Why Talking to College Students Makes Me Love My Job...

You may have seen my Twitter post on Tuesday mentioning that that evening I was going to talk to a group of college students about working in publishing. And I was a little nervous. I didn't have stage fright--I do plenty of public speaking and it's been quite awhile since I've had the urge to barf in the hallway before I go on. I don't mind getting up in front of a group.

But I'm used to talking to fully-grown-up adults, not young adults. My last experience with teens was a career day presentation at my high school a few years back which was one of my worst public speaking experience to date. There was some sleeping, much staring out the window, a bit of nail polish picking. One girl rolled her eyes at me when I answered her question. I could not wait to get out of there.

But, as a wise agent friend of mine pointed out when I asked if college students were as scary as high school students: "Nah, only the best students go on to college. That whole 'desire to learn' thing that is anyone's guess in high school."

Thank you oh wise Michael Stearns: You were right. The YAs in the college class were eager. And prepared with questions. They were all interning. They were all facing their foggy futures and wanted to hear what I and my fellow panelists had to say about our careers in the publishing world.

One asked me about being at the same company for such a long time, and if it got boring. I told her I've been at F+W for going on 18 years, but I feel like I've worked for a number of companies. There have been several owners since I've been here. I've had seven or eight bosses. And, since I started, the Internet happened. Those are all good things. Even though I may be working on the same publications year after year, the way I do things, the technology I use, my ability to connect with my audience, the co-workers I interact with--these all have changed, some dramatically. Things stay fresh. There are always new challenges on my plate. There is always something else that keeps me excited.

During times like these when I read about lay-offs on a weekly basis, it's easy to get a little down about the publishing world, a little concerned. Talking to this Xavier University class gave me perspective and reminded my why I love what I do.

At one point I gave the students my somewhat New Age-y advice: Do your best to network, keep doing what you love doing, be opened minded, and the universe will steer you in the right direction. After so many years at F+W and so many years working on CWIM and our other publications, I still feel like the universe landed me in the right place.

GalleyCat's Publishing in 2008 Rundown...

Happy New Year everyone. I'm back at work and almost through my email. (I've read them all but haven't answered them all.)

Today, for my first post of 2009, I offer links to GalleyCat's year in publishing 2008 rundown, offered in month-by-month capsules featuring phony memoirs, fake controversy, Glenn Beck, publisher jumping by big names authors, editors hopping houses, layoffs, salary freezes, restructuring, signs of the publishing apocalypse, Sarah Palin, and Madonna's brother (not necessarily in that order). It's fun to read them chronologically from January to December, so here you go:

• January 2008
• February 2008
• March 2008
• April 2008
• May 2008
• June 2008
• July 2008
• August 2008
• September 2008
• October 2008
  
• November 2008
• December 2008

You also might find this interesting--here's a piece in the New York Times about the new austerity in the publishing world where "fancy lunches, sparkling parties, sophisticated banter" and sales meetings in the Caribbean are being replaced by pizza in the cafeteria and video conferencing. (Oh the horror.)

More News on Staff Cuts...

The New York Times reports "Black Wednesday" news--cuts at Random House, S&S, Thomas Nelson, and HMH; departing higher-ups; raise freezes; and other such bad economy fall-out.

Reading My Now-Vintage Writing...

Since my last class reunion, I’ve been getting together with a group of high school friends every few months. A few weeks ago we met at one of their houses and someone brought along a stack of our high school newspapers, Spectrum, for which I was the features editor my junior and senior year. I was a little scared to read the articles I’d written, but once I’d grabbed a stack of papers and searched for my byline I couldn’t quite put them down. My stuff--the alliterative headlines, the essays on first speeding tickets and under-appreciated vending machine candy bars, the channeling-my-inner-teen-psychic horoscopes--was not bad. Not stellar, but decent for 17-year-old me (although I was temped to grab a pen and do just a little editing).

On a recent visit with my sister in Florida, she pulled out a box she had unearthed full of letters I’d written to her when I was in grade school. (She moved down south when she was 20 and I was 11.) The letters were pretty clever and witty, sometimes downright hilarious, and rife with recurring themes (and creative spelling). It was interesting to see my young voice in those letters (and to revisit the things that were soooo important to me when I was 12).

When I was in grade school I never had aspirations to become a writer. (I wanted to be a geologist and anthropologist “both at the same time.” I liked rocks and bones.) When I was in high school, I never made declarations that I would have a career in publishing. (Does anyone in high school ever say I want to be an editor?) I had no clue what to do with my life, pretty much until junior year of college. Yet the universe steered me in this direction.

I remember the moment the world of children’s books was reintroduced to me in college—that first day of my Victorian Children’s Lit class, which I took in the summer, Monday through Friday, every day for six weeks, at 7:30 a.m.—and wheels began to turn in my head. But looking back at my early “masterpieces,” I wonder why the younger me didn’t have a clue that working with words was the way to go.