08 October, 2008

who wants to be a book critic?

I am full of a weird, quivering excitability tonight. This is because I am frantically thinking about jobs, the publishing industry, the state of journalism in the United States of America, and whether or not I have a chance. Because of this, I am not thinking nearly enough about my poetry midterm that is happening tomorrow at 9:15 a.m.

I am meeting with the career adviser for journalism next Monday and he is going to tell me what to do with my life. Whether I should stick it out with The Daily Tar Heel or whether I should court Algonquin Books for an internship next semester. What kinds of things I need to be looking for. Whether it's even possible to get a job doing what I want to do (read books and then write about them).

All this to say, I am just telling you that I am launching something, largely in preparation for this mystical, dreamlike career: The Unrehearsed Reader. No one has to read it; in fact, I'm not really expecting anyone to, but I am going to write there as often as I can make time for, so when prospective employers ask me what kind of books I've been reviewing, I can say, "Well, none officially, but I do have a BLOG!" And they'll say, "Oh, a BLOG? How ORIGINAL! You're hired!" At least. That's how it plays out in my mind.

So there you go. I'm going to be writing haphazard book reviews.

I am listening to Bjork right now. Guion would be so proud of me.

Still haven't seen Cider yet. My life is lacking a bit of joy because of this.

I want to say, Chad, I still love you even if you love J.R.R. Tolkien. I think I like to rile you up about him because you get so adorable and boyish when you get angry--all florid and clenching your fists and kicking under your chair.

Life Dream that May Never Be Fulfilled: To live in Colorado for a year.

I am going to create a Code of Conduct for Lenoir. Here are the top 4 rules, as of today:
1. Couples: There is no reason that you need to be holding hands while you are looking for food. No reason.
2. Couples: If you have the exact same hair style, maybe you shouldn't be dating.
3. All people: Do not have high-pitched hug fests in front of the escalator and block all traffic from every direction.
4. All people: If you drop your silverware on the floor, pick it up. Don't kick it under a chair.

Okay. I really have to go study some poetry now. Really.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Abby, blogs are totally the world's best job-getting tool. I am writing for Fuller's dept of public affairs. Do I have any journalism experience? No. But I have reviewed manuscripts for InterVarsity Press, and... contributed to the Christians for Biblical Equality blog online! ;o)

I was able to use two of those posts as my writing samples, since it was the only non-academic "published" stuff I had (besides my personal blog-- but I felt weird about directing them to that).

Getting paid to read is pretty sweet-- would you ever be into editing?

Grant H. said...

I am curious now...

Where could I go to get your opinion on Tolkien, or do you have anything written out? I'd like to read it.

(Totally random I know, but for some reason the comment was intriguing.)