Oh, So You're Still [Insert Place/Job Here]

There have been a couple of statements that have truly gotten under my skin recently and I'm not sure if I have written about this before, but this may be a repeat type of post and I don't care if it is or not.

The statement/question duo that has been killing me is the one about my lack of a "real job." As you know I still work in the same store I worked in when I was in college. I have been there for 3 years and have been on the constant job search. I have applied for who knows how many jobs. I literally have no idea how many jobs I apply to in a week and who knows how many I have applied to since I have graduated in May. I just haven't gotten anywhere and it is frustrating beyond belief.

Now the real reason I bring up this frustration is that a guy who I know who is still in college asked me if I was still working in retail. I replied "yes" that was accompanied with a heavy sigh. He then went forward and said "Oh, so you're still there." I contained myself from freaking out at him and replied with a "yes... yes I'm still there. Job market is tough and I'm actually now looking into going to grad school." He then replied with, "Make sure you don't get too much experience because companies don't want that."

...

At this moment... let's see what is the best word phrasing that can describe how I was feeling. Oh yes, I was LIVID! Seriously!?! I could not believe that reply!

Luckily, I was able to respond in a way that did not show my inner pissed-off self. Even though I was ticked, I was able to gain some type of knowledge from this experience.

Here's my epiphany:

1. I am employed and should not be too hard on myself
2. I am trying to find employment in my area of study 
3. I am trying to find alternative ways to achieve the goals I have set for myself (Like grad school)
4. I have a totally different experience from him since he has not yet had to experience this job search yet

So after having to work an overnight at work I was able to come to these realizations and not feeling self-pity or anger.

But I say that I am fine with all of this, I still am pretty beaten because of the fact that I haven't yet found a career in my area of study. I have two degrees and worked my tail off and I have just a piece of paper to show for it.

I know people don't mean harm with asking these questions, but I don't think they realize how detrimental these questions can be. I am hard enough on myself with still being just a part-time sales associate, I don't need people to remind me of it.

I think the true challenge of dealing with this is how to cope when you see people around you moving on with their lives and you feel like you are stuck and have been trying everything to move your life. Hopefully I will learn how to cope with this for the time being.

You're writing what?

I have been horrible at blogging for the past month and I can completely explain. I just took the GRE, like I finished it four hours ago. So basically what I am saying is that I have been extremely stressed the last month and what is worst is I feel like I need to take it again.

But lets get off of that negative thing and get on a happier subject. I am tired of working on a writing project and never finishing it. I have about four projects I have in the working, but have never gotten the motivation to completely finish them, but NO MORE!

The way I plan on concurring this issue is by joining NaNoWriMo. I'm sure you may potentially be wondering what this is exactly. WELL, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, which more specifically means one is taking on the challenge of writing a novel in an entire month. That means 50,000 WORDS!!

I'm actually super pumped for this and have been coming up with a good idea of what to write on. What I'm hoping to do, which I'm giving myself some flexibility on this, but I plan on writing a blog each day I write to give an update and maybe some idea of what I'm writing about.

So what do I know now about this potential novel?

Not much actually, which I know is kind of bad since I have to have an idea for it because this event starts in a couple of weeks, but I do have a basic idea.

So what do I have?

A title and the genre. That's it. I have a title, which is what inspired me to actually write this. And the genre came from the research of what type of writing I plan on doing.

My current title (which let's be honest will most likely change...maybe): This Brand of Me

The Genre: New Adult Fiction (a developing genre of fiction with protagonists in the 18-25 age bracket)

What I'm really hoping is that this will give me a fun activity to focus on that will really challenge me. Fifty thousand words is a challenge and especially making sure that your plot stays consistent and interesting. But I'm up for it and ready for the challenge.

Now, I'm going to finish up this post so I can actually plan an outline! Happy writing!