What I Have Been Doing Lately

There is a short story by Jamaica Kincaid by the title "What I Have Been Doing Lately," in which she dispels a dreamworld of what she has been doing in a variety of shadings to make herself look better with each telling.

This story sounds remarkably like what an unemployed person must do for each application in order to be hired.

Still, here is a list of what I have been doing lately.  There have been no utilization of bonbons or of soap operas to the process--just me, doing the following:

• From November 19th through November 29th, I visited my brother and sister-in-love (they will get married in October 2012) in Carlsbad, California.  While my brother was at work daily in San Diego and my sis-in-love would go to one of her volunteer organizations during the day, I would work on one of the following tasks that I had been working on before and after the vacation;
• Every day, first thing in the morning, I free-write three pages.  Sometimes it feels pointless, other times it grounds me, and still other times it helps me plan what's next;
• I went for morning runs while I was in Carlsbad--usually a two mile climb up a neighboring hill and down again;
• I worked on a long work of fiction that I began in August, for an hour each day;
• I combed through job listings for as long as it took to work my way through the daily entries.  I've been looking for coaching, training, or management jobs with Amazon, the San Francisco Giants, and anything in coaching, training, or management in job boards like craigslist and publishing listings like Mediabistro;
• I had phone interviews;
• I spoke with locals about opportunities in Carlsbad.

After I returned home I usually take a short period (a couple of days), and re-assess; I review what works, what doesn't.  I have been trying to break into freelancing, offering my experience and skills up for consulting and any other related opportunities, but I hadn't been doing that well.  That's what I am working on now--the list above and offering my expertise on a short-term basis for improvement in our customer service-based world.  There will be more to come on my opinions in upcoming posts.

For now, I'm working hard to learn:  to learn how to change my approaches to the business world; to learn how to improve my communication skills; and to learn how to be a better leader.  When I flew back on November 29th, I had something to look forward to--joining with a group of writers at our weekly writing group, where all of us are trying to be better at fiction and prose.

There will be more to come on that, too.

Have a great workweek.