Month: July 2017

Posted in job hunting, Musings

Bad Netiquette

Posted on by Evallone

Unfortunately, I’ve had a lingering bout of illness including sore throat and now severely chesty cough. It’s made speaking difficult and speaking without coughing is virtually impossible right now, thankfully it’s been the weekend so I’m trying to recover as best as I can. I’m hoping that from Monday I might start hearing back from jobs I’ve applied to.

There was a job that was fairly close to where I live, maybe a 20 minute walk but it was just under 30 hours a week and would have been perfect, all the duties I did in my last job. Yet, after applying, sending my CV and covering letter I logged on the next day to see that the ad had been deleted without so much as an apology or a ‘thanks for applying but the job’s been filled’. Where’s the niceties now? Obviously as a job-hunter it’s imperative to adhere to all the formalities when applying for any job and I’m happy to do so, but is it too much to ask to have it in return? There are countless jobs that I haven’t ever heard back about, not even an automated email, but fine I can accept that. However, employers need to be aware that when they advertise a job on certain sites, particularly with built-in messaging systems, they need to be aware how rude it seems to ignore someone’s application and if they can take the time to delete the ad then surely they could take two minutes to say, ‘thanks, but the job’s been taken’.

I have a few other pokers in the fire at the moment, gotten on to the third level of application for a customer service role, fixed up my CV because the old one was crap, and created a linkedin page… is this growing up? There’s a couple of things up my sleeve that I don’t want to mention just yet until there’s a confirmation, regardless I’m tired from being ill and I’m itching to get into something again… plus, money is nice as well.

e x

Posted in Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Evallone

The July edition of National Novel Writing Month has just started! I got off to a good start then promptly fell behind (as happens every year).

If you don’t know about it, the goal is essentially to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Camp Nano has a few extra options in allowing you to work on a screenplay, so you can set a goal for pages written, hours worked etc. Also you can do revisions, poetry, and basically anything that gets you writing. Now you can amend the word-count too, so if 50k is pushing it, you can still win on a lower word-count and still have achieved.

This year, since I’m on summer break and job hunting, I thought it would be a great way to get back into writing by just hammering out tens of thousands of words. After Nano, when I reread over my work I find that it’s not all bad and even much of it is usable thanks to Nano helping to silence my inner editor. Ta-dah! It’s like magic. In case you’re interested in following me on Nano, especially if you decide to start right now (please do, it’s not too late!) here’s my profile.

I’m working on a section of a novel series I started ages ago (and also did for a previous Nano), I’ve literally jumped in to the fun bit and I’m flying mostly without a plan. Prior to starting this year I made a list of scenarios I’d like to see my characters in and maybe it will flow together as the second book, maybe it won’t, either way by the end of this month I should be 50,000 words closer to another book than I was at the start of the month.

There are options to join a cabin either with your own friends or be placed into a cabin with similar writers, I’m not completely certain how it works in terms of writing as a group as I am a solitary writer and the only friend I want near me while I write is WINE!

So please, have a look on the website and if you are curious then maybe give it a try. Even if you don’t set a massive word count or even write every day, the fact is you might still end up with more words for a story than you expected.

If you’re struggling to focus or make yourself keep writing then try this website: Write or Die. You write your wordage on its screen and set a timer and word count, then you try to beat it. But there are consequences for pausing or stopping writing, you can amend the settings to how you want it to respond, I won’t spoilt it for you, it’s definitely fun.

Hasta luego,

e x