Just checking

How are you today?

Maybe you’re reading this because your “forever” job turned out to be a dud. Maybe you’re here because you’re my pal and you want to support me. Or maybe you just don’t know where to start but you’re fed up and out of sorts with the career you’ve landed in and you’re hoping for an easy way to get out.

No matter what, I’m glad you’re here.

And a little sad that we don’t really talk anymore.

We used to share our fears and our aspirations. We’d talk about co-workers and laugh about ridiculous things our bosses said, all while wondering when we’d get to feel grown-up enough to call our own shots.

Why don’t we do that anymore?

Have I made it ok to be pontificating (in the form of this substack) and let you sit and listen, or delete or zone out? Maybe that’s a lot of responsibility for me to take on — has social media and the ubiquity of ezines, newsletters, and blogs made it so none of it really stands out unless the writer has gotten lots of mainstream press and a grant or an award?

I’m guilty of it.

It’s super easy to hit “subscribe” and enter one of the many email addresses I have - because I want the writer to know I value the time they put into their work. I want to reward the idea of sharing what matters and I want, desperately, to encourage people to fine tune the craft of writing. To keep at it, because it matters. I subscribe to so many newsletters and podcasts - on everything from trauma, to cults, to publishing, to poetry to conspiracy theories to politics. And I don’t have nearly enough time to read them all. I mean to. On my day off I think “I’ll sit and read all these letters in my inbox,” and instead I walk the dog, wash my hair and knit socks.

That’s the way life is.

Priorities are ever changing and that’s the beauty and banality of it all.

Which is why, I want to know, how are you?

Are you still looking for a job or did you find the one you dreamed about? What advice do you wish you’d gotten when you were launched into the world to find your first “real” job?

After 26 weeks (that’s 6 months!) of sending you this letter, I’d love to hear from you.

Please. and Thank you.

Hugs,

Peggie