Getting Back on the Horse

A few of months ago, I woke up early on a Friday morning. I packed my lunch. I ran to catch the train. I got busy reading some spreads, because I was worried about turning them around to one of my managing editors.

Two hours later, I packed up my desk and went home.

When you work in publishing, everybody tells you that there will come a point in your career when you will get laid off. You read that books are a "dying" industry. You hear that editors and designers here and there have lost their jobs. And when your own company starts to struggle, it's in the air all the time--in looks, in side conversations, in tense meetings.

It's still really shocking when it actually happens to you.

After that horrible day in January, I had a rough couple of months. I ate a lot of brownies. I wrote a lot of cover letters, and stressed out over a lot of interview outfits. Mostly, I really missed packing my lunch every morning, getting on the train like everybody else, and going into the office to read, and write, and make cookbooks.

I finally have a new job. I'm going to be working on some new projects, in totally different subject areas: film, music, photography, children's. And the best part is, I still get to be an editor, and do work that I find intrinsically interesting and deeply satisfying. In short, I'm excited again. And you know what? I would rather have had a job that I LOVED for three years, and lost, than be bored.

And now, just because I'm an English major and we can get away with this sort of thing, I'll leave you with a cowboy quote:

"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." --John Wayne