I have spent my working life as a writer and a tester. Quality Assurance that is, process improvement and software testing. It's been a nice career. Whether my focus is on software or writing depends on my current contract, and even my software positions turn into a great deal of writing in the end.
My writing contracts have been primarily corporate. But lately I've been moving more towards freelance work. It's been a great deal of fun. It also gives me more flexibility when dealing with my father's health issues and traveling back and forth to see him.
Then I got the brilliant idea to do some writing work in the quilting industry. Something I've never done before. How exciting, I thought, now I can finally merge my income with one of my passions.
So, I approached it from the aspect I have always used and contacted a large company with a proposal. The project is one I've executed many times for many companies, but the subject-matter was new. After some interesting discussions, I was dropped from consideration. Do you know why? Was it because my writing samples and corporate contacts were badly executed?
NO! My resume is brilliant. My clips are solid and my corporate contacts are stellar! Do you know why I was dropped from consideration? It's because my quilting blog hasn't been professionally executed. OUCH!
The worst part is…. The worst part is that it's true. It's a classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes. I have never considered this blog anything more than a hobby to exercise my quilt-y habits. It never occurred to me that I might lose a job over it.
All I can say is…. OUCH!
The funny thing is I was more disappointed about losing this job over losing a bid on any of my corporate contracts. I've dusted myself off and picked up two more jobs. One of them is even quilt related. Still, now I know how those cobbler's kids feel – neglected and under-appreciated.
5 comments:
I'm not sure I understand their reasoning since your blog wasn't "work" but could you perhaps redesign your blog writing a different way for a while, and then resubmit? blessings, marlene
What the heck do they mean by professionally executed? I don't get it. This blog is supposed to be fun and not something to be presented professionally. Don't give up on your dream. Try your pitch someplace else. You'll make it. We're all rooting for you!
Ouch for sure! And what do they mean by "professionally executed"?? So, now you have to have a professional blog before you can become a professional quilter? Wierd. Maybe Marlene has the right idea. Re-design, spend some time writing on the blog, and then re-submit. Maybe re-submit to another company.
You might want to contact some "professional" quilters for some advice, maybe. For sure, take a look at their blogs for ideas.
I wish you luck with this...I know you can do it!
BTW, my DH did similar things (QA and Process Mgt) at his previous jobs. Know of any openings??
Ouch...professionally managed blog just doesn't sound right? I go with the redesign and resubmit plan...
Now I feel like I need to go polish my blog...they take the fun out of everything they do....
I'm so sorry Dionne! I can't imagine what they meant by Professionally Managed! Hard to imagine that prospective hirers of writers are looking at page design or layout skills! They don't know what they're missing is how I'd look at this hiccup, if I were you!!
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