burned through/the entire social safety net finishes unraveling." I've been through enough of that over the last 5 years.
Apart from ageism, sexism, the economy and so forth, the main obstacle to me getting at least up to the interview stage is that my kitty Shu requires shots on a very regular schedule a couple of times a day, plus regular feedings--the cats are on a raw meat diet due to being allergic to chicken and somewhat delicate tummies so I can't just pop food in a feeder and let them fend for themselves. Paying my catsitter to come in a couple of times a week just so I can go into an office to make a manager feel more secure isn't particularly viable, not to mention the costs of gas and commuting. So it has to be full WFH and those IT gigs in my skillset are few and far between right now. Given all that, please wish me luck!
What's the backup plan? Well, I'm doubling down on publisher meetings, trainings related to book production and marketing and whatever I can glean from startup support/culture that is somewhat relevant to Queen of Swords Press. Today, for instance, I went to an Entrepreneur Expo at the Central Library and got some useful thoughts from one of the folks I talked to (from the county's Elevate program for small biz startups). I think she will probably be more useful for immediate advice than the guy I spoke to at St. Thomas a couple of weeks ago, and she did say that she wanted me to touch base with her soon. Last week was a couple of marketing workshops and a publisher meetup. Monday is a meetup for the the queer small business app we're now underwriting, Everywhere is Queer. Oh, and I added some events. And we're putting out a new book this month - Running Dry by M.Christian (gay vampires with a twist!) is up for preorder now. I'm also starting to add Jana's boxes to my Ko-fi shop, along with sundry services you can hire me for.
I've got some writing and teaching plans that I'm working on as well, including, you know, books. Unfortunately, some of the teaching venues I taught at before are no longer viable the way they were before or have shifted directions in ways that do not play to my strengths. So more research, more pitching, more work all around. But next month, there's paid grant vetting and I just turned in another article so I can start pitching more of those.
On the bright side, I'm making progress on patching concrete around the house foundation and almost succeeded in patching the leaking pipe. I've managed to clean out and shift some stuff in the house so that none of the heating vents are blocked any more and there's a bit more space to move around. Next up, tripping hazards and things that make it harder to clean (like books in weird places, etc.). Shu is relatively stable, Ma'at is great and I've been vaxxed and all that good stuff. I'm doing a lot of cooking from scratch and some preserving and such. All in all, as long as I don't look at the news, I'm doing reasonably well, under the circumstances.
Fingers crossed that it's the same for all of you right now!
Apart from ageism, sexism, the economy and so forth, the main obstacle to me getting at least up to the interview stage is that my kitty Shu requires shots on a very regular schedule a couple of times a day, plus regular feedings--the cats are on a raw meat diet due to being allergic to chicken and somewhat delicate tummies so I can't just pop food in a feeder and let them fend for themselves. Paying my catsitter to come in a couple of times a week just so I can go into an office to make a manager feel more secure isn't particularly viable, not to mention the costs of gas and commuting. So it has to be full WFH and those IT gigs in my skillset are few and far between right now. Given all that, please wish me luck!
What's the backup plan? Well, I'm doubling down on publisher meetings, trainings related to book production and marketing and whatever I can glean from startup support/culture that is somewhat relevant to Queen of Swords Press. Today, for instance, I went to an Entrepreneur Expo at the Central Library and got some useful thoughts from one of the folks I talked to (from the county's Elevate program for small biz startups). I think she will probably be more useful for immediate advice than the guy I spoke to at St. Thomas a couple of weeks ago, and she did say that she wanted me to touch base with her soon. Last week was a couple of marketing workshops and a publisher meetup. Monday is a meetup for the the queer small business app we're now underwriting, Everywhere is Queer. Oh, and I added some events. And we're putting out a new book this month - Running Dry by M.Christian (gay vampires with a twist!) is up for preorder now. I'm also starting to add Jana's boxes to my Ko-fi shop, along with sundry services you can hire me for.
I've got some writing and teaching plans that I'm working on as well, including, you know, books. Unfortunately, some of the teaching venues I taught at before are no longer viable the way they were before or have shifted directions in ways that do not play to my strengths. So more research, more pitching, more work all around. But next month, there's paid grant vetting and I just turned in another article so I can start pitching more of those.
On the bright side, I'm making progress on patching concrete around the house foundation and almost succeeded in patching the leaking pipe. I've managed to clean out and shift some stuff in the house so that none of the heating vents are blocked any more and there's a bit more space to move around. Next up, tripping hazards and things that make it harder to clean (like books in weird places, etc.). Shu is relatively stable, Ma'at is great and I've been vaxxed and all that good stuff. I'm doing a lot of cooking from scratch and some preserving and such. All in all, as long as I don't look at the news, I'm doing reasonably well, under the circumstances.
Fingers crossed that it's the same for all of you right now!
